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Tag: Southwest

  • Southwest: Buhari and lessons from Tinubu, Ambode by Shettima

    Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, who heads the All Progressives Congress (APC) reconciliation committee in the Southwest, has hailed party stalwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for their selflessness. He said Tinubu and Ambode were more interested in the party than in personal gains, urging others to emulate them.

    The deadline for both submission and substitution of party candidates has elapsed. So as I said to our other party members in previous hearings, some people may therefore wonder, of what use is the APC national peace and reconciliation committee for the Southwest?

    Fellow party men and women from Ogun and Lagos, some, if not many of you are aggrieved with the outcome of the APC primaries. But as we know, party politics is sometimes unpredictable. However, we must summon the courage to fight our instincts by looking into the wider picture. As I cited in Ekiti on Monday, if we are to go  back to the formation of the APC, I think the first victim of the party’s negotiations and compromises is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We all know what Asiwaju had put into the APC but when it was time to determine the running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari he had to painfully compromise his interest for overall interest of the party.

    Again as I said in Ekiti and Ibadan yesterday, the Governor of Lagos, His Excellency, Akinwunmi Ambode who is our host and member of our committee, is for me, the natural winner of Nigeria’s politician of the year award. He has acted very un-Nigerian.

    I will be right to say that from 1999 to date, I do not think any Nigerian politician has demonstrated his level of courage in the way he has handled the outcome of the governorship primaries in Lagos. Ambode is a Governor who has worked very well in Lagos but as I said, politics sometimes comes with unpredictable outcomes. Our courage in reacting to situations like Governor Ambode has displayed, is what separates boys from men.

    I think anyone of us who is unhappy with the outcome of the APC primaries should draw inspiration from Governor Ambode.

    So, fellow APC members, we are here to make all of you recognize that each and everyone of you is very important to the APC. You can’t be disregarded as if your feelings do not matter.

    If we are to go by Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, majority of persons who aspire for public offices have gone beyond their basic needs of safety, food security and companionship . Yes, people aspire for public offices to serve their people but that aspiration comes with what falls under Maslow’s human need for recognition, self esteem and self actualization.

    We are here not only here to respect your individual self esteem and console you but also to look into possible ways we can recommend for the party to placate aggrieved members through immediate windows or future opportunities.

    Ladies and gentlemen, it is possible to take everything from a human being and get away with it. But one thing you should never attempt doing is to deny a human being his or her self esteem. We do recognize and respect that you are all men and women of honour. Men and women who, with dignity, have mass followers  in your respective constituencies.

    The dangerous thing any political party will do is to completely ignore any of you in the believe that you either do not matter or that you will always remain in the APC out of loyalty.

    We are of the opinion that the worst politics on earth is to take the loyalty or tolerance of anyone for granted. Loyalty begets loyalty. Loyalty begets compensation.

    We are here to share your individual feelings. We are here to listen to you, console you  and know how best to make recommendations to the party headquarters. There are rooms for a party in government to create opportunities through which members can serve their people.

    I know this is not an academic hearing but I am former University lecturer, I had escape academics. Besides, of all our six geo-political zones in Nigeria, none is as educated as the southwest. So, permit me to draw inspiration from a  writer, who once said that “everyone of us can be smart but none of us is smarter than all of us”. Another writer said and I quote that “the difference between success and failure is a great team”.

    Ladies and gentlemen, the implication of what these two writers are saying is that none of us can deliver APC alone at any level of the general election.

    Nigeria currently has about one hundred and twenty thousand polling units and for a Presidential candidate of any party to succeed, he or she will have to depend on good team work from 120,000 polling agents of his party and these are people he mostly doesn’t know and may never know. To work with these 120,000 polling agents, the president will have to rely on party executives at the state, LGs and wards (level). He has to principally rely on serving and former governors, deputy governors, serving and former national and state assembly members, aspirants amongst other key stakeholders in each of the 36 states and the FCT.

    Governorship candidates themselves will have to rely on party executives and stakeholders in local government areas. These local government stakeholders will also have to rely on others at the ward levels. The ward stakeholders will have to rely (on) polling agents and those in charge of clusters of polling units. Importantly also, all steps would require one form of mobilisation or the other.

    Fellow party men and women, in politics, everyone is dependent on the other. No one is independent. To succeed in politics, there is no alternative to genuine unity and inclusiveness.

    Let me also add that in politics, we do not necessarily have to be liked. It is not a must that everyone must like our beautiful, handsome or perhaps very ugly faces like mine. What we need are genuine commitment and readiness to deliver results. Politics requires pragmatism. We must be able to dance to the changing beats. Yes, politics requires loyalty. But it equally demands tolerance and compromises. At all times, those of us who exert influence must never forget that none of us is God. Only God has absolute control of who gets power.

    Let me share my own experience.  Ahead of the APC primaries in Borno, there were some people I didn’t support but they won the primaries. If one is to argue that those people may have spent money on delegates, the truth is that they certainly can’t be richer than the collective. The truth is that while I did not like them, they were more popular with delegates and they won the primaries. I accepted the outcome and I refused to make the slightest attempt of substituting any of those I didn’t support.

    Read also: Court okays nullified Rivers APC congresses

    Fellow party men and women, one of the things we must never forget is that in politics, no one person gets his way all the time. Even a President doesn’t have his way sometimes. Politics requires tolerance and compromises.

