INL award will motivate me to do more –Aregbesola

By Temidayo Akinsuyi  -  Lagos

Rauf Aregbesola

Governor of the State of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, has faulted the use of the appellation, ‘Your Excellency’, for public office holders in the country, saying such titles should only be used after a critical assessment of the performance of such individuals after leaving office.
The Governor, who made the remark when he received the management team of Independent Newspapers Limited, INL, publishers of ‘Daily Independent’, ‘Saturday Independent’ and ‘Sunday Independent’, said opinion was derived from his belief and conviction that mere election and consequent swearing in into public office do not automatically qualify a person as being excellent.
Aregbesola, who expressed delight at his selection as ‘Daily Independent Man-of-the-Year for 2013’, despite a tough battle from other achievers that included performing Governors, ministers, key players in the private sector and legislators, said the award is not like any other because of the clear reasons stated by the team of INL for finding him worthy of the prestigious award.
Performance, according to him, should be the yardstick in judging whether a public office holder is excellent or otherwise.
He said there was little motivation to perform for whoever takes the title ‘Your Excellency’ from his very first day in office, adding that many politicians today are desperate to hold political office not because of love for service, but for self-adulation and glorification.
“Let us look at the issue surrounding the word ‘Excellency’. If adjectives are to give appropriate description to phenomenon, entity and event, then you cannot therefore judge a man before his performance.
“How can you call a man who has just been elected excellent? What is the basis of your description? Where is the basis of the evaluation?
“If we take our minds back to school, the evaluation or scores are pass, good, very good, excellent. But these are descriptions or assessment based on performance.
“What that means then is that you can only say ‘that guy is a very good governor’ after studying and evaluating his performance.
“After study and evaluation, the performance of the examination will determine whether the man is good, very good or excellent. You cannot be excellent before performance.
“So, a man who just because of election to administer a state, how come we say he is excellent?
“If we even delay the title, assessment or rating till after sometime in office, probably I can say it is a fair assessment. But given that title just on the basis of election or appointment, what is the basis for that?” Aregbesola asked rhetorically.
Back to the INL ward, Aregbesola believed it was given to him because he is a symbol of alternative perspective in governance.
“The core of my excitement is your basis for choosing me. My excitement about this award is the fact that the first line of the award, which was boldly written, says, ‘This award is going to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for being a symbol of alternative perspective’.
“We are never in doubt as to that. We are so clear in our head that this is necessary in our country. Because if you keep going along the line of popular thought, wanting to just play to the gallery, without thinking much of how it affects the majority of our people, you might end up destroying the vision”.
The Governor also listed some of the giant strides his administration has recorded since assumption of office almost four years ago.
He highlighted massive employment of youth, reclassification and consolidation of the educational sector in the state, launch of ‘Opon Imo’ (tablet of knowledge), an electronic device that contains all the textbooks used by pupils in the state, payment of N10,000 monthly stipend to  elderly ones who lacked all forms of support across the state, as well as provision of medical treatments to other elderly ones who are not qualified for the monetary benefit, either because they are pensioners or they have one form of support or another.
Others, according to him, include provision of emergency medical services for all residents of the state, restoration of the rich cultural heritage and values of the state through the launch of Omoluwabi Youth Club as well as creation of an effective security system which has reduced incidence of crime to the barest minimum in the state.
He further debunked the rumour making the rounds that the reclassification exercise embarked upon by his administration were aimed at obliterating the heritage and changing the identities of schools in the state, assuring that his administration will not do such a thing, either now or in the future.
“It is purely fallacious. That falsehood became so popular that you think it is something serious. You would also have read about Baptist High School in Iwo.
“We call it reclassification but the real thing we did was consolidation of educational facilities to maximise the resources we have in order to give the best education to our pupils,” the Governor said.