Date: 2013-04-09

The Executive Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed last week shed light on his administration's programs and sundry national issues during the interactive 'The Governor Explains'. Here are excerpts from the encounter

Question: What informed your recent inspection of projects across the State and what were your findings?

Answer: At the beginning of every financial year we have a budget which is an articulation of programmes that we intend to spend the people's money on. Once these projects have been given out to contractors, they need to be taken to completion. We want to be sure that works are carried on the way they have been idealized for implementation. On the strength of that, once projects are going, there is a strong project monitoring team, a special adviser on infrastructure who also doubles as check and balance on developmental projects. We also need to see for ourselves to ensure that we get value for money. That is what informed our recent visits to various projects that are on-going to ensure that we get value for money. Anywhere we go to we expect that contractors should have got the job to the level to which we have funded them. So far, we are happy with what we have seen. Our contractors are working accordingly and anywhere we expect to see things and they fall below our expectations, the contractor will be given a marching order. That is as clear as a crystal.

Question: Sir, do you have plans for new projects, despite the ongoing ones?

Answer: Yes, we have plans for new ones. The ones you see us examining now are works that have been encapsulated into the budget. In other words, we have clearly outlined what we intend to do with peoples' money. Other projects roads, water, energy, schools and health sectors projects that are yet to start will necessarily be carried on as encapsulated in the budget. We will ensure that these projects are carried on once the funds are available. We have the responsibility of working within the limited resources that we have. We are one of the low states in terms of revenue allocation from the federal government. Also, our revenue base is not very strong in terms of internally generated revenue, largely because we are a public sector- driven environment. We are just trying to create an enabling environment to bring in the private sector to drive the system and create additional taxable environment that will increase the taxes and generate more revenue so that we can do more projects for the people. 

In a nutshell, more projects are coming on board-in terms of roads. For instance, the Kaiama/Kishi road is already being awarded. When we complete the nitty-gritty with the federal government, we will take start the first phase of the road between Kishi and Kaiama. It is a three phase road which is almost an N8 billion road project. We also have the Rore-Ipetu-Aran-Orin Road which has also been awarded at the cost of over N1.2billion and will start very soon. Also, there are a lot of feeder roads across the state that we will work on. You will recall that we have spent over N2billion on rural roads in 2012. We are opening up communities and this is expected to translate into economic activities because roads allow our people to be able to move goods and services. 

So, as we are doing roads as a social service, they also compliment economic growth. We also expect to see improvement in our health sector because a healthy society is a wealthy society. We must see as, part of our human capital development, a very strong healthcare delivery system being put in place. That is why we pursued the renovation of hospitals. Primary health, secondary and tertiary health are being equipped with the human and material resources that will give us the necessary platform for a proper healthcare delivery system. These are all geared towards ensuring that we have a strong economic environment. 

Education is not left out. Over 200 classrooms would soon be renovated at the basic and secondary levels to create additional infrastructure for our students. Additional textbooks and laboratory equipment would be supplied to schools and mega schools will be constructed. These schools will create platforms to accommodate neighbouring schools in terms of infrastructure like laboratories and other training equipment for students.

Question: In recent times, the state government arrested and prosecuted some people for begging. Given that most of these beggars are destitute, what provision has the State put in place to rehabilitate them instead of sending them to jail?

Answer: It is very unfortunate that we have found ourselves where we are contending with a lot of social problems in the country which have led a few people into taking to begging as a profession. We know very well that street begging is not a profession. We have proscribed street begging in Kwara State. We have put in place a plethora of social nets that people can take advantage of. For instance, we have created a rehabilitation programme under the social welfare ministry to ensure that a lot of skill acquisition centres across the State are put into use. Unfortunately, not many people take advantage of this. 

The presence of beggars is largely as a result of evacuation done in other states where they just bundle people into vehicles and drop them in different sections of the country. They have their own laws to contend with, we also have our own laws. As a state, we have a systematic programme we have put in place for rehabilitation, but we cannot say because we want to take care of the less privileged we should not allow the law to take its course. Our law does not allow for street begging but rehabilitation. To take to street begging is to contravene the law. The government is ready to support beggars who seek rehabilitation. 

Few days ago, when I was on inspection of projects outside the state capital, some physically challenged people came to the Government House. They were demanding for certain rights to be given to them. We don't have problem with that. Ordinarily we would have dialogued with them. We would have asked them where we can come in to support them in addition to what government is doing. Obviously, street begging is not one of the options. We want to ensure that sanity is allowed to take its toll in the state so that we organize and optimize the use of the little we have.

