With the multi-dimensional challenges confronting Ogun State, FRANCIS FALOLA writes that the state governor-elect, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has a tough task ahead of him.<\/span><\/p>\n Senator Ibikunle Amosun made his first attempt at the Ogun State governorship when he contested in 2007 against the incumbent, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Amosun lost to Daniel, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. His efforts to upturn the results of the poll through the Election Petitions Tribunal equally failed. In the just concluded general elections, Amosun, who was undaunted, contested the governorship poll on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria and was on Wednesday April 27 declared the winner of the election by the state Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Olaiya Balogun.<\/span><\/p>\n With the declaration by Balogun, who is also the Vice Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta , Ogun State fell to the broom revolution that has swept through the South-West.<\/span><\/p>\n But while the ACN members and supporters are rolling out the drums in celebration of the victory, the sooner the party\u2019s leadership and the governor-elect come to terms with the realities in the state, the better for the people of the state and the party\u2019s future political fortunes.<\/span><\/p>\n Ogun State, undoubtedly, has in the last four years been in the news for many negative reasons. The state has been riddled with several controversies. The House of Assembly for several months was in turmoil with the factions in the House at each other\u2019s throat.<\/span><\/p>\n The situation degenerated when a group of nine lawmakers, led by Soyemi Coker, suspended a Group of 15 led by Speaker Tunji Egbetokun in controversial circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n With the suspension, the group of nine lawmakers immediately passed the controversial N100bn bond bill into law. In averting a breach of law and order at the assembly, the house was sealed off for over seven months based on a directive from the office of the Inspector General of Police. But till date, no official pronouncement has been made by the police authorities on the opening of the assembly, while the group of nine lawmakers had on one or two instances under tight security sat in the assembly complex to ensure the passage of the 2011 appropriation bill among other issues of utmost interest to the state government. Though the group of nine lawmakers passed the bond bill, Daniel, who had strongly maintained that the bond was in the interest of the state was forced to beat a retreat based on the public outcry against the bond. He, however, vowed to leave the decision of whether or not the state should obtain the bond to the incoming administration.<\/span><\/p>\n Ogun State with the crisis in the House of Assembly has been running a government with a crippled legislative arm. The legislature which is part of the tripod of government in a democratic setting has been made ineffective while attempts by the National Assembly to address the problem were fruitless.<\/span><\/p>\n The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, buttressed this in an interview with journalists in Abeokuta , recently when he maintained that the members of the House of Representatives took a decision towards resolution of the crisis but the Senate failed to follow suit in ensuring the passage of the resolutions reached.<\/span><\/p>\n While Daniel is expected to hand over to a new administration on May 29, the legislative dispensation is expected to end by June 6. The people of Ogun State anxiously await the drama that may occur over who will lead the state House of Assembly between Egbetokun and Coker during the joint sitting of the outgoing and incoming members of the House of Assembly expected to herald the end of the present legislative season. The sitting may also put to rest the authenticity of claims as regards the whereabouts of the assembly\u2019s mace; as Egbetokun had claimed to be in possession of the authentic mace of the House and accused the Coker led lawmakers of holding their sittings with an improvised symbol of the House.<\/span><\/p>\n The debt profile of Ogun State might be another worrisome issue to the incoming administration as Daniel in a recent interview put the debt profile of the state at about N20bn. The claims of the governor negated that of key political analysts in the state, who maintained that the debt profile of the state should be between the range of N80bn and N100bn.<\/span><\/p>\n The governorship candidate of the PDP in the state in the just concluded general elections, Chief Adetunji Olurin, had stated that with the debt profile of the state, it may be impossible for the incoming administration to run qualitative free education. He maintained that this would be more difficult as the state might need about N100m from its monthly resources to service its debt.<\/span><\/p>\n The state of education in Ogun State is another source of worry for an incoming administration. The Ogun State owned university in Ago Iwoye was recently closed for several months owing to industrial action embarked upon by various unions in the institutions. Most of the lecturers had been sacked while some resigned over perceived irreconcilable differences with the university management. The situation has weakened both teaching and learning in the institution.<\/span><\/p>\n The state of roads in the state has also been described as deplorable, a development that has been alleged to have hindered the movement of goods and services in the state,<\/span><\/p>\n In a state with a work force of about 40,000, the allocation from the federation account accruable to the state can\u2019t solve its problems and the internally generated revenue is nothing but encouraging. Therefore, meeting up with the numerous challenges of addressing the myriads of developmental needs of the people by a willing government might be a problem.<\/span><\/p>\n But Daniel had maintained that with the various policies put in place by his administration, the internally generated revenue of the state would soon be encouraging. He disclosed that the holiday tax given to some industries in encouraging investors in the state would soon be over, adding that a huge foreign revenue would also be accruable to the state annually from the investment initiative put in place by his administration. He envisaged the possibility of huge internally generated revenue for an incoming administration in no distant future.<\/span><\/p>\n But with the present low revenue generation and the low revenue accruable from the Federation Account, Amosun, who also promised to invest 20 per cent of the state\u2019s resources on the education sector, may find it difficult to fulfill his promises to the people of the state.<\/span><\/p>\n As the May 29, 2011 handing over date inches closer, a group, Ogun Fellow of the Order of Constructive Opposition reminded the governor-elect not to disappoint the people of the state on the numerous promises made before the elections.<\/span><\/p>\n The group in the statement signed by its secretary, Mr. Adedeji Odekunle, urged Amosun, whom it described as a critic of the N100bn bond not to obtain the loan. The group also advised the incoming administration to fulfill its promises to the electorate citing free education, qualitative healthcare and provisions of social amenities among others.<\/span><\/p>\n But Amosun too seems to have gird his loins as he has set machinery in motion to facilitate the developmental drive of the ACN administration in the state. He appointed some committees to assist in the formulation of policies that would drive the state while making former vice chancellor of Crescent University Abeokuta, Prof. Sheriffdeen Tella, as head of Education Committee. He also asked Prof. Lawon Odusoga and Prof. Bola Okuneye to lead the Health and Agricultural, Rural Development and Industrialisation committees among the six committees inaugurated in Abeokuta last Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n Tella, a former lecturer of the Ogun State owned Olabisi Onabanjo University, allegedly lost his job as a lecturer of the state-owned university over his position on the state administration\u2019s plan to obtain the controversial N100bn bond.<\/span><\/p>\n Apart from the six committees, the governor-elect also inaugurated 25 work groups in developing a holistic and realistic policy document that will drive the developmental programmes of the ACN in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n