Edo Commissioners, SSAs list will not be surprising - Taiwo Akerele [Exclusive Interview}

Mr Taiwo Akerele is the Chief of Staff to the All progressives Congress, APC led Edo state Government. In a chat with getitrightnigerians.com, the financial expert explains that this is the first time the list of commissioners and that of Senior Special Assistant will not be a surprise or shock to the people. 

 

Akerele also talked about the various policies of Governor Godwin Obaseki, recently concluded Okpekpe race, crisis in the APC as well as the Gelegele free zone initiative which is causing much controversy as to the land ownership.

Excerpt:

Meet the Chief of Staff to Edo state Government, Mr Taiwo Ozometu Akerele

My name is Taiwo Akerele, I am originally from Igarra, Akoko-Edo local government area of Edo state. I finished my secondary school in Igarra before I went to the University of Benin and after my first degree I proceeded to the University of Ibadan, where I did my masters degree program. After my masters degree I proceeded to Campton University in Canada where I did a program in development evaluation then of course I was also at the Steringbus University Cape Town for a Knowledge management programme.

I have attended the United Institute of Peace in the US, I also schooled in Singapore Institute of Technology. I have attended courses at the University of California Berkley and also attended programmes at the Lagos business school.

In terms of my work experience, I introduce myself as a banker because I started work as a banker right from camp I was recruited into the Old fidelity merchant bank from there I proceeded to FCMB. While doing my masters at Ibadan, I also worked at the Lagos Business school center for applied economics,  that is where I met people like Professor Pat Utomi, Prof Eliedo, Prof Okonedo and a few others in the catholic society that established the business school. I also worked as a director of the Center of value Leadership, a UK organization. I also have experience in volunteering for community development.

In 2008 I was appointed Senior Special Assistant to governor of Edo state who was newly inaugurated and I was deployed to economic team and  was the coordinator of the economic team chaired by Governor Godwin Obaseki as the then chairman of the economic Team. We worked very closely together for 3 years before I was seconded to the SEEFOR project as the project coordinator for the world bank project in Edo state.

In the course of managing the SEEFOR project we carried out a lot of activities including public works programme where I had the opportunity to employ about 5000 young people across the state and also intervened in many communities through road construction. We also used our window to support technical colleges in Edo state where we deployed $300, 000 per school for renovation and training of teachers. I also worked very closely with the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, Auditor General’s office, Office of the Information and communication Technology role supported with some resources to strengthen their capacity, before I was announced as Chief of Staff to the Edo state government.

 I have worked very closely with some politicians in my local government to deliver for the All Progressives Congress, I am very happy with that experience because I met with a lot of people while politicking. You know as somebody coming from the banking sector; unexposed to political environment, it has been very interesting and you can see the relationship between governance, development and politics.

So where did the flare for politics come in?

My participation in politics is by default. I mean when you are appointed straight from the industry, from the oil and gas, banking or communication sector into governance, you are bound to support the governor or President by all means to deliver. And how do you do that, you have to work with the people that he is working with, you have to work with the platform that brought him into that office. So it’s automatic and it has been very interesting so far. Politics is good and I encourage young people to be involved in it because that is the only way you can impact on people.

Sir, looking at the just concluded Okpekpe race, what would you say is its effect on the polity of the state?

The popular participation in Okpekpe race has opened a new window of discussion around youth inclusiveness in development and governance. How do we use sports as a window to galvanize the people, to bring the people together to be part of the governance process. I mean I was very impressed with the level of participation where you find student running against cultism, women running against trafficking, people running against cancer, and people running for the prizes. You can use sports to campaign against social vices, to campaign for good governance and to gather support for a particular course. So for me next year, I will have to run for something dear to me.

But Some  are the views that the race is a waste of public fund, especially since foreigners always take home the prize money…

The Okpekpe race is a private sector driven initiative. The government didn’t put a dime into it. What the government did was to provide security and that is one of the major project that government has embarked on this year and yet no money was spent there.

This government  wants to use different platforms to achieve its purpose. Your own is to come out with a programme or objective and you will see people queue in. Money is not the first thing that is what we have come to realize in governance. You can use government as a legitimate foundation to attract resources from over the world. So its not just about who took first or last, but more about running for a cause, and you could see alot of economic activities taking place simultaneously in the area

How effective have the policies embarked upon by this administration been on the state so far?

The first that was very interesting to us and far reaching which we got a lot of accolades from was the issue of revenue of collection. You will recall that government banned the collection of revenue by people who are not authorized to do so by the law. So the internal revenue service is the only agency empowered to collect revenue. That is one policy that has elicited a lot of reaction and people really commended the government and we have initiative to sustain it.

We have also moved to decongest the city center. We have appealed to the people of Edo state to remain calm while we come up with alternative routes for transportation system in the city where permanent Terminal Park for loading and offloading passengers will be created.

Then, we also have the CDA bill that was recently passed into law concerning land,  before now, some group of people today will sell land to one person and resell it to another person the next day. So the government banned that and there is a jail term for anybody that violates that law.

