Sunday Tribune, 7 October, 201 2
ThePoJlity
Flood: Nigeria has r~[lred
to lay serious emphasis on far~ing
Since b e from the Nigeria Customs as Assistant Comptroller-General, some (ew y,ears ago, Chief Adcnigba Francis Fadahunsi has been a high Oyer
-FadahunSL
lhal Jonathan and llnubu struck a deal to \\~ken the PDP In Ute South-West Just In the lnlemil of ACN. Up in natioD&ll politics and that of his state OSUD. In this interview with IDOWU ull DOW, I do not see anyone from the South-West beS AMUEL. ID 4buja. he speaks on the security problem facing the country. the tug otrem1 a good Board appolnl.menL Jonathan has mugl.Qnllmntlon of Ule South-West in the present government and other na- changed lhe Sc.rv1cc ehlers, thereby neglecUng the South,WCf'lt agaIn. These are the kinds or rrusU1!Uons tlonal lssucs. E][cerpts! ObasanJO has been exper1endng In the PDP lhal made him choose: to withdraw. And It pained me UI31 Preslhad U f ked In the security system of Nt dent Jona Umn JU!'JI rorgollhe role played by the South9510 wl'u nyou were in the Nigeria Customs. West in his ascension to JXnl-"eJ" u "l" be(:l you thfnk the security problem TI-.e process started wllh Obasanjo who lnsisted that confron R O Ir~ (I could be: soloed? II must be Jon athan CYeIl against the clamour by the Let m start by saying that Boko Hacam Is the North for the presklency. 1be Senate look ~ with creaUon r 1ni!C Uve government !.bal we have 10 the Doctrine of Necessity and when the election came:. Nigeria fe tuiVl been havlng this problem for many the South-West stood solidly behind Jonathan but he years bu , It gol worse during lhts present governbecame president only to tum his back against the ment du to rul handling. Then: Is a lot of inJustk:e peopk who stood roc him In limes of adversity. nus Is In this untrf u1d you know. lnjusUce breeds disnot too good rlX" anyone who aJm5 to wrlle his name In senskm nd v 0 ,enee. If you look III It. hunger. stargold. You don·t forget the people who helped you to lIern·)I ~ ~. d15ea5eS, hOmdessness I15c. Now, Yoruba an: waiting. From IndicationS. the 1 olOre , are the II\lUllfeslBUons of an inconSoulh-West will emerge Ule kingmaker In 2015. Maybe sidenlle lIvenlltlCJlt. When! a lot of people are hunthe Yoruba and the North may aIlgn litis Umc: around tI'Y. the·y br!cotn , angry and lbeir actions are pT~ctto put in a presldenl who wiD not neg}ect the Southable. C has f~ven NIger1a every thing Ii needs to West ZOIle. TIIC: most n!gn:uable thing about Jonathan e hal'!: abundana: of resources that wiD Is his fuD bend towards his zone: the South-5outh and Y go n tu)'ld If properly managed. But what U:ten the SouOt· F..asL If you study tlIC: nature of Federal VI."? f\ Iny segment of the society Just corGovernmcnt conll"8d8 in rettI1tllmes, tlle South-South entil'e «anomy such that only the I1ch are and SouUl-East an: taking tlIC: lion shares. getting :her.u.d the poor gelling poorer We have a Look. I mil not a soothsaya' bul sometlllng tells me: popuJa n of al)OUt 160 million b u t about one per Olat JonaUlan would IlaYe to cllllflge his style cl gmucent of 1111 population Is Ule cause of tll e lrnuma nance If he Is to make headway in govc.OImcnl You do Nlgerta ~ 1)8S:!lng; tlUtlugh. not perpetrate Injustice agalJl!It SouOI-West and Olen TIle cflme ra.e Is high In Ntgerta. then: Is terrorgH something better. Check Ole hl5lofy of this country. Ism, kJdnappJlIl' and bursOng of pipelines. All thest! As an Independent ~, how would you p~ an: stgrd of a dlst~ economy. To me. the so\udiet the outCOrru!l of the coming