Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, yesterday disclosed that the development of rural areas in the state would be the priority of the state government in 2016.

The governor also revealed that the state has lost over 60 percent of the statutory allocation due to her because of the financial meltdown being experienced in the country.

He said the decision to prioritise the rural area is because of the realisation that the bulk of the people of the state reside in the rural areas as well as the need to open up the places.

The governor spoke at the Town Hall Meeting with stakeholders on the 2016 budget.

Senator Amosun disclosed that because of the importance of the task of developing the rural areas of the state, he has saddled his Deputy, Mrs Yetunde Onanuga, with the task of fixing all the rural roads and rural infrastructure.

The governor, who promised that the new policy thrust of the 2016 budget would be vigorously pursued, however lamented the massive drop in the revenue of the state.

According to him, “What we receive in Ogun State has dropped considerably. In fact, our allocation coming from Abuja has dropped by as much as 60 percent. It is so bad. When we came in, we were collecting between N3.5 billion and N4.8 billion in a month but with the recent slump in the price of oil in the international market, the money coming to us has slumped.

“This last month, we collected just N1.3 billion and our wage bill is in the excess of N7 billion in a month. How do we do it? We have to enthrone prudent financial management.”

Senator Amosun announced that no new road contracts would be awarded in 2016, saying: “We won’t award contract for any new road in 2016. We will only complete the roads that are presently under construction across the state.”

The governor also told the audience that Ogun State will be 40 years in February 2016. “We will be commissioning 40 projects across the state. Our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, would be coming to our state to commission the projects. We will be making it real celebration because our state is now 40 years,” he said.

Senator Amosun also decried the refusal of landlords to re-connect their homes with public water supply in the state.

He hinted of government’s plans to ensure that all landlords re-connect to public water.

Senator Amosun equally explained that indigenes have snubbed all efforts to reconnect to the public water after the reconstruction of the roads that passed their areas.

“We are determined to ensure that that is reversed. We observed that people take jerry cans to public taps. We will soon discourage that because we will soon be installing meters on those public water taps and ensure landlords reconnect to public water mains,” Governor Amosun noted.

Earlier in her speech, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Ms Adenrele Adesina, noted that the event was to aggregate the opinion of the public on what they wanted to be included in the 2016 budget.

Present at the event were the Deputy Governor, the Olu of Ilaro and the Paramount ruler of Yewaland, HRM Kehinde Olugbenle, Secretary to the State Government, Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa, among others.

•Photo shows Governor Amosun.