Question: It was reported that some Peoples Democratic Party Governors were planning to dump their party. Also the ACN, CPC and ANPP in the State have accused the PDP in Kwara State of planning to hijack their party. Sir, what's your take on that?

Answer: In Nigeria we play politics with everything. Firstly, there is no iota of truth that I am planning to leave the PDP. It does not make sense for me to leave the PDP for another party. PDP is the biggest party in Africa. Why would I be dumping a big party for a small party? It does not make sense to me personally. Why would I move from a national party to a regional party? As it is today, PDP is the biggest party in Africa and the only national party. Other parties are regional. And by the grace of God Almighty, it is the ruling party in Kwara State. So, there are indications why I will continue to remain in PDP. I will continue to strengthen PDP because it is the only fair platform today that has been able to manage its differences to a focal point. Other parties also have differences which have reduced them to the regional levels they are. They all started as national parties but shrunk to regional levels because they could not manage their differences.

I am not aware of any collusion going on in the state between either any opposition party trying to come together and being frustrated. I am not even aware that they exist in the state. Yes, we get pockets of press statements coming in from a group of people here and there, but largely they've not been very cerebral in their approach to what we are doing. We try to be very careful not to join issues on matters that are not affecting the people; on issues that are not approached from the angle that people should feel it should be approached. When it becomes too partisan or personal, we try to move away but when it become very constructive in their criticism we respect such. We take opinions and try to correct our stance because we do not have monopoly of wisdom. We are open to corrections from well meaning Nigerians who can suggest alternative ways by which we can deliver service. However, the issue that some people are trying to stop political associations in the State, I am not aware.

Question: Recently, Your administration embarked on demolition of structures in the State. What informed the decision of the government considering the economic situation?

Answer: This still takes us back to the issue of rules, regulations and laws guiding the society. For any society to stay together as a social component of a nation, we must allow ourselves to be guided by some rules, regulations and laws. These are what will bring sanity by guiding everybody on dos and don'ts.

Government has clearly spelt what it means by right of way, that is, right of passage for vehicular and human movement as a generally agreed concept. On no ground should anybody, under whatever guise-economic, social or political, take what government has set aside as right of way for personal use. It is not right. People must comply with laws otherwise there will be anarchy. We have not stopped anybody from pursuing any meaningful, genuine means of livelihood but we cannot allow people to breach laws encapsulated in the laws of Kwara State in the name of trying to pursue economic activities. If we do that there will no law and order. The right of way is not designed for people to create shops for use. Anything you need to do in the use of land, you must get approval from Town Planning Authority, anywhere in the world. If you don't have an authority to execute or to create any project why do you do it? We are not stopping people from pursuing their livelihood but they must not contravene the law.

Question: What assurance are you going to give Kwarans that the budget would be implemented to achieve at least 80 percent implementation rate?

Answer: When it comes to the implementation of budgets you will know that I am a very strong proponent because I have been in charge of budget preparation in the State in the last eight years or more. I am very familiar with what should be encapsulated into the budget, especially what's do able.

When we came in we wanted to ensure that only what is feasible that should be encapsulated in the budget and that is what we have done. I want to assure you that as projects are being implemented, they are been done as encapsulated in the budget. As long as the funds, designed to fund these projects are available, those projects would be carried out accordingly as stated in the budget.

The only constraint that we may have in executing the budget 100 percent is the availability of resources as enshrined in the budget, largely coming in from the federation allocation. If the monies come in from federation allocation as projected, we will also spend it as projected. So long as the funds are coming in as we planned we will also execute as planned.

Question: The issue of security challenge is bothering Nigerians and many people have suggested an amnesty for Boko Haram members, what is your take on this issue?

Answer: It is unfortunate in Nigeria that today we are faced with an unprecedented security challenge. I must commend the federal government in its effort to check all sorts of violence-whether in form of Boko Haram or attack on ethnic groups as we have in the clash between ethnic nationalities and nomads. We have some coming in form of kidnapping, attack on federal government installations such as crude oil pipelines etc. They require a very critical look.

