Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the gubernatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 9th election in Oyo State.
Adelabu in this interview with select journalists in Ibadan, the state capital said he will not spend more than his budget for the electioneering campaigns. He also revealed why he left CBN to join Oyo gubernatorial race and his plans to turn around the fortune of the state when elected as Governor.
DAILY POST Oyo State Correspondent, Musliudeen Adebayo brings excerpt of the interview:
DAILY POST: You left CBN as Deputy Governor (Operations), last year, since you left the apex bank, can you tell us your experience as a board room member and now to a key political figure?
Adelabu: In terms of day to day interactions and operations, there is a whole lot of difference between the corporate world and the political terrain. Number one of those differences is the fact that in the corporate world, we are dealing basically with the elites, the educated set of people and the least educated would be a school certificate holder, who would be carrying out menial jobs in the office and then a cleaner or a messenger. The preponderance of people you deal with in the corporate world are all graduates, so they understand your language, you can easily determine or predict their course of actions. But when you come to the political world, it’s a different ball game, you are dealing with gamut of people that exist in the country; from the professor to the PhD holders, to the graduates and the school cert holders and to the stark illiterates, to artisans, to traders, to market women, to everybody and unfortunately here, everybody has a voice because the vote of the professor is one while that of the cleaner is also one, so you don’t segregate, you don’t say this set of people are more important than this, even those, you know we have opinion leaders, we have leaders that people listen to, and those people to a large extent, a lot of them are educated, a large percentage of them are also not educated, which is in line with the setting in our country, because the population of the metropolis is quite small compared to the population of the hinterland. so when you get to the metropolis, you could see educated people as their leaders, you know, civilized people as their leaders, exposed people as their leaders. when you get to the hinterland, especially the satellite local government on Ibadan, or even in Oke-ogun and Ibarapa, you see that most of the leaders are very intelligent, they very experienced people but in terms of their level of education, it’s quite low. in terms of level of their civilisation, it’s quite low. In terms of their level of exposure, it’s also quite low. But their people believe them, their people follow them, so you must be able to interact with them with different tactics. when you interact with someone that understands when you speak in English, is different from when you interact with someone that does not understand English at all, you and the areas that interest them also differ. In terms of what are the needs of the people in the metropolis, what are the need of the people in the rural areas, because you need to understand these intrigues and dynamics. So, political terrain is more complex in terms of dealing with people and in terms of the relative importance of each player in the political terrain you.
DAILY POST: As an economist and a trained banker, you give an account of every kobo spent but politics is far from this. How have you been coping with politicians’ demands?
Adelabu: l have been funding my electioneering by myself. The only thing is that I will not stress myself beyond what I can afford. I have my budget for this particular process and I am trying as much as possible not to exceed my budget so that i don’t regret my actions afterwards. I am telling you that the only way you can stimulate people is to cater for them. Politics involves a lot of activities. You cannot be everywhere at the same time. You send people out, you send people on errands, they run duties on your behalf, whether you are there or you are not there. You have to entertain people, you have to pay for transport, you have to give them gifts. Politicians like a lot of gifts, the things that come to them free. You must be seen to be open-minded and you must be seen to be generous. You must be seen to care for their interest so that when you get into government, whatever you do with your money, they believe you will do more when it gets to governance. But if you are tight-fisted, if you’re high handed, it will be quite difficult for you to penetrate our politicians. I am not saying that you should spend to the extent that you become extravagant.
Fortunately for us, our people are also content with the little so, far they know it’s regular; they come to your house, they eat every day and when they’re going, you give them transport fare of say five hundred Naira, one thousand Naira. So far, they know that when they get to your house, they will eat, they will get transport fare to go back home, they will keep coming and once in a while, when they have major expenditure like they want to pay school fees, they want to pay health bills and you are able to assist them, maybe not carrying everything hundred percent, at least you’re able to support them, they will keep respecting you and they keep believing whatever you’re promising them that you would do when you get to government. So, to go back to your question, I would just say that it the complexity of the people that you deal with, the complexity of the attributes of each of these people, the complexity of the interests of these people, because in the corporate world, all the interests are being streamlined, but it is complex here. The hallmark of a good politician is to be able to cope with these complexities without complaining.
DAILY POST: How far have you been able to douse post-primary misgivings and the level of reconciliation today in Oyo APC?
Adelabu: I am going to be straightforward, our party is a political party in government attracted a lot of aspirants, wanting to occupy various positions. However, we are happy at the calibre of people that showed interests in aspiring for offices. For example, the gubernatorial aspirants we had then were about 22 people that showed interest. At the end of the day, eight people bought nomination and expression of interest forms. If you look at the calibre of these eight people, they are all competent people that have made their marks in their various careers, but the position is reserved for just one person. So, you see that I make bold to say that, in spite of these number of people, in spite of the profile of these people, and the expectation of the general public is that our primary election was going to be turbulent; was going to be tough, but we disappointed them by having the best and most peaceful primary election throughout the country devoid of complaint, protests, you understand? And on the field that day, you will see that majority of the aspirants stepped down and the delegates were happy.
