It was with fanfare and joy that women in the State of Osun trooped to the Freedom Park venue of empowerment programme of the State of Osun where 18,000 of them received N40,000 totaling N600million.
The programme had in attendance the First Ladies of Osun, Oyo and Lagos States, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, Florence Ajimobi and Abimbola Fashola respectively.
At the official launch and presentation of cheques to women beneficiaries, the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, reiterated his administration’s commitment to eradicating poverty in the state.
Aregbesola observed that people’s welfare must be central in the programmes of any serious government.
He affirmed that it is in recognition of this that his government collaborated with Grooming Micro-Finance, Lagos so as to fast track attainment of poverty alleviation goal as enshrined in his government’s six-point agenda.
He stated that his government will not detract from its programmes that give quality life to the people.
He averred that if women in the state are economically active but financially handicapped, there is no way they would be able to contribute to the economic growth of the state. He said this is which is why government came to their aids through the loans.
He said: “As government, we have realised that development is incomplete without consideration to the human aspect.
“Ours is a combination of both infrastructural and human development and today’s ceremony is an attestation to this fact.
“We are committed to making our Omoluabi State a subject of envy among the comity of states and a place worthy of living for all and sundry.
“We have extended government presence across 30 local governments and the Area Office of the state and complete a lot of capital projects some of which are currently being commissioned and which are there for everyone to see.”
He said his government has achieved great feat in the area of poverty alleviation, which according to him, is second to no other one.
He noted that his government’s collaboration with various financial organisations has brought smile to faces of every house in the state.
He promised that his government will continue to support all laudable intervention programmes so that government’s commitment towards poverty alleviation will be fully realised in not too distant future.
In his opening remark, the Executive Director of Grooming Loans Scheme, Mr. Adesoji Tayo, pointed out that the Grooming Centre is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded seven years ago to address the near absence of financial services for the large population of economically active poor people.
He said the assistance ‎will afford such women to engage in small trading and micro productive activities in many parts of the country.
“We operate from 259 branches with staff strength of 1,362, we have 374,145 clients. Just 3 weeks ago, we achieved a billion Naira loan disbursement per week.
“I will also like to state that the programme is not a social welfare or government hand-out, it is not political settlement,” he told the gathering.
The special Adviser to the Governor on Rural Development and Community Affairs, Hon. Kunle Ige, said through the empowerment programme, 18, 000 women were beneficiaries of the first disbursement.
Through this loan, economically active poor people and who are vulnerable and engage in small scale commercial activities, are supported and empowered.
“Available data have shown that majority of our women especially at the rural communities are economically active but are constrained financially.
“This is why the current administration has committed so much to poverty alleviation interventions to reduce this ugly trend and make life more meaningful to her citizenry, especially the women,” Ige said

The State of Osun under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has broken into new grounds through maximally utilising information communication technology for governance effectiveness in the State. This is the first of such uncommon thinking in the Country.
The state has launched a smart card which carries the data base of all civil servants in the state and will also serve as credit card, debit card and staff identification. The card has embedded in it the profiles of all government workers in the state. The card is tagged ‘’ I AM ALIVE’’
At the launch on Tuesday, 29^th April 2014, the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola while giving his speech at the occasion said the civil servants smart card is to intensify the state’s use of information communication technology for administrative effectiveness. The unique features and benefits of the smart cards include:

• The  card is electronically personalised with biometric features to each of its users
• Through this smart card system, the workers can get their monies paid directly to their accounts instead of through any intermediary points.
• There cannot be mistaking identity in the payment of monies due to the workers
• For the pensioners, it removes the stress of going through multiple verification to get their payment and also blocks the means for cheating them out of their money.
• It eliminates ghost workers in the system
• The card is linked to a credit or debit card and gives the owner access to his or her salary account, which he use to withdraw up to 20 per cent of the salary with or without money in their account
• The smart card can be used not only in Osun but also within and outside Nigeria and anywhere in the world.
• The card carries the fingerprint of card holder with which he can identify him or herself.

The project is a tripod arrangement between State Government of Osun, Chams Plc and financial giant, First Bank Plc.
This project has set Osun aside as a leading state in novel ideas which have come to be the hallmark of this government. It is worthy of note that the automation of the State Payroll System singlehandedly raised the internationally generated revenue by 100% without increasing a dime in tax payable by citizens.
The state is also set to issue personalised cards for State public school pupils from 1-6. The card will contain the bio-data of the pupils.
Osun is taking the driver’s seat in innovative thinking and unparalleled strides in state administration in Nigeria.
IT IS A RISE FROM OBSCURITY TO STARDOM UNDER OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA!