Amnesty is very simple. What do we mean by amnesty? It means that we should pardon those who have committed crimes against the State. That is what it means. We sort of crime is going on? Start with our brothers and sisters in the South/South. They had a grievance about degradation of their environment, largely from exploration and exploitation. On the strength of that, they felt that they needed something to make them feel part and parcel of the country, hence they tried to frustrate the lifting of crude oil. The federal government suggested amnesty for the militants at that time. It could be recalled that when amnesty was suggested for the militants, it was vehemently opposed by Nigerians that why should we give amnesty to those who have willfully taken up arms to destroy federal government and oil companies' installations? However, it became clear that the path to amnesty was a possible path to peace because the whole essence was to achieve peace. When there is peace, then we can talk about justice. When we talk about justice we can now talk about equity. 

Peace has to come first. As we have it today, there is an insurgence of an Islamic group in the North in the name of Boko Haram. We all know that it has nothing to do with Islam because for those of us who are Muslims we know very well that there is nothing that they preach that is in consonance with the tenets of Islam. Everything they stand for negates the very principle and policy of Islam. However, they have engaged in wanton destruction of lives and property of innocent Nigerians. The question is: how do we arrest this situation? What were the problems that led these young men in taking up arms along with non-Nigerians to create havoc on our people? Destroying everything we stand for, trying to create problems that could probably escalate into civil war. We begin to see the relevance of amnesty, forgiveness on this group of people. What is the cause of amnesty and what is the result of amnesty if we grant it? What have they brought to the table that they stand for? The South/South youths came out with an environmental degradation issue, joblessness, lack of infrastructure. It was understood. It was clear. And there were negotiations and amnesty was brought in. Since then we have a peaceful environment, at least in our context.

Amnesty is desirable for the Boko Haram to the extent that they have are able to bring to fore that these are the issues they have against the system. These are the areas they feel short-changed as a people, as Nigerians, then we can begin to look at what manner of peace and pardon will be made available to this class of people so that we can come together again and move on as a people. So, it is neither here nor there. We cannot stand up and say amnesty is not desirable, amnesty is desirable. We must begin to look at the issues that will determine whether they deserve amnesty or not. Let us see, firstly the face of the people we are speaking with. 

Secondly, what is their grievance against the system? What is it that they have against innocent women and children that they are throwing bombs at? What is it that they feel should be done rightly that is not done right? This implies that the concept of dialogue should come in first. When dialogue comes in then the issue of amnesty will follow. I feel that with that kind of approach we will begin to see some succour coming to our people that find themselves in this tough terrain where there is a high level of insecurity and they cannot on their strength carry out their normal activities. We need to give it a critical look. To the extent that we are facing a challenge we have never seen before we must approach it in a way and manner we have never done before. If we begin to allow the thing to be politicized, that is these are Muslim dissidents, or these are a group of aliens or these are just people who are just out to create problems and we try to shove them away with a wave of the hand, we will not be solving it. The cost of peace is not too much.

To the extent that I do not support amnesty for every group that comes up, having gone into willful destruction of lives and property, having gone into creating problems for the country and now we now begin to see it as a way of getting our own share of the national cake, it should not be misunderstood. Because before you know it another group will stand up in one other guise, create mayhem and ask for amnesty. On the strength of that an armed robber could as well ask for amnesty. So let us be very careful about how we design amnesty.

We must understand what is on the table. Whoever is talking about amnesty must bring something to the table, we now look at it and see how they fit into driving us as a nation to desired level of progress and growth in the comity of nations; then we be begin to see option of amnesty and other social positive ways of moving the country forward.

Question: The federal government has approved the construction of Offa-bye pass to ease traffic in that axis. What efforts are you making to ensure that other federal roads in the State receive similar approvals?

Answer: The issue of roads cannot be taken for granted, especially as it relates to economic growth and safety for our people. On the strength of that from the inception of our administration we've taken it upon ourselves to ensure that all our state and rural roads are been put to proper useable levels. We have also made several efforts in getting all federal government roads rehabilitated and made motorable for our good people of Kwara State. Our effort is already yielding fruits. We have drawn attention about Ilorin-Kabba road not being in proper shape which hinders movement of our people and also encourages armed robbers to be able to hijack vehicles midway.

