Read this article by
ODERINU ADEDAYO
OSUN STATE: HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Please note that the facts stated herein are verifiable and
the author will welcome all manner of feedbacks, while
being
ready to defend the facts and figures as stated. By the
enlightenment I am hoping to achieve, I believe Osun
people will
become capable of making more informed electoral
decisions in the future.
FINANCES
1. Aregbesola upon assumption of office increased the
Security Vote being paid monthly to the Office of the
governor from
250m naira to 500m naira. In the face of obvious
financial hardship in the country, he has continued
earning the same
amount without recourse to the state of the economy.
2. Ogbeni received around 3.14bn naira from the SURE-P
allocations within 2011 and 2015. This allocation was
paid to
facilitate special projects as stipulated by the SURE-P
guiding principles. These funds were neither utilized for
any
special projects nor were they properly accounted for.
3. Ogbeni Aregbesola has from the inception of his
administration refused to allow Local Governments
manage their own
allocations. The State Government has been doing the
sharing and dividing.
4. He claimed he raised Osun IGR to 1bn naira monthly
sometimes in 2012. It means Osun has made at least
36bn naira in IGR
between that time and now. The ends to which these
funds were utilized are yet unknown.
5. This administration abandoned the Free Trade Zone
Project of the immediate past administration thereby
failing to
complete a project that held enormous growth
potentials for our dear state.
6. Osun is currently owing $67million foreign debt one
of the highest in the country.
7. Osun currently has a domestic debt profile of 41.4bn
Naira being money owed banks and other financial
institutions.
8. Osun State under Ogbeni Aregbesola took a 30bn
Naira bond (a long-term loan) from the Security and
Exchange Commission
in 2013. This will mature for repayment in 2019.
9. Osun also took a 10bn naira Sukuk bond in 2014 with
a 16.75% interest.
10. The Osun State Government also owes a number of
contractors due to its various contractor financing
agreements. Major
in this category is the 17.1bn naira owed to Sammya
Nigeria Limited, the company handling the Osogbo-
Ikirun-Ilaodo
dualization project.
11. The figures above suggest that Osun now has a total
debt profile of something around 111.2bn Naira. This is
in light of
the fact that Ogbeni himself publicly declared that his
government earned 204bn Naira in the last four years.
This implies
that his government has a debt profile significantly more
than half his total earnings in four years.
12. The above explains why no bank is ready to loan him
money again. His earnings against liabilities does not give
much
hope for lenders.
EDUCATION
1. Fakunle Comprehensive High School, the pride of
Secondary School Education in Osun State has been
demolished and the
land sold to unknown investors for the purpose of
constructing a shopping centre. Sacrificing education for
monetary gains!
2. Opon Imo has been withdrawn from the possession of
the sparse population of Osun Students who got the
gadgets in the
first place due to deficiencies unknown to the public.
3. As against his noisy claims, it was not his
administration that commenced feeding of school pupils.
O’Meal was named
Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme
under Oyinlola, with secretariat in Abere Osun State.
4. He unified School uniforms to create a large market
for Sam & Sara Nigeria Limited, owners of Omoluabi
Garment factory.
The unified uniforms has led to degeneration in school
discipline while parents are being made to buy sub-
standard single
pair uniforms at 1,750 and above! Where on earth does
all schools wear the same uniform?
5. As against the United Nations’ stipulation of thirty (30)
students to a teacher, Aregbesola merged Osun State
schools,
fusing a school Fakunle Comprehensive High School
Osogbo (with a population of up to 3000) into Osogbo
Grammar School.
6. Unity Schools Ejigbo which stood out as a model
government school in the country and even beyond has
been reduced to a
terrible shadow itself. The school now runs on day and
boarding, wears the same uniform with all other
secondary schools in
town and a reign of truancy has been established in that
school.
7. Aregbesola created the TEPO offices in the three
Senatorial District to oversee Schools under their district.
The heads
of these offices are at Permanent Secretary Ranks and as
such often constantly have a clash of authority with
Permanent
Secretaries of the Ministry of Education, TESCOM and
SUBEB.
8. Subventions to these schools are so heavily defaulted
that teachers resort to writing examination questions on
the board
