By Ishola Balogun, Charles ADINGUPU  & Ebun Sessou
The Governoship candidate of People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos State, Mr. Joseph Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje in this interview reveals how he became a marriage counsellor, offering spiritual and professional ideas to younger couples.

Agbaje who got married to Abiola (née Bankole), a lawyer, 32 years ago says most families in the state are under external pressure, adding that vested interest has stultified development in Lagos. Excerpts:

Not many people know that you are a marriage counsellor, what actually inspired you?

Being a marriage counsellor in my church is on the basis of my profession. Before getting married in Catholic church, you are expected to pass through a marriage counselling class. So, people are expected to receive lectures from different people. As a Pharmacist, I was asked to join the team, about 15 years ago. And since that period, I have been talking about this aspect of marriage counselling. There are other counsellors, but mine started because I was a Pharmacist and I give specifics on family planning.

Jimi Agbaje

But, you cannot be talking in the marriage counselling class without talking about other issues related to marriage. And for 33 years of being married, I think I am in a position to also give advice on marriage.

So, how would you evaluate the Nigerian family under this economic downturn with other variables threatening a collapse of that institution?

I think, the family is under pressure from the outside. People are trying to make ends meet. A large family that stays in a room apartment will be different in terms of family life compared to family that stays in two or three bedroom flat. You got such issues that come to bear on the family. If you have a family where the father and the mother have to go to work by 5am and come back by 11pm, such family is under tremendous pressure to look after the growing children as opposed to a parent who is at home looking after the children. The parents or guardians are also role models and these affect the family life. We cannot also forget peer pressure, moral values, religious beliefs, all these come to bear on the family life.

So, with this experience, how do you intend to give succor to these families if you become governor?

That is where governance comes in to relieve the citizens of those pressures that tend to affect family life negatively. I talked about housing earlier, a family that stays in a slum has its own problems. So, it is government’s responsibility to ensure that housing delivery is better. If housing is better, then, there will be less pressure. If education is right, then, the child will be different. The child will be able to concentrate on his or her academics; get moral education, and he is likely to come out a better person. The way the child goes to school affects the way he or she is brought up or grows; so it is the duty of government to ensure that parents can go to work without having to be confronted with traffic on a daily basis. When government relieves the the burden of the family, parents become more available to their children the children will be better. Government partners with the civil society, faith organisations in different programmes that tend to build up the family and the children in particular. That is what we will do.

Recently, the issue of tax was in the dailies again where you challenged Governor Fashola to present the receipt of the payment of the land-use charge. Could you clear the air on the allegation of tax default especially prior to 2013?

I think, the Governor was obviously playing politics for reasons best known to him. You see, when you occupy such an exalted office, you expect the person to be honourable. In the first place, I was accused as a serial tax evader. This is from a governor whose government some weeks earlier had written me a letter of appreciation that I had been paying my land-use-charge as at when due. And the same governor comes out a few weeks later to say that I am a serial tax evader. In the first place, land-use charge is not tax. So, that in itself, is a misnomer. Having said that, I released a letter of appreciation that his government had written, then he said, it was my company that had not paid tax. This is a company that I stopped managing as a full time executive since 2006. So, I am not in the day-to-day running of the company. My company had also issued a very clear statement showing that it has been paying land use charge, showing that, there were some issues in terms of penalties that have been wrongly given to the company. He showed correspondence on the penalties over the last three years, indicating also that my company has been paying those current charges apart from the penalties that were there. It was clear from the correspondence that government needed to reply because there was already a letter that had been written as advised by land-use-charge that my company should write to the Commissioner for Finance based on what we had stated asking that the penalties be waved. My company had done that and of course, they had not replied till date. The Commissioner has not replied that letter and that is why you find out that the penalties have not been paid, until such is done now. The government came and said the figure was N1.6million, that again is a lie.

