The Senator representing Oyo Central Senatorial District, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin in Ibadan on Saturday, May 1, hosted Oyo state NUJ members to break fast with him and speaks on some issues. BAYO AGBOOLA reports
What is the update on the APC registration and revalidation exercise in Oyo state?
The report that we received from every nook and cranny of the state has been very impressive. And I can speak authoritatively on Oyo state, its been very positive, very great. I am not surprised because the people understand that the only way to salvation, so to speak, is APC. You saw even the ZLP collapsing their structure into APC, it has never happened. ZLP is collapsing their structure into the APC unconditionally, so its been very good. APC is, for me, the party to beat. I will be surprised if we don’t register close to two million. I don’t have my fact, but the report we are getting, we should be close to two million.
What will you say on the state of Nigeria economy under the ruling APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari?
The President came in at a very difficult time. The major problem affecting our economy today is Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and I am surprise people aren’t seeing this. COVID-19 has almost brought the world economy to its knees and you know Nigeria cannot operate in isolation of the world economy. In the western countries, their economy is been driven by Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). If you go there now most of these shops are closed.
In the Western world, were there provisions for palliatives from government during the period?
The difference is they are more organised. They know how many people live in their countries. In England for instance, they say you earn $50,000 a month for argument sake and they say stay at home we will give you $20,000 for staying at home. We don’t have such record. What you are seeing now is knock-on effect of COVID. And you see, whether you like or not, If the western economies are still ‘sick’ we will remain sick. That is the truth of the matter. Our mainstay is oil. During this COVID period, there was a time when oil fell to as low as 20 dollars per barrel. Aviation industry, a major user of oil, is almost grounded. I am not making excuses, we always have our problems, when you add this to it, this is what you will get.
How do you see the insecurity in the land considering the Nigeria’s economy?
I was speaking to someone who I know sells cars only three days ago and I said to him, how are you coping in your business. He replied, ‘Oga business has collapsed.’ With this current exchange rate how is he going to bring cars. They are out of business, they can’t feed their families. May be five of them would then be lured into illegal things. I am not saying it’s right, its just the way it is.
We are now having agitations for self government in the country, what is your take on the clamour for the restructuring of Nigeria?
I belong to the restructuring school of thought and thankfully, I am a member of the Constitution Amendment Committee. What we need to do is to restructure. There is something in the constitution that is called Exclusive List, we need to get rid of that. Once we get rid of the exclusive list, we are home and dry. What it means is that every state would have to develop at its own pace and you will then begin to hold our leaders accountable. We say we operate federalism and of course, we don’t. In America, all the states are independent. For instance, if you go to Miami now, the tax is very. So if you like go and if you like don’t go. In Boston, they are known for education. If you go to Texas, its known for oil. Let everybody develop their own natural resources and then we pay tax to Federal Government. Once we do that, we will be okay.
Can we sustain such, do we have the resources to sustain it in Nigeria?
I think Nigeria in diversity is a beautiful country, but only if we get it right. This ‘one-size-fits-all’ won’t work and it has not worked. Let Yoruba develop at its own pace, we will do our best. Whether we have Oduduwa or whatever, I don’t believe in it. I believe in one Nigeria, I believe in Nigeria. I think Nigeria is a beautiful project that we should all support only if we restructure it. Going with cap-in-hand to Abuja every month to collect allocation is not sustainable, it breeds laziness.
