Category: Politics

Governor Godswill Akpabio’s recent utterances and actions have revived the debate over zoning, ahead 2015 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State, reports Assistant Editor, Dare  Odufowokan

The Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, last week stunned the people of his state when he made a volte face on the issue of zoning of governorship seat in the state ahead of the 2015 gubernatorial election.

Akpabio sent shock waves down the spines of many of his people, especially the people of the Eket Senatorial Zone, when he said, without any equivocation, that he is not a product of zoning and as such, there is no zoning in Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio, who was responding to a question on his succession plan during the Citizens’ Forum/Town Hall meeting, held at Government House Banquet Hall as part of the events to mark the end of the Good Governance Tour of the state, said the issue of which part of the state will produce the governor in 2015 is in God’s hand.

“If you ask me, I will tell you that I am not a product of zoning. I am a product of the people. In 2007, 58 people from Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ekpene senatorial districts, all contested the primaries, and after the people had spent five days on the street, they finally voted who they wanted and said let’s God’s will be done. For 2015, zoning is in the hands of God,” the governor said.

While some people applauded the governor for what they called his courage to lay to rest the escalating debate over zoning of the governorship in 2015, others condemned him for alleged audacity to challenge what they claimed is an integral part of the politics of the state.

Akpabio’s statement, according to government sources, has generated ripple effects in the last couple of days. It is being seen in the state as proof that there will be no zoning of the seat to Eket senatorial district, contrary to the expectation of numerous leaders of the zone.

“The governor has finally told the whole world where he stands on the issue of zoning. His statement simply means that there will be no zoning of the governorship seat in Akwa Ibom come 2015. This is to say that anyone who believes that he has what it takes to govern the state, no matter where he or she may come from, will be free to contest the primaries,” an aide of the governor said.

But to the people of Eket zone, what they described as Akpabio’s volte face is an act of betrayal. The governor’s alleged turn-around is more shocking given the fact that barely a week ago, the people of Eket Senatorial District rose from stakeholders’ meeting to laud Akpabio for throwing his weight behind zoning of governorship seat in the state in 2015.

Their celebration of the governor was in appreciation of Akpabio’s averment that he was not opposed to zoning. The governor had reportedly praised the ruling party for adopting zoning as a system.

Checks by The Nation revealed that the political landscape in Akwa Ibom State has further been heated up by the governor’s statement as the 2015 elections draw nearer especially with the people of Eket Senatorial District, (with 12 out of 31 local government areas of the state) insisting that it is their turn to produce the next governor of the state.

This insistence, inspite of the governor’s volte face is based on the arguement that the Uyo Senatorial District produced former Governor Victor Attah, who governed the state for eight years between 1999 and 2007 while the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District produced the incumbent governor, whose second term expires in 2015. The contention is that for equity and fair play, Eket Senatorial District should be supported by all to produce the governor in 2015.

Disagreeing with Akpabio’s position on the issue, the former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Bassey Essien, said: “It is very clear and there is no ambiguity that it is the turn of Eket Senatorial District to produce the next governor. Any right thinking Akwa Ibom politician will take this advice.

The political ambition of anyone, no matter how high up should not be against the overriding political interest of the entire state. Collectively, the political elite agreed on how power should rotate among the three senatorial districts.

No individual’s interest can ever override the collective will and desire of Akwa Ibom political elite. Whatever interest anyone has should be in tandem with the accepted rotational principle of political office sharing in the state.”

He further added that the three federal constituencies in Eket; Eket, Ikot Abasi and Oron, has each reaffirmed their commitment to the Eket governorship project and have agreed to work together and with everyone in Eket to achieve the Eket dream.

“We are more determined now than ever to achieve the Eket governorship project and we all have agreed to work together and with everyone within and outside Eket to achieve our desire to produce the governor in 2015,” Essien said.

Senator Etang Umoyo, who represented Eket senatorial district in the Senate in the Third Republic, while explaining that the idea of zoning is a general understanding and a gentleman arrangement agreed to and endorsed by all senatorial districts in the state, which the people have relied on and operated upon in the absence of any written agreement or document, vowed that his people will not back out of the agitation.

“Since the creation of Akwa Ibom State, 25 years ago, Eket is the only district that has not produced a governor of the state. Uyo has produced two governors – Isemin and Attah, while Ikot Ekpene, by 2015 would have completed its own tenure of eight years through Akpabio.”

