Aregbesola’s Unabating Storm

The charge of ineptitude and resource wastage against Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State isn’t going to go away soon. Shola Oyeyipo writes;
Piqued by the negative news of financial mess in Osun State and the rebuttal that Governor Rauf Aregbesola had admitted that he did not know what to do about the situation, some concerned indigenes of Osun State under the auspices of Osun Stakeholders promised to come together to x-ray the problems plaguing the state and proffer solutions to them.

True to their word, the event held last week in the state. It was a day summit on the State of Osun, convened by the duo of former Attorney-General in the state, Hon. Niyi Owolade and the National Publicity Secretary, Afenifere, Comrade Yinka Odumakin. The theme was: ‘For Our Spring to Live Again.’ Participants drawn from all works of life took very critical look at the administration and unanimously scored the governor below pass mark.

According to the organisers, the crowd was far less than expected because the government was intolerant and as such had employed the services of the police, DSS and thugs to prevent them from holding the summit at Osogbo as initially planned but at the end of the day, some of the attendees made it regardless.
Some of those in attendance included retired justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Olu Adeleye, who was represented by Prof. Olatunde Olawoye; former Head of Service during former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s administration and also during the first term of Governor Aregbesola, Mr. Olusegun Akinwusi; former Minister for Water Resources, Alhaji Bashir Awoyorebo and the representative of the Oni of Ife, Chief Olasode Akinropo.
Others are representative of the chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Moses Ogundeji; chairman, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Mr. Olatunji Popoola; Dr. Remi Aworemi and the executive chairman, Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ) among other stakeholders.

It was a short event but a lot of submissions were made by all the speakers. The most notable was Akinwusi, a man with cognitive 35 years civil service experience. He spoke from a position of knowledge, having served in two different administrations and knowing the nitty-gritty of the runnings of the state. He therefore punctured the governor’s claims over the financial position of the state and accused him of mismanaging funds and the civil service, thus running the state into huge indebtedness. He didn’t bat an eyelid when he called him a “Liar,”
In his 13-page paper titled: ‘Osun State – A Sinking Ship?’ he said: “Today, Osun is bedeviled by a ruined economy, the various state institutions comatose, the debt profile, against all denials, is debilitating, traditional institutions handicapped, the spiritual atmosphere is cloudy, poverty clearly written on all faces and other countless woes for the future of our children.

“Today, in Osun State, we are bedeviled by bad policies and failed leadership. This is why we all owe the state a point of duty not to sit idling away while mis-governance, unbridled corruption and the desecration of our psyche continues unchallenged.”
Expressing concern about the rather huge debt profile of the state, which he put at over N400bn and the consequences on the future of the state, Akinwusi bemoaned the fact that projects for which the loans were obtained had no direct correlation to the lives of the people and that many of the projects have not been completed.
“A debt of over N400bn is no joke. The simple truth is that we are where we are today as a result of absence of sound policies and sensible plans. It is as a result of failed leadership; the empty sloganeering, profligacy, white elephant projects to siphon money, misplaced priorities, over invoicing, over-bloating of project values and flagrant disregards for due process in conduct of government business as well as lack of oversight functions by elected representatives,” he said.

He also pointed fingers in the way of the lawmakers in the state, saying “If indeed the norms about the principles of check and balances by our legislators were potent, may be some measures of accountability would have prevailed. Most of the unbridled borrowing passed through the state House of Assembly; no questions were raised about feasibility and viability of those borrowing, extra-budgetary expenditures incurred were never queried and propriety of some borrowings were overlooked.
“There are allegations of witch-hunting of civil servants for not being card carrying members of the ruling party; allegations of frequent and often undesirable posting and deployment, sacred cows among officers – depending on their perceived cleavages on matters of corruption and indiscipline; officers spying on fellow officers to seek favour, non-compliance with meritocracy in appointments, preferment and so on.”

According to him, Governor Aregbesola has been frugal with the truth since he took over the mantle of leadership in the state about five years ago.
“When against norms, our leaders are epitomes of deceit, lies and unstable character, I fear what these young ones will learn and of their lives. Recently, our governor addressed the House of Assembly on the position of the economy of our state. Not only that the figures given were bogus, but they were criminally deceitful.
“This government came on board in November 2010; I will therefore give details of the income and expenditure as available online, especially from the Federation Account compared with what was presented to our state representatives.
“From November 2010 to December 2011, the state earned N48.2bn against a sum of N29.9bn our governor declared to the Osun State House of Assembly. From January to December 2012, the state earned N47.8bn as against the N31.6bn our governor declared. From January to December 2013, the total income accruable to the state was N44.7bn whereas our governor declared a sum of N26.4bn to the Osun State House of Assembly.

