Politics of power, peace and prosperity
After being in the saddle as Oyo State governor for over five years, a pattern, which represents Seyi Makinde’s political ideology is emerging. The ideology is what I call Makindeism.
Every politician seeks power. Politics is a contest for power. Without power, politics loses its allure; it becomes bland because access to power gives the average politician the ginger. Power is the opportunity to emplace policies for the good of the majority of the people in a society. It is the ability to influence people to achieve a desirable objective. It is also the ability to command the respect of others such that they are willing to subject themselves to one’s control. Access to power makes leaders of men and transforms great leaders into statesmen, icons or even idols. Without power, a leader will only have desires; he will hardly get things done.
There are two types of power: personal and positional. Personal power is the influence wielded by a person consequent upon his appeal. This power is not derived from the position he occupies but from his values, virtue, conduct and attitude. Leaders who leverage personal power symbolize the people’s aspirations. So, both the people and the leader connect and can commune even when no word is uttered.
The power wielded by a person because of the office he occupies is positional. This power is important because it is what gives legitimacy to the holder. Without the power, they may get stuck and unable to do what is expected of them.
While positional power is bestowed, personal power is earned. Positional power can be acquired instantly but personal power takes time to build and could be lost in a jiffy. To be successful in any office, a leader needs a combination of the two. He needs positional power to get his team members to do what is expected of them but requires personal power to get them to go beyond the call of duty.
Though power is the tonic of politics, power is neither the reward nor the essence of politics.
For Governor Seyi Makinde, who wields both personal and positional power, power is a resource; a tool he deploys to create value for the people. Value creation is the leader’s calling. Value creation is doing for others what they cannot do for themselves; serving them, solving their problems, easing their worries and generally making life comfortable for them. Hence, since he assumed office as governor on May 29, 2019, Makinde has been people-centric. He has made the well-being of the people his primary concern. He has been working for the people, walking with the people, sitting down with the people and standing up for them.
At the inception of his administration in 2019, Governor Makinde announced a four-pronged strategy to drive the Oyo State Roadmap to Accelerated Development 2019-2023. The pillars of the plan are education, health, security and widening the economy. Within 2019 and 2023, Makinde completed almost 60 model schools, renovated over 600 classrooms and employed over 5,000 teachers, all to ensure that every child in the state has access to quality education. The governor also supported tertiary institutions like never before, cooperated with Osun State Government to make Oyo State the sole owner of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and commenced the process of converting Emmanuel Alayande College of Education into a university of education, thus increasing access to education for everyone who desired it in the state. The trend has continued in his second term.
Though Governor Makinde has paid serious attention to secondary and tertiary health facilities in the state, his main focus has been the primary healthcare centres as they are closest to the people. According to the governor, the intention is to put all the PHCs in the state in such a good state that no one needs to travel more than one kilometre to have access to basic healthcare. The governor has also approved health insurance for pensioners, pregnant women, under-five children and students in higher institutions to ensure universal basic healthcare in the state.
Since 2019, Governor Makinde has been widening the economy of the state by creating opportunities for businesses to grow and individuals to thrive. By ensuring prompt payment of salaries and pensions, improving facilities and building new infrastructure, he has been able to develop the state economy to the extent that it is rated as one of the states with the highest Internally Generated Revenue in the country in 2023. Governor Seyi Makinde has taken the monthly IGR from around N1.8 billion, which was when he assumed office in 2019, to over N4 billion.
All of these strides are not happenstance. According to the United Nations Development Programme, human development is hinged on three factors; education, health and the Gross National Income, which for a sub-national would be measured by economic growth and the earning capacity of the citizens. As a result, human development has been on the rise in Oyo State under Makinde’s watch because he has made the well-being of the people the focus of his government.
In addition, the governor has a heart for the people. Recently, the House of Assembly passed the Presumptive Tax Bill, which provides for the imposition, administration, and collection of presumptive tax from individuals and entities whose income cannot be ascertained due to a lack of financial records. But, Governor Makinde said, though he would sign the bill into law, the implementation would be put on hold, because he was interested in policies that would prosper the people, not impoverish them.
Similarly, when those with properties along the Senator Rashidi Ladoja Circular Road development corridor pleaded for his intervention concerning developed properties which fall within the corridor, the governor asked those officials working under the authority of the State Ministry of Lands and Housing, to stop further marking of structures, assuring that existing properties would be accommodated in the corridor.
In the same vein, since 2019, Governor Makinde has been holding stakeholders’ consultative and town hall meetings ahead of budget preparation. This gives room for citizens’ input in budget preparation. So, Makinde does not just govern the people, he governs with the people.
Makinde deploys political power to ensure the well-being of his people.
