A 'nomics'
has been added to the world of economic policies and Nigerians should
appreciate its coming from their part of the planet, especially, at a time the
world is grappling with the depravity of politics and the captivity of
politicians.
In a paper presented
at a Colloquium to mark his six years in office as governor of the State of
Osun, Rauf Aregbesola reiterated his administration's commitment to laying a
solid foundation for the state in every area such that tampering with its
progress
in the future would be
difficult, if not impossible. While describing "rising expenditure,
especially wage bill, within the contrast of falling revenue" as the
biggest challenge facing his government, Aregbesola promised that his
administration would do all within its powers to ensure that no one was left
behind in the distribution of the dividends of democracy to the good people of
Osun. "We are grappling with the challenge of finance and we are doing all
within our power to complete all the projects we started. We are not going to
leave any project uncompleted", the governor stated.
Democracy hath no fury
than a people abandoned! So, what is Raufnomics? In my considered
opinion, the
promoter
has
given a clue:
it is about "getting as much from little and using the resources of the
state to maximally benefit the people". It is about "strategic planning
and intervention in society; making governance mass-based and people-centric";
and "guaranteeing the maximum good for the maximum number of people."
With a special reference to Osun,
Raufnomics
has proved to be a popular solution to the state's socio-economic problems
created as a result of years of Nigeria's sole dependence on proceeds from
crude oil. It has helped sustain the state even as it continues to encourage
innovative
interventions within
the framework of the administration's Six Point Integral Action Plan
in such a way
as to help put the economy of the state back on track.
In addition to some of
this administration's laudable achievementswhich have already been captured in
Aregbesola's speech at the event, the establishment of Osun Job Centre,
designed principally to serve as an interface between job seekers and
employers of labour;
the procurement of no
fewer than 125 Patrol Vans, 20 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) and one
helicopter which has helped in drastically reducing incidences of crime in the
state; and the creation and successful take-off of 61 Local Council
Development Areas (LCDAs), 3 Area Offices and 2 Administrative Offices from
the former 31 Local Government Areas are also some of the ways this government
has positively affected the rule of the game.
A strong advocate of
regional integration, he was a major force in the establishment of the
Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, an institutional
and programmed body saddled with the responsibility of mid-wifing
the regional integration agenda of the Southwest states. And, with the
creation of Osun Education Quality Assurance and Morality Enforcement
Agency, I doubt if any misguided pupil or student will ever attempt to
task the tolerance of the good people of Osun or insult their collective
intelligence again.
Aregbesola's approval of the immediate commencement of a unified Public
Service in the state is worth mentioning here. Apart from
repositioning"
the State Public Service for efficient and effective service delivery at all
levels of governance", the step is also aimed at removing "all restrictions to
seamless
movement of personnel from one spectrum of the Public Service to the other".
Needless to repeat that it is in a bid to
ensure
transparency in the state's financial dealings that this man of splendor and
all-encompassing charisma recently inaugurated the Hassan Sunmonu-led
committee
on
allocation
of
revenues
to
"oversee allocation of states revenue to prompt payment of
salaries as well as adequate running of government."
The
price of fame, it is often said, goes beyond brooding or bargaining around the
frustration of some mischievous parallelisms! But when will Nigeria's vine
overcome the antics of her "foxes, the little foxes" and who will raise the
hands of her Moses as an assurance of permanent victory? Coming closer home,
if we have an avatar at the helm of affairs in Osun, how come the state is
such in dire straits that it now seems as if delayed salaries have come to
stay with us? Assuming without conceding that we are in this pass because of
the level of our debt and its management, as a result of which dear state has
allegedly become slave to Irrevocable Payment Standing Orders (IPSOs)
and other debt recovery instruments, how do we situate the fate of richer and
resource-endowed states like Ondo and Bayelsa which are also behind schedule
in terms of salary obligations to their workers?
Well, the tragedy of
our Nigerianness is that we deceive ourselves a lot and that has been
our greatest undoing! Here, we play politics like an interest-driven game,
unrepentantly notorious for its art of the impossible and personal
manipulations. That is why, despite efforts by this dogged fighter at
positively impacting lives through his
"numerous
programmes, policies and schemes",
there still exists some unrefined, less-informed detractors who derisively
"consider it
fit and proper to constitute themselves into an opposition of the government
of the day, however well-meaning and good-intentioned."
Because of the way they are fated, they always allow their personal and
selfish desire for certain specialities to run wild thereby straying away from
unprejudiced realities. They lust for what they do not have and that which is
of no use to them and, despite the fact that they do not get that which they
do not have and that which they neither need nor deserve, they delude
themselves with it to spoil that which they are supposed to have but
unfortunately they do not have.
In their world, there
is neither economic focus nor political direction that is practically aimed at
alleviating the people's poverty and pains. Instead, they revel in the
virulence of insouciant leaders and the proliferation of unprincipled
politicians. For no just cause, these individualists and spoilers culpably
hate leaders for doing good, categorize a government which "runs a most
transparent allocation of scarce resources to tackle underdevelopment" as
'reckless'; and tag one which strives to confront "problems engendered by
socio-political transformation"as
'insensitive'! Since they are experts at spreading beliefs that reject
persuasion, they tar every developmental stride with the mark of corruption.
In their myopic view, Opon Imois a scam; O-YES, money-sapping; O-MEALS,
unnecessary; and policies and programmes
aimed
at shoring up
the state's revenue generation capacity are 'too draconian and unfriendly'.
In any case, "minds
differ as rivers differ", says Baron Thomas Macaulay.While some might
liken Aregbesolato a "controversial politician who doesn't listen to
advice, however novel or useful", to others, he's one astute administrator
who would not "want to enrich himself at the expense of the poor masses".
While some might unfairly consider his style of governance as one "built only
on propaganda", others see it - and, rightly, too - as "a source of hope in
the face of the weak and bleak future that the Yoruba race and Nigeria face."
In all of these however; and political persuasions notwithstanding, what
critics of Raufnomicscannot deny
is
Aregbesola's
gentleness,
straightforwardness and uncanny sense of direction which he has
dispassionately deployed in transforming the state into an emerging market
with a lot of potentials. Unlike others whose portion is in making promises at
the drop of a hat with no real intention of keeping them, it is unRauf
to allow people who delight in whirling by their dark clouds to be the limit
of his success.
Need I
say more on why Osun has continued to wax stronger, in spite of the biting
economic slowdown currently troubling Nigeria's Israel?
May
principalities and powers, assigned to rubbish our leaders' efforts, BACKFIRE!
*KOMOLAFE
writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)