Reason Oyo govt has refused to introduce new tax —Chief of Staff

Dr Gbade Ojo is the Chief of Staff to the Oyo state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi. He speaks with WALE AKINSELURE on happenings in the state since the commencement of the second term of Governor Ajimobi and the anti-corruption fight of President Muhammadu Buhari administration, among others.

THE second term of the Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led government has been filled with ups and downs, with issues ranging from inability to pay salaries regularly to the crisis that greeted the ‘no automatic promotion’ policy in schools, participatory management of schools and cases of violence in Ibadan, being on the front burner. What has changed about how the state is being managed this time round?

In Nigerian politics, we have quick-silver change of events. Every day, there are occurrences in an attempt to manage human beings. Human beings are not robots and government thrashes events as they come up. If government does not effectively manage crisis, it could dovetail into political cataclysm.

For example, the burning of schools came up as a result of opposition against government’s policy to discard automatic promotion so that performance of Oyo State students and candidates in public examinations will improve. That is a good policy. There is no public policy anywhere in the world that will be satisfactory to 100 per cent of the people. The basic philosophy in public policy is the utilitarian theory of greatest happiness of the greatest number of people. There may be few nihilists while there are others who may be happy causing trouble. Oyo State has about 631 schools and some miscreants protested and burnt down one, do we call that crisis?

Also, at no time did government mute the idea of selling schools, because in a capitalist system like ours, with human face, there are public and private schools. How can any government consider selling schools when another government can retrieve such? Why would anyone consider selling schools when such person can invest such money in setting up his own school? The idea ab initio was that private individuals, old boys/girls’ associations, alumni who may be interested in assisting government may be involved in the administration of schools. The opposition cashed in on that to say that government wants to sell schools. When one is starting off as a first term governor, one may be anxious and elated, but when one has mastered the game, there is no reason to be over-excited. The second term of Governor Abiola Ajimobi is less than two years and he has achieved the free trade zone, with Chinese investors keenly interested in being involved, awarded a number of road projects like dualisation of Idi Ape-Basorun-Odogbo barracks road, dualisation of Saki township road, dualisation of Agodi gate-Old Ife road to Adegbayi junction and expansion of Oke Adu-Agodi gate-Idi Ape-Iwo road interchange. Also, water projects are ongoing, while the government has organised town hall meetings targeted at bridging the gap between the government and the governed, among other ongoing projects. The second term is sufficiently eventful, apart from the issue of salaries payment. However, the issue of salaries is not peculiar to Oyo State, but it is due to the current recession.

It was said that the statutory Federal Government allocation you get monthly is not enough to pay workers’ salaries, while the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state has hovered between N1 billion and N1.5 billion, for many years, in spite of several tax drives. Where is the ingenuity of this government in being able to adequately attend to its obligations?

Government woke up to the reality that statutory allocation kept on dwindling for reasons that include brazen corruption at the federal level, drop in the price of crude oil in the international market, because of our monoculture economy, the restlessness of the Niger Delta boys, who bomb pipelines almost every week. Also, China reduced purchase of our oil; Angola that was not vibrant in the international oil market now massively produces oil, America has reduced purchase of our crude oil because they continue to come up with better alternatives. All these factors means that what comes to the Federal Government has reduced, as well as what accrues to state and local governments.

As regards government’s effort in improving its IGR, we have to take note of the tax potential of the people of Oyo State. Can you over-tax people that are already pauperised? You can’t compare Lagos with Oyo State in terms of ability to pay tax? If government overdrives the effort, there will likely be a boomerang effect. The 1929 Aba riots was due to taxation. Government believes in general reorientation of the people before we bring up a new vigour in terms of revenue drive. In the next few months, there will be improvement in our IGR.

The state government talks about conducting local government election in February. However, in various interactions with members of the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), they have decried lack of funding. Is the government really serious about the local government election?

Ordinarily, I am not supposed to speak for OYSIEC, because the commission is believed to be independent. The commission is created by law. And I have not read anywhere in the media where the commission has complained about lack of funding. Since the inauguration of the electoral commission, there has been a physical facelift at the commission’s headquarters, which would cost some money. If a commission that has not been active for the last nine years has been resuscitated with new cars and buses, I think they would not complain of lack of fund. When they get to a river, they will know how to cross it. Do not also forget that the government that appointed and inaugurated members of the commission is aware that OYSIEC has announced date for local government election. More so, let’s wait to see if the 2017 budget, which will soon be presented to the state House of Assembly, will accommodate the expenses for the local government election. Government has been meeting the needs of the commission as they have been requesting.

At a recent forum convened by OYSIEC, stakeholders decried that the structure of councils into which elections will be conducted, in terms of delineation of wards and boundaries, remained unclear. When will the state government reveal the map that accommodates the new LCDAs?