Then, he comes out to say that Jimi Agbaje has now complied, in other words has accepted. The implication is that after his initial outburst, Jimi Agbaje or his company had gone to pay an amount. That again is not true. Since, his outburst, not a kobo has been paid by my company or myself. So, it is in recognition what he said earlier that he is now trying to justify by using his position as a governor to think that whatever he says will be taken as truth. He is trying to bully the person of Jimi Agbaje and his company. We are able to stand up to his bullies. What is happening is a case study in the way that government has treated private organisations in our state. There is a measure of arrogance, that they can get away with anything. So, when people talk about double taxation, multiple taxation, that is the kind of thing that happens. The present ruling government believes that, their word is law and whatever they do, the citizens have no right of protest. They will also threaten to lock up your business premises. That is not the way to govern.

Nobody has said that taxes should not be paid. If you give me a land use charge of N50,000, this year and the year after, it increases to over N200,000, that is 400 percent increase, I have a right to ask questions. Then, you do not bring a bill for the year and the year after, you give a penalty of that year that you did not send me a bill. Don’t I have the right to protest? What you can do is to send a bill of the year you did not send the bill, but it will be wrong to charge me penalty for not sending me a bill. That is the issue. I think the governor has decided that in politics, all is fair. That is not the way leadership should go.

We have not seen much of issue-based campaigns, instead, it has been mudslinging, attacks on personalities from both side, are you not worried?

I am worried. We have campaigned on issues, unfortunately, they don’t have a response to our issues. Which is why the governor has decided to go into mudslinging. Our issues are very clear, that our Lagos today has the challenge of a growing mega-city and in the growing mega-city, the population is increasing so fast. Government has to find the right way to address these challenges. So, we say that, education, health, transportation among others should be put in their right perspectives. Today, people are talking about brilliant and excellent performances while, Lagosians are recording failures.

This can be addressed differently and we have identified why this government has not succeeded in this respect. We have also talked about housing and the growing mega-city. The present government should recognise that 70 percent of those that live in Lagos are living in sub-standard houses. It is estimated that by 2025, the population of Lagos will be between 30 and 35 million. So, we have not addressed housing in a way that can cope with this demand. This is a demand that requires we should have over 200 thousand housing units being rolled out every year. Even in the transport system, the rail system has to come alive. These are the challenges that we need to address.

But, it appears the governor feels he is being rubbished. Perhaps, that is why he has decided to be the candidate in the forthcoming elections. The reality is that nobody has said that governor Fashola has not done any work, but we are saying that there is still a lot more to be done. Looking at the rankings, we should not think that we are great people compared to others. We may be making progress in Lagos as a city, but the truth is that other cities in the world are making progress faster.

So, we are not getting better relative to other growing mega-cities. The Economic Intelligence Unit ranking says Lagos is number 137 out of 140. Lagos remains the fourth world city to live in in terms of ‘live-ability index’. That is not Jimi Agbaje’s ranking, it is a reality. So, Governor Fashola appears to be very sensitive to this and so, he believes that he should become the candidate (referring to his campaigns for APC candidate Akin Ambode).

In Nigeria, the World Bank places Lagos as worse state in the 36 states of Nigeria where you can get your construction permit. So, Lagos is worse state to get construction permit. So, where you have a situation like that, the implication is that there will be slums everywhere. It explains to a certain extent the incessant collapse of buildings. Because if it is difficult to get construction permit, people will be building without obtaining construction permits. These are the issues that we have thrown to the table. We are not saying he has not done anything but look at the result sheets prepared by those who look at us. These are people who want to invest in Lagos.

Clearly, there are improvements on the housing scheme, the healthcare, transportation through the BRT and the on-going light rail on Marina-Mile2-Badagry road, how bold are these your ideas to further develop the state on these areas?

That is what I am saying. It is not that the work is not going but it is not going well enough to cope with the challenges we face. Again, talking about bold ideas, we are not talking about re-inventing the wheel, these issues can be better addressed the way they are being done in other parts of the world.

Those in the government in the last 16 years have provided less than 5,000 housing units. So, we may see houses but 5,000 housing unit does not scratch surface of over 200,000 families who are faced with housing problems. Alh Lateef Jakande built four times in four years. And in transportation, the BRT is a good idea but it is not effective.

