Aregbesola’s O-YES: Most Elaborate Youth Scheme In Osun – Rights Activist
A Human Rights Activist and Public Affairs Analyst, Comrade Waheed Saka has hinted that the Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme (O-YES) introduced by the administration of former governor Rauf Aregbesola is the most elaborate scheme in the history of the state.
According to Saka, O-YES was introduced by the Aregbesola’s administration with different programmes which made it unique than others initiated by his predecessor and successors.
He stated this while commenting on the recent inauguration of ‘Imole Youth Corps’ by the current administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke during a private radio in Osogbo, recently.
The Rights activist pointed out that the ‘Imole Youth Scheme ‘ is filled up of supposing party men (Peoples Democratic Party Members) and those outside the youth age bracket.
“Congratulations to the ‘groups’ inaugurated into the scheme (‘Imole Youth Corps’) but historically, we need to understand something about these youth engagement policies, Oyin Corps by the administration of former Osun governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola came, people benefited.
“But the question of sustainability hang over that scheme and Rauf Aregbesola came with O-YES, arguably one of the most elaborate of them all in term of youth scheme. The argument over it was that the money was too small. It was not good enough. They are some youths that are not supposed to be cleaning our street and all that stuff and that spilled to Oyetola’s administration.
READ ALSO
- Adeleke Warns Against Recruitment Of 75,000 OYES Cadets
- No Preference For OYES, Others In Teachers’ Recruitment – Osun Govt
“Now we have ‘Imole Corps. One thing that I have seen all over is that this current one is not just live up to the O-YES scheme, but it is also fill up by supposed party men and people above the youth grade age. Those are the arguments. I passed through freedom park while the inauguration was ongoing, I saw a lot of older people wearing the scheme uniform.
“The issue is, we have not In Osun have a Youth-driven policy that can sustainably address the yearning and aspirations of our youths, either the ones we have in the past or this current one. The approach to youth in the state is very cosmetic and too political at every level and does not limit to the current one.
“What we need to do beyond these is a collaboration between the federal and state to sustainably address the youth unemployment in Nigeria and not the cosmetic approach. Originally, I congratulate them because some people somewhere will benefit from the tokenism associated with this policy.
“But people questioned that almost two years they cancelled O-YES, they are just coming up with this. Well, government have their way of doing things and politician will over flog that, they will stress themselves. But for me, we need a sustainable efforts and collaboration between the federal government and state government to address youth employment because the way we are going, when youths are not gainfully employed, and you tend to find a way around it, you cause day in day out because the way God created us, you continue to spend money and that is why some recalls to some other illegality to sustain their livelihood.
“For me the government need to do more and need to look in the mirror. This is my argument, if the people say the past government is not doing enough and they remove them through election and you know that you’re a beneficiary of the magnanimity of the people, you need to do better than the past. In my own opinion this current policy is too cosmetic, tokenism and not good enough.”
Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.