    I am very proud to say that regardless of whether anyone emerged with or without my support at the primaries, I am 100 percent  in support of all APC candidates in Borno State and I will support every one of them. I will also count on their support. After spending good time having frank conversations with Governor Ambode, I am more than confident that he is 100 percent in support of all APC candidates in Lagos, particularly His Excellency, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu.

    I will like to once again thank each and everyone here who are aggrieved for not leaving the APC. Our committee thank and commend you for keeping faith.

    Perhaps, I should also tell that you have applied political wisdom by not leaving the APC.

    Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, from the ground realities of ongoing political permutations, President Muhammadu Buhari will insha’Allah win his reelection come February, 2019.

    The APC started working on President Buhari’s reelection six months earlier than the PDP.

    On 9th of April, 2018, President Buhari declared intention to seek re-election and by that, the APC already had its potential candidate. We all began underground work for the President’s reelection. There is a difference of about 180 days between when the APC had a potential candidate and the 7th of October when the PDP got its Presidential candidate.

    There is a Yoruba proverb that says Atete sun, ni Atete ji. If you sleep early, you will wake up early.

    So, no one should deceive you with a fake analysis and prediction. Remain in APC and let’s solve our in-house problems, work for the APC, win the election and move Nigeria to the next level.

    Shettima, Governor of Borno State addressed APC stake-holder and aggrieved members  from Lagos and Ogun State at the opening of an interactive hearing in Lagos, organized by the party’s national peace and reconciliation committee for the Southwest, which the Governor chairs.

  • ‘What Southwest should learn from Osun’

    Content analyze the headline grabbers of Rauf Aregbesola’s gubernatorial years (2010-2018), and you can glean how news reportage under-develops the polity.

    If you focus on sensations and titillations, to the detriment of core developmental news, you are not only subverting a government striving to attain the Jeremy Bentham model of the greatest happiness of the greatest number, you are also frustrating a putative governmental model that could lift millions, of other Nigerians, from their misery.

    That would appear an objective appraisal of the media coverage of the Aregbesola years.

    Top news headlines, impassioned analyses and even thunderous editorials, framed almost exclusively elite pastimes — Osun’s reported debt burden, salary delays, alleged attempts at “Islamization”, and “secession”, etc

    Salary delays and worries over a putative debt overhang are earnest and serious, for a media doing its watch dog role.  But charges of “Islamization” and “secession” are clearly ludicrous.

    On the balance, however, the media, earnest or complicit, just weighed in, on Osun elite pitched battles, which had little or nothing to do with the wellness of the greatest number.  That was distraction from the core essentials.

    Yet, the fundamental pillar of governance is catering for the overwhelming interest of the vast majority.  That is where the government earns its legitimacy.  Besides, the 1999 Constitution stipulates some fundamental principles of state policy, which are people-skewed.

    The latest proof, of this media fixation with shadows, instead of developmental substance, is a three-year study, which the Federal Ministry of Health (FMH) just released, on a project it calls Saving One Million Lives Programme for Results (SOML-PforR).

    SOML-PforR is the code for six discrete indicators, gauging the performance of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, from 2015 to 2018, on maternal and child health service delivery.

    A casual glance at the 2018 survey returns shattering results, on a core human development front: only 12 states out of 36 (a third) and FCT passed the muster.

    That means only a third of the states have been addressing human capital development at perhaps its most critical juncture: maternal and child health.  That is where it all starts — and could also end — for the poor and the vulnerable, who are in the vast majority.

    Poor maternal and child health services, which may signal the end for the poor, introduces another demographic bomb.

    The poor (not the rich or even the middle class) mainly patronize public hospitals, which FMH and state ministries of Health run.

    Yet, two out of three state governments in Nigeria have, at least in maternal and child health, shunned that majority.  It’s yet another proof of a general elite indulgence, and neglect of the poor, in Nigerian governance.

    But it’s in this rare and consistently better deal for the poor majority that the Aregbesola government posted a refreshing difference, over eight years.  But it’s that same core developmental area, that the media virtually blacked out.  That beggars its watch dog role.

    In this SOML-PforR survey, Osun with an improvement rate of 97.4 per cent, came only next to Yobe (133.4 per cent). Other states with improved performance are Borno (63.5 per cent), Kano (35.2 per cent), Nasarawa (33.6 per cent), Adamawa (29 per cent), Niger (26.8 per cent),  Jigawa (21.9 per cent), Taraba (13.5 per cent), Gombe (nine per cent), Ondo (6.4 per cent) and Zamfara (1.3 per cent).  The FCT (42.6 per cent) makes up the number — and just as well, for it shows the FMH, which powers the survey, at least walks its talk; but not as much as Yobe and Osun!

    Another surprise is that most states that achieved improvements are in the North, supposedly the less developed in the Nigerian territory.

    Indeed, only Osun and Ondo bucked the parlous survey results by the southern states.  Still, the southern media point fingers and thunder at others, while their own uppity states lag behind in this crucial area.  Another proof of distraction, wilful or ernest?

    No state, South East or South-South, even with South-South’s oil wealth, made this leap.  Yet, these are comparatively wealthier states, than their northern counterparts.  So, why do their poor languish in health neglect?

    But again, this is where Osun, under Aregbesola, sparkled.  That is even more glaring, when you contrast the Osun survey results, with the rest of the states in the South West.

    Mighty Lagos, richest and most vibrant, posted a -14.3 per cent decline — perhaps because of intense population pressure on its facilities?  Ogun: -29.9 per cent; Oyo: -0.2 per cent; Ondo: 6.4 per cent and Ekiti: -19.6 per cent.