Reacting to claims by anti-zoning agitators that Akwa Ibom State has never had an election where only aspirants from a particular district contested, Umoyo said the truth of the matter is that the political elites always know where the governorship is going.

“When Isemin contested, we agreed that Uyo, being the state capital and Uyo senatorial district that has the majority of the ethnic groups in the body of the Ibibios, should take the first shot and in Attah’s time, the same principle re-applied. So, the opinions of the mainstream political leaders were in favour of that position.

There was another person from Uyo Senatorial District in the same National Republican Convention (NRC) during Isemin’s era, Ekpong Ntak, who contested against him. Another person from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, S. U. Akpan also contested against him but at the end of the day, it was the main decision that held sway.

During the time of Akpabio, the same thing happened; we made sure that we worked against his opponents because it was a collective decision that zoning is the best way to spread political offices and fight domination by any particular senatorial district. So it doesn’t matter whether people contested against these people, who had been endorsed by the mainstream political formations. All those who differed, they all lost,” he explained.

But if Umoyo and the people of Eket zone think they have only the governor to sway in their bid for the governorship, they have another thing coming their way because the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Samuel Ikon, is also calling for the abandonment of the politics of zoning or rotation of power in the state.

Throwing his weight behind the governor’s opposition to zoning, Ikon said, “I am a fan of effectiveness, efficiency and capacity because today in this state, the governor has come to show that even if somebody is not from your state, he can still touch your life. At the federal level, we have a president that is from the South-south, what have you seen that is so special about the South-south. So it is not a function of where somebody comes from.

“You must leave primordial issues, it does not make sense. If we want the state to move forward, let us look at efficiency, effectiveness and capacity. Who has the capacity to deliver that is the issue not a tarnished arrangement.”

The Speaker also said the issue of zoning is fanning the ember of division, calling on the people of the state to rise against it.

“That is my thinking, it might not be popular; but I think for the interest of the state and country, we should look at effectiveness, efficiency and capacity of anybody who wants to administer the state and country. This thing can quietly be assigned. It does not have to be put on a table as means of negotiation, or amplify and use as the basis of division at the end the centre suffers,” he maintained.

Contrary to the Speaker’s position however, the Ekid People’s Union, a socio-cultural group in Eket senatorial district in Akwa Ibom State has said it would not compromise on the issue of zoning for the 2015 governorship election in the state.

In a statement by its President, Abong Okon Ekpo Johnson in Uyo on Sunday, the group argued that Governor Godswill Akpabio is a product of zoning and that it is the time of Eket Senatorial District to be given the opportunity to produce the next governor of the state.

“It is our strong belief that every society survives on equity and justice even in the sharing of political and economic positions. We wish to state categorically that Eket Senatorial District must as a matter of equity and justice be allowed to produce the next governor of the state come 2015 because we have supported people from other senatorial districts to realise their collective economic and political ambitions.”

Johnson argued that Eket Senatorial District has qualified and competent men and women to handle the highest office in the state as governor. He expressed surprise that the governor who himself is a product of political zoning, should turn around to denounce the political arrangement that brought him to power.

Introducing another dimension into the zoning debate, the Vice Chairman of the Akwa Ibom Community, Comrade Tommy Okon said Akwa Ibom is not a tripod state consisting of Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ekpene alone, adding that if zoning is adopted, it will undermine the interest of other tribes in the three senatorial districts like the Oro and Eastern Obolo in Eket Senatorial district who have never had a shot each time emphasis is given to their senatorial district for the election of governor of the state.

“The Ibibio people for example are present in all the senatorial districts and zoning will mean that they will have an undue advantage, upper hand and supremacy in the power equation in the state if zoning is adopted” he said.

He urged that the governorship election must be open to all aspirants to create a level playing field that will throw up the best candidate in line with the usual tradition since 1992 when aspirants from the three senatorial districts in the state-Eket, Ikot Ekpene and Uyo participated in the governorship primaries without restrictions of zoning.

As things stand, it is left to be seen how the contending forces in Akwa Ibom will eventually resolve the burning issue of whether to zone or not to zone the governorship office ahead of the 2015 gubernatorial election. For now, it appears Akpabio has indeed  stirred the hornet’s nest.

Onofiok Luke is the member representing Nsit Ubium State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. In this interview with Correspondent Kazeem Ibrahym, he spoke about his life as the former Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, his one year rustication from University of Uyo over Student Unionism, his experience in the last 35 years and politics in Akwa Ibom State. Excerpts:

Would it be right to say that at 35, you are fully developed politically?

