Ogun to launch e-Library, website for Chieftaincy Affairs by 2022  —  Commisioner Afuwape

One of the major attributes of a great leader is penchant to peg the round stick in a round hole. If there is anything the administration of Governor Prince (Dr.) Dapo Abiodun is known for, it is making all and sundry, regardless of geographical constraints, to recoup the dividends of democracy and reap the benefits of entrusting him with the mantle of political and executive leadership of the Gateway State. Interestingly, one man who is being used by the Governor as foot soldier to take these dividends to every shore of the State is none other than Honorable Afolabi Afuwape, the Commisioner for Local government and Chieftaincy Affairs.  In this Interview with Uthman Salami, Hon. Afuwape fully explains how the State Government is turning the once moribund state of Local Governments in the state into a modernized, digitized and result-oriented system. Excerpts:

It has been three years since this administration came on board. What will you describe as major high points of governance under this Government?

Glory be to almighty God and the good people of Ogun State who gave us the opportunity to serve them. If they had not given Prince (Dr.) Dapo Abiodun the mandate, we will not be here today. During our campaigns, we campaigned for modernized Local Governments. We campaigned for a local government that will not be a salary paying center. We also campaigned for a local government that all of us will be proud of. These we are doing. We are able to do three major things. When we came on board, we met 20 local governments, 36 LCDAs.There’s no doubt that the smaller the unit of governance, the closer to our people. Not that we are opposed to the LCDAs. But the question that heavily came to mind when we came on board was questioning ourselves whether we had the the ability to fund the system as it was. The implications of having  20 and 37 LCDAs mean we would have about 57 Chairmen of the council, 57 Vice Chairmen, 57 Secretaries, 57 DGSA, amongst several others. We would have dug deep into the purse of the local government, thereby making the survival of the local government very slim. Therefore, we reverted back to our 20 local governments. Also, we used one stone to kill two birds by making all the LCDAs serve as Area Offices for the Local Governments. This will still afford us the opportunity of moving closer to our people.

Secondly, there is always FEC meeting at the national level where the Minister and Key Cabinet members meet to decide on how to move the country forward. The same thing is provided for at the State level. We call it JAAC meeting – Joint Account Allocation Committee, that meeting is statutory. We hold this meeting on a regular basis just to prove our transparency towards the finances of the Local Government. This meeting, mostly has in attendance, all the Chairmen of the 20 Local Governments, the Representative of NULGE, local government, NUT, pensioners, and traditional council. It is constituted constitutionally. Behold!  Since I became the Commissioner, we have never been able to receive the money that is enough to pay the basic needs of the Local Governments. What did we do? Whenever we receive the allocation, there is what we called First Line Charges, it is the first needs we remove from the allocation. Why? Check the staffers of Local Government, you will discover that the Staff are jointly owned by all the local government. For instance, if you are working for Ogun State government, you  can’t work for Lagos State government. However, the system of Local Government differs. The local government works with a unified staff. As such, it became imperative on us to put out the burden of paying their salary on one local government alone. Hence, we take the salary away when we get the money. We also take that of teachers away, because those of primary school teachers belongs to the LGs. Others like payment of pensioners are also taken away because one might work for all the 20 local governments but retire in one local government. This doesn’t mean the burden should go to that local government alone. So the burden is shared.

We also ensure we pay our traditional councils since they are part of the traditional institution and  are being paid by Local Governments. So whenever we make these four payments, we are always left in negative. We will not have enough money again. However, being that as it may, we cannot fold our arms and do nothing because of this. Our people do not want excuses. What they want is development. Based on this, I want to thank our Governor. We approached the Governor twice. This is because, most times, when this money is not enough, we get bailout from the government to even pay salary. Of course, this is in form of loan. But the Governor in his own initiative thought of it that we must still do projects. And twice, he gave us grants, not loan for local government projects. Presently, we have been able to execute 146 projects. We have 236 wards in ogun state. Our target is to have one project in each wards. As at now, we have covered 136 wards, meaning that we have only less than 100 wards, and we still have almost one and half years to go. This means our  target is being achieved. These milestones have never happened in the history of Ogun State. For a government to have 236 projects in all the wards in the State is a new giant stride. These are the major things we have been able to do. We are not even resting on our oars. There is no doubt that people are really enjoying the dividends of local government. Despite the challenges such as lack of funding and against all odds, we have been to achieve a lot in these few years within the resources we have.

