Politics 11 Failures In Osun State Under Governor Rauf Aregbesola

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It is 6 years that Osun state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been steering the affairs of the state. He was returned to office in November 27, 2014 for a second term. So many things can be said to be wrong with Ogbeni's 6 year old administration in the state. Below is a lost of some of them.

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1. Government without Commissioners: Ogbeni rauf Aregbesola has been running his 2-year old second term government without commissioners. Aregbesola ascribed the delay to the paucity of funds, saying that the purse of the state has been reduced.

2. No Local Government Elections: The last local government poll held in the state was conducted by a PDP-led government in 2007. Since 2011, billions have gone into statutory monthly allocation with no evidence of development in the local governments.

Governor Aregbesola has failed to reveal the total debt exposure of the local governments that he has ran through executive secretaries for over 5 years.

3. Jailing Students: Students who downloaded films on the freely distributed Opon Imo were sent to Ilesa prison. This would not have happened if the government weighed several options before implementing it.

4. Demolition and Merging of Schools: Osun state under Governor Aregbesola demolished merged post-primary schools in the state. This was against the interest of the teachers, students, and alumni associations. Also inimical to the future of students, especially final year students whose examination centres were demolished. This policy of the government was ill-timed and causes a lot of dislocation and hardship for the students, whose identity were erased from the school.

Aregbesola also demolished several houses and shops along Osogbo-Iwo, Ogo Oluwa - Old Garage -Ayetoro - Ota Efun. road. People were made homeless, and with only few of them compensated.

5. Controversy With The General School Uniform: Governor Aregbesola also introduced the school uniform for all state primary and secondary schools in the state. This action didn't go well with the schools, teachers and religious organisations as it destroyed the existent school structure. Through free, it is quite difficult to differentiate students of a school from the other. Religious organisations kicked against it because of a hidden inscription “Ella” discovered in the new school uniforms distributed to all pupils in both primary and secondary schools in the state.

6. Huge Borrow And Uncompleted/Abandoned Projects: No doubt, governor Aregbesola has plunged the state into huge debt with an increased rate of state's borrow, but with abandoned projects in the state. Governor Aregbesola took loans on projects that are grandiose and without direct impact on the lives of the people – federal roads and flyovers that hardly got off the drawing board, airports construction that has been left abandoned.

7. Hijab Crisis: The recent hijab crisis has not been handled maturely by the state governor, who threatened to expel students who wear robes to school. Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High Court had on June 3 given a verdict that Muslim students should be allowed to wear hijab in all public schools in the state because it was part of their fundamental rights.

8. Free School Feeding Programme: As at now, there is nothing productive with the free school feeding programme. It has not been sustainable overtime in Osun state. It though provided jobs for some local food vendors but resulted in huge debt for the state. Governor Aregbesola did not consider the state's economic capacity before investing in such an expensive welfare programme.

9. Misplaced Priorities: Osun state receives paltry sum from the nations treasury due to a heavy debt burden and now relies solely on the allocation giving to LG from the treasury to survive, yet Governor Aregbesola has created additional 30 LCDA and wants to build a 19 billion naira airport before he leaves government. In addition to misplaced priority is the “Opon-Imo” N8.6billion Project. The state is yet to develop for such an expensive project, the reason why students abused it. Today, where is the Opon-imo?

10. Backlog of Salaries: Despite Federal Government bailout funds, Osun is one of the states with terrible backlog of salaries. Some workers are being owed for 6 months, some half-paid, and some have not been paid at all.

11. Monopoly of Trade: Reports in some quarters reveal that the Omoluabi garment factory belongs to the niece of the deputy governor and that in giving her the monopoly to be the only one to sell and sew school uniforms in Osun could be said to affect the livelihood of thousands of tailors and material sellers in the state.
 
So every misinformed reader will easily be fooled by this piece and that is why I will take the time to address each issue raised;

1) Firstly, it is true that the governors does not have commissioners and the governor himself has explained why; It makes no sense to have a state where there are no funds to carry out governance as in Ondo and Ekiti but enough funds to pay commissioners who due to funds paucity, actually have nothing to do. The governor explained that he has not drawn salaries since last year, if he had commissioners he would not be able to keep their salaries away from them. So any body will prefer to have commissioners, how I see this, Ogbeni Aregbesola is making a sacrifice some other governors are not willing to make, for the state's finances.

