Lion Oluomo Sunday Akere is a man of many parts. He was former Commissioner for Information and Strategy during the administration of former governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and later as Special Adviser (Political) to the immediate past governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
In this interview, Oluomo Akere who holds a key position in Lions Club International as Second Vice District Governor, speaks glowingly about the club’s contributions to the society, support for the poor to assuage the current hardship in the country as well as other national issues
You are an ardent member of and a leader in Lions Club International. What is the background of this very reputable organisation which has attained a global recognition and relevance?
Lions Club International is an humanitarian organization. It is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) formed over 100 years ago, in the United States of America (USA), precisely in Oak Brook, Illinois, Chicago, in the year 1917. It was formed by a man called Melvin Jones. It started as a social club where professionals and elites from different walks if life gather weekly to jollificate and share exciting moments together. But whenever they look around them and find a quite number of people that are needy and suffering and can not make ends meet, they dedicate some of their resources towards helping them. Passionately, they pay attention to the poor and the less privileged and make life meaningful to them. Today, we have over 1.4 million members spread across 220 countries of the world.
The club has also gained much recognition in Nigeria.
When was it introduced into the country and to what extent are its vision and mission actualised here in Nigeria?
Lions Club was introduced into Nigeria in the year 1963. Today, Nigeria has about six districts of the organisation. In my own district, which is 404 B2 Nigeria, I happen to be the Second Vice District governor. In Lions Club, the hierarchy at the level of district is the district governor, followed by the first vice district governor and second vice district governor. In my district, which is 404 B2 Nigeria, we have about 87 clubs as at today and my club is Osun New Era based here in Osogbo.
As a part of efforts to actualise some of its vision and mission in the country, principally, what we do is committing our resources towards helping the needy and the less privileged members of the society. As a member of the Club, you must be ready to dedicate your 3Ts which is your Time, Talent and Treasure. You must be ready to dedicate these three things and we have been doing this at least in our own little ways. In my State here in Osun, The Lions Club as a humanitarian organization has impacted greatly in building an eye treatment and screening centre at the Central Hospital, Asubiaro, in Osogbo, the state capital.
We also built a diabetic screening and treatment centre at the State hospital, Ede. We have also initiated different humanitarian projects across several towns in the state. The club is also in the process of building a cancer treatment centre in the state as well as other treatment and screening centres at the university teaching hospital here in Osogbo. We are also doing our best to see that we assist the poor.
We carry out our humanitarian programmes by distributing food items to the needy. Basically we give food and clothes to the poor. We also assist those who need surgical operation. We embark on all these humanitarian programmes throughout the year and we are very proud to do so.
We also carry out our humanitarian programmes by distributing food items to the needy. Basically we give food to those who don’t have. We also give clothes to the poor. We also assist those who need surgical operation. We embark on all these humanitarian programmes throughout the year and we are very proud to do so
We would like you to shed more light on Lions Club’s services and other special programmes you have embarked upon beyond Osun State.
In Lions Club, our service starts on the first day of July every year and runs till 31st of June the following year. As an officer in Lion’s Club, you only hold position for just one year after which you relinquish the position for another person that will continue the act of service. Today, Lions Club has spread across different parts of the country so much that we can point to several other humanitarian projects put in place in different places. When you go to major hospitals you could see these things on ground. In Kwara State hospital, we have a diabetic treatment and screening centre. We also have them at Lagos State teaching hospital in Ikeja, Lagos, as well as other several hospitals in Nigeria.
Whenever there are disasters that are above the victims’ power to handle, Lions Club intervenes through grants and support. Recently, Lions Club International donated a sum of $10,000 to assist some victims that were affected by the devastating flood that occurred in Maiduguri.
We intervene in several areas of human needs. We assist in the area of vision, the eyes, diabetics and cancer, especially cancer in children. We also assist in the area of environment ravaged by natural disasters and make it danger-free.
We also assist in the area of education. Recently, we went to the Correctional Centre here in Osogbo, to present educational materials to inmates. We carry out different intervention programmes and projects all through the year, with a view to ensuring that we are always there to assist based on our calling. Where there is a calling, there would be a lion and where there is a lion, there will be a solution to problems.
The hardship and hunger in the country have assumed a more worrisome dimension. As a humanitarian organisation, to what extent has the Lions Club assisted in supporting the needy with palliatives?
We have been involved in providing food for the less privileged in the society. We always tag the programme “Feeding the Hungry” through which we distribute raw foods to them. We also cook food and take it to where most of these people stay and share to them. Secondly, in my district, during the 2024/2025 Lions service year, the target of the current district governor is to build a food bank in Lagos. That is why we have initiated fundraising to raise 250 million and build a food bank which we would liverage to give food to the needy, with a view to ensuring that at least (one hundred thousand) 100,00 people are given free food and other categories are given at cheaper prices.
The Federal Government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu has promised to assuage the hardship by providing and selling 50kg of rice at N40K and unveiling CNG buses across the states to solve transport problem. Nigerians have been earnestly waiting for actualisation of the promises. What is your take on this?
