I’m too busy to go to the gym now

-  Hon. Dayo Adeneye ( Ogun State Commissioner for Info & Strategy)

Otunba Dayo Adeneye with wife Chief Mrs Caroline Adeneye

              

Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Honourable Dayo Adeneye has indeed changed a little from his erstwhile macho, entertainment celebrity outlook he used to keep as the famous Prime Television Africa host. But if you ask him, he will tell you, “I don’t think I have changed, except that I am more concerned about the public good now.”

And that truly is where the change has taken place.

According to him, he rarely goes to the gym these days. “I am too busy for that now. Here, the hours are long, I must tell you. I get very little sleep. I don’t get any holidays. I don’t get weekends off. Like my governor usually says, ‘this is not a 9 to 5 job!’

Otunba Dayo Adeneye or D-1 as he is usually called by friends, has indeed embraced his new calling. In this interview with Paul Ukpabio, he shares his new lifestyle and the challenges of his office in Ogun State.

When it comes to Nigerian entertainment, you are a household name. Now that you are in government, what has your experience been so far?

I think what you mean is the difference between my experience in the private sector and now in the public sector. Let me be honest with you, either way you find yourself, you are still responsible to people. I mean, in private sector you get to make decisions that affects lives, your employees and viewers and even in the business. But you do that in conjunction with your aides or with special advice from your managers. But now, in the public sector, you are talking of a larger number of people, you are talking of millions of people. The population of Ogun State is over 7 million going close to 8 million. So, there is a lot more people to think of, it is a larger platform. 

Yes, despite the challenges, we take it up as an opportunity to serve more people, to do a greater good to a greater number of people. So, the hours are long, I must tell you. I get very little sleep, I don’t get any holidays, I don’t get weekends off like my governor usually says, ‘this is not a 9 to 5 job’. You don’t get to close at 5pm and say ‘I am going to watch television at home’. So, if something happens at 11pm or 1 am, you must be up and doing. If something happens at Akute at 3am, your phones must be on standby for emergency. So, that is the difference. Governance is a continuum; it is a twenty-four hours job. 

You were once a teacher in USA, a Television and Radio Administrator and today, you are the Commissioner for Information & Strategy of a state. Has serving in government changed the personality known as D-One?

To be honest with you, I relish the opportunity to serve and am saying this sincerely. I really want to thank His Excellency, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, (CON, FCA) for giving me the opportunity to serve. It is a responsibility that I don’t take lightly. I look at it as ‘a must do well assignment’. I must succeed because there are young ones that are aspiring and looking up to me, and they will say ‘wait a minute, if D-One can do it, I too can do it. So they get inspired to go into government to serve. Let me tell you, the reason we remember our late sages like Baba Awolowo, and late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, is because of their contribution. The Cocoa house Baba Awo built is still standing today; some of the roads in Ikenne, in Remo are still being used till today. Free education that Chief Awolowo started is a bench mark for any sensible government today. So, those are the reasons why we must continue to live up to their legacy and also continue to find ways in which to contribute our own little quota to nation building, to community building and building our state. 

Some people see Senator Ibikunle Amosun as the governor who wears a long cap, but works. As a close worker how would you describe your boss?

His Excellency, Senator Ibikunle Amosun that most people do not know is a family man to the core. He is very dutiful, that we know; he is a hard worker. He barely sleeps as far as we know. He walks great distances and he works longer hours. But beside that, he is a very compassionate human being. He is a very funny individual. Most people don’t get to see the funny side of him. Even at our executive council meetings, when he sees that we are looking tired, he might just say something witty and we will break out into laughter session, making us feel a bit relaxed. He is a good leader. A good leader knows when to ease off tension and be tough. He is one person that leads by example. He doesn’t say ‘you do it,’ he says, ‘let’s go and do it’. Whether it’s 12am or  1am, whether we are going to take a look at a bridge in Sagamu or we are going to inspect one bad road in Lafenwa or we are going to Aiyetoro to inspect an infrastructure or we are going to a school where something just happened, he leads. He is always at the forefront. It is ‘follow me, let’s go’. And when you have a leader like that, you can’t help but buy into his vision and follow it through. I will rather follow a leader that says ‘do as I do’ not ‘do as I say."

