By Yekini Jimoh
Source: Saturday Tribune
Saturday, August 7, 2010



Kwara State governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who has been the chairman of Governors’ Forum for seven and a half years, was recently given the national award of the Commander of the Order of  the Niger (CON). He spoke with newsmen in Ilorin. YEKINI JIMOH captured his remarks as they affect Kwara State and the nation in general. Excerpts:

N igeria will attain 50 years of independence by October. What do youthink is the place of the country among the developing nations of the world, and what are the challenges ahead?
I think we are not one of those nations that tend to celebrate what they are good at and what their successes are. You will find out that most people say negative things about the country. Not many countries have survived after going through civil wars. There are very few countries that have survived many military coups. There are very few countries that have the same number of tribes that we have. But despite all these, their natural resources  have been a bad omen. They have resulted in the disintegration of countries. This is a country we have differences in religion. We have stumbled, we have wobbled, but we have survived. I think that is a good sign.

I think this democracy that has stabilised us for 11 years should continue along that line. I am hopeful that with quality leadership, it is a matter of time before realising the country of our dream.

There are a lot of things we need to catch up on. If you look at the education sector, there are still many ways we can invest in it in order to bring about an improvement and education is key to developing our society. I think we are moving in the right direction, but we still need to have a good sense of patriotism or what I call spirit of national interest.

It is not that I am saying Nigeria is good or bad. But you don’t stand in front of the world and say my country is bad. It is just like in a family, you just don’t go around saying that your child is bad.

What you should say to the public is that “my child is good.” That is the way we should begin to look at our country. By saying that your country is good doesn’t mean that you have been bought by the government and you are now a sell-out.

When China was growing, there were rules people would not depart from, but they have grown and everybody is doing business with them now. What l am saying is that for this country to grow, we must look forward, not backward and that is always the problem. We are always criticising. We should  be positive and looking forward and I think the country would be better for it. I am optimistic that the future is bright.

There are insinuations that the Governors’ Forum is becoming a kind of pressure group. What do you say about this?
I think it is those of you in the media that gave these kinds of definitions. We are all key stakeholders and you will  agree with me that what we have gone through as a country in the last few months was unexpected. I didn’t think that we would ever find ourselves in the situation we have found ourselves today. And when your country is challenged by a strange thing like that, you have to come up with solutions. I think as stakeholders, as governors, we have played our role in stabilising the polity to ensure that democracy is stable.

In doing that, we have to provide direction in the  interest of the country. We came together across party lines in giving direction at a time there was no direction and there was much concern. I believe that some actions we took led some other stakeholders to come together and say, “look, we must do our best to save this democracy, we must do our best to provide leadership and I think that in the process of doing that, the country was better.

The country has come out of those trying times, we thank God that we are still moving forward. It is like a turning point in the history of this country. Like I said, the governors, by our action, got the National Assembly to come up with a motion that gave power to the vice president as acting president. People clapped and when we now met again as governors and took other decisions that some particular interests didn’t like, all of a sudden, the governors have become too powerful and you cannot choose when to be powerful and when not to be. I think these are the views of myopic individuals. I assure Nigerians that we are responsible stakeholders and will continue to play our role in ensuring that democracy is sustained and politics is stable.

During the last cabinet meeting, you approved a 20 per cent minimum wage increment for workers in the state, what prompted it?
Its a matter that we have been debating for a while and I set up a committee in November 2008 to review the issue of minimum wage, to see how we could improve on it as part of measures at ensuring that we motivate the civil servants. Unfortunately, in 2009 with the global recession that affected the revenues that were coming to states, I made a commitment then that in 2010, we would definitely implement and so the figures had already been agreed upon.

On the implementation, unfortunately, you all know what happened in the country. The Federal Government did not pass its budget until May. I think last week, we saw the implementation of the 2010 budget. What is to happen is that until the president signs the Appropriation Bill, the allocation that normally comes to government is based on last year’s figures.

A few days ago, we had the first council meeting,  after which I directed that the implementation be with immediate effect. That is a step in the right direction and the challenge has always been the resources of the state and at the slight improvement in them, we have kept to to our commitment and obligation.

The reticulation project concerning water supply is underway, what should be the expectations of the ordinary Kwaran?
In 2003 when we came into government, water production at Asa Dam had the capacity for 12 million gallons a day, but at that time, it was producing about three million which was inadequate.

The thinking was that in the metropolis, the minimum we should be serving was 24 million gallons per day and at that time, the Federal Government said it was going to construct another 12 million gallons per day water project and that we as a state should rehabilitate too.

