CONGRATULATORY NOTE TO GOVERNOR OLUSEGUN MIMIKO by Olarewaju Olaniyi Precious

It is with a great and joyous heart that I write to congratulate you, I am particularly thankful to God Almighty for sparing our lives to witness the occasion of your Swearing-in for a Second-term in office. I pray God grants unto you good and sound health to see you through your tenure and the rest of your life on earth,  I also congratulate you on your remarkable victory at the poll in the gubernatorial election conducted in our dear Sunshine State in October last year. The victory is an empirical affirmation of your political wit and astuteness.

No doubt Your Excellency, you are a very intelligent politician who a lot of youths look up to seeking political mentorship, you are a classical example of a well-grassrooted politician, a fact which most of your die-hard political antagonist will not dare to contest. The wealth of experience you promised to bring into governance in Ondo State was one of the reasons I opted to support you in the 2007 gubernatorial election as a 100-level student in the University then. I carefully appraised your manifestoes and campaign speeches as uploaded on your campaign website, your in-depth knowledge of the length and breadth of the State and the challenges that confront us as a people was quite enticing, you demonstrated a full understanding of the political polity of the State. I was convinced deep within me that your option is the best available when compared to the Dr. Olusegun Agagu’s led government then.

I wholeheartedly joined your campaign team in my little capacity, believing that our political Messiah has finally come. I remembered how I use to argue vehemently in support of your candidacy, after the election and the period of legal tussle that ensued; I kept my faith firm with your team. The day Justice Nabaruma-led Tribunal declared you as the authentic winner of the election, I was in the examination hall writing an exam, on hearing the gist from some of my lecturers who were supervising us, I had to hurriedly submit my papers and dashed out of the school to join the celebration. The struggle continued until your electoral victory in the poll was affirmed and the decision of the tribunal was upheld by the Appellate court in 2009. I still remember vividly the wide-spread jubilation that followed that historic judgment on February 23rd, 2009.

As you settled down in office, my hopes were high as I believed the template for the development of our dear State had been drawn long before you ascended into power, as we were told in your numerous campaigns; your government set out in 2009 on a bright note, coming with a lot of wonderful ideas and beautiful initiatives. This further showed you were well-prepared for the top job as you had demonstrated you understood the ways of Alagbarka and how to bring succor to the people through the formulation and implementation of therapeutic government policies. Unfortunately two years after Your Excellency, my hopes began to dash in your government’s ability to deliver. So far, there have been a lot of arguments on your performance in the last four years particularly the media hype. I agree that you have made some giant strides which will create lasting legacies in some sectors in the State especially in the areas of Maternal Health-care delivery and Urban-renewal which to me is laudable, but the overall review of your performance shows a government that has preference for scoring cheap political goals at the expense of bigger challenges, it depicts a government that prefers to dwell on petty and trivial instead of taking the bull by the horn and tackle tougher challenges.

In the last four years, Ondo State has witnessed a snail-paced government, most of the Capital projects your government embarked on have either been foot-dragged for too long or better still be described as on-going. As at today, the much publicized Mega-School in Akure which has been in the news for the past three years is yet to admit in students while the other ones being built across the three Senatorial districts of the State are all on-going with no probable date of completion. The same goes for the Road projects too, it is worthy to note that in your four years first term, your government failed to commission a single road project.

As at today Your Excellency, we are yet to start seeing the products of the Tomato Paste Factory in Arigidi Akoko; a project that gulped #400 million of Ondo State taxpayers’ money, this said project had been completed two years ago. The history of the Tomato Paste factory which is dated as far back as 1999 is another broad discussion for another day. In case you don’t know what goes on in the factory at Arigidi-Akoko, all they do is load fresh tomatoes in crates and sell in the neighbouring local markets or supply to people in need of large quantity of tomatoes for parties and celebrations. Sir, I don’t want to believe the real essence of expending a whooping 400 million naira of our common wealth on such project is to sell fresh tomatoes at the market. Presently, there is no activity going on in the said factory, the last time I visited, none of the senior staffs was available to even attend to me. I was turned back at the gate by the Security men.

Also Your Excellency, nothing has been heard about the proposed Cement Factory in Okeluse, Ose Local Government of Ondo State. In your Campaign visit to the people of Okeluse prior to the 2007 Governorship election, you said and I quote “My government will establish a Cement Factory as soon as we come into power in May 2007”, you further told the people present at the rally that you have put a committee in place to understudy the vast limestone deposits in the area, you said Ondo State will soon join the league of Cement producers. A development which you said would not only create an ample employment opportunities for the people but also boost the drive towards the industrialization of the State.

