The Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has appealed to citizens of the state not to despair in the face of the tottering economy of the state, assuring them that his administration has embarked on massive reengineering and restructuring that will soon take the state out of the woods.
The governor made the appeal while addressing the congregation during a thanksgiving service in honour of his 66th birthday at the Government House Chapel, Ibadan, on Wednesday.
At the event were the governor’s wife, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, the children, family, friends and associates.
According to him, part of the efforts by the administration will yield dividends in the next year, which he said would shore up the internally generated revenue from the current N1.2bn to N3.5bn.
Ajimobi said that the pervading economic depression would bring out the best in him as an experienced manager of men and resources.
He said, “I want to use this opportunity to assure our people that the government is doing everything possible to take the state out of its present financial challenges. The result will begin to manifest very soon.
“The economy of Oyo State will be buoyant again. We have latent potential, which we are going to unleash. I make bold to say that in the next one year, our monthly Internally-Generated Revenue will move from N1.2bn to N3.5bn. And in the next two years, it will move up to N5bn.
“We’ve worked it out. We will attain it, I can assure you. This bad economy will separate the boys from the men in prudent economic management.”
Ajimobi said that he would devote his second term to the attainment of four cardinal goals, part of which he said was the revamping of the economy through diversification and restructuring, as well as improvement in social and physical infrastructure.
The governor also said that he would ensure that agriculture was given priority attention, exuding confidence that it had the potential to be the largest employer of labour, ahead of information technology.
Besides, he promised to overhaul the education sector through massive infrastructural rehabilitation, as well as training and capacity building of teachers, expressing worries that incompetent teachers still existed in the system.
He said, “It will not be business as usual in the education sector because part of my findings is that some teachers are incompetent and deficient.
“I also discovered that students fail not necessarily because they are dull, but because those teaching them are bereft of the knowledge they want to impart.
“You can’t give what you don’t have. We have teachers who cannot speak correct English. I was shocked to find an Economics graduate who cannot define economy. It is as bad as that.”
In his homily, the General Overseer of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Ibadan, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, urged the governor to use the opportunity of the historic second term to leave legacies behind.The cleric said, “You succeeded in breaking the second term jinx by the grace of God.
“Please don’t join the bandwagons of governors who barely make impact during second terms “Make your second term to be as productive as the first term. Leave a lasting legacy behind. The second term is not a period for relaxation. You worked hard during first term and the results are there for all to see.
“We’re used to seeing governors going to sleep during second term. You need to break the jinx of non-performance by most second term governors in the country.“Be determined to make a difference by looking for legitimate means of earning. You should also seek the understanding of Oyo people in this trying time. The time for politicking is over now. This is the time to work.”
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