Dr Kayode Fayemi

We wont end this interview without talking politics, you are a politician.

Well I don’t talk politics!

There are challenges in the land, economy and people are blaming the APC government. What is your response?

You know, if you are experiencing difficulty, the easiest thing is the blame game, you must explain away your difficult position rather than pull up your bootstraps and adapt to the situation. Let me render an analogy which got me into trouble recently. I went to give my university convocation lecture in my alma mater – UNILAG – earlier this year and amongst several things I advised the graduates that frankly no one owes you anything, only God and your ability to pull yourself up by the boot straps will ultimately save you. I said you will make a difference only if you don’t expect that government is there to provide for you or because you are the son of a Minister, your path will just be laced with milk and honey. Life is bound to hand you a few disappointments and that is the reality regardless of the situation we find ourselves.

But just look at the trajectory. Our people don’t do enough of self reflection simply because we are experiencing difficulties at various levels and I can understand this. People don’t appreciate the message of tough love in a difficult situation, no matter how correct that message is, they want a saccharin- coated message. If you look at it with our experience in Nigeria, 2 million barrels of crude oil a day had depleted to 1m barrels by the time we came, it further depleted to 700,000 barrels by the time we were five months in office and only at 30 dollars a barrel. The same barrel of oil that once sold for $140m. Yes, it began to climb up to 56 dollars to a barrel. This is an item that provides 90 per cent of our revenue, people should just do the maths, it seems logical to me that we are in dire straits and it seems to me a miracle that we have even managed to come this far and not collapse under the weight of our current circumstances.

But if you also look at it, our production has climbed back to two million a day with the repairs of the Forcados pipeline and if you look at the recently lauched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, our forecast is 2.5 million barrels by 2020. With the current efforts we are making, macro-economic stability is bound to return gradually. I just like to advise for patience but I know patience is something that falls on deaf ears sometimes. The president feels the pain of Nigerians because for him it even pains him more than the people. President Buhari doesn’t hate the elite but he believes that the masses who were the architects of his electoral victory must benefit from his government. That is real, he doesn’t hide it even when we are in cabinet meeting. If you tell him ministers are suffering, this is the first time ministers are suffering like this, they don’t have accommodation, vehicles, you don’t give them anything, no allowances, he says well it is true I am sorry but what of the people out there? If your predecessors have messed things up and they took all the benefits what do you want me to do? Even me too, I haven’t received the benefits meant for my office. That is the challenge and as somebody who is concerned, who is not good at talking much, Nigerians don’t know that President Buhari worry constantly about their plight. We must commend the present administration for prudent management of the limited resources, honestly speaking, the resources are prudently managed. God knows where this country would have been if President Buhari were not in charge. It is tough, we have a joke amongst ourselves that this is a wrong time to be a minister in Nigeria because it is tough, but it is tough love. And things are already getting better.

Recently South West APC governors and leaders held a meeting. I still wonder why the integration of the zone has not been possible for this long. Was it part of the discussion?

I think it is always on the agenda across the board not just in the South West, it is only that South West people are more passionate about integration given the benefit they saw under the government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as premier in the Western Region. But I don’t think it is fair to say that it has not thrived. I recall when I was governor, we started the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria in 2013, I hosted the very first meeting that created Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) in Ekiti state and I am glad that it is still trying to pursue the agenda for integration, in the country and they are doing it beyond partisan interest. They met recently in Ekiti state, they met in Oyo before then, it is not only about the meeting it is what they are doing that interests me, the DAWN Secretariat is working with the World Bank, DFID on strengthening resource corridors for example.

I know they are doing a project now on strengthening Ibadan resource corridor, what can be developed, to make all the fallow land between Lagos and Ibadan become more useful to people, especially as the new rail line development comes simultaneously there. It is a long term venture but it is a venture that I am glad they have started to think about now. By the time the rail line will go through virtually all the South west states, integration will be more pronounced. When I became minister the only state that was out of the rail scheme was Ekiti and we began to make a case with the president and the president saw the logic, thanks to the minister of transportation too and Ekiti was looped back into the Western rail line.