As the Chief Spokesman of the state, your job is to inter-relate between the media and your state. But, how do you manage a hostile social media especially when the report is damaging and unpalatable to the image of government?

The truth is that the social media is not different from any other platform, it is called Citizen Journalism and it is part of the break-borders information dissemination process of the digital media technology, where information can now be produced and processed on the tip of your finger. My only problem with that is the fact that the regulation is minimal and poor.  A lot of people hide behind social media to commit things that normally you wouldn’t be able to do maybe on radio or TV or Newspaper. That being said, my governor will always say that ‘Social Media’ can be used as a weapon of mass development or it can be a weapon of mass destruction’. You can use it massively to aid development, enlighten and educate people or it can be used to destroy something in a matter of minutes, whether it is your character or your achievement because people tend to believe whatever they see on social media, ‘oh, it must be true if is not, why would they post it? Why would anybody write it?’ So, we have to find a way to let people know the importance of managing information on a borderless platform, especially our blogger friends. We need to let them know that journalism needs to be balanced. You must be investigative in your journalism. A lot of people will just find a story, copy and post, whether they verify or not and that is where the challenge lies. So, we as information managers must find a way to keep a balance and help correct wrong notions by putting out the right information right there. 

So what does your job entail? Dr. Reuben Abati, a former Presidential Spokesman, recently wrote that his phones stopped ringing when he left office. Does your phone ring that much?

(Laughs) Well, I see many of my media friends as partners in progress. They are my friends and partners in information management, yes, they want to know and find out certain information. For them to call or reach out to you means they want to get the truth from you. So, you must be available at all times and try to be truthful and honest and be transparent and be sincere with them and I try to do that. I am not the only one in the ministry of information; we have a whole team that is responsible. We have press officers in each ministry, be it education, health or agriculture that can react to stories and respond to media enquiries. As the Chief Information manager, we operate a two-way communication system by informing the people about government policies, where the government is headed and also give back information to government from the people as to what the people want, their yearnings and aspirations. So we serve as mediator between the government and the governed. 

Ogun state is one of the states that have initiated lofty urban renewal projects in the last 5 years, but in 2016 we saw a slow-down of work at some of the state’s project sites, especially the fly over bridges across the state. What will be the fate of these projects in 2017?

Despite the hard times, we still managed to get quite a lot done in 2016. The first two quarters of the year, you will recall that we were busy. Yes, due to the mild recession and paucity of funds which affected national economy generally, there was a little bit of slow down on some capital projects in the state. But in other areas, we are just as active as you can think of. In Ogun State, we cherish standard. Remember that we have our 5 cardinal programs which are education, efficient health care delivery, infrastructural development, agricultural development that leads to industrialization. So, these cardinal programs serve as the model for us. For instance, in education, we launched a couple of our model schools and also had summer camp in them. 

Dayo Adeneye behind His Excellency the Governor of Ogun State Sen. Ibikunle Amosun

In 2016, Olabisi Onabanjo University was adjudged as the best state owned university. The Ogun State Ministry of Health was recognized and won several awards for some of our health initiatives namely ‘Gbomoro’ and ‘Araya’. That earned us the attention of the Federal Ministry of Health providing the basis to scale it up. The Federal Ministry of Health wanted to see what we were doing right in Ogun State so that they can syndicate the idea in other states of the federation. So, I can say we didn’t fold our arm and go to sleep, saying ‘oh, because there is a lull in the economy, we won’t do anything’. We have been thinking outside the box. We have been looking for ways to continue to grow our IGR, and we thank God because of the innovations that this administration had put in place since 2011. Our ‘Investors Forum’ which is an avenue to encourage and invite investors from across the globe to the economic potentials of Ogun State, investors have so far kept pouring in. We are getting partners from Germany, France and other international corporations that want to partner with us to help us to continue to develop Ogun State and we look forward to more of that in 2017. 

