When progressives converged on Ibadan

“Take it or leave it, one thing you cannot take away from these people parading themselves as the progressives is their inclination towards intellectualism in governance and this marks them out over the ages”. This was the remark of an observer at the Civic Centre, Idi-Ape, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital where the governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled states, under the aegis of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and other leaders of the party across the country converged for the maiden edition of the Progressive Governance Lecture.

Entitled ‘Nigeria’s High Growth-High Unemployment Paradox’, the lecture delivered by Dr. Ayo Teriba had in attendance  the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, who was represented by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, the APC interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential candidate,  Major-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), Governors Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo, Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso of Kano, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, who was represented by his Deputy, Mrs Titi-Laoye Tomori, as well as the Oyo State Deputy-Governor, Chief Alake Adeyemo. Others included deputy governors of Sokoto, Kwara and Borno, APC Acting Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Senator Femi Ojudu, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Oyo State Speaker, Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu, among several others.

Firing the first salvo, Imo State Governor, Rochas  Okorocha, who is the Chairman of the PGF in introduction his lecture entitled ‘Visioning Progressive Governance: Introducing Progressive Governance Lecture Series’, noted that the problem of youth employment bedevilling the nation “is responsible for the country’s inability to match up with the advanced nations of the world”. He lamented the unemployment rate in the country, saying, “the current unemployment situation in Nigeria is unacceptable and a danger to the social, economic and political stability of Nigeria. It also impacts negatively on our ambitions as a country, after all, how can Nigeria, with over 20 million youths who have no jobs and millions of others wasting away, claim that we want to be a major power in the comity of nations? That claim would be laughable if not tragic-tragic because we come across as refusing to empower the youths on whose shoulders will rest the task of taking Nigeria to the next level. We can no longer remain insensitive to issues around unemployment and the crises of governance in Nigeria”.

He said the lecture was aimed at examining the nature, scope and dynamics of the current unemployment and governance crisis in Nigeria with a view to exploring alternative, creative and innovative solutions that could lead to mass creation of decent jobs and good governance in Nigeria. Gov. Okorocha also disclosed that the mission of the progressives was to provide a unifying platform for partnership and collaboration among all state governors that promote the principles and practices of progressive politics to address current and future governance challenges. The lecture which would be in series and to be variously hosted by the states under the umbrella of APC according to the Imo State governor would not remain mere paper work but to be followed by immediate action. He assured that the resolutions reached at every lecture would be adopted by all APC states and used to develop workable strategies for job creation.

In his welcome address, the host governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi saluted the APC leaders for the initiative of proffering scientific solutions to the problems of unemployment in Nigeria. “Our decision to brainstorm on the national challenge of unemployment at this forum underscores our belief that a mental and intellectual approach to the problems would dissolve the challenge into nothingness in no long a time’’, he said. Governor Ajimobi, who described the problem of unemployment as a global one, touching many countries in various degrees, noted that “Nigeria’s unemployment rate is spiralling upwards, growing at 16 per cent annually. We must do something urgently as a nation to reverse this trend. We must be attentive to the alarm raised by a concerned citizen who warned that of all the aspects of social misery, nothing is as heart-breaking as unemployment’’. The governor said the lecture series organised by APC was to provide a platform for leadership, as, according to him “if you have leadership without governance, you risk tyranny, fraud and personal fiefdoms. If you have governance without leadership, you risk atrophy, bureaucracy and indifference’’.

Governor Ajimobi used the occasion marking his 1,000 days in office to reflect on the developmental strides his government had taken, noting that, “in the last 1,000 days, we have redefined governance in the state. Before now, we are all aware of how blood-letting had become the order of the day. Oyo state is now a peaceful place to live in. From the dirtiest city in Africa, we have changed the face of the state, thereby attracting business investment, intellectual capacities, as well as youth empowerment”.

The National Leader of APC, Tinubu, who was represented by Masari decried the high level of insecurity in Nigeria, attributing it to the high rate of unemployment which he described as a time bomb that could explode if not urgently addressed. He therefore called on the leaders in the country to stop protecting their seats, but rather concentrate on how to find lasting solution to insecurity and unemployment currently ravaging the country. “The people of this country are now more determined than ever before to protect the country by way of kicking out incompetent leaders, either at the states or national level’’, he said.

• The Governors acknowledging cheers from the crowd at Lekan Salami Stadium.

For former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, there was the urgent need to tackle the unemployment and security challenges currently facing Nigeria. In his own contribution, the Interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Akande said the party was being built to lift Nigeria away from backwardness to progress through positive ideas. He said that APC would soon commence its congresses at all levels to build structures for the party across all the voting constituencies of the country. “APC is now the only party presently being built for men of ideas in Nigeria. It is the strongest platform for the progressives’’, Akande added.

In the paper presentation by Dr. Teriba, an Economist, he noted that “As Nigeria’s growth surged in the past one and a half decades unemployment rate has increased threefold, with the worst increases happening between 2007 and now. Elected officials have been unable to translate growth to increased employment, largely because they have left the task of fiscal and monetary policy arrangement in the hands of appointees in who have inadvertently made policy choice that have weakened growth, constrained domestic demand, and worsened the employment rate”.

The guest speaker was of the view that if Nigeria would make democratic governance a tool for delivering economic tangible and enduring economic benefits in the future, “Nigeria needs to make monthly employment data available before the end of each month, fix rail transportation, rethink fiscal policy refocus monetary policy, and ensure that elected officials accept responsibility for policy formulation and coordination”.