Akeredolu’s critics are cowards, says Adebayo

Kunle Adebayo is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Chairman, Ondo State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC). The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Research and Documentation spoke with DAMISI OJO on the scorecard of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and the mischief of his critics.

 

The Peoples Democractic Party (PDP) has alleged that there is a disconnect between the Akeredolu’s administration and the people. What do you make of this allegation?

The utterances of the PDP and its body language are so bizarre that it cannot convince rational people that it is a serious party.

As we have also seen at the national level, the PDP in Ondo State is still at a loss as to its own misfortune and why the people are interested in the Akeredolu administration. It has lost steam and cannot even run a structured organ to engage in meaningful opposition.

Rather, it employs social media to float lies and peddle rumours on a daily basis to cause disaffection against the government. I have repeatedly joked with my few friends among them that this attempt to de-market Governor Akeredolu in Ondo State will not work because our people are wiser.

Aketi has demonstrated not only physical capability but deep conviction and inner strength of the mind, as well as genuine attention to the pressures and pains of governance.

Shreds of evidence abound that punctures the argument of the opposition.You can see the massive construction, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of roads across the state.

You can also see the major review and deliberate strengthening of the health care structures, as well as the vigour and verve of the multi-sectoral social security schemes. You can see the bold move at industrialisation leading to the creation of functional industrial hubs.

You can see the provision of drinkable water to the rural communities, as well as the efforts at eradicating unemployment through agricultural industrialisation. In the past, under the PDP, such funds were finding their ways into the pockets of a few individuals.

You can feel the joy of the Akoko people, for instance, at being liberated from the forceful occupation of their land by kidnappers, from the scourge of bad roads or death traps and from a dearth of drinkable water, etc. You can see ethical standards and youth confidence gradually returning to our state.

The PDP is disappointed at this. They are afraid. They want a government of looters as usual, of riggers and loquacious persons, of sakamajes and money sharers.

They want a figurehead governor. These accounts for why they have stomach upset and arthritic pains each time they see Governor Akeredolu breaking new grounds.

The people of Ondo have seen Aketi leading his government through thick and thin and showing bodily and emotional strength. The PDP does not know the limits of morality and true service. It must not be taken seriously at all.

The administration has been challenged to state the number of people employed through its initiatives in agriculture and industrialisation, as well as the indices of growth in healthcare services. What’s your reaction to this?

The first of the five-point agenda of the government is job creation through agriculture, entrepreneurship, and industrialisation.

The main focus is to evolve a strategic way to change our orientation from subsistence to mechanised farming and agro-business. The objective was to activate and maximise our agricultural advantage as a state by helping our youths first to believe in themselves and such possibilities and then become growing agriculture entrepreneurs whose main goal is to create wealth.

Aketi believes they can do this by applying themselves to the agro-business chain, employing others and expanding their investment base. I recall that very early in his government, he   commissioned a physical registration of all medium and large scale farmers in the state, as well as the mapping of the location of each farmer’s plantation, using Geographic Information System (GIS).

This preliminary work provided precise information essential for proper planning and solution application.  Today, in Ondo State alone, our vast forest wood material is being converted into the manufacture of the High-Density Fibreboard (HDF) or hardboard and the Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF), which is the best plywood in the country.

Through the sericulture project, wool fabrics of various kinds are being manufactured for the production of fabrics like ankara, lace, guinea brocade and even lawyers wig.

This is going on locally to the satisfaction of best standards. The biggest factory that converts cassava to ethanol in Africa is being constructed in the state at present. According to studies, the entire current production of cassava farmers in Ondo State accounts for no less than 20 per cent of the raw material inputs for the factory’s needs.

On cocoa production, is it not a thing of joy that Ondo State has bounced back to the top as the highest cocoa producer in Nigeria?  Also, in the last one year, arrangements have been in topmost gear to commence the construction of the world’s biggest factory that converts eggs into powdered form for local consumption and export, in Emure-Ile.

These and many more are concrete indicators of motion with movements in the state.

So, how do these alleviate poverty and create much-needed jobs?

If you have been following me carefully, all I have been saying is that the three factors of production — capital, land, and labour – have been judiciously utilised. While Akeredolu’s expansive contacts and travels far and wide have brought foreign and local investors to provide the capital, the state has provided the land and labour.

So, in the entire production chain, the state and local owners of plantations have been providing the raw materials and the workforce, while the investors own the processing factories.

