[size=14pt]Aregbe spends three days a month in Osun [/size]
, He is controlled from Lagos
-Williams, Osun PDP chair
By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Sunday, August 14, 2011

For seven and a half years reign of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola in Osun State, the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), being a leading opposition party in the state, practically constituted itself to a public watchdog, criticizing every action of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government. But as they say, ‘what goes around comes around.’

Now, with the present reversal of role, the PDP is not only out to take its own pound of flesh but also doing everything to keep the eight-month-old administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola on his toes. [size=14pt]Even without giving it any benefit of the doubt as to its capacity to deliver on its mouth-watering electoral promises, the state Chairman of the PDP, Otunba Ojo Williams, dismissed the new regime as a disaster. Among other things, he accused the administration of pursuing Lagos agenda, leading to steady flight of capital from the state. He also bemoaned Aregbesola for recklessly junketing around the world with fat estacode, all in the name of looking for investors. According to Williams, in less than eight months, Ogbeni Aregbesola has travelled out of the country for more than 21 times without anything to show for it[/size]. Excerpts:

A visit to your secretariat gives an impression that your party- the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)- is on recess in Osun State. What do you have to say about this?
No, not at all. We have just had our working committee meeting but I asked them to come to this serene environment because of the boisterous nature of the secretariat so that we would not be disturbed by the noise.

How would you assess the government of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in the last eight months of the administration?
From our own point of view, there is nothing on ground to show for the eight months of the administration except the unmitigated disaster we have been witnessing all along. The projects the man met when he came on board, especially the stadia, which would have been commissioned around March, have been abandoned. The stadia projects are now abandoned. He has also refused to release money for the running of the technical education schools which Oyinlola completed before he left the office.

The mid day meal for primary schools and kindergarten which he met on ground when he came has been abolished too. In terms of physical projects, you cannot see anything to point to, not even a grading of one kilometre stretch of road. It’s been propaganda all the time. He talked about 20,000 graduate employees under his Osun State Youth Employment Scheme (OYES), which people now call oh, no because it is also a disaster. To start with, he did not recruit more 13,000 people.

And in any case, that is even no employment in the real sense of the word because as a graduate, before you can claim to have been employed you must have an office. Ask them where their office is, you will find out that it is no employment at all. As a graduate, you must have a term of reference; you must have schedule of duties; you must know whether or not your employment is a pensionable one and whether you are entitled to minimum wage. These are some of the questions people should be asking because that is the only way you can find out that the OYES programme is actually a ruse to deceive his followers in Lagos. Nobody is deceived here in Osun State, I can assure you because we know as a matter of fact that he never recruited more than 14,000 of them and he pays them only N8,500 a month.

I wonder which parent will want his graduate child to be doing that kind of work in the name of employment. So, we are not deceived. He also talks about his Agric programme- Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme-and he boasts that he has given loans to about five hundred farmers. But I challenge him to name just one farmer who has benefited from that loan. The fact is that Oyinlola left some money for farmers as loan and he came and saw the money there and he told the innocent farmers that he was going to disburse the money on condition that they go to his appointed banks to open accounts.

Those innocent farmers went to open accounts with as much as N10,000 with administrative charges of about N3,000. But about four weeks ago when it was time for them to go back to farm to plant, they discovered that there was no loan. So, the bank said they should come and collect back their money. The bank paid N10, 000 out of the N13, 000 and claimed the remaining N3, 000 as administrative charges. So, where is the benefit to the farmers in all of this? Aregbesola cannot point to one plot of land under cultivation to his credit. Do you call that an achievement?

He went to the University of Osun (UNIOSUN) the other time and said that people should start removing Oyinlola’s commissioning plagues. May be that is an achievement I wouldn’t know. As far as we are concerned, we are just praying that God in his infinite mercy will come and deliver Osun State people from this mess in which they have found themselves for which they are entirely to blame. You go and talk to the Obas and find out how they are feeling now. They used to have council of Obas, now it has been abolished as it was the case in the days of Governor Bisi Akande. For the first time, an Oba is facing prosecution cooked up because he doesn’t dance to the tune of the governor.

