Building a great nation, the Aregbesola’s acts.
“Nigeria go better” has become a song that is passed from generation to generation. It is like a war song, chanted by every soldier either with victory or vanquish. Some people had given up and some are still holding up to the infinitesimal hope of the slogan.
However, if there are awards for the few people who have displayed their ingenuity and sagacity in creating a better Nigeria, the people who are vrooming our hope for a great nation, the former Governor of Osun state and the current Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, will definitely make the apogee list. It won’t be a shenanigan to shower encomiums that will ensure the continuity of the good work. Aregbesola is one of those people who will not sleep until their duties are scrupulously discharged. Gone are those days in Osun dtate when wailers complained about his road construction of “ona baba ona”-everlasting road. He knew the best for his people and he was neither daunted with the wailings of the wailers nor subsumed himself in the distractive noises of the market but rather focus on the beneficiaries; the masses. I am very sure when he left the seat he didn’t go with the perfect construction that nearly tarred every nook and cranny of the state, did he? One of the things that we are proud of today in Osun is our solid highway constructions including single, double and overhead bridges.
If there is anything that moved me about his governance, it will be his passion for education. The first governor of the 21st century that believed that practical computer and hands-on experience in science and technology should be entrenched into the educational system from the secondary education. He brought the idea of giving out Ipad to students to familiarized themselves with the technology of this era; a chance that has been giving to expensive private school prior to his tenure.
With the above, Aregbesola system succeeded in creating an educational system that produced overall best Young Nigerian Scientist of the Year, Akintade Abdullahi Akanbi, in a competition organised by the Federal Ministry of Science & Technology in Abuja.
To add another sauce, he succeeded in building secondary and primary schools that are better structurally and academically than some private colleges of education, school of nursing and even some schools that their fees that can be break ones’ spinal cord, etc.
I was amazed when I visited some and I saw gigantic well-constructed buildings erected painstakingly for the benefit of the masses. A kind of building that has been confined to international schools or schools with an exorbitant fee. I explored the serene and conducive environment and I cannot help but mumbled: “it is a dream come true”. The buildings were erected to cut across different local governments and the overall best Young Nigerian Scientist of the Year was from one of the schools.
He is a man of innovation that creatively empowered youths throughout his career with the “O-series” OYes empowered thousands of youths who have become independent after the tenure. There are testimonies of people who raised their capitals from the scheme.
Talking of transportation, he restructured the Osun Railway System that would have met its waterloo if not for the brilliant intervention of his government. To garnish the sauce, he is a man that blends humility and moral with spirituality. He rejected the title of excellency and goes for Ọgbẹni (Mr) till today. His humility, honesty and hard work had earned him the opportunity to serve the whole nation under a ministerial appointment, Minister of the Federal Ministry of Interior of Nigeria where he is using SET (SECURITY, ECONOMY AND TRANSPARENCY) to set the course of the ministry.
To trudge the historical belief, the past and present have a microscopic view of the future. Hence, his past and present are enough to predict his futuristic political integrity and humanitarian priority that will definitely benefit the masses.
Indeed your actions and reactions are indications of your words; “We are producing the new man. The overall aim is to develop the new man intellectually, socially and morally. This new man is placed in the centre of society who views his own development as part of and for the development of society”We wish you the very best Sir.
Muib Shefiumuibshefiu@gmail.com
