Now that the forum has conclusive proof of the lies against Aregbesola and Osun (first it was "11th highest" allocation and then "21 highest" is it not clear why some of us defend Aregbesola and the ACN against wicked and evil propaganda from those without any decency whatsoever?

They would have us believe Aregbesola has collected trillions of Naira (a big lie) and then go further to pretend as if salary/emollument payment and other expenses of running Government does not come out of the allocation recieved. Well , God is never on the side of wickedness and darkness. They can lie all they want , even using their paid agents in cyberspace, but the PDP remain finished in the SW.

^
Lol! I see you are desperately trying to hook us into your silly allocation argument to nowhere and derail the topic. How come you skillfully ignored the pertinent questions below?


[size=14pt]What did Aregbesola do with the 129billa received over the last 11 months?
Answer the questions below!![/size]

Beaf:

Oga, Osun state government! Welcome!
The bolded part of your statement is just a long winded way of agreeing that Osun state workers are owed several months salary. We all know that, so there is no need for obfuscation.

Oga, Osun state government, thank you for blaring your social credentials to the high heavens. I will let you in on a little secret, social credentials are worthless when you do not care if the people live or die, or are hungry and ill. Aregbesola is owing several months salaries to the long suffering citizens of Osun, yet he could afford to splash out on the hiring of 19 busloads of aluta howlers to go on a worthless praise singing mission to Abuja (where they were simply arrested ).
A few questions arise from that aimless aluta trip:

[list]
[li]Does Aregbesola value aluta howling more than paying Osun state workers?[/li]
[li]How much did it cost Osun state to pay each hired aluta howler?[/li]
[li]How much did it cost in loss of time that would have been spent on Osun state affairs instead?[/li]
[li]Who owns the 19 buses used? Were they purchased by Osun specifically for useless aluta missions, while workers wages are still owed?[/li]
[li]What was the cost of the journey as concerns petrol, tires, servicing etc?[/li]
[li]How much did it cost to feed and wine each aluta howler?[/li]
[li]What did it cost to house each aluta howler for the useless mission?[/li]
[li]What did it cost to bail each aluta howler from police arrest?[/li]
[li]Since the howlers have now sued the IG, who is footing the bill and how much is it compared to Osuns unpaid September and October wage bills?[/li]
[li]How much govt time is being lost on the worthless case against the IG?[/li]
[li]How much govt time is Osun losing, while Aregbesola travels back and forth to Abuja to beg GEJ for the slight?[/li]
[li]ABOVE ALL, WHEN WILL OSUN WORKERS GET PAID?[/li]
[/list]

Now, please account for the 129billion Osun has received in the past 11 months. Thank you.

Gbawe:

Are you following discussions at all ? Osun recieves the 33rd lowest monthly allocation in Nigeria of which at l[b]east 65-70% is used[/b] to pay salary and emollument !!!!

what has Aregbe done to reduce this frightening statistic?

Also, where did you get that # from? Surely no state in the SW can be that poorly run.

By Aregbesola's own account, about 90% of Osuns income goes to paying salaries. With that in mind, where did he get the money for the foolish aluta trip to Abuja?

ekt_bear:





Also, where did you get that # from? Surely no state in the SW can be that poorly run.

Oyinlola himself stated that around 65% is used for salary and emollument. Making allowance for the minimum wage of N18, 000 , this may move closer to 70% since IGR has not increased appreciably.

Beaf:

^
Lol! I see you are desperately trying to hook us into your silly allocation argument to nowhere and derail the topic. How come you skillfully ignored the pertinent questions below?


[size=14pt]What did Aregbesola do with the 129billa received over the last 11 months?
Answer the questions below!![/size]

I really must hand it to you . You are totally without shame . After being exposed here as a bare-faced liar you still talk of N129 billion? It is now clear to the entire forum that Osun would have recieved circa N34 billion from the FG in 11 months under Aregbesola. Why don't you prove to the forum , using actual statistics, that Osun recieved 129 billion? Abi the Ministry of finance is also lying in favour of Aregbesola?

Then how on earth could he have justified this OYES program?

65%+ recurrent expenditure I expect from a governor in Zamfara or somewhere like that. Upon entering office his top priority should have been cutting expenses, not increasing them.

If Osun State continues on this path and Aregbe, rather than fixing the situation makes it worse, then Osun will be in a big mess in 10-20 year's time.

