Osun masterminds take Adeleke along with them on plans to sink boreholes across the state

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has been reminded that his intention to drill a borehole in each of the state’s 332 wards is a backward step.

This is because he has been instructed to prioritize the issue of security in relation to election violence and to guarantee greater coordination of the state’s newly implemented transportation management system.

During a news conference in Osogbo on Friday, The Osun Masterminds, an Osun-based civil society organization, gave this advise.

Governor Adeleke stated his administration’s intention to drill 332 boreholes in advance of his 100-day tenure.

While speaking to journalists, Prof. Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, the group’s Executive Director, stated that after reviewing the Adeleke administration’s announcement, the group was concerned that the state government preferred to sink boreholes rather than look for other sustainable means of providing potable water for the state’s population.

Oyedokun-Alli argued that the move was populist, but that the state administration should have explored a more long-term solution.

“In trying to pursue a comprehensive water supply policy, the Governor is not supposed to adopt populist initiatives such as the sinking of boreholes at this point in history, but look more at water supply solutions that are more comprehensive and more relevant on the long run.

“There’s the looming Ilesa water project. There is also the Oyinlola administration’s abandoned mini-water program. There are also abandoned mini-water projects of Federal legislators who represented Osun between 2011 and 2015. These initiatives are more thorough and offer more practical answers to the state’s water supply concerns.

“We also dare to remark that sinking public boreholes that community members must walk long distances to access is degrading and, when thoroughly analyzed, unhealthy. We can develop more sensible answers to the water supply problem without turning to crude and populist techniques that do not provide long-term water supply.

“The state is also not supposed to abandon initiatives on which several billions of dollars have previously been invested for such non-pragmatic projects as boreholes.”

The group also called the state government’s attention to the state’s growing insecurity, including increased occurrences of kidnapping, abduction, and election-related violence.

It encouraged the state administration to reengineer the state’s security policy as soon as possible in order to keep security personnel on their toes.

The organization also urged the Governor to act quickly to prevent Osun from becoming an unsafe state while he is in office.

They said that this would secure the security and safety of people and property.

The organization also encouraged the state administration to establish tighter coordination of the recently implemented transportation management system. They believed that by doing so, they would avoid rivalry among the previous unions.

“The transport management system must not be permitted to become a tool in the hands of unscrupulous individuals that they will use to plunge the State into crisis. Osun cannot afford to have thuggery, cultism, and hooliganism reintroduced in the name of transportation management.”

The state administration was also recommended to take more forward-thinking initiatives, as the purpose of government is supposed to be long-term security of citizens’ livelihoods, not short-term plaudits.