Another Oba is facing expulsion from the palace even though his case is still in the Court of Appeal. [size=14pt]To make it worse, this is a governor that doesn’t live in Osun State. He hardly works here. In June, he was in India and spent only three days in Osun out of 30 days. In July, he was in China and spent only five days in Osun out of 30 days. I have it on a good authority that he is also going to Umurah and he wouldn’t be back until the end of Ramadan. So, where is the governor in Osun?

The consultants who are doing the job for him come from Lagos. And what is the job they do for him other than to make fake contracts, rush to make voucher for payment and go back to Lagos to spend the money. They don’t even stay here; they will arrive on Tuesday and leave on Thursday. So, we have a lot of capital flight happening now in Osun State. People come from Lagos and cart away our money. And these are people who never pay taxes in Osun State because they are not resident here. So, the political economy of the state is comatose. I tell you it is a disaster. [/size]

After too much noise, Governor Aregbesola has finally sent the list of his commissioners to the state House of Assembly. What is your perception of the list?
It is a disgrace to even the Action Congress members in Osun State. At least, I know about half a dozen of them who would have fit into the list of commissionership but were excluded. [size=14pt]Before now, when we saw that he had overspent his time in deciding what to do, we came up with suggestion of people from his own party whom he can appoint. And we were objective about it. Look at Hon Wale Afolabi; he is in the Action Congress of Nigeria and he is a lawyer of repute[/size].

He was the pioneer Speaker in Osun State. No objective critic would close his eye against such an opportunity to name Wale Afolabi as commissioner. We also suggested other credible people like Prince Gboyega Famodun from Igbajo, Sunday Akere, Gbola Oguntoye. Oguntoye had tilled and toiled for the ACN in Osun State. I see no reason why they should go to Lagos or Ibadan to go and scout for people like Oguntoye for replacement. His father was a judge of repute in the old western region.

And now you are bringing in people whose antecedents we don’t know. Governance is about interpersonal relationship between the government and the citizens. You need to know the psyche of the people you are coming to govern. He went to Zaria to go and bring one professor to come and be commissioner in Osun State all because he is a friend of his retired police officer friend who helped him to do havoc on the day of election. It is a disgrace and I tell many of the ACN members in Osun State are thoroughly ashamed by that list that he sent to the House.

There is also this widespread insinuation that the state civil service has been polarized. Do you subscribe to this rumour?
In Osun State, we are our brothers’ keepers. The political class and the career officers have always worked in tandem to ensure that we get the best for Osun State. When Oyinlola came on board and saw the financial stress in which the state met itself, he opted not to take his salaries for the first four years as a sacrifice. He brought his own driver from Lagos and was paying him from his pocket.

He brought his own vehicles which he was riding for the first four years all to ensure that things stabilize. [size=14pt]But what do we get now? You claim that Osun State has no money, yet you increase your security vote to N500 million a month. You have travelled out of the state in the first eight months for more than 21 times with fat estacode and you expect career officers to close their eyes against such things[/size]. Even the students are crying and complaining. He could not localize ordinary junior secondary school examination and had to go to Lagos State to bring the syllabus because he wanted to pay his consultant friends in Lagos.

No sane career officer will ever co-operate with that kind of governor as except a few accomplices among them. Believe me, career officers are suffering under this administration. They are oppressed; they cannot speak out as they were doing during Oyinlola’s tenure. During the last regime of the PDP, Oyinlola would go on radio and television for one solid hour every last Saturday of the month to give account of his stewardship where people asked all sorts of questions about his governance and his spending. [size=14pt]We challenge Aregbsola to disclose how he spent N46 billions in the last eight months or thereabout. He cannot. He has taken N18 billion loan and also negotiating another one with China.

He has directed each local government in Osun State to go and borrow N25 million, all together making N75 million[/size]. These are funds that should have been channeled to productive activities and physical projects rather than propaganda like OYES, OCLEAN and all what have you. [size=14pt]What is OCLEAN? An average Yoruba woman sweeps her compound every morning. That is what we call home training[/size]. We don’t need an Aregbesola or Deputy Governor to come and teach us how to sweep the frontage of our houses. We do it everyday. But these are phantom achievements that you find on the pages of newspapers.

