Asiwaju Ayobola Samuel is a man of many parts. He is currently the Multiple Council chairperson, District 404, Nigeria, Lions Club International, whose passion for service fuelled his aspiration to serve in the Club.

The Asiwaju of Koro in Ekiti LGA of Kwara State was a well decorated and experienced civil servant who rose from administrative officer through the ranks to become the Permanent Secretary at the Kwara State Ministry of Works and Transport and later Ministry of Sports and Youth Development where he retired in 2018 after 35 years of meritorious service.

While in service, Chief Samuel at various times served as the focal person of the Federal Government’s intervention programme in Kwara State and in various capacities at the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Kwara State Pilgrims Board.

He has been a member of the Lions Club for several years and served as a District Governor of Lions Clubs International District 404B2, Nigeria.

In this interview with Sunday Sun, he spoke about the plight of Nigerians occasioned by fuel subsidy removal. Excerpt:

Tell us about yourself?

My early and basic education was in Kwara State. I attended Baptist Primary School, Ilorin, proceeded to the school of Basic Studies, later I obtained my Advance Level GCE . I am a graduate of Political Science (B.Sc) from the University of Lagos. I later proceeded to the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, to obtain a Masters degree in Rural Development. I served in various capacities as a civil servant where I rose from an administrative officer through the ranks to become the Permanent Secretary at the Kwara State Ministry of Works and Transport and later the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development where I retired in 2018 after 35 years of meritorious service. As a civil servant, at various times I served as the focal person of the Federal Government’s intervention programme in Kwara State and in various capacities at UNICEF and the Kwara State pilgrims board.

You have taken over as the Multiple Council chairperson, District 404 Nigeria, what project do you intend to embark on to better the lots of society?

My passion is to deliver service to the less privileged in the society. Actually, work began immediately my predecessor handed over the baton of leadership to me. As a service organization, we have five core areas of focus and it doesn’t mean Lions don’t engage in other areas of need in the society. We just have a focus and deliberate plan on areas to impact on the community based on the need. These are the activities that fulfill our commitment as Lions Club International, our pillars of service cover vision, hunger, diabetes, paediatric cancer and environment. Apart from the areas of focus, we promote education by building and facilitating ICT centres, renovating, donating instructional materials like the white marker board, books, empowerment initiative and the awards of scholarship to deserving students. Lions is home to 1.4 million people in the world, comprising group of business and professional persons who came together for the purpose of doing good in the world. We have been in the forefront fighting to reverse blindness, diabetes which have affected a huge number globally. We provide eye glasses, after conducting free eye screenings and equally carry out surgeries to correct cataract and more complex eye challenge, which is glaucoma. In this Lions year for society, we would do more of humanitarian deeds by changing lives. We hope to establish more districts and expand our scope to the Southeast and the North, where we have not penetrated deeply. We are going to step up our activities and do more of rural service especially rural water supply interventions by sinking boreholes or hand-dug wells to provide water for rural dwellers whose communities have a need of clean water. While for our members, we would build capacity, capacity building is essential to us as a club, emphasis on training, seminars using our platform to equally develop our members. We understand that governments are not able to do all that is needed for people to be able to live quality lives, Lions has always filled in the gaps. For the people of Nigeria, although we are expanding to ensure more Lions Clubs are inaugurated due to the need in the society. I can only reassure you that during my tenure as the Multiple Council chairperson there will be more humanitarian deeds to impact lives because our motive is to change lives. With every sense of modesty, I can unarguably say that our impact are so numerous and we are ready to serve society with our resources.

Nigerians are groaning in pains due to government removal of fuel subsidy, what is your take?

Government at all levels should roll out palliatives to cushion the hardship and suffering on the citizens. The government did not set its priority right. The removal should have come with the palliatives. People trek long distances, eating food has become a challenge for the poor masses. Government is saving money from the removal, and since the removal they have been able to gain some money, but what policies are in place to minimize the pain of the common man? In western nations, incentives are provided, living conditions are subsidised. Government pay part of the burden, access to social amenities. Life is easy, but here, the citizens groan, it should not continue, the people’s welfare is paramount. Leadership is service, let government review their policies. They need to ease the pain, provide for the citizens. Private and public organizations need to partner to ensure we have a system that works. There is so much anguish in the land, Nigerians need succour.We should not continue in pain.

Considering the hardship, what do you think is the solution to the challenge at the moment on the part of government?

The government can do a lot by making use of rural communities. The rural areas can do mechanized farming if the government would provide the solutions and invest in agriculture. Farming can create the highest number of employment and security. It’s not only to cultivate crops when we speak of farming. Livestock/poultry, fishery, piggery, agro allied business, these are where the government can come in by giving credit facilities to them to borrow. Government can also buy their produce and the people would be engaged the more with the understanding of having a guaranteed market and their goods will not spoil. It would reduce urban migration. Also it would help tremendously as most of their goods will no longer perish because there is a guaranteed market for them to earn an income. If the government do not find solution to the suffering meted out to the poor by ensuring that the people are eased of this pain, sadly crime rate would increase.

You were a Perm Sec that used sports policies in Kwara State as an instrument that diverted youths attention from social vices, how did you achieve that?

Advocacy, education and reorientation of our youths could help minimize crime.That is the only way we can secure our environment. While I was the Perm Sec for youths and sports I brought in innovations that helped discovered talents even from primary schools. Government needs to invest on grassroots sport. I ensured that we built, I collaborated with the State Universal Basic Education Board(SUBEB). I ensured there were working technical schools and each local government created a mini-stadium facilities for sporting events.

Unemployment rate in Nigeria has left most youths with the choice of making ritual money. How do we deal with this challenge and your advice to the youths?

The youths must be engaged for social security. The president says patience, but patience is elastic. When lasting expectations are not met, you become frustrated and when frustration is not checked it becomes aggressive. Every successful government has impoverished the masses more than the previous.Things become more difficult and lead to extreme hardship. Government should review its policies to ease the suffering of the people. As a youth ensure you learn a skill. You don’t need to spend five years seeking employment; be a job creator and not a seeker. Once you have acquired your certificate, learn a trade, a skill, it’s important. A young married couple came to me for counseling due to their constant fight. The husband was working, but the wife was not and the expenses of running the home were only on the husband, I told the wife to learn a skill and she listened and learned to be a make up artiste, which gave her an income. She started using the proceeds to support the home before they eventually moved to London. As a graduate you should not rely on your certificate alone, you must develop a skill to create a balance and carve a niche ahead for yourself. You must make a lot of personal sacrifices to develop your skill. Also, my advice to the youths is that they should be steadfast and passionate with service, be good in whatever they know how to do and have confidence in the abilities to deliver. They must never compromise their principles and never give up in the face of intimidation.

What are your major plans and activities for your one year in office?

Although, we stress that Lions would need to change with a changing world. The story of Lions is to serve the community and make it better than we met it. We would distribute more of raw foods among other mind-blowing projects to put smiles in the faces of indigent Nigerians in our society. I’d like to explore new fundraising opportunities, grow our membership and promote the great work of our club. Growing membership is critical too, for the future of the club. We seek a younger, more diverse demography who are committed to service above self. Finally, our clubs do tremendous work, but we don’t shine the light enough on our achievements. The plan will be to increase our social media presence and promote ourselves more. We do so much, but are not telling our stories, so we will increase our media engagement. This has the potential to attract new members as well as garnering support (financial and otherwise) for our organisation. We want to put Lions in the heart and mind of people. Lions is much more than showing kindness; so if many people know we will also be driving home our avenues of service, which are service, integrity, leadership, fellowship and diversity. We want to bring change to the world in all ramifications with impactful and sustainable projects.

What lessons have life taught you?

In fact, there are so many lessons I have learnt. I have learnt the lesson of being more cautious in handling matters. But the major lesson I have learnt about life is for you to rely on the work of your hands than what someone can give to you. Whatever you can build for yourself is something that you can be satisfied with. Also, another lesson I have learnt is that God is unfailing, whatever life challenge brought before him, he is able to handle once we trust him.