What does the governor of the State of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola want to achieve by preferring the appellation, Ogbeni to Your Excellency? In Yorubaland, the word, ogbeni, which simply means mister, connotes simplicity and courage.
It has been argued in some quarters that the title reflects the governor’s character and view on governance as it relates to the people and government officials.
Unlike previous administrations in the state, it is said that he is not intoxicated by the reins of power; he is rather concerned with how to make meaningful changes in the lives of the ordinary people of the state.
But beneath his unassuming simplicity lies a spirit of resoluteness and unshakeable believe that it is not unnatural for the wealthy to be few. Ogbeni Aregbesola, however, understands that you can’t solve all the problems for all the people all the time, but governance means creating and sustaining prosperity and alleviating poverty. This is the hallmark of the Aregbesola administration, and it cannot be compromised.
As many Osun indigenes will testify, the state is very different today. Unlike what it was under previous administrations, it is a more peaceful, prosperous and a better place to live. But expectedly, the governor is not immune to distraction and poisonous criticisms.
To some, his views are grotesque, defective and deficient. Some have accused him of always playing to the gallery. Some would have people believe that the man is an enigma with a stigma. They distort and misrepresent his steadfastness for stubbornness, his tenacity for dogmatism, his vision for delusion, and his policies for extravagance.
Against all manner of criticisms by the opposition, the governor’s work speaks for him. For instance, his first major decision was to set up the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O’YES), through which 20,000 youths were trained and subsequently gainfully employed. That was in his first 100 days in office. And the gains are still here.
The result of this scheme is that Osun now has the lowest unemployment rate in the country as well as the second lowest poverty rate in Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
It is advisable that a scheme of this nature be introduced at the national level as it will drastically reduce unemployment and positively affect the nation’s economy. Other states should also follow suit.
Although Ogbeni Aregbesola was stoutly criticised for attempting to create a new state identity through the introduction of a new logo, state anthem and slogan, other governors followed the trend. Example is the governor of Bayelsa State.
He was also criticised for creating the Islamic Bond (Sukuk) in the state, but it has ushered in an affordable and manageable means of raising finance for capital projects. It was so successful that the bond has been heavily subscribed. To add spice to it, the Sukuk Bond recently won an award in far away Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At the award night of world acclaimed Islamic Financial News magazine, Osun Sukuk won the ‘Deal of the Year’ Award.
By making the day of Hijrah in the Islamic calendar and ‘Isese Day’ state holidays, Ogbeni has preserved the celebration of core traditions and rich culture in Osun. It is no surprise therefore, that Osun is one of the states in Nigeria that can boast of a United Nations World Heritage site.
The introduction of Tablets of Knowledge (Opon Imo) to students in Senior Secondary Schools in the state has propelled Osun into one of the leading states in ICT-driven education. Millions of naira that would have been spent in buying textbooks for the students has been saved. Opon Imo also won the United Nations World Summit Award in 2013. This is even as new schools are built, free school uniforms distributed to students and pupils while funding is increased.
The process of teaching and learning has taken a whole new dimension.
As part of his education reform programme, the governor merged schools. This action was aimed at improving service delivery, but he faced the worst criticism. He was accused of destabilising the education system in the state. But the people know better.
The governor has also done well in infrastructural development. Among other things, several roads have been constructed; others are ongoing, while some are rehabilitated.
Going by the achievements of the governor, it is a known fact that Osun indigenes, who are tired of politics of bitterness and terror, have vowed never to return to the era of underdevelopment.
As the people prepare for another election, it is expected that the state would not be dragged into the dark days of old. The state and its people must move forward in the right direction. The electorate must be wise to keep political businessmen and women out of the state’s Government House.
The author, Senior Special Assistant on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Governor of the State of Osun, wrote from Osogbo.
DAILY TRUST

The Osun State government says it has spent multi-billion naira on roads infrastructure development and, according to Rauf Aregbesola, the state governor, the whole idea of this development is to transform the lives of the people of the state.

