The Governor of Osun state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has lamented that the Nigeria’s crude oil is suffering from lack of market in the world as 34 million barrels are now on the sea without buyers.
He also lamented that because of this bad market picture, his state could only get N55 million for the month of September, which sent a clear message that all avenues hitherto untapped must now be examined in order to sustain development initiatives.
The Governor who spoke at the commencement of the reconstruction of Orita-Olaiya-Ita-Olokan Road at Olaiya Junction to commemorate the 5th year of the Aregbesola-led government in Osun, said: “we must at this point tell ourselves the truth. There is no money coming from the federation account. Thirty four million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil are on the sea without buyers.
“Money coming from the Federation Account has dipped seriously and our hope for survival is in our hands, what our forefathers lived on was agriculture.
“We must now go back to the farms and work. We also need to pay our taxes so that government can meet its responsibilities. For September, our state got N55.8 million. The money we received cannot pay for the power supply by IBEDC that we use at the state Secretariat monthly.”
Aregbesola drew the attention of the people to the issue of strictly adhering to town planning rules, saying that his government regret and offer sincere sympathy to those that will be affected with the construction of the road which his administration is embarking on.
The Governor admonished those affected to see this as their own sacrifice of the present administration’s effort to enhance the status of our cities for better living conditions of the generality of the people.
Aregbesola said that Messrs. RATCON Construction Company Limited will be undertaking the reconstruction of the road at the cost of N985,115,410.78 million.
“The expansion of the road and the need to have a reasonable setback unfortunately meant that some buildings are already standing in the way and has to be separated. This could have been avoided if there had been strict adherence to town planning rules in the past.
“We regret this and offer sincere sympathy to those affected. They should see this as their own sacrifice in our efforts to beautify our city and develop a decent human environment. Nevertheless, we have set aside the sum of N392 million to the 127 people whose buildings were affected.”
The Governor appealed to people of the state to bear with government on the pains and discomforts associated with the road construction projects embarked upon, especially Gbongan-Akoda Road, noting that the delay was due to the unexpected financial challenges that befell the nation.
He assured that all the projects embarked on by his government will be completed before the end of the present administration. [myad]
