In a public release titled “July 2024 Reflections on Osun”, the group through its Spokesperson, Olalekan Fagbemi, stated that “the Osun State House of Assembly as currently constituted, has not lived up to expectations in both the legislative accomplishments and public conduct of her members”.
The group advised the Osun State House of Assembly to “double its efforts and ensure this chance they all got to lead a generational shift in our State’s leadership, becomes the foundation for increased youth inclusion across every sector of our dear State.”
The group, through its July Reflections, also counseled the Osun State Government on the need to ensure overall development of Osun State through adequate funding of critical sectors of development like Agriculture. The group condemned the current situation where several unproductive sectors of the State got more financial provisions than many other sectors that have capacity to drive the state’s growth.
The group stated that “the welfare of State citizens is first the business of the government of that State, especially areas of Food Production, Youth Development, Women & Children Welfare, and Healthcare Delivery. Osun cannot afford to fail in these regards while building bridges.”
The Osun Renaissance Project, according to the release made available to newsmen, “is a platform for engagement of critical stakeholders, policy formulators, and leaders. The sole objective of TORP is to maintain seamless engagement with policymakers, analyzing policies, and offering timely advice where necessary”.
The full public release below:
JULY 2024 REFLECTIONS ON OSUN – PUBLIC RELEASE
Introducing The Osun Renaissance Project
Since 1999, under our current democratic practice, policy inconsistency has made
Osun State unable to excel to the extent of her true potentials. This has not been
due to the failure of leadership alone, but also the failure of followers to consistently
engage leaders in critical development discourse. Followers, particularly the educated and exposed elites, have failed to efficiently
engage successive Governments in Osun State, especially on critical policy issues and
the conduct of public office holders.
We note with some regrets that this failure of relevant stakeholders to engage
government in critical discourse, has been the single most potent reason for several
policy somersaults in our State.
The Osun Renaissance Project is a platform for engagement of critical stakeholders, policy formulators, and leaders. The sole objective of TORP is to maintain seamless
engagement with policymakers, with a view to analyse policies, and offer timely
advice where necessary.
We must put on record that TORP is not a political organization and will maintain a
nonpartisan position at all times, to ensure fairness in all engagements with the
State’s policymakers.
July 2024 Reflections of The Osun Renaissance Project
The Osun State House of Assembly
We have keenly followed the activities of the Osun State House of Assembly since it
was inaugurated about a year ago. We were particularly excited about the
concentration of young people in the Assembly, signaling a long-anticipated
paradigm shift in our political governance.
We were further elated by the election of young Rt. Hon. Adewale Egbedun as the
Speaker of the Assembly, again signaling a generational transfer of power, as should
be in a sustainable democracy.
However, the Osun State House of Assembly as currently constituted, has not lived
up to its expectations in both the legislative accomplishments and public conduct of
her members.
We must make particular reference to recent news about the Speaker’s involvement
in a land dispute in Osogbo. While his office continues to claim that his involvement
in the matter was due to a distress call, he must still note that public office holders
must conduct themselves in ways that are not only dignifying, but are also reflective
of the honour ascribed to the office they hold.
The Speaker must take lessons in public conduct for public office holders and
understand that our society cannot work by such spontaneous reactions, but
through the unobstructed functioning of the several structures that make up our
society. As head of the Legislature, he must understand the conducts permissible for
his office and must stop acting in ways that call the integrity of his office to question.
Members of the House of Assembly must also double up, and put more efforts into
delivering on their mandates through the promulgation of landmark laws that will
galvanize the State’s development and guarantee a better life for all citizens.
Worthy of note, is the Osun Youth Policy, a youth development roadmap that was
launched under the Oyetola-led administration in our State. A Youth-dominated
Assembly should normally be interested in the speedy implementation of such
laudable ideas, to better the lives of their fellow youths.
We call on the Osun State House of Assembly to double its efforts and ensure this
chance they all got to lead a generational shift in our State’s leadership, becomes the
foundation for increased youth inclusion across every sector of our dear State.
Total Development of Osun
The focus of any government should be overall development of their domain. This
covers several development indices including infrastructure, human capital, and food
security. One-sided development does not achieve the objective of a sustainable
society where all citizens can thrive.
We take careful note of Governor Adeleke’s infrastructural developmental efforts
and while we may have reservations about the necessity of and approach to the
execution of a number of the projects, we still commend Government for making the
efforts.
However, as stated earlier, overall development should be the focus of any
government in an emerging State like Osun. We are thus bothered about the
seeming neglect of the other critical sectors of development, including Agriculture
and Food Security; Women, Children, and Social Affairs; and Youths Development.
A quick look at the Budget Performance Report for Quarter 1 2024, shows some very
disturbing realities.
For example, while the Osun State House of Assembly spent a whooping sum of Six
hundred and eleven million, Ninety-One thousand two hundred and Eighty Naira, Forty-Eight Kobo (611,091,280.48) in Quarter 1 of 2024, the entire Ministry of
Agriculture and Food Security got a paltry One Hundred and Sixty-Four million, Nine
hundred and Ninety-Seven thousand, Nine hundred and Sixty-Nine Naira, Fifty-Five
kobo (164,997,969.55) in the same period.
The Osun State House of Assembly, a sector of governance that produces nothing, got nearly four times the fund allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Security that is expected to produce food and ease the lives of the State’s people.
Within the same period, the Ministry of Works spent in excess of Seventeen Billion
Naira (17,242,506,008.28), suggesting that the current government in the State
places a higher value on infrastructure than it places on food security.
This worrisome trend cannot continue if Osun must truly develop. We must focus on, and adequately finance critical sectors of development, ensuring that we achieve
holistic growth that will make life easier on the citizenry.
We believe that the welfare of State citizens is first the business of the government
of that State, especially areas of Food Production, Youth Development, Women &
Children Welfare, and Healthcare Delivery. Osun cannot afford to fail in these
regards while building bridges.
Tourism Development
One of the greatest potentials that Osun State has today, is the presence of a large
number of important tourist attractions that have not just spiritual histories, but also
cultural significance.
However, the State has persistently failed in harnessing these limitless potentials. A
recent visit to many of the tourist sites in Osun revealed that the sites cannot truly
live up to their full potentials for several reasons, chief of which is the poor
ownership/management structure of the sites.
A quick look at the Budget Performance report for Quarter 1 2024 also revealed that
the Culture and Tourism Ministry received a paltry sum of 172,460,603.60 in three
months. This figure will most likely have gone into servicing recurrent expenditure in
the Ministry, instead of adequate financing to turn around the tourist attractions.
As it is with the Agriculture sector, the State Government does not seem to be
interested in real revenue generating sectors and has left much of them to rot. We
should not continue like this.
We advise the Osun State Government to do better with critical sectors that have
capacity to drive revenue generation and deepen our economy.
Conclusion
We urge the Osun State Government to consider The Osun Renaissance Project as a
partner in progress and take our reflections on the development of Osun State in
good faith.
While we maintain a strictly nonpartisan disposition, under an able Coordinator who
is a Private Sector player and is committed to deepening the State’s economy, our
Project will constructively engage government, acting as a non-aligned Think Tank
that will not just help government work better, but will also put government on its
toes with two-way communications between us and Government, then us and the
people.
May Osun State succeed.
Olalekan Fagbemi
Spokesperson
07070151317
osunrp@gmail.com