Osun and its present challenges -By Kola Odepeju

Governor Ogbeni Aregbesola of Osun State

But not only Osun indigenes are sad about the situation, observers of Ogbeni Aregbesola’s administration who have fallen in love with the ebullient and hard working governor who, through his progressive approach to governance, has turned things around in the state within the first four years of his administration, are also unhappy about this turn of events.

Honestly, what is happening in Osun calls for concern as the state is passing through a serious crisis that could be correctly said to be unprecedented in the history of that state. What makes it particularly disturbing is the fact that it’s happening under a leadership that is focused, visionary, hungry for performance and highly passionate about promoting people’s welfare and enlisting the state on world map of development.

Even though Osun isn’t the only state that has found herself in this conundrum, attentions have focused more on Osun as Ogbeni has had to cope with a barrage of unpalatable comments being directed at him from all angles, especially from the main opposition party in the state whose performance while in power was nothing but woeful. All this is as if Osun is the only state in the federation that is owing workers.

Though there seems to be a unanimous agreement that states should be more creative and find ways of surviving on their own without necessarily going caps in hands to the FG for survival, plausible as this argument may sound, the lopsided nature of our federal system sort of weakens the argument. For how can the federal government be in control of the resources available in these states; collecting the chunk of the proceeds from those resources only to dole out monthly allocations to those states where the resources are being tapped and you expect the states to adequately meet up with their obligations?

This is an absolutely awkward arrangement, which calls for a review of our so-called federalism. And much noise has been made in respect of this but unfortunately, it suits the beneficiaries of our awkward federalism to retain the status quo. We hope the new administration of Muhammadu Buhari will look into this agitation and do the needful in this regard. This is the only way to guarantee fair and equitable distribution of the country’s wealth in accordance with how God deposited resources in the different federating units making up the entity called Nigeria.

But be that as it may, back to this issue of non-payment of salaries in Osun the Ogbeni Aregbesola that we know cannot be happy about the state of things in his state. He isn’t a leader that could be sleeping over the matter. Like he rightly said last week when newsmen sought his opinion on the ugly trend; “No family head will be happy that he’s unable to meet his obligations to his family”. This speaks volume about how sad the governor is, concerning the situation in his state.

For a governor whose performance has served as a reference point in good governance under our current democratic experiment it’s really sad that this form of trajectory has unavoidably been associated with governance under him. Prior to this ugly development occasioned by drastic shortfalls in federal allocations, payment of salaries on or before the 25th of the month was the hallmark of his administration. Also, payment of 13th month salary to workers – even without any prompting from workers – was a policy associated with his government.

The aforementioned were done to gladden workers with a view to triggering improved productivity. These commendable incentives portrayed Aregbesola’s government as being workers-friendly even as they didn’t affect his performance in other sectors for which his administration has received accolades both locally and internationally.

What is happening in Osun reminds me of the didactic composition of Odolaye Aremu, one of the traditional musicians of yesteryears whose music we used to listen to as children alongside our fathers then; “if you are so wise to the extent that you hang wisdom on your buttock you will meet your own challenges, and if you are so foolish that foolishness is hung on your neck you will meet your own challenges too”.

Thus, Osun’s present trajectory is nothing but a challenge for the governor, which isn’t insurmountable. It’s just a passing phase in the life of Ogbeni Aregbesola’s administration. Am sure it shall pass. The governor has said that the effort he is making to get this challenge overcome will most likely yield positive result by the end of this month. Let’s all assist him with prayer so his desire could be achieved.

Finally, one must appreciate the affected workers for their perseverance so far. It couldn’t have been easy. With a little more patience, this shall surely pass.