The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ndoma -Egba

  • The Niger Delta story will change for the better, says Ndoma-Egba

    The new chairman of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba from Cross River State told reporters soon after his inauguration that the story of the Niger Delta, will change for the better under the new administration. NICHOLAS KALU was there. Excerpts:

    What are your plans towards revamping the  NDDC  as quickly as possible so that it can achieve the developmental goals for which it was set up?

    First of all, we would need to carry out a number of audits. An audit of our systems, audit of our processes, audit of our projects and audit of our personnel so that we can have a true picture of not only the governance systems but also a true picture of our obligations.

    Secondly, we have to develop a master plan. There was a master plan that was drawn up before. It was a 15-year plan. It is more than 10 years after the plan was drawn up, so it is either we do a new plan or we revalidate the old one. But there has to be a master plan that would govern planning for the region.

    Part of the problems has been that the NDDC is budgeted for on a year-by-year basis. It would not work. We have to have a long-term plan to say this is what we want to see out of the Niger Delta and then you use the yearly budget to achieve that ultimate goal. Those are some of the things we intend to set out to do.

    Uncompleted projects would be captured in the project audit because a project audit would determine the number of projects you have, the nature of the projects and the status of each project.

    The projects that you need to get off your books, you find a convenient way of getting them off the books, because we need to clean up the books. Right now, NDDC has over 9, 000 contracts and that is an unwieldy number. No matter the capacity of an organisation, I doubt if you have capacity to properly execute 9, 000 contracts. Some of those contracts are moribund, some are dead and some are non-existent. So, you need to really investigate and find out the status of each and every one of them and then you clean up the books and then begin to deal with the realistic ones.

    Funding of NDDC is a known problem. Apart from the budget from the Federal Government, there are companies and organisations to contribute to the running of the NDDC. How are you going to deal with this given that most have lost faith in the commission?

    Well, funding would be an issue, but one of the greatest impediments to funding is the lack of transparency. When people don’t see a transparent process in an organisation, they will hold back their money. So, we have to re-engage the stakeholders by making sure our systems and processes are transparent.

    What people see now is a very opaque environment and that would not encourage them to put in their money. So, you have to open up the system, make sure that there is due process in everything you do and then re-establish the confidence of the stakeholders. Under the act establishing the NDDC, for instance, there are some committees and organs that should operate. There is an advisory committee made up of the governors of the NDDC states. But I don’t know when last that organ met. Why do you need the advisory board? You need the advisory board because the member states are contributors to the finances of the project. So, they must be part of the planning.

    They must be part of the budgeting process. They should have input into what kind of projects the commission should or not carry out in their states.

    Recently, I was told in Rivers State or so, the NDDC said it did some projects and the state government is saying no, you did not do the project. We did the project. So, we don’t even know who did what.

    Youth restiveness, militancy and vandalism are affecting the economy and people are expecting that your board would definitely address all that. What is your comment on this?

    First of all, we need to engage with the youth. We need to engage with all the stakeholders. If a group believes that it was part of a process, a decision-making process, they will feel a sense of ownership of the process and the outcomes. But when a group is not part of that process, it sees the process and the outcomes as being strange to them, because they are detached.

    So, there is no ownership. The important thing going forward in the Niger Delta is that every stakeholder must feel a sense of ownership. They must be a part of the process. If the youth are part of the process, I believe they will begin to own the process and it would begin to douse militancy. It won’t stop it because what would eventually stop militancy is development; the kind of development that would create an economy that would make them productive.

    So, until we get to that point, we would still have some restiveness. But you cannot have development in an atmosphere of militancy and chaos.

    People’s expectations are high from the NDDC. What advice do you have for the people of Niger Delta?

    The people should expect a new story. It would be a new story of commitment, single-minded focus and determination to make a change in the region. It is only the Niger Deltans that can change the Niger Delta and we have this historic opportunity to do so. The choice to succeed or fail is ours to make, and I would rather choose to succeed than to fail. I would do everything to make that difference.

  • The Niger Delta story will change for the better, says Ndoma-Egba

    The Niger Delta story will change for the better, says Ndoma-Egba

    The new chairman of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba from Cross River State told reporters soon after his inauguration that the story of the Niger Delta will change for the better under the new administration. NICHOLAS KALU was there. Excerpts:

    What are your plans towards revamping the  NDDC  as quickly as possible so that it can achieve the developmental goals for which it was set up?