There is nothing on ground to show for the eight months regime of his administration. So, you cannot win the respect of career officers that way. Though you can find a corrupt few who are milking the state in conjunction with the administration, but you see many a patriots who are thoroughly horrified by what is going on. So, that is what caused the polarization of the state civil service.

But they are also saying that your criticism of the administration was a way of covering up the poor performance of the last regime of Governor Oyinlola and which accounted for the woeful defeat of your party. How would you react to this?
The Osun State electorate know better. They now know better that elections were rigged. If you want to challenge Oyinlola’s achievements, you should be able to place your own side by side with what Oyinlola has done. And that was precisely what I did in my release about four weeks ago. In the release, I put Oyinlola’s achievements on one side and Aregbesola’s on the other side.

Therein you can count the number of schools which he (Oyinlola) built during his regime, you can count the number of roads which he built at that time, you can count the number of mini water schemes which he had completed and commissioned. You can also talk about maternity centres which Oyinlola built within the first nine months of his assumption of office. [size=14pt]Ask Aregbesola to show you one single building he has erected in his eight months in office[/size]. He cannot. When Oyinlola came on board, the government House was uncompleted. Within six months, Oyinlola completed and made it habitable and that is where Aregbesola is sleeping today anytime he comes to Osun.

The governor’s office was left uncompleted by governor Akande when he was leaving in a hurry. Oyinlola ensured that it was completed within the first three months. Such insinuation is for those who are leaving in Lagos; no sane person in Osun will tell you that Oyinlola did not perform. For goodness sake, the Odiolowo/Abere road became a dual carriageway because Oyinlola came on board. The Oke-fair to Iwo roundabout joining the ring road became dual carriageway because Oyinlola became the governor. That particular one was commissioned by President Obasanjo all within nine months.

Your party is said to have been indicated by the Contract Review Committee set up by the new administration to look into the past projects embarked upon by the last regime. What do you have to say about this?
I challenge them to make the report of that committee public. The truth of the matter is that the committee actually exonerated Oyinlola. Tell him to make his finding public. Oyinlola was a very thorough administrator. He had carefully put in place a due process regime supervised by a chartered accountant of note-Gbenga Abiola. As such, there is no single project that Oyinlola embarked upon which did not go through the due process. So, there was no way anybody could have faulted Oyinlola in the first place. Again, we challenge Aregbesola to make his findings public and subject it to public scrutiny instead of phantom report that he carries about in brief cases to show his Lagos fans. That is not the way to do it.

Your party has equally dismissed the Justice Uwaifo-led Truth Commission set up by Aregbesola to reconcile agreed individuals from all sides of political divides as a hatchet job in view of the composition of the committee members. Why such position?
That is even a mild way of putting it. It was a total charade. We thought it was a hatchet job because of Justice Uwaifo who was among them. But when you look at the composition, you see Femi Falana’s wife and you know the disposition of Falana to anything PDP. You also find in the committee names like Ogbara, an Ikorodu man, and bosom friend of Barrister Akano who is Aregbesola’s acolyte.

And many people like that. Even a hooligan who was caught protesting on video demolishing Goodluck Jonathan’s House (PDP Secretariat) was among them. He went to the complex to go and throw missiles and attempted to set the place on fire. You also find one Agboola there as a member of the committee. So, what do you expect from such a commission? That was a commission in which the PDP filled over 200 petitions and they refused to hear the complaints of those who filed those petitions. Instead, they hurriedly rounded off the commission’s job without listening to the PDP.

Two days to the end of their sitting, they shut themselves up somewhere and invited Aregbesola, Oyinlola and myself. Aregbesola had no petition before that tribunal in the first place. So, what is the essence of inviting him if not to make the public believe that he actually believes in reconciliation? So, the party decided that it was a charade and we instructed that our governor-Oyinlola-should not go and that no member of the party should honour the invitation of the commission because it was a charade. We felt sorry for Justice Uwaifo because we told him he was going to be used and he saw that he was actually being used.