On the strength of that, the federal government through the Federal Road Maintenance Agency is already carrying out a major rehabilitation on that road which is a response to the efforts we have made. If you go through Ajasse-Erin-Ile road today you will see that marks have been made to let you know that they are already present in trying to rehabilitate that road. That is at the federal government. As a State government we have also sent our contractor there to begin work on areas that will not be covered by the federal government. This tells you our full determination to bring these roads to proper useable level. Alongside that, we are also pushing the issue of Kaiama-Kishi road which his one major road we have been putting across to the federal government for proper work. I am happy that the federal government has responded accordingly. They have told us the guidelines to follow; the necessary steps we need to take. I am sure in the last one or two weeks, you would have seen adverts on bidding for contractors to participate in the Kaiama-Kishi road construction. This tells you that every process that has been outlined by the federal government is being followed to the letter and we will ensure that we get to that level when the contract would be formally awarded.

Once it is awarded, with or without the federal government's money on ground, we will start that job because we intend to raise money to jump start the first section of that road. as I told you, the road has been broken down into three sections. We will start with section one which is the Kaiama axis and you will see the presence of contractors, Insha Allah before the end of this month.

Question: About N487million worth of properties was lost to fire within 3 months, yet the State fire service complains of inadequate manpower and equipment. How is government going to address this situation?

Answer: We are trying to support the rescue system largely by empowering the fire services to have a complementary level of equipment that will help us in managing issues of fire outbreaks. I know that vehicles are already been ordered for the fire services and of course manpower support in terms of recruitment of additional personnel is also been carried on under our scheme of getting people recruited into the system on a gradual basis.

The most critical part of it is not what the fire service is able to do, it is how and what we are able to do as individuals to avoid fire incidence. What are the main causes of these fire incidents? Largely electrical. Some of us have used either substandard materials or have used non-professionals to carry out electrical works in our various houses. It is unfortunate that our local electricians too have comprised the quality of the items they use in carrying out their electrification programmes. There are cheap materials that we have allowed into our market. These materials are part of what is creating the current fire outbreaks resulting from electrical problems.

Also, Nigeria has suffered, over the years, dearth of good hands in some artisan jobs like carpenters, electricians, bricklayers. All of these have not been standard. If you go to where these people learn their skills, they lack the right exposure. That is why as a government we are set up a Human Capital Development Ministry that will enumerate these skill acquisition centres. Anybody that has more than ten apprentices will be captured in our data base, a curriculum would be created for each trade and shared to all the registered centres. Government approved certificates would be given to the graduates of the registered centres. Government will fund them to start their businesses through our small and micro enterprise funding scheme which we are doing in cooperative level with micro-finance banks. We have set aside over N250m for that programme. This will reduce unemployment and stimulate wealth creation.

Question: Sir, what is your administration doing to ensure equity in payment of taxes as regards small businesses?

Answer: Taxation is a civic responsibility. Currently, our tax structure is highly restricted to those who have regular jobs and get regular salaries because taxes are taken from their salaries on pay as you earn basis. We intend to increase advocacy to ensure that our people pay taxes as at when due. Nobody would be made to carry any tax load that is not his. Our responsibility is to enforce existing tax laws as encapsulated in the joint tax board directives. As a state we will continue to generate taxable environment and ensure that the taxes are paid as at when due and are actually put together for capital development programmes of government. We must also continue to showcase transparency so that people would know that funds that are generated from taxes are applied to areas people can feel the impact.

Question: Kwara United is doing well in the league. Kwara teams in Baseball, Softball and Football are to represent Nigeria in International Competition. What assistance does the State Government have for them?

Answer: When you look at Kwara United they require to be incentivized. When you create incentive the club will be attractive and they will continue to excel. We will not leave any stone unturned at ensuring that the right incentives get to the players, managers and coaches so that they continue to drive this championship to the level where they come tops. We will not relent in our efforts to continue to give desired support to not only Kwara United but all sporting activities.

We are also trying to create every avenue to impact positively on our youths because sports in integral to our youth empowerment schemes. The way we've handed and developed youth empowerment schemes is the way we are trying to drive sporting activities especially for our youths. In the past our youths were not idle because it was either they were engaged in skill acquisition or they were engaged in sporting activities. Most of these areas became lacking that is why their hands became available for criminal use.

Question: The State Government has committed so much to the Ilorin Cargo Terminal project. What is the state of that project now?

Answer: The decision to take up the Cargo Terminal was a thought out of the box because the concept of aviation lies largely within the purview of the federal government. But as a state we were able to proactively see the potentials that are tied to aviation. On the strength of that we developed a cargo terminal, save for the completion of the apron which has been unnecessarily delayed by the contractor who has since been disengaged. We've engaged a new contractor who will complete the apron.

