BEING THE RESPONSE OF GOVERNOR DAPO ABIODUN AFTER THE THANKSGIVING AT St PETER CATHEDRAL AKE, ABEOKUTA
” I appreciate our father, His Excellency, former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo (GCFR), Her Excellency ,my darling wife, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun,Her Excellency ,the Deputy Governor of the state, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, all former Governors here present, particularly the former Governor,Otunba Justus Gbenga Daniel. I recognise and appreciate the presence of the Head of Service, I recognise and appreciate the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, the Chief Justice of the state, the Senators here present, all former Deputy Governors here present,all Judges here present, our Royal Majesties, our Paramount Rulers here present,the Alake,the Olu of Ilaro,the Akarigbo of Remo, the representative of the Awujale of Ijebu, my own Kabiyesi the Alaperu of Iperu, the Ebumawe of Ago Iwoye and all other Paramount rulers here present. I appreciate and recognise the Commissioner of Police, the State Director of SSS and all other law enforcement agencies here present. The body of Permanent Secretaries, the chairman of our great party APC, all distinguished sons and daughters of Ogun State that are members of APC,all my friends that have defiled the heavy traffic of Lagos axis to come down here today, I appreciate you all . The gentlemen and ladies of the Press and in particular the committee members that have put together this beautiful occasion,I appreciate all of you and recognise you.
I want to thank the Lord Bishop for his sermon. His message was half sermon and half words of advice. I want to thank young Miss Adeoye Ebunoluwa, she’s a rare talent. I believe we should all stand up and give her another round of standing ovation. I want to thank her parents for bringing her up uprightly because the sky is her limit.
I remain a living testimony to the awesomeness of God and the fact that with God all things are possible. I want you to join me in singing this song;
Olorun to da awon oke igbani,
Eyin ni mo fi ope mi fun
Tani n o tun gbe ga oo, bi ko se baba loke
Tani n o tun fi gbogbo ope mi fun
Olorun to da awon oke igbani
Eyin ni mo fi ope mi fun
Lord Bishop, I have listened very carefully to your testimony and to all the details of the advice you have given us and your extracting words from my inaugural speech and I want to assure you that we will live through to our words,we will be accountable ,we will be transparent, we will be responsive, equitable, effective, efficient, we will follow the rule of law,we will be participatory and we will be inclusive in governance and I want to assure you that we will complete all the on going projects because you were very emphatic that administrations come in and each one tends to abandon projects started by the previous administration we will complete all the on going project
During our campaign,in the course of going around the 20 local governments in the state,it gave us the opportunity to identify what was largely responsible for the gaps between the government and the governed. we realised the fact that what was common to our people was the decay of the rural and township road infrastructure. So to that end,we made a commitment which we have emphasised over and over again that at our assumption of office our priority will be to immediately look into how to upgrade, rehabilitate,repair and restructure our township roads. We appreciate the fact that most of our citizens are rural and township dwellers, and as we know it is important that state capitals and towns should look befitting. However for our people who live in the rural areas all they want to do is take their produce from farm to the market. We have decided as the Lord Bishop has recalled that we are resuscitation the Department of Public Works (DPW)which is to be called OGROMA. We have immediately commenced the enumeration of all the roads across the state that needs repair. The reason we are choosing to do so is to begin this work speedily without the need of having to award third party contracts. At the same time it will also allow us to develop and empower the local economy. It will stimulate the local economy. So if the rural or township road goes through a particular area and we are able to involve those that are in that catchment area in the supply of needed materials or labour etc, it will be our own way of stimulating the local economy. So we have enumerated the list of these roads and we have sent them back to their local governments and we requested that which of it is their priority and by so doing we are also involving them in this process So it won’t be that we are repairing roads that are not their priority. So you know that in the distant future you will begin to see activities in your backyard because we have gangs that range from Ijebu Ode, Ilaro, Sagamu, Abeokuta, Ota and Ifo.