The State of Osun recorded another first in the deployment of technology for administrative efficiency with the launch of State of Osun civil servant smart identity card and biometric automation tagged ‘I am Alive.’
The smart card launch, which is another first of its kind in the country, carries the data base of all civil servants in the state and will also serve as credit card, debit card and also serves as staff identification, carrying their profiles.
During the launch, the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in his speech titled: ‘Identifying the Living’, said the civil servant smart card is to further intensify the state’s use of information technology for administrative efficiency.
Aregbesola said the introduction of the smart card will be highly beneficial to both government and the workers in the state.
According to the governor, the smart ID card is electronically personalised with biometric features to each of its users.
This, the governor stated that It will add immense values to the  activities of workers and will equally improve the capacity and cost of administration by government.
He said: “To be sure, it was through the application ICT to our tax administration and revenue collection that enabled us to increase our internally generated revenue by 100 per cent within the first few months of our administration.
“We have since intensified our effort to make ICT an inherent part of our public administrative system. The introduction of this new smart electronic identity card is another component of that overall effort.
“It will expectedly bring about many benefits to all of us; the individual civil servants and the government. It will be given to all workers across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including Local Government Council workers.
“The smart ID card is electronically personalised, with biometric features, to each of its users. It will add immense values to the workaday functioning of workers and will equally improve the capacity and cost of administration by government.”
Identifying the numerous benefits of the smart card, Aregbesola revealed that the card will help eliminate many sources of financial waste and leakage employed to deprive government of needed funds as well as helps create an accurate and reliable database for payroll administration and salaries’ payment.
Besides, he averred that possibility of defrauding any workers of the payments due to them is now difficult with the introduction of the card.
Again, through this smart card system, the workers can get their monies paid directly to their accounts instead of through any intermediary points.
Aregbesola continued: “Leave bonuses for example are now tied to each worker’s birthday and paid to their accounts automatically on that day.
“With this smart ID cards, there cannot be mistaking identity in the payment of monies due to the workers. In this system, identity is completely individualised and electronically personalised.
“For the pensioners, it removes the stress of going through multiple verification to get their payment and also blocks the means for cheating them out of their money.
“By clearly identifying the living from the dead, this system ensures that ghost will no longer mingle with our workers or have access to our payroll in Osun. It keeps them where they belong – in the grave. It stops the dead from coming to steal money from the living. It makes certain that only retirees who are ‘ALIVE’ receive payment. This affirms the sense in the project’s title, ‘I AM ALIVE.”
One very interesting feature of this card is that it is linked to a credit or debit card and gives the owner access to his or her salary account, which he use to withdraw up to 20 per cent of the salary with or without money in their account.
The smart card is a tripartite arrangement among the Osun Government, Charms Plc and the First Bank Plc.
The governor also promised that by June this year, all school pupils from age 1 – 6 years will have personalised card that contains all their bio data .
In his reaction, the Director of ICT, State of Osun, Mr. Bambo Bashorun, said the smart card came at a time of security challenges and dwindling resources in the country.
He said that the issuance of the card  will guarantee proper accountability and plug holes through which resources are wasted.
“Creating a data base of all civil servants in the state is so important especially at this time of our challenging national life from increased level of insecurity to dwindling resources.
“With the data base created, the ID card issued and I AM ALIVE process automated, the state had ensured that no single kobo is wrongly allocated to undeserved person in the state,” Bashorun said.
In his own remark, the Group Managing Director of Charms, Mr. Ademola Aladekomo, said the state of Osun has broken another ground in the ICT word in Nigeria.
Aladekomo said the smart card will be given to all civil servants in the state.
According to him, the smart card can be used not only in Osun but also within and outside Nigeria and anywhere in the world.
He noted that the card also carries the fingerprint of card holder with which he can identify him or herself.
For the representative of the Managing Director of First Bank, Mr.M utairu Akinfolarin, said the idea of the card could only be a product of hard thinking.
He commended the governor for successful pioneering of the card, saying First Bank is very proud to be part of Osun technological success.

Photos from the  unveiling the State of Osun Civil Servant Smart ID Card and Biometric Automation of ‘I am alive’, during the Launch at Office of the Governor Parking lot, State Secretariat, Osogbo, State of Osun on Tuesday 29-04-2014.

