Governor Mimiko's Legacy Are About To Be Written

Governor Mimiko's legacies are about to be written. 

To me, Governor's Mimiko's enduring legacies will be written in the next twelve months.

It may be legacies that automatically entitles him to another four years at Alagbaka as Chief Executive, or it may promise a roller-coaster ride that will be rough for him, by the cheer shenanigans of so-called political forces that are aligning against his own.

But the central problem facing Governor Mimiko's tenure will not be that of the political forces. The people of Ondo state are no fools as they have proven time and time again. They know how and when to separate chaff from the real deal.

The problem of governor Mimiko will be himself.

Already, on the official website of the Ondo state government (which reads more or less like OSRC in its glowing sycophancy ), a so-called Iroko 2013 group has already proclaimed Mimiko's achievements as unprecedented in Ondo state. With the report (http://yrn.me/at1r7) you can immediately sense what Mimiko's innermost circle of men are telling him..

Word to the effect that "the only former governor that could be compared to Mimiko in terms of performance was the late Adekunle Ajasin" is quite frankly nonsensical. To think such is being published on the state's official website is unnerving to the appropriately informed mind.

It is nonsensical because, it exposes a frightening misunderstanding on the pact, impact and visionary leadership that the era of Pa Ajasin represents in the political history of Ondo state.

It only takes living in Ondo state to recognise that the state, right from Alagbaka through to Ogbese, to Ibule is a living portrait of stagnation. The quotient of development that is in Ondo state is exactly at the level Pa Ajasin's leadership class of glorious yesteryears left it.

If the people milling around Governor Mimiko and the people responsible for the official website, do not realise that you cannot be the student, be the judge and then be the writer of history all at once, then Alagbaka is in serious trouble.

Here are few simple but telling realities:

Today, If you write an official letter today for-the-attention of governor Mimiko, there are no guarantees you would have any response, nor acknowledgements. What exactly therefore, are the responsibilities of the hundreds of men who mill around the governor day and night?

What guarantees you will receive any response, let alone positive treatment were you to write an official letter to someone in a ministry somewhere? And there are at least twenty three government ministries in Ondo state.

During the era of Pa Ajasin as I learn, it is standard procedure just as it is elsewhere in the world where governance is not about smokescreens, to expect a reply back if you write any letter to any department of state.
As a matter of fact, most government department have minimum service-level-assurances on how quickly they will deal with your correspondence. And you are pretty much entitled to sue if they fail on such service levels assurances.

It is not open to debate further therefore the quality of the leadership that obtains at Alagbaka if official letters, from citizens do not get the appropriate degree of treatment, starting with a due and diligently dispatched response.

Governor Mimiko’s premiership is more than three years old. It beggars the question, how hard can it be to reform the civil service?

Two, there is a feeling that Alagbaka has substituted the launching, or as as they say commissioning of project X and project Y for the notion of development in itself.

To think that a government that cannot connect the dots, and link the chains of interdependent growth in all sectors of her immediate society that actually drive development - true development, is letting herself be compared to the other ones, is quite frankly tragic. It’s bizarre.

Last year, governor Mimiko announced that a 'dome' building project is to be completed to the tune of N1.5B on 34 hectares of land somewhere in Akure. The governor added the project will be completed in five months at the time. (http://yrn.me/8ywh1). It should be time someone asked, where is the dome ?

And in the wider scheme of things, how much sense is it to invest N1.5B in a construction job where most of the raw materials are likely to be imported?

Alagbaka perennially organises one conference or the other in relentless and constant search for the economic blueprint of the state but there are no extractive industries in the state that may reduce the extreme unemployment in the land. Oluwa glass Company remains a proposition of seemingly distant history; And Governor Mimiko's people are busy trumping him as the next best thing since Pa Ajasin?

Such delusion!

Perhaps more importantly, why is it inherently hard for the trappings of power in Ondo state - post the golden years of Pa Ajasin, to understand that Ondo state's strongest and most potent assets lies in the vast agricultural bases that underline the state's underbelly and apply more and focused mental thought towards redefining the enterprise and economic model of the state, based on these assets?

To me, it’s either insincerity, laziness or a combination of both. But Ondo state people will always figure that out. And in the case of Governor Mimiko, it will be soon enough.

Take the Gani Fawehinmi’s diagnostic centre [GFDC] inaugurated after a whopping 750Milliion Naira had been expended (http://yrn.me/i4b1y). Now, you cannot speak of Chief Fawenhimi without immediately transporting your brain cortex to the realms of extraordinary and greatest reverence. As such, whatever Ondo state chose to invest in his honour can only be ever so little.

