The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Agenda

  • ‘Teachers crucial to transformation agenda’

    •King’s College rewards teachers

    Without teachers playing their roles appropriately in a vibrant education sector, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda cannot be fulfilled, says Prof Vincent Tenebe, Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

    Addressing the topic The role of teachers in Nigeria’s Transformation Agenda, at the World Teachers Day of King’s College, Lagos, Tenebe, the guest lecturer, said education is at the core of any development.

    The Vice Chancellor, who was represented by Prof Alphonso Ikeotuonye, explained that the teacher’s role in manpower development means that they influence the abilities of Nigerians to effectively fulfil the transformation agenda which traverses various areas of national live including politics, economy, power, energy, transportation, industry, agriculture, employment and labour, and socio-education at both the macro and micro levels.

    He said: “The Transformation Agenda is an omnibus development plan aimed at giving Nigeria and Nigerians new life. The teachers’ role in it both at macro and micro levels is very crucial. Teachers are directly responsible for producing competent manpower that man all the sectors of our national life, particularly the economy. Teachers can make or mar the nation’s education system. Without teachers, the restoration of excellence in education remains a dream. Without teachers, the future generation of Nigerians who are expected to consolidate and sustain the gains of the agenda will not be able to do so.”

    Underscoring the importance of teachers to the polity, the King’s College Principal, Otunba Dele Olapeju, lamented that teachers are under appreciated. He said the need to appreciate them was the reason he initiated a reward programme to commemorate the World Teachers Day three years ago.

    He urged the government to appropriately reward teachers at the secondary education level who hardly go on strike.

    “Government is focusing more on tertiary education.The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will go on strike but teachers do not go on strike. We need more encouragement from the government. We don’t have to go on strike before government should remember us,” he said.

    During the event, present and past teachers who had put in hard work, commitment and long years to groom the pupils the 104-year-old school were presented with such gifts such as refrigerators, flat screen televisions, water dispensers and generators.

    Some industrious teachers got more than one award in the 10 categories rewarded.

    Chairman of the KC Parent/Teacher Association (PTA), Mr Emmanuel Oriakhi, said the parents sponsored a category of the awards to appreciate the teachers for sustaining academic excellence in the college.

    “We want to reward our teachers who are responsible for the academic excellence of pupils of the college,” he said.

    Dr Olusegun Akinfoyewa, the chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the PTA teachers’ award, said the was painstaking, involving the parents, teachers, pupils and prefects of the school.

    The PTA rewarded the best Teacher, Mr J. A. Atoyebi, with a laptop, printer and N50,000 prize.

    The event also featured health screening, drama and match past by the teachers.

  • Southwest governors’ unfinished agenda

    Southwest governors’ unfinished agenda

    In spite of the massive and commendable efforts by the progressive governors of the Southwest political zone to reclaim and redo their region in line with the civilising vision of their iconic past, they have proved strangely deficient in focusing on a few key issues necessary to safeguard their legacies and forge a great society out of the perverted crucible bequeathed to them by their wanton predecessors. The governors, working on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), must now gradually begin to complement their fixation with infrastructural development with an equal or greater than normal fixation with creating a new social ethos. If the work of the governors is to endure, if their legacies should not be claimed by others or bastardised, they must be undergirded by a fundamental set of values by which the region is to be known and differentiated.

    I absolutely do not get the impression, by their works, utterances and dispositions, that the progressive governors of the region are quite able to draw the line between the development or recreation of the region’s broken infrastructure and the values necessary for the regeneration and refinement of the region’s essence. Somehow – I do not know how – Obafemi Awolowo had an instinctive feel for the ingredients necessary for the embodiment of the Western Region essence. Perhaps because he had a metaphysical grasp of the interrelationship between man and matter, he knew as a social alchemist how to balance economic development with human development. He knew, indeed, how to build the man and imbue him with definable and noble essence while anchoring those efforts on the foundations of physical and economic development.

    The Southwest governors have done substantial work, far more than necessary to win the next elections, in rebuilding the region’s infrastructure destroyed by decades of military rule and incompetent elected governments. Now, they will need to dig deep and show a greater appreciation of the interconnectedness between man and material things, and just how the two, in measured proportions, produce a great society. For in the end, it is not just schools, roads and hospitals that conduce to a great society, as indispensable as they may seem.

