by Azeez Olaitan

One of the reasons conservative party won the UK election in 2010 was their relentless attack against the then Labour Government on the national debt. They labeled Labour party ‘reckless’ for plunging the country into more DEBT. They said the only language Labour understands is “Borrowing, borrowing and more borrowing”. The conservative manifesto also read: “Failing to control our debt would be more than an economic failing, it would be a moral failing – leaving our children and grandchildren with debts that could never hope to repay.” People bought it and they voted Labour OUT. Conservative party came to power in 2010. In 2013, they have borrowed ‘more’ in 3 years than Labour did in 13 years. In 2016, it was reported, conservative party have created more DEBT than every Labour government in history i.e created more debt in 6 years than Labour did in 23 years. Isn’t that incredible.

My point is, no state or nation can pursue any meaningful programmes or projects without borrowing regardless of their IGR or how stable their economy is. Any politicians or party that says otherwise are simply not telling the truth, just like the UK conservative party. And anyone with knowledge of governance wouldn’t believe it a bit.

States like Osun, with huge infrastructural deficit, poorly skilled working population, decayed educational system, lacks the most basic of elements that attract investors. That is a fact. No investors will bring their money to a state with dilapidated infrastructures, a poor skilled working population. And that is what Osun was before Aregbesola. Some do say states should look inward. Of course, they must do so. But they can only go so far in improving on their IGR if they don’t invest in infrastructures, develop human capacity. Boosting economic growth and building IGR that knows no bounds requires investment in critical sectors complemented with progressive policies; this will ultimately create an enabling environment for businesses. No two ways about it.

According to Awolowo, three things must be worked on by any government to boost its economy: Infrastructure, Education and Health. On Health, he further said, it is safer and economical if a government pays more attention to Preventive medicine which consists of measures taken for disease prevention, as opposed to disease treatment. Since Aregbesola came to power all his policies and programmes revolves around these three key elements.

Since he came to power in 2010, Aregbesola has built more roads than all democratically elected Governors of the state combined. It earned him an epithet from the populace, ‘Ona baba ona’. Road constructions/improvements decrease transportation costs, it improve access to markets, foster economic integration and a number of other ‘wider’ economic benefits. This is why roads construction/improvements are frequently proposed as a strategy for economic growth, integration and local economic development. His government has constructed over 1000km high class urban and rural roads. Osun is not the first state to initiate school feeding programme in Nigeria. It has been done by some other states, but they failed. When Aregbesola started Osun free school feeding programme, many people said it will also fail just like those before it. They said it was a white elephant. The programmes is now over 4 years, and still going strong. The state has now become a model to all states of the federation in the area of the school feeding programme. NIger state recently sent a delegation to Osun to understudy the programme. Not to mention the FG delegation. The programme was also well applauded by the international community. The Governor was invited by Imperial college London, in which he was the keynote speaker, he spoke on the success of the state’s school meal programme. The programme feeds over 250,000 children every school day. It provides direct employment to over 3,000 women, with indirect employment of over 7,000 and purchases food from over 1000 local farmers. School enrollment has increased by 62% since the inception of the programme. What the state is doing on education is as clear as daylight; and it is not just structures like some do say. It is reflecting in the performance of the students. The WAEC success rate in Osun was 6.86% in 2007, it is now 46.3%. Of course it can be better. But there has been a giant leap in the performance. Osun state is now among the top 3 states with highest university admission in the federation. All these does not happen by sheer coincidence.