    First of all, we would need to carry out a number of audits. An audit of our systems, audit of our processes, audit of our projects and audit of our personnel so that we can have a true picture of not only the governance systems but also a true picture of our obligations.

    Secondly, we have to develop a master plan. There was a master plan that was drawn up before. It was a 15-year plan. It is more than 10 years after the plan was drawn up, so it is either we do a new plan or we revalidate the old one. But there has to be a master plan that would govern planning for the region.

    Part of the problems has been that the NDDC is budgeted for on a year-by-year basis. It would not work. We have to have a long-term plan to say this is what we want to see out of the Niger Delta and then you use the yearly budget to achieve that ultimate goal. Those are some of the things we intend to set out to do.

    Uncompleted projects would be captured in the project audit because a project audit would determine the number of projects you have, the nature of the projects and the status of each project.

    The projects that you need to get off your books, you find a convenient way of getting them off the books, because we need to clean up the books. Right now, NDDC has over 9, 000 contracts and that is an unwieldy number. No matter the capacity of an organisation, I doubt if you have capacity to properly execute 9, 000 contracts. Some of those contracts are moribund, some are dead and some are non-existent. So, you need to really investigate and find out the status of each and every one of them and then you clean up the books and then begin to deal with the realistic ones.

     

    Funding of NDDC is a known problem. Apart from the budget from the Federal Government, there are companies and organisations to contribute to the running of the NDDC. How are you going to deal with this given that most have lost faith in the commission?

    Well, funding would be an issue, but one of the greatest impediments to funding is the lack of transparency. When people don’t see a transparent process in an organisation, they will hold back their money. So, we have to re-engage the stakeholders by making sure our systems and processes are transparent.

    What people see now is a very opaque environment and that would not encourage them to put in their money. So, you have to open up the system, make sure that there is due process in everything you do and then re-establish the confidence of the stakeholders. Under the act establishing the NDDC, for instance, there are some committees and organs that should operate. There is an advisory committee made up of the governors of the NDDC states. But I don’t know when last that organ met. Why do you need the advisory board? You need the advisory board because the member states are contributors to the finances of the project. So, they must be part of the planning.

    They must be part of the budgeting process. They should have input into what kind of projects the commission should or not carry out in their states.

    Recently, I was told in Rivers State or so, the NDDC said it did some projects and the state government is saying no, you did not do the project. We did the project. So, we don’t even know who did what.

     

    Youth restiveness, militancy and vandalism are affecting the economy and people are expecting that your board would definitely address all that. What is your comment on this?

    First of all, we need to engage with the youth. We need to engage with all the stakeholders. If a group believes that it was part of a process, a decision-making process, they will feel a sense of ownership of the process and the outcomes. But when a group is not part of that process, it sees the process and the outcomes as being strange to them, because they are detached.

    So, there is no ownership. The important thing going forward in the Niger Delta is that every stakeholder must feel a sense of ownership. They must be a part of the process. If the youth are part of the process, I believe they will begin to own the process and it would begin to douse militancy. It won’t stop it because what would eventually stop militancy is development; the kind of development that would create an economy that would make them productive.

    So, until we get to that point, we would still have some restiveness. But you cannot have development in an atmosphere of militancy and chaos.

     

    People’s expectations are high from the NDDC. What advice do you have for the people of Niger Delta?

    The people should expect a new story. It would be a new story of commitment, single-minded focus and determination to make a change in the region. It is only the Niger Deltans that can change the Niger Delta and we have this historic opportunity to do so. The choice to succeed or fail is ours to make, and I would rather choose to succeed than to fail. I would do everything to make that difference.

  • To Ndoma-Egba and Ekere

    Dear Sirs,

    Congratulations, Mr Chairman and Mr Managing Director. These, indeed, must be busy times for you as you take your seats at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a body which is largely a response to the agitation of the people of the Niger Delta, a populous area inhabited by a diversity of minority ethnic groups.

    I am sure that since you were named, your phones have not stopped ringing. And now that you have fully taken charge, the phones will over-ring, if there is anything like that.

    The phones that have not stopped ringing, dear brothers are not about you but about the offices you now occupy. How many of those calling now called you six months back?

    Both of you have been Senator and deputy governor before and I am sure the calls while you were in those offices ýand when you left were not comparable. So, do not let the calls get to your heads. They are more about what those calling can get from you.