So for me those are the triggers of integration. If you have a rail line criss crossing the south west, it is easy to bring the farm products from Ekiti or Osun to Lagos which is where the market is and am also positively impressed with the way Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has taken on the integration agenda, he has proven to be more excited about it. He has joined the Odua investment family which Lagos was not part of. You remember the logic of “gedegbe l’Eko wa, danfo gedegbe” (a past mantra about the separate nature of Lagos from other south west states). I think integration is not in the reverse gear in the south west, yes there were those reluctant when we started but even Gov Mimiko who was the only outsider then warmed up to the idea and attended the first meeting in Ado Ekiti. All the governors were there, they were all passionate about it and I am glad that that spirit is still guiding what is happening now. It needs to be deepened, it needs to be more people centred, it needs to be more project focused, it needs to be more about peer pressure and economies of scale, learning from each other. What is it that Ondo is doing better than Ekiti, that Ekiti can learn from Ondo, what is Lagos doing that Oyo and Ogun can benefit from? I think if we look at it from this perspective, it is better. We can look at Olokola for example, which of course is specifically in Ondo and Ogun; it has potential benefit for all the six states in terms of gas distribution, in terms of potential for coastal activities, for deep sea ports, for mining, agriculture and. I think this is what we had in mind when we started DAWN, and am glad that that is still ongoing.

Despite all your explanations on your relationship with the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, some people still don’t want to believe you are friends, I want you to seize this opportunity to address that…

Well if you say some people still don’t believe it, that means that they will still not believe no matter how much light I throw now. Asiwaju is my leader and he remains my leader and I have a cordial relationship with him, having a cordial relationship doesn’t mean having a sheepish relationship. I don’t even think Asiwaju will encourage anyone to be sheepish. I don’t think he comes from that school of thought, he comes from a more progressive outlook in politics. He is of the progressive school of thought himself, and he knows I can stand my ground, I can argue my ground but I am very respectful of my elders, am a Yoruba man. There is no question as to the cordiality in my relationship with Asiwaju but people can believe what they want to believe. The relationship is between us, it is not between them, he knows, I know.

I want you to speak on the situation in Ekiti state, governorship tussle and innuendoes being thrown about that the EFCC will be asked to invite the former governor and things like that…

EFCC is in charge of financial crime, I am not above the law. If EFCC has a case that they think I can shed light on, they will invite me but don’t also forget that while people maybe entitled to their opinions, they are not entitled to their own facts. Those who mention my name in association with anything fraudulent or corrupt, I don’t take it lightly. When I was governor, I slammed a law suit on the defunct Compass newspaper and the entire establishment knew what happened to them and I got millions of naira from them after receiving a judgment in may favour both at the High Court and the Court of Appeal. I have sued some people again, whatever you want to say about me, you are free, just get your facts intact, so that when you get to the courts you can present your facts because there is nothing that I have brought into politics than my name, it is not money, it is not properties, the only thing I have in politics is my name. I don’t joke with it because am holding it in trust, it is not even my name.

So anyone who wants to say anything about me, that’s just my humble advice to them, make sure that whatever you say you can prove and I will not say whether those saying these things in Ekiti can prove it or not, they have received their summons, they will have their day in court. I may be invited to come to court myself and defend my integrity, my position that some people malign, my reputation, I think the opportunity will present itself. But in politics as in public service, people think it is a fair game to just malign you and that you will keep quiet. I am not that kind of politician. I am one of the politicians who never keep quiet about accusations of corruption, I don’t. And even when Compass people said oh please lets settle out of court, I said no, let them give the judgement, when they give the judgement you can then come, I can forgo the money but judgement will be given and when they give the judgement even Otunba Gbenga Daniel got involved even though he wasn’t the one who libelled me, I told him the same thing. So people know me in Ekiti