Ogun state looks more like in a straight on competition with Lagos in terms of rapid industrialization. Despite your humble IGR status, the state seems to have done well in terms of driving investors in. What is the secret of this? 

I don’t think we are in competition with anybody; let me state that first and foremost. Yes, our neighbors are important to us. Lagos remains a commercial capital of Nigeria but Ogun state with over 500 industries established and over 111 situated in the state in the last five years, and most of them have invested between two hundred million dollars to two billion dollars. So, that is a lot of investment that is a lot of money. Those industries that are situated in Ogun State employ our people, they pay taxes. So, they add value to our employment generation scheme and wealth creation as well. We are not competing with any state, we continue to think up ways to increase economic development and generate employment for our citizens. Because of some of these structures for instance, we invested massively on security. Nobody will come anywhere without assurance. So, we have invested massively in security. Our government re-jigged the security apparatus in Ogun state in 2011 when we came in. So, we pride ourselves in being a very secured state. We also have the human resources, what we call ‘the people’s power’ to work and power these industries. We have the available lands. All these factors have positioned Ogun in a very good position to attract all these investors.

Talking about security, it appears that Ogun state got it right in the townships and urban areas. But in recent times, there have been series of kidnap activities in the water bed areas like the recent Nigeria-Turkish International School kidnap saga at River-View estate, Isheri and other nefarious activities by kidnappers and criminals in the outskirts of the state. Is there any security plan to halt all these?

Security is something we don’t take lightly. But you will agree with me that security strategies are like war strategies, you enjoy the result with a great deal of secrecy. For security reasons we cannot tell you that ‘this and this is what we have in place’. It is not everything about security that you can divulge to the public, but I can sincerely tell you that our security agencies from the Police to the Army, the Civil Defense Corps down to the DSS, are all up to the task and they are situated in various parts of the state to maintain peace, law and order. Also, late last year we passed the land grabbers/kidnapping and cultism law. So, anybody who comes to Ogun state now with the intention of committing crime be it kidnapping, armed robbery or participating in any unlawful activity will have themselves to blame. If you come into Ogun state now and you want to conduct business, if you are peaceful and law abiding, you have nothing to fear. So, those are the things that have endeared Ogun State to visitors. I mean, as a state, we have the highest record of visitors’ patronage every month. I mean, which other state do you know in Nigeria that takes in two to three million visitors every month? Within that Lagos-Ibadan Expressway axis you know the number of churches we have there and each of those churches takes in a million to two million people every month. So, we receive two to three million visitors and we have to cater for them. Your security regime must be tight to be able to do that and if they don’t feel secured, they won’t come. So, believe me, our security agencies are up to the task.

Tourism is said to be a goldmine. Ogun state has attractive places like the Olumo Rock which keeps drawing attention for tourism, what’s the state tourism potential?

We are a state of many firsts: Like my governor will say, ‘we are Ogun State’ and we have what we call ‘the Ogun Standard’. Look, many giants on nation building come from Ogun state. Former Presidents, elder statesmen, the first professor of medicine, the first noble laureate, the first woman to drive a car or own a car in Africa, the list is endless. From the biggest musicians like late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Yusuf Olatunji or Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, they are numerous. When you talk about the theater industry, names like that of the late Baba Hubert Ogunde, readily comes up. So, Ogun State is rich especially in terms of our culture and our heritage. We were the first state to have access to western education; we were the first to have a semblance of what is called political government under the Egba Confederation of those days. We have that pedigree, we have that heritage, and it is nothing new to what we are doing now. 

Most of the roads in the urban areas are okay. But the outskirts like Sango-Ota, Alagbole and other border towns seems to be begging for attention. What is Governor Amosun’s government going to do to achieve a holistic success in road network across Ogun in 2017?

