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We are tired of our people being sold for 20 dollars in Libya – Akerele

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Says governor could not sleep after seeing mayhem against Nigerians
Obaseki did not order the repatriation of natives in Italy

SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY

Mr Taiwo Akerele is the Chief of Staff to Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state. In this interview with Sunday Vanguard, Akerele who was last week honoured with the name Omokhafe 1 (son that knows home) of Somorikaland by the people of Somorika Akoko Edo Local Government Area of Edo state speaks on the plans being made by the state government for the Libyan returnees just as he also reacted to some of the activities of his boss, Governor Obaseki.

Excerpts:

You have been receiving large numbers of Libyan returnees, how is the government coping with this pressure Sir?

We have made adequate arrangement, the governor has approved what we call voluntary return frame work. There are two legs to it, there is people who voluntarily want to return home and there are people who are stranded in Libya that the Nigerian government is bringing back. The two groups by the time they arrive, are being collapsed into a component and the component is receive them, bring them to Benin and we accommodate them. We give them the initial accommodation, feed them, do what we call psychological counselling to ensure that they are not discriminated against and they themselves they get back their lives. Now that they are back, the next thing is what do you want to do, capacity building, skill training or you want to go back to your family. Those of them who want to go back to their families we hand them over to their families after collecting their data. Those of them who want to the trained we train them. And that was why two weeks ago you saw the governor giving certificate to about 150 of them who were trained in Agricultural skills. Edo state is ready to receive all our people in Libya who wants to come back home. The Task Force against Human trafficking headed by the Attorney General of the state, Prof.Omoregbe has been given the support to take care of this situation we found ourselves. What we also want to do is to fast track our investment in the Benin Technical College. A week ago I was there to see the ongoing work and I saw that work is going on well. We want to ensure that when we start enrolling our people there, they are secured. We are also building the capacity of the Teachers there to ensure that they are able to deliver the relevant courses to those who want to be trained in skills. Our interest is that we don’t want to see our people die in Libya any more. Let them come back home, we have solution to their problem. Sometimes the governor does not sleep well after seeing the mayhem against our people in Libya. It is really sad and that is why he is determined to make the economy of Edo state the best in Africa not just Nigeria. As a financial guru, he has what it takes to achieve it. The governor is always very emotional when he sees sordid pictures such as we all have seen in Libya, so he is very passionate in changing their lives and we pray they all come home and work. But for the perpetrators, the traffickers, we are going after them. They have no hiding place anymore and we will fish them out and bring them to justice.

Religious leaders must play a role

Government is also calling on religious leaders to seriously help in the issue of illegal migration and human trafficking. People must say it in the churches, don’t migrate illegally, don’t sale your land because you want to travel to Libya, don’t sale your father’s land, it is slavery. We have said it anybody who wants to travel outside must have a valid document to travel. We are tired of our people being repatriated or being sold for 20 dollars in Libya. The governor has set up an antihuman Trafficking Task Force and they are doing well. And you can see from the confession of those people who came back, this is not the best route to follow. Let me also say emphatically, that the governor did not order the repatriation of Edo people in Italy. I was there with the governor in Italy when we visited, Speaker of House of Reps,  Dogara was there, there was never a time the governor said anything like that. And that was not our mission there. Our mission there was to enhance our corporation on technical education, human capital development for our people and how we can collaborate to improve skill acquisition in Edo state. There was never a time the governor signed that Edo people in Italy should be repatriated. That allegation you should know is coming from the opposition who are jealous about the achievements of this administration in the state. So we are urging our people there to continue to do their normal business and ensure they don’t destroy the image of Nigeria.

But is this not additional burden, how is it affecting the state government and how has it been meeting up with payment of salaries and ongoing projects?
It is about efficiency, prudent management of resource and optimization of what is available. Luckily for us, we have a procurement agency that have details of contractors who have been working for the state and we just have to agree with them on what to do. Everybody knows there is no money but if you want to do business with us you, we tell you what we can pay. Some of them agreed and because of the confidence they have in us that we are not going to default, they are working and when there is resources this government has been paying. This is how we have been able to work so far.

So what are those magic you can say your boss has done in one year that gave him the name “wake and see Governor?

We thank the people of Edo state for their support, maturity and understanding that they have demonstrate din the last one year of this administration. The governor during his campaign was very emphatic with the fact that he is going to continue from where our father and political leader, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole stopped. And true to that, on assumption of office a lot of reforms that Comrade Oshiomhole started were continued. The governor tried to restore sanity to Local Government administration. he tried to ensure he attracts investors to Edo state, he tried to partner with International organizations such as World Bank and that accounted for why he achieved so much in the area of infrastructure, revenue management and of course youth employment. And of course as you can see, Obaseki has consolidated on what Oshiomhole achieved by essentially emphasizing the fact that revenues in Local Government must be physically sustainable. And that was why on assumption of office, most of the Local Governments that were insolvent, they were regarded as failed tier of government, but today in Edo state, due to the introduction of technologies, use of ATMS in collection of our revenue,  as at November, cumulatively the total Internally Generated Revenue for Local Governments is N150million as at 2016 November. And Oredo Local Government is one of the biggest Local Government and it came first in terms of revenue collection. Governor Obaseki is trying to ensure that the 18 Local Governments are able to pay their salaries without necessarily waiting for Federal allocation.