How do you see the initiative of the South-west governor trying to forge a common unity towards economic integration of the region?
The Yoruba had always had an integrated economy since the days of Awolowo. So, there is nothing new in what the latter day progressives are doing about economic integration of the South West. But even then, look at the conveners themselves. How serious are they about the initiative? At the time when that economic integration was being pursued in Ekiti, Aregbesola was in far away China enjoying himself.

He probably went to woo investors.
What a laugh! Now, how many investors has he brought to the state for the past nine months that he has been in the saddle? We all know what is going on; he wants to earn his estacode and may be, take time off to look after his health. Besides, he is fed up with what he met on ground in Osun. He was confronted by plethora of projects executed by Oyinlola. Let me tell you, Aregbesola cannot beat my record in Obokun Local Government when I was the Chairman.

He should go and check the number of projects erected to my name in Obokun Local Government. I can count 35 primary schools that I built as Chairman which carry my commissioning plagues. I can show him twelve maternity centres that I constructed as chairman. These are in addition to my rural electrification projects and boreholes. I installed seven kings as Chairman of Obokun Local Government and I never disparage anyone of them. You can compare this with what Aregbesola has done with the Obas within nine months of his office. One of them is facing criminal prosecution and they even refused him bail because he has no Attorney General to approve his bail.

Another one is facing expulsion from the palace even though his appeal is still at the Appeal Court because there is no Attorney General to advise this administration properly. Governor Aregbedola is the commissioner for health, Commissioner for Justice, Commissioner for Agriculture and Education. He is the only person doing the work alone. Osun State people now know the difference between someone who wants to genuinely advance the course of development of the state and someone who just came from Lagos to harness our resources. Oyinlola resides in Okuku and only goes to Lagos on official assignment. Aregbesola has refused to live with us in Osun State. Instead, he lives in Alimosho in Lagos, comes here on Tuesday and leaves on Thursday. He has no time to stay with the people and understand their problems. The political economy of the state is dead.

How do you see Osun State in the next four years?
By the grace of God, we will win back this state sooner than people expected. The contrived judgment that brought them to power has been exposed for what it is. It was the handiwork of Justice Ayo Salami who was indicted by the National Judicial Council (NJC) some few days ago.

The clean sweep of the polls by the ACN in the last general elections speaks volume about the perceived disaffection of the people with the PDP. Isn’t it?
There are two factors to that. One, Professor Attairu Jega over trusted some of his colleagues, particularly Prof Olorode and Dr. Akeju in Osun State here. They masterminded all elections that took place in the South West. And we have the facts now. Olorode recommended that youth corpers should be used for the conduct of the election. So, the bulk of those who conducted the elections were youths from Lagos who were actually not youth corpers but were given corpers’ uniform.

One of them who had completed her youth service corps for about two years was caught in Obokun. There were ballot papers all over the place three days to the elections. I know as a matter of fact one man in Ayedade Local Government who was caught with several bails of ballot papers. They were caught and arrested by soldiers when they were thump printing the ballot papers. They were shown on the NTA. But Jega wouldn’t listen. He was preoccupied with other things.

As far as Osun State is concerned, that election was a ruse. We decided that unless Dr. Akeju was changed, we can never have a free election is Osun State. One, Dr. Akeju is Tinubu’s hatchet man. We said it before the election and we sued both the INEC and Dr Akeju and we got an injunction restraining both respondents from supervising and conducting election in Osun but they defied the order of a Federal High Court.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/powergame/2011/aug/14/powergame-aug-14-2011-003.html

The Phii Dii Phii chair sounds like a LOSER he is, his points are no points, just a whining of a loser, he has lost out on the Phony contracts he used to be awarded. May God forgive him. shioooor!!!

Awuf AregbeRASCAL. . . Waiting for dry season to begin governing. It would be his second dry season in office.

Beaf:

Awuf AregbeRASCAL. . . Waiting for dry season to begin governing. It would be his second dry season in office.

Appointing commisioners is just one of the instruments for governance, It is NOT governance, creating jobs for the un employed 20,000 youths is good governance.