Apart from the regular payment of salaries, we have also developed a database of unemployed youths in the state. So those people who say they are unemployed, we encourage them to register on the Edo jobs platform so that when it is time for employment particularly the private sector driven employment, if a company comes to open up in Edo state we can tell them these are the unemployed.

One of the things we are also doing now is investment in agriculture. We have flagged off about 200 hectares of land in Sobe, we are flagging off Sugbenu, Agbede and other locations. At the end of the day, we are going to identify key factors in each local government and government will invest in land and give it to those people who are interested in agriculture.

So how soon will youths selected in the Edo jobs initiative start working?

We have started interviewing the traffic officers. It is on a priority base. There will be time for agric, environmental and other sector that we have identified. When the private sector also comes in we will deploy some to them.

Away from that, there are rumours that the governor plans to appoint commissioners resident outside the state, who don't even know the plight of their people, how true is that? and how efficient do you think these individuals would be at their jobs if given a chance in the system?

First, I will say let us wait for the commissioners to be announced before we conclude. Secondly, the people that are going to be appointed, are their competences in question?, how competent are these persons? Are you going to say because someone worked for the party and he is not a medical doctor, you go and make him commissioner for health? Or are you going to say because somebody is an engineer in John Hopkins University and somebody works so hard for the party who is also an engineer you will go and bring somebody from America to be commissioner for works when you have somebody who is competent at the local level.

So it is tie in, we are looking for people everywhere, it doesn’t matter whether they are resident in Edo state or not, it is how easily they are able to adjust to the new environment they finds themselves, connect to the local populace, identify with their people and their output as commissioners. That should be the interest. This is the first time the party is being given the opportunity to screen and nominates people. This is the first time, there will be no surprise, there will be no shock at to the people we are going to appoint as commissioners or as SSA because they are all recommended from the party including medical doctors, engineers and experts in different fields.

So the people should remain calm while the governor unveils his cabinet. I can assure you that Governor Obaseki will not disappoint the people of Edo state.

Lets talk about the recent crisis in your party, the APC and especially the suspension of some party members...

There are crisis anywhere in the world but the key issue is how well it is resolved. The APC has an internal mechanism to resolve crisis and the government can’t be interfering in party matters. APC is strong, united and ready to move the people of Edo stat forward and I can assure you there is no crisis in the party. APC is strong, united and very ready to move the state forward.

What is Govt's Position on the Gelegele controversy and the recent arrest of some youths in the state?

You see, in political economy there are usually competition for resources, relevance and competition for  govt patronage and competition for development. Yet there is no where in the world where the people would tell you they don't want development. The controversial issue has always been about the land and resources ownership. There will be development; there will be schools, infrastructural development, good houses, port and a lot of economic activities but who owns what?

I did developmental studies, up till now people are still saying that they own American originally, that they are American India. So everywhere in the world there are always people who claim original ownership of a place but the key issue to be considered "is', is there is a united front and the people  want  the initiative to come to them. There is a consensus that there is need for it but who gets what and how is the question that is been debated... and government is  fully looking into it

As for the arrest and detention of citizens in the state, that question is for security operatives or the court to answer.

What should the people of Edo expect in the next one year?

A lot; Most of the initiative we are putting in place now in the next few months people will start seeing the impact. Like the Gelegele, the Benin Technical College; the governor is investing massively in the renewal of the college. We want to grow the enrollment figure to 5000 per section and we are going to encourage females to be enrolled in that school to discourage child trafficking, to encourage skill acquisition and to encourage middle level man power development. We are partnering with the Catholic Church, European government and the World Bank but essentially most of the investment going there is 70 percent state government as part of our skill acquisition development programme so that we can bridge the gap between industrialization and man power.

Because we can’t be talking of industrialization and when it is time to supply the man power side we are going to Benin Republic or Ghana to bring people. We want to develop our people to be skilled and skillful and to be man power ready to be absorbed into industries coming to the state.

The government is not just focusing on Benin Technical College; we are also going outside Benin. When we finish with Benin, we will move to other places like Afuze technical school and others and before you know it we have developed the four technical colleges in the state. And we are also partnering with Ossiomo Power, Siemens to supply electricity to some part of the state so in the next one year there will be stability of power supply. That way it will reduce the operating cost of some of the industry in Edo state that will increase the number of hours the people work particularly the SMEs that will encourage employment and reduce unemployment and crime.

In the next one year, you will also see many agriprenures who have become millionaires because of their investment and interest in Agriculture. So in the next 12 months we are going to showcase the new set of agripreneurs we have produced in the state and that is part of the 200, 000 jobs the governor promised.

Also the  power plant will be ready very soon, the NIPP plant is almost ready, we are investing in solid minerals in Edo North, we are investing in critical infrastructures all over the state. So some places that were hitherto untouched will be touched and opened up.

I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the people of Edo state to support this government because the state has suffered so much in the past. Thank God for Oshiomhole for the much he did, we campaigned on the basis of continuity and we are going to complete all ongoing projects aside the new ones we have started.