[dropcap]A[/dropcap]side of God who is the all mighty, and the celestial beings which we do not see, every great name, and the deities have at one time or the other lived among men, seen by all and interacted with men in all ordinary forms but within daily human interactions, human and societal aspirations, very unique and exceptional attributes are noticed in certain individual, worthy of emulation, and a reflection of cutting-edge understanding, and deep knowledge of human beings, their social needs and ways of advancing them in very enviable ways.
These distinct manifestations are carefully attributable to deep intuitive capabilities which however is not possessed by everyone. Such manifestations provoke an aura of love, emotion, acceptability, appreciation by many, in whichever society, or age in which the avatar exist, this also does not exclude envy and strife from other quarters, since we are living in the human society, which until death, we are in a constant competition.
Great, and household names today like Moses, Apollonius, Diony-sius, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Ghandhi and our dear Obafemi Awolowo never lived a life free of human competitions, criticisms and chastisements, especially among those who may see themselves as competitors for relevance (in any form) and opportunities, also those among their followers who may, at one time or the other, not understand or comprehend some of his actions and decisions, even when on a long run it, comes back as long term benefit for the same people who criticized it.
Scholars in various cosmic studies have explained it, that it is not all exist that is apparent, what had separated the Avatar from every other men, and has accounted for their enduring fame and greatness is positive application of divine gift of knowledge for the endowment of mankind and the glory of God.
Without an extra attempt at patronage, looking into the life of Dr. Rahman Olusegun Mimiko among us, and the benefits that our human society has practically derived from him, his judgments, and programs in politics, not just when he became the governor of Ondo State in 2009, but all the opportunities he has had to serve, he has added to humanity, enduring values that would outlive a life time.
He classes in the class of avatars for his special ability to discern the direction of the society and how to re-construct it to attract greater goods for larger people, especially in a Sub Saharan African country with history of colonialism and underdevelopment together with unplanned and weak economic productivity. One attribute, common to, and unifying Avatars, is TRANSCENDENTALISM.
Transcendentalism is a formal word that describes a very simple idea. People, men and women equally, who have knowledge about themselves and the world around them, “transcends” or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel.
The knowledge comes through intuition and imagination, not through logic or the senses. This poignant ability in Unapparent knowledge is a special power possessed by Rahman Olusegun Mimiko from childhood, which has generated more gains to his immediate societies in succession, that what he had personality gained.
Concerned about why and how people are poor and suffering in Africa, as against decent living among the largest population in developed European and American countries, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko participated in students struggles while as a student of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University ile-ife, studied Marxist materials and other scholars in political economy, and came to the conclusion that poverty is caused by politics and only with politics can you ameliorate or tackle poverty in its entirety. That accounts for why a medical doctor with all the bright potentials in the field of medicine, cannot find his joy in the corners of the hospitals, rather he is committed to healing the society, rather than individual patients.
With his foray into politics, an African community can now afford to offer free medical services for pregnant women from conception till birth. This is found only in Ondo State where Dr. Mimiko is the governor, and nowhere else. Over 10,180 free deliveries, out of which, over 2,300 cesarean sections, Among many other programs, numerous to count.
Job is a fundamental issue in the world today, since the Industrial revolution from 1760 to 1840 when the world transited into new manufacturing process, which included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, which started the demand for human labour in industry as against the earlier uses in slavery and feudal arrangements. The demand for workers/labour at the industry in the North America provoked the campaign to free slaves in the Southern America so that the Industrialist can train them and use them for industrial productions, paying them wages, and in turn, they started adopting a decent living condition.
Today, there more people than the jobs available in the industries, to the extent that companies can afford to sack and hire in the endless pool of prospective applicants. Africa is worse off, because cumulative economic realities makes it cheaper to simply import finished goods from Asia, Europe and America, than taking the risk of production in an unstable economy, making it more difficult to provide jobs or get jobs, as the case may be.
