Governor of Osun State, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, was on Monday night crowned DAAR Communications Outstanding Leader in Public Service (Citizens’ Welfare) for 2021.
The event, tagged 4th DAAR Awards, was held at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, and was attended by prominent Nigerians, including former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
Oyetola’s award was presented to him by Sir Steve Omojafor, former Chairman of Zenith Bank, an accomplished marketing communications and advertising expert, who chaired the event.
Presenting the award, Sir Omojafor, an alumnus of University of Lagos, recalled the landmines the Governor, who is also an alumnus of University of Lagos, had to overcome before “truth triumphed”.
He said he was proud of the governor’s achievements, adding that he was making alumni of University of Lagos proud by what he had brought to bear on Osun in terms fiscal discipline and good governance.
Justifying the choice of the Osun Governor for the award, the organisers said the Governor was chosen for his outstanding performance and unprecedented achievements recorded in the area of citizens’ welfare.
This is even as the Governor said he sees the award as an endorsement of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the State and the current administration under his leadership, adding that the Government would continue to live up to its billing as a responsive and responsible administration.
He further said: “After many years in the Private Sector, I came into political office with a fervent resolve to apply private sector results-oriented principles to fill the gap in governance so that the people can truly enjoy the dividends of democracy.
“In Osun, the people are at the heart of what we do. Our workers for example get their salaries in full as and when due. We may not be that buoyant but we pay minimum wage. We pay pensions and gratuities regularly just as we are paying the arrears we inherited.
“We have restored the car loan scheme to our workers and they also enjoy our intervention in the sector among other welfare packages. Through the Osun Insurance Health Scheme, our workers contribute just 1.5 percent of their basic salary, while the government pays 3 percent making it 4.5 percent as premium to enjoy quality healthcare.
“To ensure our citizens have access to healthcare at the grassroots level, we embarked on the rehabilitation, reconstruction and revitalisation of 332 PHCs at a go. As I speak, over 300 have been completed and are being used while the rest are at various stages of completion.
“We enrolled the vulnerable, including the aged and people living with disabilities into the Osun Health Insurance Scheme at free premium to enable them to enjoy quality healthcare.
“We feed 30,000 vulnerable persons on monthly basis through the Osun Food Support Scheme. We will soon be rolling out other specific support programmes for the elderly and widows before the end of the year.
“We have provided loans and credit facilities for our citizens, including women and youths. So far, over 18, 000 Osun youths have been empowered through various schemes, including loan disbursement to enable them to start new businesses and boost existing ones.
“We inaugurated 350 Amotekun Corps and recruited 750 vigilantes, including hunters across all Local Government in the State to further enhance the security of lives and property of our people,” the governor added.
While dedicating the award to the people of the State, Oyetola said “ I thank DAAR Communications for this award and I dedicate it to the people of Osun who gave me the platform to prove that it is indeed possible to run a State like Osun in a depressed economy without necessarily inflicting additional pains on the people.”
Among those who accompanied the governor to receive the award were his wife, Mrs. Kafayat Olaitan Oyetola; his son, Femi Oyetola; former Deputy Governor of the State, Senator Iyiola Omisore; cabinet members; members of the National Assembly from Osun; and other political functionaries.
