According to him, this is to portray the extent of poverty ravaging the land.
Speaking on the dilemma of Nigeria’s population vis a vis its revenue, he said there was the need ton appreciate the gravity of the crisis.
He said, We don’t remember that we are poor here in Nigeria. If we have a deep thought, we ought to have a day of weeping every month”.
“If we don’t work harder to improve our fortunes, we would continue to be poor. In 2017, Brazil had a population of approximately 200 million people almost about what Nigeria had. That year, Brazil had a revenue of about $600 billion and a budget of $700 billion.
Nigeria in that same year made $13 billion and a budget of $23 billion. Are the two countries equal? “Today, OPEC allowed Nigeria to extract and sell 2million barrel of crude oil per day but we don’t get that quantity. Even if we get 2million barrel per day and if the price rises to $100 per barrel, it means our income will be $200 million.
”If you divide this by 200 million people, it amounts to $1 per every Nigerian. We have to check our population by practicing birth control. If we don’t address this, we would have huge problems to deal with. We would also need every able-bodied person to work.”
Aregbesola had a stormy time governing Osun State because of the recession that caught up with the country in 2015.
He could not fully pay workers’ salaries while the debt profile of the state also rose.
But he executed major projects that included roads and schools, especially the mega schools across the state.
On the seeming national emergency he is portraying, the Federal Government has been speaking of tough times, with the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, buttressing President Muhammad Bihari’s recent declaration that Nigerians should prepare for tougher measures.