It depends on the level of development. I know that if you look at politics from the perspective of education, I haven’t learnt enough. I am still undergoing tutelage. I’m still studying. I am undergoing different stages of development.

For me if you look at it from the perspective of youth politics, I would say I’m fully developed. At 35, I should leave youth politics for the younger generation. I remain a role model. At 35, I have developed. My life is in the next phase.

Haven served as Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, are you satisfied with the role of youths in the country today with regards to leadership in governance?

Firstly, I am not satisfied with the role our youths are playing today in the country. I must be truthful, I must be blunt and I must be plain, in the sense that the way the political structure in Nigeria today is too close circuited. It does not allow for youth engagement. It takes an extra work to break into that political space. When you eventually break in there, your activities are being misinterpreted.

It will be assumed that you are filled with youthful exuberance, they will say you are childish in your speech, just because you offer opinion and ideologies on the development of the country with people who are not on the same wavelength with you, people who don’t share the same affiliation of reasoning with you, so whatsoever your action is as a young person in Nigerian political class, it will be misinterpreted. So, I am not satisfied.

The political class has made the youths play a second fiddle. We are not seen as partners. The youths are seen as people used on election day, people used for certain interests, for certain classes of the society.  With us coming together as youths, realising this, we will continue to advocate for more political space. We can be granted pivotal roles in nation building.

For me, we have started somewhere through the National Youth Council of Nigeria, through the Youth Parliament of Nigeria. We have advocated and made the political class understand that this is where we are meant to be and it has yielded results.  Someone like myself, I got to the House of Assembly at the age of 33. It has never happened here. At the National Assembly, we have a former NANS President, Hon. Baba Lepashe, representing Mugugo Federal Constituency in Kano. There is also Comrade Segun Olaleye in Oyo State House of Assembly and a Chairman, House Committee on Finance like myself and it is a good development.

We want to see the youths as ministers. We want to see the likes of Frank Nweke Jnr., Chukwuemeka Chikelu in leadership positions. These young people should return in government. We need the likes of those young people as permanent secretaries, ambassadors. They must continue the advocacy for the youths to be actively involved in governance and the need to give us the opportunity to contribute to the development of this great country.

Are you not worried that at the federal and state levels, there have been no meaningful programmes that have been initiated and implemented to enhance the development of youths?

Yes, we have been advocating on this issue.

Thank God from where we come from. The youths saw in Governor Akpabio a committed leader and we did all we had to do, closed our eyes against the money bags, closed our eyes against any form of intimidation and we stood by our choice.

He has come to pay the youths back with appointments, programmes, ideas that benefit the youths. However, in totality across the nation, we have not done well with the youths, that is why I say that state and federal governments should create programmes, innovations, projects that would impact the youths in development, good governance, engage the youths in politics and with this we would checkmate the rising crime rate and vices in the country.

As the chairman, Akwa Ibom State House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, how would you score the budget of the state with regards to performance so far?

It depends, if we look at it at the yearly fiscal details or we summarize all the years of the administration since the beginning of the administration in 2007. As you know, I was not a member of the state legislature in the first four years, but in the last two years that I have been a member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, I can say that the 2011 and 2012 budget has performed at 74 per cent. From the issue of allocation of resources and implementation; from the basic of recurrent capital ratio which over the years has been 80:20, sometimes 75:25, I would give him 80 per cent.

Governor Akpabio has performed exceedingly well. Not only the executive, the House of Assembly has done excellently. It is not everything that is brought forward to the legislature that is just passed that way. We offer inputs. At times we may differ with the executive because as representatives of the people of the grassroots, we know the peculiar needs of the people and what would reflect their needs. Budget is only an estimate, when you talk about full implementation in the realisation of full income, you can now balance that with what you plan to do and what you projected within the available resources and what the state planned to execute.

Akwa Ibom people are worried about the oversight functions of the legislature, especially concerning the Tropicana Project where an additional N20billion has been added to the budget and you are aware of the issues surrounding it… Can you clarify this issue?

Now there are facts that people are not aware of. When the Tropicana was conceptualised, it was meant to be on a 12 acre property. That was the initial plan. But because of certain other factors that came in, that property is now on an 82 acre land. The road network in a 12acre property won’t be the same with an 82 acre property. There would be variations. There is a hotel inside, Cineplex, shopping mall, recreational centre and other features. Every of these would redefine the find concept of the Tropicana which is now expanded.