Your question seems to be, ‘what is going on in Aiyetoro, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode and when are we going to pay attention to the border towns like Alagbole, Akute and Sango-Ota?’ When you talk about Sango-Ota, Ojodu, and those other areas, you will see that work started in earnest sometimes back. However, because of where we found ourselves in terms of funds as a result of general economic lull, things slowed down. But thank God, we have been getting some positive response and also positive reach-out from some financial institutions that want to partner with us to help us continue our projects. So, by the special grace of God, we are certain of maximum achievements in those areas soon. Look, if you inspect any of our projects, you will see 60 to 70% completion which shows great determination to complete. As a matter of fact, early last year, the minister of transportation, Honorable Rotimi Amaechi paid a visit to Ogun state, he actually came twice to confirm projects done by the State on behalf of the Federal Government and as at when he left, they were able to verify over a hundred billion naira of investment that the state has incurred on behalf of the Federal Government. 

So, that tells you that we have done fantastically well in terms of infrastructure especially road network. That apart, we pray that things will pick up. Things are actually picking up, and that will enable us to finish well. Once those bridges are in place you will see the beauty of our vision. Like when you talk about Sango- Ojodu road, there are about five bridges being constructed in that axis alone, the least being at about 60% completion. Once we complete those bridges, the roads will just take a matter of months. What we demand from our people are prayers that this same administration that started it, that God will enable us to find the wherewithal, the funds, the willing partners and the grace to complete those projects. By the special grace of God, we will finish the project and attack our rural roads. Any investor worth his salt, comes first to see your capital city. When they see urban aesthetics and good road technology, they will stay. First impression counts.

And the rural roads?

The government has planned for over a hundred rural roads because those rural roads create access for farmers to be able to move goods and products from the farms to the various markets and the cities as well. So, we pray that God will help us to increase our capacity in terms of finance so that we can achieve our objectives. 

Senator Ibikunle Amosun appears to be close to the President Mohammadu Buhari. He and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State appear influential in this government. How do you react to this perception?

Well, let me just tell you that the man is very fastidious. Look, he has a vision of where he wants to take Ogun State to, through the delivery of the 5 cardinal programs that I mentioned earlier. His main area of concentration is to develop Ogun State and to bring Ogun State to the forefront in the comity of states across Nigeria. He wants Ogun not to just be the industrial hub of Nigeria but of West Africa. He wants our products and our foods to be exported, not just put security for Ogun state but for Ogun to be developed. He wants Ogun to be the next Dubai. He wants any of our cities in Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode or Sagamu to be just like any city you find in Europe. He remains committed to that and because he has gotten that right, yes, his name has been mentioned in places outside the state which is a plus for us. It is a plus for Ogun State helping to attract the right people in terms of our partners and investors to Ogun State.

What should Ogun people expect from the government in 2017?

We have a lot scheduled to happen in 2017. Just like I said, we are not saying because of dwindling revenues or because there is a recession and we are just going to go to sleep and surrender. There is so much lined up for this year like I said, we are going to start with our rural roads, and we are going to go back to our projects, roads, streets, the bridges and many more. It is going to be a very busy year.  We are going to further upscale our health care delivery and launch more of our model schools. We have 15 so far, we are going to do even more by the special grace of God. That being said, we are concerned about our youth. 

There is a lot of unemployment and underemployment, especially among our youths. And from recent statistics, the youth constitute about 60 to 70% of our population meaning we must pay special attention to them, and this administration has done that through its commitments to education. We are one of the few states that spend close to 30% of our annual budget on education. In this wish we are going to be having our youth summit in the next couple of weeks called the “Ogun Youth Summit” where we are going to gather our youths and we are going to talk with them.

If a Mark Zukerberg can leave America and come to Nigeria, just because of this same youth, to take a look at what they are doing for themselves in Yaba there, it behooves us as a government to also get them together and hear from them. Let us know what they are thinking, where they are going, because it is their turn.