Date: 2016-01-05

As we entered the new year 2016, I was inspired by a legislator in the Kwara State House of Assembly; this particular legislator has sort of inspired me for some time now because even though those of us in opposition can rightly lump him together with everything that is wrong with the state; he has demonstrated through words and action that he is a different kind of politician. His dilemma, I assume can be likened to an island in a sea of water. This feeling of inspiration by a lone Kwara legislator in the new year was short lived when I learnt that Kwara state governor, AbdulFatah Ahmed shortly after throwing a birthday bash for himself and his coterie on the 29th of December, 2015 - went on to jet out to Dubai, United Arab Emirate for a vacation with his family – this is particularly galling because there are different categories of workers in Kwara who haven't been paid for over three months.

Now, I am not begrudging a man his vacation and time with his family. As a private citizen working in the private sector, I just came back from a week vacation myself. But here is the difference, as a public official elected to oversee a state with a land mass bigger than that of Belgium and a population of about a half of Norway; Kwara is too big and populous for its number one citizen to be on vacation in another country with better facilities in the middle of a financial crisis at home. This is an act of irresponsible leadership.

Anyone who is familiar with Kwara - knows that the state government and its local governments owe employees many months of unpaid salaries. Before now, out of concern for family members and friends, I wrote an op – Ed on this same issue in October of 2015. Before my op – Ed, Farooq Kperogi, PhD, an assistant Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA and a fellow Kwaran was also concerned and wrote an Op – Ed in his Daily Trust newspaper column on this same issue. And of course, my older brother, Mr. Isiaq Modibbo Kawu has been consistent in telling the Kwara state government to do right by their employees. But of course, as is typical of those who have been running Kwara since 2003, they don't listen to wise counsel and especially from those they consider as their political enemies. But they are mistaken, because none of us three, yours truly, Farooq Kperogi, Mr. Isiaq Modibbo Kawu and many other concerned Kwarans with a voice are enemies of the state, we are in the Kwara project together. We have as much stake in Kwara as AbdulFatah Ahmed and their coteries. If Kwara wins, we win together and in this present circumstance, the pain of an average unpaid Kwara employee is our collective pain.

When I learnt that AbdulFatah Ahmed went on vacation to Dubai, I was dumbfounded. I remember in my previous position as a Multi Brand General Manager with Yum Brands Inc, a fortune 500 global company, I would not be able to go to bed if any of my employees missed their paycheck due to the courier company being late or some other happenstance. I cannot even imagine my employees not getting paid for work they have already put in. while the circumstances in the private and the public sectors are different, one thing is shared between both sectors, that is leadership. It doesn't need to be repeated that in order to be successful both in the private and public sectors, one has to be the kind of leader that carries his or her people along and puts their interest ahead of his/he own. What moral justification would I have as a leader to go on vacation where I will spend millions of Nairas on myself and family when many of my employees are not able to afford a daily meal?

In the worst possible scenario of a total economic collapse and all economic ideas have failed, I would not throw up my hands in the air and be helpless. And worse, I will not throw a birthday party and go on a luxurious vacation when my people are suffering economically. In such a situation, we will go through that hardship together. There is no way in any part of the civilized world where this type of charade will happen. What we are witnessing in Kwara at the moment is a complete failure of leadership and the only way to restore Kwara is for us Kwarans to insist to be taken seriously by those in government. Abdulfatah Ahmed has close to three and a half years left in his tenure, as Kwarans, we cannot wait till another election cycle to ask for good governance, the father that works for the state or local government and is unable to provide for his family shouldn't have to be told to continue to wait. A young person who is working with the state or local government and is the breadwinner in his family whose aged parents rely on for stipends shouldn't have to be told to continue to wait for salaries that seem to never materialize. As I stated in my last intervention on this issue, the crisis of unpaid salaries in Kwara has its casualties in people. And they are not mere statistics; they are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, uncles and aunts. They are our Kwara family and when they work four weeks in a month and are not paid their salaries, as family members, we should be concerned. Top on the list of those who ought to be more concerned are those who have asked these same people to vote them into office on a promise that they have the right answers to confront the issues of the day.

One of AbdulFatah Ahmed's coterie in Kwara governance suggested that those of us calling the state government out to face its responsibilities are not providing any solution but to use his words are displaying what he termed "pathological hatred" whatever that means.

One, it's a further admission of a paucity of ideas to claim that you are waiting on the opposition to offer you ideas pro bono when the very basis for you being in office is your claim that you have the ideas to move Kwara forward.

Second, as I stated earlier, many of us who yearn for a more inclusive and a greater Kwara do so only because we know that we are not contented until each and every Kwaran who works hard and play by the rules is taken care of. That is our only goal, we do not have any pathological hatred (whatever that means) towards those of you presently in either the state or local governments, our contention has always been that many of you are severely unprepared and are not equipped for the challenges of 21st century governance. Your attitude both at the state and the local governments over the last few years have validated our position.