That goes to tell you that the person they stepped down for was quite acceptable to the majority of the people, if not all the people. We were there from 10am in the morning of the 31st of September till the morning of 1st of October, 2018. No single person left the field, the ovation that followed the stepping down of each of these candidates, showed that the candidate that would be finally selected who happened to be my good self was widely acceptable to all the members of the party. But at Senatorial Level, house of Representatives and the house of assembly level. All the aspirants who failed to clinch the ticket, it is not all of them that will be happy. There would still be a couple of disgruntled party members or aspirants, both the aspirants and their supporters. So, we recognised that fact, immediately after the primary, we set up reconciliation committees that actually called all these aspirants, and we appealed to them that now that we are done with the primary election, our party remains as one party, and that everybody should try as much as possible to contribute to the success of party at the coming general election and everybody agreed and they were all happy with the reconciliation process. Beyond the governor talking to them, I also did, the party chairman and the party excos also did their own, they also intervened in the reconciliation process. At my level as the candidate, I have also called a lot of people to let them know that the party must not be divided, and that it is the unity of the party that can give us electoral victory. And I can tell you that everybody is working with us now. All the major aspirants are working with me, we talk to ourselves everyday. Eruobodo, that’s Olusola Ayandele talks to me; Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN we discuss, Joseph Tegbe, we discuss; Dr. Owolabi Bablola, we discuss. All of them have indicated interest to participate in the campaign that we are just starting. I can tell you that APC in Oyo state today is one at all levels, not just at the gubernatorial, at the senate, house of reps and house of assembly.
DAILY POST: The Communications Minister, Barrister Adebayo Shittu is challenging the process that brought you up and appears adamant not to withdraw the case from court, is this a challenge to you?
Adelabu: Talk is cheap, anybody can say anything, but it’s left for you to hear, and your job is to evaluate and assess the reasonability or the reasonableness of what he is talking about. The Minister of Communications who happens to be my Egbon and a Party leader did not challenge my election as the party representative for the gubernatorial election. The case he instituted was against the national executive committee of the party that screened him out. They said he was not qualified to be given gubernatorial form, for reason of not having observed his NYSC requirement. So, it doesn’t have anything to do with the state at all. So, he sued the national exco of the party and the case is in court, whether not have NYSC certificate is a requirement for disqualification or not. That’s not for me to decide, that’s not for the governor to decide, that’s not for the state executive to decide, it’s for the court to decide between Shittu and the national excos. And let me tell you, talking about justice, talking about restitution, he doesn’t talk about the practicality of restitution. We know the timeline, we know the timetable, election is in less than two months. You want the state to go back, and who assured him that he’s even going to win. So, I do not think it’s what dissipating so much energy on, he’s just blabbing.
DAILY POST: He said he won’t support your ambition and won’t campaign for APC in Oyo state?
Adelabu: He doesn’t have to support my ambition, he’s just one person out of about over seven million people, in Oyo state. Someone that likes what you have will not support you of course. Do you want him to be gathering drums and be drumming support for me? Because he likes it, at least something he has tasted to for so many years you understand? And I am getting it with the support of our party, which to him was on a gold platter? Do you expect him as human being with blood flowing through his veins you know, so let him feel the way he feels. If you don’t want someone to cry, please don’t beat him. The moment you beat the person, please leave him to cry. You cannot control the two.
DAILY POST: Prior to your emergence, there was this report that you bought your way in, that you bribed the governor with ten million dollars before you could secure the ticket. Because all the while, the governor was supporting Joseph Tegbe, but all of a sudden, your candidature overwhelmed the governor and people insinuated you exchanged something in return?
Adelabu: Let me tell you, we live in an environment where rumour mongering thrives, but before I react to any rumour, I also expect right-thinking people to also evaluate how sensible the rumour is. You are in my house now, do I look like someone who can buy governorship primary ticket with ten million dollars? We are talking about N3.6billion, for what? Do I look like someone that has such money?
DAILY POST: Some say you are stinkingly rich, and arguably the richest among the contenders.
Adelabu: That’s relative. I have worked for about 27 years and I have occupied top positions in all my career. And you know what it means to occupy top positions in the largest bank in Nigeria; as Executive Director of First bank for over five years? As General Manager of Chartered Bank, within and outside the country for three years and as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for over four years and as an Accountant, I also know how to add one naira to another one naira and make it three naira. I can say I am just comfortable. You say I’m the richest, that is just insinuation, nobody sees the other’s account balance, I am comfortable. So, number two point is that, do you think the governor looks like someone that is so lowly in terms of integrity that he would want to sell the ticket of gubernatorial candidature of our party? Number three is that you’ve bribed the governor, abi? And on the field that day when my name was announced as the preferred candidate, you were there, as a pressman, you saw the ovation; the loud ovation that welcomed my announcement as the preferred candidate. That means I must have given them, all of them, all the party members, money as well. So, I think it is a distraction that we should just avoid.
