Dissecting The Manifesto Of Oyetola For Osun Guber Poll

• Continued from last edition

Part of the good things Ogbeni Aregbesola has done, is the identification of a reputable person that will take over from him. Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola’s training and background as a financial and human capital manager has prepared him for the task ahead. He is a graduate of the prestigious University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Insurance in 1978 and Master of Business Administration (MBA) specialising in Finance in 1990.  He is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), London and Nigeria and a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).  He has previously worked in Leadway Assurance Company in 1980 as an Assistant Manager and rose to the position of Area Manager, Control Office, Lagos State.

He was at Crusader Insurance as Underwriting Manager, Corporate Alliance Insurance as Controller (Technical) before he decided to call it quit and set up Silvertrust Insurance Brokers Limited in 1990.  He was on the Board of many companies. He was the Executive Vice Chairman of Paragon Group of Companies with interest in Oil and Gas, Real Estate, Stock Broking etc, until his appointment as the Chief of Staff to the Governor of the State of Osun in 2011. Before coming to Osun, he has been in charge of management of multi-million naira organisation and knows about people’s management. He has won many awards as the Chief of Staff to the Governor and part of the revolution called infrastructural development of State of Osun. Gboyega Oyetola is a financial expert that will improve the fortune of the state.

Oyetola promised “to revolutionise the economic base of the state for improved internally generated revenue (IGR) for the prosperity of all Osun sons and daughters by creating the enabling environment for manufacturing companies and agro-allied industries to invest in the agriculture, mining and tourism sectors to create job opportunities for the employable youths.” In this while, industrial estates will developed in some selected cities of the state. He also promised to fine-tune objectively, the six points integral action plan contained in the green book upon which Aregbesola triumphed.

He shall make Osun government “work for all irrespective of status; his priorities shall be to ensure Osun has a well-motivated civil service to ensure maximum productivity to implement all his laudable policies and programmes in education, health, agriculture, housing, sports, environment etc.” He has plans to create loans for the traders, farmers and improve the conditions of the artisans by engaging them, through direct labour basis, on all works emanating from government. His manifesto has been strategically developed to address all issues pertaining to the welfare of the people of the state. This is in continuity of the legacy of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

As the Chief of Staff of the State of Osun for close to eight (8) years, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola was part and parcel of the success stories of the state and a close associate of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who has been described by many as “compulsive thinker”, “unique leader”, “paragon of transformation and the architect of a new State of Osun”. He was the proponent of “Unusual Government” and who, through effective financial engineering and prudence, has done the inexplicable in the state. The shoes that he is leaving behind may not size any unprepared successor.

Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, stated that if Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke should govern the state for a year, it would take the state 20 years backward. This is as a result of the lackadaisical attitudes of the “professional dancer” and entertainer who had not contributed any good thought to the deliberations of the Red Chamber ever since he became the Senator representing Osun West Senatorial District. This poor performance is not unexpected from a candidate with only F9 in English Language and absent in other subjects he claimed he registered for in 1981 West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE).

Oyetola is the most qualified candidate in the coming gubernatorial election in terms of reputation, preparation for the job, experience and exposure. There is no other candidate that has excellence in all the factors mentioned above. A candidate that has never worked in the private or public sector other than being the chairman of a local government cannot have the basics of governance which is more than party administration. State administration is not a cup of tea and with Osun State’s meagre allocation from the federal purse; a financial expert and erudite administrator should be in charge.

• Olufemi Oyedele, a political analyst wrote in from Osogbo.