My Agenda Will Bring Unprecedented Fortune To Osun People, Says Ayoade Lawal After Declaring Guber Intent

A successful businessman, Engineer Ayoade Afolabi Lawal has joined the race to succeed incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the September 22 governorship election in Osun state. 

Declaring his intention to contest in the poll under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the Chemical Engineer said he had already designed ways to rescue the state from its underdeveloped stage. 

Speaking at the party’s secretariat in Osogbo on Monday, Lawal said his seven point agenda would bring fortune to the people of the state adding that industrial development would take precedence to complement the infrastructural achievements of Governor Aregbesola.

While addressing crowd of supporters at the APC secretariat, the governorship aspirant who entitled his declaration address: “Roadmap To Fortune: Industrialisation & Development In Osun State,” said 

“I am saying here without any iota of doubt, that under my tenure as Governor, Osun will see all round progress for our people today and for coming generations as my government will transform our dear state into an industrial and economic hub. And we will all witness it.”

He sought for the support of party leaders and members to clinch the party ticket saying “I need your support. When you support me, what you would have done is to support Integrity, Competence, Transparency, Accountability, and Empowerment of our people.”

His address reads fully,  “since my childhood in this country, I have been hearing about development. I have heard of ‘developed’, ‘developing’ and ‘underdeveloped’ nations. Nigeria, is said to be developing. Some dispute this. Such people call us undeveloped or underdeveloped. As I grew older, I realized that ours is an underdeveloped nation in need of rapid industrialization and of technological, economic and social growth. Alas, in many respects, we are either developing at snail speed, stagnant and/or retrogressing. But what is this development and how is it achieved? Why has it eluded us in Nigeria, and particularly Osun State, for so long?

Development is “a process by which someone or something grows or changes and becomes more advanced”. It entails “systematic use of scientific and technical knowledge to meet specific objectives or requirements” of society, which at this point in the sociopolitical evolution of Osun State should, in my opinion, focus on eradicating abject poverty among our people, freeing them from the most basic wants and positioning them for prosperity.

Indeed, when applied to democratic governance and economic growth, development and poverty, go together in an inverse relationship. It was the 1980s groundbreaking work of Nobel prize–winning economist, Amartya Sen, that changed global thinking about development from its traditional welfare economics premise which had hitherto focused on incomes as the measure of well-being. According to Sen, poverty involves “a wide range of deprivations in health, education and living standards” that cannot be captured by income alone. His ‘capabilities approach’ laid the foundation for the UN Human Development Index, and the Multidimensional Poverty Index, both of which aim to measure development in this broader sense. The later view that “freedoms constitute not only the means but the ends in development” is now widely accepted: development is more about its impact on people, “not only the changes in their income but more generally, their choices, capabilities and freedoms”. 

To define development as an improvement in citizens’ well-being alone does no justice to the term. It also implies lasting change. As an illustration, providing a farmer with a tractor or improved seeds can be an excellent, cost-effective way to improve his well-being, but if the improvement goes away when we stop providing the tractor or seeds, we cannot call that development. So, development also relates to the capacity of economic, political and social systems to provide for and improve the people’s well-being on a long-term, sustainable basis. Political leaders and leadership aspirants should, therefore, be concerned about improvements, their distribution in the lives of citizens and their sustainability.

Development is not the monopoly of any one country or state. Neither is it is a natural condition in which any state is found. It is a state that is achieved with deliberate thought and action and realized with the full focus of visionary leadership and achieved by a competent, innovative, and progressive government deploying the machinery of state at all levels for the common good. 

In a democracy like ours, government itself is attained through politics. Thus, we see that the politically-oriented can only fashion out a better way forward, a pathway to development, through political office. 

Osun State has experienced some infrastructural development through efforts of the outgoing government and previous ones. And we must commend them for trying their best for infrastructure is crucial for development. All responsible leaders and leadership aspirants should be concerned about improvements and their distribution in the lives of citizens. But for all-round sustainable development, industrial development should take precedence henceforth. This is the way to complement what has been achieved and to deepen the recent gains of democratic governance. 

By creating room for all citizens and foreigners alike to participate in industry and entrepreneurship, and by linking it with agriculture, healthcare, education and tourism, with the power of ICT in a secure environment, we can empower the youths, generate mass employment and improve living standards for our people. This is the core of my program and the mandate I seek to lead our dear Osun State. 

This industrialization and development that I contemplate is diverse, profound and far beyond the everyday idea. It is the ‘atari ajanaku’, the elephant’s skull, which is not a child’s load to carry. Only a leader with requisite integrity and intellect, who is selfless and above mediocrity, who has a broad vision and a large heart, and that has mastered the art of wealth creation can handle it. Only someone who has turned ‘toro’ to ‘kobo’ on a grand scale can decode, design and deliver it. Those who have amassed wealth without visible record of gainful employment outside politics and government, those without plausible evidence of how ‘kobo’ grew into ‘epini’ in their hands through industry or enterprise may talk about it, but they can’t understand it, not to talk of bringing it about. 

This is perhaps why all-round development has eluded us till now. Yet, key to healthy and rewarding existence in any nation or state is industrial and enterprise development which are vital to an improved economy and its benefits. It is the only way to guarantee financial inclusion, capacity and freedom for the teeming mass of our people in Ede, Ejigbo, in Ile-Ife, Ilesha, Ikirun, Inisha, Iwo, Okuku, Oshogbo, and elsewhere in our dear state.

Do you want financial freedom? 

Who wants freedom from lack? Who doesn’t want prosperity? Who wants life abundant? Who doesn’t want joy? If you want all the good things of life that I have mentioned raise your hands to your God. Yes, all of us want joy and good fortune.

Many dream of it. But few actively pursue it, as many wait for government handouts. Such people may have to wait till fortune locates them. Rather than wait for such to happen, I, Ayoade Afolabi Lawal, a thorough-bred son of Osun, Opomulero, who trace my lineage through my father to Ago Adumade compound in Iwo, and through my mother to Opa House of Ojutalayo/Ologbenla Royal Family in Ile-Ife wish to deliver a Roadmap to Fortune for our people. Through unprecedented industrialization and development in all sectors of public life and in a secure environment, we will bring peace, progress and prosperity to our state. As a true son of the soil, educated with a first degree in Chemical Engineering and Masters in Business Administration, both from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and well-groomed in our time-honored ethos of ‘Omoluabi’, that combine the best of human values and decency for the survival and progress of society; I say it is time to unite our values with the creative energy of our people, the vibrancy of our youth and newbreed competent political leadership to institute industrial, social, economic and financial inclusion, capabilities and independence and to promote high quality living for our people and sustain them everywhere they are in our dear state. It is my firm belief that the time has come to put the world on notice that ‘Ayotide si Ipinle Osun’, Joy has arrived in Osun State.

My good people, it is on this note that, I, Ayoade Afolabi Lawal, wish to hereby declare my aspiration and intention to contest for the post of Governor of our dear Osun State.

When democratic societies with as much material and human resources as ours operate sub-optimally, we need no oracle to know that the leadership selection process is flawed. The reverse occurs, when appropriate leadership is instituted by the combined intellect and energy of enlightened people. The best-run society can only be attained by positive thought and action of people that are willing to develop the state by voting and installing the right candidates in public office.