Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State is a minority governor in the sense that he is the only governor elected on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) in the whole federation. But Mimiko is not daunted despite pressure on him to defect to a more popular party in the South-West.
He remains very focused on what he has set out to do. That is, to bridge the gap between the haves and have nots in Ondo State. His social re-engineering has seen the wife of the elite and that of the downtrodden staying in the same hospital ward to access healthcare in the state. In this interview, he speaks on his achievements, among other issues. Excerpts…
How do you feel about Labour Party, and the fact that Ondo is the only state it has a governor; and its role in Nigeria in general?
I feel challenged. The challenge is first to prove we are not Labour Party (LP) by name, but we represent the true value of social democracy, which is the foundation of LP. I feel challenged that as a true democratic party, every decision we make must reflect the interest of our people so that we can convey the tenets of social democracy to real active programme in the society.
We want to create a new template for ideological content of politics in Nigeria. It is a one in a lifetime opportunity and we are not ready to let it slip. Let me tell you, part of it is that the choice we make would always be tied to the society. Government is about making wise choices on behalf of the people; it is about creating programmes that would have overall effect; and trajectory that would have impact on the whole community.
We believe in LP as the progressive wing of politics in Nigeria. You can discern ideology from the choice people make, it takes ideological conviction to make the kind of decisions we took in the health sector; it takes ideological conviction to see the connection between the woman in the remotest part of the state and the delay she goes through to access medical care and doing something about it. It takes commitment to social re-engineering to build world class health facilities and make them available to the less privileged at no cost to them. You need to see the schools we are building to appreciate the fact that we are fast bridging the class gap in Ondo State and creating new opportunities for those in the lower rung of the societal ladder.
Yet, some people believe there is a gang-up against your party spearheaded by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). What is your reaction?
In this game, there are possibilities. Things come up, but I have learnt in the course of my engagement politically over time that you will win if you are with the people and using the machinery of power to serve the interest of the people. We came into this state 22 months after we won the election. And since we came on board we have never forgotten that ultimately it is the people that matter. So, whatever gang-up exits, the good God will see us through?
Is it possible to be on the side of the elite and also be on the side of the people at the grassroots at the same time?
When you talk about being on the side of the elite, then you must define the elite. There are those who by virtue of their education and professional calling are elites. They are different from the rapacious elite whose focus is taking from the society without giving nothing in return. If you are a desperate politician, you may end up at the whims of the selfish and self-centered elite, but if you know that ultimate power belongs to the people, then you will always be on the side of the masses at the same time.
If the desire of the elite is to have an environment that would create the right ambience for self-actualisation, then I am all for it, but if the goal is to take advantage of the disequilibrium and to the disadvantage of the masses, then I am ready to be at the top of my act to resist that.
Where is the connection between these lofty ideals and your involvement in agriculture?
At inauguration, we said we would use agriculture as an instrument of job creation, of food security, as well as an avenue to provide raw material for industrialization. We would be deceiving ourselves if we fail to recognize that our greatest challenge today is mass unemployment, critical graduate unemployment and a mismatch between what we are able to produce and what we need; a mismatch between curriculum and employable graduates.
It is a complex problem. What is beyond doubt is that we must tackle unemployment if Nigeria must remain in peace and as a nation. Again, if we look at how to confront unemployment, we have to look at areas of relative advantage. One of such clear area is arable fertile land. For us, the most critical area of employment generation is agriculture. The challenge, however, is how we recreate farming to encourage young graduates and convince them of the possibility of sustainable living from it. As a way out, we have moved beyond routine support to farmers like provision of improved varieties of seedlings, fertilizers, chemicals, cutlasses and training and extension services.
We believe we must create a new generation of farmers and our approach is to recourse to a well-planned system of farming called Agriculture Villages, which are marked improvements over the farm settlement initiated by the revered Papa Awolowo.
The Ore Agricultural Village (OAV), the first of the villages, has 250 fish ponds, more than 24,000 birds in the poultry and more than 1,500 hectares of cultivated arable land. Now, the fish ponds are serviced through three dams constructed by government, which operate based on gravity.
