Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of Osun has described the” Overall Best State in Nigeria Award” given to the state as a source of inspiration to its people.
Oyetola, while receiving the award from Nigeria Africa Development Indicators Monitoring foundation (NADIM), on Wednesday in Osogbo said the award was enough motivation to do more for the people, NAN reports.
Represented by Mr Oluwole Oyebamiji, the Secretary to the State Government, the governor said it was encouraging that government’s modest efforts at uplifting the condition of the people was being recognised by the foundation.
He said: “When I was told that our state was due for an award, I was skeptical.
” I asked how a government that is less than a year be adjudged overall best in the country, beating states like Lagos, Edo, Anambra, FCT among others.
“I felt relieved when I was told the award was based on our performances in the last five years.
“At that point, I concluded that we truly deserve the award as a state.”
The governor noted that since assumption of office last year, deliberate measures had been taken to ensure that his administration’s policies and programmes were citizen-driven.
In his remarks, Prof. Taofeek Ibrahim, the founder of the foundation in his presentation entitled, “Development Performance Ranking of Nigerian States and Monitoring of African Countries,” said 18 basic development indicators were used in the selection of the overall best state in Nigeria.
Ibrahim, who is also the Vice Chancellor of Al- Hikmah University, Ilorin, said empirical analysis of data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NHDS,2013) was used to arrive at the award.
While congratulating the state for the feat achieved, he said the award was not based on outputs such as over head bridges, inter state road network and intra state comparison but on the level of health facilities, education and security.
He said Osun scored over 70 per cent as the best state, followed by Anambra , Lagos, Ekiti, FCT, Abia, Imo, Kwara and Kogi.
Ibrahim said Osun was adjudged the first in birth rate average or larger in weight, second best in Under 5 children birth certificate, second best in delivery in health facilities and employment among others.
He said bad governance and corruption were the major problems facing the country.
Also speaking, the Acting Executive Director of NADIM, Mr Abdulfatai Oyebamiji, stressed that the aim of the foundation was to promote the advancement of opportunities for national development.
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