PMParrot/Parrot Xtra’s correspondent, EMMANUEL ADENIRAN recently had an encounter with the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, she shared her view on how the Governor Adegboyega Oyetola-led government in the state has been redefining educational and economic policies in the state. The lady from Odo-Otin Local Government Area of the state equally had messages for the people of the state. Enjoy:
Before this time, you were heading one of the prominent media houses in Nigeria, what actually informed your decision to join politics?
No. I did not join politics. I came to serve and be an image-maker in my home state. I still see myself largely as a journalist and media practitioner in a political office and to use the office to serve my people and my constituency.
Can you share with us your experience since you joined the government of Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola?
It has been very interesting and educative. It has taught me new things about governance. It has taught me that when you have people who are coming from a corporate background, their attitude to governance is different. When you are working with somebody who is well brought up and has regards for family and cultural values of the Yoruba people, it is different from an individual who thinks he is entitled to that office. My principal always feels blessed to be able to serve. He feels that it is a calling that he must not disrespect. Working with him has taught me that there are good people in politics. There are politicians that are good people and there are politicians who want to make a difference.
Governor Gboyega Oyetola is a politician who wants to make a difference and leave Osun State better than he met it. He has a limitless energy and he drives all of us. We try to catch up with him because he has energy to work non-stop.
In addition, he travels across the country and goes straight from the airport to his desk. He is a hardworking and an honorable man who is committed to finishing very well.
What has been the focus of the government in the past four years?
The focus of the Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola-led government is the people. He checks the viability of his policies through the impacts and effects they are having on the people. His policies are about what the people of Osun State will gain in the immediate or at the long run.
For instance, he is feeding 30,000 thousand vulnerable people every month. We have done 12 streams continuously because COVID 19 has affected and ruined many livelihoods.
The initiative has brought a lot of goodwill for him, and this has shown he is committed to helping the people. Looking at the education policy, when he became the Governor of Osun State, he went for a statewide tour in all the constituencies to appreciate the people for voting him and during his interaction with them, they requested for a change in the educational policy in the state.
He then constituted a technical committee comprising of former vice chancellors, former registrars of WAEC, representatives of students’ body, representatives of teachers and ANCOPPS, which is the body of school principals and it was agreed that certain parts of the education policies he inherited from his successor in office must change.
After the policy was changed, the people have not stopped celebrating that particular move by the Oyetola-led government in Osun State. Whatever policy put in place by the government is meant to touch and affect lives positively whether in agriculture or in culture. Every Thursday in Osun is called ‘adire day’, we wear adire cloth to boost the local production in the state. Even the governor wears ‘agbada adire’ every Thursday.
Can you shed more light on some of the educational policies put in place by the present government that are different from those instituted by the previous administration?
The first thing is that you should not expect teachers to go to school and do their best if they are owed salaries. This administration inherited the policy of workers not receiving their salaries in full and when the governor was elected, he promised to pay salaries and has not reneged. Across the state, MDA’s and in the public service, the people are very happy with him and they are giving their best.
Earlier in January, the best civil servants, public servants across the MDA’s were rewarded with cars and they were pleasantly surprised because these are rewards for hard work.
Furthermore, we have built perimeter fences round in our schools to prevent unwholesome intrusions and constructed new blocks of classrooms.
We just recruited the first 1000 teachers into the state’s teaching service and this has not happened for a while. The first phase of the recruitment is for Science, Mathematics and English Teachers.
What is your view on the outburst of the former Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola against the incumbent Governor that he has abandoned some of his policies in the area of education?
Before we came on board, all the government-owned secondary schools were wearing the same uniform. If you are from St. John’s School in Ile-Ife, and you came to perpetrate a crime in Osogbo, there is no way you will be identified because of the sameness of the uniform, this led to breakdown in discipline and even artisans sometimes wear the uniform to beat up teachers and cause trouble within school premises.
Do not forget that the school uniforms are part of the identity, history of the schools. Ilesa Grammar school has produced Traditional rulers, Vice Chancellors, Ambassadors among other eminent personalities. Ilesa Grammar School has also produced a former Governor of Lagos State, in the person of late Chief Lateef Jakande, General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Ambassador Bolaji Akinyemi among others.
However, Ogbeni Aregbesola took away their names, dignity, uniform and the Alumni members distanced themselves from the schools because they believe it was not the school they attended but sanity was restored when Governor Gboyega Oyetola came on board.
What is the government doing to protect the lives and properties of citizens of the state?
Osun is one of the safest states in Nigeria. Governor Oyetola has been able to keep the state safe in spite of the challenges facing the country. The rivalries that exist among security agencies do not exist in Osun State. The farmers and herders live together in harmony; we have a community of representatives who assist the government and act like Personal Assistants to the Governor.
The Amotekun and our hunters’ squad are also very effective in information gathering and intelligence. We have established a joint task force that helps to keep the state safe. The state has an intelligence gathering that helps to monitor the activities of strangers whose aim is to perpetrate crime.
What is the state doing to mitigate the rising cases of rape, sexual abuse and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)?
We tell people that there are things that you can get away with in other states but you will be made to pay a price here in Osun State especially if you engage in violence against women and children.
There is a bill championed by the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Kafayat Oyetola against these acts. We keep enlightening the people that you cannot continue to mutilate your own daughters because you think they will be promiscuous.
This is the year of our law and we are advocating to keep people informed on the evils of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). We endeavor to support victims of violence and rehabilitate them to live better lives.
Contrary to the divergent views held by many that APC in Osun State is divided; Can you shed more light on this?
APC as a party in Osun State is still together. We are one and there is no division in our rank. I just came in from two major events of the party. The primary election held in the state is an attestation that we are one. The Governor won in all the 332 wards throughout the state to show that there is only one APC in Osun State.
The Governor is in charge and he is the leader of the party. The party is with the Governor and the Governor is with the party.
The primary election was a free and fair contest and those that lost at the primary election are being offered hands of fellowship to come back home. Our focus now is the forthcoming gubernatorial election, which is less than 100 days.
Do you sincerely think the Governor deserves another term?
This is a known fact and people attest to it everywhere that he deserves another term. The slogan is ‘Oyetola lekansi’. We need to enjoy this for another four years in office. I am not saying this because I am the spokesperson of the government but as an indigene of the state.
Give him four more years and I am sure he is going to do more to impart our economy. The economy of the state is much better now than before.
What is the Governor doing to tackle restiveness among the youths?
The state has a youth policy centered on empowerment and education, which is meant to give hope to the youths of the state. We train and re-orientate them to have value for themselves and they do not have to wait for government job at the state secretariat. We have the Osun Micro-Credit Agency, Ministry of Commerce, Youth and Agriculture that is committed to empowering the youths and make them business owners.
