Author: Abiodun Komolafe

By abiodun KOMOLAFE This is the Year 2023! As the New Year comes, it is custom for people to look towards new things. Unarguably, improvement over the present has always been the desire of human beings. The same goes with nations, which collectively look forward to improving their lots. Just as human beings make predictions, nations, too, do make projections. With a particular reference to Nigeria, to say that her present situation is revealingly appalling is not an overstatement. So, she needs prayers for the cure of her maladies and the betterment of her future! As Nigeria approaches the 2023…

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By Abiodun KOMOLAFE Originally, in the secular world, the State comes before the Church, because, by its institutional characteristics, it is the custodian of all other institutions. In other words, the State is the behemoth institution; co-existing, but superior to other social institutions. And that has been established since 1648! Thenceforward, the marriage between the Church and the State has been at the mercy of the State. The only exception is Rome, where a State exists within a State because the papacy is a state on its own. In the United Kingdom, the Church legitimizes the State. Succinctly put, the…

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By Abiodun KOMOLAFE In his book, ‘Emergency Politics: Paradox, Law, Democracy’, Bonnie Honig urges democracies to “resist emergency’s pull to focus on life’s necessities (food, security, and bare essentials).” According to him, “these tend to privatize and isolate citizens rather than bring us together on behalf of hopeful futures.” To start with, it is an undeniable fact that no society develops if and when the forces inhibiting survival instinct far outweighs the idea, fantasy and the pursuit of development. It is also a fact that this has been the bane of Nigeria’s development and her evolution to a nation-state. They…

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The Resident Pastor and the National Superintendent of Kingsway International Christian Center, (KICC), Pastor Femi Faseru has charged Nigerians to ask politicians critical questions before making their choices in the 2023 General Elections. Faseru made the charge on Saturday in Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State while speaking at the 2022 Diocesan Summit of Ijesha North of the Anglican Communion. The cleric, who incidentally is a son of Ijebu-Jesa, urged Nigerians to critically engage politicians who are vying for one post or the other on how they intend to change the fortunes of the nation, if voted into power. He challenged politicians to…

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Jokes apart, I am a fan of Nyesom Wike, the current Governor of Rivers State. He is a visionary and a revolutionary. He is also bold and sincere! Like Rauf Aregbesola, the amiable former Governor of Osun State, Wike has capacity and a bias for action. He is also a listener’s delight! The governor is a role model for how to be a good leader, especially when matters involving politics in a terrain like ours come to the fore. A man with a big tent and a sterner stuff, Wike speaks truth to power without fearing any foe or minding…

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There is a need for a society to exist, to be conscious of its existence, and to have a vision. The values of the society determine the type of politics it gets. The type of politics it gets determines the profile and approach of governance obtainable within the given society. And the kind of governance determines whether or not a nation will be built. To put it bluntly, while a society’s vision determines its development, the society dictates the type of politics that is doable, and the kind of governance pattern feasible, because politics is not something that serves itself.…

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By nature, development ‘belongs to those who know it, not those who have it or can buy it.’ It is like a picture, which one keeps working on. Parochialism, on the other hand, is a cultural entrapment. It is evil! With it at work, extant philosophies are laced with the cultural sentiment that a people cannot develop beyond their social thoughts. Once the ruling paradigm in the public administration is ‘awa-n-tiwa’, the society is doomed, with the social thoughts and concomitant expectations most certainly not extending the frontiers of knowledge or the ideas of development. Embracing parochialism lends itself to…

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One of the greatest shortcomings of Nigeria’s existence is that she has never evolved into a nation. The amalgamation of territories, imposition of the colonial masters, the unfortunate intervention of the military and its attendant maladministration of the civil-society, and the corruption-infested politicians have not actually given the country that opportunity to realize her potentials. To be honest, it is because Nigeria’s handlers have different motives and a diametrically opposed understanding of the concept of development that her journey to nationhood has remained an illusion. As we know, there is no generally acceptable interpretive understanding of the concept of development.…

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The value a society places on the philosophy of service to the nation no doubt influences an individual’s decision to work for his or her fatherland. The first prime instinct of man and necessity for human survival is that man works to earn a living and be able to feed himself and his family. The type of job, prestige and benefits attached to it are of secondary consideration. But, when it extends to the consciousness of the fact that one is serving one’s country, service then becomes a thing of noble and national pride. Of course, the first set of…

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When the history of Osun State is written for posterity, one of the critical areas of intervention where Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s name will be written in gold is education. While other areas of his Midas touch are already in the public domain for inquiring minds to behold, the recently-upgraded College of Education, Ilesa to University of Ilesa necessitated this piece. On Tuesday, September 27, 2022, Governor Oyetola assented to the law seeking to upgrade the College to a full-fledged institution of higher education. According to the governor, the “carefully conceived as a thoroughly entrepreneurial and innovative” University of Ilesa was…