The House went there and saw things for themselves. We asked questions like why do we need this amount after much had been expended on it? From there, drawings come out, figures come out, plans come out. We saw actually that there had been a tremendous expansion… over 200 to 300 per cent expansion from the original idea to accommodate the concept that had come on ground. I comment on facts and figures. There was an expansion on the project which affected the costing of the project and that is why the legislature approved the N20 billion additions to the project.

Plans to impeach Imo State Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, has heightened the political temperature of the South-East state, reports Assistant Editor,  Dare Odufowokan

It is still about two years to the next governorship election in Imo State. The current administration is barely half way with its mandate. But the office of the governor is already a bone of contention with various groups and individuals already agitating over what should be the fate of Governor Rochas Okorocha come 2015.

Political leaders of Owerri zone, using the platform of the Owerri Zone Political Leaders Forum (OZOPOLF), led by Prince Charles Amadi, are singing it at the top of their voices that it is the turn of the zone to produce the next governor of the state and they want this to happen in 2015.

Chief Martins Agbaso, elder brother to embattled Imo State deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, has also allegedly confirmed the existence of an agreement between him and Governor Rochas Okorocha to the effect that the governor will do only one term on office and allow Owerri zone to produce the governor in 2015.

If these people should have their ways, the implication is that Governor Okorocha will be denied a second term in office. And given the very clear indications emerging that he is very much interested in vying for another term in 2015, there are insinuations that the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state may feature a serious political showdown between the two erstwhile allies.

Agbaso, according to sources, clarified rumour about the deal between him and Okorocha while receiving leaders of the OZOPOLF at his country home in Emekuku. The delegation has gone to express their support for the deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, over his ongoing probe by the state house of assembly.

“Chief Agbaso told us that they had an agreement which was signed that Rochas Okorocha should go for one term. After that, the  baton will be passed on to Owerri zone. He also said should he decide to run, Okorocha will choose his deputy, just like he chose Sir Jude Agbaso, his younger brother, for Okorocha in 2011.

The governor was also expected to appoint Chief Agbaso as the Chairman of the Internally Generated Revenue Bureau as part of the agreement. Chief Agbaso entered into the agreement with the governor then as the leader of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Imo state. He represented the party in the deal. Don’t forget he was the one who gave the party ticket to Okorocha then,” our source, who was part of the OZOPOLF delegation, said.

But the governor’s camp has continually denied the existence of any one term pact between Okorocha and any individual or group. Okey Ofulue, a chieftain of the governor’s Agenda group, said, “what is playing out here in Imo is a struggle by some drowning politicians to survive at all cost. The one term pact only exists as a figment of the imagination of such politicians who are bent on holding on to even straws in their struggle for political relevance.

“These are people who suddenly discovered they have lost out on all fronts in  the politics of Imo State. They are not in tune with the opposition and they are not friendly with the governor. So, they are in trouble. They are on their own and so they want to make some noise to attract attention to themselves.

“Unfortunately, we have a few misguided persons in government and within the party allowing themselves to be tele-guided by these losers. These are the people helping them to popularize the unpopular agreement between the Owelle and their leader. In 2011, there was no need for such a deal because the entire people of Imo were waiting for Okorocha to declare his intention to run.

“We all know how he came to be governor. The people and the party wanted him to come and confront the then governor and his party. So, what would be the basis for such a pact for a man who was being expected by all to come and perform a liberation assignment? I tell you, it is all lies and Okorocha cannot be distracted by such lies,” Ofulue said.

Investigations by The Nation suggest that the ensuing argument over the existence of the agreement may be at the root of the current face-off between Okorocha and his deputy. Sources said the frosty relationship between the duo may be as a result of the inability of the governor’s camp to continue to trust him in the wake of his elder brother’s renewed interest in the governorship.

Agbaso, whom the House of Assembly is threatening with impeachment on the allegation that he took bribe from a contractor to award him contract, has said he never had any encounter with the contractor or collected any money from him. Instead, he said there is a plot to get him out of office ahead of the 2015 governorship election.

“The truth is that I am a victim of power play between two powerful political figures. I heard that there was an agreement reached between my elder brother, Chief Martin Agbaso that the governor should be in office for one tenure only and give way for him to contest in 2015.

