In recent times, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)-controlled Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti and Osun states have remained committed to evolving fresh strategies to create various jobs, thus giving governance its ideal meaning. Assistant Editor DADA ALADELOKUN examines the exemplary trend.
Before it eventually rescued the Southwest from the claws of illgovernance after a sustained progressive tussle, the ears of even the deaf were alive to the pledge of ideal governance being made then by the change-hungry leadership of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). But not a few cynics laughed it off, replying it: Tell it to the marines!
Of course, they could be pardoned. Reason: Already hooked on the erroneously belief that all politicians are the same, it never occurred to them that the in-coming “saviours” were imbued with the sublime ideas needed to do the positively unusual.
Therefore, when the ACN standard bearers in Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti vowed to make a lasting difference, especially by dealing with unemployment with an approach never before imagined, their opponents, notably in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), deemed it another empty boast.
Today, it is a well-acknowledged reality that the states are succeeding in their unique efforts to tame the monster of joblessness among other programmes that have established an enduring break from the past. Now, job creation is the most popular sing-song across the region.
Of course, when the Governor Babatunde Fashola-led administration in Lagos flagged off the state’s anti-unemployment drive, not many saw it as a potential failure because he took the baton from ACN national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu whose administration as two-term governor of the state is still being regarded as a template of people-oriented governance.
Several thousands of people have secured gainful jobs through the state’s ‘Rice for Job Scheme, the Agric-Yes Scheme and indeed, the Lagos Ignite Enterprise Programme, which has continued to provide reliable opportunities for employment.
The programmes, to Fashola, were aimed at complementing the state government’s direct employment programme.
He had explained that the Rice for Job Scheme which started with 165 farmers, aged between 25 and 55, and which has grown the cultivation of rice in Lagos from 10 to 170 hectares of farmlands in 2010 in addition to the creation of a value chain of over 3,000 people already employed under the scheme.
According to him, the Agric YES programme targets 1,000 farmers at the pilot stage while the first batch of 100 farmers have completed a six months intensive course which now gives them access to working capital and one hectare of land each to start out as young farmers while others are still in training.
“Our Lagos IGNITE programme has employed the first 507 graduates with a possibility of further expansion in other areas,” he said, adding that the state government is also keeping the younger generation in focus. Thus, yearly, it employs no fewer than 5,000 students on vacation jobs for eight weeks during the long holidays.
Call it revolution against hunger, you are damn right! It is the same cheery story for Osun State government which, like Lagos, has new teaching jobs for 8,554 personnel into the primary and secondary schools in the state.
The deputy governor of the state, Mrs. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori exuded a sense of accomplishment while declaring open a five-day orientation workshop for the newly recruited Osun State Teaching Corps in Osogbo, the state capital.
Amid rousing applause, she hinted that 5,400 of the teaching corps were taken from the Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme (OYES) volunteers, while the remaining 3,154 were taken from the former Oyin Corps and Parents Teachers Association (PTA). Besides, it was a groundswell of praises when, recently, the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola-led administration employed 20,000 youths.
Behaving true to type in the progressive family, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State recently drew a cue from the Osun Example, thus keeping 20,000 youths out of the saturated unemployment market. It was while inaugurating the state’s Youth Empowerment Scheme tagged, YES-O.
The governor, while speaking during the inauguration at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, lamented the frightening rate of unemployment in the country and urged the beneficiaries to be agents of change. Eminent natives of the state, traditional rulers, top government officials and other stakeholders who witnessed the event openly acknowledged the fact that better times are here for real.
Pointing out that the menace of unemployment critically affects the youth, Ajimobi warned that unemployment poses great danger, not only to the Nigerian nation, but to the peace of this country at large. He therefore admonished: “If we don’t engage the youth, they will engage us.”
He spoke further: “For some administrations, gathering a few hundreds of pepper-grinding machines and bicycles to the army of unemployed youths was the appropriate response to this menace. But experiences have shown that these efforts eventually entered into the vortex of hopelessness as they soon became enmeshed in political patronage.
“Indeed, such efforts soon became a hub of corruption, leaving the recipients of this governmental intervention worse than they were before.”
Ask Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, he would beat his chest to tell you that he has put the state on the highway of progressive governance. And his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, confirmed it to The Nation last Thursday. “We have since left the ‘service lane,’ but we are being tactical in our approach. Of course, we are doing new things in the lives of Ekiti people,” he hinted.
Confirming that the state was on course with what he called Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES), Oyebode disclosed that the state government had give jobs to 5,000 graduates of higher institutions while 2,500 non-graduates were already being trained on various vocations.
He said that the government has embarked on entrepreneurship training through which beneficiaries were granted loans through Bank of Industry. “The loans vary, depending on what the beneficiary ventures into. Some embraced feed mill, soap making and block making among others,” he added.
Also, Oyebode disclosed that the state had begun the establishment of one Life Academy in each senatorial district: “We have started with three. Technical Colleges are being converted to better life-supporting institutions for more qualitative livelihood. Ultimately, all the districts will benefit from the programme.”
Just a few days back, Governor Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun presented employment letters to some hitherto idle hands in the state.
Precisely, it was on November 21. And it involved the first batch of successful applicants who got the jobs under the Ogun State Rapid Employment Scheme.
Totaling 3,664, the candidates who passed the interview tests conducted on November 3 and 4 at the June 12 Cultural Centre and Moshood Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, collected their letters excitedly. For Amosun who presided over the ceremony, it was commendation galore.
In a statement, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, explained that the beneficiaries included 1,123 skilled workers and 2,532 other cadres,
”Applicants who did not belong to the first batch should await the release of more names while those whose names were short-listed but did not participate in the interview sessions held on November 3 and 4 will be given a second chance in a fresh interview session that will be held very shortly. It is a continual process because the government is committed to fighting unemployment to a standstill,” a government source told The Nation.
It added that “The Rapid Employment Programme is in fulfillment of Amosun’s campaign promise that his administration would employ 10,000 people in the first instance.
Though under Labour Party, Ondo State government has also tried its hands on attacking joblessness among the people of the state. Upon inauguration, the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko flagged off a N50 million loan scheme tagged Special Market Women Improvement Loan Empowerment Scheme (SMILES). It was distributed to 200 groups of market women. Attracting only nine per cent interest rate, it was without any collateral. It was learnt that 700 women benefited across the three senatorial districts in the first phase of its ‘Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Programme.’
On youth development, the government, in the first phase of its programme, reportedly put 1,000 youths to work aside from direct employment. About N4 billion, it was learnt, was also targeted to directly finance the micro-credit poverty-attack programme that would easily deliver soft credit facilities to the people over a four year period.
To that end, at a point, the government commenced the digital registration of residents in the state under the residency card project in the state known as Kaadi Igbe-Ayo Scheme. The card, it was said, would enable the holder to easily access available opportunities while on the other hand, assist government to plan and provide adequately for residents in the state.
Judging from the political whirlwind of total liberation spreading across the region, pundits are already of the view that ACN will certainly win the state into its kitty in the 2013 governorship election. And if that happens, it goes without saying that the people of the state will join others in the region to have a good laugh at long last.
Now, as the ACN’s uncommon approach to employment generation and by extension, ideal governance in the South-west states gains ground, other “servants” outside the region may have to draw a cue fro the change apostles to build the much-sought new nation of Nigerians’ collective dream.
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Ideal governance: ACN refreshes Southwest