NGIJ Releases Preliminary Report on Osun, Residents Support Oyetola’s Reelection

Rates Governor High in Education, Health, Staff Welfare, Infrastructure

Score Administration Low in Sports, Job Creation

By Olorunfemi Adejuiygbe

The Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists (NGIJ) has released a preliminary findings on the recently concluded Governance Assessment of Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration in Osun State.

NGIJ in a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Secretary, AbdulRahman Aliagan 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 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 opinion 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 giving respondents opportunity 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 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 percent 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 till date.

Osun State residents rated Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s administration high in health, education, infrastructural development and staff Welfare with over fifty (50) percent of total respondents ticking strongly Agree and agree in questions relating to aforementioned sectors.

In health, 4750 respondents representing 50.9 percent of total respondents strongly agree that 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 Statewide Health Insurance Scheme.

Under the education sector, 3008 out of 9332 respondents representing 32.2 percent filled Agree while 2920 strongly agreed that the current administration has introduced policies to improve the education sector. Although, 21 percent of respondents feel Oyetola led administration has not done enough in 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 who said the governor is resolving mountain of challenges inherited from his predecessor ranging from payment of half salary, embargo on promotion and injurious implementation of Contributory Pension scheme. He added that the owned Tertiary institutions have not embark on strike since inception of Governor Oyetola administration, saying that the government has commenced full implementation of CONPCASS and cash backed 2019 and 2020 promotion.

Also collaborating this, the President of 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 office.

The APC led administration also got thumbs up in infrastructural development with 56.8 percent of respondents ticking strongly agree and agree while 39.6 percent feel the current administration has not done enough in areas of infrastructural development.

On Staff Welfare, 64 percent of respondents believe Oyetola administration has been sensitive to welfare of civil servants and Pensioners through steady payment of full Salaries and pensions. The Labour leaders also aligned with this position during NGIJ focus group discussion but however tasked Governor Oyetola administration on payment of Inherited half salaries.

Meanwhile, the respondents rated the current administration low in the area of Sports development with 42 percent that strongly disagree/disagree on government paying attention to the sector.

Responses on whether the APC led administration by Governor Gboyega Oyetola deserves a second term revealed that majority support his reelection as 5793 out 9332 representing 62 percent 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 reelection. 830 did not take a stand on this issue. During interviews and focus group discussion conducted by NGIJ Investigation team in Osun state, some stakeholders feel Governor Oyetola deservers 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 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 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 NGIJ Governance Assessment in Osun and Kwara States will be unveil at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja before the end of 2022 Q3.