    For me, this is the time to remind you of where the Niger Delta was before NDDC, where it is with NDDC and where it needs to be. Only when you take the past and the present into heart will the future be discernible.

    Since the 50s, the need for a special treatment for the Niger Delta, as a result of its difficult terrain, dawned on the authorities. As such, the region has had interventionist agencies such as the Oil Mineral-Producing Area Development Commission (OMPADEC), attending to the needs of the area. It was the OMPADEC that gave way for the NDDC.

    In the 1990s, the Ijaw and the Ogoni set up organisations such as the Ijaw National Congress (INC) and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), to confront the Federal Government and multinational oil companies.

    Their reason for agitation was that: they had received little or no currency from the multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. The agitation became confrontational and the NDDC came at a time when things were really at the edge. Poverty walked on all fours in the region. Things were really bad.

    OMPADEC achieved next to nothing. One of the first things the NDDC thought of was a Master Plan for the region. It was done about decade and a half ago. This is a long time for change to take place. In that period, a new city can spring up, a small company can become a conglomerate and a toddler can become a teenager.

    The Niger Delta worked with other stakeholders in the region to design this plan whose dream was to turn the creeks around by 2020, which is just four years away.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his preface to the Master Plan, was so optimistic that with the plan, the Niger Delta would get back its groove.

    But the NDDC, which is supposed to drive the development of the area, has been bogged down by internal and external factors.

    At a point, the commission owed its contractors over N1trillion on existing contracts. At a point, contracts, we were told, were awarded with no design and no specific location but with the sole purpose of collecting advance payments.

    There were instances where one contract was awarded to two or three contractors. Many were just interested in taking money meant for a road, hospital or other projects and did not care to do the job.

    There were allegations that members of staff of the NDDC were colluding with outsiders to institute legal actions against the commission and later push for out-of-court settlement, after which they shared the settlement money from the NDDC. The commission, at a point, had over 400 court cases against it in courts.

    Sirs, things were so bad in the commission at some point that an insider said if it were a private sector firm, it would be regarded as insolvent.

    A presidential report on the commission showed that it also got into projects with nothing to do with its mandate as an interventionist agency. What on earth was NDDC doing in renovating Port Harcourt Club and inaugurating a study on the generation of electric power from gully erosion sites?

    There were also a lot of in-fighting over how to share the money and further pauperise the people. There was no synergy between the board and the management.

    A former Chairman of the Governing Board, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, at a management retreat in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, spoke from the heart about how the commission had not lived up to expectation. It was a session where he let out some home truths and declared: “It can no longer be business as usual. Substantial and immediate changes for the better must take place. We must root out impunity from NDDC.”

    It was admitted during the retreat that the people of the Niger Delta had not received the value they expected from the commission.

    The quality of some of the infrastructure projects fell below acceptable standards. The commission was seen as a ‘contract cow’, whose award letters were being hawked in the major cities of the country.

    Sirs, I have gone this much into the past to show that those who say leaders in the region have part of the blame for its woes are not wrong. The people who have manned NDDC were picked from the region and the people who manned OMPADEC also had their roots in the region.

    I must also point out that the blame for the non-realisation of the dream of the Master Plan four years into 2020 is not just NDDC’s. Other stakeholders such as the Federal Government, Southsouth state governments, Southsouth local government areas and the oil giants, have not done their parts as envisaged in the Master Plan.

    The Federal Government, for instance, has not released all cash due to the commission. Several trillions statutorily due the commission are held by the Federal Government, the state governments, the local governments and the oil giants. So, the commission has far less than it needs and to make matters worse, people still stole the inadequate cash using all kinds of tactics.

    Mrs Ibim Semenitari, in the last few months, has laid a foundation which I believe you both can build on.

    My final take is: people who want one favour or the other will keep disturbing you with phone calls. But this is not the time to think of individual interests but of the general good of the majority of the people of the Niger Delta. It is also time you ensured all stakeholders, including the Federal Government, pay the agency all its dues so that more cash will be available to turn things around.

    Till I write you later, bye for now.

  • Ndoma-Egba and Ekere enjoy vindication

    Ndoma-Egba and Ekere enjoy vindication

    Victor Ndoma Egba and Obong Nsima Ekere stories are intriguing and lessons on the topsy-turvy of power. The Jonathan crowd and his ethnic redoubt wanted to put James Manager in the Senate as majority leader. To achieve this, they must clear all obstacles. One was Ndoma-Egba whose rising profile intimidated them after three terms. So, they worked him out and put somebody else there. They also worked against Governor Uduaghan, so Manager won the slot. Now, Jonathan ran out of favour with the people and he could not impose Manager on his colleagues. We hardly hear of him even on the roll call. Ndoma-Egba now chairs NDDC, and gives him not only moral but symbolic triumph. He has opportunity to show himself as a class act unlike the bullish era that Jonathan flaunted.

    Ditto to Ekere who now succeeds as managing director. The estate magnate had played various roles in politics and rose to deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State. Many thought it was over for him when he resigned and his foes had sung his obituary.  He now takes charge as MD, as the inimitable Ibim Semenitari leaves after holding force with poise and competence.

    Both Ndoma-Egba and Ekere will enjoy vindication. Winston Churchill was written off at the age of 51. He became British best prime minister ever.

     

     

  • Senate confirms Ndoma-Egba as NDDC chair

    Senate confirms Ndoma-Egba as NDDC chair

    •Ajasin, Enyinnah, Weli rejected

    The Senate yesterday confirmed Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba as Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    It also confirmed the nomination of Nsima Udo Ekere as the Managing Director.

    But the upper legislative chamber rejected the nominations of Olatokunbo Ajasin (Ondo), Donatus Eyinnah (Abia) and Igo Weli (Delta) on the grounds that oil is not found in their immediate communities, as stipulated in the NDDC Act.

    Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, during the debate on the report of the Senate Committee on NDDC, said Section 2(1)(b) of the NDDC Act stipulates that nominees for the board of the commission must be from communities where oil is produced.

    Another nominee, Senator Osita Izunaso (Imo), had written the Senate Committee to voluntarily reject his nomination on a similar ground.

    Argument by Senator Sola Adeyeye (Osun) that the Act does not make it mandatory for nominees to come from oil bearing communities but from oil producing states, was shot down by majority of the members.

    Chairman of Senate Committee on NDDC, Peter Nwaoboshi noted that in the case of Ajasin, residents of Ilaje area of Ondo State stormed the screening venue in 11 buses protesting his nomination.

    Two other nominees, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse and Abdul-Kazeem Bayero, from the Federal Ministry of Finance and Federal Ministry of Environment, were also confirmed.

    But the two would cease to be members of the NDDC board whenever they are transferred from their present ministries to another Ministry, department or agency (MDA).

    Other nominees confirmed by the Senate are: Adjogbe Ajenakevwe Samuel, Mene Ienyie Derek, Frank Samuel George, Brambaifa Nelson and Sylvester Effefiom Nsa.

    The rest are: Ogaga Ifowodo, Uwuilekhue Saturday, Harry Iboroma Dabibi, Benard Banfa, Yahaya Mohammed and Mustapha Dankadai.

  • NDDC jobs: Senate screens Ndoma-Egba, Ekere, others

    NDDC jobs: Senate screens Ndoma-Egba, Ekere, others

    •We’ll take stock of agency’s finances, says Ndoma- Egba
    •Izunaso declines nomination

    The Senate yesterday began the screening of nominees into the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    Those screened are nominees for executive directors and state representatives of the Federal Government intervention agency.

    Former Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba, who was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari as NDDC’s Chairman, was asked to take a bow and go.

    The Chairman of Senate Committee on NDDC, Peter Nwaoboshi, who chaired the screening, assured that the committee would not compromise its assignment.

    The senator said the committee made the screening open for all Nigerians to see.

    He said: “We have made the screening open; we don’t want to hide anything. We want Nigerians to see everything. Some said we have been compromised, but we have the backing of the leadership of the Senate not to bend the rules and we are not ready to bend the rules.”

    Addressing reporters after the screening, Ndoma-Egba said the new board, when constituted, would take stock of NDDC’s projects, systems and finances to enable the new board start on a clean slate.

    The former Senate Leader promised to do things right, with a new narrative for Niger Delta, when the board is inaugurated.

    He said: “We promise a new narrative for the Niger Delta region. The commission was set up for Niger Delta and it must return to the regional body.

    “We will take stock of our projects, systems, processes and finances to know which projects are viable. We need to clean our books and start on a new slate. We will do things right when we get there.”

    The Senate committee chairman read a letter from one of the nominees, Senator Osita Izunaso, who declined his nomination because he is not from oil-producing area of Imo State.

    Izunaso, who is also the Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), thanked President Buhari for his nomination but implored him to appoint another person from oil-producing area of the state.

