Date: 2014-09-07

The All Progressives Congress' governors seem to be reversing policies in major areas such as education, job creation and workers' welfare in a move considered to be a ploy to appease voters ahead of the 2015 general elections, DAYO OKETOLA writes

Notwithstanding its victory in the August 9 Osun State governorship election that saw Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola returned for a second term in office, the All Progressives Congress has yet to forget the loss it suffered in the June 21 Ekiti State election. Dr. Kayode Fayemi's defeat sent shockwaves through the opposition party considering the fact that he was rooted to win the poll because of his performance. But he lost and analysts see his defeat as a reflection of the popularity of the APC across all the states where it is in control.

Also, a former Minister of External Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi, who recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, reinforced this thought, saying, "It is common knowledge that the vote against the very popular candidate Senator Chris Ngige in the Anambra governorship election and recently against one of the most successful governors, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was indeed a vote against Tinubu."

Ikimi described the APC as "a Tinubu party" and predicted mass protest votes against the party in the 2015 elections.

"The party has collapsed in very many states such as Adamawa, it is in distress in Edo, Ogun, Oyo, Lagos and Nasarawa," he had said.

Coincidentally, a Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, in a recent television programme monitored by Punch correspondent, had explained that any government in power requires a mix in balance proportion of politics, propaganda, polity and programmes to win the election in 2015. He is of the opinion that the APC had failed in satisfactorily mixing these elements in Lagos State, adding that this may affect the outcome of the 2015 elections.

In view of this, the APC is not leaving anything to chance in its bid to retain all the states it currently controls with the hope to capture more states from the PDP.

As such, the APC governors have embarked on mild review of policies deemed too harsh on the people and they are currently wooing diverse groups such as teachers, civil servants, students and National Union of Road Transport Workers, among others, ahead of the 2015 elections.

This has become imperative since it is widely believed that many people are not happy with the party across all its states. For instance, members of NURTW, who spoke with Punch correspondent, described APC administration in Lagos as "a government of one day one law" and vowed to vote for another party in the 2015 governorship election.

The Lagos State Government, in quick response to the threats posed by this development, is perhaps relaxing some of its policies perceived to be anti-people.

For instance, the government had reversed the tuition of the state university to its original fee of N25,000 across the different faculties and courses. This was after many protests by students of the university who had condemned the "high school fees" and had demanded its reduction.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Chief Fatai Olukoga, said, despite the reduction, the government would continue with its research fund, scholarship and bursary provisions and increased its spending on infrastructure and physical development of LASU.

But the Chairman, Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Capt. Tunji Shelle (retd), said, "The APC government of the day has disappointed and offended a lot of people by not being sensitive to the average Lagos residents. The leadership can afford to say anybody can go to hell. They have done it to the market women; they have done it to the commercial motorcyclists; they have done it to the civil servants. "When they increased LASU fees, they thought they could damn the consequences. They thought they could afford to ignore the students and their parents. Now election is coming, they are doing policy reversal in school fees of LASU. They are doing policy reversal even in the regulation of okada movement. Everybody knows that they only reversed the LASU school fees because of election."

The Lagos State Government, which appears undeterred, had also absorbed 880 Kick Against Indiscipline personnel into the state's civil service as permanent staff.

Governor Babatunde Fashola said the development was part of ongoing restructuring to reposition the brigade for better service delivery to the public.

In similar vein, Oyo State government had increased the salaries of civil servants in the state by between 10 and 30 per cent, depending on the grade level of each worker. This came barely 48 hours after Governor Abiola Ajimobi approved the outstanding promotions of teachers.

The governor, who expressed his administration's commitment to the welfare of workers, added that the 10 Ajumose buses would convey workers free.

With the death of Abdul-Azeez Alao-Arisekola, Ajimobi is left with a huge job of retaining the supporters of the late business mogul and the empire of people he built with philanthropic activities. Having also benefitted from this large support base who are mostly Moslems, Ajimobi was aware of the danger of allowing other political parties to penetrate the group.

