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| Rauf Aregbesola |
Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Independent Newspapers Limited (INL), publishers of Daily, Saturday and Sunday Independent last week. Expectedly, he fielded questions from Senior Editors where he spoke on the journey so far in the Osun State Government House. He also threw more light on the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) controversy and expressed fears over the dangers that lie ahead for the nation’s fledgling democracy. Excerpts
What is your candid assessment of the journey so far, as the governor of Osun State?
Let me first thank your establishment, Independent Newspapers Limited (INL), for all your informed commentary and critique of our government. There can’t be a better way to express our appreciation than to say thank you while also commending your efforts in the balanced dissemination of information. We are here on this visit as a demonstration of our clear understanding of your unbiased support in our trying times. I am happy to recall that at a time when all hopes were lost on our ever succeeding in our efforts to reclaim our mandate, your establishment did not distance itself from our struggle. It is good to recount this experience because after the election, we did a media run and your establishment was one of the places we visited then. At that initial stage, when impression was still fresh on what transpired, hope was high, we were very optimistic but when we had the first shock at the tribunal and the second round again, even our best supporters at that time started losing hope on the possibility of our getting back our mandate.
Even some of my bosom friends were asking me how I was preparing for a re-run. At that time when it appeared as if there was no headway, your establishment was committed to us because you were on ground to know the truth and was ready to pursue it till the end. Failing to recognise your effort, therefore, will amount to a show of ingratitude. My government will forever remain grateful to you. INL has demonstrated resilience, loyalty, character, tenacity and doggedness in the newspaper industry. That is not the only reason I respect your organisation; the INL family, whoever understands the circumstances of your occupation, the newspaper industry and your capacity to keep your head above the waters, the person will know that your establishment is not just ordinary. That you have continued, despite all the odds, is a demonstration of doggedness, clear initiative and vision. As we normally say, accept the assurances of my highest consideration for your resilience.
Well we have been there for 31 months now; it has been sweet and bitter in almost equal proportion but because of our resolve to support our people to make better meaning of their lives, we are not in any way shaken by the challenges on the way. In fact, if anything, we have remained unshakable even with the challenges ahead. We are inspired and challenged to do more to enable our people make the best of their lives and living. It is funny that sometimes the zealousness with which we run our objectives gets misunderstood. The 31 months of our being in the saddle have been inspiring and highly productive but more importantly, our joy is that the people are happy with what we are doing and we will not fail them.
We are here to transform the lives of our people to shame those who think or believe that blacks can never administer themselves. It is part of the facts that is motivating and propelling us to do the little we are doing. I am happy that beyond the sentiment of relationship, that you are one of the few papers that understand this and help us to explain it. We are worried about the history of our people, about our general underdevelopment, about the apparent lack of concern and interest by a large number of our elite to this ugly trend in our polity, in our economy and in our life as a whole. We are imbued with courage to forge ahead. For us, democracy stands as the only prospect of galvanising the people to make the best of their lives and for themselves.
The other time you were here, a month before you were sworn in, we asked how you were going to re-order your public finances to respond to the reality of the times, considering the unpredictability of the oil market and the absence of fiscal federalism. How have you coped?
First, the best answer would have been to say we would cope as we are coping but that may not sound like a responsible answer. The solution to poverty in the land is the ability of the government to mobilise the populace for production and if you look at our programmes critically, you will understand our focus. Our focus is to empower the people and use the people, as it is expected, as the vehicle to strengthen the state, which is the government. You know the method of funding government over here is an aberration in classical governance. Government does not depend on handout because no handout exists in government. Government expects the people, out of their freewill, to support government from their own income. If there is a basis for governance as the institution of government, it is the free decision of a people to entrust some common services that will make life liveable to a set of people, who either by claim of some extraordinary power, take control of power like the monarchs or a system through which conscious efforts are being made by the people, the adults to express their desire on who among the contending forces, is their choice to administer their state. That is a part of civil responsibility, and the other part is to fund that choice.
So, the only way government gets money is through the contribution of the populace to the government. So, what we are doing is to provide opportunity for the active adults in our state to be economically viable to support the state. We are believing God that it will improve but from what we are seeing now, unless and I believe when that time comes it will happen and unless we restructure Nigeria, there is no way these weak states, these putative miniature structures that we call states, with the obtuse government structure that we have, can survive the test of time. I must be honest enough to explain this issue. But for the allocation from Abuja, how can you have six states in the Western region with six governors, six houses of Assembly, six judiciary, etc. That, in itself has taken the meat out of the resources of the state. So, if we are going to be honest to ourselves, what if the oil dries up tomorrow?
