The Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, has said the Peoples Democratic Party has no extraordinary chance of rivalling the All Progressives Congress’ accomplishment in the state in the last three years.
He claimed that the visible infrastructure and people-centred programmes championed by his administration had earned him a high rating among the people at the grassroot.
Oyetola disclosed this to Correspondents in Abuja late Thursday, shortly after submitting his nomination and expression of interest forms at the APC national secretariat.
According to him, despite the effects of COVID-19 and the state’s meagre resources, his administration has kept faith with voters.
He said, “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 infrastructure that we have done is there for everyone to see. We have also received so many ratings from the people who are to decide in terms of what we have been able to do.”
On his strides in the three years, the Governor said, “we made some promises to the people. To a very large extent, we have fulfilled our promises despite the paucity of funds 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 health, we have revitalised 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 terms of infrastructure, he said the administration had rehabilitated several roads that have been deplorable for thirty years.
He explained, “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 done so well by diversifying our economy in the areas of agriculture and tourism. In agriculture, we supported farmers with seedlings, stems and loans. We also supported poultry farming through the agro-poult, supporting young farmers.
“To support artisans, we had a microcredit agency that disbursed loans to SMEs. In the area of security, we have invested so much in supporting security agencies and, of course, the Amotekun security agency of the South-West states.”
According to Oyetola, Osun remains the most peaceful state in Nigeria due to his administration’s security efforts. He said these strides explain several awards he had racked up in the past few years.
He vowed to “surprise” citizens if re-elected for another term.
“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,” he said.
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