Abiodun Awolaja was at the inauguration lecture of the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, held in Akure on Saturday. His report.Although the inauguration lecture of the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, was expected to draw participants from across the globe, actual attendance at the event held at the Ondo State Cultural Centre, Adegbemile Akure, easily dwarfed expectations.
At the event were former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Dr Joseph Sanusi; Major Saliba Mukoro; former Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Alani Akinrinade; former Oyo State governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; the Labour Party (LP) chairman in the United Kingdom, Dr Rotimi Akomolafe, the deputy governor of Niger State, Alhaji Musa Ibeto and a former Ondo State governor, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua.
The list also included the Canadian High Commissioner, Mr Chris Cooter; former Plateau State deputy governor, Mrs Pauline Tallen; the first governor of Ondo State, Group Captain David Ikpeme (retd); chair on the occasion, Dr Christopher Kolade; the guest lecturer, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi; Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu; the LP chairman, Barrister Dan Nwanyanwu; the LP’s National Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Salam.
Also present were the Ondo State deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi and his wife; former Daily Times Managing Director, Chief Tola Adeniyi; Professor Oladapo Ademolekun; former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope; Chief Michale Adeojo, Chief Willy Ezeugo; former GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Chief Funso Kupolukun; Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Emeritus Professor Akin Mabogunje, the Iyaloja of Ondo State, Chief (Mrs) Julianah Ogunwusi; Professor Friday Okunufia, Dr Bisi Jagun, Dr Kehinde Osifade, Chief Emeka Obasi; World Bank chief, Bayo Awosenusi; Vice Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Professor Femi Mimiko; Professor Oyebanji Oyeyinka, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, Justice Olufunmilola Adekeye, Mr Akin Onigbinde, Mr Akin Aruwajoye, Mr Akin Osuntokun and Mr Emeka Obasa.
Among the other dignitaries were Dr Fredrick Faseun, Professor Bola Akinterinwa, Emeritus Professor Harrison, who came from Finland to witness the occasion; Chief Gboyega Fatimileyin, Professor Tolu Odugbemi, Chief Bisi Ogunjobi; and Super Eagles player, Godfrey Oboabona, captain of the state’s Sunshine Stars football team.The Deji of Akure, Oba Adesida Adebiyi; Osemawe of Ondo, Oba (Dr) Victor Kiladejo; the Olowo of Owo, Oba (Dr)Victor Olateru-Olagbegi, led other traditional rulers in the state.
In his lecture entitled, Leadership, Democracy and Development: A Paradigm Relationship, Akinyemi, professor of International Relations and Diplomacy and former Minister of External Affairs, dwelt on the place of a constructive and visionary leadership for national advancement. Beginning from a report prepared under the auspices of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, United States, Akinyemi said: “I congratulate Governor Mimiko for having won a second term election. I also thank him as a Yoruba man, a Nigerian and a black man for giving me something to boast about,’’ while dismissing the insinuations of the political opposition in Ondo State on Dr Mimiko’s victory margin with the declaration that “It is only where elections are rigged or where it is only a one-party system that winners claim outlandish majorities.
Proceeding from US President, Barack Obama’s 2009 remark that “Africa doesn’t need strong men, it needs strong institutions,’’ Akinyemi contended that historical analysis of periods in a nation’s history easily demonstrated that strong leadership, whether good or bad, could have on the life of a nation. Drawing examples from Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill’s leadership in Britain, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi experiment, General Park Chung-Heein in South Korea, Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore, Obafemi Awolowo in Nigeria’s Western Region, among many others, Akinyemi stated that “When you are at ground zero as most of the developing countries found themselves in the 1950s or Mimiko found Ondo in the 2000s, a strong leadership is a desideratum.’’
Citing the 2011 Human Development Report issued by the UNDP which ranked Nigeria at 156 out of the 186 nations surveyed, he argued: “The real tragedy is that we have bred several generations who have lost hope in today and tomorrow. They have given up on Nigeria because Nigeria has given up on them...There are no values to hold on to. Perhaps bringing God into it might have had a salutary effect if not for the fact that Nigerians have created their own God in their own image. In my youth, to be accused of theft or any other criminal offence was tantamount to suicide, not only for the accused but for his entire family. More than a score of members of the Nigerian Senate have EFCC court cases against them. Only in Nigeria do you steal billions and escape with less than a million naira fine.’’ Thus, in order for the nation to move forward, the don argued that the political elite must make a conscious effort to arrive at a consensus that will be the outcome of negotiation, arguing that the system to be put in place should not reflect temporary advantages secured through a temporary monopoly of power.
However, during the question and answer session chaired by Dr Kolade, proved to be quite illuminating and charged. Among others, Olumilua had wanted an answer to this poser: “In Nigeria, riches abound and so does wealth. How can we cure our poverty with our resources?’’ Akinyemi argued “that there is no one in Nigeria who can become a billionaire in Nigeria without corruption. A millionaire, yes, but not a billionaire.’’ Responding to the question on progressivism in the South-West as defined by the Action Congress of Nigeria, Akinyemi said: “An Awoist is somebody who is on top of his game intellectually, as Awo used to say.To be an Awoist is to be faithful to caring about the people. It is not a blood relationship. When you provide a facility where the rich and poor are taken care of, then you are an Awoist.’’
To Mimiko, Finland-based Professor Kelsey Harrison said: “You are actually creating history. The road has not ended yet.’’ Harrison, who had devoted a life time to studies on maternal mortality issues, said he was happy that Mimiko had solved the question of safe delivery, adding that there was now no need for any Nigerian woman to go to India or other countries for care.
It was at this stage that Mimiko, clad in his trademark Ankara material, took the microphone, electrifying the over-filled hall.
‘’I don’t know what to say, but I am sure the debate will go on after this day---the relationship between leadership, democracy and development.
