A clearly thought-out job creation scheme is yielding fruit in Osun State and beneficiaries are excited about it. On assumption of office in November 2010, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said something unusual. In 100 days, he said, his administration would provide jobs for 20,000 youths in the state. About 30 days after that declaration, recruitment began and the Osun Youth Employment Scheme (OYES) was born.
Two years on, the first set of cadets has just graduated at a colourful ceremony at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Ede, a town of rolling hills in the state. The event was witnessed by a large number of dignitaries from across the country.
Through the scheme, the Aregbesola administration set out to achieve a number of things. One was job creation, to keep unemployed youths out of redundancy and mischief, and by engaging them, strengthen the state economy. Another was to prove that it was possible to employ a significant number of youths in a very short space of time. One other reason for setting up the OYES was to inspire cadets and other Osun residents to value themselves and see dignity in labour and service, and themselves as change agents. Ogbeni Aregbesola captured all that in one word: “Omoluabi”, in local parlance.
At the graduation ceremony, the cadets strutted with confidence, clad in their khaki overalls. In the scheme, many of them learnt to operate the computer and even to repair it. Many can make good quality shoes. A good number can sew. Some others are rearing livestock, poultry and fish. Many are making much-coveted red bricks, and others have mastered the processing of several local meals.
“OYES has helped us by giving us boots to make,” Mr Jimoh Lateef Alani told Newsextra, standing before various well-made footwear on display. “We have been given an opportunity to do something for ourselves. May be government will give us machines when we pass out.”
Miss Temitope Jegede, a computer graduate, is happy to render service to the state as a sheriff guard. In that capacity, alongside other colleagues, she supervises nurses in the hospitals just to ensure that everybody is doing their work well. But she added that her joy is that the scheme has saved her from idleness, or “going here and there,” as she put it. Jegede also emphasised that as sheriff guards, there is no high-handedness or compulsion in their duties, only to ensure that workers are doing their best.
The OYES has made a strong impact on Osogbo, the state capital, as well other parts of the state. Cadets are helping in traffic management and also in ridding the towns and cities of waste.
It is this area that female cadets have surprised many. In five days, women learnt to drive refuse trucks and have been helping to keep the state capital clean. Men also drive the trucks but it is their female counterparts who have stolen the show. Funmilola Adegoke, one of the female drivers, told Newsextra that the scheme has helped her in many ways. So did Hafusat Popoola and Odunmorayo Ilesanmi, other female drivers. As they spoke they exuded the air of contentment, even conscious of the fact that they have demystified a job once done exclusively by men.
Corporate organisations like First Bank are partnering with the state, providing some cash and tools. The World Bank recommended the scheme for adoption by other states.
The Federal Government, interested in the Osun jobs initiative, has also sent a delegation to the state to understudy the scheme.
There are other partners. Firms, institutions of higher learning and trade associations have equally teamed up with the state to expand its skills base. Personnel from Fountain University are training cadets in various skills under the scheme. Textile workers and tailoring associations are providing such training apart from the fact that OYES overalls are made in the state. This is boosting the state economy.
But the tailors themselves are excited for personal reasons. Mr Lateef Adebisi said: “OYES has improved our economy. No government in the state has provided jobs the way Aregbesola’s has. Many tailors have built houses, bought cars and solved many financial problems.”
Mr Femi Ifaturoti, chair of the OYES Implementation Group, said: “We have proved that it is possible to employ 20,000 people.”
Ifaturoti said the cadets were orientated to believe in themselves and carry on the “Omoluabi” spirit, adding that some of them were sent to various parts of the world to be trained. Some went to Cuba, some to Germany, some others to India. The result is an enriched and strengthened work force in the state.
Another set of 20,000 cadets will replace the ones that graduated. Some 18,000 of those who passed out of the scheme are said to have been given permanent jobs in the state.
“The OYES is just one of those instances that confirms how visionary Rauf Aregbesola has been coming up with unique solutions to the problems of Nigeria,” said Mr Semiu Okanlawon, Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy Office of the Governor. “By the time he was developing this unique youth engagement strategy, Nigeria’s problem in terms of youth restiveness had not reached this alarming rate. Yet, he knew that if there is no conscious effort at taking idle hands off the streets, we might just be sitting on a very explosive case. Just imagine each state of the federation engaging 20,000 on this kind of community works. That translates into 20,000 in 36 places apart from Abuja. That alone is enough to put away all these problems of Boko Haram, kidnapping and other criminal activities that are just becoming daily affairs in our national life.”
Aregbesola said: “OYES is not about youth employment alone. It is also about re-inflating the state economy. Our integration policy states that all uniforms, kits and equipments used by OYES should be obtained from markets spread round all local government areas in the state. This has created a value-chain, improved the economy, empowered families and created wealth.”