This may sound somehow to the uninitiated. The dams run without depending on electricity supply of any kind and water supply, draining is natural. It needs be said that OAV has started churning out crates upon crates of farm-fresh eggs.
The farm in Epe, the Central Senatorial District of the state, is almost completed, same for the one in Auga-Akoko in North Senatorial District. We are modest; we call them Agricultural Villages while indeed they qualify as cities because all that are needed for quality life are provided: modern residences for the farmers with modern ICT systems; all equipment for mechanized farming and ready market for products. In OAV over 1,000 graduates are working as participant owners of the farms.
The concept of participant ownership, it must be said, is to encourage total commitment and it is working, the enthusiasm of the graduate farmers attests to this.
One interesting thing about the Auga Farm is that it combines crop, fish farming and a ranch. As of today, we have completed the facility for 1,000 cattle, the ponds are well under construction and those who should know have said that few years down the line it might become the biggest cattle ranch in West Africa. Both Auga and Epe will mop up 1,000 graduates each and this is apart from support staff members who are mostly non-graduates. Our goal, as I said earlier, is simple: we want to use agriculture as a tool for mass employment, food security and raw material for industry. I am so excited to see the youth so excited.
Cocoa was a great money spinner in the old Western region, but cocoa farming has since become a preserve of old and tired hands. Even existing trees are old and not much is being done to replace them. Are you thinking in that direction?
We have a cocoa revamp programme. Essentially, it is about replacing old plantation with new hybrid crop. We also are planning to create new plantations. One of the challenges we have is about convincing people to cut down their old trees and plant new ones. But we will get round to it. In the next budget we plan to create a buffer fund for those who will accept to cut down old plantations and plant new ones.
We have found that unless we create this type of fund we may not be able to create the type of impact we want. Yes, we are concentrating on arable farming in the Agricultural Villages now, but from next year we’ll be doing a lot of tree crop farming. As we speak, we have over a million palm seedlings in nursery as well as cocoa seedlings ready for new generation plantation.
Ondo State is known for its rich cultural heritage, what have you been able to do to promote it as a money-spinning venture?
Well, let me first thank you for recognizing our rich cultural heritage, but invariably there is hardly any part of Nigeria that does not have a rich cultural heritage. What we do about it is, however, another thing entirely. For us, culture is related to development. When you talk about culture, you talk about how people live, about their value system, about things they do about themselves, their responses to the environment over time. That is why you can actually discern the level of civilization from a people’s culture.
We have had the misfortune of going through colonial rule in Africa and you know what it does to the mind. There was a deliberate policy of the colonial masters to make you forget the past. Because, if you don’t know where you are coming from, you cannot appreciate where you should be. Colonialism creates a slavish mentality in the subject. It was not a policy that propelled the subjects to want to be the best globally. So, we believe that for us to recreate the type of psyche that would be able to drive the government, we must look back at our rich cultural heritage and see how we can leverage on what we used to do in the past. We are looking at how we can leverage on our heritage to free our mind. That is why we are investing in culture.
Apart from the short term benefits, it is a money spinner in the long term. We have paid the right attention to the state’s Cultural Troupe such that it has posted unprecedented results in the last two years. We excelled at the 2010 Abuja Carnival, represented Nigeria at the South Africa Dance Carnival the same year, and just returned from Brazil as representative of Nigeria in Sao Paulo.
Two years ago, you had a Mare Festival, there seems to be a...
(Cuts in) We have upped the ante in Idanre and have had two successful festivals of culture and tourism tagged Mare, with potential for huge return on investment. Mare is leveraging on geographical and topographical realities in Idanre. It is leveraging on nature’s free gift, there are not too many places like Mare, it is a natural city completely surrounded by very exotic hills; we thought we should get the attention of the world to these exotic places, look for some ways to package and bring in some international cultural competition. The whole idea is to redirect the attention of the world to Idanre.
Apart from these, there are other natural endowments that could become sources of attraction for tourists, what are you doing about them?
We have many of them; you must know that promoting tourism could be very expensive; there are other rich cultural heritages we want to expose to the world. For example, the just concluded Igogo Festival in Owo, the costume and cultural elegance is what we want the world to see. But we want to take them one at a time because there are lots of them competing for attention. Ultimately, we hope to have more private entrepreneurs involved, as we want to make Ondo State one of Nigeria’s preferred destinations for tourism.
