Osun ’ll Soon Be Out Of Cash Crisis, Says Rep

A member of the House of Representatives Alhaja Ayo Omidiran, has predicted that Osun State will soon be out of its economic crisis.
She said with the beginning of implementation of the communiqué of the stakeholders’ conference held on August 10, in Osogbo, the state is set for an economic turnaround.
The conference was organised by the Osun Legislators’ Forum and attended by public office holders and civil servants.
Top players in the organised labour and private sector also attended, the event, where decisions on the way forward were taken.
Mrs. Omidiran, who represents Irewole Federal Constituency, was one of the prime organisers of the conference.
She said Governor Rauf Aregbesola has started to implement the meeting’s outcome.
“The idea behind it was for us to bring the ideas together so that the state can harness its resources to continue to move forward. We were happy the governor supported it and put all the government machinery behind it. We are confident the outcome will positively influence the state,” Mrs. Omidiran said.
Osun is one of the states badly hit by the financial crisis that followed the drop in oil prices, which adversely affected the cash flow into the nation’s treasury.
The state is just clearing the backlog of salaries to its workers.
The communiqué of the conference read by the representative of the labour unions at the meeting, Mr. Richard Afolayan Oyegbami, recommends that:
* government should plug the loopholes in the way revenues are collected;
* Osun people must pay taxes and rates before being compelled to do so;
*the need to review the cost of governance, particularly to ascertain accurately the recurrent expenditure.
*government should embrace public private sector partnerships in agriculture, mining and tourism;
*government should patronise competent local contractors to deepen the state’s economy; and
*parents should contribute a token to augment the free education programme.
THE NATION