Osun @ 27: We’ve laid solid foundation for future ― Aregbesola

AS Osun State celebrates its 27th year anniversary, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, on Monday declared that his administration had laid a solid foundation for the social and economic development of the state, thus guaranteeing her brighter future.

In an address to the people of the state to commemorate the creation of Osun from the old Oyo State in August 27, 1991, the governor emphasised that his government had also “reawakened in the people of the state the Omoluabi consciousness, which he described as an infrastructure of the mind that prepares people for greatness through hard work and goodly disposition to fellow humans.”

Aregbesola, who contended that the investment in human capital development by his administration was already yielding results said “under our watch, the economy of Osun has received a big boost. We engaged over 40,000 youths in social work, empowered more than 150,000 artisans and traders with more than N20 billion soft and interest-free loans.

While describing qualitative education as central to growth, development and the path to greatness, he explained that “we must all strive to provide it for our children and those in need of it around us,” stressing that “we must remain creative and use our God-given talent to solve problems around us.”

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According to Aregbesola, “we have transformed education with reforms in all areas which include the building of brand new 21 Elementary Schools with 531 classrooms; 30 Middle Schools with 770 classrooms; and 11 High Schools with 792 classrooms, in addition to refurbishing old ones.”

“The fortunes of secondary school leavers who wrote external examinations have improved tremendously under our watch. From the 15 per cent matriculable pass archived in WAEC by the administration before us, the figure has shot to 54 per cent under our administration,” he remarked.

Continuing, Aregbesola posited that, ” in our own way, we have contributed significantly to the growth and development of Osun and in spite of the daunting financial challenges we faced in the second term of our administration, we are leaving Osun far better than we met it. Osun has recorded political, economic and physical development in the last eight years, more than at any point in its history.”

From the 30 local government areas and one area office, Osun now boasts of additional 31 Local Council Development Areas, three Area Councils and two Administrative Offices. Elections were conducted into them under the parliamentary system of government and the councils have since been inaugurated and are providing democratic governance to our people at the local level, he asserted.

“More importantly, we have transformed the physical environment of Osun. We did this through the construction of more than 2,000 kilometres of roads, including 10 kilometres in each local government area. We have taken care of the environment and curbed flooding. Osun, particularly the capital city, Osogbo, is neater and more beautiful than we met it.”

Aregbesola, however, called on the people of the state to vote the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship election on 22nd September, with a view to guaranteeing continuity of the progress and achievement recorded in the past eight years.