This six gangs were the functions of this rehabilitation will begin to take place from. So we are going to be focused on rural and township roads. This is just one of what we intend to do in the area of infrastructure.
We appreciate the fact that to keep our vision, which I should remind you is to have a focused and qualitative governance while creating an enabling environment for a Public/Private sector partnership which we believe is fundamental to the economic growth of this state and individual prosperity. A lot of emphasis on Public/Private partnership and to encourage Public/
Private partnership you must have the right infrastructure. The issue of rural and township road is just a matter of infrastructure.
We intend to ensure that going forward, we focus on creating that enabling environment for people to come here and invest in the state. Before you come here to invest in the state you will want to see electricity,good roads,security, these are the things that anyone coming to invest in Ogun State will want to see. We have also decided that we are going to have an improved and indeed an Ogun State Investment Promotion Agency that will be headed by an Investment Banker, not just someone who doesn’t have what it takes to bring investment into the state.
Till date,Ogun State has been rated largely for what we call the “Push” factor of Lagos, meaning that people coming to invest in Ogun State is networked to Lagos or perhaps there’s no land available in Lagos that’s the “Push” factor We are committed to change it to a “Pull” factor
So we will do all it takes to endear people to come here We create that enabling environment for them to come so that Ogun State will be, as we have said, the number one economy in this country. Other areas of focus for us are the *Education sector I said in my inaugural speech that we will declare an emergency on education. We have the largest number of Tertiary and Primary education in this country. We are what we call, as I described in my speech what Boston is to the United States. However, the results of our students on both internal and external examinations have been on a decline, we have to do something about this just like the Lord Bishop observed.
Our approach is not going to be half hazard. We have the benefit of the best of Ogun State brains where we put together our education committee. Our Education sector was headed by one Professor Oso. You may know her. Their report have been submitted and I’ve been going through it and we are going to have an education submit and we will have an education master plan. So our approach is not going to be half hazard. So be rest assured that beyond having a befitting primary school in each ward as I promised. we are indeed going to have an education master plan that will allow us to plan exactly how we are going to deal with this trend we’ve seen in the last few years and make sure Ogun State restore back it’s glory as the number one state in terms of education in this country
Other areas of interest for us are agriculture, healthcare, power, physical planning etc. But I would like to say that everything we plan to to do in Ogun State is that we are going to see through the lenses of our infrastructure and development, so for example, yes, we are prioritising roads, township, rural and industrial road, and I mentioned industrial road because for those of you that know Agbara which happens to be the biggest industrial hub in this country, the state of infrastructural decay in Agbara is unbelievable. So we’ve decided that everything we are going to do, be it education, be it agriculture, be it healthcare we will see through the lenses of our roads, yes,we are rehabilitating a road. If that road passes through a healthcare centre it will be our priority, we are rehabilitating a road if it goes through a primary school it becomes a priority. We are rehabilitating a road if it goes through our farm settlements it becomes our priority. So yes we will touch all this sector but we will view all these through the lenses of our roads
I want to thank the Lord for this inaugural week which started about ten days ago. It started with a church program. We had lectures,we had a cultural night there, a program in the mosque leading to the inauguration itself. A lot of us appreciated the trepidation with which we approached the inauguration. There was a lot tension, intolerance but God in his infinite mercy scaled us through* I want to mention, that I Adedapo Abiodun, promise to be a good Governor of this state and I bear no ill or grudge towards anybody. God has used everyone to allow me to achieve this noble objective. I cannot begin to bear grudges against anybody because indeed there are times God take us through the crucible so that we can achieve what he wants us to. You see often times if you earn something and it doesn’t cost you, you may not appreciate it So for me whatever process, person, hardship,whatever it is God has taken me through to make it here *I count it all joy as all that God has put me through so I can attain this position
In conclusion I say, take the stage Lord ,have your way, I’m just a vessel and nothing more. Let your will be done, please take the glory,I will be satisfied just to see you satisfied. So help me God. Thank you very much.”
Ayannuga Olufemi
transcribed from the audio for
Asuss Press Crew
