Peter Obi, Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the just concluded general elections and Kayode Fayemi, immediate past governor of Ekiti State have both agreed to become visiting lecturers at the Western Delta University(WDU), Oghara, Delta State.
They both made the commitment at the 15th Founders’ Day lecture of the university at the weekend.
Fayemi, who delivered the lecture at the well-attended event with the title “Sub-National Governance, the Ekiti State Example” promised to set up the School of Policy Implementation in the institution.
He also promised to become the first lecturer once the school is completed.
The visitor to the University, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, former Delta state governor appealed to Obi whom he described as an experienced leader who has greatly contributed to nation building to join Fayemi as a lecturer upon the completion of the policy school. Obi agreed to help set it up and join as a visiting professor.
In his speech, Fayemi who cited personal examples of what transpired during his tenure as Ekiti State governor, urged political office holders to ensure balancing when making appointments and avoid the pitfalls of selecting those who will end up as liabilities to the government.
His words “One of the important challenges that every governor will face early is that of making key appointments. Apart from the challenges of ethnic and religious balancing, you also have political IOUs to settle”.
“Every governor will have to strike the right balance between appointing core politicians who have been involved in the long and tortuous political struggle like mine that brought the governor to office and appointing technocrats who will be required to undertake specific assignments for the smooth running of the government”.
“While the local political context will determine what the right balance is, this is something every new governor must always be mindful of. But it will always be helpful if you understand what your key priorities are. This will help you to understand those appointments you can play politics with and those you have to assign to the best possible hands”.
“The balance is that you cannot take all away from politics and you can also not give all to politics. However, a key lesson from my own experience is that whether one is a technocrat in government or a core politician, all political appointees must be strongly connected to their communities. Otherwise, they will become liabilities to the governor”.
He said that despite the dwindling revenue accruing to the state, especially owing to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and drop in price of crude oil, his administration was able to improve on the infrastructural development of the state.
He further said that Ekiti state was in the doldrums when he took over owing to avalanche of challenges facing it. He said that his administration was able able to restore the core values the state has been noted for and returned it to the path of development.
“There are three major ways you make money in government. You either make it, you beg for it or you borrow it. What you make from internal generated revenues and investment holdings is what you make. Your receipts from the Federation Account and what you may get as grants from international development agencies are your unearned incomes which I classified as products of begging. Then the loans you are able to obtain from banks, infrastructure bonds and so on are your borrowings”.
“In all categories, Ekiti as at the time I took over was in dire straits. This was the time that oil price had dipped in the international marker, leading to a significant reduction in oil revenue to the federation account. The IGR of Ekiti was nothing to write home about as at the time I took over at N100m per month. And to make matters worse, it was also a period of agitation for increased minimum wage by the trade unions and there was little or no support from multilateral and bilateral support agencies”.
On his part, Obi, a former governor of Anambra State called on political office holders to go beyond the barriers of political partisanship, tribal affiliations and religious inclinations in their contributions to the development of the society.
According to him, though the Visitor to the University, Chief James Ibori and The Founder’s Day Guest Lecturer, Fayemi, were in different political parties from him, he attended the event because of his love for education and its developmental impact on the nation.
Obi emphasized that political parties should present credible candidates based on character, competence, integrity and emulatable track records.
“And when they are given opportunity to serve, they must serve without recourse to any form of bigotry.”
He wished the students well in their academic endeavours, urging them to remain committed to their educational pursuits.
On the significance of the Founder’s Day Lecture, the university said the ocassion is geared towards highlighting its journey so far in offering educational training and preparing students to build competence for their future career.
Among eminent Nigerians that attended the event were former Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan; Chairman of the THISDAY Media Group and ARISE News Channel, Chief Nduka Obiagbena; Publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu; Prof. G.G. Darah and a host of academicians and captains of industry.
