Date: 2014-08-12

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed on Media & Publicity, Muyideen Akorede opined in his rejoinder to my initial article (Osun Election Post Mortem: I Bring Glad Tidings To Kwara PDP, dated 11/08/14) that I was alarmed at Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola's re-election. Nothing could be further from the truth. I, along with other rational individuals welcomed Aregbesola's re-election because Aregbesola has earned his re election.

Before now, Aregbesola had worked tirelessly since his assumption of office in 2010. His re-election therefore, demonstrated that hard work does pay off. If anyone is panicked as a result of Osun's gubernatorial election, it is you Mr. Akorede and the government that you represent.

In the midst of all these, you and I ought to be able to agree that the February 2015 election in Kwara will be a referendum not only on your primary boss; AbdulFatah Ahmed but on your secondary boss; Bukola Saraki - the puppeteer - as well. We can also agree that since the administration in which you are a spokesman has a record spanning close to three and a half years now, you people should be able to run on that record. Again, the difference between the administration in which you are a part and that of Osun is that while Aregbesola was busy changing Osun in meaningful, tangible ways, the AbdulFatah Ahmed administration was busy window dressing. In three and half years of the Ahmed administration, we have several proofs on how the administration has misappropriated billions of Naira that belonged to the Kwara commonwealth. Again, if the February 2015 election will be about the record of the Ahmed administration, you have already lost. At its best, yours is a mediocre record.

In your rejoinder, you also claimed some non-existent accomplishments and yet you provided no evidence. I must ask you again, what are these high achievements of the Ahmed administration that we the people of Kwara do not know about? Clearly, ordinary Kwarans are yet to either see or feel these imaginary accomplishments.

Some of the mediocre items you listed as achievements could very well be in the To – do list of a council chairperson not befitting the office of a state governor with far more responsibilities. A hundred used taxi cabs to support Kwara state transporters in a state with 16 LGAs and 193 Wards? How are they supposed to share these vehicles? What meaningful impact would it have on the state's transport sector? You claimed that the Ahmed administration reduced tuition fees at the state university but what you failed to say was that by reducing the fees from N150, 000 to N95, 000 and allowing departmental fees in the range of between N35,000 - N50,000, KWASU is still one of the most expensive state universities in Nigeria. In the state of Osun, the state university tuition is N45,000, in Lagos, it is N25,0000, and in Ondo, the tuition is N30,000. All of these fees are within the reach of the common man. I personally know many Kwara state civil servants that collect loan after loan to pay for their kids at KWASU.

Your claim that the Ahmed administration has abolished fees at the senior secondary school level is true with a caveat. The Ahmed administration abolished fees at the senior secondary school level but did not fund the schools. As a result, the principals have resorted to self help by charging the students PTA levy of around N300 - N400 per student. This is what they use in administering their schools in the absence of state support. So while the Ahmed administration has indeed abolished the former N600 public School fees, the same administration refused to fund the schools and inevitably, the students and their parents still had to part with around N400 in levies. Talk of giving with the right hand and collecting right back with the left. This is another duplicitous agenda in a long list of many from the stable of the Ahmed administration.

Your claim of free notebooks to senior secondary schools in Kwara does not match with the reality on ground in our public senior secondary schools. Which schools did you give the free note books to that we are not aware of?

You also claimed that 400 communities were connected to the electricity grid by the Ahmed administration but in the document circulated by the Ahmed administration to Kwarans in Lagos, it showed a total of 30 communities were connected. The communities allegedly connected are: Owode Kekere, Apado, Woru Oja, Medinatu Faida, Jabi, Kure, Famole, Bukanu, Woro, Yibacheko & Shaban, Tunga Sukababa, Yesele Adio, Agbaku, Agar, Ojutaiye, Gaa Kawu, Agbaku Awuyan, Ogbagba, Koro & Yagbagi, Seku Owode, Alasoro, Osin Ayekale, Gaa Tekun, Kabba Kajola, Amberi, Falokun, Ikotun, Qawiyy community and a few others. Where are the remaining 370 communities?

Mr. Akorede, you tout your doctorate degree at every turn, yet you failed the basic test required of researchers and members of the academe in which you are a part. From one member of the academe to another, I must say that I am highly disappointed in your claims. How could you claim to have electrified 400 communities without listing their locations, why not provide evidence based assertions and lend credibility to your claims? How could you, Muyideen Akorede, a member of the academe (by virtue of having a PhD) make claims that are not evidence based?

Be assured that the thirty communities that you claimed in your Lagos document to have connected to the national grid are presently been visited by our field workers to ascertain the veracity of your claims. The days when you make untrue claims in Kwara are long gone. Please advise your principal that henceforth, any word from him or anyone of you will be vigorously verified.

We have the manpower, the intellectual capacity and the resources to do this; we are already in the field verifying your claims and soon enough we will publish our findings for the benefit of all Kwarans.

Now let's go over the issue of the still born Quickwin program of the Ahmed administration. You claimed that I made unfounded allegations but yet you couldn't rebut my claim that you people are skimming funds off both the new Quickwin program and the KWABES before it. Again, we have incontrovertible evidence from the participating institutions to support our allegations. I also believe that you know that we are saying the truth but I sympathize with you because you cannot bring yourself to admit this in the public sphere.

In one breath, you claimed that since inception, the Ahmed administration has "employed" 5000 youths in the KWABES program and that 2000 of them have been transitioned into state government pensionable jobs. Could you please avail Kwarans the names and offices where these 2000 young people are posted so that we can verify your claims of having employed 2000 youths into the civil service? Kwarans, please be aware that we have written the Kwara state government severally under the freedom of information act to supply some information to us but they have refused.

