Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed spoke on a wide range of issues in this month's edition of The Governor Explains, an interactive session on his administration's policies and programmes. Excerpts:

There have been insinuations about the suspension of Offa and Oyun Local Government council chairmen, people are saying it is politically motivated. Your Excellency, what's your reaction to this?

In any civilized society, for you to have things going well you have to be guided by laws and these laws are to be enforced by law enforcement agents. Don't forget that motor parks are guided by bye-laws of local governments and local government Chairmen are the Chief Security Officers of their councils. It was made clear to them that the dispute over parks should be nipped in the bud before it degenerated to crisis that would lead to loss of lives and property.

One advice we gave them was that if the parks were close to each other and were creating problems, why don't you find a way of taking them back to where they were supposed to be?

If they had problems of getting this law adhered to they have the powers to request the services of security agents who would ensure that the laws are followed accordingly. Unfortunately, the local government chairmen allowed this thing to degenerate because they did not even carry us along to let us know how bad the situation was. Of course as a state governor, I don't have the responsibility to enforce bye-laws. So the local governments failed in their responsibility of ensuring that bye-laws are adhered to, then they must give room for investigation to see what led to the breakdown of law and order.

Why were the laws not adhered to?

This will also serve not only as a correction but also as a deterrent to others. It has nothing to do with political motivation, rather it has to do with safety of lives and property.

What assurances can you give Kwarans that the report of Justice Oyinloye will not go the same way of previous judicial panels of enquiry?

I want to give a strong assurance that the panel we have set up, which is a judicial commission, has been given clear terms of reference. Firstly, to look at the immediate and remote causes, identify property and lives that were lost and the culprits. Furthermore, they have the mandate of going through all previous reports that have been made on this Offa/Erin-Ile issue. By the time we sum everything, we expect them to come out with a blend that will be acceptable to all parties which will ensure that we continue to guarantee lives and property in both communities but also prevent a reoccurrence.

When should people expect the second tranche of the micro-credit scheme?

The micro-credit scheme was set up largely to support micro, small and medium scale enterprises in our effort to reduce youth unemployment and most importantly to stimulate economic activity in the informal sector.

We came out with a model that saw us creating cooperatives. These cooperatives were compartmentalized based on interest and other areas where they will benefit from the micro-credit scheme. This is designed to be a rolling scheme.  In other words, money that goes in is supposed to come out so that we can use it to support others.

The money, as it were, is working. Funds that have been given out to people are already due for repayment and currently repayments are coming in. The lessons we learn from the model we have done will now determine the next tranche. I see the next tranche coming in most likely at the beginning of the second quarter of this year. At that time, we would have been able to see the efficiency of the model we have put in place, what lessons we have learnt and how we will administer the next tranche of the N250m SME to prospective beneficiaries.

Why are you establishing a vocational center when our technical colleges need urgent attention?

When you look at the current system, our educational system has not been designed to support those who have not been able to further their education. It has also not been designed to allow those who will learn hands-on to create jobs for themselves and to help others to create jobs. If you recall in the '60s', '70s' and '80s' we had technical colleges where students learnt skills that could further be enhanced.

At that time, the purpose for setting up the Kwara State College of Technology was to enhance those who had gone to technical colleges and of course other schools were also attached.

However, this gradually changed and the purpose for which it was set up became defeated.

We looked at the issue from two facets. One, we have the technical colleges where individuals who will opt not to go to normal secondary schools and prefer to go to technical colleges to learn skills and improve themselves. At the same time, there are those who don't have the opportunity of higher education who will just go to maybe primary schools and then learn a vocation. Some of them have graduated from their vocations and if you look at the quality of jobs that are coming out you will see that there is a skills gap. This is evident when you see the work of tilers, bricklayers, masons, plumbers and electricians and so on.

All sorts of jobs that require hands-on skills have been compromised because of improper training. When people want to do P.O.P, they prefer Ghanaians or Togolese. It is not right! Nigerians, Kwarans should be able to do it.

Not because of anything but because of the fact that we have 167 million Nigerians. So we should be exporting people and not importing. It is on this basis that we said we must approach from two major facets. Firstly, we are going to re-instate the technical colleges. We are starting with three: one for each of the senatorial districts.
This will go back to the old technical colleges and lead to the wholesome growth in that sector for our people at that level.

