By Tunde Akanbi
The present administration of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq reminds me of the regime of erstwhile Military Governor of Kwara state, Chief Salaudeen Olatinwo, as well as the former military administration of Buhari/Idiagbon at the federal level.
The slogan of War Against Indiscipline (WAI) then was the key thing. Consequently, not a few Nigerians were on the look out and kept on their toes not to violate the WAI order. As it were, urinating in the public was an offense that could earn one a jail sentence, talk less of jumping the queue at any public or government establishment or even coming late to work.
Who said such morals cannot be resuscitated in the system? Though, this time around, under a civilian administration and not military. A visit to Kwara state now where it is no longer business as usual might convince one that a replica of WAI is back in the state of Harmony.
Since AbdulRazak took over the mantle of leadership, not even his closest aide can predict his next line of action or his next place of visit, everything done to achieve the desired objective of redeeming the state’s lost glory.
One thing about Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the Executive Governor of Kwara State, is that anywhere he visits, he puts smiles on the cheeks of workers of such establishment and if such organisation is moribund or about dying, he brings life back to them and in worst scenario, when a system is dead, he revives it.
A typical example is the state Radio, kwara State Broadcasting Corporation, where both the AM and FM channels have gone moribund when he assumed mantle of leadership, his visit to the station that did not last more than thirty minutes has done wonders to the station. Now, the FM station 99.1 is most heard, loud and clear, across the length and breadth of the state and even beyond. Though, the governor has not physically visited offices of The Herald Newspapers, Kwara State Television Service and other Information outfits, they have started breathing fresh air with a ray of hope.
Workers of some institutions or agencies that were hitherto owed several months of salaries now smile to their banks.
A more conducive and appropriate way of clearing their salary backlog has been worked out by the governor, to the satisfaction of the workers.
No doubt, his visit to various ministries, agencies and parastatals for firsthand information on situation in those places is an eye opener to the rots his administration inherited from the past administration. Undaunted, he has taken up the gauntlet and he is systematically working to redress the situation with available meagre resources having plugged all loopholes of financial leakage.
Then comes the issue of the fear of AbdulRazak which I described as the beginning of Wisdom.
The Engine room of any government be it military or civilian is the civil service.
A state Chief Executive or a governor will see only what the civil servants present to him.
But here in Kwara, the story has changed or should I say is gradually changing.
Probably, because of the fear of the unknown, fear of retaining their positions or placing them in higher positions, top, middle and even the lower cadre civil servants have opened up what is called Secret Files for the governor to see what the civil service is all about, including areas where the governor never intends to put his search light to.
Some are already seeing it as an act of disloyalty to their former bosses, some see it as sycophancy and some view it as pay back time by trying to take back their own pound of flesh.
Reflecting again on WAl era, it’s no longer business as usual in the Kwara state civil service. One thing, the incumbent Head of Service, Mrs Modupe Oluwole, has been hammering on even during the past administration was punctuality to duty and hard work.
Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq could be likened to a onetime military governor of kwara state, Chief Salaudeen Olatinwo who was then nicknamed “Otapiapia” because of the way he jumped from one office to the other, without prior notice before embarking on official visits. As a matter of fact, the day when civil servants would still be snoring on bed at 10am or would not even come to work and at the end of the day collect their monthly salary is gone for good under this administration.
One could even see the punctuality to duty of today’s civil servants with the long queues of vehicles on the streets between 7am and 8am despite the fact that students are still on holidays.
The commercial motorcycle riders popularly called Okada are now being engaged by civil servants that are not mobile to get to work early so that office gates would not be locked at them.
Another category of political office holders that corrupt the civil servants are some commissioners. These are a set of politicians that want to get rich quick. Some corrupt civil servants will not sit in their offices again immediately commissioners are appointed but at the lobby, offices or homes of these commissioners where they will be telling them where loopholes are in order to siphon government money.
Again, this time around, things have changed more so that the zonal office of the EFCC is at our door step and with the coming on board of a governor that has zero tolerance for corruption.
Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is a personality that is difficult to read, hard to understand and a personality you will not know if you have offended him or you have pleased him.
The most confused set of people now are the core politicians, I mean those in the ruling party APC.
If you ask them about the programmes or agenda of the governor, their only answer is that they do not know his look, his agenda or his next line of action but that the only thing they know about the governor is that he’s working. Our governor talks less but he is full of action. Undoubtedly, we have a replica of President Muhammadu Buhari in Kwara.
One major problem we have with African leaders is that they start governance on a good note, give them little opportunity or when political sycophants penetrate them and start to sing the song of second term to their ears and heads, then, they will derail.
I hope it will not be the same with our leadership today in Kwara. This writer which has repeatedly said it that he is not interested or keen in occupying any political office at any level is not against supporters of political parties being patronised but it should not be to the detriment of good governance.
One thing I have again observed in the state governor and his deputy, Mr Kayode Alabi is their humility and respect for the various constituted authorities as well as the separation of power and schedule of duties, issues which ordinarily result in conflict between the ‘Oga’ at the top and his deputy.
With this golden opportunity that Kwara now has, we should ensure that we guide it Jealously so that it will not elude us .
Am not a critic of past governments or one that praises present administration, but like the saying goes, everyone or every administration will have the opportunity to write his or her name in GOLD if their government does well for the citizenry.
Unlike in the National Assembly, the highest number you can spend as a state governor is eight years and already the journey of that eight years or four years of Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq has begun as he has already clocked one hundred days in office.
To Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and his team, I wish them a successful tenure.
Tunde Akanbi, an Ilorin based Media Consultant.
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