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Being a former British Colony, Nigeria had the political misfortune of being bequeathed with a public administration system that was based on ‘Migrated Social Structure’; and it could not have been otherwise. After all, it’s the only systemic public administration structure known to the British. Consequently, and right from the outset, the tools of public engagement at all levels, in particular, struggled with the norms and values of Nigerians. Absent the domestication of the intrinsic norms, ethics and usage of the colonial administrative system over a period of time, the emergent system acquired a life of its own; deformed, or,…

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In the last few days, the social media has been besieged by a trending video of the looting of warehouses in the premises of Cocoa Processing Industry, Ede in Osun State, where COVID-19 relief materials meant for distribution to the residents of the state, were kept. To start with, findings revealed that the food items that were looted at the warehouses were donations from the Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19, aka CACOVID, which Osun State Government “had no authority to distribute” at the time. Why? “The CA-COVID Office, Abuja, was yet to flag off the food relief programme in the…

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Let me start this rather short Tribute by stating that the story of my contact with Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and my eventual employment at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) are already well-documented in the manuscripts of my future book. Let me also confess that this event-filled connection was the culmination of the timely interventions of men like the retired Archbishop Olukayode Akinyemi of the Anglican Archdiocese of Kwara; and Oba Oladele Olashore, the late Ajagbusi Ekun of Iloko-Ijesa in Osun State, in the affairs of my life. When, even with the possession of entry requirements, all hopes of…

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The Osun Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) has announced October 15, 2022 as the date for Local Government and Local Council Development Area elections across Osun State. According to the Commission, “all the inhibiting factors and circumstances against the conduct of the elections have been ameliorated.” However, the Osun State Chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to boycott the elections because they would “be wasteful” as well as run afoul of “the provisions of Section 28 of the Electoral Act 2022.” From the look of things, Osun PDP seems to be a lone ranger as other political parties…

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To those who have been asking for my views on the last Osun governorship election, let me confess that the keenly contested election is a story worth telling. Deservingly so, yours sincerely will give a bird’s-eye view at an appropriate time. Soon! Surely! That said, there is something about political orientation in Nigeria, which is also affected by the level of civilization. Inside that civilization are the levels of literacy and standard practice of the people’s norms and values. Whenever we mention politics, what is in the mind of an average Nigerian is an abstract phenomenon, yet, critical to public…

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Bureaucracy is a systemic form of administration. Since there is a universally acceptable standard benchmark, a deviation from the ideal type reveals the unintended fault lines and the extent to which the system can no longer function as a bureaucratic administration, as expected. A variation in the ideal structure of a bureaucracy, anywhere, is an aberration; and it generates or produces contaminated contents and a distorted organisation. In a bureaucracy, the Mafia paradigm that often emerges in a political system suggests a variation or an adulterated variant of bureaucracy, though a powerful one. Usually, this paradigmatic shift from the ideal…

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When we were growing up, we were treated to the fact that, whether things were convenient or not, elections, globally, were contests; that membership of a political party was a thing of pride; and that, in a contest, ‘you win some, you lose some.’ We were told that, in every contest, a candidate from a pool of aspirants would always emerge; and that, ‘while those who win end up thanking their stars’, losers would always go back home, most likely looking forward to fighting another day. Well, these contextual explanations become necessary, especially, when one takes into consideration the experiences…

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)-monitored party presidential primary elections have come and gone and, as the saying goes, the rest is history! With various candidates pushing private agenda, diverse groups’ interests being articulated, and differing institutional preferences already being canvassed, all eyes are now on the 2023 General Elections. In all, interesting times await Nigerians! That said, it is no longer news that, no matter how difficult it is to measure the impact of religion or religious beliefs in politics in Nigeria, it remains contestable in the public domain. However, the interesting thing is that the candidates of the…

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In 2018, I wrote a piece on the then governorship candidates of the leading political parties in Osun State. In the article, entitled ‘Osun: Picturing into the future’ (ref: The Nation, September 18, 2018), I tried to showcase each candidate’s quality as well as what his candidature meant for the peace and progress of the ‘State of the Virtuous.’ The election took place on September 22, 2018. Evidently, a lot has happened within the last four years: one of the candidates eventually became the state governor and he is almost completing his first term in office while another has gone…

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In a matter of weeks, voters in Osun will again cast their ballots to elect a governor who will run the affairs of the state for the next four years. With governorship candidates drawn from different political parties fighting hard to occupy ‘Bola Ige House’, July 16, 2022 promises to be a battle of wits between diverse contenders: the incumbent with experience on the one hand, and the political greenhorns, on the other hand, all jostling for the highest office in the state. Without a shred of doubt, it will most certainly be a clash of supremacy between unpretentious reality…

