By Wahab Oba
I listened to Mallam Lanre Onilu on a radio program last week. It was good I did. The issues raised were what must concern every Kwaran, as we look forward to picking the next helmsman for our dear state. I guess the radio interview was the first by Onilu since ‘relocating’ to Kwara, as many ‘foreign’ politicians often do a few weeks before crucial polls in their states.
The interview was possibly part of the conditions for a prospective federal appointment. It is, of course, not out of place to position oneself, weeks or months before elections, for an appointment. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria who kept mute when the governor blatantly violated Nigeria’s constitution has suddenly found his voice to support AbdulRahman in a viral video. No hassles. On that premise, while expecting more of those ‘diaspora’ voices, we welcome our brother back to base, even if only temporarily.
In his interview, Onilu laboured hard to sell the incumbent governor of the state, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman as the golden boy for whom all must kowtow in the next poll. Expectedly, he painted the man and his administration in flowery robes, like what is done to sepulchres, and condemned everything about the previous administrations in the state. I expected him not to have done less, after all, we all take care of where our bread is buttered. Only in doing such a job, it should be done with some degree of intellectual honesty, and avoid putting logic on its head.
As a communication strategist, I had expected Onilu to come out with rational questions and more creative queries that would perhaps make his opposition to the Peoples Democratic Party in the state impermeable. But, instead, he only repeated previous lies and allegations of the O To Ge era, which the original proponents of that movement have since abandoned, having realised they were tissues of lies and unsubstantiated claims.
Perhaps, if Onilu had been more frequent in the state he would have been privileged to monitor most of those who spearheaded the public campaign component of the O To Ge movement now deriding their involvement, and apologizing to Kwarans for the grand deception; for that is what the movement was, what it still is, and as they say, what it will remain even in the future, so long as it is composed of men and women of ill will.
Onilu wanted us to believe the 16 years of governors Dr Bukola Saraki and Dr Abdulfatah had no agenda. That was an unfortunate assessment from a communication expert unless the person did not know his calling in reality. For education, let me explain to Onilu that everything he said about the economic plans for the state, the focus on rural communities and the construction of projects that he termed ‘prestige projects’, were all part of an agenda, to wit: to make Kwara an independent state of economic opportunities.
When Dr Saraki became governor, Kwara was still a complete civil-service state; the majority of tax revenue needed to drive projects across the state was largely dependent on taxes from civil servants. How much was this per month? Less than N500 million. What was the next reasonable move for a serious government? To attract investment. How would investors come to the state? Through an airport. Yet at the time, the International airport was moribund. That was what gave rise to the rebuilding of the airport, and for several months, Kwara state was subsidising the airfare to Ilorin to attract the airline that saw nothing in that route. I am happy to have heard Onilu say “at least four airlines are now operating on that route”. In case he has forgotten, he must also know that that development has created jobs both within the airport and its immediate environment. Was that not an agenda accomplished?
Just like the Aviation College. Onilu called it a prestige project. We agree; because it is bringing prestige to Kwarans. He should go and find out how many of our sons and daughters have graduated from that prestige college and started working as pilots. They have been taken off the job queue. Those who are under training spend their days in Ilorin, and contribute to the economy, unlike our foreign politicians who come only weeks before elections to organize voodoo radio interviews. If you have a standard aviation training school, it is an additional source of revenue and it is part of an agenda to make Kwara better and more prestigious.
The Shopping Mall has provided jobs for hundreds of people and contributed to the taxes needed to do rural roads, rural electrification and rural water which our brother so hyped as if it is the only thing a government has to do to be successful. No, sir. Development is a continuum and no administration can finish it in one stretch. This is why Kwarans are crying that they are tired of the present regime because they can see it is taking them off the curve of development they have known and now cherished compared to the tissue of lies sold to them in 2019.
No agenda? Saraki introduced the community health insurance scheme, the second state to have done so as at then across the country. It was an effective way of helping rural people access health. It won global acclaim. His successor, Ahmed, expanded the programme to greater applause. The same Saraki built Kwara State University, KWASU and today, a once-sleeping rural community is alive, 24 hours a day. There is now a growing economy around Malete where the school is located that would not have been possible by merely tarring their roads, desirable as that is. The logic of it, dear brother, is that the taxes from the economy will be used to build what they don’t have now, apart from producing students that can effectively compete with their peers globally.
No agenda? Ahmed took over from Saraki and developed the Kwara State Internal Revenue system into a national model. Or was Onilu not in Nigeria when this was happening? And yes, Shonga Farms. That was also another part of the agenda although truncated by extraneous political and constitutional factors.
Despite this disappointment, the farm was redesigned to accommodate new investors, and at the time Ahmed left as governor in 2019, it was the largest producer of poultry in West Africa.
Now to the economic question: how many jobs were created from that development? Could all those jobs have been possible if we had only the civil service to look up to for jobs? How many people have built houses, bought cars and sent their children to school; because they had jobs at the farm? Onilu should go and find out instead of sounding like a secondary school boy made to interpret basic data in econometrics.
Why do you think the International Vocational Technical and Entrepreneurship College (IVTEC), Ajase Ipo, was established? As another dancing school? It was designed to promote viable and measurable occupational skills training to effectively combat unemployment and promote competence. That was also no agenda.
And he spoke about corruption. Old songs, dear brother. Those are old songs. If in four years you have been in government both at the state and federal levels; you are in government in the state assembly and all federal lawmakers from the state are in your party; and you still cannot lay your hands on credible evidence to prove this allegation, then bros, think of something else. Kwarans are tired of that song, and that is why they are now singing loudly, O Su Wa.
And good enough, you asked, Ki Lo Su wa? Oh, many things. Lies “su was”. We are tired of lies. Incompetence, brazen display of incompetence su wa; we are ashamed as Kwarans that in this time and age, we have someone of AA’s stature as our governor. We are tired of a government that cannot build a simple bridge with proper consultation. We are tired of a governor who will take a loan on our behalf and publicly admit putting N17.9 billion of it in a bank. For what? Which bank? At what interest rate? We are tired of a government that whitewashes schools and calls it building new structures. We are tired of a government run by a family clique.