gouemonhfp election lieK bl the g.1vt:mmentlaking proacUve m easures don In Ondo State'? lOwanb~Onla'n!ng the economic downturn. TIle goyAlthough I am a mcmber or tlle Peoples 0emIxra1lc emmen Ihoo.l .1 tu.rn to farming to engage mo re Party (POP). I ha~ a hunch thai the Labour Party v.'OUkJ ~"Omcn KI you hs In tlle producUve sec::tor. We have win the election hands dowll. TIle reason Is that tlle 10 beg1n ~ layl..g seri0u5 emphasis on fllI"llling beIncumbent gm'CfTlOr, Olusegun MtmIko has done his cause (.r ble eTI cl 0( flood this year. We do not need home work ",,'CIl. What any practJcal poUUctan should a ~yer to conclude tlmt then: would be short- ACN has been taking advantage tllaL It Is .so bad adntiJ'e about him Is his gnp on the grass roots, age of fO ld not year since mO!lI of the fannland.s r'lha~'~lhe~~p<OPIc~~~frnm~~500~~lh~W~~""-'~W=~~_~~""'!l..'ID"-,,IhJn~Ck:---;:-_________-;-_ -;:;:_ _-;;-;---;j
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::."':: ~Ie:c':~':'.'~ .'::,~u:"~~;':;..'.;;~':'= 'We have entrenched integrity in governance in Oyo State up for~. \os.'lCt. begtnning from now On I 1lH:a1 !oluUOn to the scnJ.rtly challenges in (Continufllfrom page 418) Nigeria. want to urge President Jonathan to stari 1n less than tWO yearll. no govemmelll has been engag north' ~m leaden! tn exploratory talks. He needs to be S~llous wtlh the northern leaders who able to match our- records In Inrrastructural would oql:r deeper insight into the problem of Boko development. We are nearing 210 road Haram ~l(1 Ill'" to lac.kle IL ne l''Cally cannot do It constnlclions since the last 16 months we have been In omee. For the nrst ti m e In the state, a alone.~e mc.s Importa.lll thing is to attend to the poUlk:a1 r«ds' r t he north by Ilnd1ng ways to settle Civilian governmen t Is constructi ng an over h ead th e n Includtng tackling of po\·erty and Utileracy. bridge tn Mokola . We have a lso awarded contract The COtl'l~pt of t'<lucaUOn b y lIlls gove.rnment should ror U'e duallsallo n or the en tra n ce to lbada n fonn go beJO'ld eslalilshmenl of AI.rn.qJUi schools. The Toll - Gate axis towards Methodlst - Efunsela n special ~lucallOlI system mea n t to take Ule minds or JuncUon. TIlls 15 th e firs t p h asc. We are d uallstng the ch lldi-en aWIY from the stn:ets is reqUired hen:. al l e n tran«s to Ih e m ajor cities In Ul e slate. Next. The Sout h- West has been complaining of we are moving to Oyo. Ogbomosh o . lbarapa. Dke mcuylnallmttio 1 on ptJWl!T shoring CIt the caltre. Ogun and other areas or the stale. But the opposition partie., hallie flayed the What ~ JIOIlrtiew on th is? admlnlstratlon OueT the cost of the duallsation y~~e Issue of margtn811sotJon of tiIC: South·Wcst wxler t f..'O\,. Imenl of Presklent Jonathan Is real I whic h ls . ald to be too high for N5.8bUlion.. Let them put their own figures on the table. We want to arne e pop In tl'C South-West ror the pr0blem: ::'I go 'Of'Se when fonner President Olusegun deal wlU, racts and ngures, w h ic h Is why we are a government that Is responsive and responsible to at Ited to make a member of the HOU!Ie of "Ita I es, AJlboia Mumlna the Speaker. He the people If you look at thai road very wdl. you COI1!IUII wI~t ~ldent Jonalhan and IItlually, the wtll see valleys on Ule skies Ihal will take a tllreePreskJen a But the FIrst Lady. Dame Pat.ience storey bulldJl1g. Ir you put Ii In there. 