Having the right sense to know when to execute projects is good governance. Many projects fail coz they were not properly planned.

Holistic approach to solving problems , rather than quick fix.

emiye:

Appointing commisioners is just one of the instruments for governance, It is NOT governance, creating jobs for the un employed 20,000 youths is good governance.

Having the right sense to know when to execute projects is good governance. Many projects fail coz they were not properly planned.

Holistic approach to solving problems , rather than quick fix.

Dude, even God has angels. Aregbesola's belief thinks he can govern Osun state single-handedly points to serious personality issues. You thoughts about the importance of a cabinet couldn't be more far off. The article says that the justice system in the state has quivered and died, because there is no Chief Justice:

You can compare this with what Aregbesola has done with the Obas within nine months of his office. One of them is facing criminal prosecution and they even refused him bail because he has no Attorney General to approve his bail.

Another one is facing expulsion from the palace even though his appeal is still at the Appeal Court because there is no Attorney General to advise this administration properly. Governor Aregbedola is the commissioner for health, Commissioner for Justice, Commissioner for Agriculture and Education.

See? And thats just one example, there are widespread failures across the state, because one man views himself as an expert at law, health, architecture, agric etc. Its mind-boggling!

The Governor should start delivering otherwise there would be an internal challenge within ACN over his intransigence.

Beaf:

Dude, even God has angels. Aregbesola's belief thinks he can govern Osun state single-handedly points to serious personality issues. You thoughts about the importance of a cabinet couldn't be more far off. The article says that the justice system in the state has quivered and died, because there is no Chief Justice:

See? And thats just one example, there are widespread failures across the state, because one man views himself as an expert at law, health, architecture, agric etc. Its mind-boggling!

I am taking the interview report with the pdp chair with a pinch of salt, He couldn't even hide his bile of bitterness of losing out,
Osun state is not Lagos state. It is more or less a "civil service state". I am not aware that Perm. Secretaries of this ministeries have been sacked or stopped working.

Aregbesola needs to transform the civil service state to a more vibrant economy through improved activities, making it more agrarian as possible, providing good roads, improving the status of the primary and secondary education in the state, e.t.c .

I will like to know what relationship the PDP chair has with the monarch accused of raping a female youth corper, Assisting such character in getting a bail isn't one of Aregbesola's priorities .

