By Rotimi Matins

Smart card technology, the world over, is precisely 38 years old. It has been deployed by several governments for specific purposes. Have you ever imagined, however, a multi-purpose smart card powered by the social democratic mantra of democratizing access to all the good things of life, through which citizens can access and enjoy dividends of democracy, a card that makes it impossible for the people to be cheated? Welcome to Kaadi Igbe Ayo (KIA), Ondo State’s latest in digitalised service delivery. KIA is deployed to facilitate strategic planning and development, efficient record keeping, human resource monitoring in the public sector, anti-corruption drive and solutions, while enabling a higher level of qualitative/quantitative service delivery in the health, education, transport and agro-allied sectors.

Unique, isn’t it? But wait. Actually, KIA does far much more: it facilitates the systematic development of database for efficient security and surveillance purposes, the categorisation of citizens for employment, taxation and financial palliatives, the use/management of public facilities (public transport, subsidized consumer products, even fertilizer). You can even advertise your goods at the back of the card, That is why the renown man of the arts, Jimi Solanke, had no patience with those spreading rumour about the KAI project: “Kini won wi? Kini won so? Awon olote!” (What did they say, what words did they speak? Rebels). The occasion was the launching of Kaadi Igbe Ayo at the Gani Fawehinmi Arcade, Akure, on Tuesday. Solanke’s charge to Mimiko: Continue your work. Ignore the wilfully blind.

The Ondo State Cultural Troupe added more colour to the occasion attended by the Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adesida; the Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo; the Zaki of Arigidi, Oba Yisa Olanipekun, and many other royal fathers from across the state; Information Minister, Labaran Maku; the state deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi and his wife, Bejide; Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his wife, Oluwakemi; a former governor of Ondo State, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua; the speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Hon Samuel Adesina and members of the assembly; the state Chief Judge, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi; the President, Customary Court, Justice Folasade Aguda-Taiwo; Dr Olu Agunloye, members of the immediate past cabinet; market women, the many pregnant women clad in T-shirts, the artisans and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), among others .
In his welcome address, Chief of Staff to the governor, Dr Kola Ademujimi, observed that the card was for good governance in the state.  On his part, Tunde Yadeka, Chairman of the Ondo State Information Technology Agency (SITA), took a global inventory of smart card technology, saying the residency card would serve as an interface in all transactions between the government and residents, allow all residents equal access to government’s social and welfare services and allow government  to monitor the distribution of such services even to the remotest parts of the state at every point.

Maku easily electrified the gathering. Describing Mimiko as a pace setter in governance in the country and an unparalleled disciple of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who had, through revolutionary programmes in health, education, urban development, job creation, agriculture and commerce, among others, tackled poverty and improved the wellbeing of the majority of the people.

In her goodwill message at the occasion, the Minister of Communication and Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who was represented by Dr Ola Ogunneye, said her Ministry would support the project through the provision of infrastructure.

Mimiko, in his speech, alternated between English and Yoruba. The Kaadi Igbe Ayo initiative, he said, was in fulfilment of his 2009 inauguration promise to provide efficient service delivery to the people. To him, the continued success of the government’s programmes in different sectors meant that it was essential to better manage, expand, and improve on the planning and execution of the programmes.  “As a concept, Kaadi Igbe Ayo is a project to facilitate sustainable government service delivery to citizens of the state. The project will ensure that integrity, accountability, data collection and reporting, analysis and research will be possible in the planning and execution of benefits and entitlements schemes by government”, he said.

The governor detailed the welfare-based, benefits-driven governance which mandated the prioritization of certain people-oriented projects in the last four years, including the Mother & Child Hospitals; Abiye Maternal Care Centres; Mega-Primary Schools; over 650 purpose-specific and state-wide community projects and countless such other efforts in road reconstruction, urban renewal and city beautification. The project had gulped only N900 million, the cheapest in the world considering the wide range of its deployment, he said.

Now, Mimiko told the people in Yoruba, “We want to know our own people. If we say a bag of rice per person, you cannot collect it without that card. If you have collected your own bag and you return to collect another one, that card would tell you that you are a thief. A banker cannot remove his tie and go and collect fertilizer meant for farmers. If you don’t pay your tax, the card will show us that and we will ask your children to go back home when they come to attend the mega schools. What will facilitate good living is for us all to do the things that we are supposed to do.”