2) As regards the local government elections, there is a subsisting court order against the elections and until that is set aside in the courts, Ogbeni will not ignore the courts and conduct elections. Especially when even states like Lagos that have no court injunctions have yet to conduct same elections.

3) On the jailing of students, while I do not have the complete facts on it, I know for certain that unless you are saying that there should no longer be retribution for doing wrong, there is no point to comment on there. And that some are reckless with Opon Imo as with every policy everywhere does not render the policy failed. Be guided.

4) On one hand, we complained of the dilapidated structures under which pupils were crammed into in Osun before Aregbesola. On the other hand, we complain when government finally demolishes those and move the students into world class structures? What exactly do we want? Has this writer seen the schools Osun is moving students to and the facilities? He has nothing to say about those? Let's also pretend this point was not made. Unless you're saying you prefer Osun children in those mud houses they were learning before.

5) You say the school uniform did not go down well with everybody. So I ask, how is the same now functioning without problem? The uniform was done to promote unity and remove the segregation that was already rising among students in schools of varying qualities. It is fully embraced today by all parties. Say another one.

6) As at today, I can confirm to you that no governor in the entire South West has commissioned as much projects as Aregbesola has this year. So where are the abandoned projects? One of the criticisms Ogbeni gets is that while workers are owed salaries, roads and other projects are being built. And Aregbesola has always retorted that workers represent only a percentage of his people and so salaries and developmental projects must move on at similar pače. Every week for the past few months if our writer was observant, Aregbesola has been inspecting sites particularly roads/bridges/schools with some commissioned and others with work ongoing. No one can say projects have been abandoned in Osun and expect me to take him serious. To be honest, that is a lie.
7) The Hijab crisis in the state is not the doing of Aregbesola as the governor has repeatedly stated but it is understandable that some people abhor the truth when it goes against their narrative. The crisis was a fallout of a court judgement secured by the muslim community and the CAN responding in an uncivil manner by inciting illegality in our schools. At that point, Aregbesola got involved to stop the campaign being promoted by CAN and since then, the issue has died down. So Ogbeni Aregbesola actually came in to douse the tension, he did not create it. But say what you like please.
8) You say there is nothing productive in the school feeding programme but World Bank recently appraised Osun for it, and Kaduna, Abia and the FG are following Osun's steps on the programme now. Do your research well, mister.
9) That a governor wishes so much development for a small state like Osun cannot be termed "misplaced priorities". Opon Imo has been a success in the state, the state has successfully built schools whose standard will now be copied nationwide, agriculture has become embraced locally and when the Federal Government supports with its part funding, Osun will have the first airport maintenance hub in the entire West Africa opening the state to serious business opportunites and opening the state's tourism potential. If that is what you call "misplaced priorities" compared to where Osun was coming from under the PDP, we are all for misplaced priorities in Osun please. Thank you.

10) Backlog of salaries is an issue not any governor is happy of. Yet President Muhammadu Buhari has said himself that with the current state of the economy, 27 out of 36 states can not afford salaries of workers, so do not make this problem sound peculiar to Osun. It is not not a problem for Osun alone and does not in any way arise from Aregbesola's management of the state. If at all, Aregbesola has managed the situation well by opening books to labour, thereby using transparency to win trust of labour and avoid strike action like we have in Ondo and Ekiti, where even the governor is on strike.

11) This rumour has been long proven to not be true. And the fact you said "reports in some quarters" also shows you are basing your "failures" on hearsay which is a journalistic failure.

I hope I have been able to correct the writer if he did not intentionally wish to malign Ogbeni Aregbesola but more importantly, I hope this addresses the readers who could have been misinformed by this pack of falsehoods. Let us strive to ask questions more and be more accurate in our writings for posterity will judge us. This desperation to soil Ogbeni's name is unwarranted and condemnable
 
Very good comment DObservation, i noted some of your well articulated points and i will like to reply in similar fashion.

