I’m The Best Ever Oyo Governor   

Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State explains why his state no longer wants to co-own the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho, with Osun State. He spoke with KEMI AKINYEMI and GBENRO ADESINA

Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State.

You were recently reported to have stormed out of a meeting with the PDP National Chairman. What exactly happened?
I don’t know where they got that information from. I didn’t storm out of the meeting with the chairman.  Even the National Chairman has refuted the story. I believe the story must have emanated from our detractors, who are trying to play smart.

But why is it impossible to resolve the crisis in Oyo State PDP?
There is no crisis in Oyo State PDP. I am not aware of any crisis in our state. We should not believe everything we read in the papers. Who are the people creating the crisis? If you can identify them, I will tell you the true situation of things.

You have people on the other side of the fence, like your predecessor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja…
In the case of my predecessor, he wanted to come back to the PDP. And if he wants to come back, he cannot do that from Abuja. You were all in this country when he left and joined about four parties, before he decided to come back to PDP. All the other parties he went to join rejected him. It is good that he wants to come back to the party because the party belongs to all of us. But there are procedures that must be followed. He has to join the party at the ward level, not from Abuja or even the state headquarters. That is where you are registered as a member of the party. If Ladoja wants to come back to PDP, he should go and do so from his ward. He cannot come to the party and ask for the soul of PDP. He wants to take the soul of PDP and we cannot allow him to do that.

What about Elder Wole Oyelese?
Elder Wole Oyelese is not in the party.

Then there is Senator Lekan Balogun.
Senator Lekan Balogun is still in the party. He was very active during the 2007 election and he didn’t work against the party. So, he is still in the party.

What about Yekini Adeojo?
Adeojo is not a member of the party. He was formerly in the party, but left during the 2007 election. He went to join ANPP and he wants to come back to join PDP. Don’t get me wrong; it is good that they are coming back and we are happy about it. But the rule has to be followed. And the rule is that no matter how powerful you are, you have to join the party from the ward level. You don’t join a party because you are a big fish. It is not done anywhere. We are not opposed to anyone coming back to the party, but these people have chosen not to do so in the proper way.  And if they are coming back, they should not ask for the soul of the party. When they come back to the party, then water will find its own level.

What is responsible for the tussle over the ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University in Ogbomoso? Why is it impossible for the two states to co-own the school?
It is not that it is impossible for the two states to co-own the university. It is possible, but we felt cheated as a state. Osun State has a university but we don’t have a university to call our own. With the co-ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University, it means that Osun State has one and a half, while we have just a half. So, we decided it would be wise to bow out of the partnership, but we gave enough notice to that effect. Although the Osun State government made it known that it was not willing to go, we just had to go. There is no other university in this country that has the kind of ownership arrangement. Even, Ondo State had to separate from Ekiti State over the co-ownership of Ondo State University. The state now has its own university, which is sited in Akungba.

Why can’t Oyo State set up its own university?
For us, it was a very painful decision that we had to do that to our sister state. But we just had to do that and we refused to compromise on that. However, it is not going down well with the other state, because it can be pretty difficult, having to part with certain things which you have been used to. Let me add that, in the last 10 years, we have envisaged that this kind of situation might arise, so we have been making our capital contribution to the university, separately. While Osun has been concentrating on its capital project in Oshogbo, we have been doing ours in Ogbomosho. So, there is no basis for acrimony. What we just need to do is to sit down, look at our assets and liabilities and share things the way they should be done. You see, I don’t want us to dwell too much on this issue, because it will look as if we are trying to cheat Osun. Don’t forget that the university in question is on our land.

Isn’t that what you are exploiting?
We are not exploiting the situation. We just have to go. Don’t forget that the polytechnics in Ire and Esa-Oke used to belong to the two states. But they now belong to Osun State, while we are left with our The Polytechnic in Ibadan.

How has this affected the relationship between you and the Osun State governor?
It has not affected our relationship and it cannot. The governor has sworn to protect the people of Osun State and I hold my allegiance to my people in Oyo State. We still maintain a very cordial relationship. Don’t forget that we belong to the same political party. So, it has not affected our relationship. It was all about our interest.

