FROM GRASSROOTS TO PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS: BTO’S DEVELOPMENT FOOTPRINT IN ONDO.
By Wale Obanigba, Esq.
Thursday, October 1, 2026.
Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo’s activities in Ondo State are increasingly visible beyond the political arena, and the available project record provides evidence of a footprint that cuts across communities, schools and public institutions. The interventions take different forms. Solar streetlights in places that previously struggled with darkness, transformers and electricity interventions, boreholes providing access to water, drainage and road projects, and alternative power solutions for public institutions.
Individually, some may appear modest. Taken together, however, their geographical spread and variety provide a broader picture of what is being delivered at the grassroots.
The completed-project record from Ondo Community Connect (OCC) illustrates this range. It covers communities across Akure North, Akure South, Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo and Ifedore, among other locations. Projects include new transformers and transformer energisation, solar streetlights, line drainage, box culverts, road filling and concreting, canal excavation, concrete roads, community boreholes and solar-powered boreholes.
Beyond conventional infrastructure, the record includes school support through the distribution of school bags and sandals, as well as initiatives connected to skills and local production. Public institutions have also benefited, including NTA, NIMC and Positive FM in Akure, with Positive FM receiving a 22kVA solar inverter system and 32 solar panels.
The driver of this process is the Ondo Community Connect initiative, which is wholly sponsored by Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and coordinated by Mrs. Iretidola Akinrowo Ojekhoa. As of September 2026, OCC had registered 800 communities, assessed 110 and delivered projects in 74 communities, with a stated objective of reaching all 203 wards across the state’s 18 local government areas.
The OCC model is significant because communities are assessed before projects are selected. Residents identify their most pressing needs, after which priorities are considered. In one community, the priority may be solar lighting; in another, drainage because of flooding; elsewhere, water, roads or electricity may take precedence.
There is an important historical context. During the administration of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Ondo State operated a Ministry of Community Development and Cooperative Services, with community participation forming part of its approach to identifying development needs. Community-driven development is therefore not entirely new to the state.
What is different in the present arrangement is the institutional setting. OCC is not a state government ministry. It is a coordinating platform through which interventions sponsored and supported by Tunji-Ojo are identified, assessed and facilitated.
The 74 entries in the current project record should also be understood as a snapshot, not an exhaustive catalogue of every beneficiary. Other communities not contained in the list have also been reached, while individuals have benefited through skills development and opportunities connected to local production. Some beneficiaries trained in shoemaking and leatherwork have subsequently received production contracts for items such as school bags, sandals and high-visibility jackets.
This scope matters because grassroots needs differ. For one community, the impact may be access to lighting or water; for a school, educational materials; for a public institution, reliable alternative power; and for an individual, a marketable skill that creates an income-generating opportunity.
The next and perhaps more important concern is sustainability. A transformer must be able to provide electricity if it is to be valuable; a borehole matters if it remains functional; drainage must continue to serve its purpose; roads require maintenance; and solar installations need appropriate servicing to remain reliable. The same principle applies to public-institution infrastructure and skills interventions. Their value depends on continued use, maintenance and the ability of beneficiaries to sustain the gains.
This places responsibility not only on those who facilitate the projects but also on beneficiary communities and institutions. Clear ownership, maintenance arrangements and periodic monitoring can help ensure that infrastructure does not deteriorate after commissioning and that today’s intervention does not become tomorrow’s abandoned asset.
Credit also goes to Mrs. Iretidola Akinrowo Ojekhoa for coordinating, monitoring and documenting the community intervention process.
Taken together, the documented projects point to a development footprint spanning infrastructure, education, public institutions, skills and local production. But the strongest assessment of this footprint will be how many remain functional, properly maintained and useful to the people they were intended to serve. That is when development can deliver lasting impacts.
Wale Obanigba writes from Akure
