Osun: Positives Stick Out Amid Political Upheavals

Samuel Ajayi

During a recent visit to Osogbo, the Osun State capital, this writer saw a state many wrongly equate with political squabbles. But behind them are discernible moves by the hardworking but reserved Governor Gboyega Oyetola to change the economic, educational and social narratives of the state. Driving from Lagos, and about savouring the serenity of Osogbo, the google map indicated there could be some ten minutes delay due to a sudden traffic snarl, the reason for which this reporter could not fathom. But as it wore on, the reason became obvious: it was the Owode market day which runs every five days. The slight delay did not take anything away from seeing the beauty of a city at peace with itself and a people who seem to be enjoying a new lease of life under their new political superintendent.

Osun is a state whose economy revolves round public service and that is why the economic well-being depends, ironically, on the payment of salaries of public servants. And should payment of workers’ salaries be counted as an achievement? Perhaps, in the case of Osun, it should be. And the reasons are obvious.

When Prompt Salary Payment Becomes Key…

Before the coming of the Oyetola administration, there was a slogan in virtually every city and town in the state which was ‘Afusa’. The name ‘Afusa’ is actually the ‘Yorubanised’ version of Hafzat, an female Islamic name. However, ‘Afusa’, in the Osun context, actually means ‘half salary’.

“Before the coming of this administration, workers used to ask themselves if they had seen their own ‘Afusa’,” an aide to Oyetola told THISDAY. “What they actually meant then was if they (their colleagues) had received alerts of their own half salary because that was what the last administration used to do before Oyetola came in.”

Today, Oyetola is said to have turned the joke around and usually tells workers and other stakeholders that ‘Afusa’ had gotten married to a man from another state and has since relocated from Osun. In fact, by March 2nd, workers had received bank alerts for their February salary. When asked what the government did differently to arrest the situation, the state Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode said it was simply the blockage of wastages.

“Don’t forget that the governor was a very successful businessman and good manager of resources before veering into politics. What we did was to block leakages and ensure good and proper application of scarce resources. We are aware that Osun State is very low in the federal allocation. Therefore, we have to manage these scarce resources and the governor is also aware of the positive spiral effect of prompt payment of worker’s salaries.”

It goes beyond that. Egbemode explained that it does not make sense if salaries of workers are paid and pensions of retirees are not paid.

She explained that the present administration actually met backlogs of outstanding pensions and gratuities and they did not make any good reading at all. She disclosed that the state pays a minimum of N600 million every month to pensioners.

She said:“Oyetola came in and put his credibility on the line and said he was going to change the narrative of half salary syndrome. And what he did was to tweak the priorities of government and everyone gets paid at the end of every month.”

Stepping into the ‘Golden’ Era…

Osun State has quite a number of big towns, if not cities. These include Osogbo, the state capital, Ile-Ife, Ilesha, Iwo and even Ikirun. However, even with this Osun cannot claim to be in same league with Oyo State in terms of industrialisation. Even if there is a brewery in Ilesha and the Oshogbo Steel Rolling Mill, the economy of the state is still agrarian. That perhaps also explains why payment of government workers salaries is strategic to the economic well-being of the people. But this has to change.

And that also explains why the Segilola gold project is not only pivotal to the economic development of the state, but one which many indigenes of the state have become emotional about. The state is home to Nigeria’s only large-scale commercial gold mine and it has started producing gold bars. This was facilitated by a Canadian-listed gold developer, Thor Explorations, and its local subsidiary, Segilola Resources Operating Limited. The Segilola Gold Mine is situated at Odo-Ijesha and Iperindo. The high point of this project was the unveiling of unrefined gold samples by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in late last year, December 2021 to be precise. Ironically, many outside Osun State do not even know that the state has very large gold deposits.

Personally, I am emotional about this gold matter,” Egbemode enthused. “We have plenty of gold and solid minerals in Osun. We have gold deposits in Ife-Ijesha axis. The governor is working on the foundation laid by the administration of former Governor Oyinlola who got licences across the country. Now we are corporate entity in the solid minerals sector and not just a political entity. We have partners with Badger Mining Company. When some senior media executives came to see the place, the white guys working there actually made us stand and watch gold particles becoming gold bars and they handed them over to us. It means that with the right kind of leadership, we can make things happen. That day, the governor was in awe. He was very proud. Now, if there are three gold refineries in Nigeria today, Osun has one that is functioning.”

