…Score him low in sports, job creation
The Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists (NGIJ) has released preliminary findings on the recently concluded Governance Assessment of Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration in Osun State.
In a statement issued Tuesday by its National Secretary, AbdulRahman Aliagan, the NGIJ said the preliminary report contained majorly the Data Analysis of questionnaires administered during the one-week-long exercise from June 12 to 19, 2022.
Aliagan who led the Guild’s team to Osun State said the NGIJ Governance Assessment in Osun State was anchored on Key Informant Interviews, KII, Focus Group Discussions with critical stakeholders, informal interactions with residents and administration of questionnaires to gauge the opinion of the people about the Oyetola-led administration in the state.
According to him, the guild administered 10,000 questionnaires in all the thirty local government areas of Osun state to assess people’s opinions about the impact of Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration on the people. The questionnaires used for the opinion poll were categorised into two parts with 11 closed-ended questions allowing respondents to pick any of five available answers i.e 1. Strongly agree; 2. Agree; 3. Strongly disagree; 4. Disagree; and 5. Don’t know.
The second part contained three open-ended questions on policies, programmes and achievements of the APC-led administration in Osun state. 9332 residents of Osun state returned the questionnaires administered by investigators from the Nigerian Guild of Investigative
Journalists (NGIJ) across the thirty local government areas of the state. At the end of the collation, 9332 questionnaires representing 93.32 per cent were returned for analysis. Therefore, 9332 respondents filled the opinion poll and their responses were used to assess the impact of Governor Oyetola’s administration in Osun state from 2018 to date.
Osun State residents rated Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration high in health, education, infrastructural development and staff welfare with over 50 per cent of total respondents ticking strongly Agree and agree in questions relating to the aforementioned sectors.
In health, 4750 respondents representing 50.9 per cent of total respondents strongly agree that the Oyetola administration has greatly improved healthcare delivery while 2500 respondents ticked agree. This shows that residents are feeling the impact of the upgrade of 332 primary healthcare centres across the state, construction of 120-bed wards at the State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro and implementation of the Statewide Health Insurance Scheme.
Under the education sector, 3008 out of 9332 respondents representing 32.2 per cent filled Agree while 2920 strongly agreed that the current administration has introduced policies to improve the education sector.
Although, 21 per cent of respondents feel the Oyetola-led administration has not done enough in the education sector while 1450 respondents simply ticked ‘I don’t know. This finding seems to tally with the view of the Chairman, Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State-owned Tertiary institutions (CASUOSTI),
Comrade Bidemi Adeboye said the governor is resolving a mountain of challenges inherited from his predecessor ranging from payment of half salary, embargo on promotion and injurious implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme. He added that the owned Tertiary institutions have not embarked on strike since the inception of Governor Oyetola’s administration, saying that the government has commenced full implementation of CONPCASS and cash-backed 2019 and 2020 promotion.
Also collaborating, the President of the National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS), Comrade Yusuf Agboola during an exclusive interview with NGIJ members on June 18, 2022, at the NUJ Press Centre, Osogbo lauded the Governor for stabilizing the education sector and reintroducing bursary payment. Agboola disclosed that Governor Oyetola recently paid bursary to 3100 students from 30 local government areas and area offices.
The APC-led administration also got thumbs up in infrastructural development with 56.8 per cent of respondents ticking strongly agree and agree while 39.6 per cent feel the current administration has not done enough in areas of infrastructural development.
On staff welfare, 64 per cent of respondents believe that the Oyetola administration has been sensitive to the welfare of civil servants and Pensioners through steady payment of full salaries and pensions. The labour leaders also aligned with this position during the NGIJ focus group discussion but tasked Oyetola’s administration on the payment of inherited half salaries.
Meanwhile, the respondents rated the current administration low in the area of Sports development with 42 per cent strongly disagreeing with the government paying attention to the sector.
Responses on whether the APC-led administration by Governor Gboyega Oyetola deserves a second term revealed that the majority support his reelection as 5793 out of 9332 representing 62 per cent of total respondents that returned NGIJ questionnaires affirmed that Governor Gboyega Oyetola of APC deserves a second term. 2966 respondents strongly agree while 2827 ticked agree. 2709 of the total respondents were not in support of the APC administration’s reelection. 830 did not take a stand on this issue. During interviews and focus group discussions conducted by the NGIJ Investigation team in Osun state, some stakeholders feel Governor Oyetola deserves a second term for bringing stability to the state through steady payment of salary and implementation of projects amidst scarce resources as well as huge debts inherited from his predecessor.
On the key policies of Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration that have improved citizens’ wellbeing, some of the respondents could not list up to five policies introduced by Governor Gboyega Oyetola but the reversal of joint school uniform policy, upgrade of College of Education Ilesa to University, Mining Sector exploration drive, payment of full salary and lifting of the embargo on promotion/employment in Civil service featured frequently in the data gathered.
Some of the respondents while listing landmark achievements of Governor Gboyega Oyetola mentioned the Olaiya flyover, Osogbo, Osogbo-Kelebe-Iragbiji road, upgrade of 332 health centres across the state, Ada-Igbajo road, 120 bed-ward at Asubiaro, Osogbo and reconstruction of Ara-Ejigbo road as projects initiated and completed by Governor Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola administration in Osun State.
The full report of the NGIJ Governance Assessment in Osun and Kwara States will be unveiled at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja before the end of 2022 Q3.
