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*Senator Ayo Arise* represented Ekiti North senatorial district in the 6th Assembly under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and served as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation. He has since joined the All Progressives Congress, (APC). An aspirant for the party ticket in Ekiti State, ahead of the July 14 governorship elections, he said President Muhammadu Buhari and a national leader of the party, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, are the contending camps in the party primary slated for May 5. He spoke with select newsmen in Abuja. TAIWO AMODU was at the session:
*Let us start on this note. Why do you want to govern Ekiti State*?
First, I have been in this race to be governor of Ekiti State, since 2005. I was running against the 2007 governorship election and I ran alongside Kayode Fayemi, the former governor who is now serving as Minister and also an aspirant in this race. So, I am not just one of those who just woke up overnight and say they want to be governor. I have the passion for my people. It is my intention to ensure that we develop the manpower in Ekiti, develop our state, our cities, our villages and the rural farming communities.
We will bring innovation to governance and I believe that I am probably one of the most qualified to deliver on such promise. I have been resident in America, since 1988. I went to school, had my master’s degree from there. I schooled in Alabama which is more an agrarian state. I know what the people are doing through their farms like the production of wheat and many more. It is the industries that are attached to those farming products that actually made the state one of the southern states that was able to actually stand on their own. Of course, you know that most states in America are viable because of the industries and because they are focused. Whatever is available as commonwealth money is spent on the development of the state. I believe that whatever little resources we have in Ekiti can be well managed for the benefit of the people of that state. I believe that I will do better than most of the aspirants on the field today.
*What are you bringing on the table to turn the tide around in Ekiti*?
I will focus immediately on the agricultural sector by encouraging people to go into farming. When they go into farming, I intend to put them on a salary until their farm can begin to produce enough to support their families. I intend to put them on a minimum wage which of course will not be the current minimum wage. I am looking at an amount of about N30,000 to N35, 000 per month, provide them with land and tools to encourage mechanised farming and ensure that they grow edible crops like cassava, rice and many others, depending on what can grow well in a particular area of the state.
We used to have what we called the Igbimo rice which is what they now call ofada rice. There is nothing wrong in capitalising on that heritage and building some processing plants. I will talk to the Minister of Agriculture. There are a quite a number of projects that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank are backing which need to be tapped and used for the benefit of the people of our state. It depends on your ability to be involved and gather those that are able to assist you. I will cry that my state is poor and need a turn around. Several examples abound right now, even under this APC government. You see what the governor of Kebbi has done with the Lake rice and so, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel that much because we have seen people doing this thing successfully. We will practise it and ensure that our people benefit from it.
From agriculture, we can look at those agro -allied industries. Apart from the processing of rice, we can begin to convert cassava to the production of ethanol, we can also use corn from the production of ethanol and the bye products can be used to generate power which will serve the state and beyond. These are thing that you must understand.
Complaints trail INEC voters’ registration in Ekiti
They are things that I have worked on and I know that they will work especially through public private partnership. We will not say that government should set up these factories. But the government will provide the enabling environment, call the corporate people to do it, especially those who are interested in investing in agriculture. The government will put in some support base, probably in terms of land and provision of some utilities. Even if we say we want to grow our Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR) and move away from being described as a very poor state to a middle level state in terms of revenue generation, we must empower the people. We must have what we called the buy power. If you don’t have the buying power, businesses will not thrive in that state. So, when we develop the agro allied industries, coupled with the people will be going to the farm, if our youths produced more than what the factories can consume, the government will stay back as the buyer of the last resort. Government will buy what they produce to ensure that they make profit and in doing that, we can also move into producing some of these little implements in terms of manufacturing. Some of these things are already there and we will begin to practicalise them. I don’t believe in over promising. But I am looking at that sector and I know that we can do very well there.
*As the APC prepares for its primary, there has been insinuation that what played out in Ondo might repeat itself. One or two aspirants have been fingered as anointed candidates of the Presidency and Bola Tinubu. Where do you belong*?
The President is our President and is the head of the party. For those of us who are Yoruba people, our leader and the leader of the party is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I don’t think that it is necessary for me to go and tell the President that I want to be governor of Ekiti. But if I have the opportunity to see him, I probably will do that. But I am not going to be spending time running to him because maybe what I will be asking him is to come and help me and looking at him and his nature, I know he will prefer a free and fair primary. So, by going to him, I may be asking for special privilege. I want a free and fair election in Ekiti. I have been a victim of such leverage before when I ran in December 2006 for the primary. So, what I don’t what to be done to me, I don’t want it to be done to other people. So, I am advocating a very free and fair election.
As of necessity, I must go and inform the leader of the party. Even if you are not in APC, and you are a Yoruba man and you look at the contribution of Asiwaju to that party, it is likely that you will give it to him because he has earned that leadership role. For me, I am one of those that cannot underestimate his influence. So, I have gone to see him on a number of occasions and he has told me what he would want to see because we are all his men. He wants to see who will be able to win the primary first before throwing his weight behind the person.
