Osun: Oyetola’s silent progress

 

 

How well has Governor Gboyega Oyetola fared since emerging as the helmsman of the state of Osun? While his critics say the administration is yet to make impact, supporters and aides of the governor insist the administration of Governor Oyetola is silently making progress in the state in spite of the financial difficulty being experienced by his government. Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, reports.

FOLLOWING his emergence as the governor of the State of Osun in September 2018, Gboyega Oyetola bagged one of the most difficult jobs in the country. Expected to govern a state dogged by paucity of funds, the Iragbiji-born politician knew he would have to do more than just try if he is to make a success of his administration. And since he took office, he has not been spared by the opposition in the state which never wasted any opportunity to accuse him of under-performance. This is just as his supporters insist the new administration is still living up to expectation.

The recent nomination of the state as the Overall Best State in Nigeria has send tongues wagging over the performance of the Oyetola administration once again. While the governor described the award as well deserved and a source of inspiration to the people of the state, his critics say there is nothing to show that such award should be given to the state at a time like this. But observers of the politics of the state are of the opinion that Osun may be experiencing silent progress made possible by the determination of the current administration to surmount the many hurdles on its way.

Oyetola, while receiving the award from Nigeria Africa Development Indicators Monitoring foundation (NADIM), in Osogbo said the award will motivate him to do more for the people. Represented by Oluwole Oyebamiji, the Secretary to the State Government, the governor expressed satisfaction that the government’s modest efforts at uplifting the condition of the people are being noticed by people within and outside the state.

“When I was told that our state was due for an award, I was skeptical. I asked how a government like ours can be adjudged overall best in the country, beating states like Lagos, Edo, Anambra, FCT among others. I felt relieved when I was told the award was based on our performances in the last five years. At that point, I concluded that we truly deserve the award as a state. This is because since assumption of office last year, deliberate measures had been taken to ensure that our administration’s policies and programmes were citizen-driven,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) has accused the administration of Oyetola as one of ineptitude and failure. A statement issued by the SPN, Osun State chapter and signed by Alfred Adegoke, the party’s governorship candidate in the last election and Kola Ibrahim, party’s State Secretary, said the government of Oyetola seemed to be non-existent in most areas of governance. “For instance, the public education sector is in shambles, no thanks to deliberate neglect by the Oyetola/APC government.

According to SPN, while the government claimed that the state did not have enough resources to fund many of these sectors, the reality was that “this is self-inflicted, as the government is profligate. “Aside roads, most other infrastructures are in poor state. Public water supply seems to be non-existent. The state water supply agency, Osun State Water Corporation, has become agency for levy collection rather than water supplying agency, no thanks to under-funding by the government. Majority of the residents now rely on private water supply systems that are mostly unhygienic,” it stated.

But Prof. Taofeek Ibrahim, the founder of NADIM and Vice Chancellor of Al- Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara state, said 18 basic development indicators proved that Osun state is progressing silently. He said empirical analysis of data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NHDS,2013) supported his position that the state is making progress contrary to the claims of the opposition and other critics of the government.

While congratulating the state for the feat achieved, he said the award was not based on outputs such as over head bridges, inter state road network and intra state comparison but on the level of health facilities, education and security. Ibrahim said Osun was adjudged the first in birth rate average or larger in weight, second best in Under 5 children birth certificate, second best in delivery in health facilities and employment among others.


Efforts

Speaking on the efforts of the Oyetola administration, the state’s Commissioner for Works and Transportation, Remi Omowaye, said the government is forging ahead in spite of the huge challenges it is daily encountering in its quest to deliver on its promises to the people. As part of its efforts to better the lot of the people, last September, the government completed work on and inaugurated 100 Primary Health Centres renovated under the first phase of its PHC/Hospital Revitalisation Programme.

According to Omowaye, work on the projects was fast-tracked because of the Adegboyega Oyetola government was committed to the development of the health sector. He added that the Oyetola administration is also renovating and revitalising another 332 PHCs in all the wards in the state, as well as 57 Secondary Health Centres. Urging residents to always patronise health facilities nearest to them instead of travelling long distances to access health care in big hospitals, the commissioner said government has the people of the state in mind and desires to do a lot for them.

“We have equipped all the hospitals in line with the best standard of the World Health Organisation. We are not focusing on the PHCs only as we are also rehabilitating 57 secondary health care centres. The initiatives of our administration are always in response to the yearnings and aspirations of the people to advance the health sector in the state. He added that the focus of the government is not just on buildings as the need of personnel as well as facilities have also been taken care of.

According to him, facilities, the needs of personnel as well as provision of needed drugs and other materials have been taken care of. “What we are doing is revitalisation of our hospitals and the initiative takes care of the needs of personnel, the need to enhance the facilities as well as the provision of adequate drugs in all the hospitals across the state. “We are not limiting the scope of this exercise to PHCs alone; we have equally launched massive rehabilitation of our secondary health facilities in the state,” he said.


Challenges
The government agrees with the opposition that the state has a lot to do in the area of attending to damaged and obsolete infrastructure across the state. Speaking recently, the commissioner revealed that the state government would require N27 billion to fix the critically-damaged infrastructure in the state. He said that the state governor, after collating data on the critical needs of the people of the state, discovered that about N27 billion would be needed to fix the damaged public infrastructure and roads in the state.

Omowaye added that the state government was working on rehabilitating some of the damaged roads and public buildings, adding, however, that paucity of funds and the economic situation of the state had been posing a serious challenge. He said most of the infrastructure and roads in the state were aging and urgently needed overhauling, repairs and maintenance but that lack of funds was impeding the work. “The governor is doing his best to raise funds for work on critical infrastructure.

Some contractors being owed have stopped rehabilitation works on some of the damaged roads in the state.

“The ministry’s department of public building is, however, rehabilitating some public structures and schools with the available funds. The state Ministry of Works is also working with the Federal Ministry of Works to fix and rehabilitate some of the federal roads in the state.

We are, however, hoping and working towards getting refunds from the Federal Government for the rehabilitation works undertaken on these federal roads so that we can have funds to do repair works on other projects,” he said.