    Apart from Ekiti, Osun is the poorest of the South West states, both on allocation from the Federation Account and internally generated revenue (IGR).  Lagos is the richest.

    Yet, from this survey, Osun despite its poor purse, is splashing more resources on the poor and the society’s most vulnerable (97.4 per cent); far better than super-rich Lagos (-14.3 per cent)!  But Lagos, even with all of its population pressure, still out-performed Ogun (-29.9 per cent) which, linked to its population, is not exactly poor.

    Still, the general lesson is for the other South West states to follow the Osun example: spend more on critical facilities concerning the poor, who have nobody else to turn to.

    If Lagos and Ogun follow this template, the region would be far better off, in human development capital; and a post-Ayo Fayose Ekiti, under Kayode Fayemi, would be encouraged to tread that path too, as Dr. Fayemi did during his first term.

    But Osun’s survey strides are only the latest of a slew of others, development achievement that ought to have been showcased as model for others, but mostly snubbed by the media, over an eight-year period.

    Local economic gauging agencies like the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Financial Derivatives Company Limited in Lagos; and international development agencies: the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Institute (OPHDI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), have consistently returned a positive growth and development results, over Aregbesola’s eight-year tenure as governor, and affirmed the success of its anti-poverty programmes.

    Between 2010 and 2018, Osun’s GDP grew by 108.3 per cent, from N191.1 billion (2010) to  N398 billion (2018).  During this same period, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) almost trebled (182 per cent), from 481, 451 (in 2010) to 1, 358, 446 (in 2018).

    That showed an Osun economy expanding beyond a “civil service state”, a euphemism for economic stagnancy and perpetual under-development.  Much of the SME growth had been fuelled by better infrastructure, particularly in ambitious roads and bridges, that fasten mobility and shorten business time.  By the way, that improved economic activity posted a much improved IGR: from N3.4 billion in 2010 to N14 billion (in 2018) — a more than 400 per cent leap.

    In a period of economic adversity (as it was from 2012 to 2010), much of the infrastructure would have to be funded by loans, since the state had no cash of its own anyway but had no choice but to jumpstart the economy, to escape being a perpetual economic laggard.

    Yet, the media howled and screeched at Osun’s “mounting debts”; but stayed blind, deaf and dumb to what use those debts had been put into, and their multiplier effects on the rebounding Osun economy.

    But the SME growth, fuelled by more modern support infrastructure, don’t even tell the whole story.  A crucial part of that is the Osun Youth Employment Scheme (O’YES) volunteer programme, with its N10, 000 monthly stipends.

    O’YES trainees, drilled in many entrepreneurial skills, account for the rash of business start-ups, which boosted the growth of SMEs between 2010 and 2018.

    That not only took many skilled youths from paid (and government employment in a “civil service state”), it also provided a model the World Bank is pushing to many states — and even countries — to tackle their local youth unemployment challenges.  Incidentally, even the Federal Government has used O’YES as a model to power its own N-Power youth volunteer job scheme.

    But neither did all these too tell the complete story.  Complementing O’YES for skilled youths and young graduates, is the schools feeding programme, for children in grades 1-4 in public primary schools, the Aregbesola government dubbed O’Meals (Osun Meals).

    After good investments in maternal and child health, feeding children in the lowest rungs of public school appears a logical follow-up.  Under this scheme, in six short years (2012-2018), N10 billion was spent to feed 1.5 million pupils, in 1, 382 public elementary schools.  That came down to 305 million plates of food!

    Now, add that to rash of new schools, upgrade of old ones, progressive improvement of learning environment in public schools, fortified with better learning tools like Opon Imo (Learning computer tablets storing all recommended texts and other learning aids) over the years, and you see a deliberate and direct investment, to ensure a better and more productive picture, for the poor and vulnerable majority.

    That is what, as routine, governance ought to be.  That Osun ought to be a model to others, in what ought to be the norm, just shows how wide governments in Nigeria have veered from their core pristine duties.

    Flashed back to the most ancient of days, the Osun paradigm, under Aregbesola, bore an uncanny resemblance to Sparta, the Greek city state, that tracked, consistently, the welfare and wellbeing of its citizens, from cradle to grave.

    That explained the fierce Spartan patriotism, which manifested in the glorious tragedy of King Leonidas and his famous 300 troops, at the pass of Thermopylae in 480 BC, that fought and dropped to the last man, instead of capitulating to shameful surrender.

    Which is why, the media snub, innocent or wilful, of this pro-poor model, is even more tragic.

    Instead of beaming the searchlight on these developmental strides, in a period of dire economic adversity, much of the media got fixated with the salary crisis.

    They not only made Aregbesola a scapegoat for a pan-Nigeria crisis, that skew also robbed other governments the benefit of tapping into the Osun success, to solve similar problems, in their own states.

    Prompt payment of salaries is a right.  Even the Bible says the labourer has a right to prompt pay, even before the sweat of his labour dries off.  So, the problem was not agitating for prompt pay.

    It was rather skewing it as the sole index to judge a state striving to expand its economy, ironically to make those same salaries a mere routine.

    It was a classic in the misplacement of media priorities; and a wanton skewing of the media space towards elite problems — no matter how pressing or legitimate — to the detriment of the majority.  Civil servants are seldom up to 15 per cent of any state’s population.

    The media mis-coverage of the Aregesola governorship should teach the different lobbies, different lessons.

    The media must focus on what matter and shun inanities.  The reverse was the case in covering Aregbesola’s Osun.

