May 01, (THEWILL) – The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ekiti State, Dr Wole Oluyede, speaks with AYO ESAN about his agenda for the state, if elected. Excerpts:
Why are you in the governorship race and what do you plan to do differently if given the mandate to govern Ekiti State?
It amuses me most of the time when I am confronted with this kind of question. This is because, even in some private moments, I do ask myself the question. It is so unfortunate that governance has been so much bastardised in this clime to an extent that many have lost focus of what leadership is really about. In actual sense, governance should mean offering selfless service to the people.
The electorate choose who they think should lead them to prosperity and healthy living. The person so chosen ought to see himself or herself as a servant given a rare privilege to lead. He or she should therefore be seen to be leading well. In elementary government, there are checks and balances to call people in government to order or sack them, as the case may be, if found wanting in their assigned responsibilities. Unfortunately, things have gone haywire and we no longer have it as it is supposed to be. Our elected leaders now don the toga of terror and become unreachable the moment they assumed office.
So, to us as a government, it will not be about being the governor. Being governor is not the issue here. The issue is to use governance as an opportunity to channel power to the right course. The whole essence of governance is to improve the lives of the people. It is about bringing to table the essential things that will improve the living standard of the people.
Looking at what is happening today, one will see that those who have been governing the country have not really done anything in the area of improving the living standard. We have a situation where the government, over the years, has relied solely on the federal allocation of N3 billion a month to cater for a population of 2.5 million citizens. Calculating what we receive as allocation per head will give about N1, 360.00 per head. Unfortunately, the government is not thinking of how to move out of this chain of perpetual reliance on federal allocation to self-reliance. This is one of the scourges our government is coming to correct.
How will you achieve that?
First, our people must be made to realise that Ekiti State is poor. We should also make them to understand that the thing called federal allocation is evil in a sense that it is another person’s sweat. Eating other people’s sweat is an abomination in the sight of God. At the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve did what was an abomination before God, He pronounced to Adam that he shall eat from his sweat. Tapping from what we don’t labour for is what the Muslim call ‘Haram,’ which is evil. So, my government is going to de-emphasise federal allocation and work on creating wealth among our people, through hard work and dedication. We need to start following the law of prosperity in Ekiti State. Nobody gets free money and prosper genuinely with it. Man is made to eat from his sweat; we don’t commit anything to the federal allocation that we have made our mainstay.
Do you think this is possible in four years?
Oh yes, it is doable in less than four years. It is all about leading by example and setting the records straight. Our fore-fathers have fought poverty and illiteracy before now. With money generated from cocoa plantations, we have built Cocoa House, established the first television station in Africa, bequeathed quality education to children and youth of that time through schools built by individuals and community efforts. So, why won’t it be doable now? We are coming to set the right template and lead our people back to their place of destiny by showing exemplary leadership examples.
Sometimes the governor has so many responsibilities that he is distracted from some of these things?
And why should the state government choke itself with responsibilities that do not concern it? Why should the state government lord over the local government councils and still complain of being choked? You see, these are some of the things we are going to correct. In bringing governance closer to the people, there is the urgent need for the local councils to be autonomous. Government should let their funds go to them directly. By doing this, you get rid of unnecessary burden, development will spread faster in the grassroots and the people will be happy. All we need, as a people, is a dedicated, visionary leader to fix Ekiti State and the people will be happy again.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