Being the Commisioner in charge of local government in the state, what is your view on local government autonomy?

One thing most people fail to realize is, there is a difference between having autonomy and financial autonomy. When you say they should be autonomy, but you cannot pay salary, where would they go to? Should we insist they should not come to the state government for bail out? If we had done this, where would we have found ourselves by now? The truth is always bitter. Yes, Local Government have legislative arm. So they can make law. But how do they interpret that law? Where is the judiciary at local level to adjudicate those laws. For LGs to have an autonomy, they must have the three arms of Government as being practised at the State and Federal levels. For us to have absolute autonomy at the local government level, we will have to review the 1999 constitution. The way it is now, there is no way a total autonomy could be achieved at the local government level. There is no total autonomy even at the state level. Sometimes ago, when the state could not pay workers salaries, they had to run to the Federal Government for bail out. If State Governments could be getting bail out from the Federal Government, It means the state cannot completely detach itself from the Federal power. Let alone the Local Governments. So if there is a problem at the local government level, they will still run down to the state government for bail out. The recruitment of staff of local government is being done by local government Commission. This Commision is being controlled by the State. And if LGs want to be autonomous, it means they must be able to recruit their own Staff However, what we should be emphasising on for now is financial autonomy by making it impossible to tamper with local government money. And this is already in practice as far as Ogun State is concerned. The interesting aspect of it is that the money is not even enough for anyone to tamper with. All efforts should be geared towards attaining a financial autonomy.

It took a while before the local government elections were conducted in the state. But since the election and inauguration of chairmen, key appointments such as the secretaries and others are yet to be made. Wouldn’t this render the LGs functionless and what exactly is responsible for the delay?

As of May last year, after paying salary, we had seven people running the council, Chairmen, Secretaries and others. We had negative figures of over seven hundred and something million naira to pay. Now, in each council we have 236 councilors  across the state. We have 20 Chairmen, and all these people must be paid. The money of leaders differs from that of ordinary councilors. All these cost money and we need to plan for this. Should we appoint them without paying them salaries? They must be paid. Things are no longer as rosy as they used to be. But what is important is that, we must have elections because it is constitutional.  We are engaging all and critical stakeholders to know how we can manage this situation. We understand that people are antsy, but we need to get ourselves prepared. The process must be completed. It is ongoing. We will complete it. We are just taking our time to plan.

Also recently, your party had a Congress but it almost tilted towards chaos as some members of your party held a parallel Congress. Do you think these actions will not lead the party to shooting itself in the foot because this is not only happening in Ogun State?

As far as ogun state is concerned I’m surprised when people say this. The questions we should ask those that held the so called parallel congress is, are they members of our party? At the last election, all of them went into APM. They voted for APM. They lost in the election. We won without them, if they now chose to come back to the party, should it be by hijacking that party structure? They used their structure against us in the election. But God was really merciful, and the good people of ogun state rejected them. Ogun people voted for us. How will they now be claiming the ownership of the party. It’s like divorcing your husband, yet laying claim to him. The so called person who emerged as their chairman voted for APM in the last general election. Are they really a member of our party? If you are a member of a party, no matter the situation, you stand by that party. They have tried their strength. They have exercised their franchise. They have gone to another party and there was election but the Ogun people rejected them. They need to come and queue behind us. They can’t come and still be dictating the ways we should move. It’s never done anywhere. They are free to pitch their tent wherever they feel. They have done this before without results. If we had lost when they campaigned against us, will they still be claiming to be members of APC. If we had lost to either other party or to them, would they come back. In many states that had the same issue, APC lost the election. They took our money in funding APM. They used all the State resources against us. If you are against a party, you should not have anything to do with the party because you can’t eat your cake and have it. Nobody can play God. Why will they bring someone who had left the party at a critical stage to be our party Chairman? How can that person be the Chairman of my party. They are just jesters. They are free to join the party but they need to play by the rules. How could someone indulge in anti-party activities, but still want to be the Chairman of that party? It is very funny. This is non-issue to me. No party member will lose sleep over this. They are only chasing shadow. All their activities defer logic. We don’t really know their game plan. That is APM congress. We started from Ward Congress, to Local Government and now State.