We have rehabilitated and I believe from three million gallons per day, we have been able to make it 10 million gallons a day. The brand new one is half way through. The Federal Government changed its policy and said it was not going to do anymore urban waterworks, so we now had to take over.

We have done that now. We have taken the capacity now close to 24 million gallons per day but as you rightly said, if you pump that water out now, the pipes that we have cannot take them. Now, we are doing the reticulation which has cost us close to seven billion naira and for a state like ours, that is a lot of money on one sector.

But we are hopeful that by August/September, the first phase of the project will be completed. Yes, by the time those pipes are laid, definitely water must flow.

Seven years in the saddle, it is  apparent that you will be the first governor to spend two consecutive terms in Kwara State. What challenges have you confronted and what challenges are you likely to face before the expiration of your tenure?
Well, the challenges are there when you are trying to make changes, when you are trying to drive direction with focus. As I said, initially when we came in, Kwara was defined as a civil service- based state, but we tried to expand the economy, create opportunity in different sectors, including agriculture and industrialisation. As at today, the number of industries has increased. The cashew processing factory at Ogbondoroko that had existed before now is now larger than the one in Ibadan and now, the company wants to be the base for the West African region and I think these are realities. We have the processing being set up. We have the Edu rice processing, among others.

The challenges I give to myself, I take them up. They are enough challenges to create an environment where people can begin to have sources of livelihood outside the civil service. That has been the focus, expanding the economy and the indices are there in terms of commercial activities since 2003, compared to other states around us.

If you look at the indices in area of construction activities going on in the state, they will tell you from statistics that the buying power is improving. Those are the challenges and those are what have given me the confidence that we have positioned the state into a commercially active state. If you look at education, we have led new steps in education. A lot of states were talking about some of the things we did when we were fighting against examination malpractices.

Today, Kwara State is a place you don’t go near if that is the kind of thing you want to do. The attitudes of teachers now is not what you had in 2002/2003, there is now more commitment, more training. If you look at the quality of education, we have recorded improvement on the quantum of passes and credits secured by our students at WAEC and NECO levels, we are better now. So, these are some of the reforms we are doing in the education sector.

We have a cement factory that might not take off before the end of this tenure but would have gone far with other projects.  If you look at the power situation in the state, the challenge is there. I challenge anybody in Nigeria that says there is any other place apart from Kwara that can challenge us in the area of power generation. So when you look at these indices, definitely one gives thanks to the Almighty in the past seven years particularly with those challenges we faced at the beginning. A lot of people were speculating whether or not one was capable, but today, one has stayed focused and also positioned Kwara within the Nigerian polity.

Your administration has zero tolerance for corruption, what are you planning to put in place to ensure sustainability?
Well, there have been a number of things that we’ve put in place even by law. The Fiscal Responsibility Act has set clear guidelines and processes by which some of the government’s decisions as regards money matters are treated. Also, at the inception of this government, we set up the Pricing Intelligence Unit that has gone a long way in terms of trying to streamline the process of over-inflated prices of goods and services. I know that very soon, we will be coming out with a book to show to Kwarans the billions of naira that we have been able to save.

There are contractors that can’t come to work in Kwara, they tell you, ‘look we can’t work in Kwara because their ways are just not acceptable.’

Most importantly, it is not only the head that matters but the system and that is why we are restructuring the Civil Service Commission, that is why we have quality people as permanent secretaries and as directors and you see, Kwara is one of the states again that led this issue of having exams, interviews and processes for promotion. I remember when I became governor, my first batch of permanent secretaries was based on lobbying, these ones are my friends and it has nothing to do with their capacity. Besides, the ability of some of them was zero.

But after a few years, I have put a system in place that lobbying is not going to put you there. You must go through exams; you must go through some kind of processes. So that brings out such kinds of qualities in the era we are living in now.

There is the issue of pension for former governors and there are comments as regards the unprecedented pension matter in the history of this state. Can you clarify some grey areas?
Well, I think you are right, there has been a lot of misrepresentations. First of all, the governor had nothing to do with it and it was a private bill. I was able to get a copy of it and I made my own comments.

For example, talking about annual vacation and another one says building houses for governors and deputy governor and I personally said I don’t want the issue of even the allowances. I even said the pension from 100 per cent should be cut down to 50 per ent, and these are all stated and documented to show that definitely on my side, that is not what  it is all about. I have not signed the bill into law because I am still going back to the House on the issue of 50 per cent. I want them to have a look at that and one or two areas I will want them to review and consider.