Osun’s giant leaps towards economic boom

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ROTIMI IGE writes on the efforts of the Osun State government in revamping the economic status of the state and the lives of its people through its practical projects.
For many who are familiar with Osun State, it would be no news when it is referred to as a quiet environment where most residents were dependent mainly on the state proceeds as civil servants or as aged or children. Most of the active productive population, who sought more for themselves, left the state in droves for other states like Lagos and Oyo in search of greener pastures and came home mainly during festivities.
Osun State also served as a commuter state between the North Central and the South West, hence the steady flow of travelers who pass through the state on their way to various destinations. Nothing much happened in Osun, and residents simply complied with the status quo.
This general situation was one of the major reasons that allegedly spurred Governor Rauf Aregbesola, to contest the governorship election, change the rudimentary lifestyle and cause a reverse migration from other parts of the country to the state.
Now, three years later, Osun State is fast becoming a choice destination for investors. A recent visit by the Nigerian Tribune to the state was quite revealing as the state is witnessing a massive industrial revolution spanning virtually all sectors of its economy.
According to a resident of Osogbo, Makinde Alade, this marked change has improved the lot of the people generally, and revived many hopes as more Osun residents were beginning to see a bigger future for the state which the present administration has engendered.
Many times, Governor Rauf Aregbesola had stressed that he was out to revolutionise the economic status of the state with his six-point agenda as contained in his ‘green book’. Today, the state is witnessing a beautiful change and the lives of residents are better for it. From education to agriculture, healthcare to infrastructural development, the Aregbesola administration, according to many who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune, has set Osun State on a progressive path.
One of the biggest investments in the state is the assembly plant of West Africa’s biggest ICT and phone manufacturing company, RLG. The company had increased its foothold in the industry with the commissioning of a 50 million US dollars Technology City in Ilesha, Osun State.
Called the RLG/Adulawo Technology City, the world-class facility, which is already operational, is involved in the training of youths in the assembly and repair of the various electronic devices, as well as the production of these devices from its facility. In addition, it is expected to create over 10,000 jobs both directly and indirectly.
During its commissioning earlier this year, Mr Roland Agambire, Group Chairman of RLG, noted that gone were the days when oil was the mainstay of the world’s economy, that ICT was the new money spinner and the RLG/Adulawo Technology City is an ambitious project that will play a major role in the technology revolution that is sure to come to Nigeria.
He noted that the dream of setting up such a facility was propelled by the leadership and vision of the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, whom he stated supported the idea from the outset especially because it had as its main goal the creation of jobs and the transfer of technology.
He stated that although the African continent was the wealthiest, it had not been able to maximise its potential and RLG as a pan-African company had the ambitious dream of creating wealth for African youths and leading them out of poverty through technology.
Also, one of the achievements of the Aregbesola administration is the rehabilitation of major township roads with solid concrete drainage and culverts across the state.
It has also embarked on the dualization of Osogbo Old-Garage-Ela-Odo-Kwara State Boundary, Gbongan-Orile-Owu-Ijebu-Igbo-Ogun State Boundary, while the construction of the Eastern-Bye Pass Express road is underway.
The totality of the road projects being executed so far by the current administration within the last 25 months, officials said, has gone up to 700 kilometers, which they described as landmark in the history of the state created 22 years ago.
Tasking all directors of work and people of the state to assist the government in monitoring the job done, Aregbesola had declared that there would be no excuse for any contractor not to perform and deliver as at when due. He also charged market men and women as well as traditional rulers to assist the government to monitor the projects in their domains, while commending the House for its understanding and immense cooperation in making the project a huge success.
This has yielded immense benefits as most of the towns in the state are now well linked with motorable roads.
The current administration had, over time, implored youths in the state to develop and sustain interest in agriculture as a means of livelihood rather than engaging in menial jobs such as okada riding. This was said to be the motive behind the establishment of the Osun Rural Entreprenuership and Agricultural Programme, which has been yielding results. A recent visit to one of the experimental tomato green houses along the Gbogan-Ile Ife express road revealed that the government’s plans to activate an agricultural boom may not be farfetched. Also, the state government has partnered with IITA to provide a soil map to aid agricultural production in Osun.
A government official recently revealed that in fulfillment of three of the integral action plans of the present administration, namely, banishing hunger and poverty, creating wealth and employment generation, the state government had procured agro-processing equipment such as cassava chipping machines, grain processors, multi-grain threshers, rice reapers and yam flour processors, among others, for sale to women and youths at 40 per cent discount.
Also, he said the state government had placed for sale, agricultural implements such as ploughs, harrows, ridgers and tipping trailers at 15 per cent off for tractor owners in the state.
He emphasized that soon, the state government would disburse cocoa plantation maintenance loans to cocoa farmers, while the piggery farmers’ association too would benefit from the 2014 Government Guaranteed Agricultural Loan Scheme (GGALS).
This is in addition to the Federal Government’s assisted training establishment called the Life Academy in Osogbo. At the academy, irrespective of educational status, enrolled individuals would learn entrepreneurship skills in various fields such as carpentry, metallurgy, engineering and leather works, among others. This seems to have paid off as the boots used by the 20,000 O-YES cadets trained by the state government were made by the students at the Lief Academy.
The provision of good education was one of the cardinal objectives of the Aregbesola administration. This was because, before now, the state had ranked low in WAEC examination success rankings. Also, during an international summit on education in 2011, it was discovered that only three per cent of pupils were eligible to proceed for higher education and almost half of this percentage graduated from private schools. These statistics, according to state officials, kick started a re-organisation of the state’s educational policies and structure which gave birth to the over 1,950 schools being built or rehabilitated across all 34 local government areas in the state. Schools were merged and better facilities provided in order to boost learning with attendant results.
According to the Nigerian Tribune’s investigations, school enrolment has tripled in the last two years and Osun State’s WAEC ranking has improved by a wide margin. More teachers, over 5,000 of them, have been recruited mainly from the O-YES scheme to boost the teacher population.
Again, to further complement the revamping of the educational sector, the Aregbesola-led administration engaged the services of a garment company, Sarah and Sarah, through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) which gave to birth to the Omoluabi Garment Factory, in order to provide and subsidise the school uniforms needed by the pupils.
According to information made available to the Nigerian Tribune, the first set of uniforms to be used by the pupils after the schools’ reclassification were distributed free of charge. Over 750,000 uniforms were thus provided free by the state government. Today, uniforms are not only cheaper to obtain, but are readily available. In a chat with Nigerian Tribune, the manager of the garment factory in Osun, Oyedeji Abayomi, said that over 3,500 school uniforms were produced daily.
Infrastructural development has also been adequately tackled as most of the towns in the state are beginning to wear new looks, and according to the Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Ajibola Basiru, their aim is to make Osun State as investor friendly as possible.
A trip through Osun State did reveal much; a trumpet shaped flyover is currently under construction at the Gbogan-Akoda-Ile Ife axis; a ring road to ease traffic congestion in Osogbo is now in existence. The Hazzan Olajoko travellers’ Park at Gbogan, the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo, the newly rehabilitated Osun Grove and the Ayegbaju International Market, among other projects, have shown that the current administration intends to make the state an industrial and economic hub.