What successive governments had done is to keep loading the civil service in unsustainable ways because Allocations usually come monthly from federal government earnings, from proceeds of crude oil sales. campaigns of diversification all through the years are mostly rhetorical than any practical and realistic steps.
Going by our area of comparative advantage in Africa, and in Nigeria, a population of 160 million or more, which consumes food daily, and the government even imports to feed them, despite the endless availability of land and human labour.
Looking closely into the situation; as youths which form the largest of the population, and the strength of the country, are not attracted to agriculture, rather they keep seeking the corporate jobs that are dwindling daily, or the government civil service that is already too bogus for efficiency, and cannot even be sustained with present the structure of the Nigerian economy.
In order to solve this challenge on a sustainable basis, entrepreneurship is the way out this situation, but in all fairness, it is not an easy way out, but the only rational way out. With entrepreneurship, the youth will engage themselves in useful value production, cautious culture of respect for the society, so as to sustain acceptability of their business, goods or services produced, have opportunity to employ more persons and pay taxes to the government, generating of IGR for social developments and payment of salaries of civil servants.
That is how a healthy society will operate and we are already taking the steps in Ondo State, courtesy of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
Dr. Mimiko came out with a multifaceted Agricultural educational scheme that had not existed anywhere else but carefully carved to re-address in youths, the deficiency inherited from our “Civil service oriented” society, where people who take a vocation in Small Scale Agricultural practice and other ventures with the dream of growing it big (but fat monthly salaries are not guaranteed) are seen failures. To solve this challenge, he came out with Ondo State Wealth Creation Agency, WECA.
WECA offers youth a cutting edge opportunity to interact with professionals and consultants in a wide variety of areas in the field of Agriculture, inclusive of necessary I.T exposures. Not many youths today had the opportunity to farm with their parents as well as learning how to farm in School, but the WECA provides an amazing opportunity for youths to be given land, materials and input, adequate hostel accommodation with recreational facilities, technical supports and trainings, buy back opportunity for their produce, opportunity to access loans and grants to help put their own business on right footing by the completion of their training period at WECA. WECA has operated now for upwards of 5 years and there are amazing results.
Many hotels and eateries in Ondo State now serve fresh chicken and fish from WECA, no longer imported chicken preserved with chemicals. Over 1,700 participants have graduated from this scheme, now engaged and self dependent. Many more are expected, this is the way into the robust future. Pls visit See New Ondo for more details.
Like a Yoruba saying “T’erin ban lo loko, tigbo tiju a mi titi”, meaning if the elephant is moving wilderness, both the forest and the bushes shake in acknowledgement. Dr. Mimiko was commissioner for Health during Agagu’s administration, his “Health Ranger scheme” made effects all over the state, that people were so grateful, everywhere his name was mentioned, people vowed to support him in whatever aspiration he may wish to embark on, this accounted in part for the wholesome emotional support given to him when he contested for governor in 2007, practically, in his own name, wrestling with the Ruling party, the president and the incumbent governor. He won, the mandate was stolen, and the emotion never dwindled for 22 months, till he reclaimed his mandate in February 2009. This emotional investment and support, by the people of Ondo State has yielded for them today, an unprecedented turn around in the areas of Community Development, Education, Health, Roads & Infrastructure, Urban Renewal, Sports & Youth Development, and Wealth Creation.
In a recent discussion with Dr. Mimiko, he was asked, what are your plans when leave office, gracefully by February 2017? he responded; “I want to create time to develop a new set of youth who can compete adequately in knowledge, people between the ages of 18 to probably 40, who would be able to understand the dynamics of politics and the interplays of economic forces, locally and globally, then use their intuitive ability thenceforth to attract greater good for the greater number of people, especially here, a weak sub Saharan African Community, being disadvantaged over ages. I have shown an example of possibilities with the opportunity I have, I want them to do more, and make Africa great, flushing out poverty, practically, and not just agonizing. I want to invest into them and prime them for results.”
Olusola Akinbinu is the Ondo West Coordinator for Orange Youth Network. He tweets from @SolaAkinbinu.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
