Less than 24 hours after welcoming Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, President Bola Tinubu on Friday hosted the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Rashidi Ladoja at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ibadan, known as the traditional headquarters of the Old Western Region, hosts Nigeria's oldest university, the University of Ibadan, as well as being the largest city in West Africa.
The President met the leading traditional ruler behind closed doors, Businessday gathered, to express his support for the ongoing plans to tackle the ecological challenges facing the ancient city of Ibadan and its surrounding areas.
The Federal Government had earlier promised to tackle ecological challenges in Oyo State and other parts of the country with a focus on mitigating the impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, flooding, erosion, desertification and other related environmental threats.
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Traditional ruler Alao used the occasion to express his appreciation to the President for personally gracing his coronation ceremony in 2025.
It was also revealed that Olubadan had met with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, where he was assured for the first time that the government is ready to create a level playing field for infrastructure development in the different communities.
Akume assured the traditional ruler of the readiness of the Federal Government to address some of the perennial ecological challenges facing parts of Oyo State, adding that addressing ecological challenges across the country remains a national priority of the Tinubu-led administration.
Oba Ladoja had declared that he was in the office of the SGF to appeal to the Federal Government through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to come to the aid of his people in finding lasting solutions to the perennial ecological problems facing some parts of the state. He further said that floods in some affected areas of the state have caused immense trouble to the public.
Recall that Makinde, while speaking to State House journalists on Thursday, said he was at the country seat to seek collaboration with the Federal Government on how to provide good governance to the people irrespective of political affiliations.
