Osun State Governor has charged the state Council of Traditional Rulers to always tell him in all sincerity whenever his administration is not performing up to expectations rather than patronising him.
The governor gave this urge on Thursday while addressing the monarchs during their meeting at the Finance Building in Osogbo.
Briefing the traditional rulers in the meeting chaired by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi on landmark achievements of his administration and its plans for all sectors of the society including the traditional institutions in the state, Governor Adeleke said his government in the last one year has carried out service delivery in road construction, school rehabilitation, water provisions, health care access, workers and pensioners welfare.
Nonetheless, he called on the royal fathers to be objective in their assessment of his administration’s strides, maintaining the need for the monarchs to be truthful in their appraisal by observing areas that need more attention and commending him in the areas that he has performed well.
“Don’t patronise me when I am not doing well, tell me the truth and if I am doing well, praise me,” Adeleke informed the council after jugging for a few seconds to debunk insinuations that he had travelled abroad to seek urgent medical attention.
He encouraged the monarchs to always go for medical check-up and promised that the bills for their medical treatments would be paid by him.
The governor also seized the gathering to dispel rumour that he shunned Ooni of Ife at an event outside Osun, saying the video of where he purportedly dodged handshake with Oba Ogunwusi was edited by naysayers.
“I have cordial relationship with Ooni…the video was edited. I never shunned Ooni. I am from a good home and I was well brought up. I cannot disrespect royalty. I know your values, your prayers and advice are helping me,” Adeleke told Oba Ogunwusi and other traditional rulers in attendance.
According to Adeleke, his administration struggled to rehabilitate alleged vandalised government quarters and replaced government vehicles diverted by previous officials.
“Despite the difficulties we encountered, our administration created an annual development rolling plan which we faithfully implemented. Our fathers here have severally testified to our service delivery in road construction, school rehabilitation, water provisions, health care access, workers and pensioners welfare.
We crowned our one year super delivery with the unveiling of the multi-billion naira infra agenda designed to prepare Osun as an investment and global tourism destination. I am happy to report that implementation of the plan has commenced statewide,” he said.
Explaining how his government has been pushing to achieve a decade old ambition within four years, Adeleke said, “My highly revered royal fathers, we have been managing state finance with a high level of prudence and self sacrifice. My security vote is going for state development. As we are tightening our belts, we are spending on infrastructure and human support.
“We are tapping into new sources of revenue. The reform of the solid mineral sector is ongoing. The goal is to ensure maximum benefit for the state from her natural resources. We are working to improve internally generated revenue without imposing an excessive tax burden on our people.
“We cultivated a culture of saving for project execution. Unlike practice in the past, federal interventions under our watch are judiciously administered. In recent months following the economic crisis triggered at the national level, we implemented palliative administration in transparent and accountable manners. We did not hoard palliative materials. We rather allowed the public through various associations to handle the distribution.
“In a demonstration of responsible leadership, we created a project account to keep the N7 billion federal intervention fund. As the state is spending multi-billion naira on infra agenda, the N7 billion is an addition to contribute to the bridging of the state infra deficit.
“Our governance ambition is multi-dimensional. Your government is pushing to achieve a decade old ambition within four years,” the governor stated while disclosing that his administration was looking at purchasing vehicles for the traditional rulers.
