Amosun: Portrait of a social engineer

YOU may like Governor Ibikunle Amosun. You may not like him. You may approve of his policies. You may not approve of them. But give it to him: he has guts, he has courage. The decisions he has taken in the last five and half years bear testimony to this. You cannot possibly ignore SIA, as he is fondly called by his political associates. And this is not simply because he is the governor of the Gateway State.

Who is Ibikunle Amosun? An ordinary man who has an extra-ordinary determination to serve, who has his faults, who makes mistakes and who is the governor of Ogun State. But this simple definition says little of the complex man who has served an equally complex state since May 29, 2011. A Japanese once said of the late great American soldier, General Douglas MacArthur: “Not a simple man.” Many citizens of Ogun State would say the same of their governor. Governor Amosun is the stuff of the social scientist’s nightmare.

In 2011 when he took over, Amosun set out to charm the good people of Ogun State. He threw his arms around the citizens, clasping them in his warm embrace. He showed he understood the pains and the trauma of the state. It was clear, even that early, that the people had a governor who knew better than most how to package himself – he was his own best salesman. He exuded charm and friendliness. He wore a sunny disposition and he appeared to approach governance with a disarming casualness that demystified the art and made it less esoteric. His was a herculean task; getting a mandate to govern a state that had suffered some setbacks over time.Indeed, what Amosun inherited when he assumed office was enough to make a lazy mind throw up his arms in frustration and surrender to fate.

Faced with a bleak future for oil revenue and a rush of social and economic migrants from Lagos and other neighbouring states, Governor Amosun initiated creative strategies to raise good money to fund gigantic projects and meet the needs of the state’s burgeoning population. He is beating a retreat from resting on the rickety base of oil economy.Buoyed by his private sector background, he quickly set in motion necessary machinery to remove the bureaucratic bottlenecks associated with government officials and created an atmosphere conducive for investment.Figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in January 2017 revealed that the total sum of N3.5tn was earned as IGR by the 36 states of the federation within a 66-month period from January 2011 to June of 2016.Ogun State, according to the bureau, came third by generating a total sum of N145.1bn in the period. It was able to grow its IGR from N10.8bn in 2011 to N56.2bn by 2016.The IGR made by the state under Governor Amosun excluded the monthly allocations which states receive from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee. The NBS stated that the IGRs were generated from five main sources. They are Pay-As-You-Earn; direct assessment; road taxes; Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government; and other revenues.

Again, Amosun has assured the citizens that the state will witness massive rural road construction in 2017. As part of his 2017 New Year message, the governor promised that “We will take advantage of the opportunities provided by the World Bank through the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) to ensure easy access to farm produce and mobility of rural dwellers to modern facilities such as pipe borne water, electricity and qualitative health care delivery.” In the New Year, Amosun is also looking more seriously at agriculture and Agri-business. The governor also seized the occasion to reassure the good people of Ogun State that his administration will leave no project uncompleted.

Modesty comes easily to Amosun. A man whose guiding philosophy in life is patience, his approach to issues is unobtrusive. It has helped him to charm his way in and out of complex and complicated situations but it has also given others a wrong signal about the man and his character.Governor Amosun does not crave to be liked; rather, he craves to be understood as a honest, decent man with honest intentions and who cannot hurt a fly. Someone said MacArthur “clothed himself in a cloak of dignified aloofness.” Governor Amosun clothes himself with dignified charm.But no man can win them all. Governor Amosun just cannot. There are those who would clamour to have him as a neighbour and there are those who would wish he lived on the other side of the bridge.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Two things have always served Governor Amosun well in life. The first is patience and the other is courage. He has brought both to bear on his administration of Ogun State. He set out not only to serve the state but to change it in a positive, fundamental sense.He allows nothing to dissuade or distract him from that chosen course. He has found nothing sacred or untouchable. He has challenged the powerful and entrenched civil service and fundamentally restructured it, unbothered by criticisms and plaintive cries for maintaining the status quo. Only a man with the courage of his unflawed conviction could take on so much, unfazed by its enormity. He is Ogun State’s man of the hour. He was chosen at this time and in this age to make Ogun State different.

Amosun admits he is not perfect. No one is. Nor is he afraid of making mistakes. But once he sets his sight on course, there is no looking back. He is not a man of thundering contradictions. Amosun is a compassionate and generous man. He is simple but tough. He listens to people but relies more on his own instincts.

Governor Amosun shows a genuine liking for people but he refuses to spare the rod when necessary. He is a sympathetic man who makes a fine distinction between sympathy and sentiment. He understands that Ogun State is in a hurry for development, he shares that feeling too but he is unwilling to sacrifice success for speed.  Amosun’s desire is to take Ogun State to where it should be in the comity of states.As I wish His Excellency a happy birthday, I pray that God grants him many more years of good health, fulfilment and joy.

• Durojaiye is Governor Amosun’s Special Adviser, Information & Strategy.