If you are spending 65% on recurrent, where is the money for infrastructure?

Very disappointing.

Does he not have a commissioner of finance? I am surprised, to say the least.

Can someone find Osun State's budget for this past year? Both the budget and a breakdown of spending by type.

Ekiti for example is targeting 55% capital (45% recurrent)  for the 2011 budget: http://groups.google.com/group/usaafricadialogue/browse_thread/thread/a0608b829a02064

And even this is too low, in my opinion. But at least it is a start.

In a nutshell, what has Aregbe done to fix Oyinlola's mistakes?

Gbawe:

I really must hand it to you . You are totally without shame . After being exposed here as a bare-faced liar you still talk of N129 billion? It is now clear to the entire forum that Osun would have recieved circa N34 billion from the FG in 11 months under Aregbesola. Why don't you prove to the forum , using actual statistics, that Osun recieved 129 billion? Abi the Ministry of finance is also lying in favour of Aregbesola?

Ok, just so that your small-minded arguments do not derail the thread. [size=33pt]Can you simply account for the unfortunate aluta trip and why Osun states workers have not been paid over several months now?[/size]

PDP is a pretty m0ronic party, btw.

If what Gbawe says is true, then there is legitimate criticism one can make of Aregbe's tenure. All of this market woman, "Aregbe slapped so-and-so" stuff, I doubt most people give a damn about that.

But if we hear that Oyinlola was spending 70% on recurrent, and rather than fixing this problem Aregbe has made it even worse, that is a whole different kettle of fish.

I actually wish that these guys in the PDP werent such bumbling fools. Then we could actually have a legitimate opposition rather than what appears to be a band of out of power rogues.

EDIT: Whoops, never mind. Having reread the original post and not just Gbawe's comment, this appears to be the approach they are taking. So I retract my criticism of the Osun PDP.

ekt_bear:

PDP is a pretty m0ronic party, btw.

If what Gbawe says is true, then there is legitimate criticism one can make of Aregbe's tenure. All of this market woman, "Aregbe slapped so-and-so" stuff, I doubt most people give a damn about that.

But if we hear that Oyinlola was spending 70% on recurrent, and rather than fixing this problem Aregbe has made it even worse, that is a whole different kettle of fish.

I actually wish that these guys in the PDP werent such bumbling fools. Then we could actually have a legitimate opposition rather than what appears to be a band of out of power rogues.

Where did you get this from?  I have to pick up my daughter from school and I will continue when I get back . I suggest you research what Aregbesola is doing with OREAP, tourism and other income-generating activities to note that Osun is targeting massive increase in IGR and per capita income. Don't be one of those criticising from a position of ignorance.  ACN Governors place the generation of IGR at the forefront of their policies. Remember the thread about "one stop investment shop for Ogun" ? look at what appeared on the Ogun website shortly after that to prove that action follows plans with the ACN ;


http://www.ogunstate.gov.ng/inv_form.php

There is much Aregbesola is doing to reverse an abysmal situation caused by wanton greed, recklessness and gross maladministration. I will deal with those things later.

As you can see from the link I provided above, in Ekiti we got specific #s. 2010 budget (PDP), 55% recurrent. 2011 budget (ACN), 45% recurrent. A 10% reduction.

All I want are concrete numbers.

Let's see the budget bill they passed in Osun for 2011, and see what the recurrent # was for it. Let's compare it to that for 2010.

If you don't have them, fine. Perhaps someone else will find and post.

Gbawe:

Even the table you supplied shows that at least 30 States recieved higher gross statutory allocation than Osun State !!! that puts Osun around 31st !!!! No disrespect, but I must ask if you are able to read and comprehend at all because I don't know where you got the "11th highest State" jargon from. Simply incredible. Do you think others cannot read also or did you expect that nobody would actually inspect your link to debunk your nonsensical lie?