    Governments must re-discover their purpose—to make a difference in the lives of the teeming majority. That is where they draw their legitimacy; and how they can justify their existence.  For that, the Osun policy, from 2010 to 2017, is a good reference point.

    New Osun Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Aregbesola’s chief of staff, for most of his tenure, must learn from Aregbesola’s mistakes. But, he must also fiercely focus on his development agenda, no matter the media distractions.

    That is the only way the Osun poor and vulnerable majority can continue to secure  better deals from their government, with a media so fixated with the elite agenda.

    That is the only way Oyetola can secure his own legacies and cement his government’s own place in history.

     

  • Fashola: why Southwest will re-elect Buhari

    The Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) says the South West has more to gain by re-electing President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election.

    Fashola, who was in Lagos yesterday for the inauguration of 5000 foot soldiers for the campaign of Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said the Southwest already had high stakes/appointments in the current administration.

    He said the promise of the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF) slot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not enough for the South West to lose the positions it is currently occupying.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Chief Gbenga Daniel, the Director General of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, said the position of the SGF would be given to the Southwest, if Atiku emerged as president in 2019.

    “As a Southwest indigene, I will vote for the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket Westerner, because my people stand to gain more from it,” Fashola said.

    He said that the re-election of Buhari would guarantee that power would come to the South West in 2023.

    “ The Southwest is presently occupying the position of the vice president. We have three sitting ministers and many different federal appointments from the present administration which we cannot afford to lose.,” he said.

    The Minister explained that although the APC promised change In 2014, the party did not promise to do it in four years.

    “The APC has done more in three years than 16 years of PDP administration, yet they say president Buhari is too slow.

    “President Buhari is taking Nigeria to the next level. We are going to the Next Level.

    “The 2019 presidential election is a choice between going back and moving forward to the next level and also a choice of whom Nigerians can trust with their money,” he said.

    He noted that the APC-Buhari led administration has done more in three years with less money than the PDP with all the monies that accrued to the nation in 16 years.

    “Buhari has inaugurated a structural infrastructure fund for road construction. N15 billion has been released for the continued construction of Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

    “There is need for the progress to continue. Dubai was built with oil-money, Nigeria can be built with it too. The past administration squandered oil revenue.

    “Federal Government is constructing at least one road in every state in Nigeria. We are also constructing houses in 34 States in Nigeria.

    “We have collected 690 containers for the construction of 90 transmission stations and through our policy of mini grids, our markets now have uninterrupted power supply.

    “In the last 3 years we have constructed 40 kilometres of roads per year. In 2015, the total number of roads completed nationwide was 80 kilometres. In 2016 after we took over, we completed , 274 kilometres of road, 478 kilometres in 2017 and 474 kilometers in 2018.

    “Electric generation has moved from 4000 Megawatts that we met to 7000MW. That’s an increase of 3000MW, an average of 1000MW a year. We have started an IPP in 9 universities in Nigeria. We have accelerated the distribution of meters by outsourcing it to distributors,” he added.

    At the event are Sen. Gbenga Ashafa, (Lagos East), former Deputy Governor of Lagos State Mrs Adejoke Adefulire and Mr Obafemi Hamzat, running mate to Lagos APC governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu among others.

  • Gbajabiamila: southwest won’t trade off Vice President

    Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the Southwest will not drop the position of Vice President for a lesser office.

    Reacting to a report that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had zoned the office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF) to the Southwest, Gbajabiamila said: “Our resolve in the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo cannot be traded away for any condescending offer.”

    The lawmaker spoke at another edition of his empowerment programme where ICT equipment were distributed to students and youths in his Surulere I Federal Constituency.

    Among the equipment were 350 new laptops, 28 desk top and 28 scan printing machines.

    Gbajabiamila listed what the Southwest stands to gain from the Buhari-Osinbajo presidency.

    He said: “We stand by the offer to give us Lagos-Ibadan rail project; we stand by the offer to give us Lagos-Sango-Abeokuta Expressway; we stand by the offer that just delivered Apapa-Wharf road. We also stand by the offer to deliver Apapa-Oshodi-Oworshoki-Ojota Expressway; we stand by the fight against corruption.”

    Apparently mocking the manifesto of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, Gbajabiamiala said: “We reject the offer to sell the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to friends and cronies. We stand solidly behind the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket.”

    He added: “For 16 years, our company recorded losses in all its transactions. So, the shareholders decided to change the MD/CEO with a clear mandate to rebuild our company and deliver good returns on investments. Two or three years into their assignment, naysayers within the rank of our shareholders convoked their Dubai caucus meeting to demand for the sack of our new top management singularly for their failure to deposit our company’s returns on investment into their personal accounts.”

    The House Leader described the February 16presidential election as straight fight between the gatekeepers and burglars.

    Gbajabiamila said: “Never shall we surrender to burglars. Our people want food in their stomachs and deserve a meaningful life; we are not oblivious of these facts. So, we shall continue to fight for our people. As we engage in this fact, we will encounter pains. But I can tell you we shall conquer.”

    On the beneficiaries of the equipment, Gbajabiamila said: “We have taken our time to look for indigent students and youths who will not sell these laptops and computers but make use of them to better their career.

    “We urge parents and teachers to ensure appropriate use of the laptops and computers.”

    The event was attended by the Lagos Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Tunde Balogun; the Onikate of Ikate land, Oba Lateef Adams; APC Secretary, Dr Wale Ahmed; APC Publicity Secretary, Mr Joe Igbokwe and many party chieftains.

