Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, on Friday, said, the strength of the branding of the state under his administration would make it to remain investor-friendly and capable of attracting the best of minds for positive engagements.
He made the remark after declaring open the 42nd edition of the Annual General Meeting of the Advertising Agencies of Nigeria which commenced in Osogbo, the state capital on Friday.
He was represented by his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
He said: “You have come to Osun and you can see for yourselves whether the impression of a famine-gripped state painted by our political opponents is reflected on the faces of the accommodating people you see around.
“The economic challenge of Nigeria must be seen for what it is: a general crisis for which a state or a governor cannot be picked as the scapegoat. But unfortunately, that has remained the agenda of those who feel it is possible to destroy the efforts that had in recent years, advertised our state as a pride of the Black race.
“ With construction of roads and other infrastructure put in place by the government during the first term, the state has been able to attract global attention with globally recognised awards for its noble initiatives such as Opon imon, Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) among others.
The Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the office of the governor, has however told the former Head of Service Mr. Segun Akinwusi, to exhibit some degree of decency and honesty in the figures he advertises on revenues accruing to the state and stop deliberate falsehood against the government.
The Bureau regretted that “Akinwusi has pitiably turned himself to a laughing stock in the estimation of right-thinking people when he accused the governor of receiving N862 billion and less than two months after, came down to N317 billion.”
Reacting to the various allegations leveled against the state government at a meeting organised by Senator Iyiola Omisore, Niyi Owolade, and , and Akinwusi the defeated candidates of the PDP, Accord Party and Social Democratic Party respectively in Ile Ife on Thursday, the bureau said it amounted to hypocrisy, ignorance and sheer mischief for the organizers to continue to advertise outrageous figures as revenues to the state.
“ What is most baffling and shameful is that the figures which these individuals willfully advertise either as financial resources that accrued to Osun within four years or the debt portfolio of the state are facts that in the public domain.
“Where then do they derive this strong commitment to falsehood? At their conspiratorial meeting in Ife on Thursday which they prefer to call a summit, they all said again that the state got N317 billion in four years, about N111 billion off the mark of what the state got.
The Bureau in its statement signed by the Director, Semiu Okanlawon, said, “Elder Segun Akinwusi is inconsistent and that is highly nauseating con_sidering the fact that he rose to become the Head of Service of Osun. In May, he raised a false alarm through his party, SDP that Aregbesola should account for N846bn he had collected as allocation in the last four years.
“The same Akinwusi yesterday said Aregbesola had collected N317 in four years. Which one does he want Nigerians to believe?
“The facts that are verifiable state that Osun got from the federation account N177 billion and when you add the unprecedented about N27 billion as internally generated revenue in the same period to that, you get the N204.
”The Bureau said for the opposition to continue to deceive Nigerians that Osun is indebted to the tune of N400 billion is the height of irresponsibility.
“Recently, the Debt Management Office under the presidency came out to put the total debts of states at over N600 billion. How then do they explain the allegation that Osun alone is indebted to the tune of N400 billion?
“If Osun is just one of the 36 states of the federation, how then can the mischief makers justify it of being responsible for N400 billion out of this?
“Even if all the banks in Nigeria come together, can they afford to give just one state, loans to the tune of this magnitude?”
“Workers in Osun are aggrieved over the delay in getting their salaries which they were not used to because Aregbesola insisted all must be paid by 25th or 26th of every month. That was the culture before the economic storm affecting Nigeria set in.
“No government would ever be happy seeing itself owing workers and this much, the workers themselves know. Clearly, it is the wish of those who have seen this unfortunate development for which the government is struggling hard to put behind it that this never ends. If these selfish individuals are working in the interests of Osun and the workers, they would be prepared to join hands with the government in finding solutions and not see it as opportunity to bring it down.”
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