A visionary leader in troubled times

Premier of the then Western Region of Nigeria, the Honourable Chief Obafemi Awolowo, hugely popular, was in 1954 set to introduce free and compulsory primary education throughout the region and needed money to finance the social welfare project. He had earlier on January 7, 1952 launched the welfarist and progressive government that kick-started the second stage of Yoruba civilisation with the attendant prosperity and development of Yoruba land in all facets.

Detractors of Chief Awolowo and of his government mounted vitriolic campaigns against his welfare package and had brainwashed the people that should Awolowo be allowed to make education available free-of-charge to all and sundry, there would no longer be labourers and servants; farmers would lose their children who hitherto were the unpaid hands on the farms to the schools and a heavy tax burden would be inevitable for the people to bear.

On a sunny Saturday, January 9, 1954, the then sleepy town of Ago-Iwoye erupted in unprecedented riots. The town’s hitherto beloved monarch, Oba David Meloniti Osiyemi, had to flee the burning palace and trekked through the bush to Imodi in an escape route to Ijebu-Ode. He was an Awo ally. He cheated a certain death by the whiskers to escape detractors of the late Chief Awolowo who were opposed to the regime’s policies.

Ogbeni Comrade Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola arrived to the world three years later on May 25, 1957. Right from childhood he imbibed an inquisitive mind, a can-do spirit and an unusual humanist flare. He grew up with the conviction to be ‘his brother’s keeper.’ Kind hearted and caring, he abhorred injustice and the man-made human suffering and deprivation. He was a mere two-year-old boy in 1959 when the immortal Awo completed his mission in the West. Rauf did not know the Awo of pre-1959, but the spirit of Awo lived in him.

At The Ibadan Polytechnic, Dr. Gbolade Osinowo, then a lecturer and later a senior aide to late Governor Olabisi Onabanjo of Ogun State and recently to President Olusegun Obasanjo, remembered young Aregbesola as a most formidable debater, a great student leader, a visionary and an unusual science student who was more concerned with liberal humanism and people’s struggles. It was this kind of background that prepared Rauf, widely acknowledged as an exceptional grassroots campaigner and mobiliser, for the daunting task of turning a hitherto civil-service cum agrarian state into a vibrant, competitive and technology-driven modern State of Osun.

Journey to the top of the ladder was not easy or smooth, though he got his political, administrative and managerial teeth sharpened by an unbroken eight-year tenure as Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure in Africa’s most prosperous and active state of Lagos with a population of 24 million restive cosmopolitan beings. Rauf was reputed to have worked exceptionally hard and prepared himself for governance. He later underwent three and half years of grueling legal and political battles to regain his mandate as Governor of Osun State in November 2010.

Quickly, he settled down to serious work and within the first three years of the administration his vision and mission had produced a catalogue of impressive landmarks. Some of these imperishable legacies are enduring. All these were in keeping with his vision of a greater tomorrow for his people through liberalisation of education.

Radical innovations were geared towards employment generation. Among others, 5000 youths were trained in specialist ICT programmes; 31 other youths were trained in mechatronics in a train-the-trainer scheme while 40,000 boots were produced by the Osun Footwear and Leather Workers Union for Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme, the O-YES cadets. The success of O-YES has made it a reference point in youth empowerment. The World Bank adopted the O-YES initiative as a model for its Youth Empowerment and Social Support Operation and the concept is being replicated in 18 other states.

Farmers in the state, 3,645 of them, benefitted from N476, 350,000 Government Guaranteed Agriculture Loan Scheme. Not fewer than 5000 new farmer cooperative groups were registered and a 78-hectre cattle hub with a capacity for 10,000 cattle was established at Oloba in Iwo. While meeting the objectives of food security, employment and wealth creation, the listed schemes including fish farms, piggery and ram fattening have also served as reliable sources of fish, poultry, beef, etc. supplies for the Osun Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme. Rural electrification projects were implemented in 38 rural communities. Huge investments also went into culture and tourism development.

Aregbesola’s vision of robust health for his people led to provision of free treatments for tuberculosis and leprosy patients after he built brand new 80 fully equipped primary health centres and provided 50 state-of the-art ambulances. On security, he realised meaningful development cannot happen without peace and safety and to that end he provided tools for 24-hour security cover of the state. State of Osun today remains one of the most secure states in the country.

Afforestation and beautification projects went hand-in-hand. There is hardly any aspect of life and living in the state, including water resources, environment and sanitation that Aregbesola’s visionary leadership did not impact. In Osogbo, the state capital, 21 quality township roads with concrete drainage stretching for 26.31 kilometres to form an inner city ring road were constructed and commissioned. In Ilesa, 17 township roads totalling 29.7 kilometres were reconstructed and commissioned, while Ede got 13 township roads rehabilitated through direct labour. In addition, the State of Osun in conjunction with the World Bank is working on 200 kilometres of rural roads to access farming communities for easy evacuation of commodities and produce under the Rural Access Mobility Programme (RAMP) of the World Bank.

As at January 2016, work was almost completed on the MKO Abiola Airport in the state. The runway, at 3.5 kilometres, the longest in West Africa, is almost ready. As is, it can land any plane in an emergency.

The recent publication from the National Bureau of Statistics clearly shows the macro and micro economic effects of Aregbesola administration’s interventions in human and infrastructure development in the state. State of Osun has the highest growth in credits among the states in Nigeria, with the N13.2 billion in 2010 rising to N170 billion in 2013.

The immediate impact of a calamitous fall in federal revenue was the slashing by more than a half or in extreme cases by two-thirds the monthly revenue allocations to states.

In 2015, the net statutory allocation for January was N1.25 billion, by February it was N1.12 billion, in March it dropped scandalously to N624 million while the April figure dropped further to N466 million.

The statutory allocations began the precipitous fall in 2013 while salaries and emoluments began a steady climb. The contrasting allocation to Osun from the Federation Account is highlighted by the peak of the allocation of N5 billion received in February 2013 against the N466 million received in April this year.

These details put a lie to the accusation of alleged profligacy especially considering the fact that statutory allocation alone cannot meet obligations on salaries and other emoluments. The sharp drop in revenue affected the state’s ability to pursue developmental programmes and projects for further economic activities that could be ring-fenced into the state tax net to push the annual internally generated revenue from N10 billion to the medium term yearly target of N18 billion. By the time the state started defaulting in 2014, it had already committed a total of N4.9 billion to pensions.

These are some of the difficulties that plunged Aregebsola’s State of Osun into the troubled waters and challenged the skills of visionary leadership. Luckily and through astute financial management the debt of the state is within its capacity as certified by Debt Management Office, the federal agency mandated to issue such assessment and opinion.

The State of Osun under Governor Aregbesola has been able to increase the annual tax revenue of the state from the paltry N3.0billion in 2010 to N10 billion in 2013 before the national economic meltdown. All said, State of Osun is rated best in Nigeria over employment.

Rauf is loved by his people and they appreciate him greatly. In the State of Osun, Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola is almost a cult hero!
Adeniyi, veteran media practitioner, wrote the piece to celebrate another year of Ogbeni Rauf.