WHAT is in a date' Ask the people of Akure and Ondo State what is in adate and they will tell you there is more to a date than just merefigures. To the people of the state, August 16, 1983, is a date that has gone down memory lane. A day that has become a folklore especially among the Akure descendants and a day to reckon with in Ondo State politics. It is a date that will never be forgotten as one of the significant dates in the state.On this day, August 16, 1983, Akure, the capital city of Ondo State, was engulfed by an unprecedented turmoil which resulted in a wave of bloody carnage. Prominent men and women, some of the rarest of gems amongst the Akure residents and indigenous were murdered cold-blooded in broad daylight, while the properties of some of those slaughtered, who were mostly politicians, were not spared in the frenzy, as properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.It was an unnecessary one day malaise and destruction. It was a day many who witnessed it and some who lost relatives or properties have not fully recovered from. Many who had been told the story do not wish a re-occurrence of that day when all hell was broken loose in Akure.As a result of the holocaust, thousands were rendered homeless, landlords turned tenants. Many proud owners of houses lost all to the riot.The cause of the violence was as a result of the declaration of Chief Akin Omoboriowo, a governorship candidate of the NPN as the winner of the governorship election against the incumbent, Pa Adekunle Ajasin of the UPN, whom many believed was the winner of the election. He was later declared winner by the Appeal Court. The rest is history.Exactly 29 years after the Akure mass destruction, which rendered many homeless, the government of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko decided to give back succour to the people of the state by building the Sunshine Gardens Housing Estate and inaugurating it on August 16, 2012, the day marking the 29th anniversary of the Akure massacre.The new Sunshine Gardens Housing Estate, located in Oba-Ile, a suburb of Akure, sits on a five-hectare of land with modern infrastructure as well as tarred roads, paved walkways, recreation centre, electricity and effective water facilities and many more.The estate, a project of the state government in partnership with a private property company, Locke Homes Limited, has 225 units of bungalows already completed in the Phase One, and it has already been occupied by beneficiaries.The Phase One comes in three varieties, the Liberty, Diamond and the Scarlet. The Liberty is a three bedroom bungalow ensuite (all rooms with toilet and bathroom).The Diamond, which is a semi-detached three bedroom bungalow, has one master bedroom, while the Scarlet is a semi-detached two bedroom bungalow.Some of the unique features of the Sunshine Gardens are that it serves as a link between the Akure Airport and Akure municipality. It is also a housing project for all levels of income earners, as beneficiaries have a period of nine months to make their payment. 'The various types of units and the attendant payment plan are designed to cater for every class of the society as their purchasing power dictates.This arrangement will go a long way in ensuring that all strata of the society will have an opportunity to own houses in a beautifully planned estate where comfort costs less.' The Governor said.The Ondo State Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Dr. Bade Omoloja, described the initiative as another unique way the Mimiko-led government is employing to ensure that the people of the state are properly sheltered.The state governor, Dr. Mimiko at the inauguration of the Sunshine Gardens, said that the provision of the estate was in fulfilment of the promise he made to the people of the state at his inauguration to better the lots of its citizenry, through the provision of affordable housing units.Apart from the estate project for the populace, the government of Dr. Mimiko, which is determined to ensure that all its citizens, no matter the strata they belong to, live a comfortable life that will not be to their own peril nor endanger their income, has also released the sum of N168 million to the State Housing Loans Board which has been disbursed to 1,082 civil servants in the state. This is to ensure that the workers, who are the highest paid in Nigeria also own homes.Mimiko's commitment to provide affordable housing for the people of the state with standard infrastructure, as he reportedly said at the inauguration of the Sunshine Gardens cannot be questioned, as two other housing estates are currently undergoing massive construction work at Oda, also in Akure. About 100 units are already completed while some are near completion stage.It will be recalled that the last time the people of Ondo State had the privilege of a housing estate built by state government was 36 years ago, during the administration of the pioneer government of Wing Commander Ita David Ikpeme in 1976, with the provision of some housing units at Ala and Alagbaka.Mimiko, a former Minister of Urban and Housing, who has been equipped with what it takes to urbanise a nation, seems not to be leaving any stone unturned in the transformation of Ondo State into a modern city, through his urban renewal and housing initiative. This, he has exhibited with the construction of modern markets called the Caring Heart Neighbourhood Market across the state, the International Auto Mart located at the heart of Akure, the construction of a modern motor park which has set a new standard and has dignified the business of road transportation in Nigeria and many other urban renewal projects, not forgetting his massive investment in the housing sector.With all these landslide urban renewal projects of the Mimiko-led Labour Party government in Ondo State, the sun, which went gloomy 29 years ago is now shinning again in the Sunshine State.Orodare wrote in from Akure.
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