“I want to achieve for my people in four years things that would have ordinarily taken twenty years, I am in a hurry.” This statement kept re-echoing in my head long after the meeting my team had with Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the executive governor of State of Osun in November 2014.

Ogbeni spoke so passionately about his vision for his people, about OyesTech and Opon Imo, about Osun being the state with the fastest growing IGR; he narrated to us how the state may not be relying on federal allocation in few years to come, to cap it up he told us how he was able to conquer the PDP rigging machine. As we wait to conclude our meeting that evening, I noticed that people from various parts of the state continued to throng his office in felicitation. I began to believe in his vision until the helicopter landed in the compound that evening to take him to another location for a meeting I presumed.

How Aregbesola managed/mismanaged Osun’s economy that has turned the state to something equivalent to an orphanage home or an IDP camp is not what I am interested in here. I will leave that to academic researchers to fathom. I am interested in the about to be created additional 39 local council administrative areas. I understand that the state assembly has already passed a law to create these LCDAs emanating from a referendum carried out in the state.

At a time when some states are cutting down the number of MDAs and personnel in order to save cost, the State of Osun which is currently relying on handouts from free spirited individuals and organizations to survive, shouldn’t be creating more cost centers for the state. 39 additional LCDAs mean additional bureaucrats and their aides, offices and pecks of office, whereas the state is owing workers for 7 months now and still counting.

There is a time for everything, this is certainly not the time for politics in Osun, not a time for rush of blood in the head nor a time for over-reaching one’s capability. It is a time for introspection, a time for pragmatism, a time to swallow one’s pride for the good of state.

Ogbeni, I know you are smart, confident and intelligent, but your current realities do not support any ‘bragado’. If you couldn’t manage 30 LGAs effectively with dwindling fortunes, how do you intend to manage 69?

Sebi you know say, monkey smart, monkey smart, na because say tree near each other.


http://hardballz.com.ng/ogbeni-raufs-over-skill/