Aregbesola Inauguration: Agenda For The Second Term (1) For the good people of the State of Osun, the future starts today with the inauguration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for a well-earned second term in office as their helmsman. With his antecedents and a stellar performance he has merited the appellation of ‘symbol of good governance’ in the state. Having earned his spurs, the second term looks promising, even enticing. There is much to look forward to. For a start it will provide the symbol with the much needed opportunity to consolidate and institutionalize the gains of the first term. This is of fundamental importance. For it will ensure that the template will not be undone in the future. Institutionalising the gains is vital for future good governance. As Napoleon Bonaparte has very sensibly pointed out,’ Men are powerless in their (inevitably futile) attempt to dictate the course of the future, only institutions can do that’. He is correct. In his own case for example, no one today really remembers the decisive game–changing military victories such as the battle of Austerlitz. Napoleon is remembered today for the Code Napoleon which is the ground norm of French law. What this means is that the future can only be guaranteed when all the decisive game–changing innovations exhibited during the first term are consolidated and codified into institutionalized frameworks. This is the only way to guarantee continuity and protect the gains for all time. Therefore this has to be borne in mind as we set forth an Agenda for the second term. It is our belief that when the history of our times comes to be written, the ‘symbol’ will strike two claims. The first is that by offering an enduring alternative perspective he has restored faith in the efficacy of good governance. Secondly, he has re–established a progressive, social democratic agenda to an understandably cynical electorate. The two positions are inter linked. For by re- establishing trust in the beneficial intervention of good governance, he has demonstrated that government has a decisive and important role to play in the lives of men and women. In addition it has also re-established the philosophical thrust of progressive politics. This is that coordinated government policies will impact on the common cause. In doing so living standards are elevated by widening access to education, health facilities as well re–invigorating the physical and social infrastructure to a more enduring level. The alternative perspective which has now been established puts the human being at the epicenter of all government policies. In this way trust in the efficacy government has been reestablished. The multiplier effect of this is that linkages have been formed; coordinating diverse government policies into one with a view to elevating living standards, fighting long–term structural poverty as well as rebalancing the stultified rural economy. For example there is a linkage between the educational policies pursued by the Aregbesola administration and an upward trajectory in the productive base of the rural economy. To illustrate by providing free meals we have noticed an increase in farm production through assured markets and a guaranteed minimum farm gate price. The resulting increase in production is bound to naturally induce the emergence of agro-industries of all shapes and sizes. Naturally the increase in employment generation, widening of the tax-base and a subsequent increase in the government’s own internally generated revenue base will become noticeable. It is this form of linkage that will have to be intensified in the course of the second term. The structures already created in every sector will now have to be refined, constantly finetuned and fundamentally institutionalized. Aregbesola has already shown the efficacy of policies which trigger off enduring multiplier effects, they must now be deepened. An example is the key role of agriculture. In the second–term there must be institutionalized mechanisms to formally increase production such as guaranteed farm gate prices. Overall the second term must also look at and seek to adapt from some of the acclaimed measures of Brazil’s BOLSA FAMILA PROGRAMME which was developed to pull millions out of poverty. Luckily programmes such as the school meals already reflect shades of Bolsa Famila and are achieving the same effect. In our next edition we will conclude our exposition of what in our opinion should be the policy thrust for the promising new administration that takes off today.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 06:23:45 +0000
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