By Isiaka Wakeel
When the Osun State Government rolled out the Iwo township road dualisation project, it was seen as the first rainfall after a long drought, and welcomed by residents as a long-awaited intervention expected to ease traffic congestion, unlock economic opportunities and breathe modern life into one of the state’s most important urban corridors.
Yet, as with most ambitious infrastructure undertakings, progress arrived with a heavy footprint. Bulldozers moved in, walls came down and familiar landmarks disappeared. Homes, shops and lifetime investments that once lined the construction corridor gave way to asphalt and concrete. Although many residents embraced the promise of development, fear and uncertainty hovered in the air like gathering clouds.
At the peak of the demolitions, Governor Ademola Adeleke stepped forward with a solemn assurance that no one affected by the project would be abandoned. Every verified victim, he pledged, would be compensated.
Predictably, scepticism followed swiftly behind the promise. Opposition elements and their agents dismissed the assurance as political poetry which is characteristically beautiful in sound but empty in substance. They reminded us that such pledges often evaporate once the rubble is cleared and public attention shifts elsewhere. Some even predicted that the people of Iwo would be left to pay the price of progress alone.
But history has a way of correcting premature judgments. Earlier this week, news filtered in that the Adeleke administration had begun issuing compensation cheques to residents whose properties were demolished for the road project, shattering doubt like glass and replacing suspicion with evidence.
For the beneficiaries, this moment is both emotional and profound. This, for them, is a quiet victory after months of hardship. One of the affected property owners captures the mood succinctly:
“When our shops were pulled down, it felt like the ground was taken from beneath our feet. Today, Adeleke’s government has helped us to stand again.”
The compensation exercise is not merely a bureaucratic process. I view it as a moral statement. In a political climate where public trust is brittle and government promises often dissolve into silence, this compensation by Adeleke’s government stands as a reminder that leadership can still be anchored on honour.
By keeping faith with the people despite fiscal pressures and competing demands on the state’s resources, Governor Adeleke has demonstrated that integrity is not proclaimed from podiums, but is proven in moments of consequence.
Observers note that the compensation initiative mirrors the Adeleke’s administration’s people-first philosophy which is a governing creed that insists development must illuminate lives rather than cast shadows over them.
In my estimation, beyond the question of integrity lies empathy. Governor Adeleke appears to understand very well that development loses its soul when it tramples on those it is meant to uplift. Roads may shorten distances, but compassion shortens despair.
For families uprooted by the road dualisation project, the compensation offers more than money. It offers restoration which I see as a chance to rebuild livelihoods, reopen businesses and reclaim dignity bruised by displacement.
Urban development experts see this kind of gesture as the true foundation of sustainable growth. An Abuja-based urban and regional planner, Dr George Theophilus, postulates: “When citizens are treated fairly and justly, they become partners in development rather than obstacles. Compensation builds trust, and trust is the strongest cement any government can use.”
No doubt, the ongoing Iwo road dualisation project remains one of the most ambitious (and perhaps unprecedented) infrastructure interventions in the community in decades. When completed, it promises smoother mobility, safer transport, reduced travel time and expanded commercial activities all of which are a lifeline stretching across communities.
By pairing concrete development with human consideration, the Adeleke administration has sent a clear signal that development must not be paved with human suffering.
Residents say the compensation has altered public perception of the road dualisation project itself. Anger has given way to acceptance; resentment has softened into cooperation. One of the residents, Sarafadeen Akanji, confirms: “Our people that lost their properties to the project were bitter at first. But now, we have seen that the state government did not forget our people.”
The Iwo experience may well become a template for future projects across Osun State. Governor Adeleke has proven that infrastructure planning need not ignore social responsibility.
For an administration that is often tested by political crossfire and public scrutiny, the compensation episode stands as quiet but compelling evidence that accountability in governance is not extinct.
As bulldozers retreat and the hum of construction gives way to drainages and smooth asphalt, one big lesson that rings clearly from Iwo is that leadership is not measured solely by the roads built, but by the people carried along the journey.
In fulfilling his pledge to the displaced residents in Iwo, Governor Adeleke has delivered more than compensation cheques. He has renewed a covenant of trust between government and citizens, which is written not in rhetoric, but in action; not in promises, but in proof.