Why Nigeria should be restructured —Farukanmi

Olorunnimbe Farukanmi, as a member of the State House of Assembly, was in the thick of the politics of succession between the late Chiefs Adekunle Ajasin and Akin Omoboriowo in the old Ondo State. Farukanmi, who later became a senator under the banner of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), is now the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ondo State Elders’ Forum. He speaks with AYODELE ADESANMI on how the party won the last governorship election in the state and other national issues.

AGAINST all political permutations, the APC won the gubernatorial election in Ondo State. How did the party make that happen?

The APC was the most popular among the parties that contested the 2016 gubernatorial election in Ondo State. Despite the numerous internal problems that confronted the party, the most serious of which was the decision of about 30 aspirants to contest for the party’s primary. Despite the appeal of most party leaders that the number be reduced, only a few stepped down. 24 of them eventually decided to participate in the primary election and they all worked hard by mobilising supporters in all nooks and crannies of the state, resulting in high costs of mobilisation of supporters from one local government to another. There was huge expenditure on the purchase of vehicles for publicity and printing of posters. At the period when the primary was about to be held, each aspirant was expected to purchase intention forms at a cost of about N5 million at the party national office and N2.5 million at the state’s party office.

After all these, one aspirant won and there were protests. But many party leaders appealed to all the aspirants to close ranks and some of the aspirants mobilised their supporters to stand firmly behind the winner of the primary in the APC. It was not surprising, therefore, that the APC governorship candidate won 14 out of the 18 local government areas of Ondo State. The point being made is that the members of the APC showed extreme loyalty to their party by forsaking individuals whom they supported up to the primary level. One can, therefore, applaud the dedication of APC members to the party as opposed to individuals who lost at the primary election but later crossed over to other political parties.

But how will the party ensure that the people who made the victory possible are not disappointed?

The APC under the leadership of Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) will surely not disappoint the people of Ondo State. He would sincerely work with the youth, experienced politicians and the elders,

who will advise and closely work with him. Every Nigerian is aware of the serious economic recession buffeting this nation, including Ondo State, in the last 17 years and President Muhammadu Buhari is dedicated to working hard to provide solutions to the serious economic recession and other problems of poverty and insecurity afflicting the country. That was why Ondo State people chose Akeredolu on the same political platform to work and cooperate with Buhari to solve the problems afflicting Nigeria and Ondo State. Our people in Ondo State are prepared to work hard in supporting Akeredolu in its entirety, so that our people in this state will not be disappointed.

What specific areas do you want the governor to concentrate on in terms of developing the state?

We are expecting our governor to ensure that the physical and economic status of Ondo State is improved upon positively. The governor should ensure that all professional ministries are headed by professional men and women related to such ministries. For example, the ministry of works should be headed by an engineer, that of housing and urban development by a town planner, and the ministry of health should be headed by a medical practitioner. The state government should ensure that imprests are released to each ministries and parastatal-agencies on a monthly basis for the promotion of efficiency in these offices. To obtain the full support and co-operation of the civil servants, salaries and wages of civil servants should be a priority to the state government.

The governor must work to ensure the resuscitation of all defunct or ailing industries, such as the glass industry, ceramic industry and so on. The APC should work hard in providing more employment opportunities for the youth and other employable Nigerians.

But to assist the government, all taxable adults should be encouraged to pay taxes so as to aid the government in improving the economy. The government must work hard to provide all necessary infrastructures in the state.

Nigerians are complaining bitterly of hardship against the administration of President Muhammad Buhari, do you think these complaints are justified?

There is no doubt that the foundation of the problems facing Nigeria existed long before President Buhari assumed office. Yet, most people, particularly the opposition made up of the PDP, expect him to provide solutions to them with immediate effect. The problems confronting the economy, which had assumed much complex and enormous dimensions, had started about 17 years ago. The extreme and total dependence of this nation on earnings from the export of crude oil was the origin of our problem. Unfortunately too, we woefully failed to utilise the earnings to diversify our economy. The earnings from exported crude oil were totally utilised to run the expensive presidential system of government. Whenever the price of crude oil falls in the world market, we have little or nothing to share among the 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory, the Federal Government and the 774 Local Governments that make up Nigeria.

The type of presidential system of government practised in Nigeria has caused Nigeria to expend over 70 per cent of her resources on recurrent expenditure while only 40 per cent of such earnings are utilised for capital developments. It is, therefore, not surprising that the state of infrastructural development is very poor.

But to be fair, the blame for the existence of large scale poverty ravaging this nation and causing other consequences cannot be put at President Buhari’s door step. In the past, we had three regional governments, one federal government and much fewer local governments, which were less expensive to run. Our previous governments have failed to pay adequate attention to agriculture, which ought to have been given primary attention so as to feed the large concentration of people in this country.

Another reason for the present state of our economy is overdependence on importation. Nigerians depend entirely on the importation of all their needs, whereas numerous raw materials that could have helped the development of small and medium scale industries abound in this country.

Thank God that President Buhari is now making frantic efforts to revolutionise agriculture, beginning with the 2017 budget. He is also providing necessary infrastructure with which industrial development can take off.

Some people have been calling for the restructuring of Nigeria. In your view, what do you think Nigeria would gain if it is restructured?

Many Nigerians have identified some obstacles militating against the progressive development of Nigeria. Thus they have always advocated some sorts of restructuring. The two most important obstacles militating against the progressive development of Nigeria are the excessive proliferation of government agencies and the very expensive system of government being run in this country.

The system of government being run in the past was the parliamentary system in which the Federal Government had only one parliament. But with the presidential system we run currently, which has two chambers consisting of the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives. The nation runs about 36 parliaments and the 774 local councils with elected councillors. Each state has its own House of Assembly, the total parliament in the states are 36 and in addition to the federal parliament with two chambers, the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives make a total of 38 chambers of legislature. The Federal House of Representatives is the largest, with about 360 members. It costs a lot of money to run all these in one nation. To run these administrative chambers, it requires a lot of money, thus, to reduce the expensive costs of these administration, the country should be restructured.