Rauf Aregbesola is the fourth civilian governor of Osun State. He came into office on November 27, 2010, after being declared authentic winner of the 2007 governorship election in the state. In a couple of months, Aregbesola will be seeking re-election. In this chat with journalists, including Correspondent, Gbenga Faturoti, Aregbesola spoke on his preparedness for the election, efforts to industrialize the state and boost the State’s IGR. He also spoke on other issues. Excerpts:
How has the state been able to carry out so many infrastructural projects, programmes and projects across the state despite limited resources?
We are being driven by the passion to turn around the economy of the State of Osun. We believe strongly in the divine intervention for guidance and success. This foundation made it possible for us to be guided in the appointment of the right people in the right places. We cannot ascribe the success to ourselves but to the Almighty who will continue to support and make it possible for us to achieve our plans to execute mega projects that will attract investments from across the developed nations to the State of Osun. And that passion definitely inspired more than ordinary effort to get our resources to drive our vision. So, I often tell people, in addition to what I’ve just told you, that I served under one of the best public finance experts in the person of the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The tutelage paid off so handsomely and the result is what you are witnessing in Osun.
Election for your second term in office is just few months away, how prepared are you for the bid?
Well, in the first place, the answer would have been we are doing our best honestly speaking because of our own approach to governance. We have been working from the very first day with the firm belief that there’ll be a day of reckoning which elections usually mean to politicians. Elections are the days of reckoning. They are the judgment days for politicians. So, from the day we were sworn-in up until now, we have been working assiduously for that auspicious day that our electorate will have the opportunity to renew our mandate for another period of time. For a thing that we have been working at for the past 37 months, I will want to say we are doing well at it.
The PDP has been engulfed in leadership crisis for some time now, what is the impact of the crisis on the APC?
There was no crisis in PDP when we assumed office. To us, whether the party is one, fragmented or weakened by internal crisis, it is their own headache. We are engaged by the people and that is important to us. Our engagement with the people has been so firm, so serious, so symbiotic and so wholesome. Whatever is the situation of PDP in Osun, it is of no importance to us. If they are together, they do not matter because the people are the sovereign. The people are the sole decider of victory or defeat in an election. Parties will only mobilize support from the people. Parties cannot force the people. Parties can stimulate the interest of the people in their activities. Party cannot compel the people to adopt or accept their programmes. So, since we have realized this from the very beginning, our works, our programmes, our activities are directed at meeting the needs of the people, satisfying the people, mobilizing the people to accept our programmes and policies, making them believe in us as their friends and people who are committed to their progress, welfare, peace and prosperity. Our people-oriented programmes are also designed to make them adopt us as their own representatives. So, once those critical or those fundamentals of engagement with the people are met, the rest is little. With what we have done with the people, with the response we have from the people, it does not matter the crisis or no crisis in PDP. The crisis in PDP doesn’t matter anymore. Whether they are together or divided, weakened or strong, as long as we are one with the people and represent the aspirations of the people to give our people the hope of realising their desires and wants, let other parties do whatever they wish to do. God be with us, success is our own.
How would you rate the economy of Osun today?
Nigerian economy is weak. The Nigerian economy is very weak and unsustainable. It is too dependent on crude to the chagrin of the economy itself and the people. But what do we mean by that statement? An economy that is not value-oriented is an unstable economy. It is a very unstable economy. Our economy today depends absolutely on the vagaries of the international oil market. This should not be the case for a nation with the size of Nigeria, people and landmass. We must have a less mono-resource dependent economy. We have the land, we have the people, what we should have used the oil money to do is to diversify our economy. For a state within such bad-managed nation to seek to isolate a constituent of such a nation, in economic analysis will be very difficult. This is particularly a hard task when you bear in mind that this is a state that has been administered along the line of the laise faire economic management for over 19 years before our advent. Indeed, this will be very tough and I want you to see it from that angle. Bearing that in mind, we are turning the economy of Osun around. A care in the kitchen of our economic success is the drive to re-jig the economy of the state. Even with the obvious challenge we have as a nation, we have grown the income of the state. For instance, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state has jumped from N300 million to over N1.6billion per month. We are attracting investments to specific sectors of the state and hope to achieve over N3billion IGR. We are supporting farmers at all levels, from peasant to new generation farmers and high commercial farmers. We are empowering our people to produce food and help them with the market for their products. We are supporting market men and women in their businesses. Part of the industrial development that took place since we assumed office is the Omoluabi Garment Factory where uniforms are being made for our students on a commercial and large scale basis. This was initiated not only to reduce the cost but increase the quality of wears. Today, the factory is not only producing uniforms but it is producing other garments and uniforms for school children nationwide. It is producing other garments from other wears to T-shirts and sports wears. There is another company that is built to manufacture electronics such as plasma television set, computers of all types, desktop, laptops, palmtop. The LG factory will produce another one just like we have a factory in Osogbo to produce Opon Imo for schools in the State. It was designed in the form of a mini iPad as a portable touchscreen Android powered e-learning device, the first of its kind in Nigeria, provided by the state government to equip students with knowledge and make it easier for them to pass school leaving certificates examination. It is a standalone, educational, multimedia e-learning content platform that comes with pre-loaded applications for WAEC and JAMB approved text books.
