I will make Ogun one of the wealthiest states in Nigeria —Ogunbanjo

Ademola Ogunbanjo is one of the aspirants eyeing the governorship seat of Ogun State in 2019. The Ijebu-Igbo born oil and gas consultant, in this interview with OLAYINKA OLUKOYA rolls out his plans to make Ogun one of the wealthiest states in the country if given the opportunity to serve. :

In your declaration speech, you highlighted some areas your administration will focus on if given the mandate to govern the state. With the reality on ground, don’t you feel your manifesto seems utopian?

The fundamental mistake that we sometimes make in the public sector is to assume that all the developmental programmes we want to deploy must be funded by government. It is a wrong assumption. Government cannot solely fund developmental projects. There is a nees, even more than ever before, we need to involve the private sector in the development of infrastructure and that of industry in any state, indeed across the nation. Yes, we will be able to do it because we have the resources. If we have anyone who wants to invest in bitumen refinery, we have bitumen deposit in Ogun Waterside. We also have gold in Ogun Waterside, we have rubber plantation there too, but we don’t have single rubber processing plant. We have gas in Ogun Waterside, we have ocean front with enough draft for there to be a functional port in that place. And then on the other side of the highway is the J4 forest reserve. All we do with it is fell the trees, take them to sawmill and sell them to our carpenters as planks. We don’t process the wood anymore; we used to have a wood processing plant but it is moribund now. We don’t manufacture paper with it, we used to have a paper mill but it is also moribund. These are the things we need to look at now, because it is not enough to extract our resources and sell them. Value is created in the processing of resources and not just extracting them. So, we will be able to do it; We have knowledge for it, we have the resources for it and we have the relationships that are required to do it. I am an oil and gas consultant, how long do you think it will take me to find people who want to invest in bitumen refinery or gas in Ogun State? We have international relationships with investment organisations and private equity companies who are constantly looking for viable industries, with sensible government policies, where they can put their money, because money sitting in a bank means nothing to an investor. They need to tie it into value creation and we have the value to be created in the state.

Talking about motivation, what actually motivated you into throwing hat in the ring of governorship contest in Ogun State?

Look around you and you will see what should motivate a man. It is a sub optimal living for a state as endowed as Ogun State to generate N72b as IGR in 2017, while Lagos State with sands and beaches, yes of course with multi nationals, generated N302b! Is there any agreement Lagos has with the multi nationals that says they can’t move? That means Ogun State has not made itself attractive enough for more organisation to come and do business in Ogun State. I am not saying there are no private sector organisations in the state, we have them across the state and concentrating in Sango Ota and Agbara. But we can do so much better than we are doing. We have the resources for it, we have the human capital for it, what we don’t seem to have is the right people in government who can put all these together and make things happen.

In your estimation, do you think the present government has lived up to expectations, given the massive infrastructural development embarked upon by the incumbent governor of the state?

You see, honestly nobody can do better than he or she knows. The present government in the state has indeed tried its best, but its best is not good enough. It has performed according to its capacity, it is time to pass it on and let’s do more, because there is much more to be done. People are not still empowered as they can be, poverty is still quite deep in our state and we need to solve it, we need to think differently. We need to change the ways we do things. First, we change the way we think and then the way we do things.

What attracted you to the political platform on which you want to run. Do you think you stand any chance against the dominant parties?

I am a new wine and I don’t think anybody pours new wine into old bottle. I am a new wine in ANN bottle. Like I always say, PDP is a big party because people support it, ditto for APC. But when the people decide to support ANN, then PDP and APC will become history. It is where the people’s hearts are that they put their hopes.That determines which party is big or small. But we must Dr emphasize the size of party, we must begin to look critically at the quality of the candidates or the aspirants that are stepping forward. We must begin to elect people, not party. That is when development can come to Nigeria to stay, when we begin to vote people instead of party. This is because there are so many incompetent people who hide under tent of mega party. So, PDP will bring you somebody who is half-baked, then you vote PDP.