Tasks Before The Osun New Cabinet Members

By Kehinde Ayantunji

The enormous tasks before the newly-appointed cabinet members in the State of Osun had been placed before them, as the Governor, Rauf Aregbesola sworn-in his 39-member executive council.

This is just as governor declared that he and his deputy, Mrs Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori, were dropping their portfolios in Works and Infrastructure, and Education respectively for new entrants into the cabinet, to allow for more effective policy coordination and supervision.

The executive council members are being faced with the tasks of assisting the governor to complete the ongoing projects across the state, develop policies for the economic recovery, strengthen social programmes of the government, strengthen the educational sector and galvanise development within the remaining 18 months of the administration.

The Governor at the swearing-in of the cabinet members in Osogbo stated that the inauguration was long overdue, but for dire constraint of funds.

Aregbesola stressed that Osun was not insulated from the financial challenges that the country had during the Peoples Democratic Party-led administration in Nigeria, saying the state was receiving negative monthly allocations from the Federation Account during the period.

“Of course, this is long overdue. It should have come up immediately after my inauguration on November 27, 2014. As you all know, we were hamstrung by dire constraint – principally financial.

“Our second term coincided with the onset of a national economic disaster. The first on account of a purported daily theft of 650,000 barrels of crude oil under the watch of the immediate past PDP national government. This is curious and improbable.

“We must note that 650,000 barrels of crude oil is the equivalent of 65 super tankers each laden with over 300,000 metric tons of crude oil. By the way, a super tanker is about 450 metres long, the equivalent of four and a half football fields.

“Indeed, 27 states and the Federal Government were unable to pay salaries of workers. It might interest us to know that the government of Goodluck Jonathan, according to his Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had to borrow N476 billion from commercial banks to be able to pay salaries in the last four months of his administration,” Aregbesola told the gathering.

The Governor further stated that his government has responsibilities to three broad categories, the most important of which is the commitment to the generality of the people of the state whose mandate he swore an oath to exercise faithfully, the state workers whom his administration has a contractual obligation to pay at the end of every month, and the political class who made it possible to campaign, contest and win elections.

“We also continued with our programmes and critical social intervention albeit on a reduced scale. Lastly, we have good understanding from the political class on the need for them to make sacrifice as we defer appointments and cabinet formation.

“Our traducers, rather than reasonably comprehend the situation went to town to harp on the non-composition of cabinet but in the process expose their own ignorance.

Speaking on behalf of newly sworn-in cabinet members, the new Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Ajibola Bashir, described the delay in the constitution of the cabinet by Mr Governor as a sign of courage and commitment to good governance, saying, the governor had exhibited high sense of commitment to raise the bar of governance in the last six years of his administration.

He said, the new cabinet would leave no stone unturned to ensure unflinching support and cooperation with the present administration in the state, just as he assured the people of the state of the readiness of the new cabinet to consolidate on the legacies built by Aregbesola-led administration in the last six years.

“For us, the remaining 18 months to the expiration of this administration is enough to galvanise development”, Ajibola said.