The problem of Nigeria did not start today. Everyone of us know that the governments that were in power before the advent of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration had been papering the problems confronting the nation, Nigeria. At a period of time, we had a president that said money was not the problem of the country but how to spend it. That was General Gowon in 1973. Today, we discover that we cannot even get money as easily, talk less of saying you want to spend it. One of the problems that brought us to where we are today is that, those that were in government before had used the nation’s resources to borrow a lot of money and put us into huge debts.
I read a piece about three days ago, in which a governor said that the federal allocations that the state governments have been sharing since the first six months of this year, (January-June), the NNPC could not contribute a Kobo to the fund. This is because they had already collected money for the crude oil that they have not sold in the next two to three. years. This is a part of the problems that Tinubu’s administration has been grappling with.
This administration has come up with a lot of ideas to help the populace. We need to be patient to ensure that the ideas are crystallized so we can begin to benefit from them. For instance, the CNG buses are already in some states now. If every of the state cannot be using it now, we should wait because surely, we shall all have the privilege to use the buses soon.
As a way out, if the local refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt begin to work optimally, and we don’t have to be importing PMS or refined oil, definitely, the economy would improve, then we shall recover from the current inflation and have money to spend and enjoy the values for our money.
We also need to change our mentality. The Nigerian mentality before now was to import every good, including ordinary tooth pick that can be produced here. This meant running an economy that is import-dependent. The implication of import economy is so bad that much money the country has goes out and without much coming in. We should change our mentality and ensure that we all rely on what we have in Nigeria which is our local products, instead of importing them.
The N40,000 50kg of rice promised by the president will surely be made available. Even though we have not seen it, we should be patient. Rome was not built in a day and they can be no gain without pain. Yes, things are difficult, but it’s high time Nigerians realized that it’s time to stand on our own now and make a new way. We must at least be able to bear the pain of the policies introduced by the current administration now because, definitely things will improve for the better.
You were a Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Osun State during the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and later Special Adviser (Political) to the immediate past governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola. How would you assess your performances and what lessons can be learnt from your footprints in governing the state?
I was once a Commissioner for Information and Strategy about 10 years ago and I want to appreciate and thank God that during my period of service, I was able to make reasonable impacts which are still very obvious in the eyes of people and are still being commended in different quarters.
The lessons I want people that are there today to learn from my inputs is to ensure that whatever the government is doing and whatever policies the government is bringing up should have a touch of human feelings. At least, there should be a way of communicating with the people that government is presiding over. Not only my state but also the Federal Government should toe the same path. Quite a number of programmes have been pursued by the Federal Government and have been implemented to reduce the sufferings of the people.
For me, the information managers are not doing sufficiently enough to highlight its achievements. That is why most people don’t know and can not appreciate what government is doing. I believe that the information managers need to work harder and government too should do more.
The information managers should make more noise about the loan given to university students to enable them take advantage of the students loan scheme. They should also make noise about the loans and grants being given to the people as well as other forms of palliatives.
How would you compare the past administration of your party, APC and the present PDP administration in Osun State?
Everybody knows very well that the immediate past governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola ran a transparent and meticulous government, especially in the handling of the resources of the state. Everybody also knows that the four years of Oyetola was a trying period when everything had to be put into ensuring that salaries of workers were paid and also that the engine of the state kept running. Today, we all know what comes into the state at the end of every month but there is nothing much to show for it.
The PDP administration that is currently in power promised during campaign that within six months they would pay the arrears of salary owed by the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbeshola administration. But they have almost spent two years in power and have only been able to pay six months out of the salary they promised to pay in 30 months arrears they promised to pay in six months.
Also, the allocation coming to the state now is more than double of what the Oyetola administration was receiving when he was in office as governor and there’s nothing to show for it. The agricultural sector is paralysed. The only thing the PDP administration is bragging about is taking caterpillar out to construct roads which they have never completed since the advent of their administration.
APC Government is relatively different from such posturing because we know how to run the affairs and how to ensure that whatever little money we have is adequately managed.
The people of Osun have seen the difference. They know very well that in 2026, they must take away the government form people that are there today and give it to a party, the APC which knows how to do it better.
Good money is coming into the state, but the people are not feeling the impact. Even, the palliatives that the Federal Government is giving to the state, nobody is seeing anything here. What the people are waiting for is for power to change in 2026 and we know that we, the APC, are going to make much differences in different sectors, especially in the education sector and health.
Majority of the programmes that we started were jeopardized by the current PDP administration, instead of continuing the good legacies of the APC-led administration. One of them is the ambulance programme as well as the health insurance scheme which the people used to enjoy. Also in the education sector, 1,500 teachers were employed when we took over power. But when the PDP came to power, they sacked the teachers and promised to recall them. Up till today, we have not seen anything to show for it. They also sacked health workers and we discovered that those recruited were sacked.
What we are waiting for now is to take over power in 2026 by the grace of God with a view to ensuring replicating our progressive ideology capable of guaranteeing the people-oriented and good governance that we (the APC) are known for.