@ Gbawe,

I would like to apologise for the misleading psoition (11th) I gave to Osun state. You are correct.
I was in a hurry this morning and took the # of LGs 30 to be the serial # of Osun state on the table thus using Oyo state figures.
Error sincerely regretted.
Nevertheless all other responses I posted are intact and you are yet to credibly defend any of them

My reference to rather begging white people (netherlands) for support has nothing racist about it.
It is a question of leaving your rights (fair allocation from FG) to seek external support from foreigners. That is very wrong IMHO.

anonimi:

@ Gbawe,

I would like to apologise for the misleading psoition (11th) I gave to Osun state. You are correct.
I was in a hurry this morning and took the # of LGs 30 to be the serial # of Osun state on the table thus using Oyo state figures.
Error sincerely regretted.
Nevertheless all other responses I posted are intact and you are yet to credibly defend any of them

I accept your apology and let me apologize also for my ungracious utterances . I only speak that way because it seems , these days, outright lies and mischief is now used routinely to judge the ACN. That , surely , cannot be good for any of us or our nascent democracy. Bring salient criticism and you will find that I will be first to embrace it. When , however, we start from a position of claiming Osun recieved N129 billion from the FG when it is actually circa N34 billion, then it is clear that this is not a thread anyone can learn from. Rather it is a thread , as per the OP's penchant for Unclad mischief, designed to misinform others with outright lies and shamelessly ludicrous fabrications.

Look at how you apologize because you got figures wrong yet Beaf, in testimony to how he is totally without shame or honour, continues to ask Aregbesola to account for N129 billion. Is it not now proven conclusively that Osun did not recieve N129 billion in 11 months ? Why would anyone, even if they are insane, continue to make a case for N129 billion?

anonimi:

My reference to rather begging white people (netherlands) for support has nothing racist about it.
It is a question of leaving your rights (fair allocation from FG) to seek external support from foreigners. That is very wrong IMHO.

we need to understand the current foreign policy of the west vis-a-vis their conduct towards developing Nations. The counter-productiveness of past exploitative stance/ideas the west held is now not suitable today. Resources are becoming scarce as the world becomes more borderless .

The best policy to sustain the world in relative wellness is for every continent, region and Nation to develop as optimally as possible so that some places , inadvertently, dont become tightly controlled clusters of affluence , everyone wants to live in, while other places are banana republic everyone wants to move away from. These days, good initiatives that reduce poverty and raise income per capita of African nations will be enthusiatically supported by 'savvy' Western nations for purposes of self-preservation. This has nothing to do with Osun "begging" anybody.

There is nothing wrong with working with the west.

You'll eventually have to do it if you want to get wealthy anyways.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face doesn't make any sense. . . political leaders have to do whatever it takes to make their country (or state, in this case) better.

ekt_bear:

There is nothing wrong with working with the west.

You'll eventually have to do it if you want to get wealthy anyways.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face doesn't make any sense. . . political leaders have to do whatever it takes to make their country (or state, in this case) better.

Precisely . There is no issue of "begging" here. Today, they want us to reduce poverty and provide income per capita plus living standards that keep us in our continent and add real value to the concept that every continent should pull its weight for the future relative health of the world. Conversely, we can benefit from the technical and financial aid on offer to assist those serious about their agenda of development. Win-win situation for everyone IMO. Ghana, for example, benefits from a lot of voluntary goodwill from the West because some of the actions of the Nation impresses neutral observers.

Maybe , Silence is Indeed Golden, especially in cases like this. It appears to me opinions are already made up on this matter.So I say we wait on Time n God. Time will vindicate the Truthfuls. I salute your tenacity Gbawe, and urge you dont overspend urself in this matter, rather support us with prayers and criticise us objectively too.

Regards to all.

Gbawe, so do you have the #s I asked for regarding Osun's budget? Or not?

Just link me to it if it is online somewhere.

3.0 THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE 2011 BUDGET OF OSUN STATE
3.1 I have been reliably informed that inputs were sought from all stakeholders in the process of the formulation of the 2011 Budget being presented today. This new Administration in the State will ensure greater participation of our people in development planning. The new Administration in the State will ensure the integration of global/regional development Agenda into the development programmes of the State. The 2011 Budget is predicated on the achievement of the goals of Osun Vision 20:2020 First Implementation Plan and Vision 20:2020 First Medium Term Expenditure Framework (2010 – 2013). In order to enhance the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015, the preparation of the 2011 Budget has taken into cognisance the need to ensure adequate budgetary provisions in the various line Ministries budgets for the pursuance of the achievement of the MDGS.
3.2 As indicated earlier, time was not on our side to embark on whole scale preparation of our own Budget for 2011 fiscal year. Since I was sworn-in as the Executive Governor of Osun State on 27th November, 2010, all we have done was to modify the existing draft 2011 Budget prepared by the illegitimate Administration whose term of office was terminated on 26th November, 2011 by the verdict of the Federal Court of Appeal. The size of the Budget prepared by the Oyinlola Administration for 2011 fiscal year was N108,079,285,735.00 (One Hundred and Eight Billion, Seventy-nine Million, Two Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty-five Naira). Our own Administration believes more in a lean, quality, realisable and achievable Budget rather than a bloated budget which is based on unrealistic projections. The size of the allocation to overheads in the Office of the Governor which initially stood at N5,027,880,000.00 has been slashed down to N2,760,180,000.00. The excess has been re-allocated to the rehabilitation of schools, hospitals and other capital projects. Our Government will strive hard to ensure a reduction in the recurrent expenditure particularly on overheads in order to ensure fiscal efficiency and all round development in Osun State.
3.4 At this juncture, I wish to present to this hallowed Chamber a balanced budget of N88,143,131,600.00 (Eighty-eight Billion, One Hundred and Forty-three Million, One Hundred and Thirty-one Thousand, Six Hundred Naira). Mr. Speaker and other members of the House of Assembly, the summary of the 2011 Budget of Osun State is as follows:

