Why I want to be next Oyo Governor — Adelabu

Chief Adebayo Adelabu is a banking guru who spent many years in the industry ending with his appointment as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deputy governor. He is one of the persons vying for the position of the governor of Oyo State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He speaks with BODE ADEWUMI on his ambition and other issues. Excerpts:

The economy of many states have been in focus recently. The vice president, recently, at a convention, said that the nation has to look at how states could be economically viable and be able to fund themselves. Can you say Oyo State is economically viable?

Without thinking, without blinking, I will say yes. Oyo State, at the risk of sounding immodest, as a citizen of this state, is about the most blessed in this country. Because we have everything it takes for us not to go to Abuja for anything, in terms of the potentials for Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the state that we have not exploited fully.

We are just scratching the surface. There are some conditions that must be in place for you to know how prepared or how prosperous a state is. Oyo State is the largest state in land mass down south of Nigeria. It is over 28,000 sq km, which is equivalent to the size of the entire five eastern states; Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo, and this is not just ordinary land, this is fertile land. If you throw anything out there, the following week, it grows, with or without fertilizer.

Number two, the climate, the weather that we have, up north in Oyo State, which is good for livestock and this is also the capital for poultry industry in Nigeria. So, on agriculture alone, I believe we can generate so much. This state alone can produce the entire food for the country giving the land that we have for farming. If we are saying Lagos State alone, with that kind of population consumes about 6000 cows on a daily basis, what stops Oyo State from supplying 1,000 cows to Lagos State?

Do you know how much we are going to make from this? If it is 100,000 naira per cow, we will make 100 million per day. In 30 days, we are looking at 3 billion. In 12 months, we are looking at 36 billion accruable to the government. How much are we getting from Abuja in terms of federal allocation? That is just one of it. Number two, we have hundreds of solid mineral deposits here in Oyo State in commercial quantities. How much of this have we mined?

 

But will the federal government allow you to mine them?

That is what we should work on. If we have a good working relationship with the government, let us assume that they have not amended the law, that they still have the authority to give mining licenses, as a state if we have a good relation with the federal government, we get these licenses. Those deposits are on our land.

 

Why is it so difficult for the government to do that, not just in Oyo State alone, but in many states in Nigeria?

That is what many states are working on now. We have the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals and they are working hand-in-hand with states to make this easy for people that want to invest in mining industry. Go to South Africa, go to gold mine, to diamond mine; go to Ghana, go to their gold mine. They are making billions of dollars from these.

We can also make it here in Oyo State. Beyond that, before now, Oyo State used to be the industrial capital for the Southwest. I must tell you, in Ibadan, while growing up; I can count thirty companies without looking at anything that used to exist in Oyo State then. But, they are nowhere to be found today.

Why did they leave? What are the reasons they left? Can’t we bring those companies back? So, we can produce because the population is here. I can tell you, Oyo State is the second most populous state down the south of Nigeria after Lagos. We are 7.5 million people in the last statistics that we have for Oyo State. So, the market is there. Everybody wants to live here in Oyo State. So, if we have the market, then, there is no problem for the manufacturing industries.

I will also talk about the dry port, which has been fixed at Ibadan here at Erunmu. So, if we work on that, and majority of the goods that are brought to the country are cleared here in Oyo State, that will also encourage business settlements around the dry port.

Yes, this Oyo State can serve and even provide shelter for people working around Oyo State or Ibadan. How far is Ibadan from Lagos? It is just a 100 km. With good road, good rail system, you can cover it in 30/40 minutes. So, there will be a lot of people that will also work in Lagos and settle their family down here in Ibadan.

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Do you have any idea about the debt profile of Oyo State and is it sustainable?

Yes, I do. Of course, it is sustainable. Giving the kind of state that we have, giving the prospects that we have in this state and giving the kind of resources that we have in this state, I believe that we are still one of the conservative states when it comes to debts. Yes, I have the feelings. I am sure the governor has been prudent enough to manage it to that level.

 

You want to be governor of Oyo State?

Yes, I want to.

 

Why would you want to be governor?

Well, it is the passion for me to continue with the current transformation the government has embarked upon, to take it up from there and to take it further. I am very pleased and happy with the performance of the government so far, and our fear is, can this continue? And that question is best answered by who is going to take the baton from him when he leaves. So, it is to continue from where the current government is able to stop and even take it a little higher. Government, as it is today, has built the foundation that we need for subsequent leaders of the state to build upon.

 

Are you fine with his performance?

Yes, I am satisfied.

 

Let’s start with education. Are you satisfied?

I am very pleased with the education sector of the state, because I am also involved. I am the chairman of the governing board of Lagelu Grammar School where the incumbent governor finished from in 1968. I also finished from that school. The man believes so much in my capability, in what I can do, before he made me the chairman of the governing council of Lagelu Grammar School. And on that, I will not say much. I will advise that you go to that school and see the transformation that has taken place in one year of my appointment as chairman of the governing council. We have transformed the entire school from physical infrastructure to teaching equipment, to even personnel. You can go and check yourself.

 

What kind of things are you going to put in place to make sure that education, even at the rural level is qualitative?

When you talk about all this rots, not just in education, in almost all the critical sectors, especially social infrastructure, they did not have allies. This is as a result of several years of neglect, several years of abandonment. And we have close to about 2,000 primary schools in Oyo State. We have about 1,000 secondary schools in Oyo State. We also have about the highest number of tertiary institutions in Oyo State. And if a government decides to turn things around, we should also know that every school cannot be touched at the same time.

I believe it is a gradual process. The only thing we need to do is to speed up the pace at which we will cover these schools. As you identified a school with dilapidated building, I can also tell you five, six schools that have experienced transformation in their physical infrastructure. It will get there, I am telling you.

And like I keep telling people, if a government has four years to spend, and it had limited resources, it cannot take on all the schools at the same time. If it’s 200 primary schools every year, 100 secondary schools every year, you focus on this.

In four years, you would have touched 800 primary schools and 400 secondary schools. That will be monumental. Sincerely, that is how it can be planned. You need to have specific percentage of your budget dedicated to such important sectors of the economy. Education is number one.