Press Statement
The Socialist Party of
Nigeria (SPN) Osun State Chapter strongly decries Aregbesola government’s diversion
of public resources to building a so-called Christian Interdenominational
Worship Centre. According to newspapers’ report, the government has already
committed N51 million to pay people whose farms are being taken over for this
worship centre. Surely, hundreds of millions will be committed to building this
worship centre. This latest action further confirms our position that the
current Aregbesola/APC government is only using religion to further its
political interests, while wasting public resources on frivolities. In a country,
where the State is declared secular, Aregbesola government has been unduly
promoting religious tendencies of various hues and colours. The same government
declares frivolous public holidays and commits public resources to celebrating
private religious festivals. The governor himself has turned every public and
government function to religious venue, reciting religious verses! This clearly
is divisive and has the tendency to cause unwarranted religious acrimony.
More than this,
various divisive and anti-poor policies of government have engendered negative
reactions, some of which are expressed through religious prism. For instance,
the merger of public schools, which has created problems for many pupils,
students and their parents, has been used by religious groups to feather their
interests. While we in SPN are opposed to this merger policy from the angle of
the inconvenience it will create for poor and working people, coupled with the
anti-developmental nature of the policy, various religious groups have latched
on the issue to promote their private interests e.g. calling for the return of
schools to missionary owners.
Consequent upon this
horrible approach, there has been growing religious feelings with various
interest groups, most with selfish agenda, using religion to seek attention of
state. Rather than this stopping government’s frivolous promotion of religion,
it has given excuse for the Aregbesola government to use public resources to
bribe religious groups. For instance, prior to this time, the Aregbesola
government donated over N30 million to the family of a late church leader, to
build a mausoleum for the dead man! This is aside several other wasteful
spending on religious activities and donations to religious groups. Therefore,
this latest frivolous spending is just part of the long list of abuse of public
office to further political interests of the Aregbesola government. Maybe we
should be expecting building of religious centres for Muslims and traditional
worshippers; all from the state purse.
This approach to
governance is clearly immoral. In a state where more than 80 percent of the
population do not have access to potable/pipe-borne water supply, and where
tertiary institutions in the state have no functional ICT facilities, these
religious spending clearly shows governance in disarray.
The N51 million can at
least lay some pipes for water supply for Osogbo, the state capital, where potable
pipe-borne water supply has been non-existent for years. The money can even
procure farm inputs and equipments for farmers whose crops are to be sacrificed
for the religious centre. While government commits resources of the state to
pacifying religious interests, the state-owned university has been comatose,
with poor facilities that have made students and staff to improvise. Currently,
the fate of medical students in the university is uncertain, as the institution’s
medical programme has not been approved. N18, 000 minimum wage has not been
fully paid to workers, while over 20, 000 youths employed under the
government’s employment scheme are paid less than N10, 000, without guarantee
of secure and decent employment.
Government
mouthpieces, in defence of this ridiculous policy of the government, have told
us how Osun will become a religious tourist centre and a beehive of economic
activities through the establishment of religious centre. However, they refuse
to recognize that these religious diversions can turn the state into hotbed of
religious strife, if the current trend continues. Moreover, we ask, what
productive activities will take place in a religious centre that will provide much-needed
tens of thousands of decent and secure jobs for young and able people of the
state? If religious activities were basis of economic progress, then Nigeria,
being one of the most religious countries in the world, would have become an
economic Eldorado. What the government pretend not to understand is that
religious activities are mere consumptive activities, and not productive. What
Osun State and indeed Nigeria need is a planned productive economy under the
democratic management and control by working and oppressed people, and not an
archaic economic policies premised on medieval ruling system.
This diversion of
public resources to religious end is not different from the federal
government’s commitment of public resources to building religious centres,
while majority of the citizens are living in penury. Indeed, religion has
become a new tool by politicians in power to bamboozle the suffering masses.
Money meant for public good are diverted to religious interests to seek the
favour of religious groups and divide the people. It is no news how several
billions are wasted yearly by all tiers of government to sponsor people to
pilgrimage that ordinarily should be a private affair.
We of the SPN Osun State therefore call for the immediate
reversal of this obnoxious abuse of public fund. We demand immediate end to
undue and frivolous promotion of religion in the state. We demand full
employment for all able-bodied indigenes of the state, and expansion of social
infrastructures, including provision of potable water supply across the state.
More than this, we of the SPN stand for public ownership of the economy under
the collective and democratic management and control by the workers,
communities, relevant professionals and the working people in general, as a
basis of ending mass suffering in the midst of superabundance.
Signed
Alfred Adegoke Kola
Ibrahim
State Chairman State Secretary
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