Aregbesola And The Promise Of History

By Oluwamuyiwa Jimoh

Sovereignty resides with the people. Service to the sovereign therefore connotes service to the people. Public servants of all shades and levels therefore are servants of the people. Programmes, projects and policies of governments therefore ought to be a product of the peoples’ desires, expectations, emotions and needs. They are supposed to be the root of governance dynamics from the highest level of public service to the lowest level. It is a connection to these desires and expectations of the people that determines the success and impact of governance on the citizenry and the society. This interconnectedness is what has come to set different leaders apart as it defines citizens’ perceptions of the individuals in government.

It is in this rarefied realm of service rooted on the people, programmes and policies driven by the passion to make positive impact on the lives of the people. A realm where only very few men and of course public officers are found that, Rauf Aregbesola, the Executive Governor of  State Osun, has found locus. Few men have traversed this path and have left lasting and deep memorial in the lives of the citizenry. Men like the great Mahatma Ghandi, Pa Awolowo and his later day progenies such as Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos State.

As a Commissioner in Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, Aregbesola was in charge of the pioneering drive to redefine the road infrastructure of Lagos State. Governor Tinubu found in him a man capable of translating his Mega City vision of Lagos into reality. This assignment he embarked upon with single-mindedness that overnight yielded great dividends and transformed Lagos into an emerging world class city and which the present Governor Babatunde Fashola has aggressively pursued and expanded.

His outstanding performance as a commissioner in Lagos State led to the clamour of his people in state of  Osun for him to come back home and replicate the same in the state. A man that loves challenges and being enamoured by the innate and burning desire to serve the people, he heeded that call in 2007 and was rewarded by the people with their commitment and determination to ridding the state of the cancer that had become the PDP government of Olagunsoye Oyinlola. He won both in the hearts of the people and in the ballot but was denied the immediate assumption of his mandate. However, he persevered and patiently prosecuted his mandate through the competent courts with the people egging him on knowing that at the end of the day, justice will be done and their lives in the state would be better for it. He prevailed in the courts and recovered the peoples’ mandate.

Since his assumption of office in 2010, the people of state of Osun have heaved a sigh of relief. Lives are daily being transformed, towns and communities are getting facelifts while urban and rural roads are being modernised while new ones are constructed. Osun State has become one huge construction site. Anywhere you turn, you see earth moving equipment vigorously breaking new grounds or rebuilding old ones. The pace of change in the state has become so fast that if you do not visit the state regularly, you may just miss your way when next you come.

He has not limited his vision for the state only in massive infrastructural development but has created new institutions of government that have added fillip and zest to the overall development trajectory of the state. The OYES Brigade that is in charge of the management of the environment, traffic and sundry duties was created; new vision for education was conceived and birthed.

A discerning mind would immediately see the seeds of a great tomorrow that are being sown across every strata of the state’s socio-economic framework. A crop of small scale but skilled men and women are being steadily organised, re-skilled and empowered to galvanise creativity and entrepreneurship in the state while the enabling environment for these future businesses to thrive is at the same time being carefully created. What this the state will be in the next decade will not be surprising to some of us but will be a great marvel to those who are not following events in that state now if this present tempo that we have seen is sustained.

One of the most outstanding impacts his policies have made on the state is that which is focused on changing the behavioural pattern of the citizenry through his targeted programmes of youth rejuvenation and empowerment. We see this as very visionary and futuristic as a society that has invested heavily on its stock of human resources shaping its passion and gearing its zeal towards creating the critical mass needed for continuous transformation of the society will in the long run have a clear edge over its contemporaries. The investment in character moulding of the youth in the State imbuing them with patriotic zeal and civic responsibility has created in the state a cadre of young men and women whose vision of society is selfless. It is the duty to the State that has propelled other Societies to attain the heights that have become the envy of the rest of humanity. We will not be surprised in the near distant future to see state of Osun rising because of these clear – headed policies.

Anytime I breeze into the state, I marvel at the pace of work and the energy that has been brought into aggressively transforming both the social and physical infrastructure. What else can we say to such a man behind these objectives; what else can we give to him but our commendations. He fitfully deserves our praises. It is said that when you appreciate a man for the good work he has done, he will do more. We therefore see it as part of our social service and contribution to the ongoing process of rebuilding and taking to greater heights not only  State of Osun but the Socio-political framework of the whole Southwest region of Nigeria of which generalissimo  Aregbesola has become a major player.

