In this piece, Ayobami Akofe, examines the succession batle in Osun State and why an All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant, Kunle Adegoke, should succeed Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
The number of aspirants for the candidature of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the September 22 governorship election keeps swelling by the day. But what stands Barrister Rasheed Adekunle Adegoke, K-Rad, out among the pack is that from onset, he, like the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola, had a working document, “Roadmap to Osun’s prosperity”. Like Aregbesola’s Green Book, which documents the Six Point Integral Action Plan, a roadmap to what Ogbeni has achieved in this almost eight years, K-Rad’s Roadmap To Osun’s Prosperity is also a concise document with which he intends to bring real development to Osun if elected. The document has a 4-Point Agenda which includes Rebuilding the Economy, Ensuring qualitative education, Providing quality health system and Delivering on infrastructural development.
Rasheed seems like someone who is absolutely prepared for leadership, a serious person who came out even before the whistle was blown, as if telling Osun people: “I’m ready; I’m here to serve you”. The Founder and promoter of the renown socio-political movement, Tiwa n Tiwa L’Osun Development Association, is the only aspirant on the platform of the ruling APC whose origin is Osogbo, the state capital. He seems to be challenging the rather primordial and unconstitutional promotion of zonal agenda, which many with less confidence are planning to use to ride on to power, in 2018 Osun.
Meeting with this writer, K-Rad left no one with any doubt about his passion to move Osun from where Ogbeni would have left the State come November 27, 2018 to the next level. He hammered more on a self-reliant Osun, like Lagos, where revenues from the federal allocation will no more be relevant, even if available. What with the ambitious internally generated revenue of N20 billion per month! Quite ambitious, by any standard or yardstick. But is K-Rad not building castles in the air? he was asked. “No” he said, with a very strong air of conviction.
He said: “The unique point that we are selling fundamentally is to rebuild the economy of this state upon the foundation of the current administration. We are not antagonizing what is on ground, but what I am saying is that the economy of Osun, just like that of many other states in Nigeria, needs to be addressed from certain perspectives. The fundamental is that we need to know that nothing really is coming from the federal allocation, because oil will fail and the moment that happens, most states will get nothing from the allocations anymore”.
Specifically, according to him, Osun has the potentiality to generate enough to take care of salaries and allowances of its staff, pay pensioners and even engage in developmental activities. He is of the opinion that agriculture is and should be developed because of the availability of arable lands in all the length and breadth of the state: “We looked at the resources of Osun and asked ourselves what are those resources and potentials which we can tap into to achieve this rather ambitious IGR, because without tapping into real and potential resources, there is no way we can get even one billion naira in one month, not to talk of fifteen billion Naira. I observe that we have more than 315,000 hectares of farmland in the state. They are just bushes everywhere if you travel the length and breadth of the state. And these are arable lands and sadly too that we don’t have mechanized farming to accomplish meaningful yield that could result into good revenue and needs. Osun is suffering for that in loss of potential revenue.
“For the type of arable land we have here in Osun, we will start agricultural revolution within the first few months of our government. Every federal constituency will have very big farm settlement. It is very possible because lands belong to the Governor in trust for the people of the state. That’s the position of the Land Use Act, Section one. We will not force the families that claim ownership of the land to relinquish them, rather, we will partner with them for mutual benefits. We will use part of the land for monocropping on crops like maize that doesn’t take much time to yield for harvest. A particular poultry farm in this state imports trailer loads of maize to feed its birds. You can imagine how much we will make if we become their supplier. Same goes for all other poultry farmers in the whole of Osun.
Same goes for cassava. We have more than enough starch to send to China and other countries to yield foreign exchange for Nigeria. Same goes for other products. We even have tobacco belts in Oke Ila for good harvests which can also bring good cash to the state. We have done soil samples funded by us to determine which crops can grow better and where. We will engage in massive food crops and ensure there are no wastages, and converted to cash by exploring the Lagos market. Lagos alone spends roughly two billion Naira on food daily and we are sure to take the lead in exploring the market. The population of Lagos is 22 million. I am ok to target only 15 million of that population. Assuming that on the average, one person spends just N200 on food daily, which is grossly impossible, that amounts to N3B per day. You can imagine how much that will be in one month.
“On tourism, Ayekunnugba is a tourist destination. The area is a mountain strip casted by nature which does not have an equal all over the world. The mountain exists underground, and you can only see the top as if it is a mere surface. It will take 260 stair steps to ascend or descend the mountain. When you get there you will discover that it is very impressive with water gushing out as a normal water-fall. It is said that two Anaconda snakes live in the cave and do not harm anyone. The amazing thing about the water is that when there’s noise, the rushing of the water increases and also decreases as the noise decreases. These are wonders which should attract tourists. We will like to explore the scientific basis for this occurrence.
“Osun has about 63 tourist destinations as we speak, which include ancient sites like palaces, grooves etc, and by today, most of these sites ought to have been turned to huge tourists destinations. We can put developments such as electricity and water around the groove and build hotels which tourists will lodge in. The fall will power the electricity. Cable car services will be provided since there will be constant electricity. This will attract more and more tourists. To get patronage for these tourist centers will not be problem. In Osun alone, we have 28 higher institutions, not to talk of neighboring states and far states institutions. OAU alone has 19,000 students.