For personal and political ego, there seems to be discordant tunes regarding how every administration in Osun state perceive inherited projects. IBRAHIM LATEEF reports.
Some inherited projects
The idea of 100 days celebration in Osun state was first initiated by Rauf Aregbesola who promised to provide 20,000 employment within the given period and he successfully employed youth into the new initiative tagged Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme codenamed ‘OYES.’
Condemnations initially trailed the initiative because some of those that applied for the job were graduates and they were assigned to the streets for sweeping and cleaning the roads.
However, reprieve came the way of OYES cadets when Aregbesola’s government wanted to recruit teachers and civil servants. He insisted that those that qualify should participate in the teachers recruitment process and should be given adequate consideration.
Some of the cadets with certificates were also employed in the civil service. Aregbesola’s successor, Adegboyega Oyetola picked his photographer and some others from the cadet. While some were recruited to follow the O’Ambulance for an emergency response to accident victims, some were recruited into Osun Traffic Management O’Tram.
The reclassification of schools and returning of schools’ names to their earlier nomenclature by Oyetola initially created a misunderstanding between him and his successor who claimed that Oyetola intended to cancel all his legacies. The disagreement lingered till today.
However, not only that Oyetola sustained the O’YES cadet he inherited from Aregbesola’s government, but he also recruited about 10,000. The recruitment has been 20,000 every two years and Aregbesola was able to achieve 60,000, many of who have been incorporated into civil service and other agencies like revenue collectors.
Oyetola had disclosed that the volunteers were placed in different specialised cadres such as public sanitation, public works brigade, Green Gang, Osun Sheriff Corps, traffic marshalls, Osun Paramedics, Sanitation Czars and Teachers Corps.
Discordant tune
While Oyetola sustained the legacy and retained the nomenclature O’YES as christened by Aregbesola, the new government of Ademola Adeleke announced the dissolution of the corps to be renamed after his slogan ‘Imole youth’ (light).
In a circular issued by the secretary to the state government, Teslim Igbalaye, Adeleke’s government explained that the decision was taken to reposition the youth empowerment programme inherited from the previous government for effective functionality, sustainability, and dignity of labour.
“In fulfilling one of the electoral promises of His Excellency, the governor of Osun state, Senator Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke in ensuring meaningful and proper youth engagement in the state, a new scheme code-named Imole Youth Corps is hereby put in place to engage our teeming youths in the state.
“Application forms would be made available for prospective youths in all the 30 LGs including Ife East Area Office of the state free of charge beginning from Friday, 17th February 2023,” he said.
Though the state government has not disclosed the number to be recruited in replacement, the spokesperson to the governor, Olawale Rasheed, told Blueprint that further information would be released very soon.
He stressed that the electioneering process is before the government and once the election is over, there would be a proper launch of Imole Youth Corps, where the governor would disclose programmes he has for the scheme.
According to him, “Those that have been there before would also be eligible to participate as the programme would not exclude anybody. After the election, the portal would be opened where type of skills and posting would be stated. The portal will be unveiled at the launching of the programme.
“Also, we looked at the content of that programme and we felt instead of asking people to go and be cutting grasses on the roadside, there should be other ways of doing it.
There are elevating jobs like ICT where people can be trained and get bigger jobs. So, we want to change the content of that programme instead of turning people into market sweepers. It is not good.
“When you are saying youth empowerment, it should be engagement that they can gain experience and set up their businesses or go for permanent jobs. The content will change and the style of deployment will change. Many of them can also be attached to government agencies and international agencies to gain experience,” he added.
Opposition APC kicks
The changing and disengagement of the cadet ticked off the opposition APC as the acting chairman Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, said Governor Adeleke personalised the scheme because he did not know the next thing to do.
The party’s chairman who spoke to Blueprint through the director of media and information, Kola Olabisi, described the sack of about 10,000 cadets and the change of the state government scheme to Adeleke’s campaign slogan as, vindictive, primitive, unpopular and self-serving.
“The sack of the 9,847 O’YES cadets and personification of the scheme by Adeleke is an indication that the sacked governor is wicked, vindictive, inconsiderate, and non-sympathetic towards the feelings of fellow human beings.
“The disengagement of the cadets on social media was annoying and highly condemnable as the affected cadets are still being owed three months’ salaries from December 2022 to February 2023 by the Adeleke administration.
“Adeleke and his co-travelers intend to turn the Imole Youths Corps into an arm of his political support group and family enterprise where names of the PDP hangers-on and members of staff of his family companies would find their way into the salary payment vouchers of the state.
“Why must a political leader worth his salt dissipate so much of his energy on converting into a family affair a scheme as important as O’YES? Why change the name of the scheme which has benefitted several thousands of the youths of the state since its inception?
“Must Adeleke and his co-travelers play politics with the lives and welfare of the people of the state?
“The noblest thing for Adeleke is to rescind the decision of his government to sack the innocent 9,847 O’YES cadets and the unjustifiable renaming of the scheme as it doesn’t belong to the Adeleke family but the entire people of the state.
“Adeleke, again, should put machinery in place for the payment of the accumulated three months’ salaries of the victimised cadets,” APC added.
To many persons in the state, this is a classical display of ego by crucifying the interest of the masses whose income is being used by these governors.
It is therefore their opinion that to avoid the avalanche of uncompleted projects, there is a need for continuity since those projects and programmes are funded from public funds.
In the views of many others however, whenever any programme of the government does not tally with public interest, it should be discarded for public good; therefore, they see nothing wrong in the decision of Sen Adeleke to take a second look at the programmes he inherited.
