Promises of political opponents to reduce tuition fees, a deception -Akeredolu

Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has said that promises by political opponents to reduce tuition fees in the state own tertiary institutions were meant to deceive the people.

The governor made the declaration at an interactive session with youths and students in the state said it would be difficult for the state to operate three state universities successfully without increment of tuition fees.

Akeredolu emphatically told youths in the state that he could not afford to lie to the electorate on his achievements and the actual situation of things in the state under his administration.

He said his focus in his second term would be job creation through entrepreneurship, skill acquisition and Agriculture.

The Governor said he already created over 20,000 direct jobs through the various industries operating at the Ore industrial hub.

He announced that an investor has paid the first installment for the moribund OluwaGlass at Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area.

He said he planned to ensure more students took interest in studying agriculture.

According to him, “Very soon, the College of Agriculture will depend less on government funding. They want to focus on cultivating mushroom for export.

“They built universities without getting accreditation for any courses. We had a Medical School without a teaching hospital. I am building two teaching hospitals in Akure and Ondo town. We are turning Ondo States to a medical hub.

“We are earning less and doing much. There was a time we earned big but all the money went down the drain. My concern is to move ahead. We will need the best to manage the three universities.

“When I was sworn in 2017, the first executive bill I sent to the Ondo State House of Assembly was the establishment of Ondo State Development and Investment Promotion Agency (ONDIPA) to see to the policy of investment promotion, business development and wealth creation in our state.

“Today, through ONDIPA, Ondo has moved from number 34 to number 16 in the ease of doing business in Nigeria. By the grace of Almighty God, the Ore Industrial Park is a creation of ONDIPA under the leadership of Boye Oyewumi”, He said.