Achieving Much with Less Resources: The Osun Example, By Ayo Akinola

Times are changing. Nigeria’s economy is in a shambles.

The Federal Government is also not left out of the conundrum.

The late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had warned of impending gloom which today has become a reality. He had dreamt of a society in which all ethnic groups that make up Nigeria would be self-sustained through the development and control of its own natural resources. No state or region in Nigeria is without its own peculiar natural endowment.

We are all blessed in some way with our comparative advantage in natural and even human resources. So blessed are we that each of the constitutionally recognized 774 local government areas in Nigeria also has its own natural resource with which it can survive without an external help.

But over the time, we have failed to harness these God-given endowments.

We always speak about true federalism as a national symbol, but we have been romancing unitary system. Nigeria iss a de facto unitary enclave. Everything begins and ends in Abuja. The economic fate of every state in Nigeria is decided in the federal capital.

We can get out of the woods if we are ready to be real and honest with ourselves and stop living in fake realities. We still seem to live in the old past when allocations from Abuja was more than enough to take care of the needs as states or as local government areas. We still want our wards to join the already over-bloated civil services of the federal, states and local government areas even though those already engaged are really not getting paid as and when due, due to dwindling resources.

We still go to work from 8:00 in the morning and close by 4:00 in the afternoon without really earning our pay for that day. We chat and tweet verbally and electronically. We still lack that moral honesty to ask ourselves whether we have worked conscientiously for that money we expect to be paid by federal, state or local governments at the end of the month. Yet, we blame our government for not providing enough for us when we, in our own little ways, have refused to create that wealth from which we expect to reap.

We have refused to be resourceful, thinking in our subconscious reasoning that the government is still there to take care of our needs.
We still consume foreign foods which the unavailable foreign exchange can no more provide, neglecting our local staples. Indeed, what used to be an exception in our food and social consumption are now our regulars: foreign rice, foreign teas and beverages, foreign automobiles, foreign wears and clothing as well as even foreign habits when we have been told that no nation develops if it does not develop the habit of self-sustenance.

Even in governance, we still live in the vainglorious past as if it has not gone and gone for good. Many states are still in the habit of engaging in dishonest political appointments even though it is not sustainable. Who could have predicted few years back that we would have, in 2016, a Federal Government with very lean political appointees, even at that where a single minister would be saddled with unenviable responsibility of three “heavy” ministries to manage? Who, for example, would have thought of the office of First Lady, only in name without those encumbrances of office, including long vehicular convoys?

The times are truly hard and it is only the truly committed leaders that have the potentialities to survive and still provide real leadership to its citizens.

Long ago, a French social and economic theorist, Vilfredo Pareto, gave us what was and is still known as the 80/20 theory. In his observation, he came to the realisation that in our social, economic and political realities, about 20 per cent of our resources are, in actual fact, responsible for about 80 per cent of our achievements.

And conversely, only 20 per cent of outcome comes from a huge 80 per cent of our deployed resources. What a waste if we cannot think deeply and smartly? What this translates to is that most of our so-called human and material resources deployed to achieve our social, economic and political goals are, indeed, unintended wastes.

This theory has been embraced by industries in most of Europe and Scandinavian countries even before the arrival of smart technologies to achieve tremendous quality and quantity productivities, increased profit and reduced costs.

Osun State seems to be the only good odd out of the pack by unwittingly embracing the Pareto’s theory.

For example, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, using very meager resources, with native intelligence, patriotism and dedicated few has achieved much for his state. Many pundits have criticised his “refusal” to appoint regular political office holders such as Commissioners and certain Advisers, as well as a behemoth of other opulent office holders in these days of not only meager but truly unavailable resources.

How long will we still live in open denial when the truth of the financial matter is staring us in the face? The constitution has envisaged this dire situation and gives allowance for a situation such as this which does not forcefully ask government executives to appoint such.

Even without the money, Osun State stands out. And even without the Commissioners, Osun excels. Aregbesola, is a true student of Vilfredo Pareto. The superlatively constructed ring and urban roads, the superlatively constructed school structures, the free primary school feeding, rural development, Opon Imo educational tablet, employment generation, social welfare to the aged and vulnerable, smart human resource development, among others are some of the achievements of the Osun State government using very lean resources.

It is assumed that if the various tiers of government, MDAs, corporations, medium-scale companies and cottage establishments and even families can adopt the Pareto’s model, coupled with technology, our lives would be better off.

*Akinola is a developmental and policy analyst based in Osogbo, Osun State.

Source: The Nation