My Big Plans For Rivers

Q: You talked about decongesting Port Harcourt. What are you doing in the area of rural development?
A: That is one area we have achieved quite a lot. My friends tell me that people don’t know that we have done so much in the area of rural development. If you go to the rural areas, you will find out that we have done quite a lot of roads. I better don’t fail them because I made one careless statement once in the sense that my recent tour of the local government area showed me that if I don’t work hard, I won’t achieve. I had promised that by 2009, I would have finished all the rural roads. In one local government I was told that we needed just one more road to complete the job, but when I toured the areas, I discovered that we needed an extra six. We have about six that are on-going and by the time we are through with them, we would have completed the local government. If you go to Bori, we are doing mostly internal roads, just like we are doing internal roads in Ahoada. If you go to Elele – if you are coming from Owerri – you will find out that we have done so many internal roads.

Q: What about rural electrification?
A: By God’s grace, by the end of the month, we are awarding contract for the remaining 500 communities in Rivers State that do not have power. We are giving them power and we believe that within six months we should have completed the job. We have about 500 communities that have no power that we intend to give. What happens now is that they have done their paper work and all that, but I discovered that I needed to do an audit. So I have asked that people should go and confirm that our estimation is correct. If it is not 500, it will be less.

Q: The Truth Commission is one big feature of your administration. What was it meant to achieve, because it has been criticised in some quarters that it was established to witchhunt certain people?
A: I am sure that if we want to witchhunt anyone, we won’t need the commission. I am sure you know that. If genuinely we want to witchhunt, we wouldn’t dare involve a man like Justice Kayode Eso. Can you, knowing the man Kayode Eso, use him to witchhunt anybody? When we were inaugurating the commission, we told them: Just look at yourselves, from Kayode Eso to the last person, all men and women of reputation. If you don’t deliver in the interest of the people, then your reputation would be gone. I am sure you don’t want anything to tarnish that reputation. It was, ab initio, geared towards achieving peace. If nothing else, the mere fact that people willingly came out to express their feelings says something about its success. Do you think those people would have come out without being genuinely convinced about the aim and reputation of those involved? These were bottled-up feelings. People were so angry for so many reasons–either because their parents or siblings were killed or many other heinous crimes were perpetrated against them one way or the other. We heard about someone who said that because of his disagreement with somebody, his father was killed. Hearing from these people made me to take the stand, to ensure that these criminals pay for their actions. Some people were talking about amnesty. But I asked them, ‘if you say grant amnesty, what about the victims? What do you give them, create a new life?’

But I also told the panel that whatever they came out with, we will implement. We will not do otherwise because we hold a different view. If you recommend that this particular man be granted amnesty, we will grant amnesty. But I believe the panel is geared towards achieving reconciliation. At least for some time now you have not heard of Rivers as a centre of brigandage. There is, call it palpable peace but certainly not graveyard peace, and it is no longer as bad as it was. Before, when/if you woke up, they would have killed somebody here or there. At least, now you can walk the street without having to look back with so much fear. For now, everybody seems to be agreed that the situation has improved considerably. Kidnapping is not as rife as it was before, because people are being punished for their actions. Before in Port Harcourt, if you were walking in the street, somebody would be hanging his gun. Don’t you annoy him because he would turn his gun on you! But now, if we see gun, even around 3am, we move to search people’s houses and if we see gun in your house, you will come and account for it. Things are no longer done with impunity because people are held accountable for their actions. The problem before was that people were not helping. Ateke used to behave like a governor. If he was coming to Port Harcourt, you would see some boys dressed in suit running after his car. And this is a man whose last qualification was a primary six certificate. And just because he was shooting and killing people, he almost became a god! Now he is in the creeks and he is there because we chased him out of Port Harcourt. He cannot come out to live his kind of life among civilised people. It is not done and it is unacceptable. He is the person now living in fear.

Q: Talking about fears of militancy in Rivers State, some people are of the view that you ought to have called the militants to a conference table to discuss with them and try to know what they are really fighting for. Why did you take this hard line position of not talking to them at all?
A: I am from Rivers. My mother and father are from Rivers State. So nobody can know Rivers better. I know to a great extent, the genesis of the crisis. There is not one person in Rivers State among the so-called militants that will claim to be fighting for the benefit of Niger Delta. The only person that confuses me from time to time is Asari Dokubo. Sometimes you speak to him, he has ideological leaning and you can say that this man is heading towards the struggle for the emancipation of the Niger Delta people. At other times, you ask, is this man really serious? But outside him, the rest are a bunch of criminals. You have been following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceedings and must have heard all the stories. The one person I am not sure somebody can accuse of having kidnapped someone is Asari Dokubo. But the rest are engaged in kidnapping, bunkering, stealing and all that. So the question to ask is: do you sit down with armed robbers to discuss? What is the difference between him and an armed robber? So if you can’t sit with an armed robber to negotiate, why should I sit with a man who calls himself a militant when he is not? And what is the consequence of negotiation that you should put him on monthly funding? Any day you stop it, he is back to his crimes. You must govern in such a way that people will accept you or love you and want to obey rules. But you must also not fail to show that you have the power of coercion. That is the law. The moment they know that there is a consequence for an action, they will think twice. I do ‘A’ and the result is ‘B’. Is the ‘B’ enjoyable or not? If the answer is no, then avoid it. Before I came in, if you did ‘A’ nothing happened; you could just do about anything you wanted. Now people are beginning to know that there are consequences.

