Okonjo-Iweala on goverance in Osun

DR Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's Minister of Finance and Coordinating
Minister for the Economy, has a knack for cutting superfluous
controversies.
Though highly self-opinionated, her coruscating brilliance is not in
doubt. She speaks candidly on any aspect of economics that catches her
fancy.
One may have deep reservations about her soaring prognosis on the
Nigerian dodgy economy and even dislike the somersaulting policies of
the government she is a part of; certainly one can't deny that the
former World Bank technocrat often ardently means whatever she gives
voice to.
It is in this context that I view her recent remarkable appraisal of
governance in the State of Osun. This should remind us of the useful
lesson evident in the idiomatic expression that it can be
counter-productive to throw out the baby together with the bath water.
The Minister's considered utterances sometimes embody unassailable
facts.
I commend Dr. Okonjo-Iweala for adding her notable voice to those of
many others who have conscientiouslyspoken about the unprecedented
improvement evident in the socio-economic condition of the State of
Osun since the advent of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola's administration.
Media reports quoted the Finance Minister as saying that Governor
Aregbesola is a model for good governance, having demonstrated clearly
that good governance in Nigeria is feasible. She made the remarks in
the address she read at a two-day workshop organised by the World Bank
last June at Iloko-Ijesa for volunteers in the Federal Government's
Youth Empowerment and Social Support Operation, YESSO.
It must be remembered that the unimaginable success of the Osun Youth
Empowerment Scheme, OYES, necessitated the existence of YESSO. About a
year after the introduction of the scheme in Osun, the World Bank
reportedly began to study the programme and later submitted that OYES
provided a practical platform for mass employment. It recommended the
idea to both the Federal Government and states in Nigeria.
In the said address read by her representative, the National
Coordinator of YESSO, Mr. Peter Papka, Okonjo-Iweala rightly observed
that the initiatives of the ACN government in Osun gave comforting
assurance that it is very possible to level the perilously imposing
mountains of youth unemployment across the country.
Hear her: "You [Aregbesola] have demonstrated that good governance
ispossible with your programmes. You have demonstrated that youth
development is possible. Your programmes so far have demonstratedthat
you are a good example of government and governance". These are no
patronising sound bites, for when the Minister says "programmes" she
guilelessly speaks of the numerous sustainable 'O'initiatives of the
state government, which continue to undeniably redefine the social and
economic conditions of the people of Osun.
That the State of Osun comes first as the State with the least
unemployment woes in Nigeria is a reality that can no longer be
ignored by those who incessantly carpet its government. Before
Aregbesola became our governor, those of us who live and make our
living in Osun know that the state was a kitchen midden of youth
unemployment, infrastructural decay and economic stasis. Poverty
stalked and menaced the people. But that is no longer the case.
The transition that has been witnessedin our state for the past two
years now has soothing evidence of concrete transformation. Youths
whose lives were steadily wasting away have beenrescued, given
training in useful skills and empowered to start small businesses.
Farmers have their own happy stories to tell. Under the aegis of the
Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme, agro-allied
businesses have received a massive boost. With the computer tablet,
free school uniforms, free daily feeding for pupils in Elementary
Class 1-4, building of ultra-modern schools across the state, and
increase in funding, the education system of Osun as we used to know
it has changed significantly. Infrastructural development enjoys
adequate attention now. Old roads are being rehabilitated and newer
ones are springing up.
A few weeks ago I read in the papers that all the nine state hospitals
are already being renovated. That is in addition to the marked changes
in healthcare services. Indeed, great things are taking place in Osun.
Those who can't hear, see them; those who can't see, hear them; and
hardly is there a single household in the Land ofthe Virtuous that
doesn't benefit from the policies of the present government.
One other way to test for the genuineness and effectiveness of the
policies of the Aregbesola administration is to invoke the methodology
prescribed by the seasoned British economist, Dudley Seers. According
to him, to understand whether a state or country is developing or not,
three main questions need to be asked: First, "what has been happening
to poverty?" Second, "what has been happening to unemployment?" Third,
"what has been happening to inequality?"He contends that if we notice
tangible declines in all of these key areas, doubtlessly the entity –
state or country – can be said to be in an era of development.
However, he cautions that if one or two of those core issues have an
organic tale of misfortune, or ifthe three are becoming more
unbearable, it would amount to sheer lunacy to describe that misery of
biblical proportion as development.
Surely, Okonjo-Iweala had issues of unemployment, poverty, and
inequality in mind when she lauded Governor Aregbesola as an exemplar
ofgood governance.
The capacity of the Osun people to livedignified and meaningful life
has been(and is still being) made possible through a consistent and
focused implementation of programmes that squarely address poverty,
unemployment, and social injustice.
This is a fact that a high-ranking PDP apologist has affirmed
dispassionately.And I see this as another clinical deconstruction of
the two-for-one-penny fable of secession and islamisation that some
calcified minds who could not stand the vision of Aregbesola wickedly
spawned against him but to no avail.
Mr. SUNDAY AWOPEGBA, a commmentator on national issues, wrote from
Iloko-Ijesa, Osun State.