He has successfully demystified the now hardening belief that it is difficult to offer vibrant leadership to Nigerians by powerfully deconstructing the dynamics of leadership. He has laid bare the fact that leadership is about the people, about the community and about the environment and that it is about building bridges that would interconnect and traverse the entire spectrum seamlessly and effectively. He has shown the way that leadership is about empowering the people freeing their creative energies for the overall benefit of the society.

In the state of Osun today, we have witnessed in clear terms a great determination of a government to invest in the people – live changing projects that have direct bearing on the basic needs of the people of the State. It is our belief that the people of the state are seriously deserving of these service having shown their hunger and desire for progressive change.

The government and the people have become like siamese twins working together, planting together and reaping together. The harvests have been bountiful for the citizenry and greatly rewarding we are sure for the leadership of the state. Afterall “state” is an artificial creation by man, In any state where this symbiosis exists, continuous transformation becomes the norm. This is why we can comfortably predict a boom in development in the state in the foreseeable future.

Our recent political history especially within the realm of leadership is replete with governance that is not centred on the people. We have witnessed cases of gross non – performance and crass neglect of the needs of the citizenry and the community in various levels of leadership. This has led to serious disconnect between the people and the government and has unfortunately thrown up some of the social upheavals that have presently characterised our landscape.

That the people remain the bedrock of the present government in Osun State could expressly be seen in the position that agriculture, food security and commercialisation of the State’s economy constitute the basic pivotal programmes of the administration. It is the pursuit of these ideals that metamorphosed into the OYES programme, that has directly taken at least 20,000 youths out of the unemployment queue in one fell swoop and would take another 20,000 out of joblessness in the next half of this administration. The school feeding programme of primary one to four pupils in the state that would not only build balanced children, but will empower them mentally to contribute positively to the development of the state in the near future, has provided direct job to over 3,000 food vendors of state of Osun with a total annual expenditure of about N3 billion.

The impact of these two programmes in deepening the economic activities of the state through high multiplier coefficients especially with the Local content posture of the administration makes it a model not only for other state governments in Nigeria but also for the federal government.

We therefore see in the leadership of Governor Aregbesola, a determination to take back leadership to where it belongs – the people. We see in it a serious determination to rid the nation starting from his State of the ills of bad leadership and crass ineptitude in governance. We also see hope for Nigeria in these efforts as these will clearly make leadership more accountable to the people thus beneficial to all stakeholders in the polity.

Should we advise other public officers to visit the State to understudy this hard working governor? Yes, we do. Instead of going on jamborees abroad wasting public funds and tax payers’ money in search of a mirage called experience, we urge others to troop to Oshogbo, the Osun State capital. The saying is “ wetindey for Sokoto, e dey for Sokoto”.

For a state with the lean resource available to it without any appreciable increase in federally allocated revenue to it to be able to provide free and qualitative education, rehabilitate the old schools and is presently building over 20 new model schools throughout the state is a landmark. For it to rehabilitate the health centres including the Teaching Hospital and make drugs and equipment readily available in them is worthy of emulation. This we believe is how to make the peoples’ money work for them.

It is not surprising to some of us who knew the antecedents of the governor and also given the ideals and philosophical bent that not only drives his personality but also his party the ACN, that he has made so much impact on the lives of the people within such a short time. There really must be something in the party that makes those elected on its platform to shine brightly at the backdrop of performance on the Job.

The lessons that could however be genuinely learnt by others will be how to apply public funds judiciously, how to make lean resources work for you and how to bring Governments and the governed together and much more that it is only when the people feel directly the impact of governance in their lives, homes, dining tables and dependants that they can claim ownership of the government thus show commitment and responsibility towards ensuring the success of such governments.

As the State of Osun marks the half time of Ogbeni’sfirst tenure in office, we urge him not to rest on his oars but to see his laudable achievements as platforms to launch deeper into greater and more impactful service for the people of the State. Some of us as keen watchers will continue applauding the good works but will not fail to point out the critique wherever they are observed. We also urge all cleavages in the State to join hands with the Government to ensure that these achievements are sustained and promoted for the benefit of all Osun people. Politics should not be played with these good works.

The good work must be encouraged and allowed to continue even as we urge vigilance on the part of the citizenry to ensure that some people will not sneak during the unguarded hours to spy their liberty and sabotage their collective effort. The collective heritage must be protected.

•Jimoh is a member of the Lagos State House Of Assembly representing Apapa Constituency 2