You have heard about the demolition of houses because nobody bothered about who were building and blocking drainages. Nobody bothered to implement laws. I was screaming and making speeches everyday but no one listened. There was a day we were inaugurating our office of Conference of Speakers and people considered that in my speech that day, the governors were on my mind. I asked Obasanjo to tell one governor to come out and say, ‘I implement the laws.’ They get the laws, put it in their drawers. That day, my former boss called me and said that the whole country was complaining about what I said. I said: Sorry sir, I was saying that there is the need for someone to implement laws because for people to exist, there must be regulations and the duty of the executive is to implement the laws.

Q: Still talking about militancy, there are people who accuse you of not doing enough to give these guys a future to turn them away from criminality for which they are notorious, by engaging them meaningfully. How would you respond to this?
A: This year for example, we are taking 300 persons to the UK and Canada to go and study medicine, law, ICT, oil and gas, engineering, etc. That is from Rivers State Development Agency. I don’t know the number the state government is taking, but we are still preparing for them. I got another scholarship programme in which they wanted me to sponsor another 150 to Germany, Russia, Malaysia, etc. That particular opportunity was opened to the youths. Beyond that, I have set up the rehabilitation committee headed by Chief Albert Horsfall. So why haven’t they gone there?

First, there is a hostel and you will live there as long as you are being trained. After the training, you will be funded to go and start your own business. I don’t think that is the solution. I was just responding to the question you asked. The solution is first and foremost, value re-orientation because if I give you N1 million now, you will be happy. But truth is that if you give them N2 million, that is no money because if they kidnap somebody, they will get a N100 million. So you need to take them through some value re-orientation for money to be meaningful to them. How much is my salary? My salary is something they spend in one hour. You need to take them through value re-orientation before taking them through social re-orientation and then take them into the society.

Q: Are the communities where these boys come from sufficiently assisting the government in dealing with this issue?
A: They are frightened. The man is carrying a gun and if you assist government they will come after any such person and kill him. But they are hoping that the government can come out and do something. When we entered into Okrika, the community was so happy because everybody in the community had virtually run away. When we got there, did you hear the community complain that they have killed our people? There was none. But we got in there and chased the idiots away and the people were happy. We need the government because security is in the hand of the federal government. It is not my responsibility. It is just that people are making me to discuss it because I am the state’s chief security officer. I receive reports of the activities of the Nigerian military from time to time. It is the responsibility of the federal government and there is no place the federal government should not be able to enter. The truth is that these criminals can’t confront the federal government because they don’t have the training neither do they have the equipment. The fact that they have the Rocket Propelled Grenade, RPG or General Purpose Machine Guns, GPMG, does not detract from the fact they cannot confront a Federal Government’s war ship or an attack helicopter.

Q: The militants appear to be filling the political vacuum because in the first four years of the new democracy, the politicians were agitating for what they called resource control, increase in the derivation but all of a sudden, the advocacy became muted and people began to say that they will get this thing from the war front. Why are the politicians not talking of the need for the owners of the oil to get more money or more control over these resources?
A: I don’t think there was any political vacuum. We must separate those who are genuinely struggling for Niger Delta emancipation from the criminals in Rivers state. I am saying this because it may be different in Bayelsa, Delta. All the crises we have in the Niger Delta have different rings to it. In the case of Rivers state, it was purely political. When you say political, not Niger Delta struggle. Nobody heard about Niger Delta struggle in the past how many years. It is because they heard of the Niger Delta struggle from other states. In Byelsa, may be in other areas, you can hear of groups like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND and others. I am not saying MEND is right or wrong but what I am saying is that both the state and federal governments cannot deny the fact that there was injustice in the Niger Delta. Both of them cannot also deny the fact that there are genuine boys who are calling attention to the problems in the region. Now it was as if there was a vacuum, it was when the criminals took over the case that both the politicians and genuine men who were fighting the course of the region kept quiet because if you are not careful, they will tag you a criminal. Have you heard of what they always say, ‘we are not releasing this man until you give us our oil money.’ All you hear is give us N50 million, give us N100 million.’ If you are struggling for the Niger Delta, you would say, ok, we have 15 or 20 expatriates. Do you want us to release them? If you want me to release them, increase our derivation?

