A RED LETTER DAY IN OGUN
The Amosun administration puts smiles on the faces of its workforce despite the current recession, writes Soyombo Opeyemi
Wednesday, December 21, 2016, was another red letter day in Ogun State. In one iconic gesture, the Ibikunle Amosun-led administration devoted a whopping sum of N12.5 billion to clear the arrears of gratuities and cooperative deductions of the workforce. A mere fragment of the amount goes to offset the severance package of the political office holders under the Otunba Gbenga Daniel-led administration and last dispensation. This is aside the payment of December, 2016 salaries and bonus to the workers.
This is big news for many reasons. Nigeria is in economic recession, exacerbated by the unprecedented plunge in the price of crude oil in the international market. We all know the crisis going on across the states of Nigeria in terms of salaries. While Ogun is not immune to the realities of the recession, the state government has never defaulted in the payment of monthly salaries to its workforce.
Not many compatriots actually know that the Amosun government began payment of gratuities to retired workers from 2008. That is three clear years before he was elected in 2011. Some 24 billion was expended on this, including inherited deductions.
I recall the argument then. “Mr Governor, please concentrate on your own tenure. You were not the one that owed those workers. That amount is enough to settle all gratuities during your own term!” But Amosun demurred, “These people are Ogun indigenes. They have served the state meritoriously. Yes, I did not owe them. But they have to be paid. They deserve to be paid!”
No one, in its wildest imagination, had dreamt of the current recession. But the Amosun government was proactive. It introduced immediately Single Treasury Account and e-payment. This shot up the revenue of the state geometrically. In the Ministry of Commerce alone, the income generated suddenly rose from the average of N45 million per annum under the previous government to N550 million per annum (representing 1,122% increase) within a space of one year - all simply by blocking the loopholes in the old system and introducing a cashless policy! That percentage increase in one ministry alone is staggering! The new government considerably reduced the salaries of political office holders in addition to being among the few states having the lowest number of such office holders.
Thus the internally generated revenue of Ogun State rose from N750 million monthly under the former administration to N5 billion within a short space of time.
The World Bank Doing Business Report of 2014, which rated Ogun among the five states that made the biggest strides in terms of ease of doing business in Nigeria, is enough testimony to the economic transformation brought about by the current administration. Today, Ogun has become the industrial hub of Nigeria due to the enabling environment provided for business by the Amosun government. Over 110 multi-billion naira companies have berthed in Ogun in the last five years. The latest is the Palms Shopping Malls, whose first plaza in Ogun State (Shoprite) is the biggest in the country.
Therefore, if Ogun has been able to stay afloat during the current financial difficulties in Nigeria, and has enjoyed industrial harmony, let the reader understand the road it had marched economically in the last five years. Ogun is also affected by the current storms but never overwhelmed!
All the 36 states of the federation must appreciate the government of President Muhammadu Buhari for its magnanimity, transparency and commitment to due process. Unlike the previous practice, where money was paid to only PDP states, all the 36 states of the federation are benefiting from funds released by the federal government to cushion the effects of the current recession. And one must immediately add that things began to fall apart economically in Nigeria since 2013. Everything was blamed on oil theft by the then government. Nigerians now know the truth - how billions of naira meant for development were squandered. Had they been well invested, such investments would have stood the country in good stead during the current drastic fall in global oil prices. As I once observed, we sowed the wind under the previous governments and we are now reaping the whirlwind.
As the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, said the Amosun government will continue to abide by the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with the labour unions. It has even now surpassed the expectations of the MoU.
Another point that may not be known to the public is that the current government, in 2011, increased the salaries of workers. The rise almost doubled the wage bill of the state. And not just the state workers but local council’s as well. The argument of the governor has remained the same: “The Ogun workers are the best in the country, and there must be a commensurate reward for that.” Hence, Ogun, despite being number 25 out of 36 states in terms of the size of income from the Federation Account, pays the highest salaries to workers! This did not start today. It did not start yesterday, but since 2011. One is, therefore, shocked to the marrow that the present gesture to workers could be denigrated by some opposition elements in order to score a political point. But they are adept at hitting below the belt and scoring an offside goal. And we know the result of an offside goal - it comes to nought! While these detractors join the “Internet millipedes” to corrupt the public space with their half-truths and outright lies, Amosun is busy at his desk thinking and deploying strategies to further develop the state. As Ambassador Chris Cooter, Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, observed in April, 2013, “The Governor has been emphasising that his administration is very particular about hard work. Here we are on a Sunday, I look at the construction going on, definitely, I am impressed. It is going to transform the state, no doubt. Whether it is canal, the road network, health or education, clearly, I can see a demonstration of the ‘can do’ attitude...”
And while these “cold and timid souls” are asleep, snoring, Amosun is awake reading the feedback from the masses, who constantly send him messages about their views - and he reads them all and acts accordingly. Little wonder the bond that exists between him and the people.
In the immortal words of Theodore Roosevelt in April, 1910, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly... who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”