“It is possible the agreement is about to be breached and as part of that, they want to make sure I am out of the office at all costs. I have kept quiet all along but felt it is time to state my side of the story so that all that people hear about me would not be taken as true.

“I am not the governor and do not award contracts and there is no way bribe for contract award should be channeled to me. The facts are there to exonerate me of any charges being brought up now.

“If the House wants to impeach me, it should do it in a tidy way and not trump up vain claims and charges. I know that the House has possibly made up their mind to get me out of the way but the world should know that it is politics and I did no wrong or took any bribe,” he said.

The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Chinedu Offor, also faulted the claim that Agbaso is being victimised. In a statement issued yesterday, Offor said, “the attention of the Imo State Government has been drawn to gross inaccuracies and outright lies by some section of the media about recent events as it concerns the ongoing investigation of corruption levelled against the Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, by a Lebanese contractor J-Pros.

“I wish to state that contrary to reports in the media, the deputy governor continues to carry out the responsibilities of his office and in fact, joined Governor Okorocha on inspection of projects around the state on Friday, when speculations were rife that he has been impeached or that his office has been sealed off.

“These deliberate attempts by some paid agents masquerading as media practitioners speak volumes of the level of desperation of some forces to overheat the polity and drag Governor Okorocha into what is essentially an attempt by the IMHA to determine the veracity of an allegation made against a senior government official in line with Governor Okorocha’s agenda of zero tolerance for corruption.

“In fact, at the invitation of Sir Jude, Governor Okorocha has severally postponed his planned trip to wade into the matter with a view of finding out the truth through a process that is fair, lawful and constitutional. It is, therefore, mischievous and unprofessional for some section of the media to accuse Governor Okorocha of being behind the travails of the deputy governor.

“It is a known fact that Governor Okorocha lacks the powers to interfere in the constitutional duties of the IMHA and should not be linked to the ongoing investigation. Governor Okorocha’s interest remains to ensure Sir Jude gets the opportunity to prove his innocence. This is consistent with the zero tolerance policy on corruption of the Rescue Mission administration,” Offor said.

Okorocha’s battle with the Agbasos was to assume another dimension few days ago when the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) publicly accused the deputy governor and his elder brother of being part of an alleged plot by the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to sack Okorocha from office and distort the activities of the Imo State House of Assembly.

In a statement signed by Prince Marshal Okafor Anyanwu, state chairman of the party said: “This ill-conceived move is not unconnected with the ongoing investigation by the state legislature over allegation of financial gratification leveled against the Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, by one of the major contractors handling the state government road projects.

“ Okorocha, a few days suspended his oversee trip to intervene, when events as regards to this subject matter almost assumed a negative direction. We are, therefore, surprised with the way and manner the Presidency and national leadership of the PDP unexpectedly showed interest on the matter and subsequently declared support for the Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, who is not a member of the PDP.

“However, we gathered that the 12 PDP lawmakers in the state legislature summoned to Abuja a few days ago, met with the National Chairman of the party and its Board of Trustee Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and Chief Tony Anenih at Nicon Hilton, where the lawmakers were told in clear terms not to participate in the ongoing investigation on corrupt allegation against the deputy governor. According to our source, this position was an aftermath of Chief Martin Agbaso’s recent deal with the PDP.”

The party accused the senior Agbaso of clandestine moves to save his younger brother from impeachment by striking a deal with the PDP.

“He has promised them to remain in APGA as against his earlier intention to join the All Progressive Congress (APC). He also pledged to work for the PDP presidential candidate in 2015, which President Goodluck is favored to pick,” APGA alleged.

Given the intensity of the current face-off between the two warring camps, it may not be too early to imagine what will happen should Okorocha and the Agbasos find themselves in opposing camps during the 2015 governorship election in the state.

Amidst succession crisis rocking the oil-rich Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Council, funded by Chevron Nigeria Limited in Delta State, the outgoing Chairman, Mr Edmund Doyah-Tiemo, spoke with Shola O’Neil on cause of the predicament and other issues. Excerpts

Congratulations on the successful completion of your tenure and the success of the council since its inauguration

Thank you very much, let me start by saying nobody wanted the formation of the council – the bringing together of so many communities under one umbrella to deal with Chevron. For a long time, Chevron had been dealing with the communities on an individual contact basis. That system of dealing with the communities had not worked out very well. It resulted in acrimony, distrust, broken promises on the part of the company and bad blood and acrimony.

