I’ve no fear over who succeeds me — Kwara gov

How far have you gone in making Kwara State an agricultural hub of the nation? Agric as you know is one area that has been supported by the Federal Government through various funding windows. As a state, we’ve taken advantage of all the platforms provided by the Federal Government. You will recall that we pioneered commercial agriculture through invitation of displaced farmers from Zimbabwe who came in to drive commercial agriculture here. As it is, we are happy that they have gone through thick and thin and have settled down into three major consumptions largely: poultry, mixed cropping and dairy.

This is about your seventh year in office. Looking back, what are the things you feel you should have done better which you did not do?

Largely, when you are coming into an office like this, you have very high expectations, high hopes of things you want to achieve. But don’t forget that we are largely guided by a well-designed, methodically put together Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) keyed into our budgeting system. And most importantly, we have looked at an aggregate of what the needs of our people are and we’ve worked out the financial model to suit into these. As it is, I will say I am happy with some of the areas we’ve been able to achieve. We have made impact in areas of health, water supply, roads and most importantly, we’ve impacted on the basic education level.

As it is, we have been challenged financially. It is not unconnected with the fact that we are all heavily reliant on federally allocated funds. But I am happy to let you know that we have changed our revenue base and have since changed our funding window and improved the way and manner in which we are carrying out our expenditure in Kwara State. As it is now, we don’t have the luxury of time but the modest achievements we’ve in the country today.

Are you grooming anybody since keyed into our revenue base and our programmes are being carried on despite the paucity of funds that we are faced with to succeed you and do you think your party, APC, has performed well to merit another term in 2019?

Firstly, at the state level, what drives governance truly are strengthened institutions. As it were, in addition to our desire to ensure that our programmes as encapsulated in our budget are carried out to the letter, but most importantly we are strengthening the institutions that will support governance. These are the areas that drive good governance and deliver service.

So, with the arrangements that are in place, we are sure that those who will come in with the strengthened institutions will begin to see the need on how to carry these things out accordingly. So, there is no fear about who is coming in to take over from us.

Do you entertain any fear at the federal level?

On the issue of status at the federal level, you and I are not unfamiliar with the fact that there was a major shift from the PDP to the APC, and truly, APC came with a lot of expectations. However, the attendant circumstances at the time the APC government was being ushered in, especially the drop in the price of crude oil affected the economy.

In trying to gauge what APC has done so far, from a modest perspective, I think it has done well because it had so many facets to tackle. It has the facet of ensuring that institutions are working, ensuring that resources are available to drive programmes; there is a huge deficit of infrastructure; especially in energy and roads. These are very critical to development and growth. So, by and large, getting to create platforms that will bring these things into the right platforms to allow governance to move on was quite herculean. I will say that modestly, the APC government has achieved and it requires some time to build on what it has achieved as platforms to give the desired impact that will truly change what people’s expectations are.

What are some of the legacy projects your administration has put in place in the last seven years?

In the last seven years, we have approached development from a very strategic perspective. Firstly, we broke down our systems into human capital development which can even drive our infrastructure. In the area of human capital development, we looked at the tertiary institutions and we sought to enhance engineering in the state university. As it is, we have been able to build a brand new engineering complex to give a proper platform for engineering studies in Kwara State University. Of course, in the secondary schools, we have not only renovated quite a number of our classrooms, we have also been able to ensure that teachers are available on the agreed ratio basis to teach the pupils. I am happy to let you know that we have been able to translate this into an increased percentage of students that are passing at the right level to close to about 64 to 70 per cent, which is quite new and a major achievement for us here. In the area of health, we modelled five general hospitals across the state, one of which is the Ilorin General Hospital, which hitherto was the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, and since they moved out to the permanent site, they left a carcass there. We have since transformed this into a first-class general hospital that is centrally located and serves our people. We have done roads across the 16 local governments. Some are being rehabilitated, new ones are being done. We are carrying out what we call the Diamond Underpass, which is going to be the first of its kind in this environment. But most importantly, the roads have touched every local government.

What happened to the projects left by your predecessor?

All projects we met on assumption of office, especially capital projects, were taken to completion level. They were completed because our campaign promise was ‘legacies continue’ and it meant that we were going to complete those projects for the people to enjoy the benefits. We have since completed them, initiated new ones and completed some, while some are still ongoing.

Did you question some of the projects before you completed them?

I didn’t question them because I was part of that government and I was among those who designed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) that supported those programmes. I was the Commissioner for Planning, so part of what I actually executed in my first term in office was designed when I was Commissioner for Finance. That was why we had a seamless transition.

What is your reaction to the call for the creation of cattle colonies?

I think we need to sit down and truly look at what is going to work for us as a country. We must first recognise that the cattle herders are Nigerians whose interests have not been truly looked into in the light of the services that they render to the national economy. We require a very responsive agricultural policy which must be holistically pursued and must carry everybody inclusively to ensure that nobody is left out. I am sure that by the time that we are able to sit down and look at what practices are done in other parts of the world we would be able to domesticate something that would suit our interest and will suit our peculiarities. But one thing is clear, the way and manner we used to do it in the past is not going to work again because the space is getting smaller, the population is growing and we require optimal land use in such a way and manner that we will begin to get the right benefit. Most of our lands; especially for agriculture, are not optimally utilised. So much land but with very small output because we have not improved on the way and manner that we are going to create inputs and expect outputs. All these things need to be reviewed holistically so that we begin to see optimal land use to generate maximum wealth and also create space for cattle herders in such a way that they would see the benefit of improving over and above what they are doing today. Everybody knows that the movement of cows from one location to the other is very tiresome and most importantly, does not give us the kind of benefit that we are supposed to get from the cattle. By the time they move from Point A to Point B, they are almost emaciated. It requires that we create a more enabling environment in advocacy in terms of other benefits of not moving around. These are things that government must put in place; then we begin to create laws that would guide utilisation. So let’s look at it holistically, domesticate what is done in different parts of the world and begin to skew our people through advocacy that will make them see the new methods as attractive.

We are sure that those who will come in with the strengthened institutions will begin to see the need on how to carry these things out accordingly. So, there is no fear about who is coming in to take over from us

After your stint as governor what is your next aspiration?

Sincerely, I am so overwhelmed with the current need to take my activities to finishing point. I see the challenges that we are faced with now; paucity of funds, high demands by people and also the need to carry all these projects to desired levels. It is so herculean that I require to see it taken to the next level and that will define my next movement to whatever I need to do in future. I have several options that I am looking at and it is all premised on my energy which I think I still have; I am available to do a lot of things, but the most critical point is to take our projects to completion level as encapsulated in our campaign promises and also being able to overcome the financial challenges we are faced with.