At the commissioning of the centre in February, the Governor stated “This centre parades state of the art diagnostic equipment that can diagnose diseases of unimaginable kind and unbelievable accuracy because first class expertise has been deployed from design to operations”. You can only forgive the pomposity, if not scam of those words. Governor Mimiko is a well-trained medical doctor. There is no such thing as unimaginable disease and he knows it.

However, the real pertinent question is, what has the governor and his people at Alagbaka done in the last few months to ensure that the first-class expertise so deployed from design to operations in the construction of that facility, can replicate itself?

What are the governor’s development plan, for a new, perhaps University Teaching Hospital in Ondo state?
How are the ministries of Health to coordinate the potential for duplication of responsibilities between the GFDC and the rather disgraceful Ondo state central hospital?

The logical questions are limitless.

Development, the health and fate of the people is not a function of the number of mega schools or hospitals that you ostensibly build in itself. What it takes to develop the mind, soul and body of the people is much more than physical structures and the governor knows this.

Despite, having invested billions of Naira on a new healthcare centre, there is no doubt in my mind that if you ask my grandmother to compare the state of healthcare in Akure today, to what she experienced in 1980 – just her general perception - there can be only one winner. In 1980, I was not even in existence…

If you cannot begin to see the problems facing the people of Ondo state, from a holistic angle, and put the machinery of state towards constantly finding a way to solve them, day and night, then it would soon be immaterial the number of pages on the world-wide-web that you or your agent proclaim you as towering with the best of the past.

And in time, you would start to see intellectual jokers as Jimoh Ibrahim and his current PDP fool-mates as credible ‘opposition’ to your second term ambition.

The colour and nature of Governor Mimiko’s legacy, would depend on how well he is able to seize the urgency of now, to rediscover his mission and billing at Alagbaka.

He probably needs to decongest his office and mental space from the myriads of sycophants that surround and delude him daily.

There can be little doubt that he would like to gain a second term as the chief executive of Ondo state.

All he needs to do, between now and the next Gubernatorial election in Ondo state is discountenance the most of his team, most definitely disband the groupings comparing him to Ajasin, and focus on having a full return-on-investment on all those mushrooming projects that he has invested a lot of Ondo state’ petrodollars on. He surely can do more to redefine the concept of service delivery in his government’s civil service. This is so central to the successes, or otherwise of governance that it is key. People talk about Governor Fashola’s brilliance in Lagos – and I am yet to see it, but there is little contention in most quarters whatever trappings of positive impact Fashola’s government offers in Lagos can only be due to some of the structural organisation Mr. Bola Tinubu’s premiership facilitated previously.

The politics of Ondo state is one of the easiest to participate in Southwest Nigeria; Yet it is one that can be easily misunderstood: Act in the people’s greatest interests, and be seen to be so acting, and they will troop in time to validate your entitlement to continue. It took late Governor Adeferati of then AD a lot of years, actually twenty-four hours to the guber elections in 2003, to realise that the people of Ondo state, do not mind to excise so called Awoists, in favour of the sons-and-daughter of Obasanjoism, if they have to go that far to prove they are no fools when contemplating the central management of their affairs. It was too late.

The governor may need to revisit his history books on just exactly why Ondo state ‘boiled’ in the defence of Pa Adekunle Ajasin’s mandate in 1983.

And when he so does, one can only hope he actually takes the lessons therein to heart. He will need a radical change of problem-definition-and-problem-onslaught. And above all, he needs to get the people around him to work for Ondo state, and no more.

Time is already running out and the preamble pages in Governor Mimiko’s legacy sheets are dangerously pointing to nothing but a colossal whitewash…

Posted via email from allondostate's posterous

Mrs. Mimiko's pet project.

"At the occasion, held at Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Square, Igbatoro Road, Akure, the pet project of Mrs Mimiko, tagged: ‘The Maternal Pulse Foundation (MPF), was launched. 

It is a non-governmental organisation set up to access global intellectual asset base, to introduce new methods and techniques into the capacities to care for and save more lives."

There goes the reported launch of Mrs. Mimiko's own Non-governmental Organisation as reported in the Nation Newspaper.

The first question that springs to mind, any critical mind, is what does the bold parts above mean ? What does that actually mean ? 

Isn't that function for the various, already under-worked government Health Ministries and agencies ?

And how will another NGO setup to introduce new methods and techniques into the capacities to care the citizens of Ondo state remotely ?

