Re: Open Letter To Hon Lasun Yussuff By Adeboye Adebayo

By Aderemi Ajala

This is a rejoinder by the Director, Constituency Relations Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Lasun Yussuff to an Open Letter Written by Comrade Adeboye Adebayo published on this platform earlier today.

Below is the Rejoinder:

It is quite unfortunate that some of your so called political elites are just ordinary pundits who fail to understand the concept of development in the 21st century. And instead of showing efforts to learn, they continue to wail and make noise premises on their shallow intellect.

Ordinarily one needs not to respond but for public interest, i think I have to further elucidate on the position of Rt. Hon. Lasun Yussuff on governance and development in Osun State.

The points being raised by Rt. Hon. Lasun Yussuff in his Eid el kabir press conference are very clear.

These are:

1. That there has been progressive decline in our education system in Osun state. This is very obvious. No matter how we manipulate data, parents who have their children in public schools know what they are experiencing. They know how difficult it is for their children to access books in schools; they know how difficult it is to meet the quest for quality uniform; they know how difficult it is for their children to pass final year examination from secondary schools. Parents are aware of the fact that their children have not benefitted positively enough from many of the recently initiated education programmes and policies in the state. They equally know how much they spend on re-preparing their children in extramural classes only to enable them pass WAEC and NECO. In short the story is not also different in the state own tertiary institutions with incessant strikes. In Lasun’s ideas, these crises did not just begin but progressively it has reached its peak that it requires serious and urgent attention. To Lasun Yussuff school building does not automatically translate to knowledge and quality learning. Good incentivised teachers, students and parents that have great hope and confidence in government, availability of learning materials accessible to learners and teachers are much more important to quality education. According to Lasun Yussuff he has recognised all these pitfalls and this would be parts of his focus for redress as governor of Osun State starting from 2018.

2. That the infrastructural development in Osun is not linked with economic development. Roads, bridges and school buildings are not to be constructed in isolation from the economic interests of the people. To Lasun Yussuff much of infrastructural developments in the state ought to have been initiated where they would spur economic development. Specifically if much of those infrastructures are done to link rural communities where agriculture could take place, more impacts would have been felt on economic growth. Lasun cited that if Gbogan- Orile Owu- Ijebu Igbo road; Osogbo- Iwo road; Ara- Ejigbo road; Ejigbo- Ife odan- Owu Ile road; Ikirun- Ada- Igbajo- Imesi road; Ife- Tonkere- Akoda road and Ede- Sekona road for examples are done, these roads would have sparked more agricultural development compared to Gbogan-Osogbo dualisation and the overhead bridge in Gbogan. When wealth is created through agriculture, the proceeds can be channeled to luxury projects.

3. That women are not yet properly linked with development agents in the state of Osun. Since women form almost half of our population and also more entrepreneur than men, development assistance must be channeled to more women than men.

4. That agriculture remains the economic mainstay in the state and that sector is yet to receive a very serious attention. Lasun believes that agriculture should take larger percentage of annual state budget and should be scientifically pursued through snergy between serious private individuals and the government.

5. That our development drive in the state of Osun is not properly infused with local contents. Lasun believes that more local contractors should be engaged in government projects and local resources that will reduce cost of project execution should be engaged in government projects.

In addition, Lasun is of the opinion that a serious government would not at this particular time of dwindling incomes draw six or ten point agenda. To him only three focused and holistic agenda is enough. To him his focus is on accelerated development through quality knowledge in agriculture and sustainable rural livelihood. On this concept his governorship focus is on Education; Agriculture and Rural Livelihood.

Wailers should therefore note that governance is a continum and the necessity for change either constitutional or otherwise is a recognition of human limitation in government. The previous governments have their limitations, thus a change is desirable to leaverage on the legacies of the previous governments; correct their mistakes and introduce new ideas that can guarantee positive and sustainable livelihood in society.

Dr. Aderemi Ajala, SA to the Hon. Speaker