    I single out the progressive governors of the Southwest for mention in this piece because they seem to have at least a vague understanding of why it is important to build a great society. And they also seem eager to tackle one of the constituent blocks of building a great society – the troublous matter of infrastructure. But they seem baffled that in spite of their best efforts, not only are they still being heavily criticised, their states have neither changed fundamentally when put side by side other states nor have attitudes been reengineered in such a way as to create the desirable outcomes they are familiar with in foreign sojourns. They may make definite and perceptible efforts to rebuild their states’ infrastructure, but they unhappily discover for instance that in spite of their better efforts they still play politics the same enervating way other unaccomplished or even failing states in the country do. This failure is a reflection of the things they have either de-emphasised or are not doing at all.

    The progressive governors may not have noticed, but it is becoming increasingly clear, in the face of almost universal breakdown of law and order in the country, that the Southwest seems to be the last oasis of order and stability. While other regions have virtually broken down under the weight of religious cum ethnic and social revolts, with some even manifesting extreme and dehumanising forms of trade in human beings (or kidnapping), the Southwest has managed to maintain a semblance – only a semblance – of peace and civilisation. It is time the region’s governors began to take steps that are consistent with the desired fundamental changes in values in order to consciously build a society immune to the madness around them. Already, their insulator is being gradually eroded, as religious acrimony is creeping into social and political discourses in some of the states. Rather than seek to appease sectarian activists, the states must find ways to firmly and publicly distance government from religion. Appeasement of any kind will be counterproductive.

    While the Southwest has produced an integration agenda, an action that has inspired at least one other region, it has been unable to pursue its implementation with the same enthusiasm that informed the agenda’s formulation. This shortcoming is unlikely to be due to rivalry between the governors, for state boundaries are clearly delineated, and boundary disputes in the region are few and far between. I suspect, as I said earlier, that the governors themselves are not clear about what should be done to create a great society, or how and why a great society transcends roads, schools and hospitals. They do not seem to understand why they must enunciate different paradigms for democracy, for electoral contest, for the justice system, for taxation, for law enforcement, etc. In fact they need to appreciate why there should be some form of uniformity in these areas, in order to build or restore the civilisation that has stood them out for more than a century.

    It must be acknowledged that the Southwest will find it difficult to stand aloof from the morass around them, especially given the massive decline in competence and standards at the federal level and the erosion of values in high places. It is doubly difficult for the region, or any state for that matter, to be differentiated when the federal government itself, particularly through its electoral, security and law enforcement agencies, stands as a dangerous, if not insane, counterpoise to orderly and peaceful governance. But except the region makes conscious effort in creating a new social ethos, notwithstanding the countervailing forces around it, it will find itself drawn deeper and ineluctably into the vortex of mediocrity, confusion, examination malpractices, chaos and decay that have undermined the country in general.

  • Growth agenda for NSE leadership

    Growth agenda for NSE leadership

    THE Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is witnessing a drought of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) as a hangover effect of the 2008 market meltdown and partly due to NSE’s marketing strategy which needs to be more targeted and strengthened in both creativity and intensity.

    The institution need to attract further listings because virtually the companies listed on the exchange came on board by government fiat, namely, indigenisation decrees, privatisation and banking consolidation otherwise the number of listed companies would have fallen short of what obtains now. The NSE should intensify marketing and business development to transform into a target driven organisation in attracting listings.

    With the billionaire business magnate, Alhaji Aliko Dangote as the President of the NSE, market watchers are optimistic that his tenure will witness the listing of a good number of high profile companies and medium scale businesses with growth potential.

    Dangote is super rich, powerful, very influential and a role model who appreciates the benefits of businesses listing on the exchange, having listed a multiple of his own companies almost in one fell swoop.

    As President and an outstanding business mogul, who operates in the centre, it is expected that he will be a strong advocate of listing and also spearhead and the lobby of GSM operators to list their shares on the exchange sooner than later both as a patriotic act, and to also recompense Nigerians for their brand loyalty all these years, and to allow them share in their stupendous wealth.

    It is expected that the MTN brand will be the first to list for obvious reasons. It has enjoyed exceptional brand loyalty since inception even when it operated a somehow strict and inflexible billing regime until Glo stepped into the arena with the elusive per second billing system which brought a breath of fresh air as it were in a demonstration of the beauty of competition.

