“People decide on what they think of you before they decide what they think of your message” – Harvard Business Review (July-August, 2013)”
His pedigree, for Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde, spoke volumes about his message.
However, Oyo State was already on the verge of collapse before the advent of this engineer on the governorship stage.
Blind sentiment, cronyism, nepotism, greed, and a culture of indolence in high places had all been packaged as a staple for the hapless people of Oyo State, to the point where salaries were paid in ridiculous percentages, pensions and gratuities were wickedly put on hold, and corruption had taken root.
But because the people of Oyo State made up their minds on what they thought of the person of Makinde, they accepted his message of hope and gave him the mandate to be their governor. His pedigree! His message! His intentions!
Makinde, upon assumption of office on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, made his good intentions known by abolishing, with immediate effect and automatic alacrity, the burdensome N3000 education levy imposed on students in Oyo State.
Other measures have since been implemented to indicate that his pursuit of power was for the purpose of delivering the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of Oyo State inhabitants. He’s done a lot of other things well.
Take, for instance, workers’ salaries and pension payments! Within its first six months in office, his administration had paid more than what his predecessor paid in eight years as pensions – the Makinde administration met an N55.9 billion debt in gratuities (There has been a steady and consistent payment of N535 Million to retired State and Local Government workers on a monthly basis). Today, total pension payments are already over N13b in just two years. Salaries have not ceased being paid on or before the 25th of every month since June, 2019 – perhaps, the only one of such in Nigeria.
However, while some may not realize the value of timely pension and salary payments to society, the significance is not lost on the recipients, who now live like human beings and have the ability to plan their life, as opposed to the brutish, harsh, and uncertain existence they had in the past.
Most importantly for Governor Makinde are the intangibles that would birth a better society. His four pillars for accelerated development (2019-2023), health, education, an expanding economy, and security – are strung in a symbiotic nature, because it is only when you have a healthy body and qualitative education that opportunities can be explored for the expansion of an economy; and this can only take place in a secure environment.
In the area of infrastructure, energy, healthcare, education, youth development, trade, and commerce, Makinde has demonstrated that a good name is worth much more than aggrandisement. He is walking the talk.
Makinde’s conscience! My conscience! Your conscience! Our Conscience! Let it prick individuals as they assess the governor’s performance in the last two years.
Because perfection is not for mortals, there are gaps that the government openly acknowledges and strives to fill. And the people appreciate this.
Yet, in a poisoned environment where the opposition shamelessly parades an illusory sense of self-importance, Governor Makinde says he would not be distracted in so far as the end justifies the means.
When Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) asked that “if the end justifies the means, what justifies the end”, he did not know that a ‘Seyi Makinde would emerge in Oyo State in 2019 to announce to the world that the end, which is the output, is justified by the eventual outcome of a growing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base; improved education and health infrastructure that engenders better academic performance and builds a healthy society; preservation of lives and livelihood during the COVID-19 pandemic such that almost every protocol introduced by Makinde became the standard reference at the national level; introduction of a value-driven culture of governance that continues to deliver diligence and rigour in the performance and discharge of responsibilities by appointees; continued improvement of infrastructure across sectors; provision of tools such as cars, protective vests and communications equipment for the Police and other security agencies in the state as well as AMOTEKUN; and a governance model steeped in a display of human face and milk of human kindness. The list goes on.
Governor Makinde continues to justify the end because the outcome to be engendered when the massive parks and inter-changes at Challenge, Ojoo, and Iwo Road are commissioned to allow for organised flow of traffic and commerce around the edifices, the remodeled Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, expected to drive sporting activities both local and international and the street lighting project that would improve night-time business activities, security, and social life, would be massive.
So, when someone asks why the end justifies the means, tell them Governor Makinde of Oyo State is justifying the end because the people of Oyo State are enjoying better lives while he continues to plug gaps for even better outcomes.