Now the vocational training center is designed for those who will come and learn skills. You may even be graduates. You may be OND, HND, NCE holders or apprentice already working somewhere. You will learn skills at the center that will make you employable beyond Kwara State. We want to train international craftsmen. These are people that can be exported to other parts of the world. You will be certificated with the C&G which is recognized almost everywhere in the world. You can even set up your own training scheme and it would be recognized that the instructor who is teaching these skills to the youth is a C&G trained and certified person. So there is no conflict. The International Vocational Centre is designed to enhance those who require skill improvement and to create a middle manpower support scheme for industries, i.e. those in construction, marine, oil and gas. The technical colleges are designed to help you develop technical skills and also develop yourself into technicians.

Sir, the plan to purchase additional aircraft for the International Aviation College Ilorin has been widely criticized by the opposition. What's your reaction?

Ordinarily, I wouldn't have said anything. I would have just allowed things to just take their normal course because I am very good at listening to people and I believe that the only way you can run government is to listen to criticism, but they have to be constructive criticism. They have to show a cerebral approach to the way they think and look at things. In politics you have to make a choice of looking at low hanging fruits that you deceive people with and then you go away or you give us programmes that will live much more after you. The International Aviation College is designed to live much longer after our generation. It is a programme that is designed to give Kwara State prominence not only in Nigeria, but globally. We recognized a need for pilots globally and we are taking advantage of that for investment.

However, the school can only achieve economy of scale when it has the desired number of aircraft.

How many tranches of students do you want to take with three aircraft?

We must have between 15 and 20 aircraft as minimum, and then we will get the desired tranche of students that will come in and ensure the college profits through economy of scale.

Secondly, the school was set up by the State Government to drive it to fruition, then sell the stakes to those who know how to run the business. Kwara State does not know how to run the business of aviation and we are not in the business of running aviation but we can get consultants who will help us set the school up. We package the school, we now get those who know how to run the school to buy stakes and do what they know how to do best.

What we know how to do best is governance which requires us to know how to optimally allocate resources. So when we said we were going to buy aircraft, Kwara State is not going to buy aircraft. Don't forget that the school is serving so many purposes.

It has its social service responsibility; it has an economic end to it and also a political end. It can generate its own money and run itself, but it can only do that on an economy of scale. So we are helping the school to procure aircraft which they will make money from and pay back the loan. This loan is largely by the benevolence of the Chinese Government that is partnering with the Nigerian Government to give us an EXIM loan.

This loan will enable us access aircraft. We are not accessing money. We are going to access aircraft for the school. They can earn money, train people and pay back the loan accordingly. The cash flows have been worked out and we have seen that it is a doable because it is a 25-year loan. This means there is a very little pressure on their cash flow.

They can pay back the loan, make money and become one of the best aviation institutions in the world. Those who are criticizing have demonstrated their ignorance and we have educated them that these loans are being incurred by the school to procure aircraft that will make them earn more money.

Why are government businesses across the world been dying and governments are going into PPP – Public-Private-Partnership?

How many businesses have government run that are working today?

The only way they can succeed is when you bring the demonstrated expertise of the private sector. It is the expertise of the private sector that we are combining with the public sector to create public-private-partnership and that is what will drive that school. However, as a starting point, we need to inject funds.

Recently, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University said 17 courses of the institution have been accredited. Sir, what is your administration doing to ensure that more courses are accredited?

I am very happy with what happened with the accreditation of the courses of the Kwara State University. It tells you that we are on course. We are going according to our plans because when we set up that university it was designed to be one of the best Universities where courses that would help fill our human capital gaps.

The growth of the school is going to be on a gradual basis. In other words, we will continue to include faculties based on needs and availability of funds, but we will ensure that there will be a clear spelt out needs assessment in human capital gaps before we begin new courses. We are benchmarking against best practices in the United States. That is why we brought our Vice Chancellor from that place.

I assure that as we are moving on the state and local governments that jointly own the universities will continue to pull resources together to ensure that the right courses that will suit the human capital developmental needs of this level are incorporated and are accredited as such.

Can you do the overview of the Super Eagles performance in the semi-final match against Mali at the African Nations Cup in South Africa?

