Fayemi

We want you to seize this opportunity to tell Ekiti people your plans for them. Will the glory of the latter house be better than the former?

The glory of the latter days will surely be better than the former. We are bringing on board this time a message of consolation, hope and restoration. Consolation for the tolerance and perseverance of the last four years and hope for speedy restoration of abandoned programs, infrastructures, industries, values, projects and all the good things we lost due to some actions or inactions of the incumbent administration.

The business of electing rests with the people of Ekiti State and I believe they are intelligent people who can compare what the situation was when we left office and the way it is now and what the future holds for our children and people. When they look at what we did in office side by side with what is on ground now, they know the difference. This coming election is not about me or the APC but about what is good for Ekitikete; about the future of our teeming unemployed youths, about the abandoned elderly whose social security was cut off, about civil servants that have not received a single salary for the year 2018, about every project that was built with our commonwealth but abandoned to rot away, about pensioners and retirees whose entitlements have not been paid for years, about the 10,000 volunteers that were laid off, about traditional rulers and other constituted authorities that have been cowed and suppressed, about every thoroughbred Ekiti sons and daughters yearning for the restoration of our values and honor, and about the future of Ekiti.

This coming election is therefore a referendum for Ekitikete to either support me to reactivate the good governance that was cut short four years ago or to approve the continuity of the abysmal performance of the current administration. People remember what we did for every single community in Ekiti State. What we did for teachers, civil servants, the universities and all of the various aspects of our 8-point agenda. People know what we did for infrastructure development, for education in the state, for health care, for agriculture in the state, people have fond memories of what we did within the space of four years we were in office. Our people have encountered what we would call water and oil, they clearly know the difference, they’ve seen the difference, between the time when salaries were paid on the 25th of every month without fail and a time when they don’t even know when salary would come.

They’ve seen a difference between a government that prioritized the welfare of the elderly and gave them a stipend every month and a government that does not care a hoot whether they lived or died. They’ve seen the difference between a government that said this is Ekiti; regarded as fountain of knowledge. No more miracle centres here, we would be a product of our own hard work; placed a laptop on the desk of each and every student; made the school atmosphere much more conducive than it has ever been in the state; recruited teachers, doctors, lecturers, fixed virtually all the roads in the state; started a youth and commercial agriculture program.

Everywhere you go in Ekiti state, people could point to specific things we did for their towns and communities while in office. Don’t be surprised if you are shown different things like Kabiyesi’s palace, health centre, motorized boreholes, schools that had never been touched since the days of Awolowo or the five kilometre roads in every local government that have never seen asphalt. These might not be tangible to people outside those communities but these are what these people asked for. The facts are out there to help Ekiti people make the right choice.

The credibility and integrity of the government at the center is a plus for us and the future of Ekiti state is brighter with us being on the same page with the federal government. I urge my people to flash back and remember all we did in infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, education, health care, empowerment and social welfare. I am running now on a record of my previous performance and the prospects of our partnership, cooperation and collaboration with the federal government. I want to reassure Ekitikete that I’m not on any vengeance mission, rather I am on a rescue mission. We are coming back on board with fresh ideas, programs and agenda to move Ekiti state forward. Lets join hands to make Ekiti great again. Together we can do it. Yes, we can.

Nigerians are amazed about your confidence that you will win the coming election. What gives you the confidence given the result of the last election?

Because people have seen the regression. If you asked somebody who has not earned salary in eight months, at least he will tell you that under Fayemi he or she was not owed. That is, if you take it at such a basic level. But I do not want us to even take it at that level because that, for me as I said, is not a measure of good governance. It is just a measure of duty that I have to the people if I pay salaries. Take it from what I have said to you, when I was governor, Ekiti excelled in all the rankings.

The World Bank Ease of Doing Business study ranked Ekiti when I was governor as the number five place where you can do business easily in Nigeria, we moved from number 34 to number 5. I just told you that the kids that entered secondary school when I was governor were the ones who took WASSCE and NECO exams and excelled. So, you do not get that by one year of being in government, so there is no way even though the Fayose administration is trying to claim credit for that. But it is the cumulative effect of work that we did that resulted in what those kids achieved.

If you move from that to the Department for International Development (DFID) assessment of governance, Ekiti was ranked as the state with the most transparent budget when I was governor. Why was this possible? Because I focused on ensuring that budget is responsive to the yearnings of the people. So we did not do budget in Ekiti to people, we did it with the people, we ensured that their input was what formed the content of our budget estimate, and we then implemented that accordingly.

If you move to tourism, it is the same approach, People who visited Ikogosi when I was governor can attest to what we did and those are the kind of things that would draw people to our state. Ekiti became a kidnappers den when I left office, so security in the state was compromised, accountability was compromised, government was also compromised because what we had was a one-man show, it was not government of the people by the people for the people. And that compromises democracy.

These are the areas that I think would make a difference. APC is a social democratic party. For us, we believe that the only way you can make a difference in governance is to lift up the weak and vulnerable people. Characters who are governing Ekiti now are not interested in that and that is why the state has sufferred so much regression over the last three and half years and that is why we need a corrective measure to grow the economy, improve the development of the state and then bring life to the people more abundant.

