Our governors must do more in providing security for South-West —Olajide

The Secretary General of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE ) and Afenifere chieftain, Dr Kunle Olajide, speaks to ‘YOMI AYELESO on governance in Nigeria in the last 59 years of independence, the election of Prof. Banji Akintoye as Yoruba leader and other sundry issues.

What is your take on Nigeria after 59 years of independence?

In 1960, when the Union Jack flag was lowered and replaced with our flag, we were very young then, but we had a very tremendous hope for the country. We predicted that within 50 years, Nigeria would join the league of developed countries of the world. But, the story of Nigeria is rather unfortunate. Our golden era was in the first and second republics, particularly the first republic. Some Nigerians laid the blame on the doorstep of the colonial masters, but I disagree with them. In 60 years, we have the tremendous opportunity to change the fortunes of this country. The colonial masters gave us a dysfunctional federal system structure. We had three regions then which was against the universally known principal that no region should be far bigger than the others put together. But we had a dysfunctional federal system handed over to us and we managed it well. Our founding fathers, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello and others made a good job of the first republic and that was when each of the regions had its own constitution.

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Going by all you have just explained, are you saying our leaders are to blame for our woes?

They have a lot of blame and also the followership should be blamed too. I gave you that background to tell you that we have the twin evils affecting this country. They were military intervention and the oil boom. Unfortunately, the oil boom came during the military era and intoxicated the military rulers at that time to the extent that one of them said money was not Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it and at that time we were paying salaries of some West African civil servants. The military intervention truncated our democratic match because by now Nigeria would have at least matured in democracy. We had four regions by the time the military came in and because of coups and countercoups, we went through the hazardous civil war for three years and we lost over a million lives. One government created 12 states for a start to weaken the Biafra rebellion, ultimately successive rulers created 19 states, 21 states and now we have 36 states.

Going forward, looking at our challenges in this country, what will be your advice to our leaders?

We have to retrace our steps to where we missed the road. We have missed the road with military intervention. We must go back to having a true federal republic, not a unitary form of federalism that we are running. In other words, we must re-write our constitution in such a way and manner that each state will be empowered to explore and deploy its resources according to its priorities. There is too much money in the hands of the Federal Government which is apparently not the best. In the first republic, we had only about 14 issues on the exclusive and legislative lists. The rest were residual for various regions. We have to go back to that, each region explore your resources, pay taxes to run few things under the federal umbrella.

Ekiti is 23 years old, what would you say of this state in the last 23 years of its creation?

We have made progress. Incidentally, I was the chairman of the finance and publicity sub-committee of the committee for the creation of Ekiti State under the leadership of Chief Deji Fasuan. I am very much concerned about the progress we have made. Yes, we could have done better than we have but we should thank God that we now have our identity. There has been tremendous decline in education of our people. So, the current government must pay special attention to education and infrastructure, and then we must attract investors to Ekiti State. We have what it takes and I am sure the current leadership is very inspiring. I have a lot of hope for Ekiti and we must begin the process of restoring our original values, what we are known for in the past. We are known for integrity, hard work, education and knowledge. We have been affected by what is happening in Nigeria. Just a few days ago, there was a bank robbery in Ise-Ekiti.

Also, in a short while, the present administration of Dr Kayode Fayemi will be clocking a year, can you say you have seen any difference in governance in the state?

I think I have seen considerable difference. They may not be tangible, but I have seen positive differences. In the area of education, in health and other areas. I have seen moves already been made by this government to ensure that the quality of education improves. The quality and temperament of Ekiti leadership, I am proud of this. I see a good future for us and we must support this present government to ensure that they keep this momentum on for them to make progress.

Looking at the level of insecurity witnessed in the South-West region recently, as an elder statesman in this region, are you happy with moves by the state governors towards finding a lasting solution to the menace?

In the past I have blamed the governors because they are our chief security officers, never mind the commissioners of police and other federal apparatus here. I am very happy they have now risen to the occasion. I can say that there were few incidents in the last one month but we must continue to encourage them. I think it is a good move by the governors. I am one of those for regional integration and I am in support of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN). Each time I see our governors coming together to discuss, identify our challenges and seek solutions to them, I am very happy. So I think we must encourage them to do more.