The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun State, Solomon Adeola, has pledged that his administration will be committed to infrastructure development if elected.

This is just as he donated N25m and 50 solar-powered streetlights to support infrastructure development in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area Zonal Community Development Committee.

Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, pledged on Saturday at the inauguration of the Obafemi-Owode LGA Zonal CDC town hall along Ofada-Owode Road, Ogun State.

Yayi said urban and regional development was one of the nine pillars his administration would focus on if elected, stressing that the LGA remained important to his development agenda.

“Whatever you do today is worth celebrating because this is the first of its kind in the entire Ogun State. When I saw the invitation, I made up my mind that I must show up. Your local government is dear to my programme.

“I have nine pillars upon which the social contract that I am about to sign with the people of Ogun State is based, and one of the pillars is urban and regional development. Mowe Road, I will ensure it is completed,” he said.

Yayi also urged residents of the LGA to convert their large voter population into votes, while appealing to community leaders to ensure that registered voters collected their Permanent Voter Cards.

“I want to implore the people of Obafemi Owode to convert your population and registration into votes. Out of the 270,000 registered voters, how many of them have collected their PVCs?

“I want to beg all the CDAs and CDCs of Obafemi Owode, under the leadership of Engineer Gboyega Adeleke, to go after the collection of the PVCs and ensure they are collected. If we don’t have them, the figure we have is a waste. I’m going to give you the necessary support,” he added.

The Zonal CDC chairman, Adeleke Gboyega, described the construction of the hall as a demonstration of leadership through character, commitment, and consistency.

He, however, highlighted the challenges encountered during the construction of the project, including land ownership issues, rising building material costs and inadequate funds.

“The construction of the ultramodern edifice demonstrates effective leadership through character, commitment and consistency. The landowner, ‘Omo Onile’, issues, rising cost of building materials, scattered projections, unavailability of funds, loans from members, project committee sacrifices, security and pressure from members were some of the challenges.

“But today, we give glory to Almighty God,” he noted.

The Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives, Ademola Balogun, commended the committee for completing the project, describing it as evidence of the members’ vision and commitment to communal development.

“Obafemi Owode Zonal Community Development Committee has clearly shown to us that it consists of men and women with a clear vision, which is portrayed in this great multipurpose hall we are commissioning.

“We commend the committee for this initiative, bringing our people together to celebrate our heritage, unity and achievement, and promoting communal development,” he stated.

Balogun added that the hall would provide a venue for community programmes and social activities capable of contributing to the economic development of the local government and beyond.

“The multipurpose hall is a legacy building that will be used for community programmes, social activities and economic progress for everyone in Obafemi Owode Local Government and beyond,” he added.