Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has implored chairmen and members of the state’s boards and commissions to resist all distractions and focus on the discharge of their mandates.
Akeredolu made the call on Monday in Akure during the inauguration of chairmen and members of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Pool Betting and Lotteries Board.
The inauguration of the chairman and board members of the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC) also took place.
The chairmen who were inaugurated were Mr Victor Olabimtan, SUBEB; Mr Sam Erejuwa, OSOPADEC; and Mr Olajide Akinroluyo, Pool Betting and Lotteries Board.
The governor, who said his administration would not permit any frivolities and disgraceful acts which placed the people at a disadvantage, assured that his government would discourage all manner of acts of moral turpitude.
“We recognise the role of politics in the management of the affairs of the people.
“We will continue to resist actual attempts or even the faintest suggestions that the overriding interest of the people should be subordinated to whimsies and avaricious predilection,” he noted.
Akeredolu urged the new SUBEB chairman to live up to expectations and disclosed that his administration had been striving to fulfill all bilateral and multilateral obligations for the smooth running of the activities of the board.
According to him, this administration has significantly abridged the infrastructural deficit inherited, while there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of schools renovated and reconstructed.
“There is no local government which has not witnessed the activities of the government in the last five years. Our determination is to proceed until all the nooks and crannies of the state benefit from the programme of redemption.
“We employed about 1,200 teachers to augment the embarrassing deficit in the teacher-student ratio in our schools.
“We shall be directing all relevant agencies of government to submit returns on distribution of personnel as well as their ascertainable contributions. We will not tolerate any lopsided posting of teachers to favour urban centres.
“Anyone in the employ of the board and the Teaching Service Commission must be ready to serve in any part of the state. No senatorial zone will be shortchanged,” he said.
Akeredolu also said that his administration would ensure that the incidence of abandoned projects was reduced significantly at OSOPADEC.
He noted that his administration had accelerated development agenda for the OSOPADEC since it came on board, and charged the commission to remain focused on its mandate.
“OSOPADEC is a special commission designed to achieve a special purpose. Its mandate is specific.
“Its mandate areas of Ilaje and Ese Edo Local Government Areas require special intervention in their development because of their peculiar circumstances.
“The people who inhabit this area have been given the short end of the stick for too long.
“The Ondo State Pool Betting and Lotteries Board is revenue generating agency of our government.
“When we got to office in 2017, the agency was abysmally generating between N17 million to N18 million annually. We have since reorganised the agency and its processes simplified.
“We want to thank the last board for its scintillating performance. It is on record that the agency has done the yeoman’s job of moving from an annual revenue of N18 million to N245 million in 2021.
“The agency now ranks among the 20 best revenue performing agencies of the state,” he disclosed. (NAN)