I read the article, ‘In Oyo, Makinde’s Leadership Trumps Governance’, written by Pastor Sulaimon Olanrewaju – Chief Press Secretary to Oyo state governor – to defend and speak for the plan by Gov. Seyi Makinde to expend forty billion naira (Oyo state fund) to upgrade the federal government-owned Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport Alakia, Ibadan.
In the article, Pastor Olanrewaju – like many Nigerian politicians who normally manufacture words to justify or give reasons for their complicity in the projects they think people may find questionable – rhetorically and cunningly opened his presentation with comparisons between leadership and governance.
Initially, one would think that Pastor Olanrewaju was trying to teach readers how leadership was more important than governance. But when reading further, one would discover that the main purpose of his rhetoric was to decorate his boss, Gov. Makinde, with a golden robe for his readiness to upgrade the FG-owned airport.
Like I wrote in my article on the same subject, I mentioned that the upgrade of Ladoke Akintola Airport wasn’t whatsoever a bad idea. That apart from being the route on which the rich would frequently take to their destinations, millions of masses, who could not afford to travel by plane, would also have something to be proud of.
Obviously, people’s concern – when taking into consideration the meagre reserve of funds available to Oyo state – is that the remodeling of a FG-owned airport, which is not likely to recoup or regain the N41 billion taken from the state’s treasury back to where the money was drawn, isn’t a favorable project to embark on at this time that the state needs to invest heavily in agriculture and manufacturing to provide affordable, essential needs of the people of Oyo state.
If the truth be told, no Oyo state resident detests the idea of having an international airport in the state, but the controversy the chief press secretary to the governor failed to address was whether or not the upgrade of the airport, which was designed to cater for the few was more important than embarking on projects or investments that will benefit the majority of Oyo state residents at this time of economic crisis.
Pastor Olanrewaju wrote: “Gov Makinde was never a politician who sought self-aggrandizement and vainglory. That rather than subjecting himself to the constrained of inherited governance structure, the governor has revolutionalized the system by taking steps that benefit the people.”
And I ask, what were the steps that benefitted the people which Mr governor had taken? Pastor Olanrewaju did not mention one. Undertaking or launching into projects is quite cheap, but studying vigorously the rudiments that facilitate returns on investment is where the problem lies. Perhaps the chief press secretary needs to be told further that one thing is to invest on projects, another thing is to make sure that the projects pay back right proceeds with a view to guarding against monumental waste or loss. Or what is the motive behind spending a huge amount of money on a project that brings no returns to the state?
Let’s take, for instance, a look at the renovation of Lekan Salami stadium – the stadium that gulped down billions of naira, precisely N5.5 billion for mere renovation. Though we advised then that such amount could be channeled into a more lucrative project that would bring profits into the state’s coffer, the governor insisted and expended people’s money on what many see today as an unprofitable investment.
Whether it was coincident or God’s will to uncover the unprofessional handling of the stadium upgrade, the downpour during the unveiling of the stadium completely exposed the below-average works done with our N5.5 billion. While the game between 3SC and a Slovenian club was on, the pitch was waterlogged and the roof leaked. Apart from people’s lamentation over the substandard works done on the stadium, they also cry today that the stadium is yet to bring the projected returns after three years of its renovation.
Pastor Olanrewaju sang his boss’s praises for his leadership style. But who’ll agree with him, especially when people think about the condition of Lekan Salami stadium today? Does the condition of the stadium at the moment justify Makinde’s leadership style the chief press secretary praised in his article? Does the stadium’s position today match the billions spent on its renovation? People wonder why the stadium, which has already swallowed such huge billions, isn’t yet one of the stadia that is being recommended for at least continental soccer championship since its refurbishment. Has Lekan Salami stadium generated the dividends the governor promised it would add to the state’s revenue? How much income has the stadium recoup into the treasury? These are the questions both the governor and his chief press secretary need to answer.
Decades ago, the same stadium had hosted many international and continental soccer championship including the match between Nigeria and Georgia, Shooting Stars versus Bizerte F.C of Tunisia, Shooting Stars versus Orlando F.C of South Africa and many others. So, why isn’t the stadium, after spending #5.5 billion on its renovation, among those which host both international and continental matches in the country?
At least the purpose of any investment is to gain adequate returns on investment. How would the money spent on a project like Lekan Salami stadium be recouped if the stadium isn’t yet among the stadia that are endorsed for AfCON and World Cup qualifying matches? What’s really wrong in Oyo state?
