Interview
Nigeria going through revolution in energy sector – Osun Commissioner, Ademola
Mr. Adeyemo Festus Ademola, the Commissioner for Energy in Osun State, is from Irewole local government, Ikire Osun State. He has a degree in Agric Education, from Lagos State University and graduated in 2003. He has been in politics for a long time and started from the lower level of elected position as a counsellor, from 1991 to 1993. The chief whip, Irewole Local government, legislative council during which period he had served as the Public Relation officer of the Peoples Democratic party in Osun State, between 2004 and 2007. He was a principal legislative Assistant to the former Speaker of the house of Representative, Mrs Patricia Olubunmi Etteh.
He was also the Secretary Irewole Local Education Authority for two years, before becoming the Chief of Staff to the former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
In this interview with Olusesan Laoye he talked about how sustainable energy could be achieved, politics in Osun State and how Nigeria could get out of its economic and security challenges.
Excepts:
What is your reaction to what was being described as campaign of calumny against your man in Irewole, Senator Lere Oyewumi, popularly known as Akogun, representing Osun West Senatorial District and what do you think is the motive of those against him?
To me I don’t see what they are talking about, if not that they are just interested in wanting to make cheap political points. Making mountain out of a mole hill. How is it possible that someone would come out that he gave people money to vote for him and that he was bold to say that he bought votes. As far as I am concerned, they are only trying to destroy his personality and afraid of his growing popularity among the people, not only in his Osun West Senatorial zone but in the entire state. They think they have to go about destroying him so that, if he wants to go for re-election, he would look bad in the eyes of the people but they are making a mistake because his performance in the zone, has been very outstanding.
Mr. Adeyemo Festus Ademola
With what is happening in Osun State and all the moves by the Opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC), do you think your Party, PDP, is being threatened?
The next governorship election is going to be funny, because if you are already in office and you want to re-contest for the same position, it is the work that you have done that would speak for you. As far as we are concerned, what Governor Adeleke is doing now, and his performances in two years have superseded that of those, who have occupied the position before him. His hand is all over the State. Go to Ife. Ilesa, Osogbo and even Ede, you will see that the man is actually performing. His performance is unprecedented and glaring for people to see. With this, the PDP has no fears of retaining the governorship.
But the APC is banking on the immediate past governor, who is now the Minister of the Marine and Blue economy, to come back. What’s your take on this?
Let me tell you, they would be shocked this time that they would perform woefully in the next governorship election, if they bring, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola to face us, because if you go and check the records and sample the opinions of the people, he is the least performer of all the governors, who have governed Osun State. We are not even thinking about him at all. What is Oyetola going to use as his campaign that he has done for the people of Osun State because he has been in office before and people don’t see what he has done.
Well, if it were a new person they are bringing, then, people could say, let us see what he would do, may be he is going to do better than the man we have now but even at that, the people would not want to gamble with their votes, because they have already seen the performance of the incumbent and they would want him to carry on his good work.
As a man, who has been involved in the politics of the State for a long time, what do you think is responsible for the low development in the state before now?
To me, so many factors have been responsible. I think when people want to vote they should think well and not consider religion. tribalism and not put sentiments into it, but should vote for the person, who can perform.
The mistake people are making here, in Nigeria, is that we base our voting patterns on other primordial issues, rather than performance. For instance, when former governor Oyinlola wanted to be governor, his opponents were using a lot of things against him but when he got there, he did well because of his experience in the past.
Then look at the present governor, Senator Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke. People also said a lot about him, but look at his performance today. He has been doing very well, beyond the imagination of the people and even his detractors, who used a lot of derogatory things to campaign against him.
People were saying if this man was voted, he won’t be able to do anything but he proved that they were wrong. He has performed tremendously well so far. I will urge the people to stop listening to derogatory things the politicians say about their opponents, when they are campaigning but focus on what they think those, who are contesting would be able to do for them positively, rather than personal gains, selfish interests and ethics sentiments.
I think it is high time for people to think right, do proper analysis of the candidates before them and pick the best. To be honest with you, it is when we are able to do this that we are going to get it right in Nigeria. That to a large extent, may have been responsible for the underdevelopment of Osun State over the years. The orientation of the party itself is another thing. People use a lot of things in the past to cajole voters.
Look, for instance. The party called APC, they always live in the past. They call themselves progressives but they are no more Progressives, like the days of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and others, who were the core Progressives. The present day politicians, who call themselves progressives just by name, use this to deceive the people.