    The listing of GSM operators will create big waves in the capital market and return public attention and interest to the market. It has the potential to return investor confidence in the market overnight as investors will most likely scramble for their shares both for pecuniary gains and for sentimental attachments to the brands.

    Their listing will deepen the market. Initial Public Offerings generate attention and frenzy in the stock market and serve as public relations and marketing platforms for the market generally and the NSE in particular because of the sustained advertisements in the mass media.

    The power of information and communication in driving growth in the stock market is immense. It serves as a lubricant in a changing and dynamic market though the NSE seems not to fully appreciate the power of effective communication which explains why it seems not to have an obvious communication strategy.

    Information is one of the tripods and major determinant of stock market efficiency, the other two being transparency and integrity. Besides raw technical data which experts process for making investment decisions, educational information which drives the socio-psychological dynamics of the market also need to be structured and delivered at regular intervals with a maximum impact. The NSE needs to intensify communication in diverse ways.

    Investor education should be top priority because the high level of stock market illiteracy was also a major contributing factor why most investors suffered heavy losses in 2008. They blindly waded into the stock market without the basic understanding of the up and down operating nature of the stock market.

    The NSE should also devise to educate the investing public on the A, B, C of the newly introduced Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), and also the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS), which offers even better returns than equities.

    But how many investors know that? In the 1980s up to 2000, the NSE used to have a pamphlet on frequently asked questions on the stock market which the investing public and scholars found useful.

    A regime of the disinformation, misinformation, information mismanagement, under communication, ineffective communication and illiteracy, take away from the bottom line.

    Communication opaque institutions are fertile grounds for rumors, speculations and hearsay, all of which are inimical to stock market growth. They have the potential to trigger crises. Crisis could break out at any time, just as it could be about anything as events in the past have shown.

    Often time corporate bodies take issues of communication for granted as such they budget little or nothing for it because it is considered an intangible.They are lackadaisical about it until they get caught in the middle of a crisis and they will begin to run helter-skelter, and being penny wise and pound foolish, as they say. But the best way to manage crisis is to nip it in the bud through effective communication.

    Because of the dynamic nature of the stock market, the NSE should think of constituting a standing Crisis Committee and also retain the services of a third party advocate versed both in capital market concepts and operations.

    Now that trends are looking up in the stock market, it is also expected that the IPOs will not be long in coming to resuscitate the moribund primary market for a full effect.

    •Arize Nwobu, Acs, is the Lead Consultant, Charterstock, an advisory firm in investor relations, research and strategic communications with emphasis on capital market operations.

     

  • Assembly unveils southern agenda

    Assembly unveils southern agenda

    Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly recently held a retreat in Enugu where the members articulated the position of the south on some important issues like constitution review, stating that only a national conference can give Nigerians an acceptable people’s constitution, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu

     

     

    when some elders of Southern Nigeria, took a retreat to Nike Lake Resort Hotel in Enugu on Tuesday, January 29, 2013, the aim was not just to savour the serene environment of the resort, but to take a stand on some of the major socio- political and economic issues of the day.

    The 2nd General Conference of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, attended by leaders and elders from the 17 southern states, was chaired by former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme (South-East), and co-chaired by Sen. Chief Edwin K. Clark, (South-South) and Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi (South-West).

    At the gathering, the leaders deliberated on issues like corruption, national security, infrastructure development, ecological disaster and the on-going efforts at the National Assembly to review the 1999 Constitution.

    In a communique signed by Ekwueme, Clark and Gbonigi and released after the exhaustive deliberations, the Assembly note among others, that:

    ‘While we recognise the powers of the National Assembly to amend provisions of the Constitution, the right and power to review and give to Nigerians a Constitution is vested in the people of Nigeria, who remain the sovereign authority to do so. The constitutional right to amend the Constitution bestowed on the National Assembly by the 1999 Constitution of ‘the Federal Republic does not amount to and confer on it the right and authority to review wholesomely the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. The present exercise by the National Assembly amounts to usurping the sovereign power and authority of the people to give to themselves a truly peoples constitution.

    ‘That the challenges of inequitable states distribution, skewed federalism which has continually exposed the structural imbalance of our country, the basis of the federating units for our federation and the place of local governments in a truly federal state are critical issues that Nigerians must and can only truly and genuinely address in a National Conference.’

