Mr. Sina Kawonise is the Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief of Nigerian Compass Newspaper and former Commissioner for Information during the Otunba Gbenga Daniel administration in Ogun State. Fielding questions recently from our Lagos Bureau Chief, Azubuike Nnadozie and Correspondent Wale Elegbede, the man popularly addressed as SK, speaks on the build-up to 2015 gubernatorial election in Ogun State, his intention to run against the incumbent governor, his impression on the affairs of the state, his relationship with OGD, among other salient issues.
The scale of insecurity in the country has been directly linked with the rate of unemployment in our society. How do you think government can tackle this joblessness issue especially as it affects the youths?
To start with, I must commend the Federal Government under the headship of President Goodluck Jonathan for paying some attention to the issue of unemployment. As we have said, there is an organic link and not an indirect link between unemployment and insecurity because an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. I am commending the President because when the federal government effected the partial subsidy removal, they said the money from that will be ploughed into what is called SURE-P. I can tell you that in Ogun State where I live, no fewer than 2,000 of our people were engaged with some stipends. To some of us, the money they were being paid may look so small but for the beneficiaries, it is not. Don’t forget that this is being replicated throughout the country; it is a major intervention programme and I commend the federal government for doing that. However, the conceptual error I see in that is that it is still a form of handout for our people. As the Chinese proverb says, give a man a fish, he will eat for today but teach him how to fish, you will feed him forever. The key to the challenge of our unemployment in this country is to empower our people to be productively engaged, self-employment. When you provide the wherewithal for one person to be productively engaged, he is employed and also engages one or two other people. The multiplier effect of that is huge. We have 36 states in the country; let us say the federal government is giving 3,000 jobs, that is just about 100,000 jobs. But if we find a way of creating micro credit, even one state has the potential of generating thousands of jobs. The employment that government needs to provide must not necessarily be in the public sector but in the private, informal sector because that has a huge potential. Also, we have seen a lot movement in terms of micro-economic growth in our economy but the developments is not translating to human capital development per se. The growth areas we can see are in the oil sector, IGR and others, but that must translate into macro-economic empowerment of our people. So, we need to get the policy and focus right and that is to provide micro-credit through the organisation that the masses run like the cooperative societies. Where these societies are weak, government should consciously strengthen them because that is one creditable means of reaching the people in a very profound manner. Once this is done, it is a pass on agriculture, small scale and other informal activities.
Do you think the state governments are complimenting these employment generation efforts in their states?
I’ve worked with a few state governments very closely but the one that I can talk about is the Ogun State government at least in the past 11 years or thereabout. The Otunba Gbenga Daniel administration came in 2003 and changed the face of the state in terms of employment generation. By the time we were leaving government in 2011, the unemployment figure in terms of percentage that we met that was about 15 percent, came down to 8.5 percent, while the national average was 19.5 percent. You will want to ask how the OGD administration did it. Firstly, the administration established what we called OGEGEP, which was to provide employment for graduates. Through the agency, the Ogun state government at that time provided not less than 50,000 jobs in direct employment. These people were not only equipped in skill acquisition, they were also given a start-up capital through Ogun State Agriculture and Multipurpose Credit Agency. The low unemployment figure that we had in Ogun state at that time was not anything magical or by accident. It came about through deliberate policies by that government. If you ask me, that is what is missing from many state governments. It has only gotten worse now in Ogun state because the government in power now does not understand the importance of human capital development. The government has been busy building a lot of grossly inflated infrastructure and the infrastructure is even only road. I can tell you aspects of infrastructure like 20 that any government must do simultaneously. Even the total numbers of roads in terms of kilometers that they have expended, the Governor said on July 5 when the President came down to flag off the Lagos-Ibadan expressway construction, and I am quoting the Governor, he said his administration had spent N200 billion working on federal government roads and we went back to cumulate all the roads he claimed to have done and they were barely 100 kilometers of roads, when even the state roads in Ogun state is pegged at 2,545 kilometers and you have spentN200 billion on just 100 kilometers. Doing all of these is neglecting the welfare of the people of Ogun State. So, it is because the policies are not right that we are having this high number of unemployment.
There is this insinuation that the present government in Ogun state is trying to replicate the policies of Lagos state?
Quite unfortunately, Ogun state does not really have anything to copy from Lagos. But as it is today, both Ogun and Lagos are under one party and this is a party that does the same thing in all its states. So, what is happening in Ogun state was copied from Lagos state; very expensive, few infrastructure projects that have no bearing on the welfare of the people. So, it is still the same model and template that they are running. I can assure you that the Ogun State that we are going to run by the grace of God from 2015 has nothing to learn from Lagos as presently constituted because the difference between Amosun and Fashola, is the difference between six and half-a-dozen. The ruling party in the south west called themselves progressives but they are not people centered in any significant way. The issue here is how do we make sure that this infrastructure gets to the people in an equitable, even manner. I always say it that one of the things that I will do by the grace of God when we will constitute government in 2015 is to create what we called ward development councils. We will take a proportion, that is a percentage of our IGR and give it to them in a statutory manner, we have 236 wards in Ogun state. As we speak, Ogun state government is collecting N4billion monthly as IGR, if you take out say 20 percent from that, and it is growing anyway, you have taken about N5m with a matching grant from local governments into the hands of each wards. If these wards have that on a monthly basis, some problems would be naturally solved. It is possible for us to get development in an even manner when we get the methods right.
What political pedigree or structure do you have to become the governor of Ogun State in 2015 or is SK hoping to ride on OGD’s back?