I agree with you on the issues you raised. But you have people who don’t even remember Niger Delta. I am not saying that this is the solution but whether I like it or not, there is a point which everybody has to understand. These boys are into crime because the economy is not able to provide for them. So as a government, I also have a responsibility to say what should I do to stop what is going on from escalating?That is why you have heard that we have taken over the management of primary school which is the responsibility of the federal government. At the moment we are buying books and uniform to be distributed free of charge for primary school pupils but we have not decided on free education because we need to look or study the cost first. What we are doing in the secondary schools for now is that we are encouraging the boys to go to school. That is why we are doing what we are doing right now to accommodate about 30,000 students. Before, it was put at N4.1 billion but we have made amendments here and there and have brought it down to N3.5 billion to transform infrastructure. We have among others, accommodation for students. We are constructing and people are partnering with us to provide these infrastructure and all that. If we build all that, we will be encouraging children to go to school. At the primary school level, we will employ more teachers, we are taking over their salaries, we are building 250 primary schools and within the primary schools, there will be internet facilities, computer classes so that before they enter secondary schools they already have knowledge of the computer process.

Q: There is this scheme, designed for exceptionally brilliant students in Rivers State…
A: It is a scheme by the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency. We have brilliant students from a poor home who is not able to make it because of his poverty. And we have one from a rich home who, because of the opportunity he has, could make it to the group. The agency is doing that in order to be able to groom children who are able to compete with other children from other parts of the world. They are carrying children from across the whole of Rivers State after their entrance to schools outside Rivers State to go and compete with others across the country. The belief is that when they come back, they will be able to meet people or children from top schools.

Q: What response have you designed for especially the unemployment situation for those who are not criminally minded?
A: If you look at our projects, you will know that there is no way we can execute them without generating employment. If you see road construction alone, we have a policy that 50 per cent of any contract that we award should be given to our people. That way, we encourage them to start their own or build up their capital base. The other part is that we have programmes like farming because we are establishing, we planned for three but now we are beginning with one, this Songhai project you have in Benin Republic. It is on-going. We currently have 130 to 150 farmers who will own the farm and they have the support of N1 billion. That is one scheme. We are training about 250 cat fish farmers and we will back them with funds. With it, we are hopeful that we will be able to make Port Harcourt the hub of cat fish farming. We have a N2 or N3 billion micro finance facility, which we just passed by way of law. We are partnering with FCMB in that regard. At the end of the day, we will have N3 to N4 billion from which people can access for loans. You must have your business proposal to access the funds. We are focusing more on self-employment than government or public employment. We believe that self employment creates more opportunity for a greater number of people than the other forms of employment.

Q: When you move around Nigeria, you will see a lot of companies that used to be big time employers of labour and they have all gone. What are you going to do to industrialise or even revitalise some of the dead companies?
A: Government cannot industrialise but can only create the conducive environment necessary for industrialisation. First there must be power. We have paid close to N11 billion already to the contractors. One of the stations was abandoned due to lack of payment. But we have paid close to N11 billion and we are determined to complete payment. If we are able to complete payment, we will be generating 375 megawatts of power.

The problem with industrialisation in Nigeria or Rivers State in particular is the fact that the cost of production is higher here than in most other West African countries because you will pay for your power, water, literally build your own road, buy your own generator and when you go to your own house you also buy another generator. Government should be able to take responsibility for some of these things, like good public water scheme, power and then secure the environment so that when you are doing business, all these costs of production will be reduced if not eliminated. It is our responsibility to do that.Now what about the failed Pabod Breweries? It is up for sale. All of them cannot be revived at the same time. It is better left with the private investor to run it so that it doesn’t fail again. We are studying closely the RINSOPALM because it is a multi-billion dollar or Naira investment. We are studying it closely and we are speaking with some investors to know whether they want it the way it is or they want us to revive it before taking over. But that is not the solution to industrialisation. Government’s business is to create conducive environment for business to thrive.

Q: You will be one year in office on 26 October 2008, are you satisfied?
A: The word should have been challenged. It is challenging but the task is surmountable. A lot needs to be done. Honestly, if I have all the money I need to do roads, I would have done the ring road because the design has been there for a very long time. But if you spend all the money on this one, where will you get the money to build hospitals, primary schools, secondary schools, water scheme etc? It is challenging and sometimes it is frustrating because there are a lot of interests. But we thank the Almighty God for the jouney so far.

Q: How have you moved the health delivery system…?
A: There are three areas you can say we have achieved a lot-health, road and education. These are the three key areas. In the area of health, when we came in, the only public health facility we met inside Port Harcourt is the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital. It has many old structures. New structures were added. But we looked at the pressure on the facilities and we are building 115 health centres in all the local governments in Rivers State. We are constructing a mega hospital, to be handled by Clinotech-Canada. It will be named after Retired Supreme Court Justice Karibi Whyte. We are building another 1,000-bed space hospital in Port Harcourt.