Oluwaseun Bamikole Fakuade
MPA 2016
Senior Special Assistant, Policy, Research & Documentation, Governor of Ekiti State
Government Administration
Economic hardship can be a blessing, if rightly harnessed,” says Seun Fakuade (MPA 2016), who grew up in a Nigerian suburb with few material comforts. “The hunger to succeed and to banish the ‘curse of poverty’ through hard work and education was my motivation every single day.
Today, Seun is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Ekiti State, focusing on economic research, as well as policy design and documentation. Below, he tells us about his journey to step up and be the change that Nigeria needs.
I started out in life with very humble beginnings in Ilesa, a city in Osun State, southwest Nigeria. There were times where we lacked the basic requirements to live ‘normal’ lives—for seven years, I trekked to school covering more than 15km every day. But I grew up with a can-do spirit and a fiercely competitive mindset, mentored by my mother who was a force of nature, and who expected her children to be the best in all they did, no excuses!
My childhood opened my eyes to the lived experience of economic disparities and inequalities. My commitment, therefore, has always transcended my personal desire to overcome my challenges and become a success in life. In all I do, I am motivated by a strong desire to make a difference for my community.
“From Third World to First”As an undergraduate, I majored in Microbiology, and was on the path to becoming an epidemiologist. But in Nigeria, all university and polytechnic students have to take on a mandatory service year after graduation—it was fortuitous that during my service year in 2008, a discussion compelled me to pick up Lee Kuan Yew’s book “From Third World to First.” In a quote that I found particularly poignant, Lee shared his thoughts following an encounter with Nigeria’s finance minister in the 1960s: “I went to bed that night convinced that they were a different people playing to a different set of rules in Nigeria.”
What did he mean by this? One of Africa's greatest problems is prebendalism, where public leaders and the political elite are driven by personal gain and loyalty to their ethnic community or tribe, rather than patriotic zeal and the desire to fix long-standing challenges. Reading “From Third World to First” was inspiring, because it made me see how leadership is critical to everything. If you have a potential first-world country led by third-world thinkers, your outcome will most likely be a third-world country. In contrast, the successful trajectories of South Korea and Singapore were determined by the quality of the leadership and their deliberate actions. Likewise, Nigeria can be a truly incredible country if led by its most patriotic and capable citizens.
Intrigued by the ideas from the book, I decided to switch my path from Public Health (epidemiology) to Public Policy! However, it wasn’t until 2014 that my true political immersion and ‘baptism’ happened, when I supported the gubernatorial campaign of Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai in Nigeria’s Kaduna State. During the year-long campaign, I travelled the length and breadth of Kaduna State with him, studying the process of public consultations as a political neophyte. I was also Director of Digital Communications, helping to project his activities and shape his conversations. El-Rufai was elected into office, and has been Governor since 2015.
This was my first brush with the challenges of governance on a larger scale, and the impact of bad governance in both rural and urban communities. It also exposed me to design thinking in public policy, and highlighted the need for consultation, participatory governance, and collective reasoning at the grassroots and community levels, rather than pushing through highfalutin ideas without connection to real people or issues.
In the following year, I was granted a full scholarship to the LKY School under the Enpee Group Scholarship scheme, which is for Nigerian and Indian citizens who have demonstrated passion for public service. I was the first Enpee scholar at the LKY School, and I’m happy that five other Nigerians have joined the school since I graduated.
The Singapore ExperienceMy studies in Singapore turned out to be the most important journey that I have embarked upon—both professionally and mentally. Singapore was the crucible that I needed to refine my thoughts on policy and practice, as well as get some clarity of purpose as someone who is pan-African and clearly interested in the transformation of Nigeria and the African continent.
One area where the LKY School broadened my perspective was economics. Before the course, I believed that trade liberalisation and capitalism were the only factors chiefly responsible for the economic growth and prosperity of nations. But through the extensive economic historiography that I undertook during my studies, I grew to appreciate a well-rounded approach to economic thought. I discovered, in fact, that market protections and other state-led interventionist strategies—rather than liberalisation—were some approaches that today’s developed economies utilised in their own growth pathways.
Actually, all of my classes at the LKY School were completely refreshing. I sat in on extra classes beyond my core, and attended many speaking sessions to broaden my worldview and perspective.
A New Chapter in NigeriaI’m now based in Nigeria’s Ekiti State, where I serve under Governor Kayode Fayemi, helping to shape government programmes and public policy initiatives in the short and medium term, and track their progress. My public policy training, combined with my experience of growing up poor, informs my irrepressible urge to drive a ‘value-for-money’ mantra on any public initiative that I’m involved with. My questions are always:
What is the objective of this programme?
How does it impact the people and their needs?
What criteria informs the selection of the initiative’s beneficiaries
Does it resolve community challenges at scale?
What innovative approaches can we utilise?
What is the cost-benefit analysis—is this the best price and will we derive the best value for the people?
Is it inclusive and sustainable, as well as scalable?
My studies in Singapore turned out to be the most important journey that I have embarked upon—both professionally and mentally. Singapore was the crucible that I needed to refine my thoughts on policy and practice, as well as get some clarity of purpose as someone who is pan-African and clearly interested in the transformation of Nigeria and the African continent.
Working in Nigeria can be challenging, given the lack of policy follow-through on many fronts. In so many cases, policy design tinkering is needed for existing policies, but Nigeria is not without good policies. As a public official, I found many old habits hard to break, and on several occasions, as the State Monitoring and Evaluation Lead on Projects and Public Policy Initiatives, I’ve had to stop State projects from being implemented by contractors who deviated from prescribed standards. Some of these bold actions have come with threats of violence, as well as attempts to influence my team and me through bribes. Resisting these approaches—and documenting them—is unusual for politicians and public officials in this climate.
For a backwater state, developing the manufacturing sector is the answer to long-term inclusive and sustainable growth and prosperity in Ekiti. However, the knowledge economy is equally important, especially given the fact that Ekiti State has one of the highest literacy rates in the country. A major project for us is the Ekiti Knowledge Zone or EKZ, a world-class knowledge park where we can build a vibrant ecosystem of innovative businesses and a conducive environment for collaboration, research, innovation, and technology transfer. I’m the team lead of the EKZ’s project implementation unit, helping to see through the pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, as well as the masterplan design of the EKZ. I also work with colleagues in championing conversations to attract the anchors and tenants critical to making the project a success, such as the African Development Bank, which is helping us bring the project to life.
Thanks to my MPA experience, I have been able to navigate some obstacles on the project. In particular, my Economic Clusters and National Competitiveness module provided the requisite background for analysing the qualifications of the companies who bid in the procurement process for the EKZ, and querying the thinking behind their proposed methodology and design strategies.
The truth is that there is no way I could have handled most of my work without the classroom and real-world experience garnered from my time in Singapore. When I am able to, I hope to return to the LKY School to work on my PhD.