Osun Local Governments’ Administration: Aregbesola’s Goodwill For The Youths And Challenges Of Grassroots Governance By Adeboye Adebayo

Let me use this medium to heartily congratulate the 389 councillors/local parliamentarians recently elected in all the wards in the State of Osun and I wish them all a successful tenure.

I also congratulate the State Executive Council of our great party; All Progressives Congress, APC as led by its Chairman, Prince Adegboyega Famodun and amiable Secretary; Alhaji Rasaq Salinsile for their efforts day and night which made our party to come out all victorious at the poll.

I must not fail to specially and wholeheartedly congratulate my mentor, leader and political father Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola on whose goodwill and unprecedented achievements in office we are able to achieve the feat.

During a stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Congress, APC around June, 2017 in Lagos, the National Leader of the APC & Principal of the formidable Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation; AGF, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu appealed profoundly to the leaders of the party in Lagos State to please consider the youths and women in their arrangements for the then upcoming Lagos Council poll. The election was conducted on July 22, 2017 and the consideration of the youths as clamoured by Asiwaju Tinubu were there for you to judge.

Aside our own Asiwaju, a lot of people in the polity have been clamouring for participations of youths in politics, a lot of political parties had used the phenomenon to ride to power without the goodwill to assist the youths to power in this our environment of impossibilities. 

But by his antecedents, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has always been a lover and helper of the youths to power. The memory is still fresh of how he helped a young man of thirty years old to become the Executive Secretary of one of the largest local governments in Nigeria some years back and numerous others at various levels till today, especially in his current cabinet in the State of Osun as Commissioners, SSAs and SAs contributing their quotas to the developments of the society among other obvious evidences of constructively empowering the youths.

But of note, is the high number of youths that were considered for the Councillorship positions and eventual emergence as the Executive Chairman in our various Councils, Council Development Areas and others due to his goodwill and believe in the abilities of the youths to deliver the dividends of democracy at the grassroots bearing in mind the enormous challenges attached with .

Ogbeni Aregbesola unlike many political leaders in the Country today did not pay a lip service to the clamour for youths in power and I say a very big kudos to Oga for this and humbly urge other leaders in the polity to emulate Ogbeni Aregbesola and sincerely do all within their powers to assist the numerous capable youth in politics to power.

Now that Ogbeni Aregbesola in his goodwill and benevolence has helped numerous youths into power at the grassroots, it is their duties to proof to the World that indeed they have the intellectual capacity and wisdom to bring about better governance at the grassroots knowing fully well that their tier of government is the closest to the people and the electorates, the populace and the entire people of the councils are expecting high performances from them in line with the principle of progressive governance as being exhibited by Ogbeni Aregbesola in the State.

The performance of the youths in power today will be the yardstick to measure practically the abilities of youths to be in power tomorrow and failure by them today will shut doors against the youths yearning to be in power tomorrow.

They must roll up their sleeves and begin to make bye laws and policies to complement the good works of Ogbeni Aregbesola in the area of improving the internally generated revenue of their local governments not through force, as forces are not in the tenets of democracy but through persuasions, public enlightenment, discussions and other reasonable education and engagements, through that our people who are not lazy will be willing to pay since it is for their own development.

Also bye laws and policy implementation should be geared towards primary education and adult literacy programmes so that the consciousness and understanding of our people will be improved and this make them easy to govern, remember the saying “Education makes people easy to govern, difficult to enslave”.

Policies at the grassroots should also touch other areas like Agriculture and rural development, market coordination and expansion. Primary health care services is the duty of the governments’ at the grassroots while secondary and tertiary health care services are for the States and Federal governments.

Healthy collaboration with the traditional councils will go a long way in amicable resolution of disputes among the local people. Rural-Urban drifts should be discouraged through provision of basic infrastructural amenities.

The challenges of governance at the grassroots are enormous not in the State of Osun alone but through out the World but they are all surmountable through effective collaboration between the Chairman (Prime Minister) his cabinet members who are bye laws executors/policies implementor and other parliamentarians who are to make bye laws, do oversight and monitor the implementation of the laws and policies of local governments, as it affects the people. 

Working together is the thing, being on the same page for better governance is the deal. By this among other things, the trust reposed in them by the electorates, by our party and the goodwill of Ogbeni Aregbesola will not be betrayed.

I wish them all the very best in office, I pray God to continue to be with all youths in government and I thank my leader & mentor; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola so greatly for his support and believe in the abilities of the youths to deliver despite all odds including youths working against themselves.

Adeboye Adebayo is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress; APC, The National Publicity Secretary of Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation; AGF, Leader of youths, a Tinubuist in principle & ideology and a Raufist to the core.