Aregbesola: Footprints of a visionary

THERE is no doubt in the fact that Governor Aregbesola delivered on his electoral promises as enshrined in his Six-Point Integral Action Plan, entitled ‘My PACT WITH THE PEOPLE OF OSUN’, otherwise known as the “Green Book”. In that Covenant, Aregbesola swore to tackle poverty, tackle hunger, tackle unemployment through wealth creation, restore healthy living, promote functional education and enhance communal peace and progress.Prior to his administration, virtually all the roads across the state were in deplorable conditions. Governor Aregbesola constructed over 2000 kilometers of roads which traversed the nooks and crannies of the state. Among them are: 74km boundary highway connecting Osun directly to Lagos through Gbongan via Orile-Owu and Ijebu-Igbo; 17.5km dual-carriage road Osogbo East/West Bypass; 47km highway connecting Osogbo to Kwara State boundary; and 30km Gbongan-Akoda Road and the Adebisi Akande Trumpet Interchange Bridge. Others are 81 Township roads covering 138km; inter-city roads covering 588km and 426 kilometers of roads constructed through the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) among others.

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In boosting agriculture and food security Aregbesola allocated 4,000 hectares of land under the Land Bank scheme while support to large scale farmers shot Osun into the second position in the production of poultry. IITA was brought to Osun for agricultural demonstration purposes on cassava, maize, cowpea and most of the arable crops. Of course, some tree crops were not excluded. In the education sector, 22 state-of-the-art Elementary Schools, 15 Middle schools and 11 High Schools [that look like universities] were constructed and completed across the nooks and crannies of the state to revamp the sector and make education attractive to every child. The yearly examinations grants per student was increased while periodic training and retraining of over 5,000 teachers running grants were raised from N7.4 million to over N427million per year and 30 percent reduction in tuition fees for state tertiary institutions while 98 medical students of Osun State University (UNIOSUN) were sponsored to Ukraine to complete their medical studies. Other areas of interventions of the Aregbesola-led government in the education sector included: school reclassification into Elementary, Middle and High School System to aid easy teaching and learning; and introduction of Education Marshalls to maintain discipline. School administration and management was decentralized through the creation of three education districts, with each district headed by a Tutor-General.

Calisthenics display is another legacy for which this administration will be remembered. Calisthenics incorporates a lot of virtues like team spirit, unity, resilience, cooperation, tenacity, which an average individual needs to survive and succeed in life. The display has since been introduced into all the schools in the state to create a complete ‘Omoluabi’ in the student.  As at 2016, Osun’s performance level in WAEC rose to 46.7% which is quite a huge jump in the number of students with credit passes in English and Mathematics. Similarly, the state has, since 2013, been featuring prominently between the 1st and 3rd positions in the JAMB ‘matriculatable’ students in Nigeria . On Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O’MEAL) alone, the state government provides free meals for over 250,000 pupils in primary 1-4 every school day. Through the programme, malnutrition in pupils has been reduced; school enrolment and promotion of healthy living among public school pupils have been improved. Also, about 4000 caterers were empowered as food vendors serving nutritious delicacies to all the pupils in Elementary schools across the state every school day while over 50 school buses (Omoluabi Scholar Buses) were procured by Aregbesola’s administration to enhance easy transportation of students in the state.

Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O’YES) is an innovative idea conceptualized to find meaningful solution to youth unemployment. Within the first 100 days in office, 20,000 O’YES cadets were trained and engaged for productive ventures. Grouped into units like Public Works Brigade, Green Gang, Osun Sherriff Corps, Traffic Marshalls, Osun Paramedics, Sanitation Czars and Teachers Corps, over-40,000 youth have so far been empowered though the scheme. The last batch of 20,000 for this administration, which is expected to be passed on to the next administration, is already being prepared. A total 6000 of these youths were subsequently recruited as permanent teachers. However, 1,600 youths were trained in modern agricultural practices under Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme (O’REAP) while 40 of them were sponsored by the state government to Germany to acquire knowledge on advanced farming techniques.

The beauty of this scheme is the fact that N200million allowances being paid to OYES Cadets monthly is injected into the local economy of the state as all the materials and tools used for the success of the scheme were sourced locally. This scheme was recommended to Federal Government by the World Bank as a panacea to youth unemployment and restiveness in the country as the scheme made Osun to experience a drastic drop in her unemployment rate from 12.4% to 2%, thereby making Osun the state with lowest unemployment rate. Aregbesola’s administration was the first in the country to replace books with computer tablets called ‘Tablet of Knowledge’ aka ‘Opon Imo’[acknowledged by UNESCO as unique]  to further stimulate the interest of students to learning as well as completely turn learning into play in schools. Altogether, 17 subjects that students offer during West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) were included as learning experiences in form of lesson notes, textbooks, mostly provided by Evans Publishers and Master Teacher’s inputs. Computer Education and Entrepreneurship Education are also included in the device. ‘Opon Imo’ also contains ten years past questions and answers provided by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as well as West African Examinations Council (WAEC). It also needs to be noted that Aregbesola’s government increased bursary allocations to all Osun indigenes in tertiary institutions.

In the health sector, 90 new primary health centres were built and equipped; 35 existing primary health centres were upgraded, just as 50 state-of-the-art ambulances were procured as 400 paramedics were employed. In the same vein, 20 ultra-modern dug warehouses were constructed as well as the construction of Comprehensive Health Centres at Ogbaagba, Erin-Ijesa and Erin-Oke. (see the rest om www.tribuneonlineng.com)

• Chief Adeniyi is a veteran journalist