‘Oyetola will preside over government of continuity in Osun’

On November 27, Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola will bow out of office after completing two-terms of eight years. In this interview with reporters in Osogbo, the state capital, Semiu Okanlawon, his former spokesman and later, Special Adviser, Information and Strategy, speaks on the governor’s achievements and the challenges that will confront his successor, Gboyega Oyetola. Excerpts:

In a matter of days, Governor Rauf Aregbesola will hand over to a successor. How would you rate the last eight years of the administration and what the tenure has been for the people of Osun?

First, let me tell you that I won’t rate the performance of our administration myself. Let me leave that to the people and posterity. What I can say without mincing words is that I personally feel  fulfilled. And the looks I have seen on the faces of the Governor and many of those who have been critical in handling the affairs of the state in these past eight years have shown some happiness. There is no doubt about. My feeling of happiness comes from the fact that regardless of what the opposition would be saying, I am confident that we changed the conditions of the people in no small dimension.

But the administration was beset by controversies and confusion over the inability to pay salaries?

Don’t be surprised that when you mention such things such as the challenges that we came across in trying to the change the course of things for this state, I feel happier. This is because those so-called controversies were what showed you that in our eight years, we were not actually sleeping. The noise you heard came from the fact that in trying to do something novel, there must naturally be some resistance. Change is the most difficult thing for the people; I am sure you realize that. In case you have forgotten, let me remind you those issues that registered themselves as controversies. Our rebranding project brought on us some hoopla. But we did not bate an eyelid. This was because we had very conviction that we needed to give our state a new lease of life, a new face and a character that is new and attractive enough for people to want to do business with us. But for those efforts, we were pilloried and called names such as secesionists and all those. But today, what do you find? Are those who called us names and made efforts to pull us down not copying all we had done in their respective states. Tell me how many states of the Nigerian federation now do not have their own brand identities as a independent entities within the Nigerian federation?

But the salary issue has refused to go away and nearly cost you re-election in 2014 and made it hard for your party to have produced one of your own as a successor to Aregbesola?

Perhaps, the salary issue has refused to go away in Nigeria and not an issue peculiar to Osun. Part of the salary crisis in Nigeria is what we are witnessing at the moment with the labour/federal government/state governments face-off over minimum wage. So, if it has refused to go away, its not in Osun it has refused to go away. When the economic crisis hit Nigeria at about 2013, cascading down and hitting us harder by the end of 2014, it looked initially then as if the world was going to end from Osun. Of course, we were like the sacrificial lamb at that time simply because, in the Aregbesola’s haste (and justifiably so) to reconstruct Osun, we had tied down our resources to some loans to raise capital to fund our life-changing projects. It was not that the loans were not well thought out. Looking at our earnings then, we had believed that the percentage of our earnings (projected and real) that was tied to the loans left enough for us to run government, pay salaries. But there was nothing for what we would consider to be frivolities. We just wanted to change Osun at all cost. So, when the effect of the economic meltdown came, it made us to be vulnerable. That was why there was so much noise about Osun because I could remember for about eight months really, it was war to pay salaries. Necessity, they say is the mother of invention. That experience taught us to be much more ingenious. We needed to be creative and categorise our workers into the low, middle and high cadres. Rather than sack any worker, we then arrived at an agreement to pay Levels 1-7 workers their full salaries. Those between Levels 8-10 were paid 75 per cent of their salaries while those at the top echelon were placed on 50 per cent of their salaries. But then, the narrative was that Osun was paying half salaries and that was something unheard of. Yes, half salaries might be unheard of in the public service! But no salaries at all was a common thing in many private sector companies in Nigeria and when such got to their heads, the companies concerned usually went for the sack options. In retrospect, those who castigated us then have now known better that the administration was only being considerate not to send people to the job markets while making do with whatever was available. Today, I am sure you talk about salaries, people’s mind do not readily come to Osun as it was the situation some three years ago. The issue of wages, productivity and allied matters are what Nigeria must resolve if we are desirous of any progress at all.

What have been your own personal experiences working with both the outgoing and the incoming?

They have both been great teachers. In Aregbesola you would learn that in some cases, you just must be unbending and go ahead to do what you must do regardless of the noise around you. In Oyetola, you would learn that no matter how hard the task is, you can still solve it by keeping calm. They are like two extremes that however come together to achieve great things.

So, how do you see an Oyetola being different or better than an Aregbesola in the years ahead?

Let me say that it would be to the glory of Aregbesola, if Oyetola emerges better than him or exceeds his achievements. I say that categorically because it would then mean that Osun is having it better which is the future target of the current efforts of the last eight years. The good thing about Oyetola is that I doubt if there has been anything this administration has done that he has not been part of in terms of decision-making.  So, this is a governor that has been part of the foundation laying of the modern Osun that we now have. I want to believe that the worst is over as the last eight years have spent navigating the storming waters in order to lay a solid foundation that that future superstructure will stand on. That foundation has been solidly laid.

Who is Oyetola as you have known him? Some have attributed some of the tough decisions taken which earned the government some bad reputation to his ideas as a private sector man. How true is this?

I see your description of Oyetola as a Private sector-oriented man as complimentary. There is no doubt about it, that private sector experience he brought to bear in his handling of the duties of his very sensitive office while her served as the Chief of Staff to the outgoing governor for eight years. He is an embodiment of what you want to call an administrator per excellence. As a matter of fact, Governor Aregbesola had alluded to this on several occasions where he pointed to Oyetola as the administrator behind the success being recorded by his administration. Yes, he does not possess the maverick nature of Aregbesola. But Osun needed a man of Aregbesola’s revolutionary mold, an activist (human rights and political), and sometimes with some heart of steel; to lay the foundation for the reconstruction. They have been a perfect match and that has helped Osun in no small measure. And I see Oyetola cruising in his development drive.

So, what will Aregbesola be up to after he hands over the baton to Oyetola on November 27?

I see him continuing with his natural calling of impacting on human lives. But, there is a wide range of opportunities for Aregbesola to serve this country in very great capacities. One thing you cannot take away from him is that at every turn that he has served, he has excelled with highly innovative ideas that have solved human problems. You agree with me that today, the story of Lagos massive transformation cannot be told without his inputs. He left Lagos to serve as Governor in Osun and the rest if there for posterity to judge. Apart from the physical infrastructure that he has initiated, you would also agree that Aregbesola has been instrumental to a number of ideas that are being adopted to solve many of the country’s problems. Take for instance, the youth empowerment model. Where else have you found that on the continent of Africa? If the World Bank as a global institution could recommend the model for other African countries to solve the youth restiveness and unemployment, that tells you that this has emerged as an ingenious template to his credit.

The people have tasted Aregbesola; what do you think would be their disposition towards Oyetola?

Oyetola is an offshoot of the Aregbesola regime. Since I have no doubt whatsoever in the capacity of the new governor, I see the people rallying round their new governor to continue the same tradition of performance. It is my belief that they want those new roads to continue to be built; they want to those beautiful schools to multiply and be maintained; they want the peace and tranquility that is the hallmark of Osun today to be sustained.

From something like 15 per cent performance in WAEC by Osun students, Aregbesola is leaving a 70 per cent performance going by the 2018 performance. That is huge! No parent want to return to the past where students fail examinations and less than 3 per cent of secondary school leavers could access admissions to universities of polytechnics. In short, no one wants to return to those old days prior Aregbesola where life could best be describe as the Hobbesian state where life was believed to be nasty, brutish and short. Oyetola is up to the task of keeping the tradition.