Even though I conveniently did not mention the administration's misappropriation of funds in renovating the five general hospitals, you had to find a way to force the issue. Now that you have done so, could you at least tell Kwarans how much was expended on the project from start to finish? Our record shows several billions of Naira to renovate and equip the hospitals. Our findings also showed that the five hospitals could have been renovated and equipped for about 55 percent of the total cost that was expended. 45 percent of the total cost was in our findings allegedly misappropriated. Perhaps, you can avail the public the true picture of things before our findings are published. Please, also make sure to give the breakdown of all funds spent at the five hospitals in your reply. I expect you as the Ahmed administration spokesman to not behave like Kamaldeen Ajibade, the attorney general, you as the official spokesman having forced the issue of the five general hospitals need to come clean to Kwarans on how much was actually spent and how it was spent. Kwarans deserve the right to know.

Your claims to have equipped 13 other general hospitals and 42 primary health care centres are still under investigation. The billions of Naira that have been spent on water reticulation by the previous Bukola Saraki administration and the present Ahmed administration has not brought water to significant parts of Ilorin. The other water works around the state functions at best at abysmal levels. Bukola Saraki and Ahmed administrations have grounded the local councils hence these water works will continue to suffer neglect.

Your claim that the Community Health Insurance Scheme is a wholly owned Kwara state government initiative is false. The Community Health Insurance Scheme is a world health organization initiative and funded by the WHO.

You asked for constructive alternatives from us, we have given you several cost effective alternatives but you wouldn't take them. We understand why you wouldn't take our cost effective and value adding ideas, our ideas saves Kwara significant amount of money and will better deliver results while your ideas rob the tax payers and delivers little.

On the issue of KWABES, we have advised you to remove the ghost workers built into the system. If you claim that it is a bridge employment, we have advised you to pay the minimum wage of N18,000. Be guided that the federal government SURE-P program is not a bridge employment scheme like the Kwara state government's. Sure-P is a five hour Monday - Friday volunteer scheme more like the Peace Corps in the USA. We hereby advise you to get to work on areas of policy and place the young KWABES beneficiaries in appropriate public institutions where they can be productive and not idle. With a minimum wage and enhanced productivity, perhaps, the other young beneficiaries that usually skip work may start showing more productive interest.

Currently, we have proof that these young people are been used as messengers in the offices where they are currently posted. We also hasten to advise you that if there are not enough public institutions that can take them productively, you could enlist the help of private firms like Tuyil pharmaceutical to take these young citizens. The state government is advised to continue to pay their minimum wage and post them to these private firms on the memorandum of understanding that if found to be fit and proper these young graduates will be employed in the organization after a period of one year when the state government will discontinue their minimum wage allowance. In any case, in a situation where these young people are not employed by the private firms, they would have learned some life skills that will aid them in their journey through life and also one that will make them productive members of the society.

On the international vocational centre, we insist that this is a white elephant project that lacks long term sustainability. We proposed that the same funds could have been invested in establishing 16 smaller vocational centres in each LGA. The city and guilds accreditation wouldn't have been a problem in this instance. The things that are important are the curriculum, the quality control and the tools.

We also insist that the state government does not have a business owning an Aviation college and a commercial diagnostic centre. Now, allow me to explain, the Aviation College would have been good for Kwara if the former Governor had brought in foreign investors to establish one; but why use meager state funds to massage an individual ego? On the Diagnostic centre, the same issue applies. The state does not have a business having a commercial diagnostic centre while simultaneously destroying hospital laboratories across the state. It would have been more beneficial for Kwara, if the former Governor again, had brought foreign investors to establish the centre while simultaneously equipping and upgrading state government hospital laboratories across the state. This is a win – win approach.

Let's go back to the issue of the Shonga farms, suffice it to say that the Shonga farm can be likened to a used vehicle bought at the price of a brand new one. It would never yield a profit for the businessman or woman that puts such a vehicle to use in the transport sector. We have the details of the financial implication of the Shonga Farms and if left in your hands, thirty years from now, it will remain unprofitable.

You also cleverly inserted the issue of cassava exports to Hong Kong, I am fully aware that the cassava chips that you tried to appropriate as coming from Shonga actually comes from our small farmers across Kwara.

We know that a firm associated with Shonga Farms Holdings domiciled in the premises of the Kwara Hotels, Ilorin, serves as the clearing house for the exports. This is the company that buys the cassava chips from the local small farmers and prepares them for exports. The cassavas are not grown in Shonga Farms.

And finally to tag us as PDP sympathizers will be too simplistic. We are sympathizers to the plight of ordinary Kwarans who are being abused daily by their own government. We are not card carrying members of any political party. Our membership cuts across the academia, the professional class, the business class, serving and former cabinet members that are disillusioned with the purposeless Ahmed administration and some ordinary Kwarans who hold no title but are determined to fight for a better future for their kids. Hitherto, we had sympathies for the APC when it was a credible progressive party before you and your ilk polluted it. Remember the saying that honey will lose its honeyness if given by a leprous hand. The kind of government ran by Bukola Saraki and inherited by AbdulFatah Ahmed does not qualify for governance by any global yardstick. What you people have operated in Kwara is a criminal enterprise and it is nothing akin to a credible, people centered governance.

Come February 2015, Kwarans have a date with you and your gang.

Abdullahi Imam Abdullahi writes from Ilorin