December 12, (THEWILL) – Special Adviser to the Governor of Osun State on Civic Engagement, Olatubosun Oyintiloye, speaks on issues affecting the state in this interview with AYO ESAN. Excerpts:
Governor Oyetola is in the third year of his first term. Looking back, how has it been since he assumed duty?
Good governance is determined by service delivery. That is the assessment indicator to posit that Oyetola has performed creditably well, despite meagre resources. He has used his financial engineering skills and administrative experience to effectively manage the state’s resources for great deliveries in governance.
Specifically, many road networks have been constructed or are ongoing in his two years in office. The roads include Alekuwodo-Akinlade in Osogbo, Ede-Ara_Ejigbo, Kelebe-Iragbiji, Ada-Igbajo, Moro-Akinlalu, Famia (Modakeke township), Ilesha township, Ede township, Ejigbo township and Aagba township. His administration has embarked on the construction of a flyover bridge at the popular Olaiya junction in Osogbo, the state Capital. This is targeted towards bringing socioeconomic improvement and reduction of traffic hassles in the area. Not only that, twenty-two new roads, cutting across all the nine federal constituencies, are undergoing construction in the state.
The health sector has also experienced a massive refurbishment with a total upgrade of 332 primary health centres (PHCs) across all the wards in the state. This offers a proximate opportunity for people in the communities to have access to quality health services. Equally, all general hospitals and some comprehensive health centres in the state have been fully upgraded alongside the construction of 120 bedded structure and resident doctors’ quarters at Asubiaro in Osogbo.
The Oyetola-led administration is equally revamping the economy through industrialisation and commercialisation by establishing the Osun Ethanol Bio-Refinery factory and the International Trade Centre/Industrial Hub and Inland Port, which are projected to create massive job opportunities to at least 10,000 people.
Equally, the welfare of both active workers and pensioners is given maximum priority. The Oyetola administration has not only committed itself to full payment of workers’ salaries and pensions, but it has also implemented the minimum wage for the workers in the state. Others benefits accruing to workers are in full force. Also worthy of mention are social intervention programmes, such as loans, grants and the food support scheme for the vulnerable, which are targeted at ameliorating poverty and, by extension, ensuring economic stability in the state.
Even at this point of his administration, Oyetola has many scorecards to his credit. He believes in the maxim that continuity is the bedrock of sustainable governance and development and has not reneged on many programmes and policies of the past administration. This is an invaluable and enviable scorecard for all, irrespective of political affiliation.
Equally, building his governance around the people as a means of consolidating democratic principles is a big plus for him. He created a civic engagement office, the first of its kind in the state and an institution through which governance is taken to the people through regular interfaces to get their feelers on government programmes and policies in the form of feedbacks, and provide them platforms to state their demands and yearning, which will guide the policy formulation process. From what I have observed, he wants to be remembered as a governor who did his best, identified with his people, and solved many of their major challenges using governance instruments.
The APC has released guidelines for next year’s governorship election. How do you think Osun people will receive Oyetola’s bid for a second term?
There is no gainsaying that Oyetola has become a household name in every nook and cranny of the state. This is not unconnected to the top-notch and brilliant performance of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in all the sectors of the state’s economy. This has brought about tremendous development in the security, education, infrastructure, human capital, health sectors, despite a paucity of funds, coupled with the fact that the governor had brought a paradigm shift in the state’s governance where premium is given to the masses’ opinion in the policy formulation process.
With his leadership style, which has the bridged government-people gap, the governor has endeared himself to the people, which will definitely translate to popular support for his re-election. This is why his re-election is being widely canvassed by independent bodies and groups like artisans, trade unions, workers’ unions, among other informal groups.
Governor Oyetola’s group recently attacked members of The Osun Progressives (TOP), believed to be loyal to the Minister of the Interior, Engr Rauf Aregbesola, at their meeting. What is your reaction to this?
To state the obvious, Governor Oyetola does not have any group. Like most of his predecessors, he only has a movement that served as a platform for his election campaign as an aspirant before being the party’s candidate. As a leader who believes in party unity and supremacy, the governor has integrated the movement with the party structure in order to build a formidable force.
Having stated that, it is a blatant lie to put such an allegation on the personality of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola. It is a ruse known in politics, for the governor is widely adjudged to be a man of peace whose calm posture has been instrumental to the sustainable stability the state enjoys, even in the tense political atmosphere.
You have been involved in Oyetola’s mobilisation and sensitisation of programmes across the state. What has been the response of the people?
The civic engagement programme is a well-embraced initiative of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola among the state populace. It is being described as the first of its kind in the state’s history where governance is taken directly to the people. As a matter of fact, the engagement drive of the current administration has been yielding positive results as the popular demands, yearnings and aspirations of the people have been the ultimate consideration in the policy formulation process. For instance, the ongoing construction of a flyover, the ongoing twenty-two new roads being constructed across the nine federal constituencies of the state, among others have been implemented based on the demands of the people in the affected areas.
The people’s demands, in the form of feedback from a series of engagement programmes, are elements of the input system in our state policy cycle. For instance, people’s voices were the opinion poll that informed the government’s decision to consider a review of the state education policy. Equally, the state infrastructures are allocated according to the needs of individual community in the state.
Many political observers in Osun believe PDP will benefit from the crisis in Osun APC in the next election. What is your take on this?
We are in a democratic society where we can’t shy away from the fact that plurality of interests remains the political driving force. The same democracy has instituted a mechanism of interest harmonisation, which is why internal democracy is the central principle of progressive party.
As a matter of fact, we have a strong and competent leadership to resolve all issues that may arise from the divergence of interests as it may occur in politics. All what you see as crises bedeviling our party are just an expression of interests that cannot be played down because it will turnout to be a great advantage for us as party in the next election, especially with the leadership capacity, which can bring about a synergy that will make us stronger. This is in addition to the brilliant performance of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in state governance, which makes him and our party a cynosure to all eyes. In short, our party has the internal structure to overcome any challenge, and as a result, I am confident that our party’s chances are as bright as ever and the opposition’s plan to stage a comeback in 2022 is just a mirage.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