There was a time CHAMS got you involved in production of some Fagunwa Plays. There was the impression that Ondo State would sponsor the next one. What happened?
It is supposed to be a partnership between CHAMS and Ondo State government. We have indicated our interest. We are waiting for CHAMS to fix a date. It is a partnership that would take the state to the forefront in promotion of literature and theatre in particular. Our commitment remains the same.
On sports, Sunshine Stars of Ondo State is doing well in the Premier League...
(Cuts in) It is not Sunshine Stars alone. I don’t want to sound boastful, but I have to say we are the best football state in Nigeria today, and this can be empirically proved. Sunshine Stars sits atop the table of the Premier League as we speak, and has gotten to the semi-final of CAF competition. Our Rising Star has moved from pro-league to premier league, so they would be playing in the Premier League next year, meaning we would be having two teams in the Premier League. By the grace of God, Sunshine Stars will win the CAF Cup and play the Champion of Champions League. That would be an unprecedented double!
It may interest you to know also that Sunshine Queens are leading the table in the Women League, and lost narrowly in controversial circumstances in the female Challenge Cup.
We targeted two areas of sport, football and swimming, at inception. We have started seeing results. At the National Sports Festival, we came fourth. By the grace of God, we want to move up the ladder. Thus far, we have very good showing in the sport arena. We are working on sports infrastructure.
You can see the massive work going on in our stadium. At the opening ceremony of the Olympic-size swimming pool, we invited the national president of the Swimming Association and he was happy with what he saw.
We are changing the Akure Stadium to eight tartan track lanes. We are covering it with artificial turf so that it can attract national competitions, the seats would also be covered. We are also aware of the importance of sport as a strong driver of the economy. We are building a new stadium in Ile-Oluji, renovating the one at Ikare and building other swimming pools around the state. We are deliberate in our intervention in sports.
Where do you want to take sport to in the next two years?
I have said it before, I was somewhere at the time we came in 2009, there was the usual argument about football. The MC was talking about the Lagos governor being Manchester United fan, this governor, that governor, Arsenal and such other clubs. He asked: What about the Ondo State governor? Sunshine Stars was my prompt response. I asked them to watch out and see what God will do with the team in the next two years. Today, Sunshine Stars is already well-known among football lovers in Africa. We want to be the most popular club in Africa.
With these array of achievements in sports, what, as a medical doctor, former commissioner for health, are you doing in the area of health in Ondo State?
Well, sport, health and education are veritable tools for human capital development. We took off with a promise to free the mind, and that means we must invest in human capital development. From the beginning we knew we had to make a lot of investment in the health sector. We started with the most vulnerable in the society - the kids and pregnant women. Our home grown Abiye ‘Safe Motherhood’ programme is already a global brand. It has been recognised, acknowledged and even recommended as a template for Safe Motherhood in Africa.
Our Mother and Child Hospital, by the outcome we have gotten in the last two years, is achieving superlative reports. About three weeks ago, pediatricians and gynaecologists, that is, doctors specialising in women, children and pregnancy-related issues, visited and are to decorate me for our efforts in the area of infant and maternal health in December as a honorary member; a great honour by all ramifications. Abiye and Mother and Child Hospital are clear signal that we can put together home-grown programme, which is why I would be the first governor to be so honoured. The award is coming not because I am a medical doctor, but because of what we have adopted in tackling maternal mortality.
Also, we are working on medical emergency services. The Trauma Centre is almost completed and the Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic Centre, an initiative actualised through PPP model, has since become the place to be in the area of medical diagnostics in Nigeria. While these new initiatives are going on we have also not relented in carrying out fundamental as well as routine rehabilitation works in existing medical facilities across the state.
We are rehabilitating our hospitals to make them a functional system. I am sure we are on the right track with a lot of improvement.
Has the Abiye project been extended to other local government areas?
Abiye is being expanded to other local government areas apart from the pilot LGA. What we have not done is to document it as Abiye Plus, which is the name we have given it. It is being expanded and one of the mandates of the new commissioner is to document the success of Abiye Plus.