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (2nd left) unveiling
the State of Osun Civil Servant Smart ID Card and Biometric Automation
of ‘I am alive’, during the Launch at Office of the Governor Parking
lot, State Secretariat, Osogbo, State of Osun on Tuesday 29-04-2014.
With him is, General Managing Director, Charms Plc, Sir Demola Aladekomo (left).

From right, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; General
Managing Director, Charms Plc, Sir Demola Aladekomo and First Bank Plc
representative, Mr Timothy Arowoogun, during the State of Osun Civil
Servant Smart ID Card and Biometric Automation of ‘I am alive’ at
Office of the Governor Parking lot, State Secretariat, Osogbo, State of Osun on Tuesday 29-04-2014.

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (right) presenting a
Smart ID Card to Chief Judge State of Osun, Justice Adepele Ojo
(left), during the launch of the State Civil Servant Smart ID Card and
Biometric Automation of ‘I am alive’ at Office of the Governor Parking
lot, State Secretariat, Osogbo, State of Osun on Tuesday 29-04-2014.
With them is, General Managing Director, Charms Plc, Sir Demola Aladekomo (middle).

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OSUN, OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA, AT THE FORMAL LAUNCH OF OSUN CIVIL SERVANTS’ SMART IDENTITY CARD AND ‘I AM ALIVE PROJECT’, HELD AT THE PARKING LOTS, GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, ABERE, OSOGBO, ON TUESDAY APRIL 29, 2014
Protocols,
It is with a sense of accomplishment that I stand before you here today. This does not stem from any feeling of cockiness. Rather, it comes from a sense of mission that we have again crossed another important threshold in our sure and steady march to the brave new world of technology-driven and ICT-enabled governance and operation in Osun.
In those days when the Bureaucracy was invented as a tool for administration and governance, it was the best thing that ever happened to the administration of people on a large scale. This is why the Bureaucracy is described as a mechanism of management that involve rules, regulations and procedures evolved to organise affairs in large and complex organisations in a manner that makes for smooth and efficient functioning
Among other things, the bureaucracy ensured effective organisation of a large number of people; it greatly improved hierarchical control; vastly enhanced human capacity for coordination; hugely enriched the transmission of information through the chain of command; and profoundly boosted the processing and delivery of results.
Because it functions through impersonal rules and procedures, it heightens technical competence and generally improves organisational efficiency. On the whole, the Bureaucracy was supposed to be impersonal, rational and efficient.
But over time, various problems crept in. Some of them are human while the others are a product of the time we live in.
It was towards providing solutions to the ‘Bureaucratic Solution’ that research efforts had been directed for a long time. Happily, a radical breakthrough came with the invention and application of Information and Communications Technology to organisational problems.
The ICT road had since become a real viable option for dealing with many of the problems of organisational dysfunctions. By transferring many functions hitherto performed by humans to machines that are devoid of the untoward influences of human feelings, emotions and intuitions, it brings real impersonality, rationality and efficiency to bear on organisational functions.
When we came aboard, we decided that the ICT road was a sensible path for us to follow in order to be able to tackle many of the recalcitrant problems of maladministration that we met on ground. We have not been disappointed. Indeed, we have largely been vindicated.
To be sure, it was through the application ICT to our tax administration and revenue collection that enabled us to increase our internally generated revenue by 100 per cent within the first few months of our administration.
We have since intensified our effort to make ICT an inherent part of our public administrative system. The introduction of this new smart electronic identity card is another component of that overall effort. It will expectedly bring about many benefits to all of us; the individual civil servants and the government. It will be given to all workers across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including Local Government Council workers.
The smart ID card is electronically personalised, with biometric features, to each of its users. It will add immense values to the workaday functioning of workers and will equally improve the capacity and cost of administration by government.
For instance, it will help to eliminate many sources of financial waste and leakage employed to deprive government of needed funds. It helps create an accurate and reliable database for payroll administration and salaries’ payment.
For the workers, the benefits are similarly numerous. It effectively removes the possibility of defrauding any workers of the payments due to them. Through this smart card system, the workers get their monies paid directly to their accounts instead of through any intermediary points.
Leave bonuses for example are now tied to each worker’s birthday and paid to their accounts automatically on that day. With this smart ID cards, there cannot be mistaking identity in the payment of monies due to the workers. In this system, identity is completely individualised and electronically personalised.
For the pensioners, it removes the stress of going through multiple verifications to get their payment and also blocks the means for cheating them out of their money.
It also gives payroll officers the opportunity for ICT skills acquisition because they will be trained in the use of Microsoft packages, computer networking, database management, payroll and human resources solution.
A very interesting feature of this card is that it is linked to a credit or debit card and gives the owner access to his or her salary account and can withdraw up to 20 per cent of the salary with or without money in the account.
Each of the 150 officers that will participate in the training will also receive a computer unit with UPS, as well as one HP printer, training manuals and one year free internet services for their participation.
By clearly identifying the living from the dead, this system ensures that ghost will no longer mingle with our workers or have access to our payroll in Osun. It keeps them where they belong – in the grave. It stops the dead from coming to steal money from the living. It makes certain that only retirees who are ‘ALIVE’ receive payment. This affirms the sense in the project’s title, ‘I AM ALIVE’.
It is my fervent prayer that none of you will die. You will stay alive to earn and receive your pay and enjoy the fruits of your labour.
I thank you all for being attentive.
Osun a dara!

