By Gift Habib
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said he was pained by current happenings in Osun State as far as development issues are concerned.
One of such developments according to Aregbesola was the poor state of education in the state.
Aregbesola stated this as he bagged Life Time Achievement Award from the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria on Thursday.
According to the minister, the award is a testimony to his legacies in education development in Osun when he was the governor.
The award was presented to him in his office in Abuja by the Deputy National Chairman of the Association, Adeolu Ogunbanjo who represented the National Chairman, Haruna Danjuma.
Aregbesola who spoke at the event said his regime prioritized education in Osun as he built 3,685 new classrooms and 11 world-class new schools.
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.
He said “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.”
Speaking also, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Shuaib Belgore said Aregbesola has been building on his achievements in Osun since he assumed office as Minister, asserting that through his reforms, sanity has been restored to passports issuance in the country.
The Chairman of NAPTAN said Aregbesola was given the award based on his track record in Osun as a humanist and a performer, stressing that the award was designed to encourage not only the Minister, but other public servants like him. (Punch)
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