Aregbesola’s recognition from international organisations

On the heels of concluding two terms as the governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola is getting accolades not from Nigerian institutions or from social media, but from reputable international organizations which includes the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF and African Development Bank.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) hailed the Aregbesola administration in Osun State for economically developing the state through the implementation of its people-oriented policies and programmes and scored the state high on its social investment programmes.

He was said to have shown creativity, flexibility in human-centric vision of the future of work that recognises people’s knowledge, talents, creativity and skills as key drivers of a prosperous and inclusive economy.

UNICEF had led top government officials drawn from 17 states in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria to Osun for a four-day learning tour of its various social investment programmes and building human capital. Consequently, Osun developmental programmes have also impacted on the socio-economic profile of the state as reported by reputable institutions. In 2015, The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) rated Osun second highest in Human Development Index among the 36 states in the country.

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Policies by the government of the State of Osun to revamp the economy and banish poverty, in line with its six point integral action plan, is yielding fruits with the latest report of the United Nations Development Programme. UNDP, with verifiable facts from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), placing  Osun as the state with lowest poverty rate.

The World Bank also commended his government over the execution of projects of Osun Rural Access & Mobility Project which are World Bank and French Development Agency assisted Projects.

Indeed, history will remember Aregbesola for four major developments in Nigeria; school feeding programme, sukuk bond for national development, the first governor to embrace fourth industrial revolution and Nigerian chocolate company. Aregbesola worked hard to introduce sukuk fund for education in Nigeria. Osun took the initiative and helped in introducing it to Nigeria. The greatest lesson is that when Governor Aregbesola adopted Sukuk, an Islamic bond to help the state execute educational projects, his critics were calling for his head. Many said it was part of his ploy to Islamize Osun.

Aregbesola single headedly took school feeding programme and sukuk from Osogbo to the Federal Government in Abuja.

Inwalomhe Donald,

Benin City