  • ‘67 road projects on in Southwest’

    Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola  and Minister of Transportation Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi yesterday highlighted the infrastructure development strides of the Buhari Administration at a Special Town Hall Meeting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Fashola said: “The Buhari administration has increased generation from 2400MW it met it to 7000 MW while distribution has increased from 2690MW to 5222MW.”

    He added that the Federal Government was building pilot housing schemes in 34 states, five of which are in the Southwest.

    He reiterated that the achievements recorded on infrastructure by the Buhari administration in three and half years with less resources were more than that of the PDP in 16 years with more resources.

    Fashola explained that not less than 67 road projects were ongoing in the Southwest.

    The roads include 19 in Lagos State, 14 in Oyo State, 12 in Osun State, nine in Ogun and Ondo states.

    Of the 67 projects, 19 are roads maintenance, excluding the regular repairs carried out by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

    Specifically, Fashola said the massive construction on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Benin-Ore-Ajebamidele-Shagamu road and Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta expressway, abandoned for years, were pointers to their achievements.

    He added that the critical 35km Tin Can Island-Mile two-Oshodi road had been awarded to Dangote Construction company and would be a 10-lane highway to be constructed with concrete.

    Replying to a question on the slow pace of work on the Oyo-Ogbomoso road, the minister blamed it on interruption by communities and organisations affected by the construction and their demand for compensation.

    Fashola also blamed it on the delay in passage of budget and deliberate cut in the budget for infrastructure by the National Assembly.

    Read also: FESTAC residents cry out to Fashola over bad roads

    He is sure that with the over 900 million dollars infrastructure fund approved by the President, the critical roads and other projects will be completed.

    For instance, he recalled that the National Assembly cut his ministry’s N30 billion proposal for the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in the 2017 budget to N11 billion, thereby hindering the ministry’s plan to speed up the completion of the road. Besides, Fashola said the huge compensation sought by owners of land upon which the government builds infrastructure increases the amount needed for projects. The government, he said, does not have the ability to provide immediately such compensation because of other pressing needs.

    He said the huge compensation was part of the factors slowing down the Oyo-Ogbomoso Road.

    The minister, therefore, charged Nigerians to rein in land owners to cut down on their request when projects are to be undertaken for the benefit of their communities and Nigeria at large. He also urged Nigerians to prevail on National Assembly members to stop cutting unreasonably budgetary allocations for important projects.

    Fashola, noted, however, that the Muhammadu Buhari administration had already developed a partial solution by establishing the Infrastructures Fund through which such projects can be financed.

    He said: “What President Buhari has done is to create the Infrastructures Fund. As they slow him down, he is developing alternatives. Already, he has approved N15 billion for Lagos-Ibadan Road, funds for Abuja-Kano Road, second Niger Bridge and they can’t stop that. Tell the parliamentarians to do their own part as the executives do theirs.”

    The minister stressed that 2019 election will present to Nigerians the opportunity to choose between a failed political party and a performing one. He explained that the choice is, however, made clear by the outstanding performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government, which has raised power generation from 4,000 megawatts in 2015 to 7,000 in 2018, is completing many abandoned projects instead of starting new ones and a government which is achieving more with less revenue as opposed to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which achieved less with more revenue.

    Amaechi explained that rail transportation had drastically improved across the country in the last three years. He pointed out the Ibadan-Lagos rail transportation, which he said now takes less than one hour. He said the project would soon be completed, adding that the second phase would run from Ibadan to Kano. He said the entire project will cost $8.7 billion. The projects were non- existent before Buhari’s  administration, he said.

    Amaechi said the rail transport plan had been gathering dust for 34 years before the Buhari administration insisted that it must be implemented.

    The former governor of Rivers State said the APC government was ready for a debate with the PDP ahead of the 2019 election, stressing that the APC had dug out the activities of the PDP in its last three years in office and compared them with the APC’s last three years. That, he said, would expose their failure and help Nigerians make an informed decision on who to vote for in 2019.

    He said: “We are ready for a debate. In advance, we are giving them the warning. We know how much their government got in three years and we know how much our own got. We will show what we have done and challenge them to show what they also did. They are hungry now. You will only give them back power if you don’t wake up early and vote for APC on the election day.”

    Minister of Water Resources Suleman Adamu said the Federal Government would soon declare a state of emergency in water supply to enable it focus on helping states on water projects. The government, he said, plans to select six cities across the country to try the pilot project of providing potable water to all residents.

    Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said the town hall meeting in Ibadan on infrastructure was the second in a series of special town hall meetings designed to showcase the achievements of the Buhari Administration.

    “The first edition of the Special Town Hall Meetings was held in Gusau, Zamfara State, on 10 Sept. 2018, to showcase the Administration’s achievements in security, in particular the drastic reduction in the number of killings in certain parts of the country,” he said.

    The Minister said the Buhari administration had made a massive investment in infrastructure to fast-track the pace of development.

    “Whether in the area of job creation or stimulation of economic growth, investment in infrastructure is a fast route to development.

    We are in no doubt that the solid foundation that we are laying in the area of infrastructure will be a catalyst to the much-needed economic development in our dear country,” he said.

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who hosted the meeting, said he would be leaving the state far better than he met it in 2011, adding that without infrastructural development, the economic and social well-being of the people could not be guaranteed. He promised not to abandon any project.

    At the meeting were traditional rulers, representatives of ethnic groups, civil servants, top government functionaries, labour union leaders, artisans, students and professionals, among others.