Osun State governor’s wife, Alhaja Sherifat Abidemi Aregbesola has said that the commitment of the state government to environmental sustainability has changed the living condition of the rural dwellers in the state.
Alhaja Aregbesola who is also an Ambassador of Community Led Total Sanitation, CLTS, stated this at an award dinner organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Osun State Council in Osogbo.
The wife of the governor who also received a golden award in environmental and community services on the occasion noted that her intervention in the area of environmental sanitation and promotion of hygienic living had impacted positively on the lives of residents of the state.
She maintained that the award would further spur her to intensify campaign and enlightenment on dangers embedded in open defecation hence the need for stakeholders to support government in its bid to the improve standard of living of the citizenry.
The first lady lauded journalists in the state for their ingenuity and adherence to the promotion of professionalism in the discharge of their duties, submitting that the media is key to sustainability of the nation’s democracy.
Speaking, Osun state deputy governor, Mrs Titilaoye Tomori who described the award bestowed on the wife of the governor as a well deserved honour, maintained that journalists in the state were very active and objective in their reportage of government activities and programmes.
Mrs Tomori said government would continue to give priority to the  welfare of journalists, pointing out that government had concluded arrangement to digitalize the state broadcasting corporation.
In a remark, the Programme Manager, Osun State Rural Water Environmental Sanitation Agency, RUWESA, Alhaji Posi Adiatu noted that the award bestowed on the first lady was a strong indication that people were noticing her remarkable contributions towards environmental sustainability in the state.
NIGERIAN PILOT

KEYNOTE ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OSUN, OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA, AT A TWO-DAY ECONOMIC SUMMIT ORGANISED BY THE PEOPLES WELFARE LEAGUE, HELD AT OSOGBO HOLIDAY INN, IWO ROAD, OSOGBO, ON TUESDAY APRIL 29, 2014
 
