By: Odunayo Ogunleye

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has assured people of the state of his administration's commitment to delivering the State Agro-cargo Airport to further boost it's Internally Generated Revenue as well as propel economic activities in the State.

Abiodun who said his government is thinking out of the box to improve the fortunes of the state, disclosed this while engaging the people of Ogun East Senatorial District at a meeting to Kickstart the Senatorial Town Hall meetings to harness the inputs of the citizenry in preparation for the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the 2022 Budget.

The Governor said " we will be methodical and strategic in implementing people-oriented programmes that will create wealth for the state and improve the lots of the people, affirming that his administration has raked in N74 billion in nine mothns as at September, 2021 which according to him is the highest that the state has ever generated in a single year.

He assured that his government is poised for more creative and strategic thinking that will bail the State out of its financial challenges occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic, informing that the allocation accrued to the State from the federation account monthly had continue to dwindle such that the state had to dip into the IGR to pay salaries.

Our adminstration will continue to be methodical and strategic in implementing people-oriented programmes for improved wekfare of our people. We'll continue to strengthen our public financial system in line with international best practices. Our IGR has steadily improved, we have earned more in the last nine months than what has ever been earned in one year in the history of the State.

Abiodun who highlighted some of the road projects already embarjed upon by his administration which are already completed in the Ogun East Senatorial District of the State to include, Molusi College road (4.5km), Sagamu-Iperu round about road, Iperu roundabout - Saapade(11km), Orile Oko road, Molipa Express road Ijebu-Ode, Atan-Eruwon road, rehabilitation of Oba Irunwole road along Sagamu Expresway among others.

According to his administration has constructed over 300km roads across the State, highlighting some of the ongoing road projects in the area to include Sagamu- Ode Remo road, Ilishan-Ago-Iwoye road, housing estates in Sagamu and Ijebu-Ode which are already being roofed, he added that administration has rehabilitated Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital with the procurement of the first state-owned Molecular Laboratory facility as well as several Primary Health Centres in the area, to mention afew.

He also assured that his administration is committed to paying the outstanding cooperative deductions of workers, pensions and other financial liabilities saying his government inherited huge backlogs of pensions and gratuities but his administration is thinking out of the box to overcome these chllenges as money accruable to the state from the federal account is so meagre while lamenting that the state is blessed with immense natural resources "but the state rarely benefits from these resources because mining is on the exclusive list of government and we continue to bear the brunts of these exploration activities.

On his part, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr Olaolu Olabimtan in his welcome address at the meeting said one of the key agenda of the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led adminstration is good governance, noting that one of the essentials of good governance is exploring citizens engagement to draw up a peoples' budget that will meet the yearnings of the people.

Olabimtan said the inputs of the people has become imperative as the government is focused on restoring our dear state  a good standing since the setback occasioned by Covid-19 pandemic adding that the forum also presents a rare opportunity for government to sensitize the citizens on government priorities.

The budget Commissioner advised people of Ogun East to give constructive suggestions assuring they will all be processed and prioritized for the collective good of the State.

Top on the list of demands by Stakeholders are road constructions including Sagamu-Ikorodu road, Ogijo road, Idowa-ogu road, provision of portable water and inclusion of the citizens suggestions in the published yearly budget and regular evaluation of budget performance among others.