Folashade Filani, the founder of Ewe-Nla Socio Cultural Foundation formed 10 years ago to cater for the needy and the aged in Ode-Remo, Ogun State, is contesting for the Chairmanship of Remo North Local Government in the next Local Government election in Ogun State. The PhD holder who studied Applied Biology at the Chelsea College, University of London speaks with Tunde Ayanda on how she hopes to make life more meaningful if he wins.
You’ve been in politics since 2005; how has it been?
It has actually been rough and a learning process for me. It has been a time of reflecting on where I started and where we are today. It has been an unpleasant journey on one side and a sweet experience on the other side. You can see this time as a new era for my life. You know me as a scientist, working in a government establishment and politics was a ‘no’ for me then, but today, we give God all the glory.
How did you get to the point of contesting for the post of the local government chairman of Remo-North?
When I came in 2005, it was towards the 2007 election. I came for the Assembly, but my home town, which is the second of the six towns that make up Remo-North Local Government didn’t want to have an Assembly member; they wanted the Chairman. But because I was naïve then, I did not know that. By the time I realised that my town wanted the chairman and not Assembly, it was too late. My hometown did not vote for me but Ishara which is number one in Remo North voted massively for me. I actually thought it was because Ishara was very accommodating to me but I didn’t know what was going on, but today, I know better. Ishara wanted me then to have the Assembly so they could retain the Chairmanship position but the contention then has always been for chairmanship because as PDP, we put efforts in the local environment for the chairmanship position but other towns felt neglected and it is natural that every town will feel like they should be part of it. Unfortunately, by the time we were going for primaries, there was dissolution so I didn’t end up there but I have been in the system since then. Otunba Gbenga Daniel who was the governor at that time gave me three appointments. I was first the Vice Chairman of the Local Government for about three months as a caretaker, then we went into transition government. I was made the secretary. Then when we did the election for chairmanship, Ishara retained the chairmanship under John Obafemi and I was the adviser to John Obafemi on Women Affairs, Sports and Youth. I later went into the line of politics of the party, I became the organizing secretary for over three years and then I became the State Women Leader which lasted two years. I actually had to take my bow because I wanted to look into doing other things.
You are PDP, how do you intend to claim victory when APC is the ruling party in Ogun State?
I believe you know where they can cheat is only where they are acceptable. In my local government, you do not need to go far, just ask the youths and children their opinion, everyone is fed up with APC in Remo North Local Government. There is no influence of the government in this area. They have failed the people. I have no power but the people are going to fight for their mandate. I don’t have to cause any problems or invite the people to come and fight. No. it is people’s influence that has brought me in, it is their influence that is driving me. They said men have held the position for so long, now, let a woman handle it, let’s see what she’ll do differently. I am not here just for the political appointment. I am running my NGO – Ewenla Socio-Cultural Foundation under which I am able to do my foundational projects where we care for the aged. We do weekend school for the children in senior classes before they do their exams. I’ve done so many things; you know celebrating people and the aged not to talk of individuals that have benefitted from these things. So, people in my home town and within Remo North know my capacity and ability. It is not because I was in government, they know I am educated enough, I am exposed, I have international and local experience. I am not talking about being with governors; I am talking about my local experience, I live in Ode-Remo. I don’t live somewhere else to look at what they do, whenever I’m in Nigeria, I live in Ode-Remo. People of Ode-Remo see me as their own daughter, so my people in Remo north see me as their own, they know what I can do. This is the peoples’ mandate, not mine.
What are the things you plan to do differently as a woman in this position?
To start with, let me correct something, the man that did it in the past didn’t fail. I believe that everyone who comes into a position will perform based on their capacity. The previous administrations, PDP or not, have tried to make a difference in the land. You will hear what people have done in different places during their time. They will talk about John Obafemi because we did a lot of things, including roads but when APC came in, they just threw everything out of the window without replacing it with anything, they came with no project. All the town roads are bad, they have nothing to show.
So what do you have to offer to the people of your local government?
What do I have to offer? I will be honest with the people. When people know you are honest with them, they can flow with you. So I believe what President Buhari wants to do for local government chairmen in Nigeria is the ultimate. Yes, autonomy of chairmen to receive their money from Abuja. The local government chairmen in Ogun State don’t get any allocation so they cannot do any project. They go to Abeokuta to collect their salaries. When you go to the local government to pay for a birth certificate or state of origin, that money goes to Abeokuta. The people of this place don’t have anything at all so the chairman cannot be blamed because allocation is not coming in. But I believe, when I come in as an opposition, the governor will not do that, they will release my allocation so that my people can get what they deserve. We are going to look into infrastructure. When John Obafemi was there, we made the road from Ode-Remo to Ilara, Ilara to Akaka, Akaka back to Ishara, that’s like a four corner journey but now, you have to go outside the local government to go and connect from the back because all those roads are so bad now, you dare not take your car on that road. That is the situation of things now. I will look into the infrastructure because people around there are mostly farmers and they need to bring their produce to town. I also want to face the women, the way women are looked after.
You will see a woman who has gone to buy a bucket of garri and went to sell it in the market. Maybe the whole bag is 20,000. How much will they make from that and they’ll still be taxed, I think it is not right. If you can’t help them, you don’t have to add to their burden. Well also have care for the aged and care benefits. When you are born in this local government, there is a book I have prepared. We’ll have to work with the doctors so that every child born will have a National Insurance Number (NI) so that before they get to the age of registering for their National Identification Number (NIN), we would know how many children we have here and would be able to care for them. We Will also help primary and secondary school students by providing after school lessons for them. There are a lot of people here that are disabled and are not well looked after. We’ll have disable allowance for them to enable them to live but I don’t want to say so much about the spending aspect because the opposition are listening. There are areas where we can establish factories, there is a garri production factory in this place but it is not in use. There are other facilities here that are not in use. We have a large vast land which we’ll invite people who can make use of the land to do mechanized farming so that people of the land can get returns on their land and the land can produce food not only for our area alone but also for export. The pineapple in Ode Remo is a gift from God and should be for export. So we would boost the agricultural sector. You remember when there was bird flu and the covid-19, these people were helpless. That should not be the case. I am coming from a place where social benefit is looked at critically so that the people who need them get them. So have that experience and that is what I am coming with, that those who have will get and people will pay their task into the local government. Do you know that when you have a factory here you pay into Abeokuta which is the capital of the state? So nothing is really working in this area but we will work it out so that the people can benefit.
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