     

  • ‘PDP zoning VP to Southwest, Southsouth will spell doom’

    The youth wing of socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo, yesterday condemned the purported plot by Peoples Democracy Party (PDP), to zone the vice-president to either the Southwest or Southeast.

    It warned that such move would spell doom for the party in the Southeast in next year’s general election, vowing that it would dump PDP for another party.

    The youth, in a statement by their Deputy President- General, Comrade Obinna Achuonye and spokesman, Alex Osaka, described the purported plot as unfair, “which we will oppose.”

  • Southwest, Lagos APC congratulate Fayemi

    The Southwest All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated Ekiti State Governor-elect Kayode Fayemi on his victory.

    The zonal chapter said Fayemi deserved the victory, adding that his second term will usher an era of peace.

    A statement by the secretary, Ayo Afolabi, thanked the people of Ekiti for reposing their confidence in the party and the flag bearer.

    Afolabi, who noted that the journey to victory was long and tortuous, praised Fayemi for demonstrating courage in his renewed fight for the people’s freedom.

    He said: “We know of their yearnings for purposeful and progressive governance, which is in tandem with the cultural make-up of a typical aboriginal Ekiti. We assure the people that our candidate, Dr. Fayemi, is equally aware of the task ahead and is prepared. Hence, his eight point agenda.

    “We, therefore, solicit the support of everyone to make this new administration achieve the programmes of our party and so engender timely and sustainable socio-economic benefits for everyone. We enjoin Fayemi to rally party loyalists and begin earnestly, the task of rebuilding Ekiti State and our party for the next general elections.”

    Chairman of the Lagos State APC Tunde Balogun also thanked God for Fayemi’s victory, saying party faithful worked hard during the election.

    Balogun said Lagos APC was happy that the six states of the Southwest have now come under the progressive umbrella, adding that Ekiti will not regret its decision to vote for change.

    He added: “We give thanks to God for Fayemi. He deserved the victory. He worked hard; Ekiti people were determined and they stayed with him in his determination to end the rule of a governor who has been peddling falsehood. I congratulate them and wish Ekiti progress in the future.”

  • Southwest: Beyond a ‘progressive’ zone

    Sir: Come October 16, the entire six states in the Southwest will be under the governance of a single party following the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Saturday gubernatorial election in Ekiti State. It should be noted that the geopolitical zone last experienced this party uniformity in1999 when the then Alliance for Democracy (AD), with a ‘progressive’ background, took charge of the governance of the zone immediately after the return to civil rule. This was, however, disrupted after four years when the Obasanjo Tsunami swept all but one of the states following the success of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2003 general elections which were conducted simultaneously in the country at the time.

    With this victory, APC and its loyalists do not see any obstacles to good governance which the current situation of mixed governance has not delivered since 2003. Improving people’s living standards, for instance, is thought as being not feasible with the mixed governance produced by ideological differences of the two camps.

    As desirable as good governance is, however, it does not have to be achieved through a uniform approach under a single political party. In fact, good governance is better achieved in a politically diverse environment; hence the reasons behind the little achievement recorded in the First Republic not only in the larger Nigeria, but the defunct Western Region under the headship of the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo. Relying on oral and archival information, I argue that NPC/NCNC alliance at the centre and AG in the Western region could not be said to have monopolized political power before recording the little success made given the evidence of dissenting voices in their respective legislative houses. In those golden days, ideological differences felt in the legislative houses as well as across regions served as propellers for healthy competition among politicians. Such competition is accommodated within the Yoruba social thought that posits that it is impossible for all people, including politicians to place their heads in the same direction while sleeping. This could also have accounted for low level of corruption among government officials, for being accused of it alone could reduce one’s political strength, compared to the present realities that see even some ex-governors being convicted of fraud and other heinous crimes. Again, desperation for power was low compared with the open inducements for voters reported in Ekiti last Saturday. Elections in the zone, and by extension in the country today, has entrenched the culture of begging not only in the electorate but candidates’ lives as the electorate will have to beg for money while the candidates equally beg for votes.

    There is the need for a return to the parliamentary system with a view not only to instilling the culture of healthy rivalry in an average Nigerian politician but also reducing the fear of marginalization that arises from the winner-takes-all approach to the presidential system. Nevertheless, it is untenable to give impression that good governance can only be realized through party uniformity pending the time the call for restructuring will be officially visited in the country for the Yoruba would say that a habitually unhygienic woman will always blame her untidy look on widowhood. It is against this background that the governor-elect in Ekiti, Dr Kayode Fayemi, is urged not to be vindictive when he formally assumes office on October 16. He should rather justify the mandate given him through the development of well-articulated policies that can really better the lots of people.

     

    • George Oludare Ibikunle,

    Oremeji-Agugu, Ibadan.    

  • Lagos, Ogun, Osun to represent Southwest in NNPC science quiz finals

    The regional finals of this year’s Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) national science quiz competition at the weekend produced the Southwest winners.

    Of the six states – Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo – the three winners will represent the region at the national finals in September in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    The states’ representatives contested to represent the region at the Wesley School of Science, Elekuro, Ibadan.

    At the end of the quiz, Lagos, Ogun and Osun states jointly won the first position with 55 points each; Oyo and Ekiti states jointly won the fourth position with 50 points apiece, while Ondo State was sixth with 40 points.

    Lagos, Ogun and Osun states will represent the Southwest at the national finals in Abuja.

    The competition was set by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and it covers Biology, Chemistry, English language, Mathematics and Physics.

    The regional final was attended by Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Adeniyi Olowofela, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry and other top government officials.

