Political Will To Implement Confab Outcome Will Make A Difference, Says Adediji

BODE Adediji, a former President of Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers(NIESV), is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bode Adediji Partnership- a frontline property consultant company in Nigeria. Adediji spoke with LAOLU ADEYEMI on the ongoing National Conference and why Gov. Rauf Aregbesola deserves second term in office. 

  Do you think that the ongoing national conference can come out with resolutions that would solve Nigeria’s problems?

  FROM all the conferences I have attended in the past, the import of it all to me is that a smaller, but strong centre, is preferable than an ominous centre that is distant from the constituents. However, the mechanics of such an emerging regional devolution of power will still have to be articulated and crafted in such a way that will not undertake any adventure that will specifically lead to the disintegration of this potentially greatest country in Africa. It is good to dialogue, and I look forward to see a good and robust outcome from the gathering. But what is important is the political will to implement whatever the outcome is at the end of the day.

  Under a democratic system, dialogue is always the best option to resolve challenges. So, I think we have mature people who have the interest of the nation at heart to discuss at the confab. Let us wait and see where it will lead us.

  Is the NIESV well represented at the Confab?

  I am no longer the president of my institution. But I doubt if the people behind the implementation of this confab have reached out to all necessary and appropriate quarters that should participate in the conference.

 Should we really go into another election with the much criticised 1999 Constitution?

My answer is an emphatic no. Next year election is coming; a lot can still be done. Having in mind that this is a great country that must not be allowed to waste either by way of disintegration or perpetual retrogression, we must not go there with the aim of playing game. We must all go with oneness of mind, having in mind that we are not where we ought to be, but we cannot afford to throw away the baby with the bath water.

Looking at the governors on the platform of the APC in the

Southwest, will you say they have performed?

The leadership of the APC in the Southwest is a respite to the general atmosphere of retrogression that we have witnessed over the past decades. However, we still must know that they have not been found wanting.

What is your assessment of his administration Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State?

 With what he has done so far and with the public perception of his energies, when he clinches thesecond term tenure, he can only improve on the marvelous job he has been doing in his first tenure in office.

  I will not limit myself to assessing Aregbesola, or any governor in this country, on the basis of my area of specialisation. Every aspect of life, including economy and politics, affects every Nigerians. The summary of my assessment of Aregbesola is that he has performed beyond anybody’s imagination. During his short period, he has been in the saddle of authority. 

 I was born in Osun, and grew up there and schooled there up to my university level. The sector of development and awareness that has been ushered in by this current regime has been unprecedented. But I must add a rider that every regime that had governed Osun must have done its best within the limit of knowledge, capacity and available resources. But in fairness, whether in the area of social mobilisation, education, infrastructure and others, the incumbent government has performed very well.

But his educational policy has been causing religious uproar. Is that not a minus? 

I will not dabble ordinarily into any religious matter. What I will like every Nigerian to know is that once you have a revolutionary policy being put in place in any state or nation, there will be some fallout of either unintended action or perception. It is then left for all the stakeholders to sit down and dissect what these perceptions may be and find a mutually agreed solution. As far as I am concerned, unless there is a revolutionary policy change in our educational landscape, Nigeria will not grow; Osun State will not grow. So, if a particular government comes on board to bring a revolutionary change in the educational landscape, whatever might be the unintended fallout, we should apply pragmatism, love, maturity and political unity to resolve the fallout. I don’t think any state in the whole Western region should be a state under which religious reasons should be pursued over development. I urge all the stakeholders to at this time sheath their swords and find a common ground to resolve whatever differences might have rising as a result of the new educational policy in Osun State.

In your assessment, does Aregbesola have a chance of winning second term?

If performance is the basis upon which a government is elected to an office, then certainly Aregbesola deserves to be returned to the office. If, however, under some sentiments, some parties have come up with schemes to get the office, then it is left for the citizens of Osun to sit down, look at the past, assess the present and think of their future.

So you will want Aregbesola to come back?

Yes. I want him to come back based on performance.

 Can he do more, particular now that he is being perceived as religious fanatics?

I will answer that question from the perspective of a farmer, who has performed his duty in planting some trees when the tree germinate, they create nomenclature that he cannot consume more than what we are doing now. I will only urge people to vote in for the second term and that is the only way he could reciprocate is to double his efforts on what he did during the first tenure in the second tenure.