Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has said he would not allow the positive ratings his administration has been receiving to affect his performance, declaring that there is a lot of ground for his government to cover in the state.
The governor disclosed that he has already tasked his team to redouble its efforts in the face of multiple awards and recognition of the quality service delivery and good governance of his administration in the last two years.
Governor Adeleke stated this while receiving official notification of his recognition as the Governor of the Year 2024 by the top management representatives of the Leadership Newspapers at the State Government House, Osogbo, on Thursday.
He assured members of the public that the plethora of commendations he has been receiving would spur him to deliver better, saying, “The consensus from those reviewing our performance and service delivery is that we are true agents of good governance.”
“In all these positive ratings, my response has always been to task my team to double their efforts. In the face of overwhelming positive reviews and high approval ratings, I am compelled to drive my team harder. When recently some opposition figures confessed to our positive ratings, I still believe we have a lot of grounds to cover.
“I am not allowing the praises to enter my head. While it may be true that I have delivered a four year task in under two years, I am propelled to do more because Osun has been left behind on many fronts. As I have reduced the infra deficit by over 40 percent, my real target is higher. As I have bridged access to primary health care, my ambition is to also expand health access at medium and tertiary levels. While our records across the sectors are laudable as your newspaper has acknowledged, the ultimate goal is to accelerate infra upgrade alongside the boosting of soft investment for the well being of our people.
“I appreciate your candid endorsement of our performance. It is important to note that your yardstick for recognizing us correlates with similar reasons adduced by others. Our huge governance records are undeniable facts especially in workers welfare, infrastructure delivery, educational expansion, health care access improvement, solid mineral sector reforms, digital economy initiatives, agricultural mechanisation among others,” the governor added.
Insisting that his administration would not slow down, Adeleke reeled out other projects in the pipeline, saying, “Very soon, I will flag off ongoing remodeling of Osogbo stadium to assume international standard. Prior to the ongoing stadium project, we have engineered the creation of Osun Sport Commission and Osun Sport Fund through appropriate legal and policy framework.
“Very soon, I will be flagging off the dualisation of phase one of Odoori – Post office road at Iwo. The contractor for Iwo -Osogbo road has mobilised to site. We plan to complete the two projects within the life of this administration. Meanwhile, the dualisation project at Ilesa is progressing while the flyover bridge at Ile Ife is ongoing with appreciable progress. 2025 is billed to be a year of further expansion of good governance for the good of man and humanity.”
In his remarks earlier after officially presenting the letter of the Award to Governor Adeleke, the Vice Chairman, Leadership Group, Mike Okpere, commended the governor for his developmental strides, saying the newspapers’ decision to recognise him as the Governor of Year was painstakingly taken after confirmation of Adeleke’s several achievements since inception of office in 2022.
Highlighting some of the achievements of Adeleke that warranted the award, the Director, Leadership Group, Abraham Isaiah, said Adeleke paid backlog salaries, constructed several roads, transformed healthcare sector, carried out free medical outreaches, among others.
Other embers of the newspaper team included Ibidiran Ayokunle, Head Southern Operations and Joshua Dada, Osun State correspondent.