    On this issue, the Assembly therefore resolves: ‘(a) That the process of producing a constitution that truly reflects the aspirations of Nigerians cannot be the sole responsibility of members of the National Assembly. For there to be legitimacy in the process of defining a constitution for Nigeria, and as the basis for the resolution of most of the challenges that tend to tear the country apart, it is a fundamental imperative that a National Conference that would afford genuine platform for Nigerians to dialogue should be convoked to permit the emergence of a “truly peoples constitution”. The sovereign right of the people to give to themselves a constitution can neither be negotiated nor usurped.

    ‘( b) That a National conference is imperative to correcting the present national structural imbalance which has foisted inequity, marginalization and giving undue advantage to the north.

    c) That to bring parity between the north and south there should be created two additional states one of which must come from the South-East.

    d) That accordingly the Conference supports the demand of the South-East zone for one extra state based on equity, justice and fairness.

    e) That without prejudice to the issues aforesaid, the recognition of the present six zonal arrangements by the Constitution as the federating units of Nigeria is fundamental to the sustenance of the corporate existence and survival of our country. Accordingly, thereafter, the creation of states and local governments should be the responsibility of the zonal federating units.

    f) That Local Governments in Nigeria should be autonomous in terms of management, funding and administration.

    Founded in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on July 12, 2012, Southern Nigeria Assembly’s primary aim is to serve as a socio-political and economic forum for all the people of southern Nigeria. It is designed to be the southern voice on national issues.

    The chairman, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, confirmed this in his welcome address when he said his involvement in the convening of a Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly was the second time he would be involved in promoting a pan-Southern Nigeria organisation. The first was during the late General Sani Abacha’s regime after the north held a similar meeting on June 25, 1994, the eve of the commencement of the one year National Constitutional Conference. In that meeting, the northern delegates caucus had reached an agreement to ensure maintenance of the status quo, that is to ensure that political power remains in the north.

    It would be recalled that it was the counter meeting of southern delegates caucus, initiated by Ekwueme, that led to the agitation for power shift.

    Commenting on the effect of the initiative on his political fortunes, Ekwueme told the Enugu assembly, ‘It was suggested to me that my so-called “hard-line posture” in successfully securing power shift and 13 percent minimum for derivation were contributory factors to my inability to obtain the presidential nomination of a party I founded and nurtured to success. Be that as it may, I have no regrets as long as my guiding principles were a search for justice, equity and fair play.’

    He added immediately, ‘I believe I have said enough to show the advantage to be gained by Southern Nigeria speaking with one voice, not for Souther Nigeria alone but for Nigeria as a whole.’

    Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, in his contribution, used the opportunity to charge leaders in authority, especially fellow governors, to rule with the fear of God by shunning sycophancy.

    “Please help us build a better Nigeria of equitable justice and fair play of balanced desirability with human and material resources, devoid of cheats, neglect and a persistent rulership and domination by a certain section of the society and the nation,’ he told Nigerians, people in authority and members of Southern Nigeria People Assembly.

    In their speech at the Enugu meeting, the South-West delegates said their vision of the role of the assembly is to help build a better Nigerian nation, adding that the assembly has what it takes to lead the country towards the attainment of that goal.

    ‘The American founding fathers did not have our education or our exposure; what they had was a resolve to build a nation and with that resolve, they built what has become the world’s leading nation, with a constitution that has endured, with appropriate amendments, for almost two and a half centuries. We too can show a similar resolve.

    We would like to mention at this juncture that since our last meeting at Uyo, we have played host to the leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum. While understandably having different perspectives on the appropriate remedies for the challenges confronting our nation, we nevertheless agreed that these problems are all traceable to bad leadership, that a national dialogue has become imperative and that such meetings between various sections of the country should be encouraged,’ said the delegates.

    A release signed by Are (Dr) Kunle Olajide, for the Publicity, confirmed that the next meeting of the assembly has been fixed for Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday 21st May, 2013 tentatively or Akure, Ondo State, as an alternative.

    Among distinguished members that attended the retreat were Senator Femi Okurounmu, Senator Anthony Adefuye, Chief Olu Falae, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Are (Dr.) Kunle Olajide, Prof. Oladapo the immediate Retired Head of Service of the Federation, Senator Kofoworola Akerele – Bucknar the Former Lagos State Deputy Governor and Prof. Adenike Grange.

  • CBN backs BoA’s agenda

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to support the efforts of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) to reposition for better performance.