In another submission of the chief press secretary to argue against people’s opposition to Ladoke Akintola Airport upgrade at the time that other states are investing laboriously and substantially in agriculture, the chief press secretary took us back to the period of regional government when Late Obafemi Awolowo established Western Nigeria Television, WNTV, the first television station, in 1959. What he was trying to bring out of this illustration is still strange to me and many people. He said and I quote:
“When Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as Premier of Western Nigeria, established the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) in 1959, there was no market for the services of the station in Ibadan or elsewhere on the continent. As a matter of fact, the number of television sets in the country was less than 20. So, there was resistance to the move as some people felt that the television station should not be the priority of the region. But because Awolowo saw into the future, he went against the grain and set up the television station, which was the first in Africa. Today, tens of millions of people across the African continent earn their living from television. Today, Ibadan is regarded as the home of television in Africa. This is one of the reasons Oyo State is regarded as the pacesetter in the country.”
I believe if Pastor Olanrewaju had submitted his article for thorough scrutiny before submitting it for publication, he wouldn’t have cited the above example to justify the plan by his boss to use state’s funds to finance FG-owned project. Did the chief press secretary forget that the period the late sage established WNTV was the time when the funds in the treasury of western region were strictly used to finance projects that were meant for the region? Or has Olanrewaju forgotten that WNTV was never a national television when it was established until 1976, when all television stations in Nigeria were taken over by the Federal Government and merged into the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)?
For avoidance of doubt, WNTV was a western region-owned project not a central government-owned television when it was established. Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his Minister for Information, Anthony Enahoro, were brilliant minds, the reason they always used the region’s funds for the projects that added to the revenue of the western region, but not otherwise.
So citing the example of Awolowo’s initiative of financing a western region-owned project with the region’s funds was totally incongruous or not in harmony with Makinde’s idea of funding a FG-owned airport with the state’s insufficient allocation. If Awolowo had expended western region’s revenues on central government-owned projects, how would he be able to pay western region civil servants more than what the central government paid its staff?
Furthermore, the chief press secretary accused some of us of kicking against the project. He wrote, “…some people in the state are kicking against the project. In the estimation of those people, an international airport in Ibadan would not serve the majority of the citizens, so it should not be the priority of the state.”
Now, let me remind Pastor Olanrewaju here that our concern isn’t that the FG-owned airport in Oyo state shouldn’t be upgraded, all we’re saying is that if at all the said airport must be remodeled, it must be done with the FG-owned allocation not with the state’s meagre funds. May I ask the chief press secretary this salient question? After spending Oyo state-owned (N41 billion) on the airport, in whose coffer/purse will the dividends generate from the airport be remitted? State or federal government’s purse? I ask this question because people aren’t yet convinced it’s a wise idea to take from an insufficient reserve, and invest in a project that bring back no returns to the state’s coffer.
He also wrote about the benefits Mr governor said the upgrade would facilitate. “This airport will connect Oyo State to the global market. It will improve ease of doing business, bringing investments into agribusiness, manufacturing and technology sectors and positioning Ibadan as a true regional business hub.”
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride”, they say. Was this not the same way Mr governor promised production and exportation of maize to Botswana to generate foreign exchange? Where is the production and exportation of maize to Botswana today?
Professing promises is of course cheap, but coming back to tell people the results of the pledges is the problem. How did Gov. Makinde expect people to believe what he professed during the flag off of the airport upgrade when, up until this moment, he is yet to come out to tell people about the fulfillment of the maize he promised in 2019 that his administration would be exporting to Botswana to generate foreign exchange? What was even the ration behind exporting maize to Botswana, a country whose currency did not fare well or thrive among currencies of nations?
Again in 2021 when the governor obviously understood that his political gimmick about Botswana maize could no longer flourish, he shifted his pledge to the production and exportation of cassava to generate foreign exchange. The governor explained that when his administration had realized that Botswana maize could not materialized, he had found alternative in the production of cassava because cassava production was where the state had comparative advantage. And people ask today, “where is the production and exportation of cassava the governor promised?”
I believe if Mr governor had surrounded himself with people who really wanted him to be remembered for good after leaving office, he would have been advised to drop the idea of financing FG-owned airport with the state’s treasury during the period that countless state projects abound in Oyo State. Many roads, the paths on which the masses take to their destinations, are crying for repairs and construction, if not reconstruction. Many public schools are in states of dilapidation. By the way, arable hectares of land are more than enough in Oyo State to plough to ease food shortage in the state. So, why choose a federal government project over state projects?
If the governor had been wisely advised, he would have been encouraged to desist from persuading the FG to allow him to refurbish and upgrade Ladoke Akintola Airport with the state’s allocations and Internally Generated Revenue. Instead of lobbying to upgrade the airport, Makinde would have collaborated and worked hand in hand with the senators from the three senatorial districts to influence and convince the president to commiting FG allocation to finance the airport remodeling since the proceeds from the airport, after the upgrade, goes directly into the FG’s purse but not to the state’s coffer.
I have the conviction that this ₦41 billion can be better channelled into the needs of the state – road construction, education, agriculture and others. With that, the money will cater for the projects that are more beneficial to the majority of Oyo state residents, and people will feel relieve, most especially during this period of economic hardship.
Ademola ‘Bablow’ Babalola
babalolaademola39@gmail.com
