By Daud Olatunji, Abeokuta

Secretary to Ogun State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, speaks on the performance of the administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

•Taiwo Adeoluwa

How has the journey been?

The last seven years has been momentous.   The Bible tells us that a man can work, a government can work, and a governor can do his bit, but that it is God who waters such an effort. The secret has been God.

What was the situation like in Ogun before the Amosun government came on board in 2011?

When we came in 2011, we were very clear that there was still so much work to do. I remember the sorry state we met the state; almost every institution of governance had gone comatose; the state assembly could not open for several months; there was perpetual tension; cultists were at war; life in Ogun was short and extremely uncertain. It was so bad that even the PDP-controlled National Assembly at that time concluded that the state had failed. Investors were leaving in droves; it was so bad that the World Bank rated us poorly in the ease of doing business; it appeared that everybody had given up on Ogun. But Senator Ibikunle Amosun was clear in his mind that there was a lot of work to do.

He did not become governor by accident. He sought office to better the lives of his people and he immediately set to implement his five cardinal programmes – education, health, agriculture that will lead to industrialization, housing, employment generation and urban renewal. And because we knew that it is only when there is security that you can get your economy back on track, we convened a stakeholders’ summit and that summit gave birth to the security trust fund.

We also ran to the President in Abuja to tell him that we needed help, even though at that time it was a PDP Federal Government, and it approved the Joint Military Police Security Initiative. Pipeline vandalism was a big business in Ogun. We tackled that as well; we committed about N10 billion into the procurement of over three hundred patrol vans, 14 armoured personnel carriers and other security equipment and asset. We spent so much money that the then Inspector General of Police came to this state and said he had not seen a state government committing so much into security in one single ceremony. The results have been very gratifying.   Ogun that used to be a bad state rallied back very robustly. In 2014, we came back to be rated as one of the best states in Nigeria, in the ease of doing business ranking by the World Bank. We spent money but the governor provided sterling leadership on the issue of security.

How did you handle the case of people who lost property during your road expansion project?

In 2012, one Professor Dele Sobowale delivered an address at Covenant University during which he said Ogun had demolished more houses than other states and the federal government put together, yet, according to him, the people were not complaining. So, he said it was appropriate to ask Ogun government what they had done right. When a government or administration is truly a product of people’s will, the chances are that, that administration would receive the firm support of the people. Ogun people were clear in their minds who they voted for: Ibikunle Amosun and his visionary initiatives and, of course, they voted for change in 2015; so, they were also ready for the massive transformation that was to come.

Before any road project is carried out, the governor will go round to notify the people and we pay compensation for any property demolished; we in fact try to avoid demolition but where we must, we tell them it is a sacrifice. In 2012, we unveiled the Lalubu overhead flyover to mark our first project and that was the first flyover in the state. Today, we have done about 23 flyovers and many of them are about to be commissioned. Some weeks ago, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, came to Ogun to explain that we needed to demolish to pave the way for rail tracks. My governor said our people are not animals and that he needed to talk to them first. Then he went to the areas to be affected and the minister was surprised that when the governor had spoken to the people about the project, everything went smoothly. This is the template that we have put in place; we have enjoyed the support of our people.

How balanced are the projects across the three senatorial districts in the state?

Projects spread across and they are responsibly located. When we came in 2011, we commissioned a GIS mapping project; we mapped out the entire state to see what is good for each area. The capital city, Abeokuta, in 2011, was like a stone-age city. But today you see flyovers, modern road architecture.   I am not proud of the first traffic light, the first flyover, the first foot bridge, everything we did when we came. In other parts of the state, when we did our mapping, we identified things that our people dearly needed. What worked in Abeokuta may not work in Ogun-West, which is our agricultural belt. Today, Ogun is one of the largest rice producing states in the country. It is from Ogun West. It is okay to put a six-lane road there but what they need most is to improve their agricultural effort.

Even then, the longest road that we have done in Ogun is the one from Ilara to Eguwa to Tombolo, to Oja Oye Ijayelase, about 110 kilometers.   Look at Ijebu-Ode, Ogun-East, when we came in 2011, every week, there were   at least 10   to   15 deaths recorded in that intersection; we did not say it is federal road, we made a   little effort and deaths in that axis has stopped now. Apart from minor incidents, there has been no bank robbery in Ogun, there has been no single case of unexplained political death; the legislature, the judiciary and the executive have been in harmony. As I speak, we are doing major roads in Ogun-East. We have done three or four flyovers, Ijebu Ode has two, Sagamu also has. Our agriculture initiative is massive. Our largest effort in fishing is also at Ogun-East. We have done model schools. At Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia, we have committed over N4 billion.

Using the five-cardinal programme, how do you score the government?

I am not the one giving in to sycophancy, but I can tell that in all of these five cardinal programmes and more, we have done very well and, by the time we are stepping down in May 2019, you will see even more. In education, in health, in housing, in agriculture, in infrastructure, among others, we have done very well. I am not saying we have achieved the same level of success in all of them but we have touched all of them. Given the resources that we met on ground, we have done very well. Let me tell you the problem, if you spend N100million on infrastructure, you will see 90% on ground. If you spend the same N100million on health, you probably may not see more than 50% because more of the investments go into emoluments.

Same for education; in fact, we have spent more money on education than on infrastructure but one is showing because the other is an invisible social service. Look at health, when we came in 2011, the entire work force in the sector was about 1,500. In the first year alone, we added about 1,000 jobs in the sector and we have been adding in batches, all of them will be paid. Only Lagos and Ogun have IGR that is higher than their federal allocations and I am proud to say that Ogun today is one of the states that pay salaries as and when due.

How much confidence do you have on winning the 2019 elections?

Ogun is not a bad state. Just as He did in 2011 and 2015, God will use the good people of Ogun to strengthen our party, the APC, into office in Abuja, the state and indeed many more states in 2019 we have done well; we have taken the state to new heights. We know our people are very reasonable, our people are very aware; they know the difference between pretenders, and those who will genuinely work for their welfare. They know APC is pro-people; we are not thieves. The only offence people say Amosun or his government has committed is that we have not allowed them to steal like they used to.