Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke on Friday evening presided over the State Executive Council meeting during which critical state policies were reviewed and implementation directives issued to ministries and agencies.
The meeting which dragged late into the night appraised developments within each sector and appreciated the many endorsements and commendations the administration has been receiving from all cadres of Osun society.
“We must congratulate ourselves on the series of endorsement and approval rallies and declarations from various interest groups in the state. Our job performance rating is at a very high level and our government is rated very high by all categories of Osun people”, the Governor told cabinet members in his address.
While urging cabinet members not to relent in the delivery of democratic dividends, the Governor said “despite the challenges facing us, we are fulfilling our obligations especially in critical areas of governance.
The Governor said the ministry of works is working hard to deliver on schedule, the ongoing infra projects, noting that the administration is speeding up the execution of the Ilesa dualization, the Ile Ife flyover, the Oke Fia/Lameco flyovers, the Iwo dualisation among others.
On the State Electricity Market law passed by the House of Assembly, the Governor directed the Commissioner for Energy to develop an implementation plan which should include seeking supportive assistance from the National Electricity Regulatory Commission.
He further instructed the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to take action on the ugly development at Ipetumodu where the King was recently jailed in the United States of America.
For the Ministry of Science and Innovations, the Governor urged the fast tracking of implementation plans and timelines for the two major policies recently endorsed namely; the State ICT policy and the State Tech Innovation policy.
While commending the ministry on the recently unveiled Imole Wifi Initiative, he charged the Ministry of Science and Tech to develop a state road map for the applications of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technology.
For the Ministry of Agriculture, the Governor requested urgent actions for the full implementation of the Statewide Youth Agropreneurship project which was launched at Oriade, directing that ministry should dust its plan and ensure the programme commences across all local governments in the state.
On sports development, Governor Adeleke calls for urgent actions on the bills for the establishment of Osun Sport Commission, the Police Trust Fund and Osun Sports Development Fund, directing a closer interface with the State Assembly to fast track the processing of the bills.
The Governor spoke further at the meeting: “Ahead of the resolution of the local government crisis, we must as a government encourage members of ALGON to create a development agenda for their respective local governments.
“Each local government must have a developmental document which will flow from the state development agenda. The Chief of Staff with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning should interface with ALGON to make this initiative a reality.
“We must review the workings of the Imole Youth Corps for quality assurance. Posted Imole Corps members must be monitored to deliver on the goals of the scheme.
“Council members should take note of our huge success in the climate change sector. Our many initiatives are gaining attention from other states, the Federal Government, the International Agencies and groups. Our ultimate goal is to generate grants and donor support from several willing donour groups.
“As we move towards the election period, we need statistics and data on our performance across various sectors of the state economy. We should start to generate our governance data. The agency in charge of statistics and data in the state should sit up. The agency in question must work in line with modern best practices”, the Governor noted.
After exhaustive debates, the council approved the Governor’s address as its resolutions and set up a high powered committee to urgently address the issue of manpower requirements within the health and the education sectors.
The Council also approved the elevation of some minor chiefs to part II Chiefs. The Council also approved the appointment of Prince Adeleke Saheed Adeyemi as Olokusa of Okusa In Egbedore local Government.
