Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde is the 28th executive Governor of Oyo State, Nigeria. Apart from being a respected politician, he is a businessman and a trained engineer on fluid and gas metering. Also, Seyi Makinde was the former Group Managing Director of Makon Group Limited.
Seyi Makinde Background
Seyi was born on the 25th of December, 1967 to Late Pa Olatunbosun Makinde and Madam Abigail Makinde in Oja’ba, Ibadan. His father was a popular teacher who later became an accountant. Seyi Makinde is the third child of the family.
Seyi had his primary education at St Paul Primary School and at St Michael Primary School, Yemetu, Ibadan. After, he proceeded to Bishop Phillips Academy Monatan, Ibadan for his secondary school education. Seyi Makinde gained admission to the University of Lagos (Unilag) in 1985. There, he obtained a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering.
Oluwaseyi Makinde is a member of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Oil and Gas Design Engineers of Nigeria (OGDEN), Council for Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), International Society of Automation (ISA), Institute of Measurement and Control UK; and American Measurement Institute (AMI).
Oluwaseyi Makinde is married to Dr. Esther and they have three children together.
Seyi Makinde Trainings
As a young man in quest for knowledge, Seyi Makinde enrolled for a training on Safety Shutdown System at Industrial Control Services in Houston, Texas. Not only that, in 1999, he also trained on Development of Analytical Competence for Managing Operations at Pan-Atlantic University (formerly Lagos Business School).
Furthermore, Seyi Makinde trained on Automation in 2000. Thereafter, in 2002, he studied Fundamentals of Crude Sampling at Jiskoot Auto Control Training Centre, Kent, England. He also studied Understanding and Solving Complex Business Problems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA in 2005.
Seyi Makinde Business And Professional Career
In 1990, Seyi Makinde served as a corp member with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria. He began as a pupil engineer and later served in other capacities as well. He was there till 1992.
Thereafter, Seyi Makinde moved to Rebold International Limited, where he worked as a field Engineer (Eket Operations). He was later made the Field Manager of the company.
News has it that Seyi created over 5000 jobs for Oyo indigenes through his youth empowerment program.
Makon Engineering and Technical Services Limited (METS)
After working with international companies for five years, Seyi Makinde founded Makon Engineering and Technical Services; an instrumentation, Automation and Control Systems Company at age 29. He was the Group Managing Director of the company until August 2018.
Today, the company which is now known as Makon Group, has four subsidiaries in Nigeria, and branch offices in South Africa and USA.
Wife
Makinde lives in Ibadan, Oyo State. He is married to Tamunominini Makinde, a Southern Nigerian by birth, and they have three children.
Seyi Makinde Political Career
In 2007, Seyi contested for Oyo South Senatorial seat under All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) but, lost to Kamoru Adedibu, the People’s Democratic Party candidate. In 2010, he also lost the Oyo South Senatorial seat, this time under the People’s Democratic Party. As a determined man, Seyi was not discouraged by the failure. Rather, he took it as a challenge and came back bigger and better.
In 2015, Seyi Makinde took the bold step by aiming for the Oyo State 2015 governorship ticket under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). However, he was denied the nomination ticket after the party’s primary election.
Seyi Makinde, however, followed the saying that goes thus: failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. So, he decided to leave PDP to contest for the 2015 gubernatorial office under Social Democratic Party (SDP). But, lost eventually.
In September, 2017, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; the Caretaker National Chairman of PDP visited Seyi Makinde. To cut the long story short, with several interventions, Seyi returned to People’s Democratic Party
(PDP).
A year after, Makinde became the gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 Oyo State general elections after winning the primary election with 2772 votes.
Seyi Makinde’s dream of becoming the Governor of Oyo State finally came through in 2019. Eventually, He was elected into the office of the governor of Oyo State at the 2019 gubernatorial elections for Oyo State in March 9, 2019. He defeated Mr. Adebayo Adelabu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 157,639 votes.
He was sworn in on 29th May 2019 taking over from Senator Abiola Ajimobi after his eight years in office.
Seyi Makinde’s Net Worth
Seyi Makinde publicly declared his asset which was worth over 48 Billion Naira. Therefore, it is safe to say that Governor Seyi Makinde is worth billions of naira.
Awards And Recognitions
Fiditi Grammar Schhol, Oyo State – Old Student Merit Award for commitment, dedication and service to the association and humanity.
Junior Chamber Internation (JCI) University of Calabar Chapter – Entrepreneur Excellence Award
Nigerian Union of Journalists (Oyo State Council) – Laudable Contribution to Humanity Merit Award
National Association of Oke-Ogun Students (Ibadan) – Merit Award
Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (Oyo State Chapter) – Gold Merit Award for immense and invaluable contribution to sports development
Nigerian Association of Social Workers Merit Awards (Oyo State Chapter) – Philanthropic gestures and contribution to sports development
CCII National Merit Award
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (Ibadan) Merit Award – Astute Politician of the Year, 2018
Seyi Makinde Philanthropy
He gave scholarships to outstanding students from different secondary schools across Oyo State, particularly Bishop Philip Academy, Ibadan.
Sponsorship of medical team from United States of America to Nigeria to carry out free medical procedures.
Annual sponsorship of pilgrims to the Holy Land of Mecca, Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem, Israel.
Distribution of teaching and writing materials to the pupils of primary and secondary schools in Oyo State.
Construction of Science Laboratory for the PEN Junior School Iyaganku, Ibadan.
Installation of Street Light at Bayo Oyeleke Street, Ikolaba Ibadan with 10 KVA Generator.
1,500 students drawn from across the tertiary institutions in the country have also benefited from Seyi Makinde’s scholarship awards.
Seyi Makinde donated of N1 million to UCH Indigent Patients Fund.
In 2017, he donated N5 million to support LAUTECH fund raising effort.
Donation of N50 Million for 2017/2018 Seyi Makinde Bursary Scheme Award to 2,500 tertiary institution students.
Donation of multi-million Naira project for an e-library to his alma mater- Bishop Phillips Academy, Iwo Road, Ibadan.
Sponsorship of Omituntun Foundation Mega Praise Event for Christians.
Sponsorship of Omituntun Annual Ramadan Lecture for Muslims.
Donation of golf kits to Tiger Golf Club Odogbo Cantoment, Ibadan
Sponsorship of Seyi Makinde’s ‘Women’s Support Golf Tournament.’
Adoption of seven children with full scholarship up to tertiary education level.