    The Senate, on last Wednesday, referred the nominees to the Nwaoboshi-led Committee on Niger Delta for screening and confirmation.

    The resolution of the Senate followed an Executive Communication by Senate Leader Ali Ndume “that the Senate do consider the request of the President and Commander-in-Chief on the confirmation of the following persons as chairman and members of the NDDC, in accordance with Section 2(2) of the NDDC Act, 2000.”

    Also referred to the Niger Delta Committee are: Nsima Ekere (Akwa Ibom), as Managing Director; Adjogbe Samuel (Delta), Executive Director (Project); Mene Derek (Rivers), Executive Director (Finance and Administration).

    Proposed members are: Donatus Enyinnah (Abia); Frank George (Akwa Ibom), Prof. Brambaifa Nelson (Bayelsa), Sylvester Nsa (Cross River) and Dr Ogaga Ifowodo (Delta).

    Other nominees are: Uwuilekhue Saturday (Edo);  Osita Izunaso (Imo); Olatokunbo Ajasin (Ondo);  Harry Dabibi (Rivers);  Bernard Banfa (North Central) and Yahaya Mohammed (North-East).

    Also nominated were Mustapha Dankadi (North-West), Igo Weli (Niger); Dr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, Federal Ministry of Finance and Abdul-Kazeem Bayero, Ministry of Environment.

     

  • NDDC: Senate screens Ndoma- Egba, others

    The Senate on Tuesday started the screening of nominees for board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)

    Those screened are nominees for the positions of Executive Directors and state representatives of the NDDC.

    A former Senate leader, Senator Victor Ndoma- Egba who was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari as Chairman of the Commission was asked to take a bow and go.

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on NDDC, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, who chaired the screening session, noted that the committee will not compromise its assignment.

    He said the committee decided to make the screening open for all Nigerians to see what was going on.

    He said: “We have made the screening open, we don’t want to hide anything. We want Nigerians to see everything. Some said we have been compromised, we have the backing of the leadership of the Senate not to bend the rules and we are not ready to bend the rules.”

  • Ndoma-Egba at 60

    Ndoma-Egba at 60

    How time flies. My family returned to Ogoja, soon after the civil war. At this time the main form of recreation or entertainment was from school activities, mainly inter-house and inter-school competitions, also, football, athletics, debates and quiz competitions. Victor Ndoma-Egba, then a student in the famous Catholic school, Mary Knoll College, Okuku (then in Ogoja, now in Yala), was regular in those debates and quiz completions which usually drew crowds from a public hungry for entertainment and refreshment.

    He was a sensation of sorts.

    The 1973 South Eastern State Quiz finals, which held in Calabar and anchored by the veteran broadcaster Aloysious Ekanem, of blessed memory, was an epic. Esien Oku, now an architect, and George Amadi, who became a Professor of Law and recently deceased, represented the equally famous Hope Wadell Training Institute, Calabar while Victor and Aloysius Ononye represented Mary Knoll.

    I recall our neighborhood being glued to available radio sets. Mary Knoll lost narrowly but, her representatives were truly worthy.

    The story was that Calabar, the state capital, was in animated suspension while the competition lasted.

    A few years later, Victor, then fresh from the NYSC and a new lawyer came to live on our Iwong Morphy Street with his friend Paul Erokoro. Both had just joined Kanu Agabi, the austere, seminal and radical lawyer who became Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice. Greg Ngaji was to join them.

    All four became commissioners at different times in Cross River State.

    Kanu and Victor, who was appointed at the remarkable age of 27 years, in the old Cross River State ( now Cross River and Akwa Ibom States), Paul, in the new Cross River State and later Greg, Kanu, Victor and Paul became Senior Advocates of Nigeria with Victor becoming the first ever to be elevated to the rank while in the National Assembly and outside practice or academics, while Kanu,Victor and Greg became senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with Victor becoming Deputy Senate Leader in the Sixth Senate and Senate Leader in the Seventh Senate. Kanu and Victor were thus both Senators and Senior Advocates of Nigeria

    When Victor, and Paul, came to live on our Iwong Morphy Street, Igoli, Ogoja things changed for us the younger ones in the neighborhood. Parents, especially mothers constantly reminded their children to be like the duo more so with the stories of their courage and exploits in the law courts. They were far more responsible than their ages, hungered for success, worked very hard, were focused and single-minded and showed early signs of leadership with the spartan discipline of their boss Kanu Agabi. It is, no wonder that each of them became a success.

    My knowledge of Victor, which is not personal, but, from his records, shows that he is not an accident of history. His example confirms that hardwork, focus, single minded determination and integrity pay and that he certainly is a child of destiny. In 1980, barely 24 years old, the then Governor of Cross River State Dr. Clement Isong appointed him chairman of the Board of Governors of Government Secondary School, Ikom while President Shehu Shagari at about the same time appointed him into the Board of the Cross River Basin and Rural Development Authority. At 27, he became Commissioner for Works and Transport (which also  had responsibilities for Lands, Housing, Town Planning, Water Resources and Rural Electrification). He concurrently acted as Commissioner for Justice and was pioneer Chief Executive of the State’s Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure) set up by the then Military President ,General Ibrahim Babangida .

    He severed an unprecedented two terms as chairman of the Calabar Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, an unprecedented three terms as President of the Calabar Chamber of Commerce, three terms in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Member National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar  Association, Member of the Body of Benchers. In the sixth Senate, he was the leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Association of Senates, Shooras and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA) then headquartered in Sanaa,Yemen. In the Seventh Senate he was member of the Pan African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa and leader of its Nigerian delegation. He was a delegate to the 50th United Nations General Assembly, New York and President of the First ever Africa Legislative Summit which bought heads of Parliaments in Africa and the Carribeans to Abuja in Abuja in November 2013. He sponsored 38 bills including the Freedom of Information Bill which is now an Act of Parliamentand many motions and his voice was loud and clear at the floor of the Senate. Many projects litter the Cross River Central Senatorial District he represented to his credit, has had a scholarship scheme since 1980, a free computer programme and attracted the National Open University of Nigeria and a specialist hospital to Ikom. It is generally agreed that he was an outstanding senator.

    Remarkably after these many years in the public glare, there is no whiff of scandal or controversy around him. This speaks volumes of his character. I am told he was to be a Catholic priest. This and his background explain his persona. He remains humble, simple, approachable and generous. He saw the geography of his birth as an opportunity rather than a limitation. He is active in his Catholic faith and is happily married to the very beautiful Amaka, a former banker now school proprietress and has a lawyer cum professional footballer son and two girls. Very widely travelled, he reads, writes and plays lawn tennis avidly. No wonder his youthful looks.

    He set up Ndoma-Egba, Ebri & Co, the oldest partnership in his part of the world, many enduring businesses and is socially responsible.

    As Victor turns 60, Nigeria and indeed the world will hear more of him. I congratulate him and pray for many more years in good health and inner peace and contentment and that God’s mercies will rest and abide with him. At 60, he owes society a debt, his documented life’s story and experiences. Victor you owe us these. Write you must.

    • Okoro, an actuary, recently returned to Nigeria after years of sojourn in Europe.

     

  • Why I joined APC -Ndoma-Egba

    Why I joined APC -Ndoma-Egba

    Immediate past Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), was one of over 1000 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) heavyweights that were received into the All Progressives Congress (APC) with their supporters, in a grand reception in Calabar, Cross River State, recently. In this interview with reporters, Ndoma-Egba, said they were already shut out from the PDP a long time ago. Nicholas Kalu was there 

    Some people are of the opinion that you are defecting because PDP has lost power at the federal level?

    Defecting is not an appropriate term in the circumstances of Cross River. If you remember what happened, quite a number of us, and in fact anybody that was sympathetic to me was shut out from the PDP. For three years as Senate Leader, I was not invited to any PDP meeting in Cross River State. So, we were constructively evicted. Now, if the party itself has evicted you, you can no longer be saying you are moving from PDP to APC. I moved from the roadside to APC. The PDP had already shut its doors against me and everybody who supported me in any way. Sandy Onor, Alex Egbona, Ernest Irek and so on. And if you remember, they kept changing caucus lists so they would remove anybody who had any sympathy for me. Meanwhile, the composition of the caucuses was supposed to be statutory. It was spelt out by law, the steps following the law and all that was not important. It was more like, are you for Victor, if you are for Victor, remove him from the caucus.

    What really went wrong?

    People have asked me that question and I told them to go and ask the former governor (Liyel Imoke), because I went to him each time I heard stories, but that is in the past now. I have moved on. At least, I am able to move to wherever I want to go and I am warmly received. It would be inappropriate to describe what is happening in Cross River as defecting. What is happening here is simply a mass movement. And they are moving from the inhospitability of the PDP. I mean, if a place becomes inhospitable, the natural tendency is to leave it. So, when you see traffic out of a place, it means that place has become hostile. And for people who still have political life in them, they must move somewhere else to play their politics. It is like saying you are a farmer without a farm. What makes you a farmer? You cannot be a politician today without having a political party because our laws do not recognize independent candidacy. So, it is a mass movement and people are getting frustrated with their current circumstances and they want a change. For me, my challenge is helping to create an alternative. Let people be in a position to make political choices.

    They were attempts to stop the reception from holding. We know in the political history of this state, especially in recent times, nobody has bothered about the opposition party in the state doing anything. Why do you think the situation was like that this time, when the opposition was receiving members and it caused panic in the polity, especially among the ruling party, PDP, in the state?

    Don’t forget there have been recent engagements with establishments. If you recall in 2014, when they had the first set of congresses, that was when we had the first test of strength and they lost. And for 24 days they were held to the ground and it took all sorts of breaches of the constitution and everything to throw all known laws to the dust for them to get it reversed. And then after that, the elections, where for the first time the opposition engaged the ruling PDP in the state in a fierce and credible contest and till tomorrow, the outcomes of those elections are still subject to very animated debates. So, there has been a recent history of a new energy and vigour from the opposition. So, the opposition is no longer nominal. It is a real opposition. And added to a situation where there is traffic out of the PDP, it means that the opposition can only get stronger. So, their anxiety and fears are very legitimate, but how they have addressed this development is what I find very amusing. Because the whole thing, the methods they used were very cheap and infantile. Their reaction did not show any political depth.

    What is your reaction to opinion that the mass movement is due to the fact that Cross River is not used to being an opposition state?

    That is not the reason for the movement. The reason is that there is real unhappiness in the state with the PDP. The PDP created a large pool of internally displaced politicians. It inflicted the injury on itself, because everybody who was moving was a PDP member. So, it is a self-inflicted situation on the PDP in the state. I have heard people say I have benefitted so much from PDP, so why leave. Like I said before, I was constructively evicted, so it is not an issue of why are you leaving? It does not arise. They didn’t want some of us. The real issue is how come the beneficiaries of PDP are the ones who end up bitter? The highest opportunity any political party can give you is to make you its presidential candidate. Obasanjo was president as PDP member. What happened? He tore his card; made drama out of it. The second highest opportunity is Vice President. Atiku Abubakar left PDP and remained as Vice President and it remained a subject of litigation. Audu Ogbeh was chairman of PDP, he left. Barnabas Gemade, he was chairman of PDP, he left. I could mention so many people. How come? What is it they are not doing right? How come their beneficiaries become so bitter? That is the proper question. It is not whether someone is grateful or not grateful. Something is fundamentally wrong.

    Looking at 2019, would it be said you are coming with a winning mentality not seen in the politics of this state?

    We are joining the party with a commitment to build a viable alternative and we are committed to that ideal. If you see the people who have moved, they are not frivolous people. Clement Ebri is one of the most serious minded Cross Riverians I have ever known. Ambassador Soni Abang is a known political strategist, PDP chairman for 12 years who has ‘midwived’ victories of the party. Is it Paul Adah? Is it Venatius Ikem, a former national publicity secretary of the party? So there must be something fundamentally wrong. These are people who want to prove a point, so I will answer the question by saying yes; we are going there to prove a point.

    Some pioneer members of the APC are agitated about your entry; that you would hijack the party. How do you feel about this?

    Every party has a constitution. The APC has a constitution. No matter many of us join APC today; it is not going to change the constitution. No matter how many of us join, it would not change the existing structures in APC. So the fears are totally unfounded. Are we going to say remove the chairman? Are we going to change the constitution while we are there? No. It is not possible. So, when you say hijack, hijack in what way? So, even if you hijack the party, to do what with the party? So, it is totally needless fear as far as I am concerned.

  • Ndoma Egba’s 2019 plans

    Ndoma Egba’s 2019 plans

    Former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, may plan to return to the National Assembly in 2019, a source close to him has revealed. The former lawmaker, who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not thinking of contesting for the governorship currently held by the North Senatorial District, while he hails from the Central zone. The former Senate Leader recently assumed the status of the leader of the APC in Cross River State following his defection to the party about two weeks ago.