By Kehinde Ayantunji
The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has charged the leadership of Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) and other government parastatals in the state to work hard and raise the revenue needed for the development of the state.
Aregbesola said for the state to survive economically and continue on the ongoing infrastructural development, all hands must be on deck to raise the state’s Internally Generated Revenue from its average N500million to N4.1billion on monthly basis.
The Governor made this disclosure at Royal Park Hotel, Iloko-Ijesa while declaring open, a 5-day Envisioning/Capacity Building Workshop on the Ten Years State Development Plan organised by the State Ministry of Economic Planning, Budget and Development.
Aregbesola called on the people of the state to begin to look inward and imbibe the culture of being truthful to their civic responsibilities of paying tax to government.
He held that for the 10-year proposed Economic Development Plan to be realised, Osun must earn before the expiration of his administration at least N4.1billion every month.
Aregbesola told the gathering to use the opportunity of the workshop to develop for the state, a development agenda that will make Osun a virile, viable and successful state in Nigeria.
According to him, “In your course of planning in respect of this workshop, Osun must at least target N10billion IGR in the next ten years.
“Osun must earn before the expiration of this administration at least N4.1billion as monthly IGR, it is not as difficult as we think but we must apply our senses to it.
“If we really want to build a prosperous state as we aspired, we must pay our taxes, God doesn’t support idleness, laziness and indolence, so we must work to meet our personal needs and give to government what is due to it.
“So, we must also use the opportunity of this gathering to develop and provide for our state, a development agenda that will make it a virile, viable and successful state in Nigeria.
“If Lagos earned N503.7 billion in 2017 as Internally Generated Revenue, as being claimed by its government, it means that Lagos generated N41.7 billion for every month of the 12 months of 2017, therefore, we must struggle to get IGR capacity of N4.1 billion which is 10 per cent of what Lagos generates every month before we exit.
“So we must henceforth let the people of Osun know that if Lagos could earn N41.7 billion as IGR every month, then it is unthinkable and irresponsible for Osun not to strive to make N4.1billion every month.
“That is what we need. It is the least we can work on. By 2028, if Osun must be modern, thus we must have capacity to generate N10 billion monthly.
“So, the communique of this workshop must develop the capacity to support the state in its quest for development in practical terms and to make Osun one of the best economically viable in Nigeria”, Aregbesola told the gathering.
“We must also be conscious of the future population explosion in whatever economy we are planning by educating the people against the effects of reckless procreation because if we fail to take the bull by the horn, the present population in the country would have risen to 200million with similar effect on each state of the federation in ten years time.
“Thus, we must aggressively pursue local production on our own to overcome unemployment and its consequences, otherwise, we will still be facing challenges.
“In Osun, we have made little infrastructural development and if that doesn’t continue, then it will be difficult to traverse the state. These are the practical issues that we need to bother about regarding worthy successor.
“As we can all see, in ten years time, there will be no allocation from anywhere, thus, we must support our people to develop their potential to work efficiently so as to enrich themselves and key into what to give to government to run the state”.
Earlier in his welcome address, Osun Commissioner for Economic Planning, Budget and Development, Dr. Olalekan Yinusa said
that the state development plan is expected to be a public document that will enumerate Osun overarching policy position.
He added that the state development plan will go a long way in highlighting the enduring legacies of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s administration which will be leveraged on and sustained by incoming administrations in the state.
He said, ”The preparation process of Osun 10-year State Development Plan will be participatory and inclusive of all relevant stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs); Community Based Organisations (CBOs), organised Private sectors (OPS), opposition political parties in the state of Osun amongst others.
“I want to challenge everybody here present to see himself or herself as being privileged to be part of this historic effort of creating a new future for our state. We must rise to the challenge of contributing ideas, time and other resources towards this all important project of creating a new future that is built on shared prosperity, productivity, efficiency and due process.
“A future where everybody is alive to his or her responsibilities, a future that promotes and celebrates excellence, diligence, commitment, nobility of character and hardwork and a future that guarantees basic needs of life”.
In his remarks, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, said the workshop will provide a platform for equipping the people of Osun with the necessary skills required for the actualisation of sustainable 10-years development plan.
Oyetola held that the Strategic Master Plan through the summit is capable of bequeathing a solid foundation for all round development in the various sectors of the state.