1. The reason for not appointing commissioners is well stated in the write-up; Paucity of fund, the author did not, in any part of this subtitle say it is right or wrong. The point is; paucity of fund or any other excuse notwithstanding, the government would have run better with commissioners.
2. The author is aware of the court order, his point is only buttressing the fact that a democratic government should not be run in that manner. This court case has been standing for years and the public perception is that the APC-led government has a motive of delaying it. Note, public perception. Executive Secretaries in Lagos run government with service and accountability. Save Osogbo, Ilesa and a few others, they do less than promised in many other parts of the state.
3. It depends on the age of the students. If they are less than punishable age, then it is a wrong move. Besides,such cases as are very sensitive, and would have been treaded with caution.
4. Dilapidated structures? I reckon their was none in Fakunle when it was demolished. Ogbeni did not demolish structures because of dilapidation (though some were rickety), he did so to suit the pre-determined, pre-conceived model of his. if not, why would Fakunle still lie useless till today, Oso Grams is not yet complete, likewise CAC, Gbonmi to mention but a few.
5. One thing is certain, the uniform was a forced policy. Back then, when we were in secondary school, uniform was part of our pride. Besides, the uniform was very expensive after the first distribution. N2,000 for a pair. This uniform sewn by 'Lagos people' at Sam and Sara is a big contrast to what obtains before. A student can get a pair of uniform for less than N1,000. I knew of many, then who go to school with torn garments, all because they cant afford the N2,000 and it was monopolised, you cant buy it elsewhere.
6. Abandoned projects? pedestrian way of the Gbongan road, Osogbo-Ilesa road, Gbongan-Ibadan road, where is the trumpet bridge Ogbeni promised to complete at first tenure. Fakunle is lying lifeless.
7. Its the political sphere, where diverse ideas are held by different people. Maturity here connotes that students (teenagers ) should not be threatened in any way. The instigators would have better be engaged from on set.
8. misplaced priorities: Opon Imo is number one, take a survey of the schools and interview the students, how many of them had it when it was distributed? did it get to places like Ode-omu, Ilobu, Ara etc. And now, years after, how many of them still has it?
other misplaced priorities, demolishing structures (NOT DILAPIDATED), Ogbeni reduced school fees of tertiary institutions, later,they went on strike for 8 months, another six months followed. why? because of industrial action by lecturers, they have not been paid their salaries. The fact remains that the reduction is good but it was implemented without a apt knowledge of the terrain. it backfired, no doubt about that.Now the government want to merge the schools. Igi Iye was flagged off in 2014, with millions of naira invested, where is it now?
9. There is what we call Top- bottom and Bottom-up analysis of politics. referring to World Bank is taking it from the peak of the strata and it does not in any way interpret to direct impact on students. The author is arguing that the project plunged the state into debt and couldn't be sustained. a better planning would have done better.
10. Number 10 is indisputable. Ekiti receives the least from FAAC, generates the least IGR, yet owes less salaries than Osun. It is not peculiar to Osun but the spate of borrowing made it cumbersome. its an analysis, not an attack.
11. Thanks for your clarification sir. However, it doesn't remove the fact that their is monopoly in that quarter.


FINAL NOTE: NBmonitor is a watchdog and not anti or pro personality or administration. Get this proven by following our 'factful analysis' daily. All said, your contribution is highly appreciated. More of it sir.
 
So every misinformed reader will easily be fooled by this piece and that is why I will take the time to address each issue raised;

1) Firstly, it is true that the governors does not have commissioners and the governor himself has explained why; It makes no sense to have a state where there are no funds to carry out governance as in Ondo and Ekiti but enough funds to pay commissioners who due to funds paucity, actually have nothing to do. The governor explained that he has not drawn salaries since last year, if he had commissioners he would not be able to keep their salaries away from them. So any body will prefer to have commissioners, how I see this, Ogbeni Aregbesola is making a sacrifice some other governors are not willing to make, for the state's finances.

2) As regards the local government elections, there is a subsisting court order against the elections and until that is set aside in the courts, Ogbeni will not ignore the courts and conduct elections. Especially when even states like Lagos that have no court injunctions have yet to conduct same elections.

3) On the jailing of students, while I do not have the complete facts on it, I know for certain that unless you are saying that there should no longer be retribution for doing wrong, there is no point to comment on there. And that some are reckless with Opon Imo as with every policy everywhere does not render the policy failed. Be guided.

4) On one hand, we complained of the dilapidated structures under which pupils were crammed into in Osun before Aregbesola. On the other hand, we complain when government finally demolishes those and move the students into world class structures? What exactly do we want? Has this writer seen the schools Osun is moving students to and the facilities? He has nothing to say about those? Let's also pretend this point was not made. Unless you're saying you prefer Osun children in those mud houses they were learning before.