Sometimes, you get the feeling we actually speak more english than the Oyinbos. More and more of English that gets nothing done.

And speaking of another shiny-new-NGO-in-town, Dr. Obadare of the University of Kansas words in this incisive essay [Pastor Adeboye And The Nigeian State: President Jonathan's Kneeling Intervention] comes to mind:

There is a reason Haiti is referred to as a “Republic of NGOs”. At more than 3,000, the country has the highest number of NGOs per capita in the world; all apparently working really hard to rescue it from its storied poverty. In actual fact, over the past decade, the number of NGOs operating in Haiti has increased every year. Within the same period, the country has become consistently poorer. NGOs many not be the cause of Haiti’s poverty. What is clear is that they are not the solution.

Isn't time the Ondo state government actually start thinking about problems and addressing them at the root ? 

The report goes further to state:

"The programme was attended by Governor Mimiko, his deputy, Alhaji Ali Olanusi and other top government officials."

In serious climes, where the governors understand the potency and value of the trust reposed in them by the governed, this will be nothing but abuse of office.

Unless, of course you are willing to provide evidence that Governor Mimiko and his deputy and other top government officials attend all NGO launch in and within Ondo state. That no doubt, is not only the case, it is impractical.

The Ondo state government has nothing to do with the business, the Non-governmental business of Mrs. Mimiko. Truth be told.

If one is willing to stretch the imagination, there goes another government wuru-wuru business...

Posted via email from allondostate's posterous

FUTA Radio 93.1FM goes on-air.

A new FM radio station has just began live test transmissions from the campus of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. as reported over here in The Vanguard.

According to a bulletin on the FUTA website here, the radio station, on 93.1FM is located at the Senate Building.

Apparently, the station is intended to serve as a means of disseminating the products of research and training of the university according to the University's Vice Chancellor statement. 

Here at allOndostate, we Congratulate the Federal University of Technology, Akure. 

Let us hope this will usher in a new era of prompt and accurate information dissemination in the University environment.

Posted via email from allondostate's posterous

Ondo state official website hacked.

The official website of the Ondo state government (http://www.ondostate.gov.ng/) appears to have been compromised with its newsfeed pages 
defaced with the message: "hacked by brwsk007" prominently injected and displayed.

The defacement has been ongoing at least six hours. 

The reason behind the attack is not immediately clear but it may be that the site was hacked

as a result poorly implemented security on the website's servers.

We are trying to get comments from the Ondo state SITDEC on this development.

Posted via email from allondostate's posterous

Interviews : One On One with Olatunji Ariyomo [L'ght]

Here at allOndostate.com, we will be raising the bar of the intellectual & political debate in Ondo state by our interviews.

We present to you the first in the series: One on One. With Olatunji Ariyomo - the former and pioneer coordinator & Agency Head, Ondo state Information Technology Development Centre (SITDEC).

Mr. Ariyomo is currently the MD, Q7 Engineering Limited

[allondostate.com]

Your Wikipedia page notes correctly your inputs towards the creation of the Ondo state SITDEC. If you were to run SITDEC today, what key areas of improvement would you definitely introduce to the outfit ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

SITDEC is the Ondo State Information Technology Development Centre.

Our administration recognized Information Technology or IT as a powerful tool that could help to accomplish effective political and bureaucratic leadership in governance and the allocation and monitoring of resources.

Today, I think one of the things required is the enactment of the enabling law for SITDEC and its effective transformation into SITDA – the State Information Technology Development Agency. It is the law that will make it in point of fact SITDA. Once this is in place, the organ can become more accountable to the public and can be better scrutinized.

Now, I know this may appear absolutely irrelevant since your question is purely hypothetical, but it is good to state that I would not wish ‘to run SITDEC today’. The reason is simple – aside from my private business, I am more inclined at this time to be part of an opportunity to frontally change the fortune and destiny of this nation in a manner that will affect a greater majority of Nigerians in a way that will be irreversible and irrefutable.

While our states are a good platform to implement several change driven strategic programmes, it is becoming a herculean tasks to sustain positive changes at the state level and showcase them as models for other tiers of government to emulate because our political immaturity revels in wilful policy reversals.

Apart from Lagos State for instance which is also a peculiar example because Tinubu and Fashola have been able to evolve a way to work together despite the serious temptations in favour of hostilities, most states, after change of baton would go back to square one to begin afresh thereby abandoning progress made so far by previous administrations no matter how noble such efforts were.

