OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA, outgoing governor of Osun State, has demonstrated that human beings can make impact in any given society, not necessarily because of wealth but because of ideas and it has since been said that ideas rule the world. Aregbesola has something in common with Fidel Castro, the late leader of Cuba. Castro was criticised by the West, but at the end of the day, Cuba was the only country in the Americas with no single record of child malnourishment; declared an “International Paradise” by UNICEF, the country has the lowest child death rate in the two continents of America. The country boasts some of the best human development indices in the world, particularly in education and health. It is not an exaggeration that what Castro did in Cuba, Aregbesola has done the same in the Osun State.
A song writer penned this song: “We shall be remembered, we shall be remembered by what we have done”. One of the founding fathers of Newswatch magazine, Ray Epku, recently asked in his article in The Guardian, if Aregbsola will be remembered by his state. We know that history is written by a victor. Every public office holder starts writing his story from the moment he is elected. Aregbesola will certainly be remembered for his numerous unforgettable good deeds. The philosopher states: “The best way to live is to live in the present and not attempt to shape the future.”
There are many people like Ekpu living in Osun, and others outside the state who might have heard about Aregbesola and possibly out of curiosity, eager to find out what he has done the last eight years. It is obvious that a leader must be represented by what he stands for either for good or for evil. As far as the history of the tenure of the outgoing governor is concerned, he will surely be remembered for his several unforgettable good deeds. A one-time PDP gubernatorial candidate in the state once stated that the state has nothing to show as an achievement for the past six years. Just as it is often said that when lies is allowed to prevail for long it might be taken for the truth. There were three groups of men in the state who nursed the defeat they suffered as a result of Aregbesola’s victory at the polls. The first group was those who held on to power due to electoral manipulation for three and a half years before they were sacked by the Court of Appeal. Some have since joined the APC. The second group were the men that were counting on the time that the gubernatorial election will come to their zones, but the court verdict blew off their chance. This second group are much more desperate. One of them vowed in 2014 that he must win the election at all costs, failure which he was ready to die. He tried but failed but has since refused to die. The third group consists of political hangers-on. They benefit from the power that be. The change of power has since rendered them beggars and haters of Aregbsola’s administration.
Initially, they falsely alleged that the incumbent governor suffered from cancer, but when that kite failed to fly, they took to criticising him that he was doing nothing in the state. Later when Aregbesola turned the whole state to one great construction site, they were dumbfounded and started saying that the state’s indebtedness was beyond redemption. So far, there is no local government council area that has not seen the impact of Aregbesola’s administration. The six-point integral action plan: Banish Poverty, Banish Hunger, Banish Unemployment, Restore Healthy living, Promote Functional Education, and Enhance Communal Peace and Progress, continue as the guiding principles till date.
Will Aregbesola be remembered? Yes, he would be remembered as the man whose mandate was stolen by the then incumbent but fought a legal battle for three and half years to regain it, to the extent that the then Federal Government was much more concerned that the Electoral Law was amended to ensure that future electoral litigation does not exceed six months.
Aregbesola would be remembered as the first governor in Nigeria that employed 20,000 youths under the Osun Youths Employment Scheme (OYES) within his first 100 days in office. If his critics are insisting that the man has done nothing in the past eight years in office, the youth in their various wards and local government areas will stand to counter their negative comments that they were the beneficiaries of Aregbesola’s empowerment policies. Their parents and relations will speak to the electorate that they have become employers of labour through the OYES scheme.
About 40 of the former beneficiaries of the scheme will mobilise their households that they became landlords through the OYES scheme, and that if the scheme has not been on the ground they might still be wandering about seeking for jobs that are not available. Just few weeks ago, another batch of the OYES scheme has commenced the service despite the lean purse of the state.
If political opponents fail to see what the man Aregbesola has done in the state for the past eight years, the students that were formerly learning in poultry sheds will celebrate the icon and modern innovator of Opon Imo, a learning device that contains over 64 text books, past questions and answers in WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations, s device that was acknowledged by UNESCO and even WAEC, an educational device that made Osun and the helmsman to receive several awards across the globe.
The over 20 newly-constructed High Schools, 22 elementary schools are enough cynosure for those with eyes, irrespective of tribes, colour or religion. It is no more news that President Muhammadu Buhari was dumb-founded as to how the governor was able to fund such facilities despite the economic downturn.
Apart from the modern facilities that were provided in these new schools, the schools were given befitting buses to transport students to and from schools.
We may forget that the man provides free school uniforms for over 75,000 students across the state, but would the parents and pupils forget? But in case they do, in the future when it shall be asked who introduced the same uniforms for all the pupils in primary and secondary schools, whose name would they mention?
Free meals are daily being served across the state, to the extent that the state experienced geometrical increase in school enrolment in the primary schools above any other state in Nigeria. The free meals scheme has also provided markets for both farmers and poultry farmers beyond the state. The eggs consumption by the pupils went beyond the supply of the local farmers, to the extent that farmers in Kwara State now sell for the state cooks.
As if that was all the state needs to serve as a model to the Federal Government who has since adopted the free schools meal.
The United Kingdom was highly impressed by the school meal programme that the governor was invited to address the UK parliament over it. On the introduction of free schools meal in UK, each parent was projected to save about £50,000 annually. A prophet, they say, has no honour except in his own home; while our people fail to see that healthy and well-fed children will learn better and perform excellently well, a foreign country saw the importance.
The primary school enrolment rose from 40% to 80% in 2014, the highest in Nigeria.
The 2017 West African Examination Council (WAEC) was the best so far in the history of the state as the students’ results rose from 49.5% to 70%.
May be those who claim the man cannot be remembered for anything are always flying to and from the state, otherwise they are likely to have passed through the trumpet bridge that is under construction at Gbongan. They are likely to have been to Orileowu or Osogbo, Ilesa, Ikirun Ile-Ife, but in case they have not, let them ask from anybody from any of the 30 local government areas and the newly established developmental areas if they have experienced any road construction, the answer would likely be positive.
The health sector and those that have been saved due to the nearness of hospitals and maternity centres to them would remember that a man was in charge of the state for eight years. The accident victims that were saved through the prompt response of the O’ Ambulances will remember that Aregbesola saved them from death. The REHAB, the agency that picks and rehabilitates the mentally-challenged people across the state, will forever be grateful for the man that rescued, rehabilitated and gave them a new life.
On security, the state has never had it so good as it is today under the leadership of Aregbesola. Prior to his coming, armed robbers were rattling communities so terribly that banks in Ejigbo, Ikirun and other places had to be closed down. This government invested heavily both in men and security gadgets, including armoured vehicles. Aregbesola is leaving the state as one of the safest in Nigeria.
- Obaditan is a media aide to the outgoing Osun governor