We thought the company’s community relationship can be handled much better. So the coming of the GMoU, which is the new engagement strategy for the development and relationship between the communities and company came up in 2005. We were the first people to sign the agreement. We bought into the idea because we had for a long time been advocating this form of strategy because individually the communities do not have the wherewithal to deal with the company effectively. Come to think of it, in any way, the communities were not properly exposed to deal with the company. So in most cases, one or two persons were probably empowered and the rest of the larger communities were left in poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and so on and degraded environment.

One of the things that this council has been able to do is to bring all the communities together to talk with one voice. Our problem is common problem to all the communities – illiteracy, poverty, very low standard of living, disease, no hospital and poor living condition etc. You can see it all over and poverty was like the face of the rural women, particularly our Ijaw women, who are very industrious. One of the things this council has been able to do is to bring the communities together to have a common awareness. That is success number one.

Number two, we have been able to improve the relationship between the company and the communities. Before now, violence was a tool for settling differences. We believe that as long as we live together there will be differences but let’s tackle these differences in a different form. Let’s sit down and dialogue; let’s understand the constraints of each together and we can move together that way. Today, the communities are more at home with the company and the company’s personnel are more at home with the people than before. They understand the communities and the plights of the communities and a lot of them are willing to address these plights.

Martin Luther King was a civil rights leader but he said his own brand was not gun, but continual engagement and dialogue and letting the other person know and have the inner conviction that what he is doing to you is not right. You should try to convince him that he is at fault. If you are able to convince people using logic and reason, you are able to live together. Conversely, if you put a gun to the head of people and try to have their consent, you may get what you want but they will also try to put gun on your head. What we are trying to do here is dialogue and continuous engagement. This has worked. From 2005 to 2012, which is a period of about eight years, if you go to the communities you can see the presence of the GMoU in virtually all the communities. We are not saying we have got there, we are still a long way off, but the GMoU pattern of engagement between the communities and Chevron has brought about a lot of changes within the communities. You can see that Chevron, through this GMoU, encourage the communities to own their developmental process. They try to participate in capacity building and encourage us to own our developmental process. Although Chevron provides the money, but everything is done by the communities. Chevron is in the background guarding us and teaching us what to do. Come to think of it, we have a lot to learn from them.

What are the challenges of the GMoU?

The success of the GMoU in itself is a challenge because we have within a short while achieved so much. The GMoU has brought into the communities increased scholarship; from secondary to university to post-graduate. I can tell you that we have also in place an overseas post-graduate scholarship scheme, which Chevron on its own would have never been able to offer the communities. But we came together using part of the annual donation to the communities and set aside a particular amount for overseas master degree and even above to finance disciplines that we think will aid the development and increase participation of the communities in the oil and gas sector. In petroleum sector, engineering, construction, management, finance and so on. We have some of our students in Newcastle (UK) doing Chemical Engineering, some in the University of Oxford and on each scholar we are spending about N5million per year. You would normally not have been able to convince Chevron to do this but we are doing it.

Projects are evenly distributed in each of the communities, covering health, water sanitation, peace building, and transportation and so on and so forth?

Now that we are doing these, those who initially opposed this system now come out and say ‘huh, there is money in the council’. They think that this place is like a conventional local government council that people will come and grab the money and run away with it. But this place is a highly control place; it is not a place that you can have access to the project money and use it the way you want.

There are a lot of people that are struggling to be the chairman of this council, even those without any working or management experience. We must be careful so that we don’t destroy this place and make it like any government establishment.

The other challenge we have is the fact that the amount of money made available to finance the activities of the council is grossly inadequate. We are engaging the company to see the need to increase the money being donated to the communities on an annual basis. At the moment we get about N400million and if you look at it that the council is made up of over 17 communities in two local government areas and the biggest in terms of size and population, the money available to us is grossly inadequate.

I would like to warn that if the council is not adequately funded, to continue to grow; if its growth is restricted by fund limitation, then the communities will begin to develop cold feet and will result to the old ways of doing things, which is not good for the company and for the communities.

This brings us to the issue of succession in the council. Your tenure expired last year, why is there delay in constituting new executive for the council?

Like I said, the challenge is that everybody wants to come into the foundation and many people are coming in are appointing themselves as chairmen even before they come into the foundation. The way this place is set up, it is like a parliament. Nobody is given any office before he or she comes into the council. You are elected to represent you community in the council and when the elected representatives come together they now elect an executive, headed by the chairman and general secretary. Nobody can become the chairman before getting into the council. It is the decision of elected representatives to decide who their chairman should be.