    CBN Deputy Governor, Financial Services Surveillance Dr Kingsley Moghalu said this while receiving a delegation from the Rabobank of Netherlands in Abuja.

    according to a statement, the delegation came at the instance of BoA which has just entered a partnership with the Rabobank of Netherlands.

    He said the CBN is in support of the restructuring of the bank, adding that it is a step in the right direction.

    Moghalu said CBN has a ‘strong role’ for the transformed BOA and commended the management for trying to transform the institution.

    He said the apex bank has been making spirited efforts to promote agriculture, adding that BoA has played an important role in this regard.

    The Managing Director, BoA, Dr Mohammed Santuraki, said the partnership between the two banks would produce the desired results. He said Rabobank has a similar history with the BoA, and that both institutions are poised for growth.

    He said the management of the bank has initiated efforts to create a viable sustainable institution that would not rely on its stakeholders for recapitalisation. He said BoA needs to become a broad-based rural bank with a licence to work both sides of its balance sheet.

    In a related development, a team of two senior executives of Rabobank, who visited the BoA head office in Kaduna, expressed satisfaction with the arrangement. The officials namely, Messrs Gerard Van Empel, Director/Founder Rabo Development and Frank Nagel, Head, Banking Advisory had interactions with the BoA Management.

    Also, the team interacted with some BoA field operation staff and clients to have a feel of the activities of the bank.

     

  • Agenda for 2013

    The year ending in a few days has been quite eventful in the education sector. Now that January 2013 is close by, we easily remember that January this year was quite tough. The New Year subsidy removal strike paralysed activities in all sectors. There was no work, no business, and no school. When school resumed, it was a struggle for parents to cope with increased costs.

    Some of the events that occurred this year still have implication for the future. We need to learn from them to ensure that the education sector runs better in the New Year.

    This year also had its fair share of strikes by unions in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions; riots by students, far-reaching policy statements, and more than its fair share of deaths, which unfortunately were not caused by natural disasters but man’s inhumanity to man.

    The killings of 33 students at the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, and four at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) perhaps topped the table of events that drew attention nationwide. Everyone was united in condemning the thoughtless murders of the students and we hope that the security agencies investigating the cases will bring the perpetrators to justice. It is when justice is served we can be confident that those who think of carrying out such dastardly acts in future would know they cannot escape punishment.

    The renaming of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) as the Moshood Abiola University of Lagos (MAULAG) ranked second on the table, following overt protests by students, workers, alumni and the institution’s parents’ forum. The case is still in court and we look forward to an amicable resolution to the conflict next year. We look forward to a resolution in the best interest of the institution.

    Not much outcry followed the release of the May/June 2012 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations results like in previous years. May be this was because there was an eight per cent improvement in performance. The percentage of candidates that made credits in five subjects including English Language and Mathematics was 38.81. In 2011, 30.91 reached the benchmark, while 23.71 made it in 2010.

    States like Lagos, Oyo, and Edo recorded improved performance because their governments made efforts to improve facilities in schools and invested in the training of teachers.

    However, we all know that 38.81 per cent is not a pass mark. It means that majority did not perform well enough. According to our grading system, any candidate that scores below 40 fails that course. At the tertiary level, the student is made to repeat the subject. So, while many states may be celebrating their improved performance, they should put in much more effort to bring the performance of the average secondary school pupil up to standard.

    The report submitted by the committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities also generated some interest. It was shocking to learn that only 43 per cent of lecturers in our institutions have the requisite teaching qualification of PhD, and many of them are recycled by the universities. To make matters worse, the committee discovered that though the teacher/student ratio is as high as1:100 in some universities, many of them are not even employed full time. I think the most scandalous finding of the committee was that while there are 37,504 members of academic staff employed on full and part-time basis, there are 77,511 full-time non-academic staff employed by all the universities. This is more than twice the number of academics.

    Like the Committee noted in its recommendations, the Federal Government needs to review the lopsidedness in employment to ensure that only relevant non-academic workers who would be fully-engaged should be employed by our tertiary institutions.

  • Mark: lawmakers have no hidden agenda

    Senate President David Mark yesterday said the National Assembly has no preconceived agenda on the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

    Mark spoke when a delegation of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), led by its President, Okey Wali, visited him in Abuja.

