By Solomon Adeniyi
The Director-General, Bureau of Social Services (BOSS), Office of the Governor of Osun, Mr. Olufemi Ifaturoti has said his agency has saved approximately N9 billion for the state since its establishment, a feat which he maintained is unprecedented in the annals of the 27-year-old state.
The agency according to him, was created out of the desire to ensure total delivery of value for the public being served
Mr. Ifaturoti stated this while granting audience to the Nigerian Television Authority, Ibadan Network Centre delegation led by its Zonal Director, Mrs. Jennifer Famosinpe in his office in Oshogbo.
The Director-General stated that BOSS is a product of series of brainstorming sessions before the advent of the present Rauf Aregbesola’s administration where it was discovered that strict adherence to merit is pivotal to the success of every serious minded administration.
Ifaturoti who went down the memory lane as he recounted developments recorded before the advent of the present administration in the state with specific reference to a retreat anchored by himself together with Amb. Olu Otunla, Dr. Charles Akinola and Mr. Kola Omotunde-Young which comprised of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and his then colleagues in the Lagos State Executive Council, maintained that the parley came up with a sixteen paged communique which was meticulously compressed into the Green Book (My Pact With The People of Osun) out of the desire to produce a handy material in both English and Yoruba.
The Legal Luminary told the delegation that the unparalleled success recorded by the Rauf Aregbesola’s administration is not unconnected to his painstaking preparation for the office he is presently occupying since 2005 after he expressed his intention for the highest office in the Land of Virtue.
Mr. Ifaturoti, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Arbitrators, stated that in its quest at enhancing public value delivery through its Projects’ Monitoring and Surveillance operations, the agency visited every road construction site across the state between 5 and 9 times, adding that the distance covered is a similitude of driving from Osogbo all the way to the United Kingdom.
He asserted that OYES which has empowered about 45,000 youths domiciled in Osun, came into being to address employability and successful career issues, maintaining that the resounding success recorded by OYES cannot be unconnected with the unparalleled commitment of Ogbeni Aregbesola who as far back as 2008 about two years before his assumption of duty reiterated his readiness to make use of his security vote as Governor to finance OYES if that is the only option available for him for the programme not to fail.
He maintained that YESSO which is a World Bank-assisted support operation designed to tackle poverty and vulnerability is an offshoot of the highly successful OYES initiative of the Aregbesola’s administration, adding that YESSO through its Community Based Targeting Exercise has generated the Single Register of the Poor and Vulnerable Households in the state widely adjudged to be credible from where the public workfare, skills for job, conditional cash transfer and other subsequent interventions of Government have been mining their potential beneficiaries.
Present at the interactive session was the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa
