Makinde Oluseyi Abiodun

Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde (born 25 December 1967) is a Nigerian engineer, businessman, and politician who has served as the governor of Oyo State since 2019. He is an engineer and a subject matter expert on fluid and gas metering. He is the group managing director of Makon Group Limited; an indigenous oil and gas company in Nigeria.

He established his first oil and gas private business called Makon Engineering and Technical Services, (METS) at the age of 29 in the year 1997, after earning years of work experience with international oil and gas companies.

Makinde had contested for the 2015 Oyo State gubernatorial election on the platform Social Democratic Party (SDP) but lost. Makinde was born to a teacher turned accountant, Pa Olatubosun Makinde, and Abigail Makinde of Aigbofa Compound in Oja'ba, Ibadan, Oyo State. He is the third child of the family.

Makinde began his education at St Paul Primary School and completed his primary education at St Michael Primary School, Yemetu, Ibadan. His secondary education was at Bishop Phillips Academy, Monatan, Ibadan.

In 1985, he gained admission to the University of Lagos (Unilag) where he earned his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1998, Makinde trained at Industrial Control Services in Houston, Texas on Safety Shutdown System; and Development of Analytical Competence for Managing Operations at Lagos Business School (now Pan-Atlantic University) in 1999.

In 2000, he had training in automation. In 2002, he studied Fundamentals of Crude Sampling at Jiskoot Auto Control Training Centre, Kent, England. Also, in 2005, he studied Understanding and Solving Complex Business Problems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.

Makinde did his national service (NYSC) with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria, where he was later engaged as a pupil engineer. He served in different capacities; handling and partaking in several key projects between 1990 and 1992.

From 1992 to 1997, he worked as a field engineer (Eket operations) for Rebold International Limited and in 1995, he was appointed as Field Manager in the same company. In 1997, Makinde established his first business, Makon Engineering and Technical Services Limited (METS) after working for five years (1992-1997) with various international oil and gas companies (IOCs) as the Engineering Manager.

He is now the group managing director of Makon Group of Companies. Makinde is a member of national and international professional bodies, including Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Council for Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Oil and Gas Design Engineers of Nigeria (OGDEN), International Society of Automation (ISA), Institute of Measurement and Control UK, and American Measurement Institute (AMI).

In 2007, Makinde contested for the Oyo South Senatorial seat under the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) but lost to Kamoru Adedibu. In 2010, under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), he aspired for the Oyo South 2011 Senatorial seat but lost the primary election to the incumbent Oyo South Senator.

In 2014, Makinde aimed for the Oyo State 2015 governorship ticket under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Upon the conclusion of the party’s primary election, he was denied the governorship nomination ticket. Makinde defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and contested for the Oyo State 2015 SDP gubernatorial candidate, finishing third with over 50,000 votes.

Following consultations with PDP leaders and strategic partners, Makinde returned to the PDP in 2017. On 29 September 2018, he emerged as the PDP gubernatorial candidate for the 2019 elections after securing 2,772 votes at the primary election in Ibadan.

On 9 March 2019, Makinde polled 515,621 votes, defeating Adebayo Adelabu of the All Progressive Congress (APC), who polled 357,982 votes. Makinde was sworn in on 29 May 2019 as the 28th Governor of Oyo State, succeeding Abiola Ajimobi.

In 2022, Makinde declared his intention to run for a fourth term, citing the achievements since resuming office in 2019. He won the 2023 general election, polling the highest votes and was declared governor-elect by INEC on 19 March 2023.

Makinde has received several awards, including the Nigerian Union of Journalists (Oyo State Council) Laudable Contribution to Humanity Merit Award, National Association of Oke-Ogun Students Merit Award, Fiditi Grammar School Old Student Merit Award, JCI University of Calabar Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria Gold Merit Award, Nigerian Association of Social Workers Merit Awards, CCII National Merit Award, and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria’s ‘Astute Politician of the Year 2018’.

He lives in Ibadan, Oyo State, and is married to Tamunominini Makinde, with three children.