It is like we have woken up from our slumber. We are back to our position of being leaders in the game of football. I was very delighted and excited with the way the boys played. I don't see anything short of bringing the cup to Nigeria.

Sir, are you losing steam on Every Child Counts?

We are not losing steam at all. In fact, if anything the steam is increasing. When you are going through a change that can take up to ten years, the programme is broken down into modules. We have gone through the first, two, three modules in the last administration we are now moving to the next module.

The modules we are packaging are the most difficult modules, that is, where you begin to check the quality of education.

What defines the quality of education?

We are looking at the infrastructure. We are looking at the quality of instruction materials and quality of instructors.

Largely the major issue that has taken a toll on our current educational system has been the quality of teachers and that is why you saw us sending visitation panels to the Colleges of Education because we want to bring the Colleges of Education to the platform where they are able to properly train teachers that would work at that basic level which is the most fundamental level in our education transformation agenda. Once you get it wrong at that level, you get it wrong everywhere.

As it is, the enforcement Every Child Counts is still there but we are hugely concerned about the measured damage that comes in with improper training of teachers and that is why we want to ensure that the Colleges of Education are properly positioned to train teachers that would train our wards at the basic level.

As soon as the visitation panels finish the implementation of recommendations you will see well positioned Colleges of Education and this would mean well-trained teachers coming out and basic level getting proper teaching for our people at that level. Once the foundation is good it transcends to other levels.

Roro bins have almost disappeared from the streets of Kwara, what is your government doing to improve sanitation?

When we came in one of the policies we took on was the issue of environment. The environment is not something we want to compromise. If anything we want to make it better than what we met on ground. Yes we are faced with financial challenges but we are not faced with deficit in ingenuity.

So, on that strength we will continue to create new ways and new means of ensuring that Kwara State keeps the lead as one of the cleanest States. What you have seen is a rearrangement. You will see Roro bins have disappeared from the GRA in Ilorin. Yes I agree with you because we moved the Roro bins from individuals houses which will be supplied with drums so that the private sector can drive the collection and cleaning of that aspect and we moved the Roro bins to the major parts of the metropolis where houses are not singly built as we have in the GRA. So the bins will serve in the place than the GRA. We are bringing in additional Roro bins. Any one that has been moved out is for rehabilitation. We have contracted the procurement of Roro bins which will be on our streets in the next two to three weeks.

What's your assessment of political office holders in Kwara State, more so there is this rumor that you are planning to rejig your cabinet?

In any system where you continue to expect growth and development there is bound to be change. The only thing that is constant about life is change and our change will always be geared towards making services and service delivery better. So, where necessary, as we move on, we will continue to review performances and benchmark them against expectations. Where they meet expectations we sustain them, where they require change we change. It is a normal trend in life.

Assessments are on continuous basis. Assessments are benchmarked against expectations and expectations have been broken down into modules and each module gives us inkling into what performances should be. I want to assure that we are very concerned about how service is delivered to our people and the desire to change or not change will not come from me alone. It will come from people who get the services. If people are satisfied we know, if they are not satisfied we know. So when the time comes we will know what to do.

Sir, when will you continue with new infrastructural projects?

It is a continuous thing. We are doing five general hospitals now. All new projects. We are doing a lot of new roads. We have sunk a lot of new boreholes. We have connected 179 communities to electricity. We have renovated over 200 classrooms. We are doing them alongside completing old ones. New projects are already going on. We started from day one. However, we laid emphasis that old ones would always be given priority, but we did not stop at that. We engaged ourselves in also driving new projects at the same time because we wanted people to understand that whole concept of continuity.

(Question via telephone call) Fulani herdsmen graze on our farmlands in Pada (in Patigi Local Government Area) and this is causing a lot of distress to farmers. The Governor should do something about it?

The problem is not peculiar to Kwara State. It is a national one. Farmers and Fulani herdsmen always have problems over grazing lands. Both of them contribute to national food supply. It is, therefore, important as government to ensure that their relationship is amicable. We have instituted Reserve Grazing Ground solely for herdsmen to feed their herd without causing friction between the herdsmen and farmers. It is a national problem. There have been conflicts in Nasarawa, Cross River, Benue and other states across the country. It is a national problem that the federal government is keen in coming up with solutions.