THISDAYonline

To the people of Oyo State, today is an important day. It is important not just because it is the day of birth of the incumbent Chief Executive of the State, but because of the fact that the day offers yet another opportunity for the people to know more about the collosus that has been presiding over the affairs of the State in the last 19 months.

When the Governor celebrated his 61st Birthday last year, his government was barely 9 months old then. And between May 29,1999 when he assumed office as the Executive Governor of Oyo State and January 20,2000 when he celebrated his birthday, Lam Adesina has shown the whole world that he is not only mature in age but that he possesses the wisdom of Solomon.

That was a year ago. The Governor has scored another goal. He has advanced in age by one year but with more wisdom than the celebration last year.

That Lam Adesina turns 62 years on earth calls for celebration. It is a celebration of a soul that has triumphed over many tragedies. A celebration of the universality and uniqueness of the man called LAM.

But as Alhaji Lam Adesina marks his 62nd birthday today, the question is whether he really needs to roll out the drum. A corollary to this question is: what lesson is the birthday to the citizens he governs? Naturally, 62 years in the life of any individual is a milestone worthy of celebration. But Alhaji Adesina is not clocking 62 years today as an ordinary man but as the Executive Governor of Oyo State.

And to answer the question on the necessity for celebration of the Governor's birthday, one may have to x-ray the life of Alhaji Adesina not from his childhood but from the time he became the Executive Governor of the State.

The assessment of Lam's performance in the State would begin with his intuitive understanding of the language of democracy and would probably end with his avowed commitment to the four cardinal programmes of the Alliance for Democracy, that is: free education, free health, gainful employment for all and rural integration.

In all these four, Alhaji Lam Adesina has performed tremendously well in the last 19 months. Lam at 62 has demonstrated that he is not an ideological demagogue but a realist with pragmatic concept.

Lam is a victim of his party's programme and he has been doing everything to see that no stone is left unturned for the successful implementation of these four cardinal programmes. Lam is a man of honour who does not believe in the politics of deceit as is commonly practised in some quarters.

In line with his electoral promise, Lam declared education a free commodity in Oyo State the very day he was sworn-in before a cheering crowd who besieged the Liberty Stadium to witness the colourful ceremony. And since then, Lam has not disappointed the people. Along with free education came free exercise books, payment of examinations fees for Secondary Schools pupils writing their final examinations including those in Technical Colleges, payment of bursary awards to students in Tertiary Institutions, the release of 1.5 million naira to the State indigenes at the Law School, and the setting up of an appropriate machinery to monitor their implementation.

On the 4th of October, 1999, barely five months after his swearing in, Oyo State Government commenced free primary health care throughout the State. Consultation, admission, treatment of minor ailments, minor surgery, etc have since been declared free in all the State's public hospitals. Apart from making health services free, the government has also given the existing hospitals a befitting facelift while the Government has so far completed 10 new hospitals and health centres in the State.

Alhaji Lamidi Adesina had done enough within his 19 months of governance in Oyo State that a celebration at his 62nd birthday is highly justified. Within a short time of his administration, he restored tap water to areas where such had hitherto been non-existent. Not only this, most of the bad roads in the State have been repaired while some new constructions have been undertaken to open up roads in the State, thereby reducing the burden of transportation in the State.

Another area where eulogising Lam Adesina at his 62nd birthday would be justified is in the provision of gainful employment for job seekers in the state. Despite all odds, Oyo State is still rated as one of the best in terms of provision of employment. The State Government has given employment to well over 2000 graduates in less than 19 months in office to boost the workforce both in the teaching and the civil service. And if not for the imposed minimum wage, the government by now would have increased the figure to 5,000 graduates.

The government, in addition to providing employment in the civil service is making frantic efforts to see that our youths are selfemployed. In this regard, work will soon commence on the state Industrial Estate at the old NTC premises. The Estate has capacity to generate over 500,000 jobs when fully operational.

Rural development in Oyo State under the government of Alhaji Adesina has also received a boost in line with the programme of the Alliance for Democracy on rural integration aimed at improving the lots of the people wherever they reside.

Within the last.19 months, Alhaji Adesina's government has been able to integrate over 200 communities/villages through the provision of rural electrification and boreholes. This gesture is expected of an Ikija man with rural background who knows the agonies and challenges of rural dwellers.

An important area where Alhaji Adesina has excelled and for which he has been given kudos is his concern for the welfare of the people generally and the State workers in particular. It was the government of Lam Adesina that first settled the knotty issue of minimum wage and its prompt payment. There is no state in the federation today where payment of workers' salaries is more regular than Oyo State. While some states are still grappling with the problem of minimum wage and retrenching theirworkers, Alhaji Lamidi Adesina has gone further by increasing both the car and the housing loans of the public servants by well over 500%. Civil Servants in Oyo State now collect N200,000 and N500,000 as car and housing loans respectively. This is against the N20,000 and N100,000 car and housing loans being given to the workers before. This is a demonstration of the humaneness of the man called LAM.

What Alhaji Lamidi Adesina is doing in Oyo State should not be seen as a miracle or a camouflage. For a man who has undergone various traumatic experiences, a man who has witnessed the rights of others unjustifiably trampled upon by the military oligarchy, a man whose religious belief teaches oneness of God and man, the best he can do as he celebrates his 62 years on earth is to make getting rid of oppression and advancement of the welfare of the people his total objective.