By Olalere Fagbola
The giant strides of the immediate past Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in his 8-year tenure has continued to attract commendation even after 2 and half years of leaving office.
The latest in the array of the gale of appraisals for the rapid transformation cum entrenchment of good governance in the state through massive infrastructural projects came from renowned economist, Dr. Tunji Ogunyemi, who featured on RAVE FM’s Frank Talk in Osogbo on Thursday.
Despite various criticisms greeting his submissions, Dr. Ogunyemi maintained his stance on the quality of leadership of the immediate past Chief Executive of the state, one he said opened up the state to a plethora of economic growth and development.
The economist who answered varying posers on panic measures taken by some governors in the country to mitigating the effect of the present economic realities lauded the visionary governance style of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who dedicated not less than thirty percent of the budget to capital projects, which critics vilified.
“Are the First Class schools, roads, bridges and other infrastructural facilities which he pioneered not good assets for us in the state today?” he was quoted to have asked rhetorically on the programme.
The Economic guru added that it was disappointing that present day governors had offered themselves for leadership without first counting the cost, even as many of them do not care to learn from the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who, as the Premier of the defunct Western Region, engaged the services of men of intelligentsia with whom his government carried the region to greater heights.
Although, Dr. Ogunyemi did not specifically mention the name of Ogbeni Aregbesola (for obvious reasons) it was apparent to reasonable radio listeners of the “Frank Talk” programme that he was stylishly referring to Aregbesola because it was an open secret that he was the uncommon governor who put his feet down that no matter what happened, his administration shall not dedicate no less than thirty percent of the budget to capital projects in the state.
Olalere Fagbola is a Veteran journalist and Ex-Bureau Chief of The Punch Newspaper.