If the oil dries up tomorrow, there will be no more campaign and the only way out is to restructure Nigeria. We need to set the pace for restructuring, collapse this expensive architecture of government into one, reduce the huge government structure, then streamline it and depend absolutely on whatever you can mobilise the people to give to government to run it. That, to me, is the answer but another politically correct answer is, yes, as we are coping with the challenges and difficulties now, we have to keep on coping until when the restructure of Nigeria becomes non-negotiable.
You were an active participant in the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election
(Cuts in) I was there; whether I was active or not is subjective (laughs).
People are already expressing fears that when 16 have become a majority instead of 19, then there is big problem ahead
This is a question for all of us. Every patriotic Nigerian who values his or her freedom, that values the clear advantages of democracy, who believes in the rule of law and sanctity of the ethos of democracy, which is freedom to choose who governs you, will be concerned about events in our polity, not only in NGF. It is not only about NGF. NGF was sensational because of the calibre of people involved. How do you explain the seizure of the airplane of a governor in a democratic, civilised setting? How do you explain the refusal to allow Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s helicopter to fly? How do you explain the utterance of the commissioner of police in River State, saying that the governor is dictatorial? There are several shocking questions to which Nigerians must demand answers. How do you explain the inconclusion of Aguata state constituency election in Imo State? I won’t want to go to those that are quite ridiculous. Against the confidentiality rule of a democracy, we know that democracy thrives on the secret of the ballot but those, who voted in the NGF election, have come out to say, look nine of us voted for this man (Gov Amaechi) in addition to the 10 he has. The issue here is no longer complex. I read the statement credited to a PDP governor who said they urged him (Gov Amaechi) on because they knew they would not support him; that they knew he would loose.
It was Gov Kwankwaso that made the statement.
I am not mentioning anybody’s name (laughs). The arithmetic is simple. When you add 9 to 10, what do you get? Is it not 19? When you subtract 19 from 35 what do you get? Is it not 16? Let’s remove the grandstanding that a video was manipulated. Could there be another greater demonstration of the fact? We have not read any disclaimer against those who voted that said they did not vote for him (Amaechi). The All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, everybody knew where they voted. None of them was absent, so 10 plus 9 is 19 and 35 minus 19 is 16 and the one that had 16 is still saying I am older than you as if it is age that we are projecting.
It is sad that aberration has become a norm in Nigeria. It is an issue we must all stand up to resist. They are abusing Nigeria; it’s a great abuse and smear against the image of Nigeria that all Nigerians must reject in its totality. This is because if there can be that brazen attack on electoral integrity, then anything can happen. If the people all keep silent and feel unconcerned about such an issue, then we are gone as a country. Yes, some may argue that NGF is a voluntary association but the truth is that it tells us a direction that the people will want to go in all elections. And it is manifesting.
A clear manifestation is what is happening in the Aguata election in Imo State, a clear manifestation is the tail wagging the dog in River State. The constitution is so clear on who the chief security officer is in a state.
When a commissioner of police is saying that the governor is a dictator, then we must start to wonder what is happening. I just pray that Nigerian patriots will understand what the import of these developments is and must, in the interest of democracy, our future and the stability of our nation, start a huge campaign against impunity. We must not wait until it gets out of hand. It is time to tell ourselves that this handshake is going beyond the elbow.
Before your election, you promised to focus on two projects, agriculture and tourism. How far have you gone?
The truth is that there is a world of difference between policy and its implementation. Yes, we have done so much in agriculture but to say that we are getting corresponding financial returns on our efforts in agriculture, will be false but that does not mean we have not put so much efforts into agriculture. We are happy that our efforts are yielding results but we are quite sure of economic returns with time. The deficit in governance before we came in was so huge that we need more than the period we have spent now to fill it up and then start getting result. But I must not fail to tell you that we have shored up our revenue significantly.
How? We met the internally generated revenue (IGR) within the range of N300 million but we have taken it up to N1 billion, which is still a far cry from what we desire. If you are talking of an independent financial base, we have not done as much as we should do in tourism. I cannot say with confidence that we are not getting returns on our investment in tourism because we have not done much there. We are looking at tourism as a potential revenue generating venture so the answer is, yes, we have not lost focus but our practical experience has not been too helpful. We are making the environment beautiful to attract the needed attention.
What do you think about the All Progressives Congress (APC), given all that is unfolding?
The All Progressives Congress (APC) is still undergoing a process; it is still undergoing INEC process to become a party. It is still in the process of becoming a political party. You should not expect its manifestoes and constitution to be out now until it becomes a political party. Both the manifestoes and the constitution are ready and at the right time, we will make them public. We are optimistic that the merger will work. It is not a struggle against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but a struggle to save Nigeria. APC will provide the right type of leadership needed to salvage this country. The country is drifting and we must do something to stop the drift.
Source: Daily Independent
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