The Ramadan period provided a golden opportunity which the governor used to his advantage. He opened the doors of the Government House to all and provided free meal everyday for people to break their fast. It worked as Moslem clerics in the state sang his praise on various religious programmes.

The Edo State Government had also reversed its decision to conduct a competency test for teachers in the state, and had recalled the 936 teachers who were sacked over certificate discrepancies and age falsification.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole, in a meeting with the teachers' union and the Nigeria Labour Congress, said that government's earlier decision to conduct the competency test was prompted by the need to uplift the standard of education in the state and the discovery that some teachers were not qualified.

He said, "Our insistence on the competency test must be seen in this light. However, having listened to all suggestions and consultations with various groups, government has agreed to set aside the competency or assessment test in order to re- assure Edo State workers that it has no intention to sack anyone."

He said in place of the test, government would introduce training and re-training programmes for teachers and other civil servants with welfare packages during such trainings.

It will be recalled that the APC in Osun State had embarked on several stakeholders meetings aimed at pacifying workers and other groups in the state thought to be unhappy with the Aregbesola administration shortly before the election.

The APC government in Osun was also said to have even borrowed money from its counterparts in Rivers, Lagos and other states under the control of the party to pay workers' salaries before the election. This was done to ensure that the workers vote for Aregbesola.

The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, in a statement signed by its chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, had alleged that the APC governors' action enabled Aregbesola's government, "which apparently lacks respect for the welfare of workers,"to pay workers part of their July salaries.

The APC had said the payment of the salaries of workers was aimed at boosting their confidence in the administration.

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has reportedly launched a "welfarist agenda" aimed at paying more attention to the people's welfare in order not to lose the second term election.

Amosun had recently handed over severance cheques to former political appointees that served between 2007 and 2011.

Civil servants in the state are now being paid their monthly salaries earlier than before and this, according to analysts, is aimed at pacifying civil servants many of who felt they were not getting a fair treatment from the current administration.

The APC in Kwara has also focused on youth empowerment programmes, grassroots mobilisation and empowerment of artisans, traders, commercial drivers and commercial cyclists as part of efforts to ensure that the party wins in the forthcoming elections.

The spokesperson for APC in Lagos State, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the state government slashed LASU tuition fees to prevent PDP from using it to play cheap politics.

He said, "A sound and very good policy we put in place to lift the standard of LASU was being politicised, that was why we had to reverse it so that the people who don't believe in performance to get into power will not be able to use it to play politics again.

"The PDP, which controls the Federal Government, has not done anything in the past 15 years. The party only uses the money it has stolen to bait people during elections. That is what the PDP wants to do in Lagos. So, we didn't want to leave the party to grab LASU for cheap politics."

"How many policies have we reversed," Igbokwe asked.

He said, "For the past 15 years we have been battling with the issue of power. The PDP-led Federal Government has increased the pump price of fuel several times. It is also increasing school fees in its own universities; students have protested at Obafemi Awolowo University and University of Lagos."

"That was how the PDP played politics with the activities of commercial motorcyclists. We restricted the activities of the motorcyclists on 495 out of nearly 10,000 roads in order to save lives and reduce crime. The PDP also banned motorcyclists in Abuja, Akwa Ibom and Delta states.

"The PDP needs to show Nigerians what it has done that makes it deserve to win Lagos State."

The Ogun State APC spokesperson, Mr. Sola Lawal, who corroborated Igbokwe in a telephone interview with our correspondent, also said, "No government of APC particularly in the South-West can be jittery over the 2015 election. Although the party lost in Ekiti State, we won overwhelmingly in Osun State. This goes to show that the party still enjoys acceptance among the populace in the South-West.

"There is nothing any government controlled by APC is doing or has done that will suggest that there is panic involved because of the 2015 elections.

"Though the PDP controls the Federal Government, its hold on the central government is very tenuous with myriads of challenges all over the country such as Boko Haram, corruption, mismanagement, poor economy, hunger and disease, among others.

"The fact is that the PDP has no place in the South-West. The PDP cannot imagine itself not being in government in a whole region."