Former Osun State Head of Service, Elder Segun Akinwusi, is a gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, in Osun State. In this interview with SINA FADARE and ADEOLU ADEYEMO, he condemns the merger of schools, huge debt profile and destruction of property in the state.Excerpts:
What informed your decision to run for Osun State governorship?
I am running for governorship because of the things I am seeing around are not in tandem with the wishes and aspiration of the founding fathers of the state. I have worked for 35 years in the public service, I served 15 different governments, I held forth as Head of Service for six years and six months that is almost a quarter of my tenure in the civil service.
So, I was within the corridor of power and I know what governance is all about. Governance is made up of two component; politicking and core administration aspect of governance. Politicking is a part I have never been involved, and so when this government came on board and came up with a slogan, an unusual government, and I started to think, what does unusual government means, because government with all honesty supposed to be open, predictable, and supposed to be governed by rules and regulations.
Nothing hidden about it, but when you see the pattern of governance in all connection, you will see that there are a lot of things that are missing, that is one of the reasons why I want to come on board.
When you look at the scenario in Osun State today, it calls for concern. I have hated politics like a plague, even when I was still in service, people were asking me, what else do I want to do. And I kept on telling them that I am not interested in politics, when I was appointed Head of Service by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, he invited me to join politics but, I said, oga you know I can't afford to be in your midst, you know I don't know how to lie. He said, 'am I a liar?' I said oga you are not a liar and all the rest.
When the incumbent came on board also, he invited me a couple of times and I told him I was not interested in politics, because it is not in my calling.
So, that was my disposition to politics, but like I said as a key player in the affairs of this state, I cannot fold my arms and see things degenerate terribly the way it is today. We see sadness written on people's face, the economy of the state is in shamble, there is nothing to write home about.
Osun is almost a failed state. Let us be frank to ourselves; is it the chaos we are having in the education sector and several of them. I believe you know that there are no true opposition in the state; the government in power just does whatever it likes with impunity. Today I stand to be challenged that this government has borrowed more than N300bn since it came on board.
What is your take on the urban renewal programme of the present administration?
Urban renewal is not a new thing. I must tell you that this government was not the initiator of that programme; it has been on board before they came around.
The dualisation from Akoda to Olaiya junction was done by a government with minimal discomfort to the people. Are you saying in the name of wanting to make Osogbo looks like London, destroy the people's property only to plant trees and flowers? That is inhuman. You don't have to make everywhere look like London overnight, and in the process bring agony and hunger to the people.
A lot of people that are displaced are already homeless, some jobless while a lot of them had died. Some people that have nowhere to go have sold their capital, some are already in huge debt that they cannot recover from. There is nothing so noble about what they are doing on urban renewal because they bring discomfort to the people.
But those people whose properties were destroyed were compensated?
I don't know anything about compensation. What we are saying is that the action is inhuman, I don't know if people have been compensated, some of those buildings that were pulled down, there is no way they can give them much that can be sufficient to build a replacement.
I am not directly affected but from what I heard, a lot of them have not been compensated, even when they are compensated, it cannot replace the destroyed property and remember that most of the demolished structures are in the commercial nerve centre of the town where commercial activities are recorded, where government generates IGR and all the rest.
They were pulled down without replacement. Look at MDS, for example, grass have started to grow there. Government policies have to take into consideration the plight of the people; it has to be focused on the welfare of the people, issues that can add values to the lives of the people, not what we are witnessing in Osun.
Why did you choose UPN, and what are those things you want to do that the current government is not doing?
I chose UPN as a party because people know the antecedent of UPN when it was formed during the Second Republic by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Even Chief Bola Ige, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Prof. Ambrose Alli, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and the likes replicate all those things UPN was known for.
We want to make it a party that will take care of the core interest of the South-West and dwell on the dream of the progenitor of that party in the past, and that is why most of the cardinal programmes of the party are being resuscitated today. We are talking about a government that is more people-focused, government that believe that the need of the people must be addressed rather than things that are mundane. And when we see the way things is going on here, everybody can see that the state is sick.
The economy of Osun State has not improved, all the resources in the state have been drained, there is capital flight, the money of the state is not circulating and being used by the people of the state, this is not the way it ought to be.
Let me tell you, prior to 2003, we have limited banks in the state but when they saw prospects in the state, they started moving in which is an indication that they have confidence in the government of the day, but today most of the banks are planning to relocate, because all their staff are being retrenched because they cannot make certain targets because the economy is in a state of comatose, and some several things that are going on. These are the things we have seen and can be addressed if UPN comes to power.
How do you hope to reach out to the nooks and crannies of the state in the distribution of amenities if you are elected?
I have been in government this long like I told you, I was a member of the state executive council for six years and six months, so, I know what it takes to govern a state. All that is involved is not new to me, and like I told you people, I am not a politician, I am committed to good governance. I will not lay emphasis on politicking. I know politics is about allocating scarce resources. We shall be fair to everybody. There is no need politicking with the resources of the state, I believe things should be done the proper way,
What should the people of the state expect on education if UPN wins the guber election in 2014?
The UPN with all honesty has four cardinal programmes and free education is number one; education is central to development, education is our key industry here.
We will want to ensure that students have vocational training , they will acquire vocational and entrepreneurial skill immediately after the SSCE so that when they enter the university they would have acquired a skill that could sustain them, even when the course they are offering in the university is different from the vocation already acquired, they can still come back to practice it for survival purposes. I want to say that one of those things that gave me sleepless night as Head of Service was the way people thronged my office looking for job.
I want to ensure that we will de-emphasise poverty by ensuring that our youths are gainfully employed. I will ensure that the people that are domiciled in the state are made to invest in Osun, unlike the capital flight we are experiencing now.
What they are doing to education in the state is what I will call confusion, because we have 1,300 primary schools in the state, we have over 580 secondary schools, and government now wants to trim them to 100 junior schools, 70 middle schools, and whether 30 or 40 senior schools, I don't know how they are going to do it because they are calling for chaos.