There was a law by the House of Assembly, on reporting maternal deaths, which drew flaks from doctors. How far has government gone on implementation?
It is called confidential enquiry into maternal death. What we are saying is that anywhere a maternal death occurs, it must be reported. We say it is confidential enquiry because it has nothing to do with the cause of death, all we want is to ascertain the figures and be able to know what facilities they were opportune to have or denied before death occurred. Yes, we had some grey areas to attend to, but we have said that doctors can even delegate the duty of reporting to junior and less engaged medical officers. The enquiry is to help in gathering a dependable database that would come in handy during planning.
There is no punishment for facilities where death occurs, it is failure to report that is against the law.
There is no disagreement on the need to have standards and dependable records. Let me give you an example, when we carried out surveys prior to the implementation of Abiye, we found that only 60 per cent of those who registered in health facilities ended up using the facilities, what that means is that we cannot track 40 per cent.
Nobody knows what happened to them, such is not good for any serious effort to combat maternal death, yet doing so is a core component of the MDG goals. So, we want to capture maternal deaths, whether in health facilities, in faith clinics, in quack rooms and everywhere. There are a lot of maternity activities going on in places other than hospitals, in churches and all manner of places; we want to have an enquiry. We believe that one to two years down the line we can have a very reliable maternal database in Ondo State that we can base our planning on.
What are you actually doing to check quackery?
A lot is being done to check quackery. Radio and television adverts have in recent times been directed at information that would discourage those patronising quacks. We have identified and closed down several facilities run by quacks. Most importantly and ultimately, we will send quacks packing with the increase in standard, affordability and accessibility of our health facilities.
Today, the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, records on the average 25 deliveries per day; in just 18 months of operation we have done over 1,000 caesarean sessions. Interestingly, over 20 per cent of patients come outside the state because of the quality of service and more importantly, the fact that access is at no kobo. Because the Mother and Child Hospital is more beautiful than most private hospitals in town, even owners of private hospitals are complaining let alone quacks. Ultimately, it is the quality and affordability that would send quacks packing.
What is the tactics for sustaining the Mother and Child Hospital now that it is free?
One of the things we have done, which is why the World Bank is excited, was to actually put cost on care of the pregnant woman till the first few days after delivery. This is not conjectural, it is empirical. When you remove the overhead, that is, salaries of workers, it would amount to just N6,000 to take care of the pregnant woman! So, at the Mother and Child Hospital, if I give you N60,000, I expect a hundred babies! That is what we call a Child-based financing. Even the World Bank has started a result-based approach to financing of programmes and projects it support.
We are not resting yet, we are still looking at areas of further reducing the cost to N4,500 and I can tell you we have almost achieved that. We hope to come down to as low as N3,500 without compromising quality of service. In addition, drug wastage is almost zero per cent because we have utilised drug procurement and enforcement procedure that leaves no room for wasted and/or out-of-stock mentality.
We have a unique protocol based on task shifting, such that if you get to the hospital in the morning and see 500 patients, before afternoon they are all gone after seeing the required medical personnel. We’ll be able to sustain the process without any problem. For instance, it might interest you to know that for a population of one million, and capital head tax of N200, we can take care of all mothers in Ondo State based on the empirical evidence that has come out of the Mother and Child experience, and this is not talking theory!
Now, 20 per cent of patients come from outside the state; in about a few months down the line, if you are not registered in Ondo State as a resident, you may not be able to enjoy our services free. That means you’ll pay premium price. Again, UCH, Ibadan, is trying to adopt us as a training centre that would give us some money. Mother and Child Hospital has also been designated as resource centre by the London School of Hygiene. In one year, we have through this means been able to generate about $100,000 to $200,000 because of our services.
All these put together would help to sustain services at the Mother and Child Hospital. We are, I must add, also thinking of other possible means of ensuring sustainability.
You keep talking about the World Bank acknowledgement, is there anything they are doing to support health project in the state?
Of course, yes. In principle, the World Bank has accepted to help us. We have started seeing the result, I talked about result-based financing, World Bank has pick three states in Nigeria and Ondo is one of them. This is part of what they are doing to assist.
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