By Chukwudi Nweje
Former National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Yinusa Adekunle Yusuff, is the Oyo North Senatorial Chairman of the PDP. In this interview, he speaks on the impact of the Governor Seyi Makinde administration in Oyo State and the preparedness of the PDP to reclaim the Presidency, among others.
Recently, a factional spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said the PDP-controlled government in the state cannot point to any meaningful achievement in over 30 months since Governor Seyi Makinde assumed office. How do you react to this?
The present administration in Oyo State under the leadership of Governor Makinde has, from inception, put in its best. The people of Oyo State started enjoying that congenial atmosphere right from the swearing-in venue, and the acceptance speech of the governor had given relief to the people of Oyo State, because from that venue, he pronounced the cancellation of the school levy that the immediate past administration imposed on the secondary school pupils.
The levy was N3,000. So, parents that have about five to six children in a school, who were relieved of N18,000 per term, know what it means and they cannot say that Governor Makinde’s administration has not done something meaningful. In place of that levy, the governor introduced the Educational Grant, which sees government paying the N3,000 per student per session.
So, Oyo State people have been feeling a sigh of relief since Governor Makinde was sworn-in.
Also, immediately he was sworn-in, he sprang into action by identifying a four point agenda as his cardinal points, which include; security of the state, health, education and economic expansion. The welfare of workers in the state also became the priority of the government. It is not even workers alone, the retirees that the immediate past administration pronounced dead, the governor made sure that from the date he was sworn in, he promised that their salaries and pensions would not exceed the 25th of every month. He has kept this promise till date even up to the point that one of our royal fathers, His Imperial majesty, the Alaafin of Oyo, commended him, saying he did not know how he was getting money to meet that promise, which is an achievement.
Look at the infrastructure projects that this administration has embarked upon. Governor Makinde is spreading the public works across the seven zones in the state. As you see him tarring one road or the other in Ibadan, he is also tarring another road in Oke-Ogun. The same thing applies in Ogbomoso axis and Oyo.
So, Oyo State residents are really feeling the positive impact of this government. It is only enemies of progress that will say this government has not achieved anything.
The government has always talked about renovating and remodeling at least one Primary Health Care Centre in one Electoral Ward. Maybe if this had been done, APC would not have criticized the government.
But the promise is being kept. Governor Makinde has proven that a government can keep its word; go to everywhere in Oyo State today, you would see at least one PHC being renovated or already completed in each of the 351 wards.
However, we do not expect APC to acknowledge this, because their government failed woefully in the health sector and it would be a great disservice to the party if they commend Governor Makinde for succeeding where their government failed Oyo State people—healthcare delivery.
But the APC would have a basis for its criticism…
What basis? There is no basis for what they are saying. They governed this state for eight years and there was not any tangible achievement. They ran a government that was indifferent to the plight of the people. Look at what happened in the education sector. The immediate past governors of Oyo and Osun states were from the same APC, but the former Oyo State governor never even thought of using the party that they shared together to discuss on how to solve the crisis, which has engulfed the LAUTECH for many years. He was not alive to his responsibilities.
But the present administration in Oyo State came in and solved that challenge permanently within 18 months. Tell me, if anyone says Makinde has not recorded any meaningful achievement and you hear that he secured the sole ownership of LAUTECH for Oyo State; solved a problem of over two decades in just two years, won’t you see through the criticism from the APC as a lie and a baseless attack?
Not only that, immediately Governor Makinde secured the sole ownership of LAUTECH, he decided to decentralise it. The governor realized that Oke-Ogun is the fruit basket of Oyo State and he brought the Faculty of Agriculture to Iseyin, which is in Oke-Ogun area.
I talked about infrastructure development embarked upon by this government earlier; do you know that the 65-kilometre Moniya-Iseyin road was started and completed by this administration? The 45-kilometre Saki-Ogbooro-Igboho road is ongoing and the 34-kilometre Iseyin-Oyo road is also ongoing. The government will soon flag off the construction of another road that will link Ogbomosho to Iseyin, which is about 76km. Are these not achievements? The previous administration of the APC did not record anything close to these achievements; in fact, they only constructed or rehabilitated a few intra-city roads in Ibadan, Iseyin and Ogbomoso and if you see the condition of those roads now, you will realise how the APC government wasted our state’s resources on valueless ventures.
But APC members are claiming that the Makinde government is merely completing projects started by its government?
Which projects did they start? The Saki Township road, which was started by the immediate past administration was abandoned. It is rare in the history of Nigeria for a government to take over an abandoned project and complete it, but the GSM administration has completed that 9.7 kilometres Saki Township road.
Look at agriculture, in a short time, Governor Makinde gave life to OYSADEP again, and last year, he made sure he gave relief to the farmers by giving them farm inputs, cassava stems, maize and some other things just to see that the economy of the state is boosted through agribusiness.
Talking about agribusiness, how well have local farmers, small holder farmers been carried along in this approach?
Well, we are being carried along. I said this because I am also a farmer. The government has given us some assistance to relieve us of some burdens. It gave us herbicides, improved seedlings like maize, cassava stems to plant. The government did not even stop at that, it embarked on training of young ones between age 18-30 under the Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project (YEAP) under the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA). The government has been paying for the training of these youths at CSS Integrated Farms, Nasarawa State and has promised that they will receive take-off grants. All these are telling us that the governor is focused on the development of Oyo State and his activities cut across all spheres of human existence.
From the projects you mentioned above, your senatorial district, Oyo North, appears to have enjoyed much government presence in the last 2 years and 7 months. As the chairman of Oyo North that covers 10 local government areas in Oke-Ogun and three in Ogbomoso, how assured are you that the people will reciprocate Governor Makinde’s good gesture in votes in case the governor decides to run again?
First, let me point out that the efforts of the Governor Makinde administration have reached all senatorial districts. As I said earlier, as the government has been building roads in Oyo North, he has been doing same in Oyo South and Oyo Central. The same applies for other projects in the education, health and security sectors.
Having said that, I can assure you that the people of Oke-Ogun are people that reciprocate gestures whenever they are shown good gestures. I know our people are very accommodating and they respect so much anybody that gives them respect.
The APC has been having issues organising its national convention, as it recently postponed the event till March, whereas, your party had a seamless national convention in October 2021. How would you rate the two parties with regards to internal democracy and forthcoming elections?
The PDP was in government for 16 years and because we have never tasted hardship, we have never tasted what happens to somebody who is out of government; we messed up and mismanaged the party. That was why we lost to APC in 2015.
Having now tried another situation entirely different from being in government, the PDP has learnt its lesson. It was as a result of having learnt our lesson that we had a very peaceful convention.
Our slogan now is ‘Rescue Nigeria,’ because Nigerians have lived with two husbands now. They lived with PDP and they know what PDP achieved and now that they are living with APC, you can see how people are groaning of hunger, high inflation rate and general hardship. Life has become so unbearable to people such that they are even praying that 2023 should come, so that they push the present administration out of the way.
So, whether they manage their convention well or not, insha Allah, we are going to defeat them and it is going to be the mother of all defeats.