Third, since this particular coterie has asked for a solution from us, I will lead the way and offer some ideas on the way forward for the AbdulFatah Ahmed administration in Kwara state. Now, while engaging in this exercise, it is not an admission that we have not been offering them ideas both publicly and privately. A casual google search will reveal a plethora of papers written by yours truly and many other Kwara intellectuals on how to move our dear state forward. Below are my own modest contribution in bullet points to the idea of a greater Kwara and how we can get out of the present financial crisis. Again, because of the enormity of the crisis, this can only be in bullet points in this paper. The state can ask for a detailed paper if they so desire.

1. State and local governments asset and debt evaluation in order to determine the true financial health of Kwara state

2. Devise strategies to make Kwara number one in the ease of doing business in Nigeria: Eliminate all obstacles towards establishing business enterprise in the state of Kwara; make Kwara a destination of choice for business start ups in Nigeria i.e. the removal of red tape, tax breaks and general assistance to anyone wanting to establish any kind of legitimate business in Kwara

3. A transparent financial disclosure regime that improves credit worthiness and attracts investors

4. An aggressive approach towards reducing the cost of governance through the adoption of whole scale e – governance and a reduction in political appointments

5. A critical evaluation of all government MDAs, their statutory responsibilities and impact on the citizenry

6. An appraisal of the state and local governments' budgetary forecasting methods, the actual budget itself, waste elimination, and budgetary implementation

7. The creation of a state financial board to oversee economic policies both at the state and the local government levels, the board should be charged with overseeing state and local government expenditures and assist the two arm of government in ways to achieve and maintain a balanced budget. The state government should work with the state legislature to empower this board to have a veto power over state and local expenditures in the budget and reject budgets that exceed the state or local government projected revenue limits. One of the advantages of creating such a board of economic and financial experts is to mitigate the problem from both ends. Be it from the state or the local government ends. This process also has the benefit of forcing both the state and the local governments to spend only its available resources. This prevents the state and local government from expanding its deficit and helps in its financial rehabilitation especially in this difficult time.

8. Convergence – bringing it all together

In this piece, I have not even touched on the causes of this present financial crisis in Kwara state, the fact that AbdulFatah Ahmed and Bukola Saraki's continuity government together has collected close to a Trillion Naira in funds (federal allocation to the state and LGAs from 2003, state IGR from 2003, LGAs IGR, foreign aids and grants), juxtaposing what has been collected in our collective names with what is on ground from 2003 till date does not justify this present disaster. In all, as I stated in my opening line about the young Kwara legislator who inspires me about the possibility of some good coming out of their cohort, my intention in this piece is to appeal to the conscience of those who have political power in Kwara state today to do the needful and sit down and face the serious business of governance. Governance is no tea party; I believe serious minded people are the ones that ought to be saddled with the task of leading a state. But I concede that in the present circumstance where the Kwara electorate supposedly has given the mandate to those who are currently exercising same; the least these individuals can do is to cater to the welfare of the citizens they were elected to serve.

I appeal to Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed to shun profligacy and serve the people of Kwara state wholeheartedly for the remainder of his term. I believe that if there is a will, there will always be a way. I recognize that the Governor has managed to pay a sizeable number of state employees regularly but I am also aware there are categories of state employees who are not getting paid. In this instance, the state government has come up with a puerile argument why these folks are not getting paid; suggesting that they are employees of revenue generating state agencies. I disagree with this approach. State employees working in supposedly revenue generating agencies deserve the protection of the state to get their wages in a timely manner regardless whether or not their agencies turn a profit. At its core, most state agencies across the world are nonprofit organizations designed to provide services removed from the private domain in order to safeguard public interest. An example of one of those is the water corporation. So Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed, please pay all categories of workers in the state employment.

Second, I appeal to Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed to increase his level of engagement with the financial crisis rocking all 16 LGAs. Take some of the ideas that I have enumerated above and from others and see which one fits the situation, perhaps, form a committee of experts to think outside of the box to come up with a solution towards getting the funds to pay all categories of workers in Kwara in a timely manner. I believe the governor is aware that the payment of salaries ought to be a basic responsibility of any government, anywhere.

To the good people of Kwara, the saying that tough times don't last but tough people do fits our present circumstance. I know firsthand that we are a set of very tough people and the fact that you all are still soldering on in spite of all these shows what a resilient people you all are. I am very proud to come from such an amazing set of people. Be rest assured that through all of our efforts, Kwara will be returned back to you the people. President Muhammadu Buhari has shown us that if you believe in a cause greater than yourself and especially one revolved around your people, their welfare and their prosperity, the heavens will eventually smile on that ideal and the goal will be achieved.

The goal to liberate Kwara from the hands of a few and turn it into a commonwealth will be achieved. In the meantime, we shall continue to call on those who are presently saddled with the responsibility of state and local government governance in Kwara to provide leadership and be fair in their dealings with the people.

Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia is of the Department of Global Leadership, College of Business, Indiana Institute of Technology, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. The writer can be reached at abdulajia@yahoo.com, follow me on twitter @AbdulAjia