Life at 60…

How has your role of Governor affected your immediate family?

The job takes me away from the house a lot of the time but I try to connect with my children by phone and sometimes visiting them in school as often as possible especially my son. It’s not enough, but my wife bears the brunt of my unavailability even though she too is quite busy.

What kind of things are they not able to do anymore?

They have had a lot of limitations on them but I guess they’ve accepted it except for my daughter who sometimes still says ‘I wish daddy doesn’t continue with politics’ but somehow, they have accepted it.

Now that you’ve turned 60, is there anything in your life you look forward to doing after office?

After office, I want to contribute more to develop younger leaders in Nigeria. Some of us came into leadership positions without any experience, without any training or mentoring. I want to be able to be in the position to help to develop younger persons so that when they come to office or when they acquire any leadership position, they will be able to handle it properly. Having gone through all these various stages of life, I have a lot of experience that I can contribute maybe in terms of giving talks or doing some write-ups.

There’s no way you can be in government in Nigeria and be totally removed from politics. I know some of people who have been Governors and they say they are totally removed, they are into business but I know that at certain periods, they are still dragged in when called upon to settle issues and give advice.

How else do you also plan to take things easy?

Right now, one virtually works 24 hours a day. When I leave office, I will spend more time at home. The children are already out of the home, so it’s more with my wife, more time for introspection, devote myself to spiritual activities and of course, developing my fitness and skills.

If you look back, in the last ten years, is there anything you wish you could have done differently?

Well, in the last ten years I have been deeply involved with my work. I was SSG and then Governor. Though they are not many, there were few decisions I took as Governor that if I had the opportunity again, I would take such decisions differently. All the same, I really thank God because it’s not been through my knowledge to get to the peak of my life. He has been very gracious to me.

Most out-going Governors seek Ministerial posts or go to the Senate after their tenure. Any plans to follow suit?

For now, I have aspiration to go into the Senate, if it works fine and if it doesn’t, it’s not a big deal.

What legacy would you like to live behind for your successor?

Legacy like I keep saying depends on who it is, but I will advice we do more for the poor persons. We have tried as much as possible to deal with issues of health, education, transportation and empowerment at the very low levels. Many of us concentrate on the big things, airports, fly-overs and all that and sometimes forget that most of the population is at that lower level and what they need is very basic, access to good health care, education, drinking water, good transportation. With that in place, the society can develop. So the kind of things I will advice the person is not to forget the poor people in the society.

Most out-going Governors also prefer a successor they can believe in, heightening the level of a smooth transition. Is this a correct perception?

Well, the prayer of every Governor is that the person taking over from you should continue the work you are doing. We have experienced some change in government in which the person coming in threw away all the previous works of his predecessor and started afresh. For two years, there was a loss of activities in such situation. So we are always praying for the completion of jobs instead of the reversal. We pray for a smooth transition. I can see a few of the aspirants who I believe can continue from where I stopped.

I want to be able to be in the position to help to develop younger persons so that when they come to office or when they acquire any leadership position, they will be able to handle it properly.