and are forced to issue results on plain sheets of paper as
against the use of report cards. Funny it is, that at the end
of every session, you always have more than ten first-
position students per class since there will be no physical
evidence
to confirm such claims.
9. There is an extreme shortage of workforce in the
Teaching Service Commission; this forced the Permanent
Secretary to
withdraw all TESCOM teachers in Ministry Schools back
to TESCOM schools. As it stands, up to at least 14 subjects
are
without teachers in most Ministry-owned schools.
Example is Unity School Ejigbo.
10. Under Aregbesola, Osun disconnected from the
National Education standard and the state thereby runs a
3:6:3 method.
(Elementary School – Pry 1-3; Middle School – Pry 4,5 &
JS 1-3; High School – SS 1-3). This is applicable in no
other
Nigerian State.
11. Students who sat for external examinations this year
can only hope for a miracle as they have had close–to-
zero
academic engagement this session.
12. The UNIOSUN vision has been so bastardized due to
the failure of the State Government to effectively manage
the crisis
situation in the school. This has led to the sack of certain
principal officers including the Vice Chancellor and the
instability of the management and administration of the
school system.
13. The State Government took over the responsibility of
deducting monthly re-payments for staff cooperative
societies that
it recognizes some years back. For close to two years
however, the deductions made on behalf of the societies
have not been
remitted.
14. For the past two years, the State Government has not
remitted a single kobo of its own 5% contribution to the
Pension
Fund Managers of workers under the contributory
pension arrangement.
15. Worse still, for more than a year now, the State
Government has refused to remit the 5% contributions
of the workers
themselves which the State Government deducted from
their salaries on behalf of the Pension Managers.
16. The mega schools built in all the Local Government
headquarters has not been put to use since the
commencement of this
botched project. This means that the financial
commitments made towards these needless projects are
lying in waste!
ADMINISTRATION
1. The Aregbesola administration has abandoned the
principle of hierarchy in the appointment of Permanent
Secretaries and
Head of Service. The administration has resorted to the
use of some ‘kangaroo’ aptitude test for Senior Civil
Servants
which has allowed favouritism and unwholesome
practices where Junior Officers loyal to Ogbeni’s
administration are now
being lorded over their superiors.
2. The Aregbesola administration has so rubbished the
Local Government Administrative System by running this
very vital arm
of government with Executive Secretaries, a term alien to
the Nigerian Constitution. The set of Executive Secretaries
enthroned in 2011 have had their six-month tenures
renewed five times.
3. Osun has completely abandoned the principle of Due
Process in the Award of Contracts. The processes of pre-
qualification, tender and competitive bidding has been
completely disposed. Ogbeni virtually awards contracts
to cronies
majority of whom are from outside Osun State.
4. This administration demolished a strategic
administrative complex; the Old Governor’s office to
build a modern market
whereas there is land available in locations around the
said area.
5. Ogbeni renamed Osun State and began addressing a
federating unit under the Federal Government as ‘State of
Osun’. This
has led to ambiguity as external relations with Osun State
bear the constitutionally allowed Osun State and not his
local
State of Osun nomenclature.
6. Osun State Government now pays majority of its
contractors in cash, completely against the principle of
due process.
7. This government has refused to pay the severance
gratuities of political office holders that served under the
previous
dispensation despite knowing it is their constitutional
rights.
8. The Osun State Governor goes about in the helicopter
his administration purchased which he claimed was
meant for
security surveillance. This helicopter instead is being used
for his personal transport.
9. Taxes are being collected by unknown consultants
whereas the State has a Revenue Board in place which is
constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of
revenue collection.
10. Bola Ahmed Tinubu publicly declared at the unveiling
of the ‘Opon Imo’ that Kabir, the first son of Aregbesola
should
be commended for helping the State procure the multi-
billion naira gadgets. It means the Aregbesola
government deliberately
ran the affairs of the State as a nuclear family affair,
completely disregarding the principles of due process
and the laws
guiding Government Procurement.
11. Osun State Government embarrassed the collective
