The mystery of Amosun’s performance By Abiodun Komolafe This is a season of messages and it is worth savouring. At least, if predictions are worth their dictionary interpretations, the Year 2014 might as well be classified as the Year of Messages. Towards the end of the Year 2013, Olusegun Obasanjo sent a Before It is Too Late ‘bomb’ to Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s president; and Jonathan responded with an ‘I am in Control’ disingenuous bang. Mujahid Dokubo-Asari thought that was not enough. He decided to get involved. As if that was not enough, Edwin Clark dispatched a ‘Because He is My Adopted Son’ Tsunami to Obasanjo for daring to advise Jonathan, interestingly, the Commander-In-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed and Unarmed Forces. In the midst of these, Iyetade, Wole Soyinka’s daughter, passed on, and the world sent Messages of Condolence. Amidst all these, the annual ritual of Christmas and New Year Messages didn’t disappoint. Little did we know that Obasanjo would write another letter to Bamanga Tukur, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, notifying him of his ‘withdrawal’ from the ruling party until certain conditions were met. Unexpectedly, all these, in addition to other unpleasant scenarios, so thickened Nigeria’s political space that one could easily contemplate the nearness of the end for this geographical concoction called Nigeria. Of particular interest, however, was Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun’s message. In his New Year Message, Amosun expressed his gratitude to the people for believing in his government, especially, in the ‘Ogun Standard’ with which all government efforts” were “being benchmarked.” From better-developed education system, to well-equipped hospitals; to empowered people; to policies geared towards empowerment and legitimate home-ownership, which; to “the first-of-its-kind flyover in the State’s almost” four decades of its existence, Amosun has so far demonstrated that, with great determination, Ogun State could become “the envy of many and the pride of her citizens at home and in the Diaspora.” While promising the emergence of “more of these flyovers … with accompanying road furniture”, the governor also urged the citizens not to allow “the new lease of life and wind of positive change blowing to deceive” them “into believing that” they “have reached” their “destination.” Rather, they should “see these Ogun Standard infrastructural facilities as … the symbolic representation of” government’s “resolve to eradicate the decadence of the past and link” the “State and, subsequently”, the “people with the future.” So far, so well for the Gateway State! Without doubt, Amosun’s efforts at repositioning Ogun State have not gone unnoticed. A pleasing personality of sound intellectual disposition, and, a realist who is at the same time innovative, the governor has within three years in office pioneered changes geared towards the achievement, improvement and sustenance of good quality of life for the citizens of the state. Fellow of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Amosun has within so short a time in office demonstrated that where there’s a will, there’s always a way. A man of immense responsibilities to himself, his society and the world as a whole, he is down-to-earth, with creative determination, delightful coherence and comforting commitment suitable for any leadership position. Little wonder he has positively impacted on the State’s security situation even as Information Technology has been promoted. Robert Conklin was right: “If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weakness, as unlimited rather than dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities.” Thank God: some states are working! Thank God: some elected representatives are delivering on their electoral promises! But are these condiments edible enough to complement the dish, especially, in a country distended with pepper-soup, mischievously tagged participatory, democracy, reckless manipulations, insincere flattery and irresponsible buck-passing? Tragically, that Nigeria has become a land repressively flowing with milk and honey, one that is fast gravitating towards failure of state is no longer news. While the leaders are no longer taken at their word, the led have piteously succumbed to the caprices of the principalities and powers of sheer carelessness and misplaced priorities. We have in power oppressors whose aim is to, at all costs, maintain their grip on power. And, in order to achieve this inhuman objective, the people’s hands are tied behind their backs even as they are instructed to proceed to the warfront. Collective captivity! Executive recklessness! Naked envy! Gross incompetence! Characteristic underachievement! Complacent followership! Culture of blackmail! Creeping frustration! But for some