Osun state governor, Gboyega Oyetola has said that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) does not pose any threat to his second term bid as governor of the state in the upcoming governorship election.
Governor Oyetola said with the visible infrastructure and people-centered programme that has been carried out by his administration, his rating with the people of the grassroot in state has been very high.
Speaking with newsmen Thursday evening in Abuja after submitting his nomination and expression of interest forms at the APC national secretariat, governor Oyetola said despite the effects of Covid-19 and the meagre resources of the state, his administration has been able to keep faith with the electorates.
“Well I can talk about my party the APC, it remains the party to beat anytime, any day. I don’t see them having any extraordinary chance of doing what we are doing. The works, infrastructures that we have done is there for everyone to see. We have also received so much ratings from the people who are to decide in terms of what we have been able to do.” He said.
While reeling out his achievements within the last three years, Gov Oyetola said: “we made some promises to the people, to a very large extent we have fulfilled our promises in spite of the paucity of fund to take care of the welfare and security of the people as a matter of priority.
“In terms of welfare, we have been paying the salaries and pensions of the people on a monthly basis since the inception of this administration. We have actually supported our people in the areas of agriculture and health scheme for the less privileged and vulnerable taking care of the vulnerable using the social register.
In the area of health, we have revitalized not less than 320 primary health care centres spread across the state. The intention is to ensure that our people have access to health care by having at least a health care centre per ward.
“In addition, we tried to ensure that we fixed all of the general hospitals in the state. We set up the health insurance scheme to take care of the vulnerable. This is to ensure no one in our state is denied access to quality health services because he or she does not have money.
“In the area of infrastructure, we have fixed quite a number of roads. They are so many that I can’t be mentioning them but sometimes the roads have been deplorable for thirty years. We ensured we have motorable roads across the state. We just constructed the first flyover in our state. Many roads in Ife, Ilesha and Ijesha axis have been fixed in addition we continued the projects that we inherited from my predecessor.
“In the area of economy, we have actually done so well by diversifying our economy in the areas of agriculture and tourism. In the area of agriculture, we supported farmers with seedlings, stems and loans. We also supported poultry farming through the agro-poult, where we supported young farmers.
“In terms of support to artisans, we had a micro credit agency that disbursed loans to SMEs. In the area of security, we have invested so much to support security agencies and of course the Amotekun security agency of the South West states. Our state is about the most peaceful state in Nigeria. In education, we did a lot of reforms in line with the demand. Very recently we deployed one thousand new teachers in our schools to ensure that pupils get access to quality education at primary and secondary levels.
“Again, we are developing a financial hub, we are actually constructing a dry port where freighters can transport there containers. This will also help in decongesting Apapa port.
“We believe that given all that we have been able to do within the period of time with paucity of funds, if given the privilege, I will continue to improve on what we have done. In the area of rural roads, a lot have been done as well. As we speak traditional rulers, artisans, workers have been endorsing us, most of them asking me to continue.
“With my modest achievements, I have earned the award for the best governor of the year from; Business Day, Champion, and Blueprint Newspapers. Recently for the most outstanding leader in governance and citizens welfare from AIT. And the Nigerian NewsDirect gave me the award as the outstanding man of the year.
“These are things that have clearly indicated that we are right on course. I won’t give this credit to myself alone, I have very able cabinet members. It is a collective responsibility. If given the opportunity to manage the affairs of the state for another four years, I will turn it around in a manner that will be so surprising. I must thank also the members of the press for the support in the three years and three months despite the fact that COVID took a chunk of the time yet we have a lot of giant strides we can talk about.”
When asked on how he has been able to achieve the feat despite the state’s meagre resources, he said: ‘First of all, let’s give credit to the almighty God. Given my background from the private sector, I was well prepared for this job. Running a government is like running an enterprise, the only difference is that one is for profit making while the other is for service.
“If you get your variables right it will look so easy that is why I can’t be lamenting about paucity of funds I only have to look for creative ways of delivering on the mandate given to me by the people. So their is no magic as it were but only a determination to deliver on the mandate of the people because it is an opportunity of a lifetime to be given the mandate by the people serve them.”