^he left this one thesame page

[qoute] PDP failed in Osun , Aregbe’s critics looking for scapegoats
–Adelowo, Osun ACN chair
By Omoniyi Salaudeen Sunday, August 14, 2011 Osun State, nay hotbed of politics,
is one place where opposition
routinely keeps a 24-hour vigil on
the activities of a ruling party as a
duty. And expectedly, the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has been on the defensive since it came into
the saddle barely eight months
ago. But as the ruling party trades
words with the ousted Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), in this
interview, its Acting Chairman, Elder Moses Adelowo, sees all the
criticisms levelled against the
administration as baseless and
unfounded. And without any equivocation, he maintains that the
mission of the ACN-led government is to restore the glory of the state.
Excerpts… How would you react to the insinuation that supporters of the ruling
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State have been
shortchanged with the list of commissioners sent to the state House of
Assembly by Governor Rauf Aregbesola because it consists largely of
people not resident in the state?
I don’t think we should listen to insinuations and rumours. Rather, we should be talking of issues. When we were yet to announce the list,
they were complaining that after six months there was no list of
commissioners. And now that we have the list, they are still
complaining again. There is nothing you can do to satisfy the opposition. But I expect
them to make constructive criticism by pointing at mistakes and
suggesting the way forward. For them to now tell us that some
people are from Lagos, for me, it doesn’t make sense. They have
forgotten the fact that all of us worked together for the success of the
party. Even the governor himself came from Lagos to champion the cause and rescue the state from the bad and ineptitude of the PDP
government. Whether the candidates are from Lagos or from Osun, all of us are of
Osun State origin. And, of course, what we have done is to bring in
people who are professionals or technocrats to render their service to
the state. So, all the nominees are members of our party. Although
some of them may not be based here, but they worked for the
success of the party. Take for instance the son of Chief Bola Ige, during the election; he was in Esa-Oke working against Wole Oke. Go and
find out from them. Would you now say that because he is based in
Ibadan he should not be appointed as commissioner in Osun State? So,
don’t mind them; they are just saying what does not concern them. It is also being alleged that there is a steady flight of capital from Osun
State because most of the contractors and consultants government is
patronizing are from Lagos. Isn’t it so?
What contract are they talking about? Is there any contract in Osun
State now?
Are you saying there are no consultants who consult for the state government, make quick money and run back to Lagos?
Who are the consultants and what consult are they doing? We should
be talking about issues. In the absence of cabinet, we have
committees on OYES, OREAP and OCLEAN. Members of these
committees are people from Osun State and they are technocrats in
various professions. And, of course, we have to pay them. For instance, we have some
people in the OREAP who are World Bank experts on Agriculture who
have access to a lot of information and equipment. Are you saying
because they are not based in Osun, we should not use them or pay
them? So, what sort of capital flight are they talking about? They are
not sure of what they are saying; they are only working on rumours and insinuations which, to me, are baseless. You mean there are no consultants being engaged by the state
government on its various activities?
We have consultants working with the state government on issues
that will be of benefit to the people of the state. When you are in
government, you should be able to source for professionals. And such professionals are not available in Osun State?
Do we have World Bank professionals in Osogbo here? If you have,
let them come forward. If we want to move forward, we have to
know what happened to the state during the last seven and a half
years of the past administration. These are the people who were in
the power for over seven years and nothing worked. Instead, the state was indebted to the tune of N8 billion. Do we then say because
we don’t want them to talk, we should not engage professionals? The question is: are they of any benefit to the people of the state? Are
they adding value to the economy of the state? Aregbe is from Osun
State and he served Lagos State for eight years as commissioner.
Didn’t he add value to the economy of Lagos State? Looking at the
development in Lagos State, is it not obvious that there is a
government in place working? But somebody laid the foundation for it. If they too had laid foundation for Osun State, would it not have
been better? But there was no foundation laid for seven and a half
years. Instead, they left a huge debt for the state and invested on
nothing profitable. You are talking of debt when the PDP is claiming that the money your
governor promised sometimes ago to disburse to the farmers is the
money left behind by the last administration? Who is to believe here?
What stopped him from using the money initially? You see, he lacks
intelligence and reasoning for governance. If you have such money
there, why going a borrowing? They lack good quality leadership; they are not visionary and they lack simple sense of direction. If our
people have voted for us without giving them a kobo, we have to be
able to give them the dividends of democracy. We are very conscious of that and we see it as a challenge. So, we
have six cardinal principles with the people of Osun State which we
regard as a pact. In my ward, there is no electricity, no good road and
we had a government in place for seven and a half years. Go and
check; I am from Moroko ward 9 in the same local government with
the former Deputy Governor who is now a minister. I was ashamed of myself when I was there as the state Chairman to vote. All these
facts are there; we are not a type of party that makes unsubstantiated
allegations. If they have questions to ask us, let them come forward
and engage us in constructive criticism. Is it also true that this administration has abandoned all the projects
inherited from the last regime?
The reason is obvious. Should we continue with all they did? You can
imagine somebody putting six stadia in a state without any major
football competition ahead of us and we are indebted to the banks
with N600 million monthly interest. Should we then continue on the same path like mad dogs by putting money on the same project? We
had to review it and stop it; after all, we have our own programmes
and party manifestoes different from the PDP. We have a pact with the people of Osun State to banish poverty out
of their lives. And that is why we are able to employ 20,000 youths
within hundred days in office. In the course of time, we are going to
assign them to different sectors. And that is why the governor has
been travelling to solicit for assistance for the administration. How much Direct Foreign Investment and assistance has he been able
to attract to the state since he has been junketing around the world?
They did the same thing when they were there for seven and a half
years and nothing to show for it. Once you have been elected, the
challenge is up to you to sit down and plan how you want to achieve
your targets. And you need assistance. The federal allocation is so meager and the IGR is nothing. Do we now sit like them and start complaining? We just have to
