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FRIDAY MARCH 20 - THURSDAY MARCH 26, 2020
Osun's Gains In Six Years
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n Thursday, May 25, 2017, family, friends, and well wishers converged on the newly built De-Distinguished Multipurpose Hall in Osogbo for a colloquium to mark the 60th birthday anniversary of Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, the Governor of the State of Osun. The event, attended by a crosssection of dignitaries from across the state and beyond, could well be regarded as the second Raufnomics in the transformation of Osun. Raufnomics, coined by Aregbesola’s associates, was launched in 2016 as a shorthand for his profitable use of strategic planning and an innovative economic model to transform the lives of the people of Osun through massbased and people-centered programmes and projects, especially in education, health care, infrastructural development, youth employment, and social welfare. Against the backdrop of Osun’s lean profile, when Aregbesola took office in November 2010, and the state’s declining fortunes for some years, Raufnomics has turned out to be about using limited resources to guarantee the maximum good for the maximum number of people. This is better appreciated by considering the cumulative impact of all the programmes and projects as a whole, rather than viewing each programme in isolation. The colloquium, featuring four presentations on Raufnomics, focused on how Aregbesola was able to accomplish his goals: (1) Good governance and challenges of leadership by Mahamoud Abubakar Balarabe (SAN); (2) Democracy and ethics of good governance by Professor Akin Oyebode; (3) Leadership and politics of power struggle by Professor Niyi Akinnaso; and (4) The essence of the transformation agenda of the state of Osun by Dr. Charles Diji Akinola. As the titles of the presentations suggest, the recurrent themes of the colloquium were leadership; ethics; democracy; and good governance. While Balarabe, Oyebode, and Akinnaso expatiated on one or the other of these themes, Akinola focused on the specifics of Aregbesola’s transformation agenda in Osun during the past six years. In what follows, I explored, not in any particular order, how these four themes provided the backdrop for Aregbesola’s uncommon achievements. First, Aregbesola gave meaning to our fledgling democracy through his programmes and projects, by involving relevant stakeholders in the distribution of political goods across the state. His democratic roots date from his student days when he participated in student activism and social movements for the transformation of society. Like the young Fidel Castro, whose political trajectory developed from sympathy for the Black labourers on his father’s sugar cane plantation, Aregbesola has always been drawn to the plight of the masses, especially the downtrodden. Although an engineer by training, Aregbesola devoured literary pieces, especially African literature, perhaps in his bid to better understand human nature, especially African sensibilities, as he consumed political writings,
especially socialist, Marxist, and leftist reform and school reclassification. The literature. It was this eclectic literature project triumphed. They criticized and about the free and his burning desire to transform l i e d school uniforms society that he introduced. shaped his The project brand of triumphed. They democracy. It condemned his is a liberal, school feeding participatory By Prof Niyi Akinnaso programme, by democracy, sidetracking its shaped by multiplier elements from various sources, including Mao Tzsetung, Karl Marx, economic benefits for farmers, market women, and neighbourhood food Fidel Castro, and Awolowo. The result is a pragmatic politics, rooted in the vendors as well as its health benefits for school children. The programme people he is appointed or elected to became a best seller in the nation, serve. By the time Aregbesola joined the attracting adoption by many other NADECO fight for democracy, states and even the Federal Government. following the They also truncation of criticized his M K O u r b a n Abiola’s r e n e w a l presidential p r o j e ct, victory in d e s p i t e 1993, he had praises by signed up for development political experts and struggles that p a r t w o u l d sponsorship consume his by the UN time for years H a b i t a t to come. He Programme. would later T h e y join the •Aregbesola protested the Alliance for removal of Democracy on the return of democracy in 1999 and illegal structures in the selected cities as they did school uniforms, but to no adopt progressivism as a driving avail. ideology of governance. Finally, they said he diverted bailout But progressivism did not come to him overnight. Right from his student funds meant for salary payments, because they wondered how projects days until today, Aregbesola never departed from the progressive ideology could continue to be executed in the state in the face of dwindling resources. underlying the programmes of the old trilogy of Action Group, Unity Party of They failed to unlock the secret behind Nigeria, and Social Democratic Party Aregbesola’s innovative financing and the contemporary trilogy of options, including flexible financing, Alliance for