Aregbesola: Seven years in the saddle

THE desire of Governor Rauf Aregbesola to transform the entire landscape of Osun State makes him an outstanding achiever. This can be measured qualitatively and quantitatively in the huge financial commitment he made towards bridging the infrastructure gap through consistent development of all the towns and cities within the state. The landmarks are evidently seen everywhere – in the over 70 newly built model schools, in the over 1,000kms standard roads, several flyovers, the legacy projects which shall outlive the era of the initiator, Ogbeni Aregbesola.

Loathe or like him, the governor has left an indelible mark in the sands of time. Just like every other human endeavour, the golden achievements did not come on silver platter. They were not a donation or a gift; they were earned, strategically worked and planned for amidst mountains of sacrifices to ensure smile and laughter on the faces of the citizens.

Unfortunately, in Osun State, the supposed opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has employed blackmail and cheap propaganda to malign the person of Mr Governor and discredit the monumental achievements of his administration all in a bid to fraudulently launch themselves fraudulently back into the seat of power without any clear-cut vision to administer the state better. This PDP, which mismanaged and squandered the fortunes of Osun during the time of abundance without any meaningful project recorded against its name, will simply take the state back into regression if it finds its way back to power in this season of national drought.

Governing Osun requires ingenuity. Records from the Federal Ministry of Finance shows that without any single deduction from the monthly Federal Allocation, the gross allocation of Osun will still not be sufficient enough to meet the full salaries and wages obligation in the face of the economic downturn. This shows that the idea of modulated salaries for some of the workers is not a face-covering mechanism from mismanaged Osun resources by the Aregbesola administration. Interestingly, recent statistics shows that the total amount Osun government has expended on infrastructure and other people-oriented programmes is still far less than the amount in comparative terms on what has been allocated and spent on servicing salary, wages and other emoluments for the civil service in the last seven years. This depicts, without any form of bias or contradiction, that the welfare of the workforce is undoubtedly a priority on the scale of preference.

The governor has continually demonstrated his gratitude for the mature, understanding and unalloyed loyalty by the rank and file of the Osun workforce when it is public knowledge that he approved the payment of 13th salary when the economic ride was smooth without being prompted. The monumental and transformational legacies of Ogbeni Aregbesola have become a tool and template for modern-day governance.

The borrowing capacity of Osun was not overstretched. It has become an acceptable practice for developed nations across the globe to engage in capital financing through serviceable loans. The world’s leading economy, the United States of America, survives on a designed credit system and remains the most indebted to the tune of $20 trillion, an amount which cannot be converted into our local currency. In retrospect, instead of the everyday bashing from the economic blackmailers, Aregbesola should be commended for the financial re-engineering mechanism he introduced to keep Osun economy on its toes in the face of recession. More surprisingly, a certain percentage of the debt incurred by the government was used in offsetting salaries; the N34 billion bailout fund and about N25 billion sought in overdraft for salaries payment.

Ogbeni had promised to complete all ongoing projects. The projects are being unveiled, commissioned and put in place for public use in spite of the paucity of funds. The governor, a symbol of good governance in Osun, has suffered and survived several political turmoils in the last seven years, yet he is loved and appreciated by his people for his unprecedented stewardship in public service, which is the hallmark of his peaceful reign.

Omowaiye writes from Ilesa.