reasoning of Osun people by indiscriminately using
copyrighted
intellectual material on the Opon Imo gadgets without
prior permission from the copyright owners. This led to a
number of
embarrassing lawsuits.
INFRASTRUCTURE
1. Ogbeni’s administration awarded the re-construction
of Ejigbo-Ede via Ara; Ejigbo-Ede via Awo, Ejigbo-Oguro
and Ejigbo-
Iwo roads to Perfect Structures Nigeria Limited, also on a
contractor financing agreement at 3.5bn Naira. The
award was
done without due process but was given as a reward to
Remi Olowude for his support towards his election bid in
2007. The
project died upon the death of the awardee since proper
organizational structures were not in place in the first
place. God
rest his soul.
2. The use of such Lagos-imported contractors such as
WestMidlands Construction Company without the
normal due process of
pre-qualification, tender and bidding has also
successfully killed the Local Content approach that was
used by the
immediate past administration.
3. The Akoda-Gbongan dualization project terminating at
the Gbongan trumpet interchange has been ongoing for
three years
now. It is sad to note that no reasonable amount of work
has been done on this project to justify the billions that
has
gone into this phantom project.
4. The O’RAMP programme is an initiative of the Federal
Ministry Ministry of Works tagged ‘Rural Access and
Mobility
Project’ aimed at opening up the rural areas and
providing access. The allocations for the programme
being paid to Osun
State culminated into Aregbesola’s O’RAMP. The
programme is today dead.
5. The Dagbolu Industrial Project is a fake, a huge scam
and an insult to the consciousness of Osun people.
Bushes on that
site were not cleared let alone construction work
beginning. This is against the claims of Aregbe’s
government that work is
ongoing on that site.
6. This administration has woefully failed to maintain
major access roads. Examples are Ejigbo-Iwo, Osogbo-
Iwo, Osogbo-Ede,
Iwo-Oluponna, Iwo-Ikire, Osogbo-Ilobu-Ifon and many
others left in deplorable states.
7. All major projects awarded within the last four years
have remained uncompleted till date. Examples are:
Akoda-Gbongan
interchange, Osogbo-ikirun-Ilaodo dualization, Aje
International Market, Osogbo West Bypass and a host of
others.
8. Aregbesola further decided to fool our collective
reasoning when he embarked upon the block-wall
fencing of the 11.1km
expanse of land upon which the Ido-Osun aerodrome is
situated. Today, nothing is being heard of the Airport
project, just
the fence which signifies our wasted billions.
AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE
1. We may want to ask ourselves today, Where is O’Beef?
Remember that programme that was supposed to raise
enough cattle
for Osun people to feed on? What are the successes
achieved so far?
2. Where are the farm settlements? What gains were
made from the settlements one of which was situated in
Ifeodan, Ejigbo
Local Government?
3. What interventions has the Osun State Government
given to farmers in the State in the last three years?
4. How far has this government gone in its promise that it
will revive the Cocoa Industry?
5. Where is the widely publicized O’Clean Cooking Gas
that was to be made from wastes?
6. Where is Osuwon Omoluabi today? Remember that
widely publicized scale that was to be introduced to
markets?
7. Where is our Osun State Trade Fair Complex? Yes,
demolished to give way for Aje International
Market….when will Aje
International Market begin to generate income for the
state?
8. What has happened to the promises by Ogbeni
Aregbesola to generate income for the state via the
abundant presence of
mineral resources in the State?
9. Who are the miners currently working in Ilesa? Were
they licensed by the State Government? Are they paying
tax at all?
MANPOWER
1. Osun State Government claimed it employs 20,000
youths in the O’YES scheme for each batch.
Unfortunately, this is a huge
lie from the pit of hell. Participants in the O’YES scheme
has not at any point in time exceeded 10,000. A quick
analysis
of the number of participants present in each Local
Government will give quick insight to this.
2. All Ministry Schools in the State are so understaffed
that they have to rely on the use of PTA teachers whose
salaries
are being sourced from parents. TESCOM and SUBEB are
not spared but they have survived better because they
have more hands
than their Ministry of Education counterparts.
ODERINU ADEDAYO

Aregbesola Has Failed Osun People

In a year's time it would be Buhari Has Failed Nigerian People

Mogidi:
Aregbesola Has Failed Osun People

In a year's time it would be Buhari Has Failed Nigerian People

There are good people and bad people, let's hope he doesn't have more in common with Buhari than the political party