The principal offices are rotated between the Egbema and Gbaramatu. For instance, the first chairman, Dr. I. K. Tolar, came from Gbaramatu and I was the General Secretary. When he left at the end of his tenure, he left and I became the chairman. I am supposed to have left and in line with our way of doing things, we invited the communities to send in their nominees to represent them in the council but one community, Benikrukru, up till now from July 2012 till now (February 26) has not sent in their representative because they are struggling among themselves on who to send in because everybody coming from there wants to become chairman. There is a problem in the community and they want to make the problem in the community a global issue affecting the whole council. Some powerful individuals have used their connection with the police and so on to disrupt activities in the council and have kept us this long. That is what is responsible for our inability to inaugurate the new council.

We think we are almost at the end of the tunnel. The police have looked into the matter and they saw that one community cannot hold the whole council to ransom. But in order to give them the benefit of doubt and the feeling of being part of the arraignment, we agreed to give them 30 days extra, which started from 29th of January to the 28th of February. Efforts are being made and we have complained to the elders of Egbema and Gbaramatu and they have waded into the issue to ensure that they submit their nomination.

YUSUF SULAIMAN,  examines the performance of Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido in the last six years.

To the casual observer, it very evident that the socio-economic and physical landscape of Jigawa State has rapidly transformed in the last half decade. People wonder “what has been the secret behind the success stories. Many people say it is budget discipline. Important as it may be, the fact is that Budget Discipline is a product of a combination of other factors, principally political the will and commitment, and good governance. Also, the budget itself; how it is conceived and structured; is important, that is how realistic, comprehensive and focused the budget is. It takes a combination of all these factors for the annual budgets to be so implemented as to deliver outputs and outcomes that positively brings transformations as being witnessed in Jigawa State.

The first lesson to be learnt from Jigawa State is therefore, the political will and commitment at the topmost echelon of government as personified by the Chief Executive of the state, Alhaji Sule Lamido. The leadership style of Lamido is rooted in the classical humanistic determinism of the talakawa struggle; it is characterized by sheer will power, self-discipline and strength of character to dare all odds to deliver results. It is portrays a passion for humanity. In these attributes, the governor of Jigawa State stands apart. It is these attributes that culminate to manifest in the good governance stance of the Lamido Administration; and it is exactly this good governance that translates into budget discipline. When budget discipline meets a reformed budget process that tries to adopt to the best practice of public expenditure and financial management, the natural outcome would be the kind of positive transformation being witnessed today in Jigawa State.

Indeed, lack of budget discipline is just one of the many afflictions that have continued to affect the development process in Nigeria; not just at sub national levels; but even at the very first tier of government. The unfolding events in the country, as regards budget implementation, is a case in point where we see controversy between the legislature and executive over the extent of budget implementation leading to crisis of confidence. Indeed, budget discipline is what would make or mar the much-talk-about “transformation agenda” upon which the entire vision 20:2020 depends. That is to say, without budget discipline, or more precisely, without good governance, the vision 20:2020 will not achieve its objective. For most governments in the country, the annual budgets are considered a formality and an annual ritual. But not so for Governor Lamido. In his own words during the presentation of the 2013 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly “… for both of us (the executive and legislature), the annual budget process is no longer an annual ritual, but an opportunity of stock-taking by publically reappraising our performance in terms of budgetary outputs and outcomes; and most importantly, re-articulating and re-strategizing our plans, in both the short- and medium-terms…” Here is thus another lesson to be learnt by the leaders whose concern is the deliverance of their people; deliverance from all the afflictions of underdevelopment. Most often, most Nigerians don’t feel enthusiastic when budgets are presented to the legislature, be it at national or sub-national level, because they don’t see it having any direct bearing on their socio-economic wellbeing and living conditions. Principally, it is lack of budget discipline that gives birth to this genuine apathy. Not so with Jigawa State. Both the appropriation bill presentation and the signing of the appropriation law by the governor were received with joy by everybody in the state – from the traditional leaders to the ulamas, from the rich people to the talakawas. Indeed, NGOS, CSO and even development partners see these events as additional milestones in the Jigawa State transform process.