As of the time when OYSIEC had the stakeholders’ forum, it wasn’t the responsibility of OYSIEC to do the demarcation. The gazette that created the LCDAs clearly stipulates the communities that fall into each LCDA. The map showing the new LCDAs is available as prepared by the office of the Acting Surveyor-General of the state. All local government chairmen have copies of the map and have been asked to produce more copies. As the LCDAs take off, the implementation committee is in possession of the map. The map showing existing local governments and new LCDAs has been prepared. It will sound funny if LCDAs are created and government cannot demarcate boundaries; that will be too ridiculous.

Recently, 662 workers were dismissed, while more are expected to be dismissed in the coming days. The governor has, at several forums, criticised the large workforce. Don’t you fear that the restructuring exercise would create tension?

His Excellency has said for the umpteenth time that he is not interested in retrenchment. Government cannot be timid if it wants to retrench and the principle anywhere is last to come, first to go. Rather than retrench, the state government has expressed optimism that the economy will improve. Notwithstanding, if there are bad eggs involved in things like certificate racketeering, we cannot continue to retain such people in the system. It does not make sense. And, if anybody has been wrongfully sacked, such person should be able to defend himself and can sue the government. There are young graduates with good qualifications that are unemployed. Why should those with bogus certificates continue to draw salaries from government? People can verify their certificates from the issuing authorities and confirm. An employer has the right to verify the certificates of his employees from time to time.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara frowned at the state governors cornering funds meant for local governments. What is your take on Dogara’s position?

I read Dogara’s statement very well. Dogara said that the North was a region without oil and that the only resource available to politicians there was local government funds. He was more emphatic about the North. Local government funds cannot be toyed with and the governor cannot toy with those funds. This is evident in the fact that we owe the salaries of staff on the payroll of the state government more than those of the local government. Dogara was emphatic about politicians in the North. In the South, there is a modicum of experience in handling government fund and processes. Without being immodest, we have a wonderful heritage in good governance from the era of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The Joint Account Allocation Committee is not between the state and local government. The committee is made up of the people of the local government system themselves. At the committee level, the salary of primary school teachers is considered as first line charge. Going by the constitution, primary education is exclusively under the purview of the local government. So, nobody can toy with local government funds because the responsibilities of local government are already heavy. Before the creation of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), public school was no more fashionable. It was shortly before the creation of SUBEB that we observed an upsurge in private nursery and primary school when members of the public lacked confidence in public school. Whereas today, you hardly have any private nursery and primary school that can parade the quality of teachers in the employ of the state government. The private schools cannot afford to pay teachers huge salaries that public schools pay.

In some quarters, the anti-corruption fight of the President Muhammadu Buhari has been tagged selective. What do you make of the manner the president is addressing the issue of corruption?

Nobody can say that the anti-corruption stance of the government is a bad policy. There cannot be development of a country with pervasive corruption. The way in which the anti-corruption war is being fought may be criticised and government may be advised to consider a review. Going to burgle judges’ houses in the middle of the night may be questioned. That is not good in a civilised society. The security agencies can go there any time of the day with a search warrant. Also, the whole war against corruption is cosmetic. I expect a federal government that while waging war against corruption is also embarking on reorientation of Nigerians on the evils of corruption. If Buhari quits tomorrow, do we have any assurance that his successor will have the same zeal to fight corruption? Can’t Nigerians return to their old habits? I expect that in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools, universities, young ones should be taught not to be corrupt for the country to develop. They should be taught to be satisfied with their legitimate income and not steal resources. But, today, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is comatose; the NOA is not talking to anybody and not offering reorientation. Government is only struggling to look into available files, arrest some people alleged to be corrupt and recover money looted. That is not sufficient. In our airports, several officers solicit stipends. When you are arriving, they request for dollars; when you are leaving, they request for naira. Can the Inspector-General of Police tell us that the police do not collect money from drivers every day? These things are done in public in our airports and on our streets. The government is fighting corruption from the top, but nothing is being done at the bottom. The EFCC and ICPC are not enough to fight corruption. The anti-fraud arm of the Nigerian police should be re-animated. Can’t the police arrest and charge corrupt persons to court? These are the gaps in the anti-corruption fight of the Buhari administration.

There are allegations of corruption against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal and EFCC Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Magu. Doesn’t this development spite the anti-corruption fight of the Buhari administration?

The fact that the media can report that there are certain allegations against the SGF or anti-corruption Caesar is a good development but we should discourage media trial against any public official. If the DSS gave the Senate a report that a certain Magu had been on their radar for a while, and that he is not suitable to fight corruption, Mr President can nominate another person. Is Magu the only person in Nigeria that can fight corruption? It remains an allegation that the SGF diverted funds meant for Internally Displaced Persons. So let us wait to see what happens. However, there is a difference between diversion and embezzlement. If it can be proven that Babachir diverted money to his personal pockets, the law should take its course. The Code of Conduct Bureau has not been very impressive in performing its duties. I expect the bureau to conduct its investigation dutifully for us to have a sane society. In Africa, we have not become human beings as regards materialistic instinct; we are still at the level of animals. Why does anyone have to steal money that cannot be exhausted in his or her lifetime?