By Qudus Adelodun
I came in contact with one offensive article written by a certain Sarakite who identified as David Titiloye. That article explains the vintage Sarakite: how they think civil servants do not matter, and so improvement in their welfare should not constitute a talking point or focus of the government. David sought to water down the feats the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led administration has achieved in terms of workers’ welfare in Kwara State over the last three years.
However, what he successfully did was to abuse the sensibilities of civil servants which is characteristic of his paymasters; telling civil servants they do not matter and that their welfare is nothing significant.
David himself wrote that salary payment is a right for workers. But what he failed to tell us in between to show intellectual honesty is which dynasty reduced the Kwara workforce to who cannot predict their take-home as a result of geri-gedi salary payment and outright non-payment at all.
Does this David live with us at all? Or he was only trying to fool himself? Which dynasty owed various ministries, departments and agencies months of salaries without paying? Which dynasty did fraudulent promotions for civil servants, promotions that had no cash-backing?
Does David know that the same Governor AbdulRazaq he was paid to abuse without wearing his thinking cap, paid these backlogs of salary arrears and has never defaulted in paying the civil servants till date?
Governor AbdulRazaq also implemented the minimum wage that the failed dynasty he is supporting never implemented. He has also approved the cash-backing of promotion arrears for civil servants, while directing that new promotion exercises be conducted.
The dumb defense of the Saraki social media marketers then was to say that there was cash crunch as a result of economic crisis under former Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed. Across the world, countries are suffering the deadly blows of global economic challenges today.
Add that to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown occasioned by it. Yet, Governor AbdulRazaq an administrator worth his onion has never made any such dumb excuse to not pay civil servants their dues.
He has been paying them as and when due. But their own dynasty was making drab excuse for glaring failure. That’s how you differentiate an intelligent leader from a leader bereft of ideas. The Sarakis are bereft of ideas. The only ideas they have are kleptomaniacal ideas.
It’s clear that the priorities of the Saraki dynasty differ from those of Governor AbdulRazaq. While the former prefers to milk resources and splash same on some entitled few, making them feed fat on public resources, the latter is concerned about the masses and democratising the dividends of governance.
That’s why you see their commissioners riding exotic cars while civil servants could not get their pay. That’s why you see that Saraki who was drawing salaries as senator was also drawing payment from the state in the name of pensions when our waterworks were down, schools were in disrepair and healthcare facilities were more or less some sort of penitentiaries. One is tempted to ask what Ahmed did with the various bailout funds he got from the Federal Government, including the Paris fund.
A government that diverted UBEC fund could not certainly manage those funds well. That’s why they owed salaries even with these funds made available to them.
David a chap with an overbloated sense of know-it-all says Kwarans should not rejoice that they have been moved several miles away from slavery to freedom. So many basic things eluded us in Kwara under the Saraki dynasty. Water. Salary. Basic education. Healthcare.
These things are coming back and Kwara is evidently shattering the horrible statistics. We are no more leading from behind. It’s worth celebrating! Though the opposition who shamelessly couldn’t do something as basic as paying workers’ salaries would not like it, we will continue to tell the story. So that Kwarans do not forget where we came from. A point where virtually all waterworks were damaged to a point where 14 waterworks have been fixed, with 2 new ones added to the list.
We are coming from a place where poverty was weaponised to a system that’s deeply committed and intentional about fighting poverty. That’s why we have a significant drop in poverty rate in Kwara.
For the Sarakites, civil servants and factors that make the livelihood of the masses a lot easier do not matter. That’s why they treated civil servants like a piece of rag. That’s why they did not pay their emoluments as and when due. That’s why they didn’t implement the minimum wage. That’s why they didn’t cash-back promotions. That’s why the civil service was not provided working tools. That’s why the new administration did not inherit a single functional tractor. That’s why public schools were decaying without their government showing concern. That’s why water could not even run in our premier General Hospital, Ilorin and facilities were lacking therein.
The Sarakites’ understanding of governance and performance is when you are able to push out some white elephant projects that open up a conduit pipe for looting and stealing.
Even if you are not able to provide water, you can make up for your failure by building a failed investment such as Shonga Farms or Cargo Terminal and then beckon upon those at the top to come and commission it.
What state did the Saraki people leave Shonga Farms? It’s debt upon debt that Kwara people are servicing on it till today. Cargo Terminal was a failed project that was only used to fritter scanty public resources. We are still been haunted by the fraud that dogged Bukola Saraki’s Mandate III estate project.
