Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, yesterday, pledged to intensify efforts at expanding his development drive for the state during his second term in office that begins next month.
He said this would not only enlarge the frontiers of the state’s development, but also sustain the delivery of dividends of good governance to Ondo people, insisting that his second term was not for holiday, but for more legacy projects.
He said this during the first Working Day Prayer Meeting for 2021 held with workers at the Governor’s Office in Akure, the state capital.
Those who attended the prayer meeting wore black-arm bands to honour public officers, who died recently, including Government House Chief of Protocols (CoP), Tosin Ogunbodede.
Governor Akeredolu said in spite of the sad occurrence occasioned by the death of the CoP and the temptation to suspend the first working day prayer meeting, it was important to ensure that the programme held to shame the devil.
“Holding the prayer meeting was to tell the devil that he did not win. We will triumph. We are being tested, but we will surmount the test. We will overcome. We shall overcome. We have lost five of us,” he said.
The governor, who asked for a two-minute silence in honour of the deceased, said in spite of the economic challenges, he was resolute in creating and expanding the infrastructure base of the state.
Akeredolu disclosed that his administration was also developing an industrial base, which had been acknowledged nationally, revitalising education and health institutions, as well as empowering vulnerable people, among other initiatives.
While highlighting the challenges of 2020, especially the global COVID-19 pandemic, the #ENDSARS protests and security challenges, he said the challenges could only have been tamed in the state through God’s intervention.
“God in His infinite mercies led us peacefully through the conduct of the 2020 gubernatorial election and looking back, we have every cause to thank God,” he added.
Governor Akeredolu, who described 2021 as a significant year, said the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and insecurity were still around, but all necessary sacrifices and precautions to keep the state going should be borne.
He enjoined public servants to continue to serve diligently, stressing that civil servants could bear witness that in the face of the obvious constraints occasioned by the challenges, the state government ensured prompt promotions and general workers’ welfare.