The above is an excerpt of the 2011 budget, check the klink below for more details,
http://www.osunstate.gov.ng/index.php/view-all-news/41-2011-budget-speech-by-osun-state-governor-mr-rauf-adesoji-aregbesola-download.html

^-- Thanks for that link!

Lmao.

All of these 60%, 80% figures bandied about for Osun are a complete lie, it seems. If 80% was true, then Aregbe and all the politicians who approved such a budget should be doused with gasoline and set on fire. It would be that bad.

Anyway, from your link, the recurrent expenditure is 54.38%. Still too damn high, but hopefully it will improve over time. Aregbe should target 40% or less by the time he leaves office, if he is a sensible man.

Does anyone have a similar budget proposal by Oyinlola so we can compare and see if Aregbe actually lowered it or raised it?

Uncle Gbawe, arguing with a nonentity like Beaf alias reno omoofraud is a waste of precious time

@ Gbawe et al,

You still have not answered why Aregbesola did not pay civil servants for two months as alleged by PDP Osun state while he spends money on rented crowd to Abuja for Tinubu's court appearance the same way PDP did for Bode George and everyone criticised them. How are these civil servants expected to survive if they hacve not been paid for two months? And yet they are expected to continue working! Is this not an open invitation for corruption for these civil servants by the self-acclaimed progressive governor?
Btw, what were Aregbesola's achievements as Lagos state commissioner for works under Tinubu's tenure?

anonimi:

@ Gbawe et al,

You still have not answered why Aregbesola did not pay civil servants for two months as alleged by PDP Osun state while he spends money on rented crowd to Abuja for Tinubu's court appearance the same way PDP did for Bode George and everyone criticised them. How are these civil servants expected to survive if they hacve not been paid for two months? And yet they are expected to continue working! Is this not an open invitation for corruption for these civil servants by the self-acclaimed progressive governor?
Btw, what were Aregbesola's achievements as Lagos state commissioner for works under Tinubu's tenure?

You need to ask the workers why they are not on strike if truly they have not been paid for the past 2 months hum

OmoLisabi:

You need to ask the workers why they are not on strike if truly they have not been paid for the past 2 months hum

I am sure you read somewhere that their labour leaders said they can wait.
Of course that suggests in Nigeria that they have gotten their own settlement to the detriment of the workers.

ekt_bear:

There is nothing wrong with working with the west.

You'll eventually have to do it if you want to get wealthy anyways.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face doesn't make any sense. . . political leaders have to do whatever it takes to make their country (or state, in this case) better.

Working with the west like China, Japan, South Korea and other Asian nations have done over the years and made enough progress to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the west is no problem.
However, relying on support from the west and their endorsement of our programmes is making ourselves subordinate to them and is very unhealthy to sustainable development. In short Africans are not "working" with the west we are dependent on them in various ways and manners despite being granted independence over five decades/ half a century ago.
That is why UK's David Cameron can have the effontery of saying they will stop assisting countries who do not recognise ga.y and les.bian rights.

ekt_bear:

Gbawe, so do you have the #s I asked for regarding Osun's budget? Or not?

Just link me to it if it is online somewhere.