I have argued before that were SITDEC a national organ, it would have been utterly impossible for our successor in office to secretly abandon the projects that we implemented for the state with tax payers’ money. That is because the audience scope of an organ of government at the national level is wider. For this reason, apart from my private business, I am more inclined to work where the output of my service will be obvious to all and where such can inspire others.

[allondostate.com]

Also, we note that SITDEC has no publicly accessible website, Isn't that a disgrace ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

A publicly accessible website? We cannot call that a disgrace.

It depends on the priority of current handlers of SITDEC. Mind you, when we came on board, the entire Ondo State did not have a website and typewriters were the major tool for word processing in the state.

There was even no SITDEC.

So it was our primary task to put in place that, which never existed for the benefit of a greater number of our people by laying a strong foundation for e-Governance first as pioneers, set up SITDEC, gets the people to understand and appreciate ICT, revolutionize speed of service delivery in the state by reducing time required to complete responsibilities such as enterprise tasks involving state’ human resource management, payments and tax collection administration, eliminate mediocre systems and archaic tools including typewriters and primitive application of technology and generally make the state civil service the most sophisticated in the country. 

Part of the first steps taken was to also create an online government to citizens’ platform, a website and portal system for the entire people and government of Ondo State. That was our primary concern as pioneers.

You may want to say that having passed that initial stage, the current handlers by now should have a personal website for SITDEC. Well, that question can only be answered by them.

[allondostate.com]

On your way towards setting up SITDEC - what was the hardest challenge(s) ? and how did you overcome them ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

The greatest challenge we had while setting up SITDEC was to convince the leadership of the Civil Service that it was necessary.

But once convinced, they became our greatest advocates.

I remembered that the head of the State’s civil service personally led the compliance drive that was authorised by the State Executive Council when Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state were reluctant to accept the automated platform for the administration of salaries and nominal roll that was put in place by SITDEC.

Through such support from civil servants in the state, my team was able to accomplish a reduction in payroll processing time from 26 days to less than 2 hours and reduce time expended on personnel data search and record update from endless and tedious number of weeks of work to less than 10 seconds before we left government.

[allondostate.com]

Gov. Mimiko's government appears to be into spending a lot of cash on certain infrastructure in the last two years, If you were governor, what do you think Alagbaka is building that you won't be building and what would you rather build ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

If I were governor, I would not build a mega school for 1,000 kids within 4km radius. I believe it is sheer punishment for little kids to be subjected to the painful experience of attending schools 4km away from their homes simply because we passed through that same tortuous experience. I believe it is also wrong for a primary school to have a population of 1,000 pupils. I believe it is wrong to assume that the problem with our education lies in the size of our schools; that our kids underperform because they did not attend schools with colossal structures. I believe excellent physical infrastructure is not a function of huge size.

I have seen schools in France, UK, USA and Canada that are designed with excellent physical infrastructure but for optimum numbers of pupils in order to maintain a good pupil:teacher ratio and a good pupil:administrator quotient. If I had the privilege, I would first create a set of policy stipulates that would recognize and enforce school districts and their distances as well as guide both the government and the private sector to build secured and standard gated schools that would accommodate a maximum of 25 pupils per class, a maximum of 2 classes per level coming to a maximum number of 300 pupils in any school at any given time. I agree that some contend that there is no clear correlation between class sizes and pupil performance.

I however support the school of thought that asserts that reducing the number of pupils in classes is one of a range of measures that can help improve the quality and standard of our education. More importantly, there is a need for quality teachers. I would love to have in addition to a standard classroom teacher, a teaching assistant per class so that greater attention can be given to the pedagogic need of an average child in our primary schools.

I also believe that the remuneration of our teachers should reflect their critical contribution to national education and manpower development. To improve the quality of our education, we will need to improve the quality of our teachers and their training because high quality teachers, assisted by dedicated teaching assistants are critical to the foundation of learning that the primary schools represent. Teachers cannot be on strike while we are building mega schools. Won’t mega schools be managed by people? 

I like the market stalls being built by the current government in Alagbaka. I particularly find the one in Isikan to be very beautiful. But I would let the local government authorities build them. Why, you wonder? If I did everything there is to be done, then what role would the tier of government closest to the people play? I mean the local government. If you have been in government, you would agree with me that the average Nigerian governor has an enormous capability to persuade the local government chairmen in his domain to implement projects in the people’s interest.