Fayemi

I can tell you categorically that there is no justification for all these. Agreed, things are tight generally in the country. But with the amount of intervention and bailout funds accrued to Ekiti state under President Buhari there is no reason for the government to owe this much. Simply put, Ekiti state owes workers these much because of mismanagement and misplacement of priority.

In their foolery, the current administration resorted to blackmail to cover up their inadequacy. They lied against the federal government that salary cannot be paid because the FG intentionally withheld Paris Club refund due for the state. I cannot imagine where Ekiti would have been today if President Buhari is not as generous as he has been to provide the kind of support he has provided to Ekiti State and to provide it to a man, who daily insults him. When I was governor, I would like to think that I had a very respectful relationship with President Jonathan.

But, you know what; President Jonathan had a selective approach to distributing federal funds. Those of us in the opposition never benefitted from various intervention funds and these were our entitlements. They would share ecological funds without the ACN (now APC) and ANPP being part of it. They would do road refund but they would not give us our own, but that is not what obtains in today’s government. President Buhari treats all states equally, not minding your political affiliation.

Even with all the support Ekiti state has received, from refunds on roads that we did, the first bailout, second bailout, budget support, ecological funds, micro credit funds, Paris club one and two, it is disheartening that Ekiti state government can still justify these crude, heartless and shameless backlog of unpaid salaries, allowances, pensions and gratuity. You would imagine that somebody who has taken about 40,000 jobs or support schemes, out of the budget of the state will be in a position and much stronger footing to pay salary regularly in a known civil service state but civil servants are being owed six months at the minimum, teachers are being owed eight months, local government workers are owed eight months, traditional rulers, who used to take 5% of local government funds that come to the state when I was governor has not only been reduced to 2.5% , they don’t even get it now. Five, six months they have never earned any pay. It’s that bad and I repeat, there is no justification for that.

Any plans to make use of local artisans? The other time, that was one of the campaign criticisms from your opponents.

That is far from the truth. It is not even worth responding to because everyone knows the local content policy of our administration. It was just another propaganda and blackmail created by the opponents to score cheap political goals. We pursued the local content policy with passion. However, we also made sure that quality was not compromised.

The roads and drainages we built were of best standard, yet most of them were constructed by Ekiti indigenes. The street lights and buildings were done by Ekiti indigenes; the evidence is there for all to see. People can go and see the roads I constructed then and compare them to what we have now. We have had governor in this state who constructed roads that barely lasted six months in the past because they just did shoddy job. On my part, I believe that every kobo that belongs to Ekiti should be utilized well for the people. Therefore I would rather my roads are constructed by contractors with track records of quality and who I can get sound warranty from. Despite this quality assurance caution, most of our contractors were Ekiti indigenes.

We have limited resources in Ekiti, so whatever we are spending money on, must be worth our while and it must be quality products that would be used rather than just the typical “shagbeloju yoyo” work. We patronized local artisans very well. But we also made sure that a bricklaying job was not given to a carpenter and vice versa, in the name of political patronage. I refused to give job to somebody who would not deliver and then feels like ‘what is wrong with that, that’s my own share of the cake’. I am sorry, there is no share of any cake in Ekiti state. This is the commonwealth of the Ekiti people, and every kobo we spend must be accounted for. We couldn’t have abandoned our own artisans, especially where they have the competence and wherewithal to deliver on the expected mandate of the job.

Though we are confident that we patronized and made use of local artisans then, we are not unconscious of the fact that many people couldn’t partake because there were many contractors chasing fewer jobs. We shall do things differently this time by working more with the union or association of each profession. This will enable us to cover some of the shortfalls we identified in the past. Things will surely get better.

There is this fear that an APC government may downsize. What is your reaction to that?

The greatest disservice the current administration is doing to the people of Ekiti state is misinformation. It baffles me that in this time and age, someone can still hold the obnoxious belief that the best way to retain the loyalty and followership of the people is by deceiving or misleading them. Their inability to manage and prioritize the resources of the state well led them to the present situation where salaries couldn’t be paid. We went through similar situation when we were in the saddle, despite the fact that the then federal government denied us some of our entitlements like refunds on roads, ecological funds and other intervention funds given to the states controlled by the PDP, we made sure that salaries were paid as at when due. Now that the current federal government treats all states equally and with all the intervention funds received so far by Ekiti state, there is no reason whatsoever for Ekiti workers to suffer this much.

To answer your question therefore, there is no reason to downsize. Downsizing accusation is the only option available for them because they are short of ideas on how to get themselves out of the self inflicted quagmire. As a matter of fact, under my watch the civil service will be strengthened, reorientated and reequipped to perform better. Where necessary, we are going to employ more hands to energize the service. All the youths empowerment and employment schemes that were cancelled by the current administration will be resuscitated to provide employment and succor to as many youths as possible. Can I be planning all these and be thinking of downsizing at the same time? Downsizing is for the weaklings!