What has Kwara benefitted from Kwara Mall in terms of returns on investment? We have asked these questions times and again. The Saraki elements should stop taking glory of projects massively funded by the Federal Government, such as the Ilorin Airport, KWASU, Post Office Flyover.
Part of what Saraki promised us when he took bond in the name of over 3 million Kwarans was a Trailer Park. Where is it today?
Unlike the Saraki dynasty, Governor AbdulRazaq is making a balance on all fronts. He is addressing the basic challenges threatening the existence of the people, just as he is embarking on capital, signature projects.
By the time giant projects such as Innovation Hub, Garment Factory, Visual Arts Centre, Sugar Film Factory, General Tunde Idiagbon Flyover, International Conference Center, and many others are completed, Kwara will return to the economic hub it used to be before the maladministrators of yesterday who were unceremoniously sacked from power came.
Governor AbdulRazaq recognises the worth of the civil servants. That’s why he has always prioritised their welfare, engaged them on policies of his administration. You saw him engage workers at the commemoration of the Civil Service Week 2022.
You saw the car prize handed to the most outstanding civil servant, and other prizes rolled out to civil servants. That’s a leader that shows respect for workers. We’ve had some in the past who couldn’t even provide basic working tools like computers, printers for civil servants, making them go through hell and hoping from one private cyber cafe to the other to print public and most times sensitive documents. What a shame!
To small minds like David, that we have crossed this horrible, pitiable hurdle should not call for celebration or acknowledgment.
Then, I also saw Ademola Banu, former commissioner of finance under Ahmed, telling unconscionable lies that they never paid civil servants geri-gedi salaries and never in fact owed salaries.
I hope the spirits of civil servants who have died as a result of the hunger and deprivation occasioned by their non-payment and geri-gedi salaries will not be haunting Banu and flogging him mercilessly at night. Lol!
But that’s who Sarakites are. They tell unconscionable, stinking, unintelligent lies. See the lies also told by the arrogant Toyin Saraki which was immediately busted by some of our patriots.
One Olota also wrote to respond to my last article. It was watery and filled with lies. He said it was the past administration that brought major developments in Kwara North to them. I see.
That’s why their leaders were stoned build-up to the last general election and rejected wholesale by the Kwara Northerners. That’s a true reward for the major developments they have facilitated. How can somebody be so bland?!
They brought major developments to Kwara North, yet not a single radio station in the district until the AbdulRazaq-led administration came. Roads to that axis of the state were left in horrible conditions. Their schools more like prison yards. Where’s the development? Sarakites have turned to horrible liars, trying to rewrite a history still very fresh in our memories.
We’ll be here to always tell them to their faces how idiotic they are in trying to take Kwara people for a ride.
Olota also asked how many females are in the house of assembly. How’s that a function of Governor AbdulRazaq’s action? Are the seats at the house of assembly now appointive? It’s just laughable. Anyway, Governor AbdulRazaq couldn’t have had so much influence on who flies the house of assembly tickets of his party as of 2019 given he was not the party leader then.
Olota is supposed to compare how many female candidates we have in APC of today and PDP to see who has respect for females or not. He should also compare the number of females in the cabinet of the previous administrations to this one. That’s the comparison.
Perhaps Olota’s thought process is being affected by the rabid hate he has for Governor AbdulRazaq. He said their absent-minded guber candidate accepts that Kwara can be one of the garment producing states, but was quick to dismiss the unprecedented effort of Governor AbdulRazaq in that direction. Yaman should come up with his own fresh ideas instead of all these copycat approaches. Remember he’s been dragged to court for reportedly not paying somebody he contracted to produce ideas for him. Yaman can’t think on his own. And to think that this defaulter is the one promising heaven and earth in relation to workers welfare is quite amusing.
Olota would do better to make proper findings about the sophisticated industrial machines that the Garment Factory has been equipped with, instead of relying on hearsay and beer parlour gossips. Those machines are world-class across various sections. They do not compare to the ‘dakudaji’ machines they procured for Kwara Advanced Diagnostic Centre for which in fact they failed to pay the contractor. It can only be in his dream that the Garment Factory is for mere fashion designing. I would not be elevating such dull thinking.
It’s obvious that Sarakites are having migraine with the way I am enlightening Kwarans on why they must never do the mistake of bringing back the PDP. But I will continue to spread the gospel. I will also continue to hammer on the feats of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. How he has taken Kwara several miles away from the pitiable destination the Saraki dynasty drove it to.
Qudus Adelodun writes from Oro, Kwara State