People should now be sensible in their thinking and start examining the those, who claimed to be progressives from their days in Action Congress, (AC) Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In Osun State, let us look at the era of Baba Akande. Yes, he puts up this edifice, which is the government secretariat that we are using today in Osun State. But there are many things, which are beyond edifice. The civil servants suffered so much in his time. You can imagine how he treated the people, with mass retrenchment of civil servants, teachers and even subjecting pensioners to a lot of hardships. If I may ask: Is that what happened during the time of Chief Awolowo and Bola Ige and his colleagues? We had the best then, but not now anymore. Look at this present government, apart from putting infrastructure in place, the welfare of the people has been its priority. That is what it should be and not parading yourself to be Progressives, like Chief Awolowo and doing the opposite.
Mr. Adeyemo Festus Ademola
Recently the Southern governors met in Ogun State and one of the major issues discussed was energy and power generation to sustain industrialisation in their respective states. Do you think this could be done collectively or individually. If individually, as the commissioner for energy in Osun State, how is your ministry going to tackle this for the benefit of the people?
The issue of energy should be considered in both ways, collectively and individually. The kind of revolution that we are going to have in the energy sector now has never happened before. With the pronouncement that each state should have its own energy regulatory body, the revolution has started. That policy has been pronounced but states have not been carrying it out. This is because before you go on that transition, there should be a lot of thing and frameworks to do and carried out. In Osun State, the Ministry of Energy is very young. This is the first time that such is happening and before we can fully commence, we have to put a lot of things into consideration. I mean, we have to plan well.
The State is now in the planning stage. The bill that would guide the Ministry would soon be ready. We are really working hard, and being a new Ministry, we are doing a lot of things that would make things work. We want to do our best because we don’t want to fail or disappoint the people, because if we don’t do our home work well and we fail, it is the government that would get the blame. I can assure you that before the end of this year, people would see a lot of changes in the energy sector in Osun State.
How do you think we could go about sustainable energy generation that would be affordable for the people?
The Federal government has started this by decentralizing the energy sector . As it is now, states can generate their own energy and that is why people are saying, that energy generation should not be through the National grid alone. But there should be other sources of energy, such as hydro, solar, wind and any others ones, should be brought in and it is because we have only the National grid that is why we are having problems, because, if there’s problem, with the National grid, everything would collapse, but the Federal government is changing that now.
How do you think Nigeria could come out of the security challenges and the economic crisis?
The security issue should not be the responsibility of the government alone but that of all the citizens because criminals and those fermenting troubles live among the people. If the people cooperate and are ready to fish out the criminals among them, , addressing security issues would be made easy for the law enforcement agencies. Again, I think we now need State police to tackle community crimes.
On the economic issue, this is also the responsibility of all of us because some individuals are living fat on the present situation, sabotaging the efforts of government. Again, corruption is one of the major factors that has ruined our economy and government should do a lot of things to stem corruption. What should be done is to block all the avenues for corruption and not say, untill the corruption is perpetrated before you can now apprehend the culprit.
We should make the system in a way that would not encourage corruption. I am always very sad that a lot of revenues that are supposed to go to the purse of government for developments to improve the nation’s economy are being embezzled, which is affecting the people and the economy.
Do you think, the present Federal government is handling the welfare of the people very well?
Honestly, we have to tell ourselves the truth and from what has been happening, I don’t think the government is handling the situation very well because if they are handling it well, the welfare of the people should have improved more than this. Rather, things are getting worse and I think the Federal government should put a lot of things in place to correct the anomalies.
In Osun State, however, we are doing a lot to improve the economy of the State, which would be based on the development of agriculture. The government has put a lot of things in place to boost the Agric sector of the state. And many innovations on agriculture, are already in the pipeline, to be launched by the state government on agriculture before the end of the year.
Let me tell you, what people don’t know about Governor Ademola Adeleke, is that, he is a man, who have passion for agriculture. People don’t even know that he is a farmer to the core and he is bringing that passion he has for agriculture into play in Osun State. People would see the result before the end of this year. Apart from what the State government is putting in place, all the Senators in the three zones of the state have planned to complement the efforts of the government and they are bringing fertilizers to farmers and other farm implements because we want to call the bluff of the people, who think that they can hold Nigerians to ransome agriculturally.
Honestly, people would be amazed with what the southern states would come up with, in terms of agriculture, to improve the economy the geopolitical zone by the end of the year. As part of their agenda, a special committee has been set up for that by the southern governors.
What is going to be the legacy you want people of Osun State to remember you for, as the first Commissioner for Energy?
I want to put an enabling environment that would guarantee a sustainable energy in the state. What caught my fancy is the approach of the Abia State governor, Mr. Alex Otti in the way he handled power generation.
I will ensure that we supersedes what Abia did and what’s happening in other state like Enugu and Ogun States. But I think that of Abia is unique and functional, which could be emulated, even by all the Southern states.