By so doing, we would have a saving close to N5billion, money purportedly used to build those markets by the state government, and we can utilize that as part of a seed fund to create a modern and well planned central business districts in the 3 senatorial districts of Ondo State starting with the state capital. My idea of a central business district in Akure for instance involves creating a triple carriageway combined with a boulevard scheme on ‘roadblock/Shagari Village/Ado-Ekiti junction’ axis with extensive setback that would accommodate modern walkways and a median that has enough space to accommodate built-in facilities that are aesthetically pleasant.

The middle carriageway would be dedicated to thoroughfare connecting Ibadan with Benin while the side roads will function as service lanes majorly for the district, meaning people who have no business in the district would experience no traffic delay at all. Both sides of the new highway beyond the setback would then be populated with rows of well equipped and modern business centres structured into hubs for various business interests of the people. 

Because of my background in civil and structural engineering, my personal work on the Akure/Ondo road and my personal knowledge of what Ondo State government gets as revenue, I would definitely explore the feasibility of an additional carriageway to connect Akure, Ondo and Ore. If you know what I know of the state’s revenue, you would agree with me that such massive transformation of the state is doable and easy within limited time. Once that is done, the Akure-Ondo-Ore road would become a dual carriageway. I want you to take particular note of my choice of words – that I would build an additional carriageway.

I did not say I would turn the existing one into a dual carriageway because the existing road belongs to the federal government. But there is no law that stops a state government from building a parallel road to an existing one and that is what I would love to do to save the lives of our people and link our cities together. I would also love to actively lobby the federal government to extend the dual carriageway that terminates currently at Iloko Ijesha to pass through Ondo State and link up with Benin while two nodes could branch off to Ekiti State and Ikare via Ado Ekiti and Ikare junctions respectively. Given such a privilege, I would also want to be at the centre of getting the regional governors in the southwest to jointly explore the possibility of introducing networks of railway system to aid people and cargo movement in the southwest.

From my personal experience in government, I can tell you authoritatively that these and many seemingly impossible tasks are all achievable if they are of prime importance or rank higher on the priority list of the man in the driver’s seat. I appreciate the concern of our people to exercise fear and doubt these days because we have become perennial victims of drivers who failed woefully at the simplest tasks or those who got into the saddle but continue to play politics as if the elections are not yet over. While my team was promising to implement certain technology driven reforms in HR management, tax collection automation and the likes, we met people who told us they were impossible.

To God be the glory however, with careful planning and an excellent team, we achieved and surpassed the targets. We were the first to apply biometric scanners to collect over 13,000 workers’ fingerprints with a consistent turnaround time of about 4 minutes. You can appreciate that today if you notice what is ongoing with voters’ registration in this country considering the fact that ours was even about 5 years ago. I remember the computerization we implemented once caught red handed a man that colluded with an official of government to inflate his salary by over N200,000. He was ordinarily entitled to a little above N10,000. I also remember that we caught certain bank officials who were in the habit of withholding state’s funds after tax collection for personal use. Positive changes can happen in this country, if we believe and pursue them with our God given talents, vigour and sincerity.  

[allondostate.com]

With the ongoing redevelopment of one of the capital's major metropolitan road, Arakale Road, what is your general comment on the
implementation of the original Masterplan of the Akure metropolis, given that buildings and structures have evolved in places
that are not in strict adherence to the Masterplan. Is the current physical structure and layout of Akure sustainable ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

Dual carriageways are good and I have heard the argument that the reason Arakale road is being made a dual carriageway is because the traffic on that route is becoming more problematic. Again, this is another issue I would address differently if I was governor because I have seen dual carriageways that still face serious traffic problems – the Oba Adesida road is a good example. While it is simplistic to assume that solutions to traffic problems is to enlarge the roads, you can only come to that conclusion after commissioning appropriate transport analysis and surveys, taking into consideration all routes’ nodal conflicts and competing alternatives with similar measures of effectiveness.

For example, Arakale road, being one of the best road structures in the entire Ekiti, Osun and Ondo States means that we are not facing any immediate challenge of carriageway failures. Arakale road section is 7+30 which makes it a standard road. I am sure you have seen longer stretches of roads in the UK that are not as wide as Arakale road. What I would do would be to transfer every business activity on the entire stretch of Arakale and Isikan, in non-commercial designated places, to the Central Business District on the ‘roadblock/Shagari Village/Ado-Ekiti junction’ axis thereby making the houses on Arakale road purely residential in accordance with the certificates of ownership issued to their owners. Once you eliminate commercial or trading activities on the Arakale/Isikan axis, you would have drastically reduced the effective traffic density on the route. The implication is that government would achieve the same result without spending a dime. Again, the over N6billion allegedly being spent on that road will become an asset that can be utilised to fix the very many roads that are urgently begging for attention in Akure.

