– Recommend ABIYE Program for African countries
– We Use His Template In Guv’s Forum – Peter Obi
Notable personalities and opinion moulders in the country have recommended the Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko for a second term of four years in office following loads of achievement he has recorded so far since assuming office three years ago.
The eminent figures at a public lecture organised as part of the activities marking the 3rd year anniversary of the Mimiko government in Akure,, the state capital on Wednesday, echoed their opinion and urged the people of the state to ensure Mimiko is re elected to enable him take the state to its place of destiny.
Among those who canvassed fresh mandate for Mimiko were retired Anglican Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi, former Governor of old Ondo State, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae and former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN).
Others included former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Aliyu Idi Hong, foremost industrialist, Chief Oba Otudeko, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Olujimi Akinkugbe as well as Ganiyat, the wife of late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
They spoke at the anniversary public lecture entitled “Of Stated Goals and Proven Performance” chaired by the Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi.
The Lecturer at the event, Professor Akinkugbe, in his lecture said the people will no doubt register their approval and gratitude to Mimiko with their votes in due course because of the pace of progress in all sectors of human endeavour in the past three years.
Saying that though he has no gift of prophetic wisdom, “the visionary instincts that are currently incubating such profound initiatives as the Sunshine City, public private partnerships on power, agro-business, seaport development and so on, gives me the gut-feeling that citizens of Ondo State are not unmindful of the hurricane (not just the wind) of change and will no doubt register their approval and gratitude in due course.
“The way Mimiko has been prosecuting his assignment these past three years demonstrates clearly that he must have embarked on the think-through logistics of good governance even whilst he was still trying hard to retrieve his political mandate.
“He was thinking, he was planning but now he is doing, – through vision-driven Agenda (The Caring Heart), through Quality Assurance in Education, through Agricultural Villages, through Water and Sanitation, Rural Infrastructure and Housing, through urban renewal and bottoms-up rural development programmes. All these and many more constitute what I can now confidently refer to as the building blocks of good governance and the veritable damp-proof course (DPC) of true democracy. They simply do not come about in a weekend.
The former Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan lamented that Nigeria’s top-level executives and administrators often fall short of meeting society’s highest expectations.
“I have heard it lamented, for instance, by eligible voters queuing at various polling stations at election time, that once the exercise is over, the winner goes on to govern in spite of his promised mandate and not necessarily in keeping with that mandate. And there are few opportunities to challenge him as he journeys through his tenure, sometimes even with impunity. The platform of positive engagement gives way to a litany of unmonitored “achievements” and community’s aspirations are thus short-changed and expectations remain largely unfulfilled.
While applauding the administration’s initiative in tackling maternal mortality, Akinkugbe believed that its adoption by African countries will achieve the targeted reduction in maternal mortality rate by 2015.
“Although many of the stated “millennium goals” relate to health, it is the ones that address infant and under 5s mortality rate (Goal 4) and maternal mortality ratios (Goal 5) that Ondo State decided these last few years to engage aggressively, and achieve an impressive outcome. The ABIYE concept and Mother and Child Centre are perhaps the ones that have put the State on the global map, won laurels for effective leadership and made it a reference point on how to plan, execute and measure the effectiveness of a well-designed health strategy.
“The fact however remains that the “Sunshine strategy” has resonated so effectively within a short space of time that Sub-regional, Regional, Continental and Global parts of the developing world are already applauding, having been seized with its dramatic health dividends. It would be interesting to assess how rapidly these measures, if implemented, will ensure a steady progress toward realizing the targeted two-thirds reduction of under 5s mortality rate and three-quarters of maternal mortality ratio by 2015.
“In every department of life in Ondo State , we have witnessed impactful changes, some immediate and palpable, others medium and long-term, less obvious but no less profound. In it, you can see a combination of redefinition of old strategies (avoiding loopholes), positive interventions and novel initiatives to meet modern challenges” Akinkugbe maintained.
Speaking at the event, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi blamed Nigerian adults for the country’s woes and traced the bane of good governance in the country to sycophancy and praise-singing .
Acknowledging the robust contributions of his Ondo State counterpart to the development of the country in general, Governor Obi described Mimiko as a national figure whose contributions to national issues are always fundamental at the Governors Forum.He added that most members of the forum have found the template of his initiatives in Ondo state useful as some of the works are already being replicated by some of the governors.