Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Air Force, and Ogun State governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the April 11 elections, Akin Odunsi, in this interview with Assistant Editor (South West), MUYIWA OLALEYE, speaks on the problem with the disciples of the late Obafemi Awolowo, and his efforts at impacting on his Ogun West Senatorial District, among other issues.
Awolowo disciples in different political parties.
Hope and prayers for Nigeria
My hope for a better Nigeria is to have a leader that will have the fear of God; a leader that will listen to the yearnings of the people; a president that understands how to address many issues confronting Nigeria, least of it all, a president that will eradicate corruption in Nigeria. Nigeria has immense potential to be great. I hope this country is going to be great provided we bury our individual selfish ambitions to build a better Nigeria.
Skirmishes in Ogun West
I have always being trying my best to make sure I protect the people in my community. Some incidents that usually occur have been so unfortunate they occur between Oju-Ore and Idiroko. At the last count, there were about 36 check-points of Customs, Immigrations, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) or police within a distance of about 39 miles or 30 kilometres. I have called the attention of the law enforcement agencies to some of the incessant skirmishes that happen when Customs or Immigration people, in their search for smugglers, go into town to raid. There was an incident where some young people were killed. I wrote a letter to the king of the affected town to express my sympathy. But by the time I brought the motion on the floor of the House, the Customs and Immigration people had gone to apologise and declared that they were stepping into the matter. So, it is not as if we are folding our arms.
Reconstructing the collapsed bridge linking Ogun and Lagos at Odo Pako in Ota
Yes, the bridge is a major link that leads people into Lagos State from Ogun State in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, and this project was in my community project that I put in the appropriation for last year.
Unfortunately, because the figures that were allocated were not big enough, the Ministry of Works felt it couldn’t do anything with that small budget. I heard that two similar projects, almost about the same cost, should be put together and used for one similar bridge. I am still trying to see what I can do, but now there is an emergency for that road. So, we need to do something very urgent to make that road passable.
Local government being responsible for the reconstruction
I don’t really know how much financial clout the local government has to embark on the project. But, of course, I will still call the attention of the local government chairman to the issue and maybe the state government may want to come in on this. It is a major road.
Agitation for financial autonomy by local councils
To be sincere with you, we all know that local governments in Nigeria are not financially capable. As an interested grassroots person, I believe that the local government needs to be better funded. Whether that funding is going to come direct from the federal government or through the current state-local government joint account, the local government must be properly funded. The local governments are poorly funded. They just get enough to pay salaries. That is, if they can even pay salaries.
That is not good enough. I don’t want to know whether it is joint account that should be scrapped or whether the state governments would actually wake up and fund the local governments. I believe that local governments require to be better funded because they are not being properly funded right now.
Many of us believe that local governments should have their own autonomy, and granting independence to the local government should also require direct funding from the federal government. There are several arguments that asking for direct funding of the local government is going to cause some controversy, which I don’t understand.
Impacting on Ogun West
What I am doing in my senatorial district is mere intervention. I am not the state or local governments, but because some of the projects that need to be attended to are within my senatorial district, I look at some areas I can intervene and then intervene. I have renovated so many schools within my senatorial district. I have also worked on many other projects. There are many ongoing projects in my senatorial district that are facilitated by me and I hope to commission them before June. The state government has its own duty to do and I am sure it is trying. The local government too, if they have fund, will do well. So, it has to be collaborative efforts from all sides.
Programme for rural dwellers
My senatorial district is basically rural and agrarian, but we have issues. One of the issues that is very pronounced is youth unemployment. The number of graduates and school-leavers who are out there jobless is incredible. You won’t believe that the number of applications and curriculum vitae that I have in my offices are too many. You cannot ignore the army of unemployed youths; therefore, you have to put them top on your agenda. We are looking at making some of the unemployed youth entrepreneurs, so that they are not all looking for 9am to 5pm jobs all the time. That is ongoing. Some of them are going into skill acquisition programmes. My primary goal is to empower some of our young ones. If I manage in reducing that number, I would have achieved something worthwhile.
On the issue of farming, in my last empowerment programme, I empowered farmers in rural areas with all kinds of farming equipment. We must all know that farming can be modernised, and for that purpose I have a bill pending in the National Assembly, which is going to address the issue of farm and farm settlement. That bill has passed through the first reading and it is coming through its second reading. I hope if that one goes through, my senatorial district and other senatorial districts in the country could benefit from that project. I will need the cooperation of other senators to support that bill because it is going to bring us back to what the late Premier of Western Region, Awolowo, had in mind when he set up some farm settlements.
I think if we are able to get that dream through, it will change the landscape of agriculture. I also know that the Minister of Agriculture, through some of his programmes, is also trying to improve on farming across the country. The impact of that effort has, however, not been felt in my senatorial district.