Amosun invites consultants to probe Ogun accounts

Amosun invites consultants to probe Ogun accounts - The Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has made public his administration’s decision to engage financial experts to audit the state’s accounts, saying the financial status of the state is in dire straits.

This, he said, was part of the administration’s plans to re-engineer and re-focus the finances of the state to enable him deliver on his mandate to the people.

Amosun said this in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Monday night after a reception for elected representatives of the state at the National Assembly at the State Liaison Office, Asokoro.

He added that the administration had invited consultants from the firms of Akintola Williams, Deloite and the KPMG to examine the financial records of the state in order to redesign its operations.

The governor said, “We want them to come and look at our books and to tell us what exactly is there.

“What we are seeing about the state of our finances is very bad, we find it difficult paying salaries. We are just managing to do so.

“Virtually all sectors of the economy in Ogun state need to return to its past glory: education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, commerce, just (about) everything is in a comatose in the state.”

“We are embarking on an intervention programme in these five cardinal areas. In the education sector, we are going to make education free primary and secondary school and not only that, we intend to provide qualitative education for the people.”

Amosun said in his administration’s healthcare blueprint, children within the age of five years would enjoy free medical care while the elderly, above the age of 70, would also enjoy similar privilege.

The governor decried the deplorable state of infrastructure in virtually all sectors of the economy which he attributed to the neglect by the previous administration.

“We must do our bit to revive and re-build the state so that will begin to see the Ogun State of our dream and that of our fore-fathers.

“We have set out our agenda, a five point programme that we are going to pursue relentlessly and with the support of Ogun State people, we are confident we will succeed,” he said.

In recognition of the special place of agriculture in revamping the economy of the state, the governor promised to give it its pride of place in the scheme of things.

He said, “We will promote the development of the agricultural sector in such a way that it would snowball into major industrial revolution in the state and an avenue for wealth creation in the state.

He also promised that his administration would generate about 10,000 new jobs within the first 100 days in office to address the crisis of unemployment in the state.