The people of Osun State have been promised by the state’s governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, that his administration will do everything humanly possible to give the state a worthy successor that will continue with the good works his administration started in the ‘State of the Virtuous.
The Governor stated this on Monday during a broadcast to the people of the state to mark the seventh anniversary of his administration.
Aregbesola, while commending the people of the state for their support, assured citizens and residents that they will not be exposed and left helpless and vulnerable to political wolves that are the prowl.
He held that for his administration to be leaving behind a good and enviable legacy in education, physical infrastructure and all aspects of human development, it behoves on such administration to do its best to give the people a worthy successor.
In his words, “In the remaining one year, I will be committed the more to serving you, to accelerate the pace of development and increase our efforts at ushering in prosperity to the government and people.
“We will leave a good and enviable legacy in education, physical infrastructure and all aspects of human development.
“We will also do our best to bequeath a worthy legacy successor that will continue the works we have started in the best tradition of progressive leadership. We will not leave you exposed, helpless and vulnerable before the wolves”. He stated.
Aregbesola also stated that his administration has seen and conquered several challenges ranging from poverty, ignorance, disease and fear of the known and unknown these seven years.
He recalled the financial tsunami that hit the country from late 2013 occasioned by alleged theft of crude oil, noting that by the middle of 2014, it has been escalated by the global fall in price of crude oil.
The Governor added that during the period of fall in oil price, there was a substantial reduction in revenue base, as the Federal government and states stutter to fulfil some of their obligations.
Aregbesola posited that Osun has come out of the ugly situation and had since been waxing strong.
According to the Governor, “The lesson we learnt from this debacle was that the era of dependence on free and unearned money from oil is over and we must work for our own money.
“It is a fundamental principle that the total wealth of a nation is the collective effort at wealth creation by every member of that nation in the production of goods and services. It behoves on all of us therefore to work hard and create our wealth.
“Every able-bodied person, above 18 years of age, who is not in school, must work, any kind of legitimate work, even if it is as a human porter in a market or motor park, and must never be dependent on parents and family.
“There are many opportunities in arts, crafts, creative engagements and all areas of human needs. Given all of the government incentives available, the easiest occupation to be in now is farming”.
Aregbesola stressed that every taxable adult in Osun must view it as a patriotic duty to support government with tax payment as and when due.
“At our level of development, all it takes for our state to be solvent and prosperous is for at least one million, out of the over four million population in Osun, to pay a tax of N250 every day for 20 days in a month.
“That will bring N5 billion, which is enough to pay salaries of our workers, run the government and develop our state in every area”.
Packaged by Rahman Salami
