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Amosun:the lies and concoctions of an overwhelmed Governor
-By ‘Sina Kawonise
30-06-11
At a time when the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun,
should be concentrating on the task of real governance
after one month of heat without motion, he has once again
chosen to play to the gallery and blame his predecessor for what
is now clearly his cluelessness in handling the affairs of the
state. This is the only way right thinking people would view his
"State of the State Address" where, instead of charting the way
forward, he laboured endlessly to blame the last administration
for everything under the sun and deliberately twisted facts to
prepare the people for his soon-to-be unfolded hidden agenda. .
Let us state clearly from the outset that the Address was meant
as an advance warning to the people of Ogun state and to serve
as a red herring for an administration which, from all
indications, is now overwhelmed by the enormity of the
responsibility of governance.It is really sad that the Governor,
in order to hoodwink the people, only dwelt on the liabilities
he inherited when a first year student of accounting is aware
that there are two sides to an account, namely:
ASSETS AND LIABILITIES.
Senator Amosun deliberately did not tell the people of Ogun
State that he inherited assets far in excess of the liabilities.
For instance we are aware that because of the proactive policy
of making Ogun State the first choice for investors, the Free
trade zones in Igbesa and Olokola are now yielding resources
into the coffers of government. At the last count, the Free
Trade Zone in Igbesa has industrial concerns that have employed
more than 7,000 people in direct employment, with triple that
figure in indirect employment. Indeed from the one in olokola
where the last administration invested a total of N15
million, $15 million(N2.325b) in ground rent is now due for
payment to the Ogun State government. The industrialization
policies of the OGD-led administration brought into Ogun State
66 companies with a combined direct investment in excess of
N100b. A direct benefit of this was the cheering news late last
year by the National Bureau of Statistics which put the
unemployment rate of Ogun State at 8.5 percent far below the
national average of 19.5 percent.
The Abeokuta City Centre land which was freed up after a new
Secretariat was built will also yield an estimated N7b for the
government. This is apart from the multi billion naira Opic
Plaza, multi purpose Events Centre in Isheri, the Power Project,
the more than 30 Housing Estates, the three FIFA-rated
stadia, the water projects scattered all over the state, and
more than 1,500 other economic and social projects well
documented precisely because of the anticipated obscurantism of
malevolent minds that might want to distort history and
mislead the people. Cumulatively, therefore, it is obvious that
the assets left behind by our administration are far more than
the liabilities being used as a convenient tool of
political blackmail by Amosun and excuse for impending
anti-people, anti-labour measures and eventual non-performance.
Before we go on to expose the many erroneous claims and complete
falsehood in Amosun's Address, it is important for us to alert
the people of Ogun State that his real intention is to prepare
the mind of the people for the Bond Market (which during our
administration he condemned and called "Bond of Bondage"), the
proceeds of which will be used to award contracts to godfathers
and cronies that funded his electoral campaign. We are aware
that Senator Amosun is under relentless pressure to deliver on
the IOUs that he took before coming to office, and the only way
his intellect could direct him to deliver is to force a regime
of multiple taxations and other levies and charges on the people
of Ogun state and deny labour their legitimate earnings in the
current demand for the minimum wage. He deliberately painted the
grim picture to ward off the labour unions from asking for their
rights.
CONCESSION OF NON PERFOMING GOVERNMENT VENTURES
For the umpteenth time, we affirm that the concessions of all
the non-performing government companies and ventures were done
in the best interest of the State and in line with best
practices under the Private Public Partnership(PPP)
arrangement. The concessioned ventures were not bringing
in any money to the State and were essentially drain
pipes. We chose the concession arrangement rather than outright
sale as many states have done to preserve our common patrimony
and ensure a win-win situation for the State. In the case
of the Gateway Hotels, they could not meet the objectives for
which they were set up and there was a need to reconsider
government funding. To achieve this the OGD administration
opted to involve private investors in the management and/or
ownership of the hotels. Both due diligence and due
process were followed all through the transactions. The move was
intended to, amongst other objectives, ensure efficient
management of the ventures and generation of higher
returns and employment for the teeming populace of the state and
ultimately partner with the private sector to drive
sustainable development in the economic sector. Other
concessions that were carried out followed the same pattern .
And we affirm that the concession option is what is prevailing
everywhere as it has been found out with verifiable evidence
that commercial ventures handled by government rarely thrive.
That was what informed the divestment of the Federal Government
from its ownership of NICON NOGA hotel, the MM2 local airport
concessioned for 36 years, among others. Even in Lagos State,
where Governor Amosun's godfathers hold sway, the Lekki
Expressway was concession for 30 years! It was in the light of
the soundness of the concession imperative that the Federal
Government, by an Act of the National Assembly, set up the
Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission(ICRC). Oh, who
will rouse the new power people in Ogun State from the slumber
of their economic illiteracy?