forget about the past and move forward. And that is why the man
has been travelling to look for assistance to develop the state. And
since they know his antecedent in Lagos State, these people are ready
to work with him. So, if you see the man travelling, it is not that he is
just going about to dine and wine like they do. Why has the government refused to make the report of the contract
review committee set up by Governor Aregbesola to probe into the
activities of the past administration public so as to clear the air on the
speculations about the alleged indictment of his predecessor?
You can find out from government what happened to that report. But
to me, I believe, there is nothing to hide. As far as this government is concerned, we are not hiding anything from the public. As a matter of
fact, we paid about five or six pages of advertorial in the newspapers
to publish the list of people who were given almost N9 million
contracts which were never executed. You can find out from our due
process unit here. The man there now was appointed by Oyinlola and
it was he that calculated all these contracts. We have given them ultimatum to pay back, but I have not been able to find out whether
they have paid the money or not. Is the alleged Polarisation of the state civil service real or imaginary?
Why polarization? We have not made any appointment since we
came into power except those people that are disengaging gradually.
As at today, we have not appointed anybody. And there is no disengaging anybody?
Normally, the civil service rule says that once you are 35 years in the
system or you are 55-years-old, you disengage. That is very clear and
it is not debatable. Either way, you go voluntarily and we start paying
your retirement benefits. How far has the Truth and Reconciliation Committee set up sometimes
ago in reconciling all aggrieved people of Osun State gone in its
assignment?
We thank God for that Truth and Reconciliation Committee. People
went there to express their views and grievances against the past
government and its obvious criminalities. It was an open committee and a lot of PDP members also came to make their submissions. But as
far as we are concerned, we are yet to have the report of that
committee. For even allowing people to express themselves is
something. And because those who constitute the committee are
professionals; I believe they should be able to judge according to their
conscience. So, let us wait for the report of the committee to know how far we can implement their recommendations. Are you in all honesty saying that the PDP members were given fair
hearing by the committee because there is this allegation that the
composition of the committee was lopsided and consisted mainly of
the cronies of the governor?
They are not always objective in their submissions. Go and check the
list of the committee; they are honourable people who are mostly judges and lawyers. They are not politicians; so, what are they going
to gain by being partial and not being objective? Their own is to listen to grievances and make recommendations. They
are always complaining, whereas, nothing worked during their
government. They always believe that only PDP members should
benefit from government. And that is why they failed and people of
Osun State refused to vote for them. During their regime, if you were
not a member of the PDP, you wouldn’t get employment or contract from the government. If you were not a member of their caucus,
nothing for you, you were on your own. But that is their narrow
perception of government. But fairness demands that such a committee should have a spread in
terms of representation of various interest groups. Was the committee
genuinely representative?
I am telling you, it has enough spread. As a matter of fact, majority of
the members are not even indigenes of Osun State. They are from
different parts of Nigeria. The Chairman of the Committee, Justice Uwaifo, is from Delta or Edo State. And we believe these people are
credible enough and they have done a very good job. But we are still
expecting their reports. You said ACN has a pact with the people of Osun State. In specific
term, what are the main developmental agenda of this administration?
There are lots of things we are going to embark on. One, we want to
banish poverty from the state. We want to reduce poverty to the
barest minimum. And that is why we are saying that anything from
government should be of benefit to the people of Osun State irrespective of their political affiliation. For instance, during our OYES
programme, we gave the sewing of the uniform to the association of
tailoring in the state. Whether you are an ACN member or PDP, once
you are a tailor, you benefit from the project. And that is how we are
going to do other programmes. Two, we want to banish hunger. And that is what OREAP is targeted
at. Three, we are working on creation of employment opportunity.
Already, we have engaged 20,000 youths in the state under the OYES
programme. We are also making conscious effort to improve health
condition of the people of Osun State through adequate equipment of
our hospitals. And above all is the improvement of quality of education. When we came on board, we had an education summit to
review the educational system in the state. Do you believe that
students are paying as much as N400, 000 in our state-owned
University? Now, we have reduced the tuition fees in our tertiary
institutions to almost about 50 percent. Osun State is an Agrarian economy. How would you boost your
internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to meet these challenges?
It is a long term process. If you say you want to boost internally
Generated Revenue, where are the industries? We have none. Instead
of Oyinlola to use bank loan to buy Oshogbo Steel Rolling Mill and
Machine Tool Factory, he didn’t. If he had used the loan to buy those things, we would have been happy today. For now, what we can do
is to increase our revenue through those people who are working.
Besides that, we have the plan to boost tourism in the state. And to
achieve that, we have to put infrastructure in place. But for now, let
us focus on food, road, education, employment and health care service
delivery. In what sector of the economy are you engaging the 20,000 youths
employed under the OYES programme or are you just paying them
stipend as poverty alleviation?
We have some six sectors we are thinking of deploying these youths.
We are thinking of the teaching sector, health, Agriculture, Security,
and environment. We want to engage some of them as health Inspector to ensure cleanliness of our environment. We also want to
establish tree-planting system to beautify the state. What are the major challenges facing the administration vis-à-vis the
expectation of the people?
People are expecting too much within a short period. But the financial
state of the state is a problem. We have a debt overhang of about N18
billion and we are paying N600 million as interest. So, we have to do
serious planning and strategize. The other day, I was with the governor and the Head of Service and up till ten o’clock, we were
thinking about how to implement the minimum wage in the state
because it is already a law. So far, have you been able to feel the pulse of the people to test
whether they are satisfied with what you have done in the past few
months?
With the programmes that are already in place, people have been able
to feel the impact of the government. If within seven months we have
been able to engage 20,000 youths, they should be able to judge us with the last administration. [/qoute]

