LET us borrow the governors some two kobo here. No state of the federation is incapable of fending for itself, even as skewed as the existing federalism appears. The Nigerian Export Promotions Council (NEPC) has a map of Nigeria in its headquarters in Abuja dotted with all manners of minerals resources available in each state. No state is left out.
But let’s even limit ourselves to areas of immediate competence for the states; what they call soft target-Agriculture. No one is handicapped to invest in Agriculture. The states would shy away because they have grown used to the easy money over the years. Even the government at the centre is equally guilty of the manifest irresponsibility and laziness in seeking diversification of earnings.
Take for instance the states of the South West or the Western Region as you had it. This is the geographical spread the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo ruled over at a period when there was little or nothing to share at the federal level.
The Regions were entitled to 50 per cent of their agricultural proceeds and the West with proceeds from cocoa, coffee and timber moved faster towards modernity. And with its earnings, the Western Region recorded some feats yet unmatched more than 50 years after. The sage built the tallest building of that era (the Cocoa House, Ibadan) and established the university with one of the most fascinating architectural masterpieces (University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife). That was beside the free education policy and scholarships to as many students in all fields of endeavours. The bitter truth out there is that the same land space ruled by Chief Obafemi Awolowo with only 50 per cent of agricultural proceeds have now turned debtors at home and abroad.
At the inception of the administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi in Oyo state, the government presented a sad picture of how low things have gone the administration engaged workers and pensioners in a war over its inability to pay wages and pensions. It reeled out statistics to justify its incapability. The essence of the argument in defence of the poverty level at Agodi was hinged on low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and the dwindling income from the Federation Account.
Right now, the state, like more than half of the 36 states, is owing its workers backlog of salaries and has in cahoots with Osun state, kept students of the jointly owned Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) at home for nearly a year.
As if to affirm that there is a clear link between financial wellbeing and educational wellness, the two states of Oyo and Osun have maintained some of the worst scores you can ascribe to the supposedly educationally advantaged South West in recent WAEC Examinations.
In 2015, Oyo and Osun States came 29th and 30th in WAEC examination, in 2016, Oyo came 26th, while Osun was 29th and in 2017, Osun scored 23rd position, while Oyo was on 29th position.
But the parlous economic situation is not peculiar to Oyo and Osun states. Indeed, as far back as 2012, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi had raised a motion on the floor of the Senate alerting that more than two thirds of the states were bankrupt.
Why the bankruptcy? The reasons are definitely not in the stars nor are they created by the gods. They are inherent in what I call manifest irresponsibility of the states to make sense of the land the creator has given unto them.
None of the states deserves to be seen going cap in hand to plead for allocations from Abuja. The land relied on by Chief Awolowo in the West, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in the East and Sir. Ahmadu Bello in the North has not vanished. Today, unlike in the 1950s, you even have better ways of getting improved yield from the farms as a result of better scientific input into agriculture.
In recent months, we have seen the Minister of Agricultrure, Chief Audu Ogbeh struggling to put Nigeria on the agricultural export map. In truth, we have only been exporting what we don’t produce in abundance. As statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) would show, the prices of yam and other food items skyrocketed the month Ogbeh launched the yam import drive. And there is no record showing that the Federal Government has already stocked its silos to the brim. In fact, most of the silos are already overgrown by weeds, in some cases trees.
If the states launch into Agric in a scientific manner, their story would shift from producers for raw exports to beneficiaries of the goodies in the value chain. For the states of the South West, the intellectual infrastructure is already in abundance. The basic farm settlements were already set out by Awo’s government in the 1950s and the region can, without any input from Abuja cultivate cocoa, kolanut, coffee, yam, cassava, palm produce, even cotton and all manners of vegetables. The environment is equally pliable for poultry and fisheries.
The Ibadan axis is blessed with the presence of myriads of Agricultural Research Institutes, including the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), the Agric Faculties of the various Universities around the corner as well as the National Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) in nearby Benin. Within two or three years, as CRIN would confirm, the avalanche of cocoa produce alone could force the emergence of chocolate factories around Ibadan axis and once again, the cocoa House can earn its name.
and then