How does the number you ask for make a difference to the discussion? What difference does it make if recurrent expenditure is 54% or 65% when we are talking about a very poor state indolently made into one where many exist via the civil service? What anyone , seeing the big picture, should focus on is how Osun must diversify its economic activities as IGR and net income needs to improve massively. Rapid development , without external financial assistance, cannot be achieved even if recurrent expenditure were 40% !!!! That is why I don't bother with those things[b] in the case of a very poor State , i.e Osun, that really has no business being a State in the first place!!!
[/b]
Precisely the right things that needs to be done are being done . I.e the diversification of Osun's economic activity to boost income and provide jobs has begun. Whether Aregbesola likes it or not, he must take it easy as per wages. The agitation over minimum wage is still here so cutting wages is a no-no. Mass sack that will cause odious unemployment is also not feasible yet with nowhere for retrenched workers to head to. Do not forget that , unlike federal level, many Osun civil servant are lower cadre workers. Aregbesola is strong on fiscal discipline so there is not much me or you can teach him. Efforts such as refinancing Osun's debt, pulling off saving close to N30 billion , working without commissioners for months and general cost cutting shows that Osun is now in disciplined and austere hands.

You should rather focus on what Aregbesola is doing ( eg tourism, agriculture et al) to boost Osun's net income because that is ultimately what will secure development and progress. At the end of the day, Osun still earns far too little than it needs for rapid development. An obdurate focus on figures that are already very paltry and inadequate really does not mean much to me.
I would rather focus on Osun's efforts , such as illustrated below, knowing how Ghana , for example, and in a few years, has developed it tourism sector to the point that the nation made $1.8 billion from tourism alone in 2010.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5734120-147/story.csp

Osun to boost revenue through tourism

By Bamigbola Gbolagunte

July 20, 2011 12:37AM
Print print Email email Share Share


The Osun State government is set to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from the present N30 million to N1.5 billion monthly through the development of tourism in the state.

The state deputy governor, Grace Tomori disclosed this yesterday while unveiling the Osun Tourism Development Revival programme at the Governor's office, Osogbo, the state capital.

Mrs Tomori who described tourism as a good source of income for any nation, stated that the state has 63 tourist centres, which if properly managed would contribute significantly to the economy of the state.

The present administration, according to the deputy governor takes passionate interest in tourism due to the cultural and historical values of the state, which she noted were part of the heritage of the state.

She informed that the government has concluded arrangements to develop all tourist centres in the state, with a view to making them attractive to foreign investors, saying the development of the tourism sector would aid the economy of the state.

"We have targeted N1.5 billion as annual income from tourism. We have made special provision for tourism development in the 2011 budget of Osun State. Many advanced nations of the world depend on tourism as the major source of their earnings. We thank God in Osun State, as the state is the cradle of the Yoruba civilisation and we have abundant tourist centres spread across the length and breadth of the state." The Project Manager of the Programme, Daniyan Abimbola disclosed that over 10 million tourists from various parts of the world have expressed their willingness to come to the state and explore the tourism potential of the state.

He hinted that the state would through the Tourism Development Revival Programme create permanent employment for youths in the state, adding that the aim of the programme was to package the state as the cradle of Yoruba civilisation.

While stressing the need for overall development of all the tourist centres in the state, Mr Abimbola maintained that all the tourist centres in the state would be developed to an international standard in the shortest possible time.

Students boycott classes over high fees

Meanwhile, students of the Osun State College of Education, Ilesa yesterday commenced boycott of lectures to press home their demand for reduction of school fees and improved welfare.

The students of the institution who staged a peaceful protest in Osogbo, the state capital also demanded for immediate and unconditional reinstatement of five of their leaders who were expelled from the institution for their stand against students' victimisation.

The protest took the students to the State Secretariat, Abere, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents' chapel secretariat and the state Ministry of Education where they chanted various anti-government songs.

The aggrieved students described as illegal the Information Communication Technology (ICT) fees collected by the authorities of the institution, even as they called for the refund of the already collected fees.

Other demands of the students according to a press release made available to journalists after the protest were "the restoration of the Students Union Government in the college, immediate stoppage of the Teaching Practice fee and reduction of school fees of students of the University of Ibadan affiliated with the college from N56,000." The students, however, gave a two-week ultimatum to both the state government and authorities of the institution to meet up with their demands; failure of which they said would lead to violence on the campus of the institution.

They also urged the management of the institution to dialogue with them, saying an urgent meeting of the students' leaders and the college management is the only means to avert crisis in the institution.

Gbawe:

How does the number you ask for make a difference to the discussion? What difference does it make if recurrent expenditure is 54% or 65% when we are talking about a very poor state indolently made into one where many exist via the civil service? What anyone , seeing the big picture, should focus on is how Osun must diversify its economic activities as IGR and net income needs to improve massively. Rapid development , without external financial assistance, cannot be achieved even if recurrent expenditure were 40% !!!! That is why I don't bother with those things[b] in the case of a very poor State , i.e Osun, that really has no business being a State in the first place!!!
[/b]

Err. Recurrent versus capital is the whole "koko" of the matter. What will separate states destined for greatness (or at least improvement) and ones destined for poverty.

That is why I don't care about all this, "did he pay workers salaries", "did he slap so and so" stuff. Doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

You are right, increasing your revenue is also important. But spending it wisely in the first place is even more critical. . .

ekt_bear:

As you can see from the link I provided above, in Ekiti we got specific #s. 2010 budget (PDP), 55% recurrent. 2011 budget (ACN), 45% recurrent. A 10% reduction.

All I want are concrete numbers.

Let's see the budget bill they passed in Osun for 2011, and see what the recurrent # was for it. Let's compare it to that for 2010.

If you don't have them, fine. Perhaps someone else will find and post.

And what has this translated into? Are there new roads everywhere? World class health facilities serving catchment local Governments? Is education now adequately funded? Fayemi is a good guy and I believe he is doing a good job but the point is that all these figures bandied around for poor States [/b]ultimately means nothing because years of clueless leadership , slavishly focused on waiting for federal allocations, means that the poorest Nigerian States cannot run themselves and develop rapidly at the same time without a much greater increase in income.

The simple point is that , for development, the likes of Osun and Ekiti need far more income than 10 or even 30% shifted from recurrent to capital spending. It is all good and well for recurrent expenditure to come down , [b]because that is ultimately helpful, but a fall in recurrent expenditure only tells a small part of the story when we look at very poor States ,created needlessly out of the whims and caprices of some IMO, and understand that they need massive increase in income.

Regarding "paltry", the N88 billion he signed as budget is more than half a billion dollars. So let us not pretend as if Osun gets nothing.

What it has will have to be spent wisely, even if we think it is not enough.

In fact, a poor man has to be even more careful and stingy with his money than a rich one.

Poverty is not an excuse or justification for profligacy.

Gbawe:

And what has this translated into? Are there new roads everywhere? World class health facilities serving catchment local Governments? Is education now adequately funded? Fayemi is a good guy and I believe he is doing a good job but the point is that all these figures bandied around for poor States [/b]ultimately means nothing because years of clueless leadership , slavishly focused on waiting for federal allocations, means that the poorest Nigerian States cannot run themselves and develop rapidly at the same time without a much greater increase in income.

How on earth will all those things happen in less than a year? I don't see the point of your argument here, it isn't realistic. This is a 10 or 20 year project, not a 1 year one. The impact of wise financial management obviously will not pay dividends 3 days from now. But the payoff down the line is massive.

The simple point is that , for development, the likes of Osun and Ekiti need far more income than 10 or even 30% shifted from recurrent to capital spending. It is all good and well for recurrent expenditure to come down , [b]because that is ultimately helpful, but a fall in recurrent expenditure only tells a small part of the story when we look at very poor States ,created needlessly out of the whims and caprices of some IMO, and understand that they need massive increase in income.

See my post above.

ekt_bear:

Regarding "paltry", the N88 billion he signed as budget is more than half a billion dollars. So let us not pretend as if Osun gets nothing.

What it has will have to be spent wisely, even if we think it is not enough.

In fact, a poor man has to be even more careful and stingy with his money than a rich one.

Poverty is not an excuse or justification for profligacy.

And the point is that I do not condone profligacy or make a case for it here. Rather, I am saying that far more income is needed to secure development for certain States. Osun and Ekiti do not have the luxury of massive income swollen by 13% oil derivation some States enjoy. If everything is about judiciously managing what they have, then Osun and Ekiti will still fail to meet the expectations of their people . What will make both state succeed is for Governors to focus on increasing economic activity massively to boost income greatly. That is priority.

When , as shown below, Osun wants to increase it IGR from N30 million to N1.5 billion monthly through tourism alone, does this not show that the State realises how poorly underfunded it is? This is why I used "paltry". I meant no insult but fully realise that these States are working with peanuts !!!!

The Osun State government is set to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from the present N30 million to N1.5 billion monthly through the development of tourism in the state.