Chief Sarafa Tunji Isola started off in politics as Chairman, Abeokuta North Local Government in 1998. In 1999, Dr. Jubril Martins-Kuye, a Minister of State for Finance, made him his special assistant. He moved up the political leader when former Governor Gbenga Daniel made him Secretary to Ogun State Government, SSG, during his first tenure in office.
He says, in this interview, that unlike the PDP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, is a one man party, saying the APC government in the state is spending its last few months in office because” development is not all about expansion of roads.
Why do you want to be governor?
The reason I want to be governor is because I believe I can make more positive contributions and perform better than the present governor. This is simple. It is about having the right skills. Having being elected the Chairman at the local government level, having had the opportunity of being the SSG under Otunba Gbenga Daniel during which I learnt the nitty-gritty of governance,having also been special assistant to the Minister of State for Finance where I had the opportunity of understanding the workings of public finance and eventually as chief executive of Ministry of Mines and Steel, my experiences are quite unique. With that, I believe I can do better than the present governor of Ogun State.
What is he doing now you think you can do differently and better?
The government concentrates on road expansion and building of over-head bridges. The issue of cost is something else entirely. Let’s assume, for the purpose of this interview, that the governor is expanding roads and building over-head bridges. The issue of performance of any government relates to human index, that is, how are the people of Ogun faring before you took over and now. Go to markets, motor parks; talk to the civil servants and to the masses of our people. You can ask questions randomly whether their lives are better in the last three years. The Constitution of Nigeria, Section 14.2 did say that the primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people. And basic economics tells us that the basic necessities of life are food, clothing and shelter. If the people are not empowered to be able to achieve this, do you now say the government is performing? And when you look at human index, you talk of the state of our health care facilities. Visit the General Hospitals in Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu, Ota and Ilaro, and you will come to a conclusion as to whether our people are being provided good health care delivery. Not many people will ply the road but a lot of people will get sick. So provision of health care should take priority over road expansion. On education, you cannot say the Amosun administration is getting it right. Do not listen to the propaganda going on, just go to some of our secondary schools and you will find that they are not habitable. If you go to the area of agriculture, I think emphasis should be on rural roads so that farmers can evacuate their produce to the market. As we speak, government has not made any effort to increase productivity in agriculture. Don’t forget that the peasant farmers still account for the majority of the food we consume in this country. Most of the produce consumed in Ogun as I talk to you comes from outside the state. We get yam from Gboko, tomato from Sokoto. What deliberate agricultural policy has been put in place to stimulate agricultural production so that food can be more available to the people of Ogun State? All these are indices of performance, not expansion of roads or building of over head bridges.
So the roads not have economic values.
Tell me what economic value Totoro, Shokori Kuid Ibara Road, commissioned in the last two years. The roads that contribute to economic development are those ones that lead to industrial areas, rural areas so that they can stimulate production. The roads here are more of aesthetics. I am not aware of people expanding roads doing six lanes in residential areas. Go and check the police diary and see the accident rate on the roads. To curb accident, they now put bumps.
To reduce the rate of accident obviously
Why did you expand the roads? Roads are expanded based on traffic situation. In Abeokuta, you only have traffic in few places. I am not aware of any traffic between Shokori and Ibara. Even the over head bridge done at Ibara round-about, the realignment was wrong, the realignment should have been from Panseke to Ibara not from Oke-Ilewo to Toloro-Shokori. The priority should be things that touch the people. Health, yes, because people will get sick. Education, yes, people must be educated. And to add to the problem, the roads being constructed are done with loans.
Anything wrong in borrowing for development?
There is nothing bad in borrowing for development. As a matter of fact, there is no way you can do that without borrowing. But two principles of borrowing are missing in the Ogun loan case. How do you ensure that the roads generate repayment? Tell me what economic activities would emanate from these roads that would generate repayment. The second principle is the ability to collaterize for the loan. Don’t forget that the loans being taken are depositors fund, it belongs to some people. So how do you collaterize the roads by putting barriers on them? For example, I have the intention of building six industrial districts in the state. The roads leading to the industrial districts would be built; power would be evacuated to the districts. It will now be cut into plots. You can borrow money to do that, because while industrial outfits will now come and buy the plots at highly subsidized rates because they are already serviced plot, you use that money to repay. That is good economic sense, not borrowing to build roads. The kind of roads are usually found in developed countries and usually tolled. The issue that must be germane to any government is the welfare of its people. Baba Awolowo, when he spoke to Leaders of Thought in Ibadan in 1967, said the primary purpose of government should be the welfare of the people. He went further to say that he used welfare to denote the physical, spiritual and mental well-being of the people and that is the index of measuring the performance of any government.
How do you hope to uproot the APC government, one many people believe is a performing one, in the coming guber election?
You are from Lagos and you are telling us a government is performing here. It is the people of Ogun State, the registered voters that will determine whether a government is performing or they want a regime change. Ogun people are highly sophisticated and they displayed that in the 2011 general elections. They voted for the then ACN during the National Assembly elections and, the following week, they voted for Jonathan, the PDP, without mixing it up. I can tell you that in 2015, it is going to be more of the person and the capacity of that person to govern that the people will vote for, rather than the party. Gone are those days when people give blind loyalty to party. And my policy is not that of do or die because I have a second address. I will present myself to the people of Ogun and leave them to take their decision which is their constitutional right.
You talk about your party taking power from the APC which is not only ruling but more united than the PDP, hope this is not pure imagination.
I have told you that what will matter most in Ogun State next year would be more of personality than the party. You and I know that the APC in Ogun State is in disarray.
How?
Of course, we are all aware that the people of Ogun State did not vote for APC, they voted for ACN. This is what many people never realized. APC will be going for election for the first time in February. APC has not been tested. It was tested in Ekiti-State and you said how they lost. The people of Ekiti said we voted for ACN, we are not going to vote for APC. But for anybody to assume that the votes given to ACN then would be repeated for APC, the person is living under grandeur illusion. APC is a new party in Ogun State. It has not been tested. It has not gone through an election.
Is that why it is in disarray.
- Of course, it is in disarray because the people that originally started the party, the three senators, virtually all members of House of Representatives, majority of the House of Assembly members are at logger heads with the governor because he is running a one man-show. APC is a one man party. It is a common knowledge that the original members of APC where sidelined and taken over by the members of the former ANPP. Common, you know what I am talking about. You know very well that the ACN the people Ogun State voted for is already in disarray and the APC as constituted in Ogun State is just a SIA group. it is not a party, it is just a one man show. Election is around the comer, we shall all witness what will happen. There is no the people of Ogun would subscribe to the wishes of one man because this government has not performed because their lives aren’t better than the way it was. I can tell you that the government will be voted out in February. Mark any word; we would all live to see.
If for whatever reason you are not chosen as candidate of your party, what next.
You should know that I am a democrat. If you offer yourself for service, there should not be any problem if and when you are not picked as your party’s candidate. Election is just a process. If I am not picked, I will congratulate the winner, work for him and let the people of Ogun decide who they want as their governor. It has happened to me in the past, I contested for the chairmanship of my local government, I lost, I wrote a congratulatory letter and personally delivered it to him, engineer Oniyitan of blessed memory and passed some ideas I thought could be useful to him.
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