“Though the details of what the state got in September 2014 were not available online, with the missing record of one month, we still had the strength of 11 months – N36.7bn while our governor declared only N19.3bn for the whole year. By the conclusion of the governor, we received only N108.3bn (excluding IGR) against a total sum of N183.4bn.
“More importantly, besides the regular monthly allocation from the federation account, the following also accrued to government coffers: Excess Crude Account – N61.7bn; Internally Generated Revenue – N43.6bn; SURE-P – N14.4bn and SUBEB – N13.9bn and there are other intervention programmes including UNICEF, multinational donations and MDG releases,” Akinwusi noted.
Other discussants, particularly Prof. Olawoye, who specified that his position at the summit were not necessarily the views of Justice Adeleye, whom he represented at the gathering, said Osun State is “stuck in muddy soil and needs to be rescued,” as a way to prevent the citizenry from suffering aggravated pains.
Hon. Niyi, who is already anticipating a replay of the Abacha era – when NADECO and Afenifere chieftains were in the trenches,  is one man who is ready to lead a non-violent battle to logical conclusion.
Like Niyi, his co-convener, Odumakin is even much more resolute because for him, the best option available to the state is that the EFCC is invited to crosscheck the fact and ascertain the veracity of the claims made against the Aregbesola-led administration.
But the Osun State Government is rather unruffled, the spokesperson to the governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon in a response to all the allegations, said Akinwusi and other critics were simply displaying “ignorance.”

According to him, Akinwusi has pitiably turned himself to a laughing stock in the estimation of right-thinking people when within a spate of weeks, he accused the administration of receiving N862 billion and less than two months after, came down to N317 billion.
Alleging that the summit was a brainchild of defeated governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun, Senator Iyiola Omisore, the Accord Party (AP), Niyi Owolade and Mr. Segun Akinwusi of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he said the orchestrated allegations amounted to hypocrisy, ignorance and sheer mischief for Akinwusi, Omisore and others behind the meeting in Ife to continue to advertise outrageous figures as revenues to the state.

“Where do they derive this strong commitment to falsehood? At their conspiratorial meeting in Ife on Thursday, which they prefer to call a summit, they all said again that the state got N317 billion in four years, about N111 billion off the mark of what the state got.
“Elder Segun Akinwusi is inconsistent and that is highly nauseating considering the fact that he rose to become the Head of Service of Osun. In May, he raised a false alarm through his party, SDP that Aregbesola should account for N846bn he had collected as allocation in the last four years. The same Akinwusi later said Aregbesola had collected N317 in four years. Which one does he want Nigerians to believe?
“The facts verifiable are that Osun got N177bn from the federation account and when you add the unprecedented, about N27bn internally generated revenue in the same period to that, you get the N204. So the opposition has continued to deceive Nigerians that Osun is indebted to the tune of N400 billion and it is the height of irresponsibility.

“Recently, the Debt Management Office under the presidency came out to put the total debts of states at over N600 billion. How then do they explain the allegation that Osun alone is indebted to the tune of N400 billion? If Osun is just one of the 36 states of the federation, how then can the mischief makers justify Osun being responsible for N400 billion out of this?” he said.
Urging Nigerians to see through the “lies,” which he described as “agenda to distract the government,” Okanlawon said it is saddening that those behind the hate campaigns against Aregbesola are capitalising on the painful economic crisis in Nigeria to misinform the people.
“No government will ever be happy owing workers and this the workers themselves know. Clearly, it is the wish of those who have seen this unfortunate development for which the government is struggling hard to put behind it that this never ends.
“Akinwusi cannot deny that under Aregbesola’s administration, the education sector has been completely revolutionised across board – especially at both primary and secondary levels.

“It is unarguable that Osun remains one of the few states in Nigeria that can be said to be peaceful because Aregbesola’s government places high premium on security of lives and properties. ‎This stems from the belief that peace and security engender growth and development. On the contrary, insecurity poses direct threat to direct investment both local and foreign as no investor would risk investing in an atmosphere of violence and insecurity.
“The Aregbesola administration, in less than five years has embarked on close to a thousand kilometre roads and has completed close to nine hundred kilometres and the rest nearing completion. ‎‎There is no part of the state that is left untouched in terms of roads construction and maintenance.  In other words, government also constructed 61 township roads covering over 128km while inter-city roads covering about 294km were upgraded,” he explained, citing other achievements of the administration.

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A debt of over N400bn is no joke. The simple truth is that we are where we are today as a result of absence of sound policies and sensible plans. It is as a result of failed leadership; the empty sloganeering, profligacy, white elephant projects to siphon money, misplaced priorities, over invoicing, over-bloating of project values and flagrant disregards for due process in conduct of government business as well as lack of oversight functions by elected representatives