Lagos — Former Oyo State Governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina, recently marked his 71st birthday. As part of the celebration, he took time off to interact with newsmen on burning national issues. The former governor, who is now the leader of the Action Congress (AC) in the state, stressed the need for past Nigerian leaders to speak out and advise the National Assembly on the way out of the present political impasse caused by the long absence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua from the country on health ground.

Perception on the nation's civil rule

It is supposed to be a blessing because we have tested military rule and rejected it. Civil rule is a blessing in the sense that our basic freedom is guaranteed. But as it is now, it is gradually becoming a curse. I am afraid that if the drift is not checked, we may become a failed nation. Eight years of civil rule under former president Olusegun Obasanjo is nothing to write home about. He left everything almost unattended to and in a bad state. President Yar'Adua came to power three years ago and the status quo remains.

The economy

Our economy is in shambles. A recent survey states that 138 million out of the 150 million live below poverty line. The national economy has been battered from all angles by several factors, the major one being corruption. The capital market collapsed and the money market (the banking institutions) is in trouble. Micro and macro economic activities have been adversely affected to the extent that we do not expect any developed nation to come and invest in Nigeria. We have never had it so bad.

State of power supply

The President failed to give us the 6,000 megawatts that he promised. Recently, we saw Vice President Goodluck Jonathan apologising to Nigerians for the inability of the government to deliver. Even in the days of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, power generation was not like that.

Removal of subsidy on petroleum products

Whether deregulation has taken effect or not, we do not know. The only thing is that every petrol station is now selling petrol at whatever price or prices they want. I don't want to queue and I don't want to beg anybody for supply of fuel. The last time I was going to attend a meeting in Ikenne, I bought petrol for N90 per litre. That might be good for some people, but it has introduced high prices, not only in transportation but also in goods and services. Sadly, nobody is making a statement on what is happening.

Quality of education

If we are a serious nation, do we need to toy with the education of our children? There is no institution of higher learning in Nigeria that has not doubled or tripled its fees in recent times, yet it is in the constitution that the nation should provide education for its children from the cradle to the grave, free education inclusive. Where do we go from here with all the money we are collecting from oil proceeds? When I was governor in 1999, we built education. At the Polytechnic, Ibadan, the money they pay now is about six times more than the money they paid then. And the entire money I received as governor for four years was less than N48 billion.

Today, the incumbent governor has received about N200 billion. What has he done with the money?

These days, things like unemployment that should bother a responsive and good government don't bother them. When the children graduate from tertiary institutions they can't get good jobs, except the type I see the Oyo government is giving them.

Here, the government imports small cars with motorbike engine and expect a graduate to drive it in the name of creating employment. What sort of employment generation is that? Education has suffered; they do not provide the institutions of learning with necessary materials and research work is almost not there.

Reaction to the orgy of corruption in public places

It is a mistake for people to think that corruption is going down in Nigeria. Government officials at all levels are lining their pockets. The Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have not done much. Of the people they have taken to court, how many have they convicted? Are we serious about fighting corruption in this country? We are not. I never thought there could be corruption in the banking sector. But we have all seen it. If Sanusi Lamido had not become the Governor of Central Bank, maybe we would not have seen the rot. Corruption is choking us in this country. Recently, I learnt that a chairman of a council in Ibadan built an hotel worth about N300-N400 million and the governor went there to perform the commissioning ceremony. And yet the EFCC boss Farida Waziri has been saying that most of the council chairmen are corrupt. As of today, she has not sent her officials to probe where a council chairman got the kind of money to build an hotel of such status? Waziri should urgently probe all the council chairmen in Oyo. There is no council chairman in Oyo, either past or present, who has not got one hotel, petrol station or shopping complex.

On President Umaru Yar'Adua

President Yar'Adua promised at inception to observe the rule of law. He has tried so far, but when it got to his own matter, he has failed to apply the law. If a governor is absent, the onus is on him to delegate his deputy to take over. I did so when I was governor. And when the President is away, the Vice President should take over. President Yar'Adua has been out of the country for two months on health grounds, and yet nobody knows the state of his health. There is no medical bulletin to inform the people. They chose the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a foreign medium, to talk to Nigerians. To crown it all, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is not allowed to take over. I feel he is not a courageous man. If he knows his own constitutional powers, the president cannot go out of the country like that and allow everything to go on like that. He lacks courage but I am not surprised because he belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); that is their stock in trade. It is only Yar'Adua that promised to respect the rule of law; the PDP has nothing to do with the rule of law.