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The political formation, which eventually secured Nigeria’s independence, was powered by the ideals of independence and the expectation of Nigerians was that the country’s domestic affairs would be wholesome. However, immediately the independence issue got sorted, her internal socio-political contradictions and gray public administration dynamics became manifest. To put it mildly, things that were hitherto not so clearly observable, even by the political gladiators, were thereafter obvious to the public, especially, the educated Nigerians. The transfer of power was just a ceremony; government’s policy contents and implications on the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day administration became dawned on the people onto…

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At last, Osun State College of Education, Ilesa (COEILESA), has been upgraded to a full-fledged University of Education. The approval was announced by the State Governor, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, recently. Well, let it be on record that Governor Oyetola has by this singular act done wonderfully well. Founded almost five decades ago, through a law (Edict) signed on December 1, 1977, by the Brigadier David Jemibewon-led administration; and being the first College of Education in the old Oyo State, the upgrade of the-then Oyo State College of Education, Ilesa to a university is not only well-deserved and long overdue but…

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Not long ago, Osun State Government launched a feedback platform to further bridge the gap between policy implementation and the experiential realities of the residents of the state. The website, www.civicengagement.os.gov.ng, was launched through the state’s Civic Engagement Centre. According to Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, pioneer Head of the Centre, the website was designed to “serve as a feedback mechanism between the government and the people in the areas of the measure of development as well as ascertain the functional value of government policies and programmes.” Oyintiloye, who also doubles as Special Adviser to Governor Gboyega Oyetola on Civic Engagement, stated that…

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“As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.” Winston Churchill The Osun APC Governorship Primary, won by the incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola, has come and gone; a winner has emerged and losers have also started licking their wounds. So, the rest, as it is often said, is history. But, just like any other contests, there are lessons to be learnt. First is the issue of crisis management in political parties. In fairness to posterity, the structure and the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress…

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Evidently, the strategic engagement tour, recently embarked upon by Governor Gboyega Oyetola, to all the Local Governments Areas (LGAs) in Osun State, was a veritable look-back mechanism, which afforded him a rare empirical assessment of the public administration journey so far. It was a good opportunity to have a peep at the status of his performance profile. Also, it was an assessment of reality, a very robust and truthful interaction with the people, and a sociological opportunity to evaluate, first-hand, and undeniably, the impact of his administration on the governed. It is sociological in that the electorate would remember that…

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Of a truth, Nigeria’s major predicament is that those who occupy the driver’s seat in her public administration have masked their interest to appear as if it is the public interest. Of course, the pursuit of this interest is to the advantage of those leaders and their cronies while the led bears the brunt. Regrettably, this informs the types of policies being churned out by the leaders which, in turn, inform the outcome of our peculiar public administration and … our brand of politics. As the saying goes, the wrong we see are oftentimes symptoms of a deeper ailment! Well,…

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In the last three years, the alleged hostilities between Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and Rauf Aregbesola, his predecessor in office, stayed only in the realm of speculations. But, in a week or two ago, the cat was eventually let out of the bag when the Minister of the Federal Republic openly confessed that there ‘are now two factions in the State Chapter’ of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Thenceforth, the battle line seemed to have been drawn. But, while the shadow boxing lasted, it is on record that Oyetola has remained focused, unmoved by the display of inanities…

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Osun APC and the lyrics of reconciliation The National Reconciliation Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) came to Osun State, recently, in a long-overdue effort to reconcile aggrieved members of the ruling party in the State. Going by words on the streets, media records and all that, the expectation of Nigerians was that aggrieved members would be open to truce in the objective interest of the ruling party and government. It’s also hoped that the openness would enable the Committee to midwife genuine reconciliation among members of the same political family. Under the Concept of Negotiation and Reconciliation, where…

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The Year 2022 is here and Nigerians have a reason to praise the Lord for bringing us this far. While thanking God for His mercy, let’s go straight to say that the New Year is pregnant with all kinds of possibilities. One of them is that there will be a change for the better! Barring unforeseen circumstances, it is also the year of the proposed full deregulation of the oil and power sectors. It may sound strange, but, matter-of-factly speaking, 2022 is a year loaded with the acrimonious broth of primitive politics, disguised interventions, vain repetitions and inconsiderateness to the…

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Fellow Nigerians, if reports emanating from the grapevine are anything to go by, then, interesting times beckon in 2022. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Nigerian government is expected to fully remove the “unsustainable and economically disingenuous” fuel and electricity subsidies next year. In simple terms, the dreaded full deregulation of the oil and power sectors will most likely take effect next year, to pave the way for “market-based”, “cost-reflective” pricing mechanisms. However, government is said to be ‘forgivingly’ planning a “well-targeted” N5,000.00-a-month social intervention scheme to cushion the biting effects of poverty on about 40 million vulnerable Nigerians. So far,…

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