The federal government has not come out with a clear policy on how it intends to manage its airports, especially on issues of cargo, but we as a state we have presented a position to the federal government on the possibility of concessioning the cargo terminal in Ilorin to a private investor, i.e. DHL. The federal government is also receptive of this suggestion. On the strength of that we want to do the first thing first which is completion of the apron. When we complete the apron it means the cargo terminal is good to go for use. We will now follow up with the federal government since it is willing to enable private sector participation in the cargo business.

People that have been criticizing the airport have not looked at it as been a major step at transforming Ilorin through a proactive thinking process that is outside the box. We need people that can think outside the box to translate environment to productive environments with things that people have never seen. If you go to Dubai today you will see that Dubai is not the same as its neighbours. The reason is because the leader there was thinking outside the box. If you don't think outside the box you cannot bring anything new. You will continue to do everything the way people have been doing. You will keep getting the same result that people have been getting. Our effort at bringing Shonga Farms, for instance, our efforts at bringing the cargo terminal, the diagnostic centre is being criticized by people who are already overwhelmed with the successes of innovative. We are not perfect. We are human but should be commended for our effort in bringing something new which will transform this environment into something which we have not seen before. Anything which has not been done successfully cannot be done, except with methods which have not been tried. We will continue to think outside the box. That is the way some of us have been trained. We will do normal things-infrastructure, light, water, energy, schools, poverty alleviation programmes. However, we must come out with something that is thought outside the box, that will change Kwara to a new environment. That is the only way we can truly see growth and development.

Question: What is the current status of KWABES?

Answer: It is a model for employment generation which is the first of its kind in this country. The first thing about the programme is the creation of a database of our unemployed youths across the 16 local government areas. Young school leavers, unemployed youths, graduates between 18-35 are captured in the database. The data is a planning tool for this category of people. Secondly, it enables us to see how we can easily access unemployed youths for new jobs. On the strength of that, we were able to create Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme. This has enabled the State Government to employ some youths who hitherto were not employed. 

From this bridge, they will move to regular employment. Those that are unemployable under the scheme are the ones we have designed the skill acquisition scheme for. So, KWABES, as it is today, we can confidently tell you that the first 2000 that were engaged in 2011 have been fully given employment in the civil service and some new ones have replaced them on the bridge.

Question: How far have you gone in the implementation of performance contracts?

Answer: Performance contract is the process where we try to incorporate the concept of measurable deliverables into government business whereby targets are predetermined between the employer and the employee. What one is expected to do to in relation to those targets are clearly spelt out. Most importantly, the resources required are also spelt out. When these are made available, you are now expected to be benchmarked after a particular period between what you have achieved and what you are supposed to achieve. On the strength of that, you will see whether you need to continue to drive that thing as you are doing it or you need to double your effort in ensuring that you get the desired results. To that extent we have succeed in creating measurable deliverables in the government system.

Every programme, especially capital projects execution has been encapsulated into the Medium Term Sector Strategy Framework which enables every head of Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA) to know what expectations we have of them at the end of the year. This is because when we were starting the budget we had a clearly spelt out picture. Each head of MDA came to showcase what they would want done between now and end of the year in line with our MTSS framework and our funding profile. The resources to be used to achieve this have also been isolated and we know that execution of projects is a function of resources that are available. Because we do not have all the resources required and we do not have the capacity to generate all the resources required we have what we call limited performance management measurement because it is going to be limited to resources that we have made available. In Nigeria, the concept of performance management would begin to make sense when we move from cash accounting to accrued accounting system. The current cash accounting system where we only deal with programmes and projects on availability of cash not on accrued basis. On the strength of that we would be able to see how we can hold people responsible. If you were given N10, you should be expected to deliver N10 job, not N7 job because you have not passed. There is no reason why you should not do N10 job when you've been given N10. However, if you were expected to do N10 job but you were given N2 and additional N2 at the middle of the year, you can only be benchmarked against N4.

All heads of MDAs are reviewed from time to time by a panel which seeks to see how much resources have been made available to a ministry and what have they achieved with those resources? On the strength of that, we can measure performance. There is no way in Nigeria that we can begin to talk about performance contracting if it is not incorporated in to the budget formulation as opposed to when it has been passed.