By Ayo Kehinde
Four days to the governorship election in Ondo state, candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and governor of the state, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and his rival and candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Wednesday night unveiled their manifestoes in a last minute effort to sway voters during a debate on Channels television.
The debate, which was organized by the trio of Channels TV, the Civil Society Situation Room and the UKAid and anchored by Sheun Okinbaloye of the TV station, was meant for three candidates who passed the selection test of the organizers but candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, and deputy governor of the state, Aboola Ajayi, failed to appear.
The debate centered on why each candidate considered himself the best man for the job; what they would do in their first 100 days in office and their agenda and manifestoes in the areas of the Economy- cocoa, oil, butimen; Social welfare; Security, Education and Health Care.
Best Man for the job
Akeredolu: With the work I have done in the past three and a half years, I believe we have laid the foundation and still have a lot to do. And since we started this CHANGE, I believe it is in our best interest for Ondo state to have continuity so that our vision be be completed. We are tested. What we garnered over three years is an advantage and we can therefore take the state to its glorious height.
Jegede: I have had years of service in the state, spanning public service as Attorney-Genera land Commissioner for Justice for seven years and also served in the public sector. Things are not going well for our state and the time has come to deploy a more holistic approach to grow the economy and health sector. In three and a half- years you (Akeredolu) had not added to mother child maternity care and hospital, free maternity service policy of the past administration, tertiary education is too costly, imagine students paying as high as N150,000 as school fees-we need to bring it down, We need to create jobs, offer farmers incentives to increase output. Governance is a continuum and whatever this government has done, we would continue.
First 100 Days in Office:
Akeredolu: I have to be fair to myself. I do no believe in it because I don not want to rush things and there are many things we have planned to do on the economy-roads completion, port construction, build more classrooms for which we have paid our matching grants to Support for Universal Basic Education, SUBEB.
Jegede, who came late to the event, missed this opportunity as Okinbaloye did not repeat the question after he had given him the chance to answer the best man for the job question.
On the Economy: Taxation
Jegede: Relying on Federal Government allocation is not the best way to sustain growth and development, Everyone must be able to pay reasonable tax and we would encourage organisatons like the artisanal ones in a way that they would be able to pay taxes. Then we would focus on blocking leakages in the system and cut back on unnecessary government spending. Federal agencies and banks in the state outside the tax net would be brought in. We do not need to impose taxes
Akeredolu: The revenue generation of the state before we came in was between N500 million to N700 million. We raised the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, to N2 billion per month. We had 400, well –trained university graduates deployed to internal revenue services which has led to people being captured in the tax net. We would sustain the drive.
Cocoa:
Jegede: Currently, Ondo produces 40% of entire cocoa output in the country. Things have gone down because of rural to urban migration and cost of seedlings has gone up. Between Akure and Ondo, trees have been overgrown with weeds and abandoned. We would have to take a census of farmers and bring affordable seedlings to them.
Akeredolu: Since we came into government, we have directed efforts to sustaining cocoa farming, In Igbere, for example, we have increased hectares from 2,000 to 8,000 with the assistance of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Though this assistance we have given seedlings free of charge to farmers.
Bitumen:
Jegede: This is what we can do with private public partnership because of the high capital nature of the process, particularly in the south west of the state. In extraction, we need federal government license and I think the Canadian model would work here. (no further explanation as he is told time is up)
Akeredolu: Bitumen extraction has already started. In Irele, mining is there for exploitation. We do not need the Canadian model, it cannot work in Ondo State.
Oil:
Jegede: Oil is produced in the southern belt of the state but the area has suffered from lack of power generation. We intend to bring in something new. We need to break- up the southern area of the state into small sections so that we can generate power with turbines and those who can pay should be given and others would be supported.
Akeredolu: What we have done in the almost past four years is in the area of infrastructural development in most of our oil producing areas of the state; we have sunk wells and laid pipes to give portable water to our people in the southern areas. From Araromi to Ibeju-Lekki, we have constructed roads. We have signed agreement with Omotoso and Niger Delta Power to extend light to the people there.
Social Welfare:
Jegede: We have issues here, particularly with the elderly, physically challenged, old women, which we would support with stipends. Pensioners should be paid regularly and children helped by way of good education. As for the civil service in the state, I do not think it is bloated. I think they should be given responsibility
Akeredolu: Many of our people are getting monetary stipends and the vulnerable have access to free medical care. On the civil service, we have been given them responsibilities- our engineers are the ones building culverts and bridges.
Security: Amotekun, State Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS
Akeredolu: I am not pleased with the security architecture of the country where I am told I am the chief security officer of the state yet cannot perform functions in that regard. Single Command of the Police is not a correct policy. In Ondo state, we have multi-layered security programme. That is why we created Amotekun because as chief security officer of the state, we are saddled with the responsibility for security of our people. When police community policy comes, we can work together with the police too.
Amotekun will never fail. All stakeholders worked on it and we have put in the laws in Ondo and the corps have undergone training and passed out.
SARS is a product of its time. There are those there who have done things out of their reach. That should not be used to throw away the baby and the bath water. Look at what is happening with eth police, even in the United States. We have to look for ways to contain the excesses of the bad ones among the SARS, that is all.
Jegede: I believe in state policing and I believe all governments in the country should work together to make it possible. In Ondo, we must have police outposts in all areas where we are still experiencing kidnapping. We must have an effective anti-kidnapping law in place.
Amotekun is a bi-partisan initiative of the entire southwest. To endure, we must rise above partisanship and work together with security outfits in Nigeria. If properly managed, Amotekun will be a better security out compared to none.
SARS is part of the Nigerian Police Force and it should not be allowed to operate outside the protocols of the police. Because state governments have no operational hold on them, the Inspector General of police must ensure they are made to operate with civility.
Education:
Akeredolu: We will go along with the Federal Government on the recently announced package for the teachers. We have told our teachers we would increase the number of Tutor-General so they can rise to level 17. I do not believe in the tag elitist attached to schools in the state because of increase in school fees. When we increase the university fees to N150,000, it was the students that appealed for reduction and when we reduced it N120,000, they did not complain, some even paid two years once.
Jegede: It all depends on priority. Education is the mainstay of our people. The people were paying N25, 000 per session before you, (Akeredolu) came in and shot it up to N150,000 and then reduced it to N120,000 when the people protested. This made a number of students to pull out of our schools and head to the Universities in Ayingba in Kogi state and Ekiti, where the fees remain N25,000. As we speak teachers in Polytechnic in Owo are being owed seven months salaries. Apart from students migrating out of the state, imagine the jobs you lose when those providing support services in the campuses close down.