Four years after, we are yet to start producing cement. The erstwhile Commissioner of Information told us in April 2010 that; all is set to establish a cement factory in Okeluse town, he disclosed the $50 million project will be handled by Tetrach Cement Company and shall be funded in a ratio 80 and 20 percents by Tetrach Cement Company and Ondo State Government respectively.  Akerele further said the State Government will pay its counterpart funding from a #4 billion domiciled in the Ondo State Ministry of Industry, he said the project will be completed in 18months from April 2010.  In August 2011 more than a year after, the State-owned Hope Newspaper reported the Secretary to the State Government as saying that work on the cement factory would soon start, ever since we have heard nothing about the said project which had been reported to have gulped about 5.75 billion naira of Ondo State fund.

Your Excellency Sir, the Dome project is another project which has gulped billions of naira of taxpayers’ money. As at today, nothing has been heard about this project, the project was flagged-off on 18th January, 2010 with a Five months completion period. The Dome which is a 2500-capacity Event centre has been on-going ever since, unconfirmed reports said this project has gulped closed to 2 billion naira since it was started and the level of workdone does not commensurate with the amount of money said to have been spent so far. I remembered Your Excellency said back then that “Following the completion of the said project, Ondo State would be ranked among the State that can host any international conference without being fret about venue”. I am still baffling with what could have gone wrong with such a beautifully described project.

Many are such projects Your Excellency, up till today; we don’t know what happened to the Kaadi Igbe Ayo Project - a resident identity card project that gulped about 3.8 billion naira. After the registration exercise for the card was done, we are all still waiting for the commencement of the next phase which is the issuance of the cards to the citizens of the State. This same thing goes for virtually all the other projects embarked on by your government so far, all we see is the flagging-off of projects but no commissioning. Lest I forget Your Excellency, we have not heard anything/report from the committee you set-up to look into new Local Governments creation more than one and a half years after. Sir, our Civil Service Commission in the last four years has not opened its doors to accommodate young graduates into the Civil Service fold which literally means your government has failed to employ into the Civil Service in the last Four years.

In the last four years, agriculture had been practically relegated to the backdoor as against your campaign promise four years ago that you will do everything humanly possible to revamp and revitalize our agricultural sector. Nothing concrete has been done in this critical sector; your government has committed huge funds into the development of agricultural villages which today are not producing anything. Your government has failed to explore the vast arrays of opportunities the Agricultural sector offers which include source of food production, job creation and a veritable source of income for our state and the people. Your government has not done anything to encourage young people into farming, our farmers are ageing and nothing realistic is being done to bring in young hands to replace our ageing farmers. It is also worthy to note that presently, Ondo State has just five Veterinary Doctors in her workforce,

These and many other failed promises of your government were the reasons why you did not have my vote in the 2012 gubernatorial election like you did in 2007. I believe Your Excellency will realize my sentiments were borne out of genuine intents and reasons and not parochial interest. My choice was made for a reason and above all to seek a better leadership for our dear Sunshine State. It was borne out of my will to question the status-quo, illusions and phantasmagoria that pervade in our State polity. The electioneering process might have gone and produced you as the Winner, my voice and is substance have not changed, my convictions have not changed, the prevailing factors and circumstances that made me opted not to vote for you have not changed. Hence, my advocacy continues, not to become a thorn in your government’s flesh but to continue to canvass genuine “reasoning” in the process of governance.

Luckily for you Your Excellency, the people of our dear Sunshine State again have unanimously given you a rare opportunity to put in manifestation your plans for the State, they have given you a second chance to bring into governance the impetus for the much needed development of our dear State. Mr Governor Sir, with this new fresh breadth of air, I hope Your Excellency will find new motivations and truly set out to work for the good people of Ondo State for another Four years.

Sir, kindly accept my heartfelt congratulations on your re-election and Swearing-in ceremony. I wish you a very successful tenure ahead. My candid advice to you is that you should start looking beyond scoring cheap political goals, roll-up your sleeves and build a working consensus to tackle bigger challenges facing the State in other to build the Ondo State of our dream. Do extend my warm felicitation to your amiable, gorgeous and delectable wife and the first family.

LONG LIVE ONDO STATE!

LONG LIVE NIGERIA!!
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