The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Wednesday paid compensation worth over N302 million to people whose property will be separated due to the ongoing road construction of Olaiya/Ita Olokan in Osogbo, the state capital.

The Governor stated that his administration will not renege on his electioneering promises to make life meaningful and abundant for the people of the state.

Aregbesola who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titi-Laoye, gave the reassurance while distributing cheques worth N302,966,974.02 to the affected families along the ongoing road construction of Olaiya/Ita Olokan Road at the state capital.

He held that his administration will leave no stone unturned at making life more pleasant, comfortable, meaningful and prosperous for the citizenry in spite of the current dwindling allocation to the state from the Federation Account.

Aregbesola disclosed that his administration has expended over N2 billion so far as compensation to people whose property and belongings were separated from the main roads since his inception.

The Governor added that his government had really proved to the world what infrastructural development is all about.

He noted that all his administrative policies and programmes are aimed at promoting the general wellbeing of the citizenry, stating that all the ongoing projects would be completed before the expiration of his administration.

Aregbesola stressed that the only panacea to the negative effects of current economic hardship was for government at all levels to see the need to improve their state Internally Generated Revenue through tax payment.

He enjoined all and sundry to assist government by paying their tax, while admonishing beneficiaries to use the money judiciously by getting a more comfortable shelter.

The Governor said: “It is important to explain the funding of this project, in the history of Osun, no government has surpassed our record in term of welfare of the workers, the records are there, despite the financial challenges, we are struggling hard to meet our obligations regarding the payment of workers’ salaries but that will not be a justification to ignore other critical areas that directly affected our people.

“When we came to office in 2010, we enacted a law which will allow us save10 percent of the total revenue of the state for the incoming generations and when things appeared difficult, we approached the State House of Assembly to amend the law in other to access the savings to fund this road project which is critical to the economic development of the state.

“Since inception we have paid over N1 billion to the people affected by separation within and outside the state capital, the disbursement is not in any way easy but as a government we have responsibilities to pay compensation to those who have genuine claims to reduce their suffering.”

Speaking earlier, the Ataoja of Osogbo Land, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji, commended the state governor for the rapid development of the state capital which he described as unprecedented since the creation of the state and urged the affected people to cooperate with government.

He said those who lost property have paid utmost sacrifice for development adding that their family will be remembered for life in the history of Osogbo land.

Adepoju Almorruf commended the transparent process of the compensation and assured the government of maximum cooperation of the resident in the process of the construction.

•Photo shows Governor Aregbesola.

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