I will expect for instance that the ‘roadblock/Shagari Village/Ado-Ekiti junction’ will form a ring with the existing ‘FUTA/Oba-Adesida/Fiwasaye’ while a second outer ring road will encircle the state capital and terminate at Idanre Road. I will also expect that walkways will be added to all carriageways in the town as an acknowledgment of the rights of people who walk. I will expect an upgrade and proper modernisation of the dilapidated Flagship/Oke-Ijebu/Ijomu road. I will expect the upgrade and completion of the Oluwatuyi and Ijoka road as well as the several link roads in the Ijoka axis. If you have being to some places in Akure, you would feel like crying at the state of road infrastructure decay in those places.

Another comment I have on the road is the speed of job delivery. I observed that it took the entire 2009 for the median of the Oba Adesida road, which is approximately 7km to be built while Fiwasaye to Ado-Ekiti junction, a distance of less than 2km has taken about 2 and a half years. It is interesting to note that the construction of the entire length of the Oba Adesida dual carriageway, considered the best carriageway in the whole of Osun, Ekiti and Ondo States took just a little above 1 year when the road was built. My professional seniors like Engr. Akinjo, Engr. James Olusoga and others who worked on that road are still very much alive.

[allondostate.com]

Do you think Ondo state can develop and implement a private power utility company if & when the decentralisation of PHCN goes through ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

Yes. But Ondo State does not need to wait till PHCN is completely unbundled. A state that averagely earns N6 billion per month and in some instances N9billion per month is more than capable to develop its own Independent Power Plants in conjunction with the private sector.

Ondo State earned N7.7billion in January 2010 under governor Mimiko.

The state earned N9.6billion in April 2010 while the least the state got that year was N3.3billion in the month of March which was a rarity. That gives you an idea of the state’s revenue profile and its spending capacity. Since by the Federal Government’s extant position on energy management, it will encourage and provide frameworks and logistic support for such a state that is interested in investing in electricity production or installation of electricity distribution infrastructure, then nothing stops a state like Ondo from getting involved. So, it is an issue of whether the current leadership in Ondo State sees it as an issue of priority. 

For the larger picture of the nation’s electricity however, I commend the federal government for the steps taken so far.

My only concern is that the Federal Government seems to depend upon the unbundling of PHCN as a major thrust of our electricity sufficiency and distribution agenda. While that is okay, I would however have expected it to be merely a by-line instead of being the big deal. I concede that I have not seen the new national policy on electricity generation, transmission, local distribution, management and sustainability. I assumed that there should be such a document.

If there is none, then we are in trouble really. The caution here is to note that the learning curve gained from the successful privatization of the telecommunication sector under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo suggests that privatization performs better when investors apply their own money. We got it right with our telecommunication back then even though the private investors at that time relied on the backbone provided by NITEL for some of their operations. The experiment with NITEL and Pentascope should however be very fresh in our memory. 

Since PHCN has been variously described as having obsolete equipment and ill-staffed, it is expected that private investors would be legally empowered to independently set up their power distribution companies with modern equipment and qualified staff using their own funds while providing them access to the existing distribution backbone in their respective areas on a concessionary basis. In essence government of Nigeria will continue to own the distribution backbone in thrust for the Nigerian people while the serious jobs of its day to day maintenance and management will be competitively outsourced to qualified private sector players for a specific period of time. Also, I would expect that existing energy companies with demonstrable expertise in electricity production like Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco and other similar players who have benefited immensely from the nation's oil wealth would be encouraged via incentives to become active players in electricity production for the country.

[allondostate.com]

if you were to formulate a policy for the government at Alagbaka that will create 10000 jobs within one year, how best will you proceed given what you know of ondo state resources human, natural and your background in Energy engineering?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

For a start, it would be inadequate to project for employment of 10,000 people when the population of Ondo State is 3.4million. But Kolade(our reporter), as experts, if we provide ideas free of charges to government, how are we going to be able to pay our staff, pay the bills and what have you?

[allondostate.com]

What is your assessment of our Local Government Authorities in terms of what governmental impact they offer your community ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

Fact number one, Local Governments in Nigeria are not truly independent tiers of government. Let us adjust our constitution first in a way that the local government can actually be for all practical purposes an autonomous tier of government that is independent of the state and the federal government and that is directly accountable to the people.

Also, let Local Governments’ service delivery philosophy be that there cannot be a reduction in the quality of the service they provide but only a reduction in the quantity or reach because of the size of their scope. When this happens, then we can talk about assessing them.

