In this interview by SAM NWAOKO, community leader, entrepreneur, produce merchant and proprietor of Mozukahdj Nigeria, based in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Lateef Adebayo Raheem, explains how former Governor Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala transformed Oyo State, thereby making it investor-friendly and also why the former governor should be celebrated, especially following his attainment of the age of 70.
As a foremost produce merchant, how would you describe the administration of former governor Adebayo Alao-Akala?
Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao Akala performed well while in office as the governor of Oyo State. Here is a man who, despite the meager allocation and resources coming to Oyo State, was able to perform excellently in education, health, agriculture, youth empowerment, job creation, security, human and infrastructural development and so on. In infrastructural development, the roads he constructed remain among the best, and the roads cut across the length and breadth of Oyo State. In the field of education, he built several schools while all the dilapidated school structures were renovated. He recruited several qualified teachers while training and re-training were being given to them in order to broaden their knowledge.
But some still believe that he is not what you have just described?
You will agree with me that he was a welfarist governor who didn’t feel comfortable with the suffering of the people. That is why they said he didn’t spare money to help anyone that was in need. The state workers knew how they fared in the area of general welfare when Alao-Akala was governor. I can conveniently say the same for the health sector under his administration. One other area he did well was job creation. Many citizens of the state benefitted from this because they received various forms of support to start businesses. The beneficiaries would always remember him for the life-changing gesture.
Alao-Akala is a man of destiny because he was brought up by his grandmother having lost his father when he was two years old in 1952. He was so lucky politically that within a period of ten years, he rose from being a local government chairman to deputy governor and later governor of Oyo State. As a police officer, he was very active and highly dedicated to his duty; he was very bold and courageous and rose steadily. Alao-Akala is a philanthropist to the core, which he also demonstrated when he was governor because he is a strong believer in service to God and humanity. As a governor, he touched many lives and put smiles on the faces of the good people of Oyo State.
The Covid-19 pandemic has literally crippled the world, with South-West Nigeria not exempted. There have been warnings that people should take precautionary measures, yet the virus keeps spreading daily in Nigeria. What is your advice as regards this?
My candid advice to the people is to still keep on taking all the precautionary measures. However, they must do it with all sense of seriousness this time because I can say what we are facing presently is a health war, and this health war is worse than the 1967 to 1970 civil war in Nigeria. So, we need to rise together in fighting this deadly disease called coronavirus. It is only people that are alive that can plan ahead. People should enlighten themselves on the reality of Covid-19 because some people have been going about saying coronavirus is not real or deadly; that it is just a chronic fever. We should all realise that our existence is very precious and it is only the living that can forge ahead.
To me, all these precautionary measures we have been asked to adhere to are very simple. There must be abstinence from careless handshakes with just anybody, use of face mask, washing of our hands with warm water at the close of the day’s work, including washing of the cloth we put on for that day with warm water as well, constant usage of hand sanitiser, staying at home and calling the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in case anybody notices the symptoms in his or her body. All these simple instructions are for our own safety.
Presently, Nigeria has recorded over ten thousand cases while over three hundred people have died from contracting the virus. So, why can’t we try and stay safe so that this deadly virus will not take all of us away? This war is a war that we must all collectively fight because there is an adage which says heaven helps those who help themselves; let us jointly fight the virus so that we can all remain alive.
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