Hello,

How are you?

I know things have not been easy for many people with the increase in transportation costs due to the fuel scarcity we are experiencing. Fuel scarcity in Nigeria has become a perennial issue, and its roots can be traced to the subsidy regime. When government interferes with economics, it usually does not end well. That is why we keep saying that the only business government should have in business is to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

Well, not all subsidies are bad. But the problem is often with how the subsidies are implemented. And this fact was highlighted in my book of the month, “Against All Odds: Transforming African Agriculture”. Chapter 8 of this book points to how Dr Adesina used technology to fight the corruption in the fertiliser subsidy regime.

But a point he made stands out, he needed the support of President Goodluck Jonathan to make things work. He said, “Entrenched systems that paralyse productivity cannot be dismantled without high-level commitment and political goodwill.”

As I have noted in the past, Nigeria has more of a leadership problem than a followership problem. How the leader chooses to govern, what he approves and gets behind, will determine how the ship of governance is steered. This is why it is important to participate in the election process and choose the right people to lead.

The right leaders will get behind the best options for this subsidy regime. It is easy to throw out the baby with the bathwater. But as Dr Adesina has shown, technology can be employed to end corruption at any level of governance.

For Omituntun 1.0, we did some of the things Dr Adesina advised. We were able to clean up the registry of farmers and biometrically capture about 9,000 farmers in Oyo State. We are currently working with the World Bank to distribute fertilisers and other inputs to farmers.

The OYS-CARES programme was modelled after our input distribution programme during COVID-19. Although people made fun of the fact that we distributed cassava stems, the result was an increase in farmers’ output, which eventually led to lower prices for staples in the market the following year. We will be exploring more of these ideas for Omituntun 2.0.

Speaking of Omituntun 2.0, today marks 100 days to the March 11, 2023 gubernatorial elections in Oyo State. It is another date for the people of Oyo State to choose good governance. On our part, it is a date to renew our pledge and go from accelerated development to sustainable development.

For the next few weeks, I will continue with consultations with members of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to ensure that we all move together united into the elections. March 11 is our new date with history.

If you are still undecided about where your vote should go, I am giving you a nudge in the right direction with these videos: