SOME militants in Imo State recently surrendered their arms after an amnesty programme initiated by your administration. How easy was it to pull this through?