The welfare of all civil servants was and is still my number one priority. The entire workforce in Ekiti state should ignore the rumor that the incoming APC government is going to downsize. As a matter of fact, I am actually coming back because of civil servants. I have been demonized, blackmailed and lied against, all in the name of teachers and civil servants. They lied against me that I hate teachers and that my government will sack workers. If by the grace of God and support of Ekitikete, I become Governor for the second time, no dedicated and committed teacher or civil servant will lose his / her job in Ekiti state. The number one priority of my administration was the payment of salary as at when due. This is going to be our focus again. The good governance that was cut short four years ago will be a child’s play compared to what we are bringing on board now. As I said, I am coming to prove my critics wrong that rather than sacking any civil servant, we shall strengthen and equip the civil service to perform better.

Fayemi

As a civil service state, the multiplier effects of whatever happens to the income of the civil servant trickles down to every sector of the society. Things are static economically in Ekiti at the moment because the current administration ignores the welfare of the civil servants. There is urgent need for us to change the trend and take the welfare of the workers as a top priority. The survival of both formal and informal sectors of our economy is closely tied to the income and patronage of civil servants. It’s unfortunate that those who are using downsizing as a political propaganda now may not actually know the consequences and economic reality of what they are talking about. You don’t need rocket science to know that Ekiti state economy needs urgent boosting now and downsizing the workforce is definitely not an option.

What are your plans for youth empowerment and employment? Will you restore some of the empowerment programs you initiated then: Peace Corps etc?

Oh, sure! We are going to restore, reorganize and repackage all the abandoned life changing youth empowerment programs to be more effective and efficient for a much larger number of the youths. Peace Corps, Dagrin, YCAD, Youth Volunteers and others will be resuscitated. My vision is simply to make poverty history in Ekiti state. In order to do that, I believe we need a combination of approaches. Therefore apart from the aforementioned programs of our government I feel very strongly that one critical sector that we can make poverty history is agribusiness. We are going to maximize our potentials in agriculture and mining as well, and get our youth empowered through various government interventions in these sectors.

Job creation and empowerment for the youths have always been a major concern for me and was a cardinal program of my administration. This is an area where we excelled back then. Ekiti youths are innovative and eager to earn legitimate living if rightly guided and motivated. Government is a continuum in an ideal clime but unfortunately that is not the case in Ekiti state with the present administration. Just like they did with physical projects, all the life changing programs for the youths were also jettisoned. The greatest disservice to the youths was the cancellation of the youth in agriculture, YCAD scheme.

When we were in office we initiated many youth empowerment schemes. One of which was the youth volunteer scheme in which I was paying every young graduate who is out of work the sum of N10,000 monthly to move into specific areas of our work: health, education, environment and all that. We deployed them in variety of places. It is very similar to what we now call Npower that our government at the federal level is doing and paying N30,000. I believe we need to really improve on that and deal with the demography in a manner that the skill that is required is also what we push in our universities and other higher institutions in the state, particularly our technical colleges.

We were turning our technical colleges into what we call life academies in Ekiti then. But again that was cut short. Those are the kind of things we believe we can instill in our youths. A sense of value which has been largely lost in Ekiti because the government in Ekiti now only believes in using our youths as agents of all forms of nefarious activities rather than promoting values of decency, accountability, hard work and dedication to duty. That for me is the area we need to strengthen and I believe the opportunities are legion, In agriculture for example, in vocational activities, in small scale enterprises, there are legion of opportunities that we can leverage in order to ensure that our youths become fulfilled in their aspirational outlook.

Cocoa used to be major revenue earner in the state. The trees are old, young people do not want to farm. Do you have any revolutionary approach to bringing back the glory of the past in agric sector and use it to improve the IGR?

Our agric revolution isn’t just going to be on cocoa but on arable crops, cash crops and livestock farming. Ekiti state has no business with poverty and lack which have become its lot following the large scale unemployment among its youths. Unfortunately, we are back to square one because the current administration abandoned all the farming (agriculture) enhancement scheme we put in place. The efforts of my administration to use agriculture to turn around the fortunes of Ekiti state could have placed the state in better pedestal economically if the present administration had built on what we did.

One major source of internally generated revenue for Ekiti state is agriculture, especially cocoa. However over reliance on federal allocation has eroded the zeal of successive administration to drive IGR through agriculture. Ekiti, like many other states, got its share from the era of oil boom which turned attention of people away from the farms and the attendant reliance on white collar jobs leaving the lands to lie fallow with the state losing billions of naira yearly. We are going to make deliberate and conscious efforts to reverse the trend by mobilizing a mass of the people to embrace the new thinking which supports agribusiness as a veritable means of creating wealth.

Cocoa remains the number one cash crop of Ekiti state and there is urgent need for us to
revolutionize its production. We shall do everything humanly possible to surpass the past glory of our agricultural sector. This is in consonance with the thinking of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, which has been taking deliberate steps through his policies to discourage importation of foods and goods which the country can produce. This has encouraged the local production of food and saving of resources.

• Originally entitled “My Plans For the People”, this interview was first published in the TheNEWS hard copy, July edition