[allondostate.com]

The open secret on the streets is that you have to be educated abroad to stay any chance of a decent employment in some of the emerging high tech and high paying jobs in Ondo state and in fact Nigeria. This is clearly an indictment of our education policy over the years. What do you think the administrators of Ondo state University Akungba Akoko can do differently in this regard ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

I am not aware of any emerging high tech job opportunities in Ondo State and will therefore not be in the best position to answer that question. I know there are banks in Ondo State. I also know that these banks employ graduates from Nigerian institutions.

[allondostate.com]

There is a general feeling the OSRC has become a permanent underperformer since its glory days during Pa Ajasin's Era. Is this a correct assessment of public broadcasting in ondo state ? and if you were to recommend progressive measures, how is good quality public media to be resuscitated in Ondo state ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

I am not holding brief for OSRC, but I think the station is performing at the level of the challenges she is exposed to – the level of competition she faces. OSRC is still the best TV station in Ondo State. Its broadcast reach is wider than that of the local NTA.

I think the mindset behind your question is really the issue because you are actually comparing OSRC with BBC, CNN and the likes if I am correct. That would be unfair on OSRC of today. A part may find it difficult to be better than a whole.

OSRC is a typical Ondo State outfit that would require a truly vision driven leadership to transform.

If Ondo State itself is superbly transformed today in terms of, the quality of lives and the quality of living of its people, then OSRC and other outfits would naturally get transformed as well.

Year in year out, everybody knows that OSRC is the propaganda tool of the reigning government. All governments are guilty of this. It is a fact.

Staffers of OSRC are civil servants who can be tacitly punished or beaten to line if they try any CNN stunt that does not favour the incumbent government.

In the meantime, what we should look forward to is for more players to emerge from the private sector and set up TV stations in the state. The presence of such competitions that pose direct threat to OSRC’s revenue profile could fire its leadership into rapid innovative action

[allondostate.com]

Do you think revamping the quality of Ondo state's Healthcare system is down to building more hospitals ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

I have tried to emphasise the need for a policy thrust. It is the policy that will determine our healthcare programme and its sustainability. There is no way we would not build more hospitals because relative to our growing population, it is very obvious that the existing facilities can never be adequate. But we must have a policy in place first and how to ensure that policy and programmes are sustainable. It is the policy that will determine the numbers of new hospitals if any, the sizes of such hospitals, the subvention to such hospitals, equipment and the time such must be replaced, personnel and how to ensure the hospitals remain healthcare institutions that give care and comfort to our people. This is beyond sloganeering. It is a serious job.

[allondostate.com]

In what ways of policy do you think Alagbaka can be more impactful ?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

I think we should allow Alagbaka to address that. When it is our turn, we will address that.

[allondostate.com]

You are one of the youngest politicians to work with both the Adefarati & Agagu administrations - what do you consider their respective biggest personal weaknesses?

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

No man is infallible so I will rather talk about their strongest points.

Papa Adebayo Adefarati was very passionate about development. He was a workaholic and an exemplary leader.

My cadre attempted to change the composition of his second term ticket in order to fortify his government for re-election.

We carried him along in all we did. We made him realise that the goal of making Ondo State a reference point for the type of development goals that would increase the quality of life of our people could not be realised with a bunch of lieutenants who were limited in their understanding of the problems.

Chief Sola Ebiseni, Bosede, Oyegoke and others were actively involved.

Our primary concern was an Adefarati ticket that would give hope to our people and that could translate the visions we have seen him espoused to realities in the manners of late Pa. Obafemi Awolowo. The people involved are still alive, hale and hearty.

Unfortunately, some people took advantage of that to strain our relationship. Even back then and till now, I have continued to maintain the facts as I knew it about him, he was a great leader and a straightforward personality.

With regard to Dr. Olusegun Agagu, I will say he is one of the most brilliant people that I have met. Easily able to understand seemingly complicated concepts. He is a very thorough person who is immensely patient. I have seen his passion for a methodical development of the state.

Dr. Agagu also possesses a leadership maturity very uncommon in this clime. I will cite two examples. In 2003 some people lobbied him to relocate the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko from Akungba to either Ikare or Okitipupa arguing that he needed to cut his predecessor to size. His response then was that if he made it his business to cut his predecessor to size by tampering with his legacies, what time would he have to develop the state.

Also, on another occasion, a committee set up by Dr. Agagu hinted at recommending that the new University of Science and Technology be sited in Agagu’s home town of Iju-Odo, but he told them no way.

