Osun, Good Governance and limit of absurdity,.... By Ismail Omipidan

 

Being exceptional in dance craft is a talent. In dancing, one could wake up anytime to respond to the lyrics and songs without any adequate preparation and strategy. In fact, one could continue to change the dancing steps until one finds the movement that really suits the music being played. This is however not the same with providing good governance that requires strategic thinking, planning and execution.

Unlike dancing, to provide good governance, one cannot just wake up to say one would do A, B, C and D without adequate preparation for the strategic thinking, planning and execution.

In the wake of the August Hunger Protest, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, addressed the protesters and others who did not take part in the protest; and after the broadcast, some Nigerians took to their social media handles to express their disappointment, claiming the President said nothing and that he didn't address the issue.

 Interestingly, I saw many aides of the government of my state, Osun, also joining the frey, complaining and ranting about lack of good governance in Nigeria. If one can excuse other Nigerians, it would be unpardonable to extend the same concessions to our friends in Osun where we have the unenviable record of delivering an empty one-pager budget speech, the shortest in the history of the state that says nothing to form and character of the budget being presented. And even at that, we all saw how our governor struggled to read the one-pager. How many of us understood what he said?

During the electioneering in 2022, without prompting, as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke promised to turn Erin-Ijesha Waterfalls to goldmine for the state, including leveraging on the State's tourism potential to revolutionise the Tourism Sector in the State.

Last year, during the Osun Osogbo festival, the governor, in his characteristic hollow speech, especially at paragraphs 5 and 6, said "As a government, our administration has a tourism and cultural industry agenda. During the campaign and within the transition committee, we devised far reaching programmes and policies for the arts, culture and tourism industry. We indeed created a new holistic approach by adding the creative industry as a whole.

"Our agenda targets the genuine globalization of our cultural heritage as a major building blocks of our economy. We expand beyond mere celebration of Osun Osogbo festival and other assets to making them the cornerstone of a truly cultural and tourism industry. We are creating a series of global cultural events that will attract millions of tourists all over the world. We are integrating our local economy into a global creative and cultural industry."

One year after, we are still counting and waiting for the"Creative Industry Agenda."

Last week, at this year's Osun Osogbo festival, the governor who was represented by his deputy again said"Our Government is reforming and expanding various sectors of the economy. The creative industry is receiving special attention because of its potential as employers of labour and a booster of internally generated revenue." If after one year, the sector is still receiving attention without any concrete plan of action, then, only God knows when the agenda for the Creative Industry would be unveiled, let alone benefit Osun State. 

Unfortunately for the government, barely a day or so after the grand finale of the this year's Osun Osogbo festival, a video went viral depicting the neglect of Erin-Ijesha Waterfalls, a place the governor specifically mentioned in 2022 that he was going to ensure meets international standard by bringing in investors. The state government through its Information Commissioner, Hon. Kolapo Alimi, in its usual manner, came up with a statement, hurriedly put together like a dancer woken up from sleep to say "Erin Ijesha WaterFalls: Gov Adeleke Directs Upgrade of Tourist Site, Set up a Tripartite Actualisation Committee."

The government went further to say, "I want to assure the general public that the Osun State government under Governor Ademola Adeleke has a comprehensive tourism agenda which covers all our cultural and tourism sites. The meeting tomorrow will increase the phase of reforms to satisfy the aspirations of the community and tourism community."

These were what they told us two years ago. They repeated similar lines in August last year and they are repeating the same rhetorics in August, 2024. Haba! Ain't they ashamed of daily advertising their emptiness, demonstrating clearly that other than dancing and lying shamelessly, they appear not to have credible solutions to the issue of governance in the State? 

To further expose their level of unpreparedness, in the statement issued by Alimi, he referred to Erin-Ijesha Waterfalls as Erin Osun Waterfalls in some parts of the statement. To compound their lack of coordination and strategy, after telling us a meeting would be held between the government and the community, the governor who went there on the day of the supposed meeting without any information as to whether the meeting held or not, began yet another story, where he was reminded the name of Erin Ijesha, the place he purportedly deliberately visited. What a shame!

As I round off this piece, let me draw inspiration from Tuface's song- _E be like say they want tell us another story again o_ . _Dem want tell us wetin we never hear before_ .

However, looking back the last 21 months or so that they have been in charge, it is imperative one challenges the mediocre government to state what they have done to better the tourism sites in Osun. What have they done about mining and Agriculture? To our surprise, Osun has only realised N60 million in mining in their almost two years in the saddles, despite their boast, ranting and pontification: N30 million last year, N30 million so far this year even though the revenue project for 2024 is whooping N15 billion. 

Now, they are singing another song. Very soon, they will act another movie. But the truth is, judging by antecedents of the government at the inception of the creation of Osun, vis-a-vis what we have experienced in the last 21 months in Osun, it is crystal clear to any discerning minds that the Adelekes do not really care about us in the State. For if they do, his elder brother, Dr. Deji Adeleke would not assemble such a dull and an uninspired team he would never allow come near his businesses, let alone tolerate any of them, to manage an entire State like Osun. Me I don talk my own. Over to you!

Omipidan, a journalist writes from Ile Olorisa Compound, Eyindi , Ila Orangun

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Daniel Adewole Awe Medical Center is a healthcare facility located in Ilesa, Osun State, providing quality primary and secondary healthcare services to the community and its environs.