Been a Paper presented at Confluence Beach Hotel, Lokoja Kogi State, by Abosede O' Safety the SSA (Students Mobilization) to State of Osun Government at "A 2 day Zonal Conference on the formulation of a National Policy on Orientation."
BACKGROUND
The
state of Osun which was detached from the old Oyo state is the ancestral home
of the Yorubas. It is blessed with mineral, natural and economic potentials for
its development and sustainability. A primarily agrarian state with fertile
soil for diverse agricultural produce, equally parades sixty-seven tourist sites
and monuments that can compete with any society in the world over. Her huge mineral
deposits resources of gold, talc, Kaolin, granite, clay and feld spar are
eloquent testimonies to her richness.
In
spite of her enormous income base and economic potentials, the citizens lived
in misery, illiteracy, high level of poverty, mass unemployment, inter-communal
crisis, insecurity, infrastructural decayed and developmental challenges. This largely
due to misgovernance, maladministration, misappropriation and corruption that
pervaded the successive administration, notably, the immediate past
administration, between 2003 to 2010.
ISSUES
The
people experienced high level poverty and unemployment among other
infrastructural challenges while the few that find themselves at the corridor
of power used state resources as an instrument of personal hegemony and
enrichment; a situation that turned huge number of her youth to political thugs,
without the slightest tinge of patriotism.
The
prevalent corruption of the immediate past administration in the State of Osun
gave birth to the impoverishment of the people, underdevelopment of small scale
businesses, promotion of thuggery and political violence, armed robbery,
insecurity, internet fraud, laziness, immorality, prostitution, destitution and
lack of commitment towards home grown economic development.
PERSPECTIVE
However,
the emergence of the visionary and energetic leader; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola have
cleared the cobweb of these abnormalities in the state and reposition it on the
path of masses- driven and oriented developmental programmes as contained in
his campaign manifesto document tagged “My Pact with the People of Osun” where
he envisioned a six point integral action plans as the basis for Peace,
Progress and Prosperity of the State of Osun. These six central points are:
·
Banish Poverty
·
Banish Hunger
·
Banish Unemployment
·
Restore Healthy Living
· Promote Functional Education, and
·
Enhance Communal Peace and Progress
In
implementing these action plans, the Governor inaugurated several agencies as
part of his working tools. It was this process that also gave birth to the Directorate
for Social Mobilization and Guidance with the mandate of bridging the
information gap between the government and the governed.
As
it was established to relate with every segment of the populace, to seek their
views, gauge their feelings and relate with them for the purpose of sourcing
inputs for fine- tuning government policies, programmes’ and projects;
especially in relation to its six point integral action plans;
The
mandate of DSMG, is to sensitize, educate, mobilize and guide all stakeholders and
all social formations, including but not limited to professional organizations,
women groups, trade associations, religion groups, labour organizations, civil society groups, students
and youth organizations as well as artisans towards attaining maximum
participatory governance for a peaceful, progressive and prosperous state of
Osun.
The
objectives include, among other things; to
restore confidence and increase popular engagement in governance and social
processes; reconcile self- fulfillment with social development; i.e. the
prosperity of one is the condition for the prosperity of all; re-embrace
knowledge and skill acquisition as central to being human and, to see income
from self- application to socially- useful and personally beneficial WORK
as most the fulfilling of all rewards.
To
achieve this, the DSMG operational methodology, encompasses organizing colloquium;
lectures, rallies, workshops, town hall meetings, visitations, documentation,
research and social inquires as a strategic means of sourcing inputs from the
populace to government policies and programmes.
It is important to note that as we
strive to build positive attitudinal change in Nigeria, we must endeavour to
make the people the cornerstone of governance. This is one of the factors that has
posed serious challenge to various
organizations that have been established to undertake the task of National
Orientation from the Ethical Revolution of 1979-1983; War Against Indiscipline,
1984-85; Mass-Mobilization for Social and Economic Recovery, MAMSER, 1985-93
and the now National Orientation Agency, which was established after return to
civil rule in 1999.
There
is no way any organ with responsibility for mobilizing and orientating people
towards positive living and understanding of government policies can succeed
without direct input and engagement of such people in the policy formation and
implementation.
THE STATE OF OSUN AS AN EXAMPLE
In demonstration of Ogbeni Aregbesola administration’s clear
understanding of the importance of behavioural attitude and
orientation to human development, one of his very first innovations was the
rebranding and value re-orientation agenda aimed at retrieving and restoring to
our people the lost virtue of Omoluabi. Other aspects of this
re-orientation scheme include the re-introduction of a highly inspirational
anthem, flag and State logo with a new motto describing the State of Osun as
the Land of the Virtuous.
Another major stride of the
government mobilizing and engaging people in policies formulation and
implementation drive is the convocation of an all encompassing Educational
Summit, the first of its kind, to draw holistic programmatic action to salvage education
in the State. The summit gave birth to many laudable initiatives which form the
basis for the administrations action plans in the sector such as supply of free
uniforms to all primary and secondary pupils throughout the state, tagged
O’Uniform; the school feeding scheme- O’Meal; building of new Model Schools-O’School,
distribution of computer tablet (Opon-Imo) equipped with 32 basic subjects for
all Senior Secondary School Students in the State, about 60% reduction in fee
payable in all state owned tertiary institutions among several others.
Presently, there is significant improvement in the State
educational system; the latest report of Federal Bureau of Statistics confirmed
that the State of Osun has highest number of Student enrollment in public
schools throughout the Federation.
From the perspective of the administration of
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, job and wealth creation are the antidotes to poverty
with a strategy that focuses on increasing the productivity of agriculture and
commerce while expanding the absorptive capacity of the civil service. The most
far reaching initiative in this is the Osun Youth Employment Scheme -
OYES. It is a response to the relative
poverty of youths which provides stipends for labour put in the service of the
state government. The scheme operates as a two-year revolving volunteer scheme.
In less than its first 100 days in
office, the administration launched its major transformative agenda by
employing 20,000 youths under the scheme. The significance of the figure will
be appreciated when it is realised that the total number of civil servants in
the government’s employment is less than 22,000.The 20,000 youths were
distributed to Public Works Brigades, Sanitation Czars, Green Gangs and Osun
Sheriffs, Osun Paramedics, Traffic Managers and relief teachers and they are
given priority consideration in recruitment to State Civil Service and other
agencies of the government at the end of the 2-year scheme. On absorption, the
stipend of N10, 000 per month gives way to engagement on the normal salary at
grade level of entry. The unabsorbed are then empowered for self-employment.
The exit strategy for those who are not
absorbed into the public service is founded upon regular training in various
vocational skills and re-orientation in various values, such as industry,
perseverance and virtuous conduct.
The second batch of another 20,000 has
resumed February this year as the first batch has completed their two years
term.
To revamp the Agriculture sector , the
administration convened an all encompassing relevant stakeholders meeting which
gave birth to the government policy thrust that drives the sector tagged Osun Rural
Enterprise Agricultural Programme, O’REAP.
Also, a similar convergence was held in the tourism sector of the state
economy that brings about the establishment of Osun Tourism, O’TOUR, saddled
with responsibilities to develop the state tourism potentials to
its fullest to promote employment and wealth among people of State of Osun.
This
same approach was adopted in establishing the O’CLEAN, where market women,
drivers unions, community development associations and other relevant
stakeholders converged and resolved to make the dirty nature of the environment
a thing of the past. The Urban Renewal Committee was composed of seasoned
academics, competent professional and notable community leaders to develop a
modern urban outlook for our numerous towns and cities.
Other orientation and mobilisation drive
of the administration includes;
·
The periodical organization of
Inter-Ministerial exchanges programme, where all categories of workers are
exposed to work ethics, value orientation and productivity as well as building
synergy between MDAs, career and political appointees for effective service
delivery.
·
Quarterly Stakeholder Colloquium on
Popular participation in governance and building synergy for development
·
Yearly ministerial retreat as a forum
for an end of year performance assessment and next year preview, as well as for
Managerial skills training and staff interaction.
·
Weekly
outings and visitations, to access every social segment and constituency,
briefing them on government initiatives and obtaining feelers for government
policy designs and re-designs.
·
Monthly survey/ research and social
enquiries exercise to systemically obtain data, gather information,
intelligence and reports on societal responses to government policies and
projects.
CHALLENGES
·
Opposition’s intolerance: Despite the candour
and compassion of the administration of Ogbeni Aregbesola in administering the
affairs of the State, the opposition party, precisely, the People Democratic
Party, which party controls the Federal Government has been consistently
neglecting the basic duties of the government to ensuring a peaceful and
prosperous society. A good example of this is the current obstruction of the
effort of the government urban renewal initiative in the capital city of Osogbo
where they mobilized thugs and erected a huge campaign billboard of President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at the party campaign office in order to prevent the
separation of the perimeter fence from the highway, whereas, the campaign
office of the State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is equally affected and
had been separated. It should be noted that the State Commissioner of Police invited
the party leadership and government representatives to a dialogue over this,
and a resolution had been agreed upon.
In spite of this amicable resolution, key opposition figures insisted
that the President billboard cannot be removed.
·
Political violence: As the gubernatorial
election of the state slated for 2014 is fast approaching there is build-up of
violence in some areas in the State. Infact, the killing of one Mr Kunle
Olagoke, a member of the People Democratic Party at a PDP ward meeting in
Ipetumodu at Ife North Local Government Area of the State on Sunday, 23rd
June, 2013 is a confirmed testimony to stoking the embers of violence in the
state.
·
Quick money mentality: Despite the
government’s stance in massive infrastructural upgrading and development to
fast-track economic prosperity of the State, an insignificant section of the
citizenry believes that sharing, embezzlement and misappropriation of public
funds for personal interest against public good is desirable as it was practised
in previous government.
·
Unemployment: There is existence of gross unemployment in the country as successive
applicants who are high school graduates could not find jobs. Recently a call for
applications for enrollment into the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme for 20,000
jobs attracted more than 250,000 qualified applicants, of whom four- fifth, were
high school graduates.
·
Corruption and Poverty: It is a truism that
corruption and poverty is cousins. It is also systemic as a product of
socio-economic relations.
