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By Sarafa Ibrahim
Something struck me immediately after reading a piece authored by Mr. Ismail Omipidan, the media aide to a former Governor of Osun state, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola. It was the timeless warning of a Swedish born Nobel prize winner, Arne Tiselius that “we live in a world where unfortunately the distinction between true and false appears to become increasingly blurred by manipulation of facts, by exploitation of uncritical minds, and by the pollution of the language.”
It is not only funny but also a big slap on the intelligence of Osun people to suggest that the Oyetola administration was any better than the current administration under Governor Ademola Adeleke as Mr. Omipidan’s article, “Osun Govt., Osun Defender and their gang of jesters” postulated. Let’s start with his point on seriousness to grow the economy.
To push his narrative that Mr. Oyetola showed more commitment to growing the economy than Governor Adeleke, Mr. Omipidan referenced the budgetary provision for the agricultural sector by the former governor in the 2023 fiscal year. But any objective mind can easily pick a hole in that narrative because the budget was actually rushed after Mr. Oyetola lost re-election and it is almost certain that the N5bn provision for agricultural sector was a fluke.
How am I sure on this? Well, the preceding years budget prepared and implemented by Mr. Oyetola is enough guide to gauge him. Take, for instance, the total provision for agricultural sector in the 2022 budget, was N6.7bn, however, by the time the budget performance for the second quarter was out, only a meagre N593,296,747.59 had been released, representing a disappointing 8.8% budget performance.
Interestingly, the Governor’s office incurred a total expenditure of N3.01bn out of a budget of of N5.3bn, representing a 56.8% budget performance under the same period in review. It was even worse with the 2020 budget where out of N83,863,650.00 voted for the agricultural sector aside salary payment, only a meagre N6,992,500.00 was released by the end of third quarter. In the 2021 fiscal year, out of N3,313,734,560.00 provision for agriculture and food security, the actual release was N334,699,600.00, representing 13.14% performance by the third quarter.
If numbers don’t lie, as they say, it is plainly clear that the agricultural sector was poorly funded under Mr. Oyetola administration. It therefore smacks hypocrisy on the part of Mr. Omipidan to try and paint the administration he served under differently as against what the record clearly showed. If anything, Mr. Oyetola administration which Mr. Omipidan is now trying to garb in an entirely different image did very poorly in growing the Osun economy.
And this is not just in the agricultural sector, almost every sector received little to nothing attention under Mr. Oyetola. The mistake, which I believe Mr. Omipidan made was to underrate Osun people, thinking they can be swayed by cheap rhetoric. On the expenditure on agriculture in the first quarter, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, clarified that “most of the expenditure is expected to fall within the Second and Third Quarters of the year is the planting season.”
Beyond this, Governor Adeleke is investing massively in upgrading public infrastructures in the state to boosting the economy of Osun state. From road constructions to total overhauling of public schools and primary healthcare centres across the state, Governor Adeleke is opening up the state for increasing economic activities, which is mostly powered by good infrastructure.
In the first quarter of this year, the expenditure in the Ministry of Works gulped N17,242,506,008.28 as against N11,123,296,062.50, indicating 155.2% budget performance. This explains why you’re sure to be greeted by the sight of ongoing infrastructural projects anywhere you look at in Osun. From Ile-Ife, the cradle of Yoruba origin, where the first overhead bridge is currently being built, to Ilesa where a dual-carrage road construction is taking shape, Governor Adeleke is building not just the infrastructure of today but also laying the foundation for the economic prosperity of tomorrow.
Only those who have chosen to be averse to the truth will deny the monumental infrastructural renewal that Governor Adeleke is undertaking in Osun state at the moment. And I believe Mr. Omipidan falls into this category, especially with his erroneous postulation that “… in nearly two years of this administration, the only thing the governor has done well to the admiration of all is dancing.”
People like Mr. Omipidan will always have issues with a leader who is happy and doing almost everything to replicate same to the governed. While Mr. Omipidan’s principal manufactured all sorts of excuses to ignore the payment a 30-month half salary debt left by an administration he was an integral part of, Governor Adeleke is gradually defraying the accumulated wage debt to ease the pains of the affected. Even when the former governor pretended to care about the welfare of workers and granted promotions to them, it was a gesture that only existed on paper and not in reality as the financial benefits that should have come with such exercise did not happen for over three years. Interestingly, it was Governor Adeleke who implemented the financial implication of the promotion which Mr. Oyetola failed to do.
Mr. Omipidan should know by now that what gives hope to the people is not just mere words and fanciful speeches but affirmative action. All a pensioner need was the payment of his or her accrued benefits, not some fanciful words that will not put food on his or her table. The same thing with civil servants and other citizens. A Governor is elected to solve problems and make life more meaningful to the people, not become a motivational speaker as Mr. Omipidan tried to canvass.
So far so good, Governor Adeleke ticks all the boxes on key indices of good governance. In less than two years in office, Governor Adeleke’s record on welfare and infrastructural development, among others outclass those before him, including Mr. Omipidan’s principal. Only a few days ago, the numbers clearly indicated that Governor Adeleke surpassed the record of his two predecessors on the release of bonds to pensioners.
While the two previous administrations which had a combined 12 years in office released the sum of N11,150,871,889.00, Governor Adeleke within eighteen (18) months released a total of N12,719,245,528.00 in terms of bonds to pensioners. Of the two predecessors is Mr. Oyetola, whom Mr. Omipidan is stylishly trying to whitewash and relaunch into the minds of Osun people as a better administrator.
On the infrastructure side, Governor Adeleke’s imprints trumps whatever Mr. Oyetola achieved in the entire four years that he was in office even though he is less than two years in office. This is in spite the fact that even the cost of construction has gone up by more than 1000% as a result of raging inflation in Nigeria at present. There is hardly a local government in Osun state that has not experienced the presence of government under the Adeleke administration as against the experience under Mr. Oyetola administration when some places in the state got not even a culvert erected throughout his forty-eight months in office.
Before I go, it is important that I express my concern on a dangerous and abrasive sentence in Mr. Omipidan’s article. In a democracy, just as we are in Nigeria, the people are at liberty to make a choice on leadership. It is quite disturbing, uncharitable and repulsive for them to be gaslighted or insulted as Mr. Omipidan did with the line that “She (his wife) is among the reasonable Ede people who believe in quality education, not the one who rationalises earning degree certificate under two weeks.” This is an overreach, which not even politics, can explain away.
Available facts on record have defeated the myth of ‘earning a degree certificate under two weeks’ but not surprising, Mr. Omipidan wants to reinvent the lie as we gradually approach the 2026 election. Instead of just mere words, the reasonable thing to do is to present an irrefutable fact that support the false impression.
Anyway, Osun people can not be deceived with mere word of ‘excellence’ that has no correlation whatsoever with the reality. This informed their electoral choice in the July 16 governorship election, and they have been vindicated, especially when you take cognizance of the manifestation of the inadequacies they rejected in Osun becomes a national reality.
• Sarafa Ibrahim is a Special Assistant to the Osun State Governor and writes from Osogbo, Osun State. He can be reached via email at neyoclass09@gmail.com
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