The BRT started on a high note but the reality is that in recent times, the BRT is nothing to write home about. Part of the objectives of BRT was to push away molue buses, the BRT itself has become molue buses. The blue line of the light rail was supposed to have been completed in 2012, but in 2015, it is nowhere near completion. This is because, the model is faulty, it cannot be sustained. This is because the government wants to do everything. The question is what is going to happen 10 years from now. So, when we talk about bold ideas, we are saying that, the model used is faulty and we cannot continue in that direction.

In many instances, you said that you are going to destroy many toll gates erected and taxation seems to be the hub of revenue generation. How do you intend to generate revenue to implement these ‘bold’ ideas?

In the first place, it is not true that I said that I would dismantle all the toll gates. I mentioned one in particular and that was the Victoria Island/Epe toll. It is part of government responsibility to provide access to people’s houses and offices. They must have a route but where there are no better road alternatives to an existing road, it is wrong on the part of the government to put a toll on the road. Government has not provided a good alternative for the people and to that extent, it is unfair on the citizens in that axis to be tolled. The fact that there are not enough government hospitals and schools means that the people have to go out of their vicinities every time. So, if they don’t have money to pay toll, they will not go out or take their children to schools.

Jimi Agbaje

That is unfair. It is a measure of arrogance on the part of government. In that particular instance, the toll must be removed.

In Lagos, there is a major problem of vested interest which has affected negatively the arrangements put in place. The issue of the Lekki toll is an interesting study on how PPP is not supposed to be because of vested interest.

Now, the question is where will the extra income come from? I think, we will first take a queue in the point of vested interest. There is high percentage of leakage in the present government. If we block these leakages, we will save money.

Secondly, there is need to diversify. The Lagos economy needs to be diversified. Lagos is on water and so, we can derive a lot of income from water, the same way Adamawa is deriving money from their land. We can make Lagos a national fish processing hub for the country. Our fishermen today do not have an interesting deal in catfish. We need to have a value chain for this and develop our maritime by building more boats. Today, the fishermen are limited in the volume of fish they can catch, but if there is a market where people can catch more fish, they will be more people interested in building boats. This means that people will be repairing and making boat engines. This is a new industry which must be expanded. We are talking about those resources that can be tapped to diversify the economy, areas that we can provide services to the people. There is need to make Lagos more business friendly which will bring more income. These are the ways we will raise money without over-burdening Lagosians.

What would you do in your first hundred days in office if you become the governor?

The first thing is to put the system in the right direction. I am not saying, I am going to build the light rail in hundred days, but I would have started a process that I know that I am going to have a workable light rail. I am saying that we are going to run a health insurance model for health, so that it can be sustainable and we can be able to tell the people that we have started a process.

Lately, President Jonathan visited Lagos severally, would you say those visits arose out of political expediency or administrative exigency?

It is clear, President Jonathan has been to Lagos to commission projects. For those who said, president Jonathan has not done anything, he came to commission two power projects which is part of his commitment to Nigerians. He also came to address the youths and to give the youths hope; and also, it is important the youths are part of the election process to rebuild this country.

But, it was alleged that, some of the party members were not involved, what really went wrong?

That goes to confirm that he came to do business as President and so, party members were not carried along assuming that was correct. He did not come for party members but as president. It is not every time that the president needs to carry party members along when performing his function as President if they are not needed. What would party members be doing in Egbin or Olorunsogo power plant, it is a business and should not be turned into a rally.

What is your take on the peace accord in both Abuja and Lagos?

As leaders, we owe our country a duty because we have no other country. We are supposed to be leaders and role models. What we tell those who follow us is that governance is about ideas and politics is about convincing the people that you are better than the other person. It is not about being stronger than the other person physically. What I tell people is that, if we believe that we are going to win, there is no need going into violence. Don’t you want to be around to enjoy the victory of election? So, violence is not the way. For instance, there was a time we woke up and saw our posters and billboards defaced, we could have encouraged violence but we did not. We only left the defaced posters and billboards to protest that what they did was wrong which is not allowed in politics.