Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s media aide Soyombo Opeyemi spoke with reporters in Abeokuta, the state capital, on the state’s debt profile, succession and other issues. Excerpts:
Recently, a former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, said the Ibikunle Amosun-led administration has not got its priorities right. What is your view about this?
I guess your reference is to the interview granted to a sister medium by the former governor. I think my response is embedded in the said interview. That is, if you read the spirit of the question put to the former governor, not just the letter. If you recall, the interviewer had said something like people being of the opinion that Ogun State, under the Ibikunle Amosun administration, is more developed than the period of Gbenga Daniel, making it to look as if the ex-governor didn’t do anything. Of course, the ex-governor would have done something. But that was the question put to him. We were not the interviewer. But if you read between the lines, it is evident that the question has said it all. Ogun is now more developed in comparison to the last administration. This is the view of the overwhelming majority of residents. At any rate, we can see these things with our own eyes. We do not need to blow our own trumpet on this.
There is a more fundamental aspect we tend to forget. That is security of lives and property. Yes, acknowledged, no society is completely crime free. But we all knew the situation before. We all know the current situation. Before Amosun came to power in 2011, you had banks and other financial institutions closing shops every now and then, to cite just one example. As you well know, the greatest cowards in this world are businesses. They don’t go to where you have insecurity. And so if the new government of Amosun was interested in developing the state, he must first confront insecurity. This is what led to his government investing in Armoured Personnel Carriers and other security equipment in early 2012. The law enforcement officers were equally motivated by the state government. You recall that those APCs were then the very latest technology, not old or refurbished and the Amosun government was the first to bring them into Nigeria.
Insecurity was contained. Now, banks open for business all-year round. About 120 multi billion naira industries have been established in the state in the last six years, generating hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect employment.
Are you suggesting the claim that your government focuses on roads and bridges to the exclusion of other social services is not true?
Of course, the allegation by the opposition is false. And those making it are doing so for political consideration, and sometimes envy. These opposition elements were of the opinion that the Amosun government should just have maintained the ‘face-me-I-face-you’ roads he inherited. These roads were so narrow and built so close to houses such that a man waking up in his bedroom could stretch his arm through the windows for handshakes with passengers in taxi cabs! Roads are so crucial to the socio-economic progress of any people. Indeed, Prof Wole Soyinka describes road as the fusing agency of human preoccupations. These same political traducers argued in the 21st century that Amosun should have built mud houses of the Western Region era instead of investing in state-of-the-art model schools! Can you imagine that level of reasoning? It’s like saying we don’t need GSM or Internet, because our forefathers were sending messages to one another before the arrival of these modern facilities! Or that we should not use aircraft for a trip to Britain because our founding fathers travelled by sea in those days! How absurd! Should a government in this modern age construct schools that will not factor in the use of technology?
The present government has even invested more in education than on highways. The sector takes over 20 per cent of the yearly budget. There is free education from primary to secondary schools. To give one example, the enrolment figure for JSS that this government inherited in 2011 was 158,972, but today the figure is 226,836! As I speak to you, there are thousands of poor and vulnerable women and their children under the age of five receiving free medical services across the length and breadth of Ogun State. They access free health through cards that look like ATM. That was unprecedented in the annals of this state. Indeed, if I may recall the words of Dr Babatunde Ipaye, the state Commissioner for Health, among the 36 states of the federation, Ogun is the most celebrated by the National Health Insurance Scheme. As a matter of fact, during any National Retreat of the NHIS, Ogun is usually the “Faculty or Resource State”, what others may understand as a case study for other states to learn from or emulate. Just last week, the “Wellness on Wheels” tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment initiative of the Buhari administration was launched in Abeokuta, and Governor Amosun has promised to purchase the state-of-the-art hospital truck as another demonstration of his commitment to the welfare of his people. And don’t be surprised if you begin to see bags of rice from Ogun State in the market in less than a year or so from now. Of course, this interview is not the platform to talk about all the outstanding achievements of the current government in agriculture, housing or others. So it is clearly a wrong-headed argument to talk about investment on roads to the exclusion of any sector.
The opposition has said Ogun State is heavily indebted…
What’s the latest figure or figures?
You should provide us with figures…
I asked because the opposition bandies about different figures that suit their fancy. They have virtually turned the polity into a figure-market. Unfortunately, Amosun is not interested in buying or selling in that fake figure-market. They alleged N300 billion just before the last election. Later, it became N200 billion. I’ve heard about N70 billion, N100 billion or N150 billion since then! Could it be that Amosun had a money-making machine which he suddenly used to offset a large chunk of the alleged N300 billion to leave an alleged balance of N70 billion, N150 billion or N200 billion? The fact is, these political detractors are not interested in any verifiable figures. So, what do you do as a focused government? You simply ignore them and allow them to clap with one hand.
Imagine the latest figure manipulation! One paper reported that the debt of Ogun State rose steadily from N4.5 billion to N103.75 billion all within a period of five years. What a colossal lie! The unreconciled debt inherited by the Amosun government was N62 billion. After further reconciliation, the actual debt was about N80 billion. If the debt figure of N80 billion with a monthly IGR of N750m under the previous government rose to N102 billion with a monthly IGR of N6 billion (six billion naira), doesn’t that tell you the financial successes recorded under Amosun via-a-vis the unprecedented scale of infrastructural development across the state since 2011? With the rising monthly Internally Generated Revenue, isn’t it clear that the loan can be wiped off in less than six months, or any amount for that matter in less than a year or so if government were to halt development projects, which are still very much in high demand all over state? These merchants of falsehood should now take up the challenge to announce to the world any state in Nigeria that got an interest rate on internal loans lower than the figure obtained by Ogun State under Governor Amosun. Criticisms driven by envy and malice will not produce votes. They won’t take them to the Government House in 2019.
Talking about 2019, it is rumoured that your governor has endorsed his Chief of Staff, Chief Tolu Odebiyi, which has pitted him against prominent politicians in the state. How level is the APC field in Ogun State?
Although the line is thin when it involves the governor, the question is better directed to the party. However, it suffices to say that the governor has not endorsed any candidate. So the idea of having issues with Chief Osoba doesn’t even arise. Mind you, everyone has the constitutional right to endorse any candidate at any point in time. You cannot take that right away from the governor, any party member or voter. To the best of my knowledge, the field is open in Ogun APC. Just last week, I discovered one of our worthy representatives in the National Assembly, Hon Adekunle Akinlade, is also in the race. So the field is wide open!
Apart from the fact that the race is open, it is common knowledge that Amosun will support any candidate from Ogun West because of his interest in equity and justice. He has said he won’t oppose anyone from Ogun East, but he will not go out to canvass for votes for such candidates. But from my own personal observation of the political culture of this country, you have to earn every support you get in politics because so many people will be fighting to earn that support. Some may even insist the constitution does not recognise one limitation or another!
Who is Chief Tolu Odebiyi?
You said it; he’s the Chief of Staff to the Governor. I know him as an accomplished technocrat and a seasoned administrator. Of course, he’s very much in the 2019 governorship race.
