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A stingy
Governor-General
By
Sola Shittu
Reporter,
Ibadan
It
was Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State who made a friendly joke on
Governor Rashidi Ladoja of
Oyo State at one of the ceremonies marking the latter�s 60th birthday celebration before
the grand finale at the amusement park. The Ogidi Omo had told the story
of how the celebrant loves to call himself the Governor-General of the
South West governors by virtue of being the occupant of that historic seat
of the late Obafemi Awolowo and the late Samuel Ladoke Akintola at Ibadan,
the political capital of the Yoruba race. �He loves to call himself the
Governor-General�, said Daniel, adding:
�But
when it comes to taking up the responsibility that is attached to it, he
will quickly say we are one and equal�. The crowd laughed, but Daniel was
not through with Ladoja as he cited another instance about the miserly
disposition of the Oyo State governor. �If we are traveling abroad, while
others may choose to go for the executive class, of course Governor Ladoja
will resign himself to the economy class,� he added. You may say that
remark is not so palatable about the Oyo governor, but wait till you read
this one from the� baranda� man in Ibadan, the Are Musulumi, Alhaji Azeez
Arisekola, who narrated the story of how he purchased two cars for Ladoja
and his friend but up till today, �the governor has not paid me delivery
charge�.
The
remarks from these two gentlemen, who are close associates of the
governor, go beyond the boundary of friendly jokes to the realm of public
opinion about what Ladoja prefers to call �prudent� spending by his
administration. Now what is the difference between prudence and meanness,
and what is the boundary between both? In other words, where do the two
begin? Contemporary English Dictionary defines prudence as �the state or
quality of being prudent; wise though before acting,� while the adjective
prudent is defined as �sensible and wise; careful to consider one�s
advantage, especially by avoiding risks, unpleasantness, difficulties etc.
On
the other hand, the word �mean� is an adjective defined by the same
contemporary dictionary as �ungenerous, unwilling to share or help,
unkind; of unpleasant behaviour which others dislike�. It also defines
�mean�, especially in terms of abilities, as �poor, bad, bad-tempered;
liking to hurt, poor or poor looking, as of building and of low social
position�.
The
poser now is, is Governor Ladoja a prudent governor, mean or stingy
governor? Lest we deviate, stingy is a sister adjective of mean, which the
same dictionary defines as �having or showing unwillingness to give,
especially money�.
One
can remember vividly that one of the allegations of the governor�s
godfather, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, in the heat of the feud between the duo
was that he is stingy. Again, at the inception of the administration, Ladoja reduced the wages of
political office holders by
40 per cent. Again, all the imprests for commissioners and political
office holders were reduced or removed completely.
One
day, Ladoja visited the Press
Centre at the Governor�s
Office and saw a staggering telephone bill. The governor simply cut off
the line and sent all the state correspondents away. Not only this, the governor
restricted the NITEL lines of many of the political office holders to
Ibadan. Not even the Chief Media Officer is spared, but he was generous
enough to allow them receive
calls from outside Ibadan.
Again, during his early days in office, NEPA came with a huge bill
incurred by the state secretariat complex. The governor simply told NEPA
officials to cut off the power supply to the Agodi Secretariat Complex.
And for more than two weeks, the complex was without electricity, but the
governor encouraged diesel supply for the power generating plant at the
Governor�s Office, only that when the governor or the deputy is not
around, there will be no power supply for any other top official in the
Governor�s Office.
Now,
when does prudence become meanness? As defined above, this is when the
action of the prudent manager simply becomes �ungenerous, unwilling to
share or help, unkind, especially of unpleasant behaviour which others
dislike� while its sister word stingy, simply goes straight to the point,
by describing it as when the prudent manager is �having or showing
unwillingness to give, especially money�.
Going
by the above definition, which defines mean as �unpleasant behaviour which
others dislike� there is no doubt that even some members of Ladoja�s
cabinet dislike his policies and are complaining of not having enough
funds to carry out government programmes and inability to back up their
positions financially.
So,
what is the effect of this attitude? It is simply waning
the popularity of the PDP government in Oyo State. Even though Lam Adesina�s administration received
less funds between 1999 and 2003, the monthly allocation to Oyo State
today stands close to N2 billion (N1.9 billion), about double of what
Adesina�s administration received during the period, yet there is nothing on the ground
right now to show for it after over one year.
However,
the governor was generous enough during his 60th birthday celebration so
much that the celebration lasted three days with six special programmes.
But his predecessor, Lam Adesina, has already taken him up on that, asking
to declare the amount spent on the elaborate birthday celebration, even as
some of his aides said the anniversary was financed from the governor�s
private purse.
Our focus here is not to
undermine anybody but to lay bare the facts, feelings, opinions of the
people and the effects of government�s policies on the people in a
democratic governance and make government accountable. It is for the
people to decide if Ladoja is stingy or not, after all, he has been told
to his face either by jokes or by frank talks. To change his attitude will
do a lot of good to himself, the government and the
people.
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