Knock! Knock!! Knock!!! I am the Village TownCrier. There has
been so much moaning and groaning from this part of Nigeria, called Osun state
so I decided to pay the small state a visit since my King has been away to the
next village for an inauguration ceremony. This almost sounds like the May 29
Nigerians are dying to see like the coming of Jesus Christ. All political
parties always have a trend of operations in Nigeria. The leaders of the
People's Democratic Party are always in a haste to siphon state funds. They
anticipate looting even before they are inaugurated into power positions
constitutionally. This they do through some 'pseudo' projects with
hyper-inflated amounts of money. This is the type of government that will
allocate a road construction project to a medical doctor or a water project to
a lawyer or even a orthodox medical project to a native doctor without adequate
knowledge of the project. The governor collects his share after the funds are
officially disbursed.
The project is thereby left unconcluded or probably
commissioned to last for a few months and then abandoned. As for All Progressives
Congress, this party believes in 'political noise', false alarms which can also
be capsulated under propaganda. APC leaders especially the governors exploit
the power of the mass media to deceive the masses and turn them against
themselves. This is what happens when Nollywood directors storm politics.
Nigeria has become their set and location; the masses are their actors. APC
Governors have the common administrative style of window dressing by engaging
in massive showboating projects like road constructions, bridges, building of
schools, boosting transport activities, improving the health sector for the
first tenure all in a bid to gain popular support of the ignorant masses (mass
clientelism) but in the second term after being re-elected to consolidate the
good work, they rest of their oars to amass wealth for their private interest.
Governor Aliyu Adams Oshiomohle of Edo state is a typical example of such an
APC leader. People are hastily putting Governor of Oyo state, Isiaka Abiola
Ajimobi in that class over the unpaid salaries of state civil servants for the
past 4 months. I am pretty confident Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state is
the one mentoring him.
Under normal circumstances, a state like Osun has no reason
to trend online and I am being frank about this. Today we have Osun state gist
trending online for the wrong reasons with several underlying and consequential
factors. In summary, Governor Rauf Aregbesola has indirectly wished death on
his workers by not paying their salaries for a staggering 6-month period. For
the purpose of emphasis, to clear doubt I meant months and not days. State civil
servants are middle-class people in the society who averagely afford the
necessities of life. They could also be referred to as top economists who draw
several scales of preferences to survive. You remember the case of 'best
opportunity foregone in elementary Economics?
The bitter truth is that Aregbesola got carried away looting
developmental funds from the state treasury to fend off competition from his
political opponent Iyiola Omisoore of the People's Deceiving sorry I mean
Democratic Party, PDP for the gubernatorial seat in Osun state. Life is lonely;
Iyiola Omisoore has quietly retired to nursing his wounds and counting his
endless losses from the election loss after several failed suits in court while
Aregbesola has indirectly transferred the side effects of the high costs of
campaign to the masses.
Aregbesola has blamed his inability to pay workers’ salaries
for 6 months (November - May) on the Federal Government for its 40% cut on
state allocations. A large chunk of the state allocations have been used to
service debts in the state. He also attributed it to banks' decline of his loan
requests. This act has adversely affected the economic development of the state
and also attracted criticisms from the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
In a statement signed by the Director of Media of the
Campaign,Comrade Bamidele Seyi Abiola in Osun on 27th of December 2014, ,it
frowned at the government failure, noting that “the action is a big disrespect to the dignity of labour and punishment
to the hardworking workers of our dear State.”
Team Oluomo, the campaign organization of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Osun Central Senatorial District in
the February, 2015 election, Oluomo Oluwole Oludaisi Aina, observed that “this is an unusual but strange financial
engineering of Osun State resources’ by the Aregbesola administration for the financial doldrums
that the State is currently witnessing.
Osun state has recorded several abandoned projects as
contractors had to leave due to no finance. Governor Aregbesola has been
heavily criticized for using alien economic principles and strategies he learnt
during his time as the commissioner for works in Lagos state ignoring the
different realities on ground in both states. These are states with opposite
levels of developments, Osun state today is a rural state. This has furthered
plunged the state into deeper economic crisis.
