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By Oluwasegun Aina

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

  • ~ John C. Maxwell

The tremendous achievements recorded by Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the State of Osun so far is commendable. This comes to reality because of his incredible path work for is good people.

Taking the lead of governance in 2018, one will wonder if he’ll perform well but his leadership foresight and track records has given leadership a new name.

Under the leadership of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, the State of Osun has experienced growth and development across all sectors. In over two years, his Administration has garnered immense popularity as a quintessential government, especially for its strong determination to ensure even development across the State.

HEALTH
One of the major thrusts of the Oyetola-led Administration is to make healthcare services accessible and affordable to all; an intention he pursued with tenacity. In these years, the governor demonstrated that health is indeed a fundamental human right. Few months into office, Governor Oyetola approved the revitalisation of nine general hospitals and 332 Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs), one per ward across the State. As at today, two of the nine general hospitals have been completed. Also, 305 PHCs have been completed while 27 are at various stages of completion.

WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION
Over the years, the Works and Transport Sector have continued to receive priority attention, especially with regard to completion of inherited uncompleted roads and construction of new ones.

Shortly before the outbreak of Covid-19, precisely in February 2020, Governor Oyetola approved the construction of five roads across major towns in the State which include: Ada – Igbajo road, Akindeko – Awosuru link road via Adejumo street with Oremeji spur, Akinlade street, Adewale Street with loop to WAEC road all in Osogbo, Army Barack (Ede) – Ara-Ejigbo township road, Moro – Yakoyo – Ipetumodu – Asipa-Ife/Ibadan expressway junction road and Ereja Roundabout – Ereguru – Isaare – Oke Oye – Sabo (Irojo) – Ilesa/Akure expressway junction, with a total length of 54.3km and have all been completed.

Interestingly, most of the new roads being constructed and the few ones being rehabilitated had not been touched in the last 30 years or more. For instance, the road linking the Origbomeje in Ife North Local Government area of the State was last touched in 1976. Similarly, the Alekuwodo road was last rehabilitated when Osogbo was still under the old Oyo State before the creation of Osun in 1991, while Ada-Igbajo road was last touched 33 years ago.

Also, the ongoing Iconic Ola-Iya flyover, which is being financed through an Alternative Project Funding Approach (APFA) where the contractor puts in resources and later gets refunded by the government through a schedule that removes pressure on the state meager purse is a laudable initiative by the Oyetola-led Government.

CULTURE AND TOURISM
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s interest in developing the State’s tourism potential has been driven by the sector’s dual advantage of boosting revenue as well as creating employment opportunities for the teeming youths in the State.
In 2020, the Osun Government launched the ‘Osun State Tourism Master Plan for Culture and Tourism for Sustainable Economy’ (CUTOSEC) in collaboration with Sterling Bank Plc. and also the Osun Sterling Tourism Vision 30-30 (OSTOV30-30), which is a short-term agenda in the tourism sector to develop 30 tourist attraction sites on or before the year 2030.

PUBLIC SERVICE
The reforms and strategic intervention in the public service has been instrumental to the gains that the state has recorded in terms of overall citizens’ welfare and improvement of the standard of living of the citizen.

On assumption of office, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola commenced the prompt payment of full salaries and pensions as opposed to the half salary payment by the previous administration since 2014. Even when the Coronavirus pandemic was at its peak, Governor Oyetola neither slashed salaries nor laid off workers.
More laudable was the approval and immediate implementation of minimum wage for workers’, lifting of ban on annual salary increment and embargo placed on promotion and conversions as a way to motivate workers’ in the delivery of stellar services and to enhance productivity.

Also, since inception to date, the Oyetola administration has spent over N35 billion to pay pensions and gratuities, including presenting bond certificates to the retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

EDUCATION
To contribute to the development of the education sector, and based on popular demand, Osun government embarked on the re-engineering of the existing policy and formulation of new strategic policy initiatives towards achieving the sector’s objectives under the Osun Development Plan.

Popular among the policies re-engineered are the restoration of nomenclatures and reversal from 4-5-3-4 to 6-3-3-4 system in tandem with the National Policy on Education. And also, the reversal of single uniform regime to the established and recognised public school uniform of each school. The implication of this is the restoration of a sense of identity and reduction in indiscipline and criminal tendencies masked behind the singularity, just as it revived the local economy as school uniform sellers and tailors alike are back to business.

The State Government also embarked on building of new schools and rehabilitation of existing ones.

YOUTH AND SPORTS
Part of the priorities outlined by Governor Oyetola with respect to the relationship between youths and sports include using sports as a vehicle for encouraging school enrolment and retention and talent identification. There has also been the priority of using sports to create opportunities for young people in rural communities.

These and more have been vigorously pursued in over two years of the administration of Governor Oyetola. Only recently, the government gave approval for the commencement of Osun Sports Festival. The first edition will commence in June this year.

To further demonstrate the administration’s commitment to youth development, Governor Oyetola unveiled its Youth Policy Document, codenamed the 4Es- Youth Education, Youth Engagement, Youth Empowerment and Youth Entrepreneurship. As at the last count, about 10, 000 Osun youths have been empowered through various schemes, including loan disbursement to enable them start new businesses and boost existing ones.

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