In times like this when practically all sectors of the Nigerian economy is buckling under the weight of recession, governments are having to restructure and redesign in different ways to ensure they meet ends robustly.

Governor of Osun state, Rauf Aregebsola has explained how despite the continual downturn of the Nigerian economy, he has managed to keep his state above ground level.

Speaking to YNaija, Aregbesola justified the reduced involvement of his government in people-based investments with regards to production.

He said, “people think Government here is more of a place from which you just draw money.”

In this regard, he revealed that while the government is interested in investing in the people of the state with good and viable business opportunities, the people are not willing to go the extra mile and ensure the success of their business endeavors.

He explained, “Today, I read a very sad report of our micro-finance bank. Over N300 million naira of the loan they gave out is defaulting. N300 million is in default now. We took N2 billion commercial agriculture loan, those who took it didn’t only fail to return the money but the investment did not succeed. That is an experiment of people putting direct funds into production and business interest.”

Notwithstanding the pitfalls, the governor has covered considerable and impressive strides in terms of partnering with individuals for production.

Speaking further, Aregbesola revealed his role in the consolidation of the giant garment making factory in his state and how his government keyed into an opportunity with the private sector.

“I have invested in production, Owolabi Garments has won the contract to sew uniform for Nigeria army. She just won the contact, When we brought it in it was just for our school uniform. Classically we did not even spend a kobo on the project.”

“Yes, we awarded a contract of N900 million for 750,000 uniforms but we compelled her to have a garment industry here. We cannot have her produce the uniforms outside the state because its huge, We gave her land and got 25% as equity and also told her that apart from managers, she must employ Osun state people.”

“She built the factory with a loan from Bank of Industry. Now we have 3000 workers at the factory.”

“When we ordered the uniforms it was 750,000 but when we distributed them directly, we found 450,000 so we compelled all political office holders from counselor upwards to buy the uniform for us to get our money back. The company is worth N3 billion at the moment now calculate 25% of that.”

The governor also hinted at another impressive stride which is to come.

“We have another company in Ilesha that is likely to get the contract to produce digital decoders for the whole of Nigeria too.”