DAILY POST: What are the chances of your party winning this election in view of the poverty and hunger across the land?
Adelabu: You know, I keep saying something that Rome was not built in a day and they say the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step in the right direction. No pain, no gain. If you trace the history of the economy of country in the last 16 to 19 years, we all know what caused what you are seeing today. And fortunately, I was also in public service when all these economy downturns set in. And I can without being partial objectively say that where we are today, in terms of the infrastructures and the potentials of the economy to get better, we’re better off than what the APC government met. We may not have been seeing these dividends of democracy in the manner that we expected, but I believe; I am very very sure that it will soon come, because all the things that are supposed to be in place for it to come are already being put in place, in terms of infrastructural supports and all the social benefit programs that the government is putting in place. I believe that this government has only spent three and a half years, and they are almost at the verge of reaping the fruits of all the hard work they have put in the last three and a half years. Allowing the government to continue for another term, will surely enable them to reap that benefit, and the people will feel the impact of all their policies and their programs. But if you cut it off now and allow another party to come in, they are going to suspend everything that APC has been doing, and they will start all over again. So we will even start from square zero not from square one, so it will be from frying pan to fire. If a party has done it for sixteen to programs. That is what I believe, you can see the roads are all being completed, the major roads, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ogbomoso-Ilorin road, and a couple of other roads like that. You’ve seen all the rail projects that were initiated by the previous administration and abandoned being completed, Abuja-Kaduna is working, Lagos-Itape to Warri is working now, Lagos-Ibadan, they are almost completing it, and they are doing Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri, Look at the second Niger bridge, they are almost completing it now. I mean, these are pointers to the fact that this government means well for the people, and by the time all these are in place, that dividend that we’ve been expecting will now come up. So I’m just appealing to our people that they should exercise patience, and all these things they are expecting, they will surely get it.
DAILY POST: What are your agenda for the people of Oyo state?
Adelabu: It presupposes that there is an assumption of a level of attainment in all the political sectors of development in the state. For me, the critical sectors where I will anchor my programmes are security, agriculture, housing, education, health, environment, transportation and transport management system. Those are the seven key areas that we want to focus. We have identified three major areas of priority based on what the current government has achieved. those three areas of priority, in fact, four areas of priority are agriculture, education, health and housing. The housing part of it, is going to prepare us to be able to take advantage of what we expect from Lagos. So that a lot of people will leave Lagos to come and live in Ibadan, once we’ve completed that road and the rail, so I want to ensure that thousands of people stay. So, when we talk about security, I’ve told you that it’s about now using technology to build our security. I will not say too much on that, we already have CCTV, we’re going to have command centres, we’re going to have call centres, and we’re going to have plate number recognition so that when we scan your plate number, all your details as an individual and as a resident of the state will be available. That is what obtains in the overseas. When we talk about agriculture, we are going back to the years of farm settlements. we’re going to have farm settlements across the state. The farm settlements will focus on arable farming, because of the fertility of our land. We have the largest arable farmland in Nigeria, having 28,454sq kilometers of Land in Oyo state, which is bigger than all the five south-eastern states put together. The vegetation is good, the climate is good, so we can do a lot of arable farming, cassava, cashew, cocoa, maize, you know, we’re going to have livestock too. In terms of large animals, that’s poultry, rams and cattle ranching. We can take advantage of that, because Lagos is close to us in Ibadan here, the cows requirement per day is so huge; we can also take advantage and supply to them. We’re going to have silos, food silos, so that we don’t waste our agricultural harvest from year to year. What you see now is that wheat gets to the market from the harvest is still less that 40 percent, every other thing get rotten and damaged in the farmland because of bad roads. So, our road is going to be extended to all the farmlands and we’ll have preservation which is silos across the state. Then lastly is the issue of processing. we want to ensure that we don’t stop at the production of primary agricultural products alone, we want to move to the next chain which is the processing. We have cassava, we can manufacture ethanol, we have cocoa, we can do chocolate, you know, we can do a lot, and that is what will actually ensure creation of jobs for our youths. So all these industries are going to be formed along the farm settlements too. In each of the farm settlements, we will make everything available for them. The farmers will not want to come to the city, good roads, power, water, good schools, hospitals, police station, recreation centres, shopping malls, everything, will be made available to them at the farm centres. People will even be forced to go and be having country homes along these farm settlements. In terms of housing, we want to create mega estates in Ibadan and across the major cities in Oyo state, Ibadan, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Saki, Iseyin and probably Eruwa whereby people can have affordable decent housing. And we’re not saying you should buy in cash, we will now try to create mortgage, for