What are the factors actually attracting these companies to spring up in Osun?
Several factors are responsible for the attraction of investment to the State of Osun. It is our own initiation. This is because we are deliberately attracting those outfits as well as putting in place activities that will make such investment difficult to avoid our state and difficult to escape from our territory. There is massive transformation of the state in terms of infrastructural development. If we talk about roads, drive round and check the kilometres of standard roads, standard bridges, beautiful streets with flowers, dual carriageway that is incomparable and the return of peace. Most of these projects completed did not receive a funfare commissioning as practiced in the past. Also the present administration in the state has created opportunities for existing investors who are looking for high yields, by creating instruments and bonds in the state. When we launched non-interest bond recently, the critics embarked on negative campaigns but today we have succeeded in securing funds for infrastructural development of Osun at fixed returns. When we did this Sukuk bond, there was no way we could do it at 14.75 percent returns because banks were lending to one another at 25 or 30 per cent. And so I am not surprised that not only are we beginning to have interest, what we have done is that we have pioneered that instrument and have contributed to the infrastructural development of Nigeria.
Your administration is re-constructing the Ido-Osun Airport that has been out of use for years; making it the airport with the longest runway, what is the focus of your government, especially to become the hub for aircraft maintenance in West Africa?
Definitely, the Internal Generated Revenue of the state will rise. More jobs would be created. We are touching lives and determined to improve the living standard of the people in Osun. There is no room for erosion on our roads in the state capital. The state of Osun is fast becoming the London of Nigeria. In our drive to boost job creation and industrialise the state, for instance, we awarded the contract for the production of 750,000 uniforms to the company that we compelled to start the garment industry in Osun. We engage another company in the training of a large number of our youths in electronics. As a pre-condition for the actualization of that deal, we demanded the establishment of the factory in Osun that will produce electronic devices from televisions to computers and mobile phones. We are not resting on our achievements but we are still working hard at bringing as many industrial concerns as possible to Osun. Generally, we are committed to industrialization, investment and economic development. We are also committed to the welfare, security, harmony, peace, progress and development of our people, generally.
In 2006, you narrowly escaped being killed during the Osogbo Oroki day celebration, what is the situation of security in the state now?
There is no comparison. You can’t compare light with darkness. You can’t compare progress with failure. With reaction, if you have the people with you, you will be swimming in an ocean of limitless confidence, composure and peace of mind. However, if the basis of your mandate is fraudulent, if the basis of your mandate is exploitative, if the basis of your mandate is criminal, that is, based on manipulation and compromise of the process, you can never run away from fear, intimidation and neurosis. The outward manifestation of the underlining basis of the emergence of our administration clearly shows the character of our administration. This is totally different from the administration from whom we took power, considering the fraudulent nature of his mandate. Our people are not reactionaries. Yoruba are progressive in their customs and culture and in their social relationship. We are a people with an ingrained attitude of live and let live. The Yoruba have fine human relationship, excellent character, remarkable world-class commitment to human values and ethics that are not comparable globally. It cannot be imagined that a decadent, uninspiring and reactionary political party will lead in Yoruba land is almost unthinkable. It is not for nothing that late Papa Obafemi Awolowo emerged from nowhere, he dominated the political scene while alive and his tendency, belief and political traditions are still dominant and effective in the Yoruba land. It’s not for nothing. It is because of the natural tendency and capacity of our people to pursue programmes that will guarantee maximum progress, maximum benefits and maximum development for the highest number of the people. So, because of that, the party that was here before our emergence could not have guaranteed peace if anything at all, the best they could do was what they did. That is, intimidating the people, persecuting them, treating them with contempt and disdain, repressing them, and sowing fears in their mind as the only way of retaining power. That was the reason the state was not secure. Everybody lived in fear. Life was brutish, sad and rough before our advent. At our advent, it was like bringing a balm to a sore and painful joint. My team and leaders of our party brought calm and peace. We brought joy, we brought goodwill, and we brought happiness to the communities and state. The people of the state have regained their happiness, they’ve regained their laughter and they’ve regained their characteristic Yoruba love for life and ceremonies. There is no threat anymore in all parts of our state. People sleep with their two eyes closed, they are no longer living in fear of harassment, persecution and intimidation. They go to where their business is either for religious, political, commercial and economic without fear or hindrance. We are proud of ensuring true peace in Osun. The instances of disturbance are not in any way linked to the government. They are essentially the usual mis-understanding that characterize life. .You cannot find our government involved in any social disagreement. The natural dynamism of existence could lead to rough edges around. Today, Osun is now the most peaceful states in Nigeria. And this is even why the economy is growing within the limit of what the larger Nigerian society can offer.
via@Independent