THE POWER PROJECT
WE are shocked that the Governor would deliberately twist
facts just to score cheap political points. All the equipments
procured for the power project, contrary to the misinformation
of Governor Amosun, met the required standard in use
today. They were certified by the Standard Organisation of
Nigeria (SON) before their procurement in China andafter they
were shipped into the country. The equipment are usually never
available off the shelf; they are manufactured upon an order for
them. Not only were the equipment bought for the state brand
new, they are state-of-the-art in modern mini power stations.
But Governor Amosun could just verify this claim from the 17
civil servants of the state sent to China for training in the
maintenance of the power plants who were part of the whole
process of the manufacture and delivery of the equipment. When
the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan, visited the State last year with his energy team, he
not only attested to the viability of the power project , he
also saluted the vision that gave birth to what would add to the
quantum of power available in the country if tenaciously
followed. During the commissioning of a part of the project just
about 5 weeks ago, the former Minister of State for Power, Mr
Nuhu Wya, described it as a model that other states should
take a cue from.
But it is perplexing why a supposedly educated Governor would
fail to see the imperative of such a power project. It became
very obvious to us that without building the power plants, the
Water Works upgraded and newly built would not serve their
purpose. The reason why the state often has water shortages is
not because there isn't enough processed water to pump to the
populace but because there is no electricity to power the water
works. For this crucial reason and the need to provide adequate
power supply to government establishments, installations,
tertiary educational and health institutions, among others, the
power project was conceived and executed. By taking off the
government establishments from the national grid, the power
normally transmitted to the state would then be freed up to
serve domestic and industrial concerns that sorely need the
energy. The overall goal of this was to give a serious push to
the industrialisation drive of Ogun State. And on the point of
fact, the total amount billed to be spent on the total capacity
of the 47 megawatts is N11.2 billion, not the N15billion
mischievously claimed by the Governor. We say it again that
anyone occupying the high office of the Governor of a state
should be truthful, factual and honest at all times.The
authority, honor and integrity of such high offices demand such.
LAND MATTERS
THE allocation of land was transparently done and it is
important for us to note that in the process of ensuring that
Ogun became the leading investment destination of choice in the
country, we adopted a liberalised land policy. We are
proud that under our administration, areas which hitherto were
backwaters and which nobody wanted to come to do business have
become havens for investors who were encouraged, through various
incentives, to set up business ventures. The same policy was
adopted to attract many property developers and promoters of
housing estates who have now made Ogun State the fastest growing
property market in the country. The value they add to the lives
of our people and the benefits to our economy far outweigh the
concessions we gave them on the purchase of land.It is therefore
illogical for anybody to compare the fees paid for land in Lagos
to that paid in Ogun State.
DEBT MANAGEMEMT
It is also not correct that ogun state as at today has the
highest level of indebtedness in the country. Contrary to the
impression created by Senator Amosun, Lagos State in the last
5years has accessed N290b from the bond market, Rivers has just
floated a bond of N250b while Bayelsa has done the same to the
tune of N50b. Osun state just did N30b refinancing loan from a
first generation bank. Kano has a debt of N108b, etc, etc.
Indeed the Debt Management Office (DMO) under the Presidency
recently stated that Ogun state had managed its debt very well
and was one of the states with the least borrowing in the
country. The assessment of the DMO was based on the current IGR
of the state which we increased from the less than N200m monthly
we inherited in 2003 to N1b in 2011 and the projected increase
to N2b in another year or two if our applauded industrialisation
policy and drive are sustained. And when the cash and contingent
liabilities are contrasted with the quantum of projects executed
in the last eight years, nobody would be in doubt that the
resources of the state were well managed . It is noteworthy that
Governor Amosun claimed to have borrowed money to pay May
salaries, pension and other running costs. That was exactly what
we had to do on several occasions because the Ogun State House
of Assembly, with the encouragement of the likes of Amosun and
his cohorts, prevented our administration from accessing funds
from cheap sources that would have freed up the huge interests
paid on expensive short term bank facilities. By the time Amosun
takes this sort of loan on a couple of times, he'll know how
quickly such accumulates to become the amount of debt he is
currently crying about.
In all of these, we quite appreciate the predicament of a
Governor who dubiously promised heaven and earth to both his
godfathers and the electorate in order to win election only to
discover that the reality on the ground does not support the
assumptions and promises made. Given such reality, for which we
cried out when were in government and for which Amosun called us
liars, we quite understand why OGD and the government he headed
would become the wiping boy and the convenient alibi for a
failure that stares our new Governor in the face.
Finally, we await the next round of dummies that the Amosun
Administration would sell to the people of Ogun State to cover
its cluelessness and non performance. Regular bashing of the OGD
administration would work some of the time but it can not work
all the time.
'Sina Kawonise,Former Commissioner for Information and
Orientation,Ogun State.
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