our civil servants, for our public servants, to be able to afford to buy these low-cost houses with communal facilities. That’s housing. then Education, I can tell you that we have the best of schools in Oyo state. we will resucitate structures of the schools, we will modernise the teaching equipment and we will motivate the teachers. The teachers must earn a bonus, over and above what other civil servants are earning, to motivate them, to propel them to be able to give our children the best. I want to be seeing the situation whereby a lot of children will be leaving the private schools to come to the government schools. That’s for education. In the tertiary institution, sincerely, I cannot lie to you, my idea of tertiary institution is that they should be self-funding, but we cannot achieve this overnight, as we have them today, their expenditure is more than the revenue they can generate. That has been wrong from the foundation. And that’s why government subventions come in on a yearly basis. What I will ensure is that, government will continue with the subvention, but we will start taking steps from the revenue perspective and from the cost perspective, to try to increase their revenue gradually, in a manner that will not be injurious to the payers of these fees, and also try to reduce their costs in terms of overhead, in manner that will also not warrant laying off staff, doing this or doing that. But at least look at their over heads so that in the next two to three four years, we will be able to achieve a match between their revenue and their cost, and government will can take away its hands. Number two is that our institutions, our tertiary institutions need to be supported by NGOs by donor organisations. Go to most universities across Europe and in the US, they are supported by foundations, through donations, subscriptions, scholarships and all that. We don’t have that here, we need to start doing that to add to the revenue. Some schools, will have research grants, so that our only source of revenue will not be school fees. No, that can kill parents. It should not be only school fees, we could source for funds elsewhere, research grants, development funds, World Bank to assist our institutions. Number two is that our institutions can also become commercial. we can engage a lot of enterprises, what is the essence of an agriculture training institution that does not run a farm, from the primary production of agric products, livestocks and even processing. what is the essence of a technology institution that does not run any technology based commercial. so, they should also go into business to generate funds for themselves. That’s the way I think our institutions need to be run and they will not be a burden to the government and a burden to the parents. My last point on that is that there must be loans available, education loans. that is what they do overseas. people pay commercials fees even as indigenes in the UK not less than nine thousand pounds, but you have access to commercial loans, so that you know that you are using this loan to fund your education. When you start work, you start paying, a long term loan. it makes you to be more responsible as a student, and the burden should not be on the parents. the burden the parents and the government should carry is primary school and secondary school. when it is tertiary, it is the burden of the student, it is for his own well being in life, it’s what I want to become, I want to become a lawyer, I want to become a doctor, I want to become an engineer, I want to become an accountant. He must have a part of this burden, if not all. the primary and secondary school education is not for the parents of the students alone, its for the benefit of the society itself and of government, for you to be a better citizen, to understand government function, to understand your own responsibilities, to be a better citizen, to be able to read signs and then to be able to relate outside; not to throw refuse into the carnal and all that.
Then health, we are blessed with lots of health institutions, from the UCH to Ayeoyo Yemetu, to Adeoyo Ring road, to Jericho nursing home, to St. Marry Catholic Hospital, to Catholic hospital and all that. then we’re going to come back to our primary health care system, the PHC, we should introduce our dispensaries in each of the local governments, we should introduce our maternity homes in each of the local government so that the farthest health institution, the nearest to your home is not more than one kilometer, we should reintroduce recreation centres and parks across all the local governments.
We should continue with the school feeding program for children, if possible, introduce it to secondary schools. When you eat well, the level of sickness becomes low too. you know, we should renovate all the tertiary health institutions, we should introduce modern health equipment to them and we should also motivate our health personnel; the doctors, the nurses, the radiographers and all that. those are the kind of things that we want to do for health. and same thing with environment, we are going to have a green environment in Ibadan, we should be able to light up the entire Oyo state.
Green environment across Oyo state, we should be able to convert our waste to wealth, make money out of it. and our flood control program which is effective, we’ll also improve on it. Next is the transportation, transportation system, this government has done a lot when it comes to that that, but we will build on that, we will now take the roads from those trunk roads to the satellite roads, to the feeder roads, then go into the core areas and also go into the rural areas where our farm products are brought into the city. Then across all these my seven points agenda, I have three drivers. Before the drivers, I have special focus areas, which is sports, tourism, entertainment, which I believe are also social stimulants used to engage our youths and also to reduce crime and encourage tourism. Then we now have enablers, enablers are the use of ICT, I’ve talked about technology, being used for security. information and Communication technology. I have talked about improving our IGR, internally generated revenue and lastly creating employment for our youths and so on.
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