Paul Odili is a veteran journalist and the Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Ndokwa Federal Constituency. In this interview with Okungbowa Aiwerie, he posits that with strong representation, the issues of underdevelopment of the oil-rich area will be brought to national consciousness. He also expressed confidence that his party will sweep the votes in his constituency at the polls.
You are a professional. Why have you decided to go into politics? I have ventured into politics because politics for me is service; politics for me is education, it is information, it is allocation of values. And I have looked at my people in Ndokwa Federal constituency and I do believe and the evidence is there to show that they are not getting a fair share of what they are entitled to and I trace that to poor representation. My people need a voice; they need somebody who understands the issues, somebody who cares about them, one who is committed to them.
I’ve been in government before now, so I know that there is very little that I can do as an individual to help but there is a lot more you can do and that is why when you are in politics and you are in the position to espouse certain important values. It is incumbent on you to make sure those values are realised and that it impacts on the life of the people.
Unarguably, Ndokwa federal constituency ranks amongst the least developed areas in Delta State. If elected, how would you go about tackling that?
Okay, very simple. We are, as you rightly noted, the least developed. But I am sure you also overlooked the fact that we are an oil and gas producing area. Quite a number of marginal oil fields are here. One of the biggest power plants in Nigeria is here. The Okpai Agip power plant too and we have got tremendous gas reserve. Most of it untapped. We are also basically an agrarian economy. Our people depend largely on agriculture. What we lack is infrastructure and our people don’t have access to infrastructure like roads to enable them evacuate their farm produce.
We sit largely on federal assets; oil and gas. We have not been able to articulate and make a case for ourselves before Nigerians to appreciate the enormous contributions we make and the need for infrastructural development here. I also found that our people lack information as to how they can access the market because it is one thing to be a farmer and it is another thing to have opportunity to access the market that gives good returns.
Using the office of a legislator, I can bring many things to their attention so that people will not just live by what they think. What you now find is that our people live in poverty. They are not able to harness those opportunities. They are not able to develop their businesses which are farming, essentially fish farming and crop farming.
Also, we need to highlight the devastating impact of oil and gas on our environment and, luckily, I tilted towards environmental compliance while I was serving in government. I was quite strong in that area. We have not been able to give proper environmental audit. Even the oil companies operating in the area have not been giving proper accounting, so you find out that a whole lot of our people have been driven out of their daily livelihood because of the environmental harm done by oil and gas companies in those places.
After oil and gas is exhausted, what we will have left is our land. I should also add that Ndokwa land is extremely vulnerable to flooding. Every year, you find out that a great deal of our people that live on the banks of River Niger get totally submerged during the rainy season and in the aftermath of that, our lands are flooded.
There is a need to further highlight the importance of dredging the River Niger. The government needs to construct embankments so that our people can be protected from the deleterious effects of the River Niger. The level of poverty often skyrockets as soon as the rainy seasons are over as many farms get destroyed. Many people can’t even return to the normal life they used to live. I mean it is a sad tale of endless woes for my people. These are issues that require strong representation which, in turn, require a strong voice. This is the summary of my objectives and what I will try to bring to the table within the next four years, God willing when elected.
What have you done in the past for your people that will induce them to vote for you?
Well, I am a social activist; by that I mean I engage with the people all the time. I served in government. I was an adviser to ex-Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and you know in government where you serve in the capacity of an adviser, you cannot take too much credit.
I mean, ultimately the chief executive is the one who takes all the credit but I did draw attention to a whole lot of things that happened in terms of social programme that the government initiated; e.g. infrastructure programmes, schools, roads that were built some of it were directly from my own personal lobbying and pressure on the governor and other top officials of government. But I would like to be judged on the promises upon which I have run my campaign rather than past achievements.
What new strategies would you bring to bear on developing the constituency if elected as its representative?
Well, I wouldn’t tell you my strategies because when you unveil a strategy at a time like this, the opponent would take it and run away with it. I do not want to be judged on the basis of my strategies, but rather be judged on the commitment I make now and whether I am able to deliver when I get into office. I would only appeal that everyone should withhold their judgment and allow four years to go through and see whether I am able to do anything in line with what I committed myself to doing.
I am convinced that I have a lot of ideas about the things we need to do to bring development to our area.
Do you think President Buhari should be re-elected for another term of four years?
Yes, President Buhari deserves a second term. I believe that he has done well because the process of rebuilding is not easy. He met a very challenging situation, not many people thought, including the president himself, that the situation was as bad as he met it. But here we are, I think he has done well in terms of in the area of security. Boko Haram insurgency has substantially subsided, the Niger Delta region has stabilised, we are now dealing with herdsmen, and I have every confidence that he will sort it out.
If there is one area of strength that Nigerians will not question Buhari, it is on security. We know how the IPOB thing almost divided the country and we know how that matter was taken care of. So I think the herdsmen issue will be resolved adequately. Unfortunately, the issue is being politicised. Elsewhere, where there are major security challenges like this, people come together because everybody’s interest is at stake. We have to have a country first before worrying about our individual political interests. Nigeria appears to be different.
In the moment of security challenges, people throw up all kinds of divisive issues which are extremely unheard of. And I regret that many people I look up to as leaders, their statements have been very unfortunate, and in many instances you don’t find them offering solutions. Be that as it may, we shall overcome it. The president has said that he is taking some steps which may not be very obvious for now. What many people also overlook is that the herdsmen/farmers clash has long been a challenge that previous governments and this present one have struggled to contend with.
How do you intend to tackle the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has controlled Ndokwa federal constituency since 1999?
You are right to say PDP controlled the constituency since 1999, the truth of the matter is that people are actually fed up of the PDP. Change is the only thing that is permanent in the world. When you see a particular group of persons remain in office for 20 odd years, people beginning to say, ‘look, let us try something else’ and that is what I hear all the time.
There is greater confidence in the voting process, so people feel that their votes will count, which is a goodthing. So you have PDP also having to defend its records, and fortunately for the opposition in this contest, we have a PDP candidate in my federal constituency who is easily one of the most unpopular candidates around. People are fed up with him. They feel that he should go as he has not lived up to his promises.
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