Ekiti needs gov with corporate experience to progress —Aiyegbusi

Astute banker and administrator, Mr Akin Aiyegbusi, seeking the ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the July 14, 2018 governorship election in Ekiti State, sheds light on issues of governance, economy and others. KUNLE ODEREMI brings excerpts from the interview:

 

HOW prepared are you for the challenges ahead since politics goes beyond the boardroom politics you are probably used to?

I am fully prepared for it: emotionally, psychologically and what have you. I know what it takes to be in party politics, and I have a wide network of contacts, people and following who believe in the philosophy of service, good governance and integrity. And since I joined the fray, there has been no looking back. I believe the people deserve the right leadership now so that the state can occupy its rightful place among its peers.

I am coming from the private sector where hard work, vision and planning are key elements that drive an organizational process; where you do not compromise standard. More importantly, I have contacts that I can galvanise and collaborate to fast tract the economic and general development of the state. I want the people to take ownership of the state. It is our commonwealth and we cannot afford to leave the collective patrimony in the hands of those who have, over the years, almost turned Ekiti into a cash cow. The state belongs to all of us and we must not allow the lofty dreams, aspirations and efforts of those that championed the creation of Ekiti to be in vain.  The time has come to salvage it from the brink of collapse evident in the rising army of youth unemployment, humongous debt and abysmal neglect of agriculture, the veritable money spinner.

 

The SDP is considered a weaker platform, considering the fact that both the PDP and the APC have formed government at different levels. Why did you opt for such a weak platform if, indeed, your aim is to win?

Let me state emphatically that the PDP cannot win any election again in Ekiti. An average Ekiti citizen is a man of integrity; he does not condone mediocre performance such as we have now. He finds repulsive and insulting that the PDP is desperate to impose a candidate on the state.  This is unacceptable. Besides, the good people of Ekiti State are tired of both the PDP and the APC; they have tested the so-called strong parties and discovered that they had nothing good to offer the people of the state.

 

The PDP government says it has been able to deliver the goods to the people, especially in the last three years or so. Are you saying the people should change the current winning team when it should a time for consolidation?

I don’t know what you mean by a winning team or your definition of the dividends of democracy and consolidation, when there is a nine-month salary arrears on the ground; or when the youths have become destitute on the streets because they have no job; when there is no plan for them to be empowered and progress in life; when a few hands have chosen to mortgage their future? So, I do not know what those privileged few undermining the rights of Ekiti people mean by rate as good performance, when majority of the people can no longer afford the basic necessities of life? What is the yardstick such people are using to arrive at the so-called good performance?

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Then, what difference do you think you can make, especially now that all economic indices are totally uninspiring and dumbfounding?

What I am bringing to the table is to restore the dignity of labour; to restore public confidence in government; to overhaul the system such that we move away from the mentality of subservience to the centre to self-sufficiency through enhanced productivity. We must go back to the basic, which is agriculture and with the government providing the enabling environment facilitating availability of modern equipment and encouraging the necessary market for the agricultural produce, so that we can generate enough revenues within the state to end the era of going cap-in-hand to Abuja to collect peanuts. So, we will de-emphasise the current overdependence on Federal allocation. We have to start now because those who produce crude oil, the mainstay of our economy now, can decide to behave funny at any point in time, create instability and crisis in the system with the usual attendant domino effect on the money accruing to the central poll.

Ekiti is known for human capital. Education is our major industry, but we have been harnessing it to enhance productivity and development. If we have been harnessing it the way we should, we would not be facing some of the existing core challenges and difficulties. What stops us from having the best Business School in Nigeria in Ekiti State so that you will have virtually falling into the state every weekend to undergo one course or the other?  Why can’t we have the best secondary school in the state with patronage from all parts of the country by parents who desire the best for their children? All these will open up economic activities in Ekiti State. Let me cite an example, there a school called Loyola in Abuja. Parents from all over the country and even outside Nigeria enroll their children in the school. I know the huge benefits such a school could being to Ekiti if sited there. There is a school in India where Indians enrol the best of their best and you realize that bigger international companies like Google and all multinationals from the United States come to recruit. It will be joint venture between the government and the private sector. Right now, you have collapsed infrastructure and the only airport that is close to Ekiti is in Akure, Ondo State.

 

There are other contenders for the SDP ticket. How would you rate your chance, given their wealth of experience in party politics?

I do not see them as contenders at all. They have the experience and they have been there all this while. When we get to the bridge we will know how to cross the river. I respect all of them. They have been contributing their own quota to the growth and development of the country. My aim is to secure the mandate of the good people; serve them conscientiously; achieve a paradigm shift from a system that has consistently shortchanged the vast majority of our people. We must put the interest of our people, especially our youths above and beyond any narrow interest. That is why my team is on the street selling the brand and showcasing those ideals we stand for and which can only take Ekiti to the next level. So, it is time we take our future in our hands.

 

The youth have not shown seriousness to deserve being given political power, as politics is always a contest for power; nobody is going to give to you on a silver platter.

That was why I said it was time we took our destinies in our own hands. When I was in Primary 4 in 1985, one of the aspirants said he had been in the business. And we are worse off; we are not better off. So, what are we saying? Are we going to continue to remain like this?  Of course, the youth are not coming out to contest for elective public offices in large numbers because they have not been properly empowered. They are not encouraged. Is it a university graduate suddenly turned an okada rider because of unemployment? Or the one that suddenly turns to a drunkard? So we need to take concerted efforts to re-orientate our youths; we need to take concerted efforts that we are not lazy. We need to take concerted efforts that we need to believe ourselves; we need to take concerted efforts that we can do better than those in charge or on the front seat. Ekiti was known for cocoa in large quantities in those days. I grew up knowing my father with scales. They sent their children to school with money made from the business of cocoa. We must go back to the basics.  Unfortunately, most people cannot think outside the box. Cashew is wasting away; it is one commodity that can generate foreign exchange for the state; but nobody is harnessing the potential. Multinational companies need tax holiday and other incentives to invest in the state so that they can employ our youths.

It is a tragedy that if you ask a three of four-year-old boy about what he wants to become in life, he will tell you that he wishes to do a menial job because those in it are fast becoming role models in the state. That is one of the pointers to the fact that we have destroyed the family setting. If the family is destroyed, what will happen to the children? They take to a drinking spree and gambling instead of engaging in dignifying and meaningful, productive activities and ventures.  The moment we start paying salaries ourselves, without waiting for federal allocations, it means our productivity has increased. The worse that could happen to anybody is the current practice of going to Abuja to collect peanut.  I won’t impose taxes on the people because they can only be empowered if business thrives and under a conducive environment. Our educational curriculum will be redesigned and formulated to encourage entrepreneurship. All we do now is to produce teachers. People need to be more business-inclined.