    It was also attended by top NNPC officials.

    Olowofela hailed the NNPC for the initiative and its support for secondary schools.

    The commissioner urged the corporation to assist the state in its new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) drive.

    He said: “What we are witnessing today is one of the efforts of the NNPC. Experience has shown that many of the winners in the past are successful people today. Not only in the quiz competition like this; they also support sporting competition and agriculture. So, we are also calling on them to support us in our recent ICT drive for schools.

     

     

  • 2019: Mixed fortunes for Southwest PDP

    As the Peoples Democratic Party prepares for 2019 General Elections the state chapters in the Southwest zone have recorded mixed fortunes, Assistant Editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan, reports

    AS the race towards the 2019 General Election continues to garner momentum in the southwestern part of Nigeria, certain developments of the past few weeks within the ranks of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) across the states of the region are eliciting mixed feelings from the chieftains and members of the opposition party in the region.

    While those in Ogun State are currently rejoicing over the reconciliation efforts that have seen the camps of Senator Buruji Kashamu and former Governor Gbenga Daniel, who buried their old political differences and promised to work together to ensure victory for the party come 2019, those in Oyo, Ekiti and Lagos have continued their political losses following the defection of some leading chieftains of the PDP into the fold of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Observers of the politics of the region say PDP will need to do everything possible for it to make any meaningful impact in 2019. And with the party at the national level daily expressing its determination to return to power after the next election, not a few pundits are keenly following the happenings in PDP, especially in the southwest where it is hoping to garner votes that will help it turn the table against President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC.

    Fola Samad, a pro-democracy activist and former Director of Voters’ Alliance, while examining recent events within the troubled party across the region, concluded that PDP is not providing a virile opposition to the APC. “All these talks about the PDP winning the next general election to me are more of paper permutations than realistic examination of the true state of the party.

    “Here in the southwest, it has been one step forward, two steps backward for PDP. While we must give credit to the new leadership under Uche Secondus for initiating some ground-breaking reconciliation efforts like the ones in Oyo and Ogun, one is left worried by the daily news of defection from the party of prominent chieftains who would have played significant roles in the expected victory of 2019.

    “For me, the PDP is failing Nigeria by not providing the much needed virile opposition to the ruling APC, especially at a time like this when many Nigerians feel the current administration is leaving a lot of things undone to the detriment of the masses. To make the APC sit tight and work harder ahead of the 2019 General Elections, the PDP must be seen to have put its house in order across the states,” he said.

    A chieftain of the PDP in Lagos State, Sen. Adeseye Ogunlewe, while speaking on the state of the party in the region, said that there is still much work to be done if the PDP intends to do well in the 2019 General Election in the southwest. The party could not realise its objective of capturing Lagos and other states in 2019 if members are working at cross purposes.

    “The PDP members in the southwest need to work in unity to achieve our objectives in the 2019 election. Election is around the corner. This is a time for unity and not for fight or discord. Personally, I see the same people in the various camps as belonging to the same PDP. Yes, there are disagreements, which is normal in a democracy, we will sort ourselves out,” he said.

     

    Ondo and the Mimiko challenge

    Just when many PDP members and supporters in Ondo State were hoping that immediate past governor of the State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, will heed the call on him by the leadership of the PDP in the state to help in making the party stronger, he officially dumped the PDP for good last Wednesday, citing “well considered personal reasons” for his unexpected political decision.

    Mimiko revealed this in his letter of resignation to the PDP leadership in the state, informing them of his decision to leave the party. In the letter addressed to the PDP on Wednesday, the former governor explained that his reason to leave the party was personal to him. Mimiko thanked the PDP leadership and members of the party for the support he received while in the party.

    Though the letter didn’t specify the ex-governor’s next political abode, reports have it that he is headed to his former party, the Labour Party. The letter reads in part: “I hereby with utmost humility inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the PDP with effect from today, June 13, 2018, for some well-thought-out personal reasons. It was an honour working with the many prominent Nigerians with whom I shared the PDP platform for the entire period I was there as a member.”

    Pundits say contrary to statements by PDP leaders in the state to the effect that the defection of Mimiko will not affect the party; the PDP is on its way to decline with the development. “Mimiko is PDP and PDP is Mimiko in Ondo State for now. Take away Mimiko’s structure from PDP in the state and nothing will be left. So, with his exit, PDP in Ondo State will have to start all over again,’ a source claimed.

    Earlier this month, amidst the rumour that Mimiko was on his way out of the party, leaders of the PDP in Ondo State pleaded with him  to help resuscitate the party instead of dumping it for another political platform. Party sources told The Nation that talks about Mimiko’s defection threw the PDP into disarray as it is believed that majority of the party’s chieftains will exit with him.

     

    It was the State Chairman of the party, Clement Faboyede that made the appeal. He said: “It would be in the interest of the party and the supporters of the former governor to remain and salvage the party instead of dumping it for another political platform. “Mimiko is our leader until he officially leaves the party. We are appealing to him to stay and provide leadership for our teeming aspirants. Mimiko said he is consulting and he has not finished consultation. We hope he will rescind the decision to leave the party.”

    Now that it has become official that the former governor has dumped the party, allegedly over some disagreement on the national leadership of the party between him and Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State and his Rivers State counterpart, Nysome Wike, observers of the politics of the state are of the opinion that it may take the party a longer time beyond 2019 to be able to unseat the ruling APC in the state.

