Special Assistant on Media to Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State Soyombo Opeyemi spoke with reporters in Abeokuta, the state capital, on the achievements of the governor and other plans for the state.
Insecurity was a major issue in Ogun State. How was your government able to contain the situation?
Section 14, Sub–section 2(b) of the 1999 Constitution states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” Amosun has fulfilled this all-important provision. A woman was recounting the other day how restrictive life was in the state, especially between 2008 and 2011. You dared not remain in your shop till 8 p.m. Often, by 6 p.m, most shops in Abeokuta would have closed for the day.
The state was awash with gun-toting youths, who commanded shop-owners to surrender their money or life. Some public officials were even alleged to have kept guns in their lockers. The governor himself escaped death by a hair’s breadth. Others were not that lucky to escape the furry of the machete-wielding men, the then lords of Ogun State. Gradually, banks and other financial institutions began to close business as a result of insecurity, with attendant losses to the economy of the state.
Amosun had to deploy scarce resources to purchase state-of-the-art Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), the first of such latest technology in Nigeria. Hundreds of security vans fitted with modern communication gadgets were purchased and law enforcement officers were equipped and motivated. The tranquillity in Ogun State today bears eloquent testimony to the outstanding success of the Amosun Administration in this regard.
Functionaries of the previous PDP government have alleged that the roads been constructed now cost more than what they did before…
I think comparing the current administration with the previous one is like comparing light with darkness. Amosun is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria with wide experience in auditing. Prudent management of finance is his forte. Unknown to these noisemakers, the aides, for instance, under the current government, earn one-third of what their counterparts earned under the last administration. Not only that, the few of them that live in government houses. The same holds for commissioners, special advisers, etc. You recall that the state lost about N30 billion in the Bureau of Lands under the former government. Today, the culture of e-payment is taking root in the state and loopholes are being blocked. The era of financial haemorrhage has become a thing of the past.
But, the past administration claimed that it constructed good roads…
That administration claimed that Sagamu-Abeokuta road was its prime project. That road was plastered and re-plastered many times under the same government that constructed it. That highway remains a shame to the state capital and Ogun State. It was the same fate that befell the few roads constructed by that administration. In most instances, those roads collapsed within two years. And that government built no bridges.
Did you say the previous government did not build bridges?
Yes, the former government built no bridges, not even one bridge, despite being headed by an engineer. But today, go to Sagamu, Ijebu Ode, Abeokuta, and Ota, and you will be shocked by the massive bridges being constructed by an accountant. Why will the people of Ijebu Ode, for instance, not support the Amosun Administration when the Mabolufon bridge is about to end the carnage on that junction and close down the slaughter centre permanently? Why will the people of Yewa South, Yewa North, Ipokia and Imeko Afon not sing praises of Amosun when he is the one constructing the 107 kilometre modern highway cutting across the four local councils?
Again, why should it be Amosun that should begin the construction of the economically-strategic 32km road from Sango to Ojodu? Even, in Sagamu, the abode of the man himself, it is Amosun that is constructing the first international standard road, Express/RSS Junction-Oba Erinwole Road, and building the first flyover bridge. In less than three years, the current government has done far more than what the previous government did in eight years.
How about the cost of these projects?
I have equally heard the noise of the opposition about the cost of the roads being constructed. The best of the roads by the former governor, the 1km Oke Ilewo road, is semi-modern because it lacks the features of an international standard road such as 2.4km Ibara-Totoro road and other modern highways under construction across the state by the current governor. Even the Madojutimi-Mudal Lawal Stadium road, a ‘community road’ , has a better pedestrian walkway than that 1km Oke Ilewo road. The former governor’s road has no clearly-defined sidewalk. It lacks storm drains for rainfall. It has no green, well-defined median; no speed breaker and modern bus-stop. So, why will the current international standard motorways not cost more? Have you ever passed through Abiola Way, another modern road? The bulldozers confront rocks, yes, mini Olumo rocks, every metre! Will such a highway not cost more to construct? What about the compensation paid to owners of demolished buildings? Is that not part of the cost of the road? Well, lack of elementary economics, you would say.
Critics say your road projects are concentrated in towns and cities,and that you are ignoring the rural areas…
It is sheer fallacy. Have these arm-chair critics been to Ilara, Egua, Oja Odan, Tombolo, Tata and Ijoun? The longest road being constructed by the Amosun administration is located in those out-of-the-way areas, 107 kilometres in all. And this is not just a feeder road, the typical face-me-I-face-you road or just give-them-something piece of a motorway but a 107kilometres international standard road, complete with modern features such as drainage, pedestrian walkway, well-defined median, bus stop, etc. The Ilara-Ijoun highway cuts across many villages in four local councils in Ogun West senatorial district. During an inspection visit to Ilara, as reported ion the papers on February 11, 2013, Senator Amosun, the governor of Ogun State, said: “You need good roads to get your farm produce to the markets within and outside your local council and state. Everybody needs excellent road network to save productive time, reduce stress, accident and other losses associated with bad or lack of access roads.”The newspapers reported further that “The people of Ilara in the neighbouring Benin Republic, who trooped out in large numbers to receive the governor, expressed gratitude to the Senator Amosun-led government for ending their distress. The governor made stop-over visits to communities along the 100km highway and exchanged pleasantries with residents.”What does this extract from the Nigerian Tribune reveal about Governor Amosun’s cast of mind? Clearly, this is a governor that is very much at home with his people, especially the grassroots. Again, these revisionists chose to ignore the 400 kilometres of rural roads which the state government graded and made motorable for the benefit of the people.
Critics also said that the debt profile of the state is in the region of 200 billion…
That’s a comprehensive falsehood. You see, this is the antics of mischief-makers and the aim is to deceive the public and detract the government so that rather than focus on the ground-breaking achievements of the Amosun administration, the public space will be invaded with sterile debates on imaginary debts.
If, for instance, you award a road contract of one hundred million (N100m) and you mobilise the contractor with fifteen million (N15m), and at the period of assessment, the contractor has only done ten percent (10 per cent) of the job, does it make sense for anyone to claim you are owing the contractor eighty five million (N85m)? Does it make any sense for anyone to cry on radio and television that you are owing N85m when the job done is even less than 15 per cent? Did they go to school at all?