As the governor has said several times, “… Jigawa State has become a reference point in Nigeria…”. This is an incontrovertible fact. With the multitude of socio-economic development projects and programmes accomplished and taking place in all the nooks and crannies of the state and with numerous initiatives that has blended the social fabric of the society, Jigawa State is now set on a pedestal that would make it first among equals. At the times of his emergence as Governor of Jigawa State, the State was adjudged, rightly or wrongly, as poorest and among the most backward in the Federation. Today, the story is different. The governor has brought relief and succor to the people in the state. There is no doubt the Lamido Administration will be written in Gold in Jigawa State.

Consistently, since assuming the mantle of leadership in 2007, budget implementation has been very remarkable – it has always been well-above 90 per cent at the aggregate level for both recurrent and capital expenditures. Despite several salary increase; first for the health workers, then workers in the tertiary educational institutions, followed by workers in the judicial sector, and then, the N18,000 minimum wage; personnel emoluments were always paid as and when due. This has also not deterred the governor from allowing for continuous recruitments of personnel in critical areas as in health and education sectors, among others. In the area of overhead cost, the monthly remittance to government agencies has never stopped, resulting in remarkable improvements in service delivery. In the area of capital expenditure funding, the performance is in fact extra-ordinary. Despite embarking on a multitude, multi-million and multi-billion naira projects, there has never been an incidence of abandoned or white-elephant projects in the state. The outputs and outcomes of all these feats are the multitude of projects commissioned every now and then in all sectors – education, health, roads, agriculture, rural electrification, commerce, housing, township / urban development, environment, institutional structures. To give specific instances – massive school rehabilitations (basic and senior secondary education); construction and rehabilitation of over 1300km; the new State Secretariat with a capacity to accommodate twelve ministries with their affiliated agencies and offices of the Secretary to the State Government and Head of the Civil Service; a new permanent site for the School of Nursing; a New School of Midwifery; newly established College of Remedial and Advance Studies -set to become a state university; a New NYSC Orientation Camp, a new judicial complex, multi purpose Aminu Triangle, over 1200 houses comprising of two and three bed-rooms houses at Abubakar Rimi and Inuwa Dutse Housing Estates; free maternal and child healthcare services in all public health facilities; foreign scholarships for Medicine and Engineering courses; skill acquisition and economic empowerment initiatives; social security allowance for physically challenged persons; development of major markets; state capital development through the provision of befitting infrastructural facilities; establishment of a state manpower development institute, just to mention a few.

In the governance reform arena, noteworthy includes: establishment of an Integrated Financial Management Information System, upgrading and scaling-up of the State Payroll System, Budget Process Reform, including the adoption of a medium-term perspective to the annual budgeting process; service delivery reforms; fiscal responsibility and public procurement legislations; e-payment system including payment to contractors without the usual follow up with the Ministry of Finance; etc. Recently, reflecting on the past and the focus of his leadership, Governor Lamido reaffirmed his commitment to building strong institutions and ensuring zero tolerance to corruption which he assures to leave behind as living legacies. He however, stressed the need for collective efforts to take Jigawa State to the desired level including through stakeholders consultations and constructive criticisms that would better the lots of the people in the state.

And now comes an Economic and Investment Summit being convened by the governor. The Summit is primarily to attract private investments into the State and to identify broad policy options that would help develop a perspective plan for the longer-term development of the state. The governor has pledged to revamp the comprehensive state strategic long term development plan that would take the state into the coming decades as a modern society.

Indeed, there are lots of lessons to be learnt from Jigawa State and from leadership style and attributes of Governor Lamido. The state stands ready to share these lessons. May God Almighty give all Nigerians the benefit of experiencing Governor Lamidos’ passion for humanity as you gave such benefit to the people of Jigawa State – so be it.

AKWA Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has assured Nigerians that he will not disappoint them as the pioneer Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum.

Addressing members of the party at Akwa Ibom International Airport, Uyo, he explained that the forum was created to foster unity among the PDP governors.

Akpabio said: “When we started as a party in 1998-1999, we controlled the Federal Government. We had over 30 governors from PDP and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum was almost synonymous with PDP Governors’ Forum. But as time went on, with the incursion of the opposition parties and with the large number of states, we are now Nigerian Governors’ Forum with a bit of opposition.

‘’We don’t want a situation where people who are actually in the opposition and a few of them will control the larger Nigerian Governors’ Forum because sometimes, they will go and have a meeting, then, they will position themselves in the hall strategically and as they are coming as governors, you will know they are learning.”