Mimiko 2009-2012: Governance without growth

By Rotimi Ogunleye

It appears to me the people of Ondo state are not aware that we have a headship that has arrested the growth of the state. A headship that prefers aesthetics to tangible economic growth. In his play, Enemy of the People, the Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen shared with his expected readers an idea called arrested development.

Henrik’s characters, a couple, are grown up and mature people. It only seems so. But in reality, they grow not in thought. They never develop since they are still children in terms of behaviour. They have money but not prosperity. They have lots of rooms in their mansion for children, but they are empty.

Visitors flock in but not friends, food but not nourishment. The couple performs their conjugal duties but no love. It is the classic example of capitalism as curse. They have everything and nothing at the same time. Their ability to grow is arrested. While they look like adults, they are toddlers at heart. That is our situation in Ondo state today.

In the last three and half years, we have no development plans. We sail not at the direction of growth. We have always longed for change without any concrete plans that will drive the change. We have resources but not the required resourceful hands to manage the resources.
That is the reason why the last change of government has only brought a government without clue, a government that is based on surge of instinct. A directionless government for that matter is what we have here in Ondo state.

I was at the southern senatorial district of the state last week. I took my time to travel round the area. I asked in bewilderment how a governor could abandon projects and development concepts that could transform the economic life of the state. I saw how the government of Dr. Rahman Olusegun Mimiko stalled the development that would have brought growth to the southern district and the state at large.
I visited the Ayeka/Irele Bridge, Alape Bridge and the abandoned Olokola Free Trade Zone. I was at the Adagbakuja site and the Araromi sea side too. I wept when I saw the development potentials that are wasting away in the area.

The last administration invested heavily in the infrastructural development of the area. It built bridges that link communities, construct roads and set the template for the state’s industrial-take off. The government paved way for genuine development. It understood the need to optimize the potentials in the area.

The administration unearthed the potentials that could bring about the needed transformation of the economy of the state. It saw the need for a deep-sea port that, if well managed with first class infrastructural facilities and superior quality access roads linking interstate highways, would bring the much awaited economic prosperity for the state.

The sea-port initiative was based on a well researched business analysis. According to the content analysis, the existing ports in the country are not competitive. Apart from the Lagos port, the existing ports are all small. All Nigeria ports have relatively shallow depths, congested and ill equipped. They are ill maintained and poorly managed. These factors account for the poor services in the ports, characterized by delays, pilferage, non-competitiveness and high tariffs.

An eloquent manifestation of the non-competitiveness of Nigerian Ports is the significant and continuing increase in the importance of Lome and Cotonou ports in Nigeria’s economic life. With good private sector management and aggressive marketing, the project would leverage the synergy of a strategic location with the incentives of a Free Trade Zone combined with good infrastructure to create a safe, secured and prosperous
business environment. This is the philosophy that ignited the political will of the last administration to embark on the OKFTZ, and the investment in the infrastructure of the district. It never embarked on pedestrian projects and never chased cheap applause from the electorates.
But today the project is stalled. Our development has been arrested by a politician in Mimiko who placed highest premium on mundane things like markets, water fountains, roundabouts and bus stops over a deep sea port that holds the potential of explosion of economic growth.
Our leaders lack the understanding of our economic potentials. That is why Chief Olu Falae could, despite his statement that Mimiko failed in the area of job creation, still summon courage to drum support for Rahman at the expense of his political party.

Another opportunity beckons. We must ask for the economic policies of the three political parties before making a choice. We must put a stop to governance without clue, government of triviality and intangibles. We must focus on real development as a major reason why we demand a change of government.