5) You say the school uniform did not go down well with everybody. So I ask, how is the same now functioning without problem? The uniform was done to promote unity and remove the segregation that was already rising among students in schools of varying qualities. It is fully embraced today by all parties. Say another one.

6) As at today, I can confirm to you that no governor in the entire South West has commissioned as much projects as Aregbesola has this year. So where are the abandoned projects? One of the criticisms Ogbeni gets is that while workers are owed salaries, roads and other projects are being built. And Aregbesola has always retorted that workers represent only a percentage of his people and so salaries and developmental projects must move on at similar pače. Every week for the past few months if our writer was observant, Aregbesola has been inspecting sites particularly roads/bridges/schools with some commissioned and others with work ongoing. No one can say projects have been abandoned in Osun and expect me to take him serious. To be honest, that is a lie.
7) The Hijab crisis in the state is not the doing of Aregbesola as the governor has repeatedly stated but it is understandable that some people abhor the truth when it goes against their narrative. The crisis was a fallout of a court judgement secured by the muslim community and the CAN responding in an uncivil manner by inciting illegality in our schools. At that point, Aregbesola got involved to stop the campaign being promoted by CAN and since then, the issue has died down. So Ogbeni Aregbesola actually came in to douse the tension, he did not create it. But say what you like please.
8) You say there is nothing productive in the school feeding programme but World Bank recently appraised Osun for it, and Kaduna, Abia and the FG are following Osun's steps on the programme now. Do your research well, mister.
9) That a governor wishes so much development for a small state like Osun cannot be termed "misplaced priorities". Opon Imo has been a success in the state, the state has successfully built schools whose standard will now be copied nationwide, agriculture has become embraced locally and when the Federal Government supports with its part funding, Osun will have the first airport maintenance hub in the entire West Africa opening the state to serious business opportunites and opening the state's tourism potential. If that is what you call "misplaced priorities" compared to where Osun was coming from under the PDP, we are all for misplaced priorities in Osun please. Thank you.

10) Backlog of salaries is an issue not any governor is happy of. Yet President Muhammadu Buhari has said himself that with the current state of the economy, 27 out of 36 states can not afford salaries of workers, so do not make this problem sound peculiar to Osun. It is not not a problem for Osun alone and does not in any way arise from Aregbesola's management of the state. If at all, Aregbesola has managed the situation well by opening books to labour, thereby using transparency to win trust of labour and avoid strike action like we have in Ondo and Ekiti, where even the governor is on strike.

11) This rumour has been long proven to not be true. And the fact you said "reports in some quarters" also shows you are basing your "failures" on hearsay which is a journalistic failure.

I hope I have been able to correct the writer if he did not intentionally wish to malign Ogbeni Aregbesola but more importantly, I hope this addresses the readers who could have been misinformed by this pack of falsehoods. Let us strive to ask questions more and be more accurate in our writings for posterity will judge us. This desperation to soil Ogbeni's name is unwarranted and condemnable

Thank you for commenting on our page. It's nice to have you here but i must correct you :

1. Maybe the President should run his cabinet without Ministers and Heads of parastatals

2. What has the Governor done to challenge the ''subsisting' court order?

3. The students jailed, how old were they? Maybe the Governor should have handled the issue differently.

4. You create alternative plans before you demolish . Did Aregbesola build any alternative ?

5. Are Osun schools functioning? Seems they're on the brink of war . Is the Hijab crisis part of the uniformity you're talking about?

6. Osun has one of the highest numbers of abandoned government projects in Nigeria - THIS IS A FACT .

7. An educational environment should be neutral and free from religious forces. If you want religion within a school, go and build your own.

8. How dare you owe teachers and go ahead with a bogus school feeding plan? How dare you? World bank appraisal ? - please send me a link

9. Opon Imo was a failure. Huge one. Total waste of money. Osun state is not working. The government is simply trying to get more allocation from the Federal government by creating additional LCDAs [we know that trick]. What is he doing about increasing the Internally generated revenue of the state?

10. No governor has a right to owe salaries. Aregbesola's debt issues reeks of financial mismanagement and reckless. He's a 2-term governor , we expect more from him.

11. We don't do rumours, we have all the facts.

It's okay to want to defend Aregbesola because you're obviously not affected by his failures but for a moment maybe you should think of thousands of families who are barely surviving because of Aregbesola's tactics. Let us be fair in our defense of public office holders, we do not owe them praise or endless worship. Argebesola is everything a Governor should not be .
 
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