Hello,

How are you today? I hope you enjoyed Christmas and are looking forward to the rest of the holidays. 

Just like that, we have come to the end of 2022. And once again, it is that time of the year when we count our blessings and take stock of our activities. We can then thank God for the good things he has done for us, most importantly, the gift of life.

At the same time, we can evaluate our activities for the year and decide which habits to abandon in the new year and which to pursue. Some people also make resolutions they hope to work towards in the coming year.

It has been a great year for us in Oyo State and for me as an individual. I turned 55 this year. And I can only give God the full glory for the opportunities I have so far enjoyed, including the privilege of serving the good people of Oyo State as governor. As we enter the year 2023, the gubernatorial election year, I am confident the people of Oyo State will give us four more years to serve them.

My prayer is that God grants us all the deepest wishes of our hearts in the year 2023 and beyond.

I also want to use this newsletter to recap my reading for the year. I was only able to read seven books this year. I wish I had read more, and I will certainly work towards doing better next year.

From “You Never Forget Your First” to “Against All Odds,” my reading for this year strongly emphasised patriotism and nation-building. And if there is one lesson I have learnt from reading these seven books, it is the fact that even though every Nigerian has a role to play in the task of creating the Nigeria of our dreams, the political class has an even greater role to play. We are tasked with providing the needed leadership and doing away with the self-centeredness that has made equity, fairness and restructuring impossible.

As I said in one of my newsletters this year, 2023 is another opportunity to make things right.

I wish you a wonderful New Year.