The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, says the vision he had for Osun when he was the governor was arrested by his successor.
Aregbesola stated this when he received a Life Time Achievement Award from the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria on Thursday.
In his presentation,The National President of the Association Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, represented by his Vice President, Mr Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said the decision was informed by the outstanding achievements of the Minister during his tenure as governor of Osun state.
He stated that the governor initiated the construction of 3685 blocks of classrooms across the state, and 11 of these structures are upgraded to a world class standard installed with cutting edge technological instructional facilities.
Alhaji Danjuma, added that the Minister’s initiative in the state, led to higher performance of students in their O/level exams, where 70 percent of students in the state, credits Mathematics and English language in their exams.
He said such human development strive has equally come to bear in his assignment as cabinet member of President Buhari’s administration, where he championed the change of nomenclature to Nigeria Correctional Service, leading to prison inmates furthering their educational pursuit to some aspiring to acquire PhD in their choice of disciplines.
On his part the Permanent Secretary of Interior, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, stated that he was not surprised with the positive remarks from earlier speakers, this is because his boss has brought in dynamism in his style of leadership, he said the vigour Aregbesola pursued his work is unprecedented, there by leading to the automation of activities of Ministry of Interior.
Dr. Belgore added that the Minister is highly visionary to the extent that he ensures that he improve all systems better than how he met them.
In his remarks,the minister, said the award is a testimony to his legacies in education development in Osun when he was the governor.
According to him, his administration focused more on the value and quality of education given to students and pupils in Osun, and the results were available for all to see except that his critics who were mainly elite had emotional attachments and nostalgia about the names of their former schools.
His words,“Osun was ranked as one of the 10th largest economy in Nigeria, ranked as 2nd highest in schools enrolment/attendance, next to Lagos State with enrolment moving from 15 to 45, and later to over 65 per cent by the time I left.
“But sadly today, the situation has changed. And it pained me that the vision and capacity that we demonstrated in delivering services to the people have been arrested. I am only putting the records straight and not to castigate anybody.
“In terms of security of lives and property, Osun was first in Nigeria peace index according to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (2018). Those who attempted to rob a bank in Osun paid the supreme price for their action as they were neutralised by security forces. We invested heavily on security and lifted over 700,000 people out of poverty.”
The former governor, thanked NAPTAN for recognising and appreciating his performance, he further said nothing is more exciting than people to appreciate you and demonstrate you a show of love for the service rendered in the state.