For too long, work in Oyo has been abundant yet fragile. Men and women rise each day to labour, but too often the reward is meagre. Micro and small enterprises, our real economy, stand on every street corner from Ibadan to Oke-Ogun, Ibarapa to Ogbomoso to Oyo, yet they struggle against storms of power cuts, high costs, and limited access to finance. Our people are not lazy; our people are resourceful. But resourcefulness alone cannot replace a system that works.
We built markets, but not always value chains. We opened shops, but not always doors to capital. We created projects, but not always jobs that endure. The fragments exist, but the system is incomplete.
Yet imagine a different future. Imagine an Oyo where every micro business is not a lone struggler but part of a thriving cluster, linked to power, logistics, and digital tools. Imagine young graduates and artisans finding dignified work not by leaving home but by building futures here because local industries are expanding, because government procurement prioritises local suppliers, because investment is not just invited but enabled.
The foundation already exists. Oyo has one of the deepest labour forces in the country, people willing and able to work. It has a vast base of small businesses that touch every household and community. It has a culture of resilience and creativity that no crisis has been able to erase. What is missing is the orchestration: a government that connects the dots, lowers the barriers, and turns effort into opportunity.
This is where Barr. Akeem Agbaje’s vision begins. His plan is to re-anchor the state’s job creation agenda on three pillars: strong local businesses, strategic industrial growth, and deliberate local content in public projects. He will make sure that when Oyo spends public money on infrastructure, it also builds private opportunity. Contracts will be tied to local hiring, local sourcing, and skill development. A bridge will not only connect communities, it will employ them. A school will not only teach children, it will empower parents who built it.
Energy will no longer be the excuse that stifles growth. Agbaje sees power as the oxygen of enterprise. From solar mini-grids in our rural clusters to reliable supply for our urban markets, businesses will breathe easier and employ more when the lights no longer flicker. Finance too will be unlocked through cooperative lending, credit guarantees, and digital platforms that bring banks closer to traders, artisans, and farmers.
Technology will transform work. Tele-trade will connect farmers in Oyo to buyers beyond Nigeria. Digital tools will help MSMEs manage inventory, access credit, and scale faster. Data will guide policy so that no entrepreneur is invisible and no worker forgotten.
Communities will no longer be mere spectators of development. Cooperative groups, trade associations, and local councils will help monitor and shape programmes, ensuring that opportunities reach those they are meant for. Public-private partnerships will not be window dressing but real vehicles for job creation and enterprise growth.
Yet the true foundation is trust. Trust that when a young person completes training, jobs will be waiting. Trust that when a trader applies for support, funds will reach her hand. Trust that contracts are not reserved for the few but open to the many. Without this, policies are words on paper. With it, every small business becomes a seed of prosperity, and every worker becomes a builder of Oyo’s future.
This is how Barr. Akeem Agbaje sees the road ahead. Not scattered efforts, not ornamental projects, but intentional systems. Systems where work is dignified, businesses are supported, and public investment translates directly into local employment.
If we do nothing, the fragments remain fragments. If we act with clarity and courage, those fragments become a living economy. And that economy becomes the shared prosperity of Oyo State.