    Mark said: “All we are interested in is mobilising Nigerians involved in the process of the constitution amendment.

    “We have no agenda but that which majority of Nigerians desire.

    “I have heard people criticise my position on the desirability of state creation.

    “There is no part or geo-political zone in the country that has not requested for a state.

    “ It is not a David Mark agenda. We shall weigh the scale and respond to the genuine desire of Nigerians.

    “This is a democracy; everybody should be allowed to express him or herself.

    “What we oppose is a situation where a vocal minority wants to impose its views on the majority.”

    Mark said the amendment would be guided by the dictates of the constitution.

    “We shall not do anything outside the constitution,” he said.

    He said public hearings would be held in the 109 Senatorial Districts.

    The House of Representatives will visit the 360 federal constituencies to get the views of Nigerians on the amendment.

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu told the NBA that the process of constitution amendment does not require a referendum.

    Also, Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba restated that the process of constitution amendment would be all embracing, assuring that no group would be sidelined.

    He stressed that referendum as a process can only be accepted if the Constitution is amended to accommodate it.

    Wali suggested a referendum as a process for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

    He said it is only when all Nigerians participate in the process that the Constitution can be truly called the Constitution of the people of Nigeria.

  • Anisulowo: Why I back the Amosun Agenda

    Anisulowo: Why I back the Amosun Agenda

    Sure, Senator Veronica Iyabo Anisulowo, one-time Minister of State for Education, who also represented Ogun West (Yewa/Awori) between 2003 and 2007 at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, joined others in the state in revelry when Senator Ibikunle Amosun became governor after seasons of political trials.

    However, her breath ceased for moments when, shortly after Amosun was sworn into office, he, to her, was taking a ‘frog jump’ in the administration of the hitherto development-hungry Gateway State.

    She revealed it when The Nation asked her for her assessment of the Amosun-led administration so far. It was at her Government Reserved Area (GRA), Ilaro, Ogun State home. “Honestly, he has tried,” she affirmed before releasing the bombshell: “However, when he came in, I disagreed a little bit on certain issues personally, but I didn’t voice it out. I felt he was too much in a hurry. And I asked, ‘why was he in a hurry to deliver?’ Well, I wished victory for him. We that were in the PDP/PPN then, we knew that the state was bankrupt. We knew at that time that the then Gov. Daniel had done so many things beyond the funds he had on hand and that was he Amosun wanted to hit the capital market to borrow funds to finance the projects so that he could meet up with all his commitments. So, I felt his economic team was not working too hard and that it was too much in a hurry.”

    “But with time,” she confessed, “I found out that anybody who wants to deliver must also inculcate speed because there is time lag, minimum of four years, maximum of eight years. So, initially, I disagreed when he said free education, free health, free this. I was afraid and I asked: where is the money? But I quickly realised that when there is the will, there will always be a way. Politically and spiritually, things are not really rosy. But he has the will, the vision.”

    Explaining why her fears disappeared, Anisulowo enthused: “Look at the standard of the schools he is establishing. He recently promoted some teachers in the state. He is trying to bring back the educational standard to where it was 20 years ago. And that is the only way he can impact positively on the common people. I think he is doing well in the areas of health and education, considering the meagre resources of the state. Go and see what he is doing in Abeokuta – that Boulevard road at Ita Eko/Oke Sokori down to Totoro. Each time I pass through, I usually say ‘this man should come to my area (Ilaro) and do the same.’ When he started, I asked why he was demolishing people’s houses. But it is the people that were later calling him to come and demolish their houses because they had seen its beauty.”

    Being a one-time die-hard chieftain of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), ex-governor Gbenga Daniel’s party, The Nation wondered why she dumped the party for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Then, the Senator went down memory lane: “I came back from PPN because of the governorship of a thing. My people talked to me and said, ‘Mama, you have suffered a lot in this pursuit, why don’t you join the governorship train? I then said that since they had tied everything around Ibikunle Amosun, we had to move up and therefore, I came to the PPN. When I came in, it was my brother (retired Gen. Idowu Olurin) that the people were supporting. I didn’t support him for the governorship but I had to support the better one out of two evils. So, PPN was a better evil for me in view of all I had suffered in the hands of the PDP and some leaders.”