But I know one thing for sure... Frantz Fanon said every generation out of obscurity must discover its mission, either fulfil it or betray it. What I just need to add to that is that if you fulfil it, it is for your own good. If you betray it, there are repercussions. When we were growing up, even a few years ago, if anybody talked about suicide bombers, we would say that it would never happen in Nigeria. But suddenly we woke up one day and suicide became a fact of life in Nigeria. A few years back, we used to read about kidnapping but suddenly, kidnapping no longer makes headline news in Nigeria. Professor Akinyemi said it, that the biggest danger in Nigeria is that there are generations of people that have lost hope completely; they don’t believe that this country has anything to offer again. In my inauguration address in 2009, one of the critical issues raised was that we wanted to bridge the disconnect between government and the governed. And I had cause to grant an interview today and I said “For me, the greatest achievement is that today, the average Ondo State citizen talks about government as we, ijoba wa (our government), is eta n se, titi wa (our street). We must make that organic connect.
“As you all know, the dualisation of Arakale Road, for example, has been completed. When we took the decision to dualise it, some said: don’t let us stretch our luck too far. E je ka duro de second term o...
“We did not take the people for granted. We recognised the socio-economic imperatives that made the people to build houses even without approval. We did not ask the people to come and bring papers: we demolished 200 houses but before we did, we paid compensation to everybody.
There was a day the bulldozer was working and we were driving past in Arakale, and those whose houses were being demolished were shouting Iroko! We noticed it and I said that was profound, because it was not only about the money: we had series of interface with them, we empathised with them; we had to proffer solutions to the challenge that would be their lot when we pulled down their buildings. Today, Arakale stands majestically as a dualised road.
“My experience has shown that our people are basically good people. Part of the problems of this nation has been that we take the people for granted. For so long, we talked about bottom-up approach as perhaps the preferred paradigm for development in our rural areas. But everybody sat in the cosy environment of their offices and just think of one village and says “Go and put one water project there’’ and all of that. Some of these projects never get executed in the first instance.
“Building hospital is one thing but making it functional is quite another. And if they are not functional, the issue of sustainability does not even come in... We called the programme the 31s programme, which stands for institution, infrastructure and.. We trained some unemployed graduates for the pilot scheme, picked 80 rural communities and, having trained them in needs assessment and community engagement, sent them to those communities. We told them: “When you get there, first of all identify the governance institution, let them talk about their priorities. What are their challenges, everyday concerns? Then ask them to vote and prioritise. Having identified 10 programmes, we asked to put five or six on the ground.
We asked those people to elect four people in each of those communities (we called them community change champions) and brought them to Akure and train them on how to execute and evaluate projects. We send them back to the communities and channel funds directly to them.
“We completed 654 community projects. In Abiye, we said let us track every pregnancy from conception to delivery.
“The beauty of Mother n Child facility is that perhaps it is the only facility where you offer complete tertiary care to pregnant women, world class standard, totally free of charge. You find the wife of a millionaire sitting side by side with the wife of a messenger, one because she cannot find better facilities elsewhere, the other because it is free. But now, even the baby of a lunatic is there.
“But the point I am trying to make: when we wanted to renew our cities, I said “Look, it is easier for you to send a bulldozer and pull down all those shacks littering our cities and making them look unsightly. But we knew the socio-economic causes of street trading---few years ago, there were no street traders in Nigeria. Most families in Nigeria live by guerrilla feeding---we said we must provide better alternatives. We took an inventory of all the street hawkers and their pictures and we built those world class neighbourhood markets. When it was time for allocation, of course, the big men in society wanted shops for their wives but we relocated only those who were displaced to those facilities. We made it affordable to them. Mike Munroe said we transformed ordinary street traders into real entrepreneurs.
“Emeka,’’ the governor said referring to the publisher of Hallmark magazine who had asked whether a non-ACN governor could be called a progressive, “that is progressivism. Progressivism is not about propaganda or oratory. Yes, Awo was a father of communication. If you had to do what he did, you must have the power of communication. I wish he were alive in this era of ICT; he would be a light. The point I am trying to make is that it is not about propaganda. The biggest legacy of Awolowo is free, universal and qualitative education, irrespective of status. Awolowo provided education as a means of social mobility. He broke generational poverty for a lot of families. That is the essence of progressivism. Yoruba people are not celebrating Awolowo because he could speak good English but because he liberated generations from poverty with one single policy.
So, anybody can himself anything, as Professor Bolaji said in his lecture. You cannot cheat the people, steal their money and say you are a progressive. It is not possible.Let me stop at that.
“Let me go back to Franz Fanon. The question we should ask ourselves is this: Is education available to the child of the poor as a means of social mobility? What is the type of education in our public schools? How many of our children graduate from public schools and get admitted to universities? The few that get admitted, how many of them are gainfully engaged after the university?
“When I read in a text that graduate unemployment in Nigeria is 15 per cent, I said this people must be living in the outer space. Graduate unemployment in Nigeria is more than 80 per cent. If we answer this question honestly, then you won’t be surprised that there are kidnappers, and even now, suicide bombers. This is why I say if we don’t fulfil the mission of our generation, we have a price to pay and that is the price we are paying in Nigeria. We have left undone the things that we should have done. We have celebrated materialism... One of the things we did when we assumed office was to develop this new mantra for the state: ise loogun ise (work is the antidote to poverty). Each time I go on the streets and I see people working, those who used to be street boys, in the Direct Labour Agency—I inspect projects at 3 a.m, I see some of those guys---I say yes, that is the new Ondo State because the Bible says clearly: if you don’t work, you don’t eat. The idea of ise kekere, owo nla nla (small work, big money) is the gateway to armed robbery. Ise loogun ise is the idea we were trained with.’’