However, let me come to the investment climate, you saw what we did in the one year anniversary where we launched the Alaghodaro Summit where we attracted thousands of investors across Nigeria and the world, they came to share ideas on the areas they think they can invest in Edo. The quality of personalities that came to Benin, they are rare to attract to a particular state except investors have the confidence that they have the right leadership in place. So the quality of people you saw is that confidence they have in the governor of Edo state and we have started seeing results from that Summit in the sense that the number of applicants for industrial lands, agriculture land have increased in the last three months and we are processing those applications. Then of course, you also saw that we used the opportunity of the Summit to launch our industrial park, the industrial parks are not easy to come by anywhere in the World because it means that there must be water, electricity, security, you must have access to the market. So that location in Ikpoba Okhai where that park is to be located is an area that was arrived at after a thorough study by our experts and partners who took time to identify a location that will be investor friendly, where we have competiveness and comparative cost advantage in terms of production and access to the market. The Vice President came to help us flag off the industrial park and this is going to be in conjunction with the private sector. Edo people will be the beneficiaries of that park because the park is going to generate over 100,000 jobs and it is going to bring sanity into the investment environment.

During the course of the year, the governor also emphasized that we are going to use technology to process our financial management system. This was also piloted under the administration of Oshiomhole but we have now improved on it. We have trained civil servants and from the Ministries up to the governor’s office, everything is digitalized, everything is charted on oracle system and right now civil servants are excited because the turnaround in terms of processing transactions has reduced considerably. Then still under industrialization, earlier in the year, we revived the Auchi fertilizer plant. The fertilizer plant was there for years but it never function for ones but the governor said no lets bring development to the door step of our people. And of course the Vice President came to commission the fertilizer plant. Right now hundreds of people have been employed and our people don’t need to wait for fertilizers outside Edo state before they go to farm. Then of course we have brought sanity to the city. Right now Edo state Traffic Management Authority has been revitalized, they are very civil, with emphasizes on the rule of law. So when you go to Ring Road today, 3rd East Circular there is sanity everywhere, the idea of people parking illegally has gone. Today Benin City is competing favourably with the best cities in Nigeria and West Africa.

Then of course you remember that before now, the issue of land is a very controversial issue in Edo state. Where you buy land today by the time you are moving to site, they will tell you someone else has bought the land. But of course partnering with the traditional Rulers in Edo state particularly our Royal father, the Oba of Benin, government was able to set up a Private Property Protection Committee headed by retired IGP, Solomon Arase and today our people abroad can confidently invest in land in Benin knowing fully well that the land will be there. The idea of people claiming to be CDAs is no longer there because the House of Assembly has passed that bill into law. Then when the governor said he was going to create 200,000 jobs, it was not just a mere political campaign. I told you of the Auchi fertilizer plant, the industrial park and right now we have harvested in the maize farm at Sobe in this planting season, 450 hectares of land in Sobe. We partnered with a reputable private secotr company who is into agro cultivation, packaging and marketing. Right now we are moving to Edo Central and Edo North. We are going to expand our agricultural initiatives into the other parts of the state.

Of course they were issues about security recently and the governor moved in and today anybody who is involved in kidnapping will know that Edo state is no longer safe for kidnappers. We want to thank the Nigerian Police, the army, the DSS for their effort to ensure that Edo state became safer again through their collaboration with government. And again, we are investing in human capital development. We opened a training center where civil servant can now go and learn computer, learn how to use computers, we have developed a curriculum with our partners. Then of course you go to Block C at the palm House that was abandoned years ago, you will see the work going on. The governor is doing this so that we can have a conducive atmosphere for our public officials. And the governor knows that you cannot run government alone, that is why today we have paid our counterpart fund to SEEFOR, to European Union, to stop gully erosion to improve employment and access to water in the state. So for us this is a good opportunity for Edo state to maximize its available resources to improve the quality of life of our people. Today, Edo state is a destination point for serious minded investors. In the last one year, we have received almost 25 Ambassadors of different countries including the American Ambassador, Britain, Italian to discuss with us on how they will partner with us to bring jobs and development. And let me tell you, there was a statistic that was published earlier in the year about states that are able to sustain themselves without waiting for federal allocation, Edo state is one of the first five and we are not a big revenue producer. So we are happy we are among that bracket, we will build on these achievements and ensure that we provide good life for our people.

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