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Kosile Stella, an aide to Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke on Revenue Matters, has criticised social media critic, Reno Omokri, over his remarks on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the South-West state.
Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan claimed that Afrobeats megastar Wizkid's latest album ‘Morayo’ generated more revenue in two weeks than Osun IGR in the whole of 2023.
He quoted data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which showed that Osun generated the lowest IGR in the South-West, trailing Ekiti even though the latter has fewer mineral resources, half of Osun's population and two-thirds of its landmass.
He said Governor Adeleke would have done better to improve the state's revenue if he had focused more on governance than dancing at every opportunity.
"Please Fact-Check me: In two weeks, Wizkid's Morayo album has generated more revenue than the total Internally Generated Revenue raised by Osun State in 2023," Omokri wrote in an X post last weekend.
Adeleke's aide fires back at Omokri
Responding to Reno's remarks in a statement on Sunday, Stella argued that it's unfair to compare Wizkid, whose fanbase spread across the globe to Osun State whose residents are the source of its IGR.
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She described the former presidential aide's conclusion as illogical, explaining that Governor Adeleke has improved the state's revenue generation.
"Since the inception of His Excellency Governor Adeleke's tenure, the revenue of the State has seen a year-on-year increase from 9.7% increase in 2022 to 13.5 and 46% increase in 2023 and 2024 respectively and an 82% increase since 2021. It may be difficult for Mr Reno Omokri to know how 46 and 82% was arrived at, but critical thinkers and every other Nigerian knows data can be extrapolated.
“Reno Omokri is comparing Apples with Oranges. Wizkid’s audience is all over the world and not Osun State residents only, and it's even a person who is not able to think deep that will make such a comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi earn 213 and 130 million USD respectively yearly that’s about 583 billion Naira, So Mr Reno Omokri will Say Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi should come to Nigeria to teach about 25 States whom their yearly Independent Revenue is not up to 581 billion how to generate IGR. Similarly Jon Rahm despite not winning any tournament is the highest-paid golfer in 2024 (Forbes) with $218 million in earnings, this is greater than the Self-employed taxes of all states in Nigeria including Lagos from 2019 to date.
“It is extremely funny that Reno is not able to make logical arguments again since he has been out of political office rather chose to settle for illogical half statements in a bid to ride on Wizkid's recently released album to attempt to gain relevance,” she said.