My regret is that I could not be part of his civil infrastructure development team which I consider my primary area of competence. In retrospect, I strongly believe I would have made a lot of difference and that such a difference could have averted the image crisis our government had in the central senatorial district.

[allondostate.com]

Thank you for your time.

[Olatunji Ariyomo]

You are welcome.

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Spotlight: Introducing Naijatreks

NaijaTreks, is a new, uber-cool but extremely loaded website recently launched by a budding tourism entrepreneur from Ondo state.

Naijatreks offers compelling stories and inspiring poetry – off-the-beaten path cum inside secrets - of some of the most hidden beautiful spots of art, nature, history and African heritage all over Nigeria in adroitly crafted and very insightful well written pages.

NaijaTreks offers a sketch of the future; at least you'll see the pathway that leads to the future; and NaijaTreks promises more.

The brain behind the company – Folarin Kolawole already has a Foundation, setup exclusively towards rescuing endangered fauna species and natural resources under threat in Ondo state, as well as other parts of Nigeria.

We hope that the Ondo State Ministry of Culture & Tourism, under commissioner Tola Wewe, will – as a matter of priority – seek to exploit the seemingly limitless knowledge and opportunities offered by NaijaTreks towards generating a blueprint that creates a visible and viable tourism sector in Ondo state.

Naijatreks, is our Spotlight-Enterprise under the sun of the month, and they can be accessed at http://www.naijatreks.com.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Calling it the way we see it: What is segun Ojo saying?

Mr. Segun Ojo, former commissioner in late governor Adefarati's disastrous premiership in Ondo state is all over the newspapers, in an interview reported in The Nigeria Compass Newspapers.

First of all, when will Nigerian journalists be trained or schooled in the art of asking the sort of questions that directly addresses the concerns of the mass of the people from politicians ? Most of the questions posed to Mr. Ojo were, quite frankly, none of the business of the average person in Ondo state.

Right from the beginning, the responses are inherently empty, or shall one say full of clever one sided, out-rightly dubious 'strategising' in nature..

Sunshine State Rainbow Coalition is a platform of expression by the common man and the middle  
class as well as the active political class in Ondo State against leadership failures and political corruption.

Nice wording, only if Mr. Ex-commissioner could provide what his definition of common man is, and how exactly they are welcome to his platform.

And when a former member of the class of Adefarati's commissioners talk about leadership failures, is that not the same thing as recognising personal failure ? Check sir, you have been in leadership position in Ondo state, and in fact, it can be argued that you are still a member of the leadership class - as a supposed co-founder of the Labour Party, so you may want to be clearer on how you define leadership failure...

Listen to this again, from Mr. Segun Ojo.

With the failures, disappointment irresponsible governance witnessed in the state in the last two years, it  
is clear and if you know Ondo State very well, that something must happen.

What can you say ?

The trick is in the "something must happen". What does he expect to happen ?

And then he goes on to speak about and on behalf of the Ondo electorate, as though he has forgotten that - in a truly open and fair election - he is entitled to only one vote...

Mr. Segun Ojo seems to suggest that whatever failings governor Olusegun Mimiko's goverment suffers - and there are lots of them - is  
is entirely down to the personal failure of Mr. Olusegun Mimiko, which is only correct to the extent  
that he provides one side of the story. 

Wrong.

In other sane and truly democratic climes, people like  Mr. Segun Ojo, having  
been in and out of government are expected to know and teach society on the  
importance of policy and how central proper policy plans is to the full and competent working of  
governance for and to its people.

What has been Mr. Segun Ojo's contributions to the financial policies in the last two years ?

Where are his suggestions towards good governance ? How does he even define good governance ?

What precisely would Mr. Ojo do differently if he had the chance to be insider Alagbaka's state house ?

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The interview confirms he is party to the creation of labour party, but he is already contemplating heading to the PDP. Some people would call that political opportunism. And it is the hallmark of incompetent and ideologically bankrupt people, which regrettably are the majority of our politicians.

One would like to read of a specific policy issue where  Mr. Ojo has gone on the record to disagree with the governor. But then this presumes he has alternative and clear policy views.

It mostly seems same old-school trickery.

If Mr. Segun Ojo has - in truth - the interest of Ondo state at heart, in which case he would be one of a kind in Nigerias  
political landscape, he should be specific on what Alagbaka has done that  he would do differently and what Alagbaka is not doing, only then should  he be taken seriously.

The pedestrian nature of questions asked is also a sad reflection on the  quality of journalism emanating from Nigeria.

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