In the last general election, the past administration was seen using the Obas to press home his preferred candidate by taking them to Abuja. What can we do to expunge the use of Obas for party politics?

Traditionally, the Obas are meant to be highly revered by all and sundry, and more powerful than the government. The Oba should always be apolitical. They should not be involved in politics regardless. Things are just getting bad. And mind you, their salaries are not even being paid by the Governor, but by the local governments. Their money is being taken from the source, no government has the power to stop the salaries of the local council. Though Governors have the power to remove them, but it has a due process. Most times, why should Oba be involving himself in political activities whereby a party would want to have a political rally and Oba would be putting on Political wears? Why? We are desecrating the esteemed stool. People no longer give the expected respect to Obas as it were done in the past. I’m not saying Oba should not work with the Governors. They must work together. They can serve as advisory body to the Governors. But they cannot be engaging themselves in party politics. It will not lead us anywhere. So we need to get it right. Oba can attend ceremonial duties such as Independence day, Armed Forces Rememberance Day and others. Oba, yes, should work closely with governors because they are meant to moderate the activities of political office holders. I respect our traditional rulers that are doing the right thing.

You’re one of the leading political leaders in Abeokuta South, despite all the mudslinging from your political opponents, you keep having massive supporters at the grassroots. What exactly are you doing to entice and attract supporters?

Politics is not about money but about people. And your ability to have cordial relationship is very key. The only thing that has been keeping me going is the fact that I’m the type that understands the yearnings and feelings of the people. If you can relate with people very well, you will be a good politician. I don’t lie to my supporters. I tell them the way it is. Whatever I know I can do, I promise them. But what I cannot do, I don’t promise. Of course, as a human being, I will offend some people, but notwithstanding, I am doing my best. And my people are not asking for too much. They love me and I will always love them.

When the Governor released the list of Commisioners, so many people, especially your political opponents, thought the position was meant to silence you politically. However, you have been able to make most use of it by making a huge impact. How are you doing this? 

I don’t know why people will even think the position is meant to silent me politically because this is rather helping my political career. Beside the Governor, I’m the only one covering the entire State. The management of affairs of traditional councils and as well as the entire LGs. And that’s where real politics are being played. Government don’t just put any person in this position I am occupying. They put trusted hands. And having been given this portfolio, I see it as a lot of opportunity for me to promote the good deeds of my Governor, Prince (Dr.) Dapo Abiodun. This is one of the best ministry in this administration. It is very challenging. You must have wisdom to deal with a lot of things. This is because a lot of people want to be enthroned whether they are qualified or not. So you need wisdom to deal with this thing. My target has been, I won’t do something that is inimical to the progress of ogun state and also to the progress of this institution. I will always do the right thing. Once you stand by the truth. You will be vindicated any day, any time.

What should the people of Ogun State expect from this administration and your office in the coming years?

We are struggling to give back to our people. In this ministry by early next year, we will have completed those 32 projects as planned and surpass it. Once I can achieve this, I can beat my chest that we have surpassed our promises to the people. There are also some other things we want to do concerning the issue of Oba. As at now, we have been able to issue them identity cards. I want to get a website for them whereby all the names of authentic Obas will be registered. So all the fake Obas will fade away.  By that time, we will know the real ones via Google. All the names of Oba in the State will be uploaded on the website. By this, one will be able to know who is real and who is fake. We also want to have e-Library so that anything pertaining to a particular stool or declaration, one will find them easily accessible by paying a little token to our e-library, access it and move away. Anyone can get all our information needed there. I believe that by the beginning of next year both the e-library and website will be ready. Currently, you will just see some Obas using customized number plate and you won’t know if they are in the system or not. It is not done anywhere in the world. As an Oba if you want your identity to be known go to road safety, you’d get it officially and legally.  Indiscriminate use of all these customized number plates by those who are not even a Chieftain in their village does not even give us the regard we deserve. I have made it clear for umpteenth time that this administration led by our able Governor will not abide by anything below due process. For the record, though I don’t have the figure, this administration has installed more Obas than any other previous Governments. We do not delay any stool vacancy. If we have a vacancy, why don’t we fill it within few months? Also, the salaries of these Obas are being paid as at when due. Their salary will continue to be paid. This is because every Oba has a role to play in the development of their Communities.