“The Sad Story Of The Imagbon Community,” a report posted on Sarahareporters on March 5, 2014 betrays a total mischief by the author. It boggles the mind why a writer would have no compunction in feeding the public with mere fictions, presenting such as the gospel truths.
“The Sad Story Of The Imagbon Community,” a report posted on Sarahareporters on March 5, 2014 betrays a total mischief by the author. It boggles the mind why a writer would have no compunction in feeding the public with mere fictions, presenting such as the gospel truths.
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And this guy calls himself a lawyer. I remember he was the one who wrote a letter requesting for information under the Freedom of Information Act about some on-going projects in Ogun State. So, we know his antecedent.
However, let us leave the messenger and address the facts of his message. The author claims, “Some have tagged the road project of the state government as mere ‘playing to the gallery.’ While others have proposed ‘village renewal,’ against the much advertised ‘urban renewal’.”
Has the writer ever been to the remote areas/ villages of Ogun State or he just conveniently chose to ignore the facts on the ground because they do not support the impression he was trying to create? Has he been to Ilara, Egua, Oja Odan, Tombolo, Tata and Ijoun? The longest road being constructed by the Amosun administration is located in those out-of-the-way areas, 107 kilometres in all. And this is not just a feeder road, the typical face-me-I-face-you road or just give-them-something piece of a motorway but a 107km international standard road, complete with modern features such as drainage, pedestrian walkway, well-defined median, bus stop, etc.
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The Ilara-Ijoun highway cuts across many villages in four local councils in Ogun West senatorial district. During an inspection visit to Ilara, as reported by Tribune, February 11, 2013, Senator Amosun, the governor of Ogun State, said: “You need good roads to get your farm produce to the markets within and outside your local council and state. Everybody needs excellent road network to save productive time, reduce stress, accident and other losses associated with bad or lack of access roads...”
The newspaper reported further that “The people of Ilara in the neighbouring Benin Republic, who trooped out in large numbers to receive the governor, expressed gratitude to the Senator Amosun-led government for ending their distress. The governor made stop-over visits to communities along the 100km highway and exchanged pleasantries with residents.”
What does this extract from the Nigerian Tribune reveal about Governor Amosun’s cast of mind? Clearly, this is governor that is very much at home with his people, especially the grassroots. Again, the writer chose to ignore the 400 kilometres of rural roads which the state government graded and made motorable for the benefit of the people.
Now that the opposition, represented also by the writer, has conceded that more schools need to be built as mission schools are to be returned to their original owners, rather than commend the vision of the current government for not just building new schools for the sake of it but erecting state-of-the-art infrastructure appropriate for the 21st century education, the argument has now shifted to the location of the model schools.
Access to education is not just erecting more structures but locating them where they can easily be assessed. Oh, I see! Why locate the model schools “conspicuously” “for 'all to see.'”? And why not? Some of these opposition figures have built and are building private schools, but none of them is located in the bush. So the charge that “Amosun has tactically ensured that all projects, or would-be state projects, are situated where unsuspecting visitors to the ‘Gateway state’ could easily see them at first glance,” is inane.
The real reason why the opposition cavil at the Amosun model schools is because it will be bad business for them once these public schools open for admission. The current free education policy at the primary and post-primary levels, which has seen many children of private schools return to public schools, is already a source of worry for them. These models schools - the imposing structures – are equally changing the landscape of Ogun State.
Everyone acknowledges that the present administration inherited a house in ruins – economic stagnation, insecurity, the rule of will, collapse of public education, poverty and despondency.
The governor was never under any illusion that all these problems would be solved within a mandate of four years. Even if you throw the entire budget of the state to education, you will not solve all the problems. This is a sector that had suffered horrendous neglect for decades. So, you have to plan.
To the story on Imagbon community, I deliberately visited Imagbon community yesterday after reading the piece by this ‘charge and bail’ lawyer. This writer is a bloody liar and manipulator of pictures, situations and events. The desolate story building in that posting does not exist in Magbon and I challenge Adekoya Boladale to take people to where that building is located. That building is located in Baptist Primary School, Idi Aba. The building is meant for demolition because when the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) sent some engineers to inspect buildings that were to be rehabilitated in the school, that building fell among the ones whose structures had been compromised.
I also note that the people in Magbon community do not drink from that pond in the picture. A clean well is located a few metres from the primary school which is also not far from the pond.
There are many modern houses in the community with boreholes and wells. Let me also note that while there is one school building which needs rehabilitation, there are already visible signs that reconstruction work has begun.
Let me also state at this point that there are still some communities that had not recovered from the decades of neglect that they suffered but the redemption of these communities is already in the development plan of the state government, and is being implemented in phases.
However, there are general social services which all communities in the state enjoy as common services. For example, people across the state who could not sleep with their two eyes closed now enjoy a safe environment. The situation has changed today. Before May 29, 2011, the taps in the state capital were dry. But today, potable water flows from those taps, despite the challenges of having to replace rusted pipes and offset debts inherited by the Water Corporation. And by the time the major projects of the administration are completed, including the power plant for the Corporation and roads, the occasional hiccups in the supply of water will cease. Nonetheless, during such hiccups, the Corporation provides water tankers for residents. This is in addition to boreholes being provided by other agencies of government. School pupils of Imagbon community now have textbooks to use in the class by virtue of the free education policy of the present administration. They never had such in the past.
Resources are never unlimited anywhere in the world. And that is why the citizens of Ogun, especially at the grassroots are happy with the attitude of Amosun to public finance management.
The writer committed a foul and attempted to score an off-side goal through categorization that was not backed up with facts. Unemployment is an issue in Nigeria but the Amosun administration has done more than any previous government in the area of employment generation. Till date, over 45,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created under the current administration. Crime has reduced drastically in comparison to the situation before May 29, 2011. Ogun remains a huge construction site and thousands of jobs are being generated as a result.
Yes, the sprawling six-lane highways are all over; so are flyovers - in Sagamu, Ijebu Ode, Abeokuta, Ota, etc. Yes, the construction of the economically-strategic 32km road from Sango to Ojodu has begun. Even the blind can see them.
Of course, Senator Amosun has no money-making factory anywhere. From the IGR, which hit a record of N4bn at some point (compared to the N700m generated monthly by the previous government), the paltry amount coming from the Federation Account, the cut in the administrative cost of governance through drastic reduction in salaries of political office holders, the Amosun administration is able to repay loans, including those inherited from the previous government and meet its obligations to the contractors. It is this rare feat that is confounding the opposition, and rather than seek counsel from the Amosun School of Financial Management - free of charge - they recourse to mendacity.
Finally, the writer’s reference to the daughter of the late Chief M.K.O Abiola, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, was borne out of mischief. She only visited the community in furtherance of her NGO project - KIND - designed to assist needy communities in Nigeria. It is not true that she came to the community with a team from CNN or had anything to do with giving out N500 or any amount for that matter.
In conclusion, The Sad Story Of The Imagbon Community or Tale of Two Cities is, essentially, a figment of the writer’s imagination.
The Amosun administration will not be discouraged by the antics of the opposition but shall remain focused on its Mission to Rebuild Ogun State.
Soyombo is media aide to Ogun State governor
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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