Ilenre Austin Emuan is a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State. He hails from Egoro kingdom in Esan-west local government area of Edo State. In this interview , he spoke on issues concerning the present government.What have you been doing before now?After my primary, secondary and various stages of university education, I have had a robust architectural and development practices, venturing into
other areas as environmental and nature conservation, investment procurement, oil and gas business, publishing and several others. My various firms and practices, which have roots in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, have drilled me on real works and facts-finding expeditions around the length and breadth of the country, particularly the South-south geo-political zone where I come from. It has also taken me to several countries of the world, where I learned immensely and has now resolved to draw similar inspiration from the diverse institutions, cultures and peoples I have come across, for the benefit of my Edo people, back home and Nigeria at large. What propelled you to aspire for the Edo governorship seat?I want to take Edo people to the Promised Land with industrialisation. I have freely offered myself for selfless service to my people, as the next governor to take over from Governor Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole; the statesman who has done very well. The move is borne out of my sheer conviction and optimism that someday, the ugly situation of our dear people must be turned around from where they are now to where they desire to be. I will take due advantage of my pedigree and personal experiences to realize this. In my career and humanitarian efforts to give ‘a cold cup of water to assuage thirst’, I had always come across abject poverty and the poor living conditions of majority of our people. This I am determined to fight; not only to a standstill but to finish employing all available comparative advantages at my disposal. Acute poverty is not only unsafe for the poor, but to all the citizenry and drives home the saying that: “When the poor are awake as a result of hunger, the rich wouldn’t sleep because the poor are hungry and awake.” With your experience as a development expert, how would you tackle poverty in the state?Yes, I am most disturbed by the wellbeing of Edo people; the problems being encountered by majority of our people, which is generally believed to have been brought about by poor leadership, backwater politics and the lack of good governance. On the other hand, majority of our people are also to blame for allowing their individuality and their collectivity to be so misled, yet they do very little or nothing to stop the bondage. There is something good to cheer about now. I must say that for the past eight years or so, the Edo people have gone a long way striving to reverse the ugly situation. Yes, the people made a great leap to shake off this yoke. Behold, the great wind of ‘change’ at the national realm, which is sometimes now attributed to the present APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari, was actuality as a result of the advocacy actions for the very ‘change’ which the Edo people had coordinated for years, and later yielded fruits while using Governor Adams Oshiomhole as a demonstrative specimen. How do you intend to bring change to the people, if elected governor?For this reason, I, Austin Ilenre Emuan, have submitted myself as ‘another specimen’ to lead the Edo people to the next destination. Certainly, all that the Edo people should now do is shake off a pastime of resistance and migrate to a higher level of productive and development realism. The best and unique way to achieve it is through distributive development that must be organic in nature. To this end, economic activities will be created around natural endowments as peculiar to communities and or senatorial districts. This is only possible by bringing on-board a truly development-oriented governor in 2016 to lead us to a political and socio-economic virility, where the common people will turn their creativity and energy into a profiting collaboration with government. Turning the state around to a productive state and a shining example to the other 36 states of the country, and the world at large, is not rocket-science. It is do-able, with our collective God’s gifts and resolve, provided it is supported by the people. The timeless history of the Edo people, in the ever-changing worldwide view, is replete with many ‘feats and firsts’. Before the past colonial eras, the old Edo nation had been widely and aptly called ‘Centre of Black Civilization’ and other titles, because of its unmatched creative arts and culture, ingenuity and willpower. While the Edo nation was warlike and had conquered and annexed territories in and beyond modern-day Nigeria, its fame soared and soared around the world. It is rather so till date.Also, the pre-colonial Edo people were unusually industrious and famous worldwide. For instance, Fred Peace, a renowned environment consultant, in the global New Science Magazine wrote that the Old Benin Moat, which was severally dug through manual labour by the Edo people, is perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet. The Moat, made up of 16,000 kilometers distance, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries, which took estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and consumed a hundred times more than the Great Pyramid of Egypt and four times longer than the great walls of China. If our ancestors whom we have derived our DNA from could achieve this in 15thcentury, what stops us from achieving greater endeavours that we can leave as a legacy for our future generations. Edo is the heartbeat of the Nation. How would you make this slogan a reality?Ordinarily, one is fascinated if he becomes a mascot of re-inventing Edo, for the present and future generation of her people, as a veritable pivot for the progress of not only Nigerians but Africans. Edo must not be ‘the Heartbeat of the Nigerian Nation’ on mere expressions basis. For the love of my people, I, as a Neo-Structural Scholar, have opted for ‘bi-culturalism and bi-welfarism,’ a dual and realistic development principle that will take us from where we are to the right destination. Bi-culturalism is a strategy of combining homegrown norms to that of other cultures for a holistic development boost, whilst bi-welfarism is a mixture of the best tenets of capitalism and paradigm of socialism to create a critical mass as a means to eliminating socio-economic maladjustments. Nevertheless, my surveys have proven that Edo has the intensity and flair to excel along these principles. The issue of unemployment in the state is worrisome. What plans do you have to remedy it?When I am elected as the governor, I will usher in an all-inclusive and people-oriented era where the people and government take the front-seat in the decision making and implementation process. Because am a student of politics and not power, I will lead and be led. Edo is also uniquely located; her geographical indices and indicators earn her many comparative advantages. it is the link-in-chain between South-western Nigeria to the east, South-south and South-east to the key North central and the far Northern states. The state is endowed with significant agricultural, mineral, marine and forest resources. The state is very rich in natural endowments including: multiple vegetation zones, plentiful rain, surface water and underground water resources and moderate climate. These allow for production of diverse food and cash crops. Meanwhile, one can hardly achieve meaningful growth where unemployment, youth restiveness, tribal differences, unhealthy democratic practices and other social vices are on the rise.With the necessary mechanism in place to transform our prejudices into values and our values and aspirations into socio-economic solutions, there is no doubt that the people will get a new leisure of life where wealth will not only be created but peace, unity and progress will become synonymous with ‘Edo and we will remain one.’ With my experience in agriculture and development, I believe the youths have lots to be engaged on.How would you involve the LGAs of the state in your developmental plans?We have 18 Local Government Areas in Edo State. Each local government consists of communities that are culturally and ethnically bound and are a reservoir of natural resources that can be jointly exploited. Also, our people are known for their individual self-confident traits and this attitude is what makes them excel. The LGA will be the arm driving our Edo Village Economic Renewal policy aka…’’Yours EVER’’ and will be backed up with ambassadorial training and programs. An inside-Outside approach ensuring that development radiates from the core to other parts of the state like a ripple effect. Unfortunately, we are still not sufficiently mobilized to harness the individual industriousness into a collective success. This is why I’m making myself available for the position of a governor; I’m in the best position to shepherd our dear Edo state to the Promised Land.
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