What should be done

The sickness of President Yar'Adua may lead to a lot of confusion for the country. Goodluck Jonathan cannot take over, the northerners want to hold us to ransom; we cannot wait. If we fought successfully against the most dictatorial regime, we will fight against any other regime in this country. But before then, I would like to call on former President Shehu Shagari and former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, to save Nigeria from imminent collapse. I called on Ekwueme in the wake of the late military dictator Abacha's imminent collapse and he championed the G34. Let him take the PDP aside and be a Nigerian, this time, an elder statesman. Let him and his former boss, Shagari, summon a meeting of Nigerian leaders of thought. At least those of us in Afenifere have been calling for a Sovereign National Conference and they said no. Nigeria is at the stage of collapse now, we are in a constitutional quagmire; a constitutional deadlock, let the two of them get together now and pencil down the name of people across the country and call a meeting of Nigerian leaders of thought to save the country from imminent collapse. Any delay will be inimical to the stability and oneness of Nigeria.

On National Assembly

The National Assembly has failed this nation and that is the unfortunate aspect of allowing one party to continue to rig its way to power. The absence of a formidable opposition has created this situation. The National Assembly cannot sit and take decisions on Yar'Adua's absence. They gave themselves the task of amending the constitution and with less than a year to the 2011 election, they have not done much apart from going around asking for people's opinion.

The National Assembly has refused to do anything about the crucial electoral reform, which should not even take them more than a month to pass it to law. They have kept it aside because the PDP does not want the electoral reforms to see the light of the day. But they are playing with fire because, at the appropriate time, they will realise that no electoral reform, no election in 2011. We cannot continue to go for election that the results have been predetermined. This is not the way Nigeria should be run. There must be progress, people are suffering and the National Assembly has not come to their rescue.

Road construction/rehabilitation

They are putting the roads up for concession now. But how many years do we have to wait for. After the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the Ijebu Ode-Ore road also, most of the roads are being destroyed by heavy-duty trucks, which are owned largely by those in government. That is why they destroyed the railway system. When we look at petroleum sector, we simply ask, why have they not repaired the refineries? If people say that Nigerians are docile and cannot start a revolution, I say that people should stop deceiving themselves because it is knocking on the door.

Performance of Oyo State governor

Governor Alao-Akala has performed below expectation. I am not trying to vilify him because I like him as a person, but as a leader of government, he has not done enough to justify the money he is getting from the federation account and other proceeds. It is true he said he is constructing roads, but most are poorly done. There are ongoing works, which may not be completed before he leaves office. When will he complete that of the Molete-Oke-Ado-Dugbe axis? And how much are they spending? Most of the township roads are bad yet he said he is making new ones. Why not repair the old roads that can be passable?

In terms of employment, as part of his poverty alleviation scheme, he brought in cars with motorbike engine and told unemployed graduates to take up jobs as cab drivers. It is disheartening. Is that how to alleviate poverty? There are series of ways to alleviate poverty. He can create jobs for graduates by breaking down contracts awarded to single individuals because of kick back and give to some of these unemployed boys and girls to make money and start their own business.

Mass failure in WAEC, NECO of public schools and reward of principals with cars

I was told the governor told some principals, about 10 of them, that their schools did well. He rewarded them with cars. An educationist would not do that. What went wrong with education in Oyo is that they destroyed the system. That system was established a long time ago, since the era of Obafemi Awolowo and handed down through successive leaders. But the system that was handed down through successive leaders has been destroyed because they are not educationists. As a retired school principal, to have 30 students in a class is ideal but in reality, it is not possible. I retired in 1979 and each class then had between 35 and 40 pupils. In 2003, you are talking of 30 students per class. I said that the 30 in a class policy will not cost less than N120 billion but they went ahead and instead of building more schools, they divided schools where you have a principal and vice principal and in addition, there must be full compliment of staff which they could not get. Most of schools in Oyo today have no teachers in core subjects, then they say pupils are failing, why will they not fail?

On the NUT/Oyo Government face off

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) are accusing the state government of unnecessary interference in its affairs. If Akala is an educationist, he ought to have known that he is not likely to get a good result if he interferes in the affair of teachers. For the sake of politics, he is interfering. Now he is accusing the teachers of not delivering. Has Akala delivered the dividends of democracy to Oyo people? He must provide the schools with enough classrooms, teaching aids and infrastructural facilities.