I must express disappointment at the rate at which underdevelopment is slowly eating up the Osun state.

Osun may not be my state but as a stakeholder, I must express disappointment at the rate at which underdevelopment is slowly eating up the state.

Apart from Osogbo, Ila, Ile-Ife, Ilesa, Ejigbo, Ede, Iwo, excluding Ikire and Okunrin, development has taken over most of the towns of the state.

I remember when I first came to this state a decade and half ago, development was even. There was stable electricity, pipe borne water, smooth roads, schools were developed with daily feeding for primary school pupils.

Life was easy, accommodation was cheap, transport was affordable, security was stable.

Fast forward to today, some towns are virtually empty of youths and the old and aged are the ones holding forts.

Roads leading to farming communities and other hard to reach places within the state are no more, electricity has become out of reach, parents including my humble self can't send out children to public schools and businesses are closing shop at a very fast rate. 

Life has become virtually unbearable for the masses.

This is not the Osun I decided to settle in because I was escaping the chaos of Lagos State.

What I see in Osun is a return to the cave. Instead of progression what we see all over is retrogression.

Things are getting worse daily.

Some towns don't have traditional rulers, some towns don't have banks, drinking water has become a luxury in many towns because even the mini water works that dotted the state have become enclaves for Fulani herdsmen.

Mini industries have closed shops in the state and the only profitable business is politics.

All business is now concentrated in Osogbo, Ile-Ife, Ilesa even Iwo is missing out in terms of development if not for the  outspokenness of the Oluwo, Oba Akanbi.

As a journalist, I don't take delight in travelling for assignments again. Going to Iwo is now a nightmare because of the bad state of the Iwo-Osogbo road.

Ile-Ife that's just about 30 minutes from Osogbo now takes more than one hour because the road is terrible. 

Osogbo to Ilesa which should not be less than 15 minutes has been increased, bad road.

Yes, these roads are federal roads but advocacy to get it repaired has been sacrificed on the table of petty politics.

In some towns, residents take the law into their hands and mess up electricity workers because they are frustrated, this is not exonerating these officials anyway because their wickedness needs such treatment at times.

Slowly, development in Osun State is fast disappearing and government upon government still beat their chest and say theirs is the best.

I am here this morning to condemn such assertions.

Francis Ezediuno

Osogbo 

27th February, 2026.