     

    Respite in Ogun

    But it is not all bad news for the PDP in the region. From Ogun State, where the crisis in the opposition party had been fiercest before now, some rays of hope emerged during the week with the reported reconciliation between the political camps of former Governor Gbenga Daniel and the Senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu. The duo had been at loggerheads since 2010.

    The disagreement between the two politicians left the party fictionalised ever since and contributed largely to the defeats suffered by the PDP during the 2011 and 2015 General Elections in the state. While Kashamu had managed to firmly hold on to the party leadership all the while, Daniel’s camp has consistently played the spoiler’s role at each election, leaving the PDP nothing more than a house divided against itself.

    Kashamu allayed fears of party loyalists when he publicly recognised Daniel as his political leader last Sunday in a statement personally signed by him, saying an end to the rift between Daniel and himself, would end the political wrangling in the Ogun State chapter of the PDP. Just as he called on all leaders and members of the party to come together and forge a common front in the overall interest of the party ahead of the 2019 General Elections under the leadership of the former governor.

    He said the reconciliation was due to the mediation of eminent personalities and national political leaders, even as he described it as “genuine and long overdue.” The statement reads, “My recently publicised reconciliation with His Excellency OGD is truly very genuine and I accept that in fact it is long overdue. I thank the Almighty God for His grace over both of us, culminating into this resolution of age-long dispute to the betterment and advancement of our teeming supporters, political associates and the Ogun PDP generally. Happening in the holy month of Ramadan, as a practicing Muslim, I take it as divine and shall be permanent.”

    With the reconciliation between Kashamu and Daniel, it is believed that the multiple disagreements within the PDP in Ogun State, which have led to expulsions and counter expulsions of nearly all the prominent chieftains of the party, including Daniel and Kashamu themselves, by warring factions, will end, paving way for the much expected reorganisation of the party ahead of the 2019 general election.

     

    Uncertainty in Lagos

    Chief (Mrs.) Oluremi Adiukwu is a leading chieftain of the PDP in Lagos State. A three-time gubernatorial candidate in the state, she contested for the position of Deputy Women Leader at the party’s congress. The popular and respected socialite and astute political amazon, according to very reliable sources, may have decided to dump the opposition party and pitch her tent with the APC.

    The Nation gathered that in a matter of days, the beautiful politician of repute would find her way into the progressives’ camp where she rightly belongs. Adiukwu, it would be recalled, before joining the PDP in 2008, was one of the trusted allies of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC National Leader and the former Governor of Lagos State. Sources in her camp said she is highly impressed by the performance of the progressive government in the state for almost 16 years of the current democratic dispensation.

    So shocking is the news of Adiukwu’s planned exit from the party that many PDP chieftains are reportedly prevailing on her to forget about the plan. “Her house, since the news broke, is now a Mecca of some sort for PDP members. Not less than two presidential aspirants have visited her this week alone. A gubernatorial aspirant from Ikorodu, in Lagos State was here on Tuesday.

    “Another gubernatorial aspirant, an Ife-born prince, eyeing the governorship seat in Osun State was here with leaders of his political group. They all came to prevail on her to reconsider her decision. But I can confirm to you that she is done with the PDP. Her argument now is that all politics is local and she needs to be part of the laudable progress being made in Lagos by the progressives. Don’t also forget the cordial relationship she enjoys with Tinubu and Aregbesola among others in APC,” a source said.

    It was further gathered authoritatively that, in preparation for her grand return to the ruling party, she has been reaching out to the remaining members of her erstwhile Crystal Alliance Group within APC. Members of the group in both APC and PDP have met severally in the last two weeks and sources claim it is all geared towards the planned defection of the politician and her supporters to the APC.

    With Adiukwu and her supporters planning to leave the party and the camp of Chief Bode George unusually inactive since his botched national chairmanship ambition, the PDP in Lagos State is currently clouded by uncertainty. Many party members are so distraught that they are contemplating abandoning the party soon unless some of their leaders speak up in good time.

    Osun’s mixed bag

    The people of Osun State will be electing a new governor later this year but the Osun State chapter of the PDP seems far from being ready for the big task of reclaiming the seat it lost to Governor Rauf Aregbesola almost eight years ago. Rather, the party is struggling to assure its teeming supporters that the defection of its strongest hand since 2002, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), will not affect its chances in the election.

    Amidst speculations about his next political move after he lost control of the PDP in the state to some young Turks led by the new state chairman, Soji Adagunodo, Omisore officially announced his decision to dump the main opposition party for the SDP. Few weeks before the announcement, majority of his political aides, loyalists and supporters, including Dr. Bayo Faforiji, Ojo Williams, Bade Falade, among others, have joined the SDP.

    Eventually, Omisore in a prepared text, announcing his defection to the SDP, said, “notwithstanding my enormous contributions over the past years or so to building of the PDP, after very deep thought and the widest consultations with my God, my family, my supporters in and outside Osun State, it is with great concern that I have made a very expedient decision today, to withdraw my membership from the PDP and join SDP.”

    Describing SDP as “a party that believed in a balanced, equitable and truly functional Nigeria”, the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation declared that “on the platform of the SDP, I shall with the support of my supporters, followers, and the electorate of the state, seek the nomination to contest for, and by His grace, be elected as the Executive Governor of Osun State on September 22, 2018.”

    The development elicited mixed reactions from members and chieftains of the party. While some are rejoicing over Omisore’s exit, claiming his refusal to allow for a fresh governorship candidate has been responsible for PDP’s many defeats, others say without the former Deputy Governor’s structure and war chest, it may be difficult for the party to make much impact in the September election.