APC Ogun governorship candidate Solomon Adeola, Yayi, unveils ITESIWAJU agenda, promising jobs, industrial growth, sports revival and new cities
Yayi Unveils Bold Ogun Plan, Vows to Challenge Lagos With Jobs, Industries, New Cities
Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has unveiled an ambitious development blueprint for Ogun State, promising to reposition the state’s economy, infrastructure, human capital and industrial sector to compete more closely with Lagos if elected governor in 2027.
Adeola, the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the 2027 Ogun State election, unveiled the plan during a courtesy and familiarisation visit to the Ogun State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists at Iwe Iroyin, Abeokuta, on Friday.
The senator, who represents Ogun West in the National Assembly and chairs the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said Ogun’s enormous economic potential had remained underutilised for too long.
He said his administration, if elected, would pursue an all-round development programme under a nine-point agenda tagged “ITESIWAJU”, a Yoruba expression meaning progress or upward movement.
The agenda covers education, healthcare, women and youth development, sports, tourism and the creative industry, new town development, agriculture, security, job creation and industrialisation, among other areas. Recent reports have also identified infrastructure, urban development and economic empowerment among the broad areas contained in the blueprint.
Adeola, who was accompanied by his running mate, Mrs Kudirat Adegunwa-Balogun, and other political associates and aides, said tackling youth unemployment would be a major priority of his proposed administration.
According to him, Ogun’s status as one of Nigeria’s major industrial centres should translate into greater employment opportunities for residents of the state.
He said he would engage major industries operating in Ogun to secure employment quotas for qualified indigenes, particularly at the middle-management and lower cadres.
“Many industries have their factories here but built their head offices in Lagos. This means the top cadre management staff live and pay their taxes in Lagos, while the lower level staff live here.
“What the top level managers pay to Lagos is definitely higher than what the lower level workers will pay here. I want to correct all this.
“I will hold meetings with these companies and ensure they establish their regional offices here in Abeokuta.
“That is how it should be. Again, why should we be called the industrial hub of the country and our graduates are facing unemployment? I will interface with these industries to give quotas in their employment chart, at least they should offer employment to our people at the middle level management cadre if not the topmost level.”
Adeola also promised to place greater emphasis on vocational and technical education, saying graduates of such programmes would be equipped with the tools and skills required to establish businesses and create employment for others.
He said strengthening technical education would form part of his broader strategy for reducing unemployment and expanding opportunities for young people across the state.
The APC candidate also expressed concern over Ogun’s performance at the annual National Sports Festival hosted by the state, noting that Delta State emerged top in the competition.
Adeola said he would seek to revive sports development in Ogun by facilitating an annual Governor’s Cup and reviving moribund state football clubs.
According to him, the initiative would provide young people with opportunities to develop their sporting talents and pursue careers on the global stage.
“Indigenes of the state are not many in sports,” he said, stressing the need for deliberate investment in the sector.
On urban development, Adeola promised to promote the construction of new cities along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway corridor and in other parts of the state where undeveloped land is available.
He said the proposed expansion of new urban centres would form part of his broader vision of transforming Ogun into a more economically competitive and infrastructurally developed state.
The ITESIWAJU agenda is the latest policy platform unveiled by Adeola as the APC candidate intensifies his engagements across Ogun ahead of the 2027 governorship election. Recent reports show that the senator has presented the nine-pillar agenda as a development framework focused on infrastructure, jobs, industrialisation, agriculture, education, healthcare, security and urban development.