But the cordiality should have helped in resolving the issue before it degenerated to this level.
Well, I would have expected that it helped too. But I don’t know what actually happened because we had all agreed to work things out when Chief Obasanjo mediated. All of a sudden, I just found out things were not working the way they were supposed to work.
Teachers in your state are on strike. And the feeling is that the government is insensitive to their needs.
It is inaccurate to say that the government is insensitive to the needs of teachers. Oyo State has its own perculiarities. It cannot be compared to the other states, even within the South-West zone. When it has to do with money, we have to exercise caution in doing certain things. First, we have to consider what our income is. What is our expenditure? How do we spend our money, and on what? In Oyo State, we always have a ratio of four teachers teaching a class of 11 in a primary school.
But seriously, it has become a source of concern for us that we have too many teachers in our state. What we have been able to find out is that these people were employed because they were looking for job. Those who employed these people refused to check if there were vacancies before they employed them. And that is one of our problems in this country. Productivity is not matched with the wages earned. That is why it looks as if we are not productive. So, I recommended that in order to avoid making the teachers redundant, we should allow some of them to go. Even if we decide to prune the number of teachers, we will still have more than required. I suggested we take two factors into consideration: age and length of service. I figured that if we did that, we would have less money to pay and the wage bill will drop.  The first thing we do every month, when the money comes from Abuja, is to deduct the salary and emolument of teachers. That is what is done in every state of the federation. When we do that, we now distribute what is left to the councils. On the average, we receive about N1.7 billion every month. Teachers’ salaries, every month, in Oyo State is about N1.3bn. Now, you can figure out what is left for coucils to share. Secondly, we pay retired teachers from local government funds. Already, the local government councils are complaining that we should allow them to take their salaries first before we give teachers their salaries. At times, we have to look for money to subsidise their own packages before we are able to pay salaries. It is only an insensitive government that will just disburse money without taking certain things into consideration. If we should agree to pay the 27 per cent increase they want, this is what will happen. We will pay this month and will not be able to pay the following month. And we cannot borrow money to pay. That is what a lot of people fail to understand. . Let me make this clear. Oyo State is a federating unit in Nigeria. What is being done in Osun State does not have to be done in Oyo State. What is applicable in Kwara or Bayelsa State may not be applicable here because the structures are not the same. For instance, if the governor of Rivers State decides to buy a jet, his state government can afford to maintain the jet and pay the pilots. But can I afford to do that? No, I can’t. Just because my colleagues in other states buy jets does not mean I have to own one. Oyo State cannot afford to spend money the same way other states that enjoy derivation funds do.

What is your relationship with the Alaafin of Oyo and the Olubadan of Ibadan?
They are both my fathers and I respect them a lot. They are foremost royal fathers in Oyo State. I don’t have any problem with them at all.

But there are hints that the relationship between you and the two of them is frosty.
There is no truth in that. Can a son have a frosty relationship with his father? There is no frosty relationship with him, because there is no basis for it. He is the Olubadan and I cannot be an Olubadan. By the grace of God, I am the governor of Oyo State and he can never aspire to be the governor of the state. So, there is no basis for us to be acrimonious towards each other. I have a very cordial relationship with both royal fathers.

Are you keen on another term in office?
I am still watching. But it is not as if I am not keen.

So, you are very keen?
It is not that I am very keen and it is not that I am not keen. I was very keen in 2007. But this time around, we have been able to lay a foundation. And in order to avoid having anybody to come and rubbish the good works we have done, I think we need four more years to be able to consolidate what we began. However, I will have to wait for my party. But it is most likely that very soon, I will signify my interest to run for a second term.

You said you were very keen in 2007 but you are not very keen now. What happened?
In 2007, I was very keen on contesting because a lot of people felt that I could not make history by being the first non-Ibadan indigene to become a governor. And by the grace of God, I was able to make the history. I don’t have any other point to prove.

But there is a history of governors not being re-elected in this state.
Yes, I know about that. But if a record has been broken, God that made it achievable for us in 2007 is still at work and He will do it again. By the grace of God, we will make second term and break the supposed jinx.

Would you say your administration has done well given the ceaseless criticisms that trail your government?
I want to challenge anybody who has governed this state before to come out and tell us what he did that has not been surpassed by what I have done in the last three years. We have been able to touch lives in Oyo State and we have been able to put smiles on people’s faces, through the construction of roads, schools and hospitals. We have been able to put a lot of infrastructure in place in Oke-Ogun, Oyo, Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa. Those who had governed this state before should come out and tell us what they were able to do during their tenure. I have been in government since this dispensation began in 1999. And I have always been in elective positions. I started as a local government chairman. As far as I can remember, there was nothing that the state government did in my local government throughtout the years I was in office. Eventually, I became a deputy governor. And because I was part and parcel of that government, I know what we were able to do. And now that I am the governor of the state, I know what I have done so far. There is no local government that we have not touched through our developmental projects. So, I want to challenge anybody who thinks he did more than what we have been doing to come out and prove us wrong. In 2003, a newspaper reported that Mapo Hall needed to be restored. I still have a copy of the paper with me. Funny enough, my boss’ picture was placed at a corner in that paper. We came and transformed Mapo Hall. The building can stand side by side any structure in any country because it was built by the colonial masters. So, we have achieved a lot and we are still striving to do more. And these are things that can be cross-checked because they are physical in nature. In Ogbomoso, we are constructing a massive building, which will serve as a teaching hospital.
With all humility, we will continue to try our best to make a difference. I thank God for giving me that grace to make that difference. We have changed a lot of things. Look at Ibadan for instance. It used to be a dirty city, but it is no longer dirty. And people did not believe we would be able to construct the road between Molete and Adamasingba. But we have done that. Not only that, you will see light there. And the light is not powered by PHCN. We are using a power house for the street light. Let any Ibadan man, who served as a governor, come out and tell us what he had done, as regards the beautification of Ibadanland. But we leave everything to posterity.

Tags:  Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State, Ladoke Akintola University