mischievous inveracities and innuendoes, if representative governance is specific and functional, why has Nigeria’s democracy turned into a gift of political paralysis and accompanying irrelevances wrapped in ridiculous fusses? Why has political practice in this clime remained a dogma of quietism and a toga of superfluous imaginations that have only succeeded in demeaning us as submissive sheep in the hands of some selfish practitioners? Why are Nigerians victims of criminal small-mindedness and individualistic meddlesomeness by political wolves whose major preoccupation is to fertilize heinous brigandage and practical falsity? Essentially, why has our situation become one of sad summary of strange leadership directing the affairs of funny followership: no Operandi, no Vivendi; all hay, no bacon; no ingredients and, as such, no flavour? It is this pathetically bastardized system, coupled with the lack of apposite structures to throw up credible leadership, which has practically left the country on her knees. But Amosun has chosen to be different. Like Marie Beyon Rey, he knew he was not “living in eternity”; that he has “only this moment, sparkling like a star in” his “hand, and melting like a snowflake.” So, rather than go it the way of most of his predecessors who embraced the terrible traps of conceit and evidential backwardness thereby leaving the State worse than they met it, the Accountant-turned-politician has, by his deeds, opted to write his name on the positive side of history. Determined to have his footprints on the sands of time, especially, in a country where political hawking has become a lucrative option, he chose to bequeath “a lasting legacy to the good people of Ogun State.” He offered himself for service, developed a sense of urgency and, so far, he has neither disappointed his people nor betrayed the mandate freely entrusted into his care at the 2011 polls. “The world”, in the words of Booker T. Washington, “cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.” Appreciatively, all eyes can see what Amosun has been doing with available resources at the government’s disposal. With less than three years in the saddle, he has demonstrated that things and times could not continue their old ways; they had to change for the better. Unlike elsewhere where taxpayers’ money are not only expended on frivolities but also sinisterly used to add to the taxpayers’ woes, the governor has practically shown how democracy could translate into wellness even for the helpless and the hapless. Still, the governor seems not done with this ‘Mission to Rebuild Ogun’ project. As we speak, massive construction works are going on all over the State and it is interesting that Ogun State is now referred to as Nigeria’s ‘Huge Construction Site.’ As a matter of fact, there are more than fourteen road and nine flyover construction projects currently scattered all over the three senatorial zones of the state. Notable among them are Sagamu/Benin Expressway – Sabo Sagamu Road (8km), which is already nearing completion; Illisan-Ago Iwoye Road (25km); Ilo Awela – Ota Township Roads (10.4km), Ejirin-Ago Iwoye Road (9km) and Ejirin – Oluwalogbon Road (9km). Others are Ilara – Ijoun – Eggua – Ilase Road (107Km), OGTV-Brewery Road (9km), Magboro Underpass – Magboro Estate (12Km) and Ojere – Asero Road (9Km). We have Otta Township Roads Project; and there is Free Education to all Public Primary and Secondary Schools is not left to suffer. It is even complemented with the abolition of tuition fees and all forms of levies. Frankly, provision of affordable Health facilities, “with more concentration in the area of preventive medicine” is at its best in Ogun State. Pretensions aside, by the time the governor completes his first term in office, Sagamu/Benin Expressway – Sabo Sagamu, Sagamu/Benin Expressway and Ejirin Junction, Lagos Garage, Ijebu-Ode, Itoku, Sapon and Sango – Ojodu Abiodun Road Flyover bridges would have been commissioned for use. Surely, the good that Amosun is currently doing in Ogun State will outlast him; it will live long after he will have passed. So, since he means well for the country, he deserves his people’s support, not lack of it. In this historic battle of repositioning the State, he needs to be encouraged, not scared. And, since this battle is collective, not personal, he deserves solidarity, not brickbats. Without mincing words, Amosun and his team have so far demonstrated that they are ever “ready to march into the new frontier.” So, with “greater determination and strong commitment” in their approaches, there is no doubt that the Gateway State “is set to join the league of developed economies.” And the Promised Land will be easier accessed than ever imagined.May God save us from ourselves!
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 07:44:37 +0000
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