Kashamu’s five-prong plan for Ogun State’s transformation
By Senator Buruji Kashamu, the Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, said last week during an interaction with journalists that his decision to join the governorship race was informed by his burning desire to transform the state and make it a model.
According to him, he succumbed to pressure from leaders of the party in the state to throw his hat in the ring because of his conviction that the state could do much better than its current experience.
“All our past leaders, including the incumbent governor, have done their best. Chief Olusegun Osoba tried, Chief Gbenga Daniel did well and the incumbent governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has equally done well. But if I am elected governor of the state, I will surpass the achievements of these great men. Within four years, I will transform the state so much that it will become a model in this country,” he said.
The governorship hopeful said, being a successful businessman who had built many businesses from scratch, he had the capacity to turn around the fortune of the state, scale up development, reduce poverty and create employment opportunities for the state’s teeming youths.
He added, “Transforming Ogun State is not difficult but it requires thinking out of the box, tweaking with a few things in the system and doing the right things. Once all of these are in place, the state’s journey to greatness will commence.”
Shedding light on how he planned to transform the state, Kashamu said he had prepared a blueprint of his plans for the state, adding that the blueprint had five major policies as its fulcrum. “The first thing I will do is to ensure that the allocation to local government areas get to them,” the governorship candidate said.
He explained that this is important because the effect of the state government’s starving the local councils of their due allocation is grand scale underdevelopment of the rural areas, which has resulted in unprecedented poverty at the grassroots.
He said: “If the state government allows local government areas access to their funds, it means that the local governments will be able to embark on projects and programmes in their areas. When a local government gives out jobs to contractors and suppliers, the economy of the area is energised, commercial activities will improve, employment opportunities will be created and life will be more meaningful to the people at that level.
“As we speak, roads in rural areas are in deplorable state because the local governments have been muzzled; they cannot do anything apart from paying salaries. By giving the rural communities good roads, farmers would be able to get their produce to the market fast and would be able to get good value for their efforts.
“Ordinarily, one would think that there is no correlation between allowing local government councils unfettered access to their allocations and prosperity of farmers but that is not true. The life of every rural dweller is negatively impacted as a result of the state government cornering the money meant for local governments. I am going to change all of that if I become governor. I will see to it that local government’s money is released to them on time.
“However, to guard against abuse, we shall put a process of monitoring projects embarked upon by local government areas. In each local government, there will be a committee comprising the chairman, some councilors, community leaders and traditional rulers that will identify projects in their areas.
“Once the feasibility study of the projects is done and we are satisfied that it will meet the yearnings of the people, they will go ahead to execute their projects. The only involvement of the state government is monitoring. Once this is done, the local governments will bounce back to life and our people at the rural areas will be able to have meaningful existence.”
The second thing Kashamu promised to do is the remittance of every deduction from salaries by the state government to the appropriate unions and bodies. “I am aware that civil servants are going through hell because the deductions made from their salaries are not paid to the appropriate bodies. I have been told that deductions made from civil servants’ salaries as contributions for cooperative societies are being withheld by the state government.
In essence, it means that civil servants cannot make recourse to cooperative societies when they are in dire need. The effect of this on poor civil servants can only be imagined. The purpose of setting aside money for safe keeping in cooperative society is defeated if you cannot access the savings when in need. It is even worse if the purpose of saving is to be able to borrow more than is saved for definite projects. This has made life unimaginably difficult for civil servants. I am aware that many civil servants cannot pay their wards’ school fees because they cannot access facilities at cooperative societies.
“I am also aware that many civil servants have abandoned their building projects because of their inability to access cooperative funds. We are going to address and redress this. If elected, my administration will ensure that every kobo deducted from civil servants salaries get remitted to the appropriate authorities.
“I have also been informed that check off due deductions are not remitted to unions. This has rendered the unions impotent and has made it impossible for them to function properly and be of any assistance to their members. This too has been at a cost to workers and we shall address it to restore the dignity of unions and put them in a position that they are able to discharge their responsibilities to their members.”
The governorship hopeful also explained that the non-remittance of cooperative deductions to the cooperative societies does not only affect civil servants but the larger society as well, especially those at the grassroots.
“When such money is withheld, those who would have been patronised by the civil servants also suffer. The masons that would have been patronised by those having building projects suffer, the carpenters suffer for lack of patronage, the fashion designers also suffer as a result of low patronage. So, the effect of this transcends the obvious.
“That is why we have artisans abandoning their trades to become commercial motorcycle riders. That is why we have grand scale unemployment at the grass roots. That is why we have more people sliding into extreme poverty. If I am elected governor, I am going to stop all of that and ensure that deductions are deployed for their intended purposes,” he said.
The PDP governorship candidate said that to underscore his commitment to releasing local government allocations and deductions, he had signed an undertaking and deposited a copy with each of the paramount rulers in the state. “This is to show that I am totally serious about these issues and will not renege on the promise. This is beyond winning the election; it is about transforming lives,” he added.
Kashamu said the importance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) cannot be over-emphasised “because they are the engine of growth. If we really want to address the issue of unemployment, we have to help MSMEs thrive. Our plan is to empower about one million MSMEs within the first six months of our administration. We intend to do this by identifying and registering MSMEs in all the 20 local government areas of the state, develop their capacity to produce to international standards, help them to access funds of up to N5million depending on the type of business, and help them with the marketing of their products by connecting them with end users.
“The essence of all these is to address the major issues confronting small businesses. Many of them lack the know-how, access to funding and marketing. If we are able to help them with these, their capacity will be enhanced and they will be able to employ others. If we are able to empower one million MSMEs and each of them is able to employ five people, then we will have created five million employment opportunities without the government really employing anybody and without swelling the state wage bill.”
Speaking on his fourth plank, which is infrastructure development, he said, “Once we give the local government authorities the free rein to develop their areas, the rural roads and infrastructure are already taken care of. Then we, at the state level, can focus on major infrastructure development. I am a firm believer in the fact that infrastructure development is the bedrock of economic growth. If we have functional infrastructure we will be able to grow our economy.
“We will build new roads in all the major towns and cities in the state, we will expand existing roads to prepare the state for astronomical economic development, and we shall improve on our transportation system. Good infrastructure always attracts great businesses because infrastructure enables business success. So, we shall develop our infrastructure to make our state attractive to businesses. But we shall ensure that every senatorial district gets its due. I shall be fair and just to all. I shall not develop any part of the state at the detriment of others.
“Our administration will partner with independent power providers with a view to achieving 24-hour power supply in designated areas of the state. This is also intended to attract investments to the state. This is important because if we are to overcome the challenge of unemployment, we have to partner with the private sector and provide an enabling environment for them to thrive.”
The last leg of the plan is industrialisation as Kashamu said his administration will deliberately court manufacturing companies to establish their presence in the state. “If I am elected Ogun State governor, we will make the most of our nearness to Lagos State to boost our economy. There will be a deliberate plan of the government to develop the Sango-Otta-Agbara axis of the state with the necessary infrastructure that would make the area irresistible to business entities. We shall also develop Isheri area as well as the stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan express road up to the interchange so that we can effectively benefit from the overflow of business from Lagos.
“We shall develop these areas so well that businesses will feel at home there. My intention is to make Ogun State a model by providing creative leadership that will result in all round transformation. It is possible. A better and greater Ogun State is possible and we shall deliver it, if elected,” he assured.
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