this from the Arrow who was defending abatis defense of good dunce's foreign trips

do these pdp thugs have any shame at all?

emiye:

Appointing commisioners is just one of the instruments for governance, It is NOT governance, creating jobs for the un employed 20,000 youths is good governance.

Having the right sense to know when to execute projects is good governance. Many projects fail coz they were not properly planned.

Holistic approach to solving problems , rather than quick fix.

dude, you're talking to a pdp apologist

what does a pdp stalwart know about completing projects? if you want to know, hop over to ogun state and check out the bridge that took 8 years to build , or rivers where odili commisioned a non functioning turbine, or delta where the governor endangered lives in a bizarre election gimmick of commisioning an uncompleted airport

thats the pdp way

once again, we are being promised 3 refineries in 2014, and 7000MW is 'coming soon'

Beaf is just doing his job! Mindless profession of spreading malicious lies to divert the guillible from the utter failure of PDP led Odechukwu government.

emiye:

I am taking the interview report with the pdp chair with a pinch of salt, He couldn't even hide his bile of bitterness of losing out,
Osun state is not Lagos state. It is more or less a "civil service state". I am not aware that Perm. Secretaries of this ministeries have been sacked or stopped working.

Aregbesola needs to transform the civil service state to a more vibrant economy through improved activities, making it more agrarian as possible, providing good roads, improving the status of the primary and secondary education in the state, e.t.c .

I will like to know what relationship the PDP chair has with the monarch accused of Desecrating a female youth corper, Assisting such character in getting a bail isn't one of Aregbesola's priorities .

You would imagine that transforming the state requires that the governor be around at the very least. But 3 days a month? Surely that shows unseriousness.

Beaf:

Dude, even God has angels. Aregbesola's belief thinks he can govern Osun state single-handedly points to serious personality issues. You thoughts about the importance of a cabinet couldn't be more far off. The article says that the justice system in the state has quivered and died, because there is no Chief Justice:

It is the duty of National Judicial Commission to recommend persons for appointment as Chief Judge to the Governor. Existence or otherwise of a cabinet has nothing to do with that. In any case, Osun state has a Chief Judge.


The man also claimed that the oba who is standing trial in court for r.ape of a youth corper could not secure bail because there is no attorney general to approve his bail. Hell no. It is the court that is trying him that can grant bail not attorney-general.

Both of you need to get your facts right