Democracy, the Action and the ability to maintain a strict Congress of Nigeria, and now the All boundary between funds for recurrent Progressives Congress. Aregbesola’s expenditure and funds for capital progressivism is in the Awolowo mould projects, especially when some of the of “life more abundant” for all, as latter funds were borrowed to evidenced by his programmes in accomplish specific projects. Third, Aregbesola succeeded because education, health care, agriculture, youth employment, social welfare, and his government operated by the major indicators of good governance, infrastructural development. transparency and Aregbesola is as emphatic in his including accountability, rule of law, regulatory belief in the rule of law and the control, political stability, and control importance of debate as drivers of democracy as he is an unapologetic of corruption. He also delegated federalist, who believes in the sanctity authority, using, for example, the and relative autonomy of the federating Bureau of Social Services as an units. He demonstrated this when he oversight agency for all kinds of led the rejection of the National projects in the state. Moreover, he always ensured that Assembly’s attempt to encroach on the oversight functions of State Assemblies. major stakeholders were involved in decision-making, and he would always Second, Aregbesola’s achievements are driven by his consistency and go back to them for updates. For loyalty to people and causes. He is a example, when the state’s financial man of uncommon ethical standard, fortunes began to decline, Aregbesola guided by his faith in God, people, and summoned all labour unions and other good causes. I have watched him on stakeholders in the state, and laid bare several occasions agonize over the the state’s financial records. I examined misrepresentation of his programmes those records at the time, and also met and outright falsification of his with leaders of the unions. He then set intentions. At first, I wondered why a up a committee to oversee the politician should agonize over such distribution of resources as state behaviours, given the tendency of allocations were received. The result was an agreement on Nigerian politicians to criminalize political opponents. Upon reflection, I structured salary payments, which sustained the throughout the difficult discovered that such behaviours are outside the code of conduct Aregbesola periods. This effort, of course, did not prevent political opponents from had set for himself. And what did Aregbesola do that organizing pockets of protests and they did not falsify or otherwise run coopting willing reporters into false down? They criticized his education reports, even when nearly 30 states were in a similar dilemma.
OBSERVATION
Fourth, Aregbesola demonstrates the qualities of good leadership, including honesty; confidence; commitment; positive attitude, even in the face of adversity; and faith in his ability to transform the lives of his people. Moreover, he is highly communicative about his goals, policies, and projects. Above all, he exhumes an inclusive praxis that only a leader could exhume, who is rooted in grassroots politics. I observed this during his re-election campaign in 2014. It was demonstrated again during the colloquium, when every segment of Osun society was represented. Aregbesola painstakingly acknowledged them all, sometimes with the signature song for each group. Everyone has a place in his heart as they do in his programmes and projects. Was Aregbesola able to accomplish everything he set out to accomplish? Certainly not. His second term was hampered by the economic recession which gripped the entire nation. This opened him up to all sorts of criticisms, including lack of foresight in the allocation of resources. Not even the spread of the economic scourge to at least 30 other states could absolve him of blame by ardent critics. It is also not the case that Aregbesola has no weaknesses of his own. He is often overenthusiastic and approaches every project he believes in with excessive zeal. While these may well be the weaknesses needed in a leader, who is determined to transform his society, there is no doubt that they are also targets of criticism, and may need to be moderated. Niyi Akinnaso, a professor of Linguistics and a columnist, was on the panel of discussants during the 60th birthday Colloquim in honour of former governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun on May 25, 2017.
“And what did Aregbesola do that they did not falsify or otherwise run down? They criticized his education reform and school reclassification. The project triumphed. They criticized and lied about the free school uniforms he introduced. The project triumphed. They condemned his school feeding programme, by sidetracking its multiplier economic benefits for farmers, market women, and neighbourhood food vendors as well as its health benefits for school children. The programme became a best seller in the nation, attracting adoption by many other states and even the Federal Government. ” •Niyi Akinnaso, a professor of
Linguistics and a columnist.
This article was first published in 2017. It is republished because of its relevance to contemporary events.
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