Protocols,
It is with a deep sense of responsibility and elation that I join you at the opening ceremony of the two-day vitally important Osun Economic Summit, very well tagged ‘ORISUN AJE 2014’. I must specially thank the proactive convener and, especially, the progressive professionals who make up the Peoples Welfare League (PWL) for coming up with the idea of this Economic Summit. I applaud you for your good decision.
I am also very pleased to welcome all participants from within and outside the State of Osun to this Economic Summit. I do strongly hope that your participation in this event will enrich it and make it memorable in the actualisation of its outlined objectives.
Among other reasons, Summits like this are convened in order to cross-fertilise useful ideas on how to improve on and sustain the advantageous feats already attained. This, I should like to observe, is the prime reason for the convocation of this Economic Summit. No matter how lofty the level of success actualised in a venture is, there will always be rooms for improvement – particularly for the future.
The primary focus of this Economic Summit is Osun’s economic development and prospect. Therefore, I urge you to be dispassionately thorough in examining the core markers of economic development that have defined the state’s economy in the last 40 months. Your professional lens must not be blurred as you reflectively grapple with what has become of Osun’s economy under our Administration, and what the new potentials and opportunities are opening up in the state.
I wish to assure you that the findings and recommendations from this Economic Summit will receive the required attention from us. To this end, I enjoin you to accord each discussion session the full professional seriousness required. In the end, it may well turn out that not only Osun, but Nigeria at large will also benefit from your bouquet of observations and recommendations.
Distinguished participants, Osun in the last three and a half years has transited progressively from the demeaning and degrading backwaters of economic regression to the fertile plain of economic abundance. The transformation inspired by this transition is from all shades of evidence positively manifold. This is no head-swelling boast, or propagandistic claim. It is a fact evident in vital indices such as unemployment, poverty, inequality, and social and human capacity building.
You cannot objectively look at the present state of Osun economy and fail to notice that it has substantially and markedly grown. Let us make no mistake: this development is still progressively apace. To speak of it in a finite, conclusive sense is to foreclose the endless possibilities of a fruitful expansion and improvement.
You can put what we are saying to the test by posing and answering the questions raised by Dudley Seers in his essay, ‘The Limitations of the Special Case’. According to him:
The questions to ask about a country’s development are therefore: What has been happening to poverty? What has been happening to unemployment? What has been happening to inequality? If all three of these have declined from high levels, then beyond doubt this has been a period of development for the country concerned.
When we assumed office, what we met was a situation of chronic unemployment, excruciating poverty, acute inequality, and dishearteningly poor human capacity. Worse still, the state was hard pressed to fulfil its statutory obligations because it was writhing under hurting burdens of economic failure and unsustainable debt.
However, we wasted no time in coming up with a solution as encapsulated in Six-Point Integral Action Plan, namely ‘banishing poverty; banishing hunger; banishing unemployment; restoring healthy living; promoting functional education; and enhancing communal peace and progress’. Through the consistent and creative implementation of this action plan, we have been able to considerably scale down unemployment, poverty, hunger, inequality and poor human capacity.
It is on record that Osun was the first state throughout the Federation to come up with a sustainable idea to tackle youth unemployment. Through the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O’YES), 40,000 active youths thus far have been rescued from the dungeon of unemployment.
Through this scheme, N200 million is injected into the State’s economy every month as allowances of the involved youths. Our developmental policy gives robust attention to employment and job creation. And as E. Neumayer argues in his book, Weak Versus Strong Sustainability: Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms, development is entirely about enabling people, empowering them to live happily and productively.
I need to stress the point that engaging young people in decent and productive ventures is a sound economic policy and a practical method of good governance. There can neither be sustainable economic development nor effective governance where youth unemployment is prohibitively on the rise.
And I think one of the things to be examined at this Economic Summit is the nexus between good governance and economic development. With an unbending determination to deliver on our promises, we are executing our policies in ways that involve all categories of our citizens, be they traders, artisans, or other professionals. We are supporting farmers to increase productivity, ensure massive food production and food security.
We are also building the massive infrastructure that can sustain and refresh the state’s economy. The multi-billion naira Omoluabi Garment Factory, the RLG/Adulawo Technology City, the Ultra-Modern Abattoirs, the new markets, among many others, are firm indications of the strong resurgence in the economy of Osun.
It is crucial to state that in spite of the 34th position of Osun on the Federal Allocation table, we have been able to undertake hugely capital intensive people-oriented programmes. Osun has also gone past the era in which, for about 19 years of its existence, it generated no more than N300 million as IGR. Today, under our watch, it is generating about N1.6 billion. The 433 per cent upsurge in our IGR in about three years is achieved without any increase in tax. From the latest figures released, Osun has the seventh largest GDP in the country. We are still growing.
Like many other initiatives of this Administration, the increase in IGR affirms our unusual approach to people-oriented governance. We subscribe to insightful view of the American inventor/businessman, Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, of adopting a radical paradigm swing as a means of achieving set goals. In his words: ‘the best solutions are often the ones that are counterintuitive – that challenges conventional thinking – and end in breakthroughs’.
We are not resting on our paddles; we are making continuous efforts to even ensure that we depend less on Federal Allocation which, I must note gravely, does not aid economic development on a sustainable level. In other words, the envelope economy which we run in Nigeria will always do very inconsequentially little to engender the kind of economic development that can truly address human development.
Again, I challenge this Economic Summit to deliberate painstakingly and generate practicable solutions on how Osun can further overcome the challenges associated with revenue and public finance. This becomes all the more important in view of the inconceivable, yet persistent reality of increasing shortfalls in the so-called Federal Allocations to states.
The crux of the Osun economic development feat is the human-focused approach that we wisely adopt and uncompromisingly stick to. We understand development as reduction in poverty, unemployment, inequality, and as human-capacity enrichment.
In addition to having the least unemployment rate (3 per cent), second only to Niger State in poverty reduction, the National Bureau of Statistics which made those assessments equally affirms that in social and human development we are the best among the states in Nigeria. All of these, I must say, are the results of the human-centred-development approach we are totally given to.
If any developmental effort is to be sustainable, it must be compulsively human-centred and profoundly innovative. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA),
Human resources development lies at the heart of economic, social and environmental development. It is also a vital component for achieving internationally agreed Sustainable Development (SD) goals, including MDGs and for expanding opportunities to all people, particularly the most vulnerable groups and individuals in society.
What we do need in Nigeria, as Osun has managed to prove, is a clear break from a governance tradition that places emphasis on economic growth without human development. A human-centred method to economic development is the radical paradigm shift that is urgently needed to salvage Nigerians from the doldrums of poverty, unemployment, inequality and hunger. Human-centred approach, in my view, is incontestably the surest basis of sustainable economic development.
I wish you an interestingly swell time as you critically exchange thoughtful views on how to improve the economy of Osun for the present and future generations.
I thank you for your pleasant audience.
Osun a dara!