Since 2019, Oyo State has witnessed unprecedented peace. There has been religious harmony, communal peace, and peace among trade groups, on campuses and the streets. Although there have been some skirmishes in some parts of the state, they have been few and far between. The primary reason for the peace that has permeated the state is the personality of the governor. Makinde, being a peaceful person, wittingly and unwittingly promotes peace in the state. Since the governor does not go about with armed thugs, no member of his cabinet or supporters would have the effrontery to try that. Since the governor does not support violence, none of his aides or allies can support violence without dire consequences. Since the Governor does not hound down members of the opposition, there is no basis for any of his associates or supporters to so do. So, the Governor’s disposition to peaceful co-existence has gone a long way to tone down violence in the state.
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Apart from the Governor’s disposition, one other factor that has promoted peaceful coexistence in Oyo State is the Governor’s commitment to fairness and justice. Before the coming of Makinde, traditional worshippers in the state were sidelined; they were not given any form of recognition. But Makinde changed that. He approved a public holiday in recognition of their new year. They are also recognized at public functions. So, traditional worshippers have no reason to complain or foment trouble in the state.
Similarly, Makinde, though a Christian, is a staunch supporter of the Islamic faith. He has been fair to Muslims in the state, ensuring that they get their just due. In the same vein, Makinde has been supportive of Christians by making sure that they are neither neglected nor relegated in the scheme of things in the state. Because the Governor is fair to all, everyone is at peace with their neighbours.
The Governor has also been fair in the distribution of amenities in the state. In the days of yore, development was always concentrated in Ibadan but Governor Makinde has changed that by developing critical infrastructure in all the zones of the state. He has connected all the zones with roads, is developing tourism sites in all the zones and is creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in all the zones.
One other thing that has promoted peace in Oyo State is proactive leadership.
In February this year, the national body of the Nigeria Labour Congress called for a nationwide protest. In compliance with the national headquarters’ directive, the Oyo State NLC chapter joined the protest. While they were having their protest, Governor Seyi Makinde suddenly showed up to address them. The Governor told them that they had an inalienable right to protest. He identified with them the need to protest. He, however, enjoined them to join hands with the government to get the country out of the woods. By the time the Governor was done, the protesters believed their issues had been addressed and ended the protest shortly after. By being proactive, Governor Makinde nipped in the bud what could have snowballed into a serious crisis.
Oyo State is not just peaceful, it is also safe. Oyo has recruited over 2,500 Amotekun guards; the state also has about 2,000 OYRTMA personnel, the government has installed street lights across the state, acquired over 500 vehicles with communication gadgets for security agencies and empowered residents to protect their communities. Consequently, bank robbery has become a thing of the past in the state just as gang wars and many other criminal acts.
Makinde uses state power to ensure fairness and engender peaceful coexistence.
By promoting peace, investing in critical infrastructure and coming up with investment-friendly policies, Makinde has made Oyo State the preference of many national and international investors. This is why Fasola Industrial Hub has become a business cluster parading national and multinational companies such as Chief Quails Limited, SWAgCo Limited, FreislandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, Brownhill Group and Milkin Barn Agriserve Ltd.
In the same vein, Psaltry International has built a cassava-based sorbitol factory, the first in Africa and the second largest in the world, in the Iseyin area of Oyo State, just as Africorp Consortium, the parent company of Mouka Group, is on the verge of setting up a factory in Oyo State. Similarly, Shell Nigeria Gas is about to commence the construction of a $100 million Pressure Reduction and Metering Station (PRMS) which would distribute gas for electricity generation across the state.
The state government’s effort to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive is paying off with several companies shifting to Ibadan, the state capital. Likewise, many micro, small and medium-sized businesses are springing up in different parts of Ibadan. This is one of the reasons the UN-Habitat, in 2022, adjudged Ibadan as the second fastest-growing city in Africa.
Makinde leverages his political power to create prosperity for his people. All these efforts by the Makinde-led administration have resulted in progress and development for the state. But Makinde knows that the bane of development in the country is the failure to sustain good works. He also knows that the way out is the establishment of regulatory institutions. Therefore, he has been putting in place institutions that would curb the excesses of people and rein them in so that the gains of the present would not be undone in the future. He has set up the Oyo State Anti-Corruption Agency (OYACA), which is to plug revenue leakage from government coffers and stop the act of mismanagement of office by public office holders and government workers; the Oyo State Rule of Law Enforcement Authority, which is to facilitate quick dispensation of justice; the Oyo State Project Monitoring Agency, which is to ensure the extraction of values for all projects in terms of schedule and quality; and the Oyo State Mobilisation Agency for Socio-Economic Development (OYMASED), which is to mobilize and sensitise the various demographics in Oyo State for the pursuit of social, economic, political and environmental uplifting.
With these institutions, development in Oyo State will not be in fits and starts but will be consistent, progressive and sustainable.
Makinde is strengthening institutions to foster sustainable development.
Therefore, I submit that Makindeism is a political ideology which deploys political power for the peace and prosperity of a people to achieve sustainable development.
If there is a better way to lead, I would like to know.
Dr Olanrewaju is Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State Governor.