Prior to this shameful development of non-payment of workers'
salaries, Aregbesola’s
Government has been accused of taking interest in demolishing
people’s means of livelihood and properties without compensation. This is
totally unacceptable. I once lived in some parts of Osun state for virtually 5
years by virtue of my spell in Obafemi Awolowo University. The economy of the
state is very weak to cushion the hardship of demolition of houses and business
structures. In 2005, I watched some banks and other businesses spring up in the
popular Mayfair and Lagere areas in Ile-Ife Osun state. Their major customers
comprised of students. We used to tease Osun state indigenes that the presence
of O.A.U in the state gave them a life. As a governor, he is
expected to protect people’s interest. Osun is a rural place
compared to Lagos. Whoever that will
govern Osun State needs to evolve a local developmental
system for the people. You cannot
import programmes and policies of Lagos state to operationalize
in Osun State.
Aregbesola's alien economic decisions have been traced to his
long stay in Lagos. He was not living in Osun until he became governor. He has
become a stranger to the people because he does not know what they want or what
their priorities are. Experience they say can never be bought, no matter your
knowledge of theoretical principles; you will be faced with the challenges of practicality.
The atmosphere is always different on the field of play.
Shockingly, Aregbesola never commissioned a single project in
his first 3 years in office except they were done behind closed doors. The only
thing one could point at is the government’s claim that it has employed 20,000 youths
who are mainly graduates that earn less than N10,000 as salary each month
cutting grasses or cleaning drainages. This is not the type of job creation
people are yearning for in Osun. The people are looking forward to youth empowerment
programmes.
Civil servants in Osun state have been living from hand to
mouth and the situation hit the extreme point when a helpless worker decided to
commit suicide by drinking an Insecticide over his inability to cater for his
family. In a country where there is supremacy of the rule of law, strict
adherence to the law as well as respect for labour laws, Aregbesola could be
heavily sued for damages. The state seems helpless and this is happening at a
time where there is a widespread claim that Nigeria is broke. 18 other states
in Nigeria are caught in the web of debt crisis. What is the way forward for
Osun state? Is there a future for the Nigerian state as regards employment and personal
development? The public sector is going broke while the private sector is not
viable enough to accommodate the every growing labour market.
I did a personal interview with an Osun state civil servant
under the note of anonymity. He blamed it all on his Governor. He accused him
of the following:
1) Inability to remit
pension contributions to all members of staff for 2 years running which has
amounted to 15% of each monthly salary of staff.
2) Unpaid 6 months
salaries of workers which is still counting with no concrete plan or attempt to
salvage the ailing situation.
3) No leave bonus from
the month of December, 2014 till date.
4) No running costs
5) No staff promotion
since 2013.
This is so sad. One wonders why man is naturally selfish, brutish
with an unlimited desire to acquire wealth as claimed by Thomas Hobbes on his
works on man in a state of nature. If the reports of Aregbesola's son rumoured money
laundering case which happened of recent is to go by, then it’s safe to say his
administration is governed by selfish interests. Kabir Aregbesola was reportedly arrested at
the Muritala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday May 12, 2015 with
a huge sum of money in foreign currencies amounting to N178million ($912,820) en
route UAE. It is widely believed the case was covered up with several media
organizations and security operatives taking their share of the money. Always
remember that there is always an element of truth in any rumour. There is no
smoke without fire.
In conclusion, Governor Rauf Aregbesola has no explanations
whatsoever under normal standards not to pay their salaries. I urge him to proffer
a concrete solution and stop giving explanations to media outlets that are
hungry for hot contents to sell. Failure to pay them can be likened to eating a
meal at a restaurant and paying with excuses about a poor economy. It is that
strange and unusual.
Aregbesola's act also comes with a contagious effect which
has affected Oyo state as Governor Ajimobi is under an indirect tutorship of
Aregbesola. Remember Ajimobi replicated the O-yes youth employment initiative
of Aregbesola in Osun state. And also, Governor Ajimobi is yet to pay the
salary of Oyo state workers since January this year. Who knows the other state
that is quietly waiting to follow this trend? Do they want their workers to buy
guns for armed robbery?
Thanks for reading thus far, the Village Town crier will like
to return to his normal duties of delivering messages across to the rugged
people.
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