15 It water came in Ilh ·35 per cent affirmative action and ~ that will be u.sed to fill up thai place to make II a road? Don" forget also tha t the duallsaUon Is on '''''Y~'tged lie Soutll-Wcst PDP failed to re:soIve tllC: JogJ I thaI. nsued whcn lhe Flrst Lady attempted the two sides. So. a5.!lumlng a parUcular slretcll Is nve kilometres. you will discover that by the ume to 1m a l8l1 on tlle House 01 RepraentaUvcs. 11le IP OI}t d for Mullkat. not consJdertng the tm· you are coming back. you an: adding another nve plication to th poIlUcaI Interest or the South-West. kilometres. And the two sides have gullies and valleys. Also. Ulere an: houses thai will be affected Mwalna vas ~~' ronger pcrsonaIlty and could have \Ii'OIl along the road and If houses will be affected and the Spea :ersllp seat If the pop did not compromise. Ilu~.se houses are legally there, will th e government Let. I say \11 s. the pop WIll not know peace until It not pay compensaUon ? These people should go and corred.!I q~ lrribhlance and Injustice II did to Ole South· check records. TIley s h ould go to other states where West u[Xlcr Olls'IUspensaUon. President Jona018Jl also they h ave h ad nyover bridges In recent Urnes and dld not Iletp l'llllel1l on the m argtnallsalloll or the com pare priccs and stOP criti Cising for crlLlclsm 's South-Wr~L J\p Irt from Ogun state wh ich explOited sake Instead of basing such criticisms on facts and the hlftuenceB of ObasanJO lo get t.....o substanuve mm- ngu res. We stili h ave t h e mO!lt com peUUve p rice In Isters In JonaOllufs cabin et. OU1U states from the this cou n try loday~South·West zr-Ja were only given Ministers of State: The You th Empowerment Scheme of Oyo State tllat aIooI' has s Jbt."erted the pop In the zone, and the
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(YES-O) has (liso come unde r fire from the opposition parties who have labelled it a m e re window dressing because the gouernme nt h os not employed up to a qU(lrter of the 20,000 figure being constanlly talked about_ What ls wrong with the s c heme? Let me tell you thaI when people talk about these Ulln gs. we shou ld be able to read between the lines . Befor e this admlnlltlratlon came on board. was t h e re any th ing like YOUtll empowerment o r any olher scheme that engaged at least 5,000 you ths? Assumin g. w ithout conceding, that this a d m llllslrnUon has engaged 10.000 YOUlllS at a go. lite adm lnlstraUon dcserves commen dation and not condemnatloll. After all. t h ese are youths that have been used to hooliganism and have lived 011 the slreets. when sUC1:csslve governments have been s h irking away from their responSibilities. This administration has been bold enough to engage these youths. despite tlle lean resources the state has and these resources are gelling evaporated by lhe day becaUSll': money Is no longer coming a.s II used to come from the Federal Govemment. And some people will sit in a comer and nurse their wound because Illey were not Imaginative enough to do what we have done In this ~gard . The YES - O scheme. Just like every other programme or the administration. Is a well-Uloughtout scheme . It Is for empowerment and not employment but unfortunately people lend to mb: the two. We are about cnterlng Into an agreement with Ille Air Force for Ulem to leach some or Ule youths some skills, n ot military skills. We want them to tap from the very good engineering skills of the military so that we can devt:lop workmen and arUsans or highest quality. Some of Olem are being tra ined to be useful In t h e classrooms. Some or them are 51111 going to be give n permanent employtllenl. Anywhere you have progressiVe.!! In power; you Will see Utat they llave Ule love of Ute people a t h eart.