I’ve watched keenly the state of things and governance in the State of Osun and have taken to silence not because I have nothing to say but because I have realized how irrational Osun people are, how sentiments of nettled standards have overtaken the path of wisdom, how a one party legislature can sit comfortably with complete lawlessness.
It was recently that I felt the sharp pain of the economic situation of the state when I received a distress call from my mother, a primary school teacher in Osun State. My mother will never call me to ask for money, that I know, but I was shocked when I picked up the call and she didn’t respond to my jokes and jibes. I was forced to ask my mum what exactly the matter was. She responded in an uncomfortable manner, saying there was urgent need to buy drugs and Ogbeni has refused to pay for months. That was how a single distress call further expressed the dilapidated situation of State of Osun.
When Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola launched the project called Opon Imo, I criticised it heavily and asked quite critically how sustainable the project was and is. I was however, heavily criticised but the question remains, where are the Opon Imo? When last did they give them out and where are students that collected them? I beseech everyone to check the performance index of students of Osun public schools in the last four WAEC & NECO to see the appalling situation. One can only weep for the future of Osun state. Before, the story was that Jonathan deliberately refused to release funds, thereafter it was said that Buhari said the Federal Government under Jonathan was not owing any state or withholding allocation. Later the story changed to how Jonathan mismanaged the economy. The question now is, did Jonathan come into Osun state to govern or award contracts within the state? Or does the general economic situation of the country have its headquarters in Osun state?
Well, haven said it before, I wish to restate that Aregbesola is a noise maker, an indecent one at that, who is meant to be a character in George Orwell’s apologue of fable titled Animal Farm.
To the non-literates in Osun state who got swayed by the noises on radio, television and social media, I wish them best of luck as they experience clearly the anger of God on the state. If you don’t know, cash flow in Osun is basically from the state purse without which no company or big agencies can help the economy. What that denotes is that it is when the state government pays the civil servants that artisans and other non-state workers will make money. Also, because those civil servants will pay bricklayers to build for them, bricklayers will employ labourers with them and after some hours, they will get to petty traders to get water or bread to eat, persons producing pure water will benefit so also the bakers. I can guess you understand how it goes on like a chain? What I’m driving at is simple; Under Ogbeni, Osun state has broken in tatters. The debt profile of the state establishes a fact, it is either an end time sign or a redefined struggle.
For the sake of history, Aregbesola borrowed from First Bank the sum of 124.5 million naira on the 11th of July 2012 for the O’meal project. Now that the money has been exhausted, the state has decided to stop the O’meal project. Why embark on a project not sustainable? Why borrow money for a project that won’t bring in a dime. Is it the duty of the government to feed pupils? What are you feeding them for? What’s the rationale behind the feeding? Are pupils in Osun state now in schools to eat or learn? How on earth can’t Ogbeni differentiate between a restaurant and a school?
In the last few years, pupils in Osun only have one reason to go to school and that is because of the daily egg they take, little wonder many of this children think less.
Well, for those who are not aware, the O’yes tech project was carried out on a 250 million naira loan taken from Wema Bank. If I may ask, what are the reasons for these debts and projects? Will the state continue to borrow till a creditor sells the Government house on OLX or KONGA? The same First Bank also granted over 500 million naira loan to fund the O’uniform fiasco. Mind you, all these loans are with ever growing interests. Most of these debts are unnecessary and 60% of Aregbe’s policies and projects are cosmetic and simply to cajole gullible people of Osun.
Kudos to many like this writer who have refused to fold its hands and watch a government send its people on exile with its unacceptable 10th century government policies.
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Odeyele Ayodeji