The City of Osogbo went agog on Monday as the motorcade of the governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola went round the 21 newly constructed roads which were commissioned by the governor.
The shout of “Aregbe” rented the air ‎as the convoy of the governor snaked through Station Road to Ebenezer Hotel Road; Boorepo to Elelede Junction Road; Elelede to Gbemu Road; Gbodofon to Gbemu Junction Road; and Ilobu Road to GRA Road among other roads listed for the ceremony.
‎The Governor at the Oroki Estate, venue of the commissioning said his administration has spent a total sum of Ten Billion Naira on Road constructions in the state.
‎
Aregbesola while delivering his speech at the official commissioning of the Osogbo metropolitan road project noted that he is not ‎perturbed by the huge amount of money committed into the road projects, because they will have unquantifiable benefits on people.
He added that at the inception of his administration, it had a vision of progress for Osun, of which road infrastructure development is a vital component.
The governor stressed that, because of the paramount importance of road transportation for the movement of people and goods in Nigeria, including Osun, government accorded it a priority attention in its development scheme.
Aregbesola pointed out that his administration did not allow it to be detained by the little details of short-term inconveniences but focused on the big picture and the long-term value of the sacrifices it’s making today.
According to the governor, “When we started these roads, our traducers scoffed and mocked the project, claiming that we would never have the funds or the presence of mind to see them through. But to the glory of God and their eternal shame, we have delivered on our promise.
“We are not resting on our oars; our greater vision is to tar every road in the state since we cannot conceive of a beautiful environment without good roads.‎
“We will therefore continue to convert our visionary road map for Osun into concrete and enduring legacy of asphaltic surfaces for the engendering of socio-economic development, progress and prosperity for our people”. The governor stated.
He averred that, as the state capital, Osogbo township road development project stands out as a product of a visionary road map intentionally aimed at making Osogbo the truly modern state capital it deserves.‎
The governor stressed that the roads are designed to ease transportation within the city, as well as in and out of it, adding that the total number of roads to be commissioned in Osogbo is 21roads with a stretch of 26.31 kilometres.
‎The commissioned roads include: Station Road to Ebenezer Hotel Road; Boorepo to Elelede Junction Road; Elelede to Gbemu Road; Gbodofon to Gbemu Junction Road; and Ilobu Road to GRA Road.
Others are: Oja Oba Road to Plantain Area; Balogun Biiro to Oke Baale Road; Alafia Street to Church Street, Awolowo Way; Coca-Cola to Capital Hotel Road; Oke Onitea Road to Anaye Market Junction; Okefia to Ita Olokan Road; the Road from Opposite Capital Hotel to Oroki Road; Oroki Estate to Ilobu Road; Odetoyinbo to Heritage Hotel Road with Spur; and Kola Balogun Road Junction to Fiwasaye Olohunosebi Junction.
Also commissioned were  Osunbukola to Ede Road; John Mackay Road to Oke Baale; the road from Tanisi to Keji Adigun Street; Adams Street to Mercy Land and Road Spur; Steel Rolling Camp to Kabelo Filling Station; and Rehabilitated Ifeloju Omo-West Road.
At the event on Monday were the wife of the governor, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titi Laoye Tomori, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Najeem Salam, Secretary to the State, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, members of the state executive council, traditional rulers, trade groups and others.