 Balancing the Political Act…

Osun has had its own fair share of political crisis. Being one of the nine states created on August 27, 1991, the state was carved out of the present Oyo State and taking off was into turbulence going by the crisis the state faced on the fracas between the Executive and Legislature during the ill-fated Third Republic. And by hand of fate again, the state is one of the states whose gubernatorial elections don’t fall on the year of general elections. For instance, the governorship election in the state would be held in July this year.

The bad blood between Governor Oyetola and his predecessor Rauf Aregbesola is well documented. But sources close to the politics of the state told THISDAY that Oyetola had bent backwards to accommodate different political tendencies in the state.

“Are you aware that we have about three commissioners who served under the former governor and who were retained by Oyetola,” the source said. “The governor is well aware of the need to accommodate all and be father to everyone. But you should also know that if anyone wants total control, if you give him ninety-five percent, it won’t still be enough. I guess that is the issue they have with Oyetola.”

Correcting the Education Policy Anomaly…

If there was one issue that nearly set Osun State on fire couple of years ago and which nearly caused religious crisis, it was the new education policy introduced by the former governor, Aregbesola. While the governor and his team did everything to convince a bewildered citizenry that they meant well for the state, much as they tried, the state was toying with the idea of becoming an educational pariah state. Not only was the state not benefiting from any educational grant, the confusion that set in nearly caused sectarian commotion.

The governor had practically abolished single sex school and moved students from boys only to girls only school. He also introduced same uniform for all schools in the state and the traditional 6-3-3-4 system gave way to primary, middle school and high school. But the one that nearly disrupted the religious harmony in the state was the introduction of wearing of Islamic female headgear, ‘hijab’, in traditionally Christian schools. And what happened after was that Christian students started wearing choir robes to school and traditional worshippers started coming to school with their traditional worship regalia.

“It was a very low period in Osun, but unfortunately, those superintending over our affairs did not seem to care,” an aide of the governor told THISDAY in Oshogbo.

Egbemode said it was one move by the former government the whole state, irrespective of political leanings, felt was not necessary. And they had their reasons.

“I had all my education here. But you woke up one day to see that your school did no longer exist but only on paper. This was because the last administration tweaked the education policy that kind of educationally-exiled Osun State. We were no longer doing 6-3-3-4 system. Boys only schools now woke up and had girls in their schools and you see a guy whose certificate was from a girls’ school. There was abolition of single sex schools and so many other anomalies. Boys and girls only schools were cancelled and girls were put in boys only schools and boys were put in girls only schools. For instance, St. Charles was boys only school; they added girls, changed the name and gave uniforms. People were so emotional about this.”

She said what Oyetola did after coming to office was to go on a ‘Thank You’ tour and used the opportunity to ask the people of the state what they would want his government to do for them. While many asked different things, one constant decimal everywhere he went was the reversal of the educational policy of the former administration.

And it was deeper than that. THISDAY findings showed that one particular school which many thought its alumni didn’t do enough to stop the governor was Ilesha Grammar School which produced the likes of revered cleric and head of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Adejare Adeboye, former Minister of External Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi and former governor of Lagos State, late Lateef Jakande.

Upon coming in, however, Oyetola did not just reverse the policy. He put together a technical committee that included former Vice-Chancellors and a former Registrar of WAEC who came to explain the nitty-gritty of the situation. For instance, WAEC was said not to be informed of the change in the education policy in the state and they kept issuing certificates in the name of the old schools.

“So you have an ‘Isiaka’ whose certificate would bear the name of a girls only school. Ilesha Grammar School former students always celebrate this governor. As an editor and columnist, I complained even to the former governor. So many of us are emotional about this,” a former old student of St Charles College told THISDAY.

The 332 as Special Figure…

While many Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas usually die of preventable deaths, the Osun government decided to tackle this by “renovating, re-equipping and revitalising and making functional” 332 primary health care centres in the state.

“We have 332 wards in Osun State and we have renovated, re-equipped, revitalised and made functional 332 primary health care centres in the state and that was one per Ward. When two weeks ago people were going to vote in the APC governorship primaries, people have to pass through their primary health care centres,” Egbemode chipped.

There is also the palliative for over 35,000 indigenes of the state, which is now in its twelfth month. The idea was to ensure that they too benefit from government one way or the other.

Oyetola’s mandate is up for renewal in July. It remains to be seen if he has done enough to get that renewal. But if you ask that market woman at that Owode market, she would tell you probably, he does. But time will have to tell.