The distribution and retail end are owned by Nigerians, particularly our own people again. In all, you could see employment and wealth making opportunities for our people permeating.

This is because as raw material needs for the factories expand, so are more people employed in the plantations, and so are much more employed both directly and indirectly to work the processing factories.

Read Also: Rift between Akeredolu and I normal, says deputy governor

 

Same goes for distribution and retail ends and the rest of the chain. The multiple expansion of this process is the Aketi vision which will account for the state’s unstoppable economic trajectory.

Now, do you think the opposition has the patience, knowledge, care, passion, and understanding of development matters like this? The difference between the opposition and Akeredolu is that while the opposition pays lip service to society by mouthing names and policies it never understands nor believes in, Akeredolu understands development and is working the dynamics to activate it and nurture it towards the economic prosperity of the state.

Let me tell you, some of these bold and sometimes challenging moves have gestation and delivery periods well beyond even the tenure of the administration.

Sometimes, to change the fortunes of a beleaguered society into prosperity, you need a leader who thinks beyond politics and election. I am convinced it is this aspect of Akeredolu that critics are finding difficult to comprehend.

Are you not worried that many of these achievements are not realistic because they are more on paper?

I do not agree that they are merely on paper. This is simply because they are not.  The industrial hub, located on Ore-Sagamu Expressway tells the story.

The over 730 motorised rural borehole tells the story. The Molege rural community road is there, the Olukayode dual carriage road, the Ijoka, and Oda dual carriages, as well as the Oke Aro, Oke Ogba, Iyange, Iwalewa 1, 2, 3 and Gaga roads among others in Akure are there.

Others are the Oke Alabojuto, Lennon Jubilee, and Ikare township road, the Owo township roads, the Igbara-Oke – Ibuji road, Ifon Township roads, the Ore overhead bridge among many others.

They are all there for the eyes to see. The state industrial hub is home to a cluster of industries with shared facilities and opportunities.

If you go there, you will see among others, Weewood Industry facilities owned by Chinese investors. The machinery and the production space are there for the eyes to see.

It is also alleged that Governor Akeredolu has neglected the health sector. What is your reaction to this?

There is no doubt that the last administration did some pioneering and laudable work on health care. As the Secretary of the Strategic Development and Policy Planning Group, I know that the focus of Akeredolu administration is to create and sustain a seamless flow of capacity building and capacity utilisation of healthcare applications from primary to tertiary levels.

This ambitious plan has led to the establishment of a teaching hospital through the upgrading of the specialist hospital in Akure, to ensure correct facilities and quality training and deployment of our health practitioners.

I know that all the basic health centres in all the 203 wards are receiving remedial attention, while each of the abandoned comprehensive health centres meant as local referral centres and located in each of the nine federal constituencies is being reactivated for service.

These are products of extensive debates, clear thoughts, and foresight by the Governor of Ondo State. To make service truly affordable and accessible, the governor established by law and deed, the state contributory health insurance scheme which ensures that access is without tears.

As we speak, over one billion naira worth of drugs and medical equipment are on sea inbound for our health facilities in Ondo State, while the continuous employment of medical workers is ongoing.

The laudable Mother and Child Hospitals which are referral centres for pregnant women is being expanded from three to six in number. These are just a few among many others.

There is a wave of opposition against the governor from within the ruling party. Recently, former Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi came out with comments that portrayed Governor Akeredolu as arrogant, insensitive, and a failure. What is your comment on this?

I have said it times without number that those who have been privileged to occupy public office in the past, even if they are now expired, as it is in this case, must not be ungrateful to God and the people of Ondo State.

This is because deeds live after men. Now, everyone in the last 20 years or so who knows history will understand Chief Olanusi’s politics. My personal opinion is that men like him prefer to centre governance around themselves and at their behest only.

The basis of their support for any governor is to hold him captive under the influence of a clique organised by them. The strategy is to turn themselves into shrines at where any incumbent must worship and take instructions.

The truth is that Baba’s concept and understanding of leadership, service, and development is forlorn and alien to growth and prosperity.

This accounted for his disagreement with and eventual subversion of former Governor Olusegun Agagu under whom he was party chairman, same accounted for his unfortunate and disgraceful ouster from former Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s government.

There is no extent that men like this won’t go to find relevance and control but their weakness is that while the dynamics of leadership have changed, they have not.