When Sylva became the governor of Bayelsa state, he was 41 years. Yerima, who is now a second-term Senator after spending two-terms as governor was 36 when he became the governor of Zamfara state. SK is 51 and you are saying he has to mount on somebody’s back to become the governor of Ogun state. What is the antecedent of this SK we are even talking about? I put my CV at the back of my blueprint and that shows where I am coming from. I’ve been Commissioner in Ogun state and I’ve been a member of the governing council of a University. In terms of public service experience, very few of those who are governors now had what I have now in terms of credential. Oshiomole was coming straight from the labour movement and he became governor. Never any government appointment, no experience in the public service and he is doing wonders, at least the only possible exception to the progressive states. So, what is this talk about SK not having experience and must be climbing on somebody’s back. With all sense of modesty, very few of these governors I have mentioned had the kind of attainment in terms credentials I currently parade and they are governors today. Is it Okorocha? He has done well in business and I have done well in business too by the grace of God. My campaign is even being funded from my own businesses. Nobody is supporting my campaign and we are making a lot of impact. I don’t think who is SK is what we should waste time on. What do you need in terms of structure? Appeal to the people, our votes in the south-west now count. OGD was coming fresh in 2003 without any structure and he took out an incumbent governor. What structure does Ajimobi have before he took out the incumbent governor in Oyo state? So, we have many antecedents and examples to say that rarely there is no point there to say that SK has no structure.
Do you think that your relationship with OGD is an asset and do you have his blessing for 2015?
OGD is my boss and I am not putting that in any past tense or past participle, He is my boss and my relationship with him is an asset because everywhere he goes, people hail him. We served together in government; he was the Governor and I served as a Commissioner under him. Also, in the newspaper that he has interest, I am the Managing Director and Editor-In-Chief of Compass Newspaper where he is the chief promoter and not the owner of the place. I have so many things to learn from him. If you want to be the governor of Ogun State, he has a reserve to tap from and it is to your own advantage and to the benefit of the people that you want to serve. So, we have a very good relationship. However, let me tell you that OGD hates the word, godfather, with a passion. What was his problem with the powers that be in Ogun state, those who believes that they would be the lord of all. He said no, they can’t. OGD was his own man and that is the way he relates with everybody. In terms of our relationship; very good and cordial but OGD as it is now does not have a preferred candidate but he has so many political children. All the lies circulated by the present government have been seen and our people have discerned it. It is clearly written in my manifesto, in fact, the title of my manifesto is mission rekindled. I am rekindling the OGD mission in Ogun State. The government that we would run in 2015 will be an offshoot of the good government that OGD headed and that is well stated in our agenda. I was the spokesperson of that government for some time and I know that the OGD government did very well.
Are you not bothered by agitations from Ogun West for power shift in 2015?
If you are saying power shift, then President Jonathan should not contest in 2015 because some people are saying it’s the turn of the North. Look, Nigeria has gone beyond this issue of power shift. It is the lazy man kind of ideology, if you have something to offer, go and sell yourself because people cannot be limited with such bogey of rotation and shift. Do you know that some people are even canvassing for generational shift? If the youth are able to organise and exert themselves, they will get it. There is also gender shift that some have even said its more fundamental than all these ethnic and zone shift that we are talking about. See, all of these shifts are not part of the best practices in democracies of the world. It is best man for the job. People are saying that they should give the best man that has the idea the reins of power.
What is the confidence of SK for 2015 especially with the expectation that the incumbent governor would contest for a second term?
The people of Ogun state are the ones giving SK the confidence because they are enlightened and they have shown it. It is the confidence that our votes now count. You can’t murky around now with our votes especially with what Jega has done. Our structure lost the election in 2011 and I as the Commissioner for Information issued a statement under 24 hours even when INEC has not formally announced because we realised that the man won the election. We didn’t go to Court because we saw that the votes of the people counted and the man won. So, with the confidence that the vote is going to count in 2015, I know that SK will win. Secondly, with the confidence that this government has not done well and it cannot do well because you cannot give what you don’t have. That governor has no capacity for governance and you can quote me. He has no capacity and he can’t give it. That Governor Ibikunle Amosun became governor at all was because of the crisis in PDP. The people of Ogun State are known for excellence and standard, not the kind of things going on right now. So, I know and live with the people of Ogun state and they are tired of this government. This government lost it during the first six months. There are endless things they are doing against the people; demolition without compensation, taking away jobs when you should be creating jobs, vendetta all over the place, among others. I know for sure that there is no contest and people can see capacity and performance and they are saying give us SK and all will be well in Ogun state.
The Ogun state PDP accused you of biting the finger that fed you when you described the party as dead in the state. What informed such assertion from you?
My father fed me for many years but when he died, we announced that he is dead. You cannot deny the sight of death either someone fed you or not. My father fed me, sent me to school and took care of me but it doesn’t mean that when he now died, I would now say because my father fed me for sometimes, my father didn’t die. If PDP fed me as they are now saying, no problem with that but I shouldn’t be lying to the people that PDP is alive when it is dead. As it is now, PDP in Ogun state is dead and this is without prejudice that it fed me or not. In my last interview, I said it that whereas the PDP at the federal remains the party to beat because APC will not fly owing to the antecedents of the promoters. The worst of the PDP is better than the best of the ACN that is core of the APC now. Probably because of the success that PDP couldn’t manage in the southwest, it has lost it in the zone. PDP will not fly in Ogun state because PDP are self-destruct in Ogun state. So, we are using a new platform that we called the third force. Our people are gathering around the labour party in Ogun state because this PDP in Ogun state is for now dead.