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OSUN GOVERNOR, MR. ADEGBOYEGA OYETOLA, FAREWELL ADDRESS AT THE END OF HIS FIRST TERM ON NOVEMBER 27, 2022

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My dear Osun Good People,

As I step down today, at the end of the four-year term you generously granted me, I thank God and thank you for your years of support, cooperation, and prayers.

I recall how the journey began four years ago, when you exercised your right to vote for me because you believed in me and our Party’s plans and programs.

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We promised to serve you with a steady heart and hands because we were motivated by God’s promise, my conviction. We promised to hit the ground running once we took office. We promised to put you first and to run a people-centered government. We vowed to uphold the highest ideals deserving of an Omoluabi.

As we conclude our first term, we are confident that we have not broken our promises or disappointed you. We stayed true to our electoral promises and kept our word to you. We wished to continue serving you, but we are constrained by the results of the July 16 Governorship election, which we are already contesting in court.

We are stepping aside as a law-abiding citizen and government to allow the law to take its course.

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However, we hope to continue serving you in the near future. We have complete faith in God that we will return soon, just as we have implicit faith in the judiciary to do justice in the case before it.

We are confident that this brief period of political eclipse will pass. The sun will shine brighter and warmer again, and the sustainable development and participatory governance that we enthroned, which have been lauded by local and international organizations, will be restored and placed on a firmer and more secure footing.

In a democracy, there is no substitute for people-centered and development-savvy governance. The tap roots of our unprecedented good governance, inclusive and participatory governance, which resulted in massive equitable projects and programs, are too strong to be uprooted.

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My dear Osun Good People, I cannot thank you enough for not only supporting us throughout our tenure, but also for sticking by us even after the July 16 election results. Your generosity inspired us to complete all of our projects until the very end.

Let me reiterate that during my first term, we were able to address the fears and evils of fiscal indiscipline and lack of implementation, which hampered projects and services in the nation’s public sector. This is evident in the plethora of people-centered and mass-focused projects we delivered for the benefit of the people of the State in this first term.

We demonstrated that infrastructure and economic development are feasible in a downturn, and that stagnant development in a downturn is the result of intellectual laziness, a lack of creativity, a lack of innovation, and a lack of political will.

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We were able to deliver laudable and people-centered projects such as feeding 30,000 vulnerable people in Osun on a monthly basis through the Osun Food Support Scheme and financial support for the aged and widows; opening up the Mining sector, which attracted large investors to the state; reforming the educational sector, including the recruitment of 2, 500 teachers; and reviewing the single school uniform regime, among others, in response to public demand.

To increase access to quality and equitable education at all levels, with the goal of empowering Osun citizens to realize their full potential, we upgraded the existing Osun State College of Education, Ilesa to a full-fledged University of Ilesa, with world-class funding strategies that would not place undue strain on the State’s finances; and we repaired and equipped the State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro with state-of-the-art equipment.

We built, reconstructed, and rehabilitated rural and township roads to help our farmers transport their produce to market and, in general, bring equitable development to our state. Apart from the Olaiya Flyover, which is an architectural masterpiece, a paragon of aesthetics, and a socioeconomic signature on the economic transformation captured by the Development Agenda we exchanged for our people’s mandate, other major roads touched by our administration include: Ada-Igbajo road, Osogbo-Kelebe-Iragbiji road, and Akindeko-Awosuru link road via Adejumo Street with Oremeji spur,

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Others are: Lawyer Atanda Road, Iwo; Ila-Arandun-Kwara Boundary Road; Nike Gallery – Ido – Osun Township airport with palace spur; Ikirun – Eko-Ende Road; Osogbo (Lameco)-Okinni-Ilobu – Ifon Osun Market with Spur to Olobu’s Palace; Osogbo/Ilobu-Akari- However, a few other roads are still under construction, while others are nearing completion. Among these roads are the Ife Township Roads, Inisa Road, and Osogbo-Iwo Road. All of this was done because addressing our state’s infrastructure deficit is a critical component of our Development Agenda. This is because no economy can thrive unless adequate infrastructure is in place to make life easier for residents and businesses.

We also restored the lost glory of our civil service by ensuring that workers’ salaries are not only paid on time, but that the minimum wage is maintained despite the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fight against COVID-19, we stood tall among the states.

We also steadfastly defended and prioritized the well-being of workers and retirees. For this first term, we spent over N50 billion to pay our senior citizens’ pensions and gratuities. We remitted the contributory pension when it was due while also reducing the backlog left by the previous administration. Under our leadership, we were able to stabilize the state’s economy in general.

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We never jeopardized our people’s security as we worked with other South-West states to establish Amotekun to supplement traditional security agencies and further secure our state.

We also launched the Osun Youth Policy Document to care for our younger generation’s present and future, and we injected over N2 billion into the economy through the Osun Microcredit Agency to empower our market men and women.

From slightly more than 10 billion in 2018, we have increased the State IGR to N20 billion, while our performance in the World Bank’s States’ Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability (SFTAS) has earned us accolades and financial benefits.

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Before we took office, Osun was ranked 32nd on the fiscal sustainability index, trailing only Taraba, Plateau, Adamawa, and Kogi states.

However, according to the most recent ranking in 2021, we have risen to the 19th position on the index, as we are now ranked 13th out of the federation’s 36 states.

As we conclude our first term, rest assured that Osun is more economically stable than when we began, and it has remained the most peaceful state in the country under our leadership.

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We did not take out any bank loans for four years. However, we benefited from the federal government’s N3 billion monthly intervention to all states for six months to cushion the effect of budget support facility and salary bailout deductions accessed by the previous administration, just as we paid N97 billion from the total debt we inherited in 2018.

We are leaving behind over N14 billion in cash. In addition to the N14 billion cash, another N8 billion is expected from our performance in SFTAS and the IGR between December and January. Another seventy-two million dollars is on its way to the state from RAMP 3, NG-CARES, the Nigeria for Women Project, and the Ease of Doing Business. These are earned through performance. And we have worked hard to earn them. It was part of the same performance that earned us the World Bank’s States’ Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability, SFTAS, awards for Best Governor on Efficiency of Public Expenditure and TOP Performer on Domestic Revenue Mobilisation.

We went to this length to assure you that Osun was viable under our leadership. It was accomplished through fiscal restraint and personal sacrifice.

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On behalf of our team, I urge you to continue to follow the law and to work tirelessly to build the Osun of our dreams. Together, we will continue to mend our dear State’s broken walls and restore her glory for our collective good and that of future generations.

Thank you to everyone, and may God continue to bless Osun.

Oyetola Adegboyega

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Governor of Osun.

26 November 2022

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