"The Miracle I Witnessed In Ondo state," By Femi Fani-Kayode

"The Miracle I Witnessed In Ondo state," By Femi Fani-Kayode
David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode, better known in Nigeria as Femi Fani-Kayode, is a Nigerian politician, essayist, poet and lawyer. He has just issued some comments on the current state of affairs in Ondo state. Below is the full text of his message.
It is not often that I am left speechless and at a loss for words. Yet this is how I felt yesterday as my friend and brother Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo state took me on a 5 hour personal tour of his state and showed me some of his landmark achievements. As they say, seeing is believing.
We went to the massive, ultra-modern, state of the art, all-purpose conference centre (which is still under construction in Akure), the Medical Village in Ondo Town (which houses the most advanced, best equipped and most sophisticated set of hospitals in Nigeria = catering for virtually every known aspect of medical care from serious accidents, to childbirth and to major surgery and whose services are completely FREE OF CHARGE), the beautiful Mega Schools (which are state-run high schools that are, in terms of infrastructural facilities and equipment, including computers etc., at par with ANY state-run high schools in Europe or America and whose infrastructure is absolutely astounding), the free school-bussing system for children, the ''ten minute response'' ambulance systems all over the state, the smooth roads and street-lighting systems all over Akure and other parts of the state and so much more.
The truth is that I was ashamed of the fact that so much is going on in Ondo state in terms of development and services to the ordinary people and yet we as Nigerians, and particularly as yoruba people, have refused to acknowledge or admit it either for self-serving political motives or for other reasons which are best known to ourselves. Instead of playing politics and indulging in the usual grandstanding that so many others have been doing in their states, Mimiko is one governor that is clearly rolling up his sleeves up, working extremely hard for his people and looking within. It appears to me that he believes that the work itself and the purposeful establishment of an intimidating legacy of good governance and massive infrastructural development throughout the state will do the talking for him. And he is right.
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As I told him, knowingly or unknowingly, he is clearly basing his system of governance on the Danish model, which basically espouses the view that the state must be compassionate to the poorest and weakest in society and must provide the highest quality of amenities, including schools, hospitals, housing, transport systems and virtually everything else for them either free of charge or at minimal cost. It is this philosophical and ideological position of compassion for the poor and weak and opportunities for the rich and powerful that has made Denmark, according to various international studies and reports, one of the happiest, most stable, most prosperous and most enviable places to live in the world. Over the years the Danes have managed to create a fine balance between the imperatives and great benefits of private enterprise and investment and the forces of the free market on the one hand and state intervention and governmental responsibility for the poor and less fortunate on the other. This is what Mimiko, wittingly or unwittingly, is actually doing in Ondo state.