One stark reality today is that journalists are writers of history while newspapers are a major source from which future historians will draw their material. We judge the performance of a government either positively or negatively by what that government has been able to achieve in the area of adding value to human existence.
Progress can only be built upon the granite of truth, not the timbers of dry rot” wrote Harold Robins in his book, Descent from Xanadu. “Our lives improve only when we take chances and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves” says Walter Anderson.
Williams Shakespeare, Julius Ceasar said that “The evil that men do live after them, but the good ones are often interred with their bones”. The above dictum of the famous writer must have been inspired by his experiences of how little the Romans appreciate their leaders, inspite of their beaming milk of human kindness, particularly Julius Caesar who because of his philosophy of what touches us shall be last treated, preferred to always serve the state at the expense of self and paid the ultimate price in the process with his life. As it was with Caesar so had it been with many other leaders in history and the trend continues till today.
Here we are talking of selfless leaders, kindhearted, large-hearted and highly patriotic individuals who at all times lead their country or state by playing down on personal interest, while prioritizing public interest. One clear example of such a leader is the incumbent governor of the state of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola .
However, as if to testify to Mark Anthony’s often quoted statement, most of the virtues that mark out Aregbesola as a unique leader are his most uncelebrated qualities. When he assumed office almost seven years ago, he promised “business unusual”, the objective of which is to change the old ways of doing things, which has brought nothing but stagnation and arrested development to the state.
Change is the only permanent thing, says a popular maxim. However, the road to change is always rough, strewn with thorns and unattractive, but beneficial in the end. Little wonder the activist and educationist, Dr Tai Solarin of blessed memory reverberated the dictum “May my road be rough” on his birthdays. The tendency to bemoan change is human, for we are always pessimistic and cynical about its aftermath. The attitude of our people, especially the beneficiaries of the old order to the wind of change blowing in the state of the virtuous is not unexpected as it cannot be divorced from the natural reaction of man to most changes, the world over. The similitude between a change process and an uncompleted castle explains why people don’t desire to live in it. Hence experience has shown that those who mouth “change is all we need” are always found objecting it innocently, for it comes in ugly disguise. But for how long are the good people of Osun state will continue to be arrested by the fear of change?
Good governance is only possible when those at the helm of affairs knows what to do to promote peace and security, avoid wastage and official corruption, place the interest of the citizenry above those of individuals and encourage sanity in the system.
“Public interest is what men would choose if they saw clearly, thought rationally, acted disinterestedly and benevolently”- Water Lippman. 1955. Perhaps, this explains why Governor Rauf Aregbesola decided to take the bull by the horn in tackling the problems of poor infrastructure and modern social amenities like education and health.
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Infrastructure and development are like twins. The two are inter-wined and wrapped like a whirlwind blowing and leaving sand on its trail. The reason is that infrastructure is a precursor to economic empowerment and other development paradigms. In any society, be it developed or developing, progress and good governance are often measured or based on the number and quality of infrastructure in place. It could be road, electricity, water, building infrastructure like schools, health centres or physical plant.
Basic infrastructure, to a large extent, determines the economic power of a state and his people. Its absence or near absence, can make or mar the legitimacy of the government in power and those behind the driving seat of governance. However, those in position of authority make conscious efforts to put some of the basic infrastructure in place, be it at the rural or urban centres; they do so for a number of reasons; to make life comfortable and more meaningful for the citizenry and to create wealth and other spin –offs that can galvanize more economic activities.
The third may be to discourage rural-urban migration. All this are against the backdrop of the fact that provision of relevant infrastructure has the potential of opening up new frontiers and ultimately uphold the basic principle of good governance.
To some leaders, it is to score cheap political points or wriggle in vainglorious pride. Whatever reason ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the governor of Osun state, himself a prodemocracy activist, an apostle of good governance and a stickler of “do it right” has, he has not hidden is mission which he aptly encapsulates in its Economic Blue Print and Six- Point Development Agenda which are further enunciated in the state vision.
In it, Aregbesola intends to make Osun state to become a leading Nigerian state by the time he is leaving office in November, 2018, with prosperous, healthy and well-educated citizens, living in harmony with people and nature and pursuing their legitimate interests in freedom moderated by good governance.
Pursuant to that vision, Aregbesola has adopted multi-prong approaches to bring about infrastructural dividends. The agency that is responsible for the provision of roads in the rural communities is the Osun Rural Access and Mobility Project (O-RAMP) which is working in collaboration with the African Development Bank to build rural roads in all the 30 local government areas in the state.
O-RAMP with support from the ADB is intervening is in all the local governments area of the state with each local government expected to benefit from at least one or two rural roads. The RAMP project is jointly funded by the Federal- Government , the African development Fund (ADF) and the Osun State Government.
It is an indisputable fact that Aregbesola has change the face of governance in Osun for good. He has many great things working for him. First, he belongs to a political party with a robust approach to public administration.
Second, he came into office prepared with his own blue- print, which I understand is a function of his good will, exposure, education, orientation, courage, among other personal qualities.
Third, he emerged at a time when well-meaning individuals and stakeholders within and outside the state were resolute on throwing up a decent man for the job and this same set of people give him their support, regardless of the disposition of the then ruling party at the centre.
Aregbesola did not leave any one in doubt as to his disposition to leave Osun state a better place than he met it and make things work right from the day he was sworn in. It is on record that Osun state, since creation in 1991, has not witnessed such developmental leap as in the last seven years. There is no gainsaying the fact that Aregbesola has kept faith and fulfilled his electoral promises to the people, no doubt, history will be kind to him
Olayiwola write from Ilobu, Osun state