    At that time, she stated, “I could not do otherwise than to be with the PPN. But the PPN brought Gboyega Isiaka from Imeko. He came to talk to me about what he would do if he became the governor of Ogun State. We had a covenant which made me feel that it is better for me to camp with Isiaka than with my own brother who had never been involved in the development in our district, except the military. So, I supported PPN. That was what brought me into PPN.”

    When asked about her major attraction to the ACN, she further recalled point-blank: “It was basically because of Ibikunle Amosun. This ACN metamorphosed from Alliance for Democracy (AD). It was initially, AD, later AC. I was party to its change to ACN. We did the negotiation to the end. My spirit then went with the ACN, but not with my flesh. Why I did not go in my flesh because the atmosphere was not clear. What I was seeing and sensing was that ACN was not going to give Amosun the Ogun State governorship ticket and I did not know that there were groups of people gunning for Ibikunle Amosun and he did not tell me.

    “I am a conformist if only you tell me. But if I have a covenant with you, be sure of my 100 percent loyalty. If you tell me what you have in mind, I read Mathematics in University; I will work to answers. When he did not, I said, ‘well, let me leave him alone’. I was afraid of his Baba (Obasanjo). I spent all that I had for that election. When I finished that election, I did not have N10, 000 on me. The leaders scuttled it. He went to court to no avail. Again, I did not want to have a brush with Amosun no matter the party he belonged because I knew what we suffered together. When the ACN won all the National Assembly elections in April 2011, he called me and said, ‘sister, you should have been the one to go back to the Senate, ki le tun nduro se nibe (What are you still doing there?)” But I said no, it was not like that, not just because your party was winning. Even when I joined ACN, I gave conditions.”

    She spoke further: “You could see what is happening in Egba land now because their son is in charge. Amosun hasn’t really promised me anything but I know he has my people in mind. Now that I am here (Ilaro), whenever I pass through the Model School under construction, I don’t talk to the contractor but I know my presence will make it happen. If I move from here to Imeko and come back, if there is anything they feel I should talk to the governor on, I will tell him. He has been fast-tracking since inception. I’m back and he has embraced me.”

    As a woman, she described her experience in politics thus: “I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly side of politics. I was in the North for 18 years and when I came back, I told my good people about my political desire and they embraced me after seeing the activism in me. It is good in that sense. As a young girl, with the activism in me, they felt they needed me. They embraced me and Mrs. Iyabo Apampa who was already on ground. She had started with the PFN, while I was with the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) when I returned to Ilaro. In the North I fraternised with the UPN.”

    The good thing, she said: “They used us to fight themselves and that was the beginning of the problems. I became Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture and later, Minister of State for Education. These are the good sides of it but the climax of the bad side of it was in 2007 when there was a gang-up. Somebody had a pre-planned motive that an Ilaro person must be governor of Ogun State and therefore, that every budding tree in Ilaro must be cut off; so, I became a victim.”

    The ex-Minister expatiated on it: “That person vowed that I would not go back to the Senate if his choice person did not have his way as governor. So, I knew it but I depended on God because in the first instance, my going to the Senate for the first time, that particular person did not want me there because they knew that I would not conform to immorality. But God saw me through. There was little opposition then, but the governor on seat could not do anything against me because he had made me Commissioner, Civil Service Commission and he knew my capabilities and he was looking for a leader, but for a Yewa person, really. But, he did not support them and I scaled through. And because they had a plan of four years ahead, they felt that if this woman should go back to the Senate, there was a tendency again for her to want to contest for the governorship seat and they would not want that. So, they stopped me. I moved to All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). I fought them to a standstill with my resources and I won the Ogun West senatorial seat election but we know all that happened and that’s ugly side. But it has made me stronger. And when they wanted a Yewa person to be governor, I could not say, no person, but I had my choice and that was where we had disagreement.”

    On why she had a warm home-coming after her stint at the Senate between 2003 and 2007, she beat her chest: “I don’t think my district will see another Iyabo Anisulowo as a Senator because they enjoyed me. I ploughed back every kobo I made. There is no ward out of the 59 wards that I did not touch. Through God and I, many of our youths are today in the police, Navy, Army and so on. And till tomorrow, I still assist my people through my foundation, Vision in Aid of Citizens. I live and walk freely among my people. I know my people inside-out. I listen to their problems. I built a N55 million bridge in Ijale Ketu, but I claimed N15 million from the Federal Government because there was a limit for a Minister on such a project in a rural setting.”