Modern Agricultural Practices, A Magic Bullet To Deal With Osun's Social And Economic Problems – Aregbesola

The Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Thursday said that modernising Osun agricultural practices would be a magic bullet with which his administration can deal effectively with many of the major social and economic problems the state is confronted with.

The governor made this disclosure at the official launch of the Osun Rural Mobility Project and the flag off of the construction of 225 kilometre road in the state in Ira Open Square off Ilesa-Akure road.

The Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) is a tool for rural transformation which addresses the basic needs of transporting goods and services in the rural areas.

Aregbesola pointed out that with the development of agriculture the festering cancer of hunger, unemployment, poverty, and poor education can be dealt with.

He said, ” indispensable to this agricultural revolution programme is according necessary development attention that had long been denied to our rural areas. This crucially involves opening them up by road.

“Our effort in this area has fortunately attracted the attention and assistance of development partners who have been doing a lot to enhance our road infrastructure development in the rural areas of Osun.

“This project supported by the World Bank and French Development Agency, have gone a long way in furthering our objective of linking our food production centres in the rural areas with their supply centres mainly located in the urban areas both within and outside the state”. The governor told the gathering.‎

‎He emphasised that for ease of administration and more effective implementation, the 225-kilometre roads have been organised into four lots covering four different parts of the state.

The governor noted that the first Lot is in Iwo region and covers 58.74 kilometres, the second Lot in Ife region will cover 58.40 kilometres, adding that the third Lot also in Ife region, extends over 53.87 kilometres while The fourth will be in Ilesha region with 53.61 kilometres of road.

Aregbesola stated that the RAMP road projects will greatly enhance the area coverage of the already massive road construction and rehabilitation exercise that his administration has embarked upon.

‎The governor said, “winning a second term of office is no excuse for indolence or for relaxation. Indeed, it is an opportunity to accelerate the pace of work so that we can cover as much ground as is humanly possible within the time available to us.

‎”It is an opportunity we intend to maximise for the development of Osun and the well-being of our people. Indeed, for us, politics is over. Governance and development must continue, even at a faster rate than before.

“The mandate given to us is for all the people, all our communities and it covers every inch of our soil. It is our fervent desire to bring the blessing of God on all our people and make our state the model of responsible leadership and public administration”. He stressed.

Speaking earlier, the Special Adviser to the governor on Rural and community Development, Mr. Kunle Ige held that government has decided to embark on the construction of Rural roads in a bid to improve the lives of the rural people who depend on farming to earn a living.

He commended the efforts of RAMP, the special Adviser said that, “your collaboration with the state government of Osun in the construction of rural roads will go a long way in banishing poverty, which is one of the major goals of this administration”. He noted.

Also, the National coordinator RAMP, Eng. Ubandoma Ularamu said that the official launch of the Osun RAMP and ground breaking ceremony for the commencement of the rural road construction is very significant because it will go a long way in alleviating poverty among the rural people.

According to Ularama, “today’s official launch of construction and rehabilitation of 225km of road is very remarkable and the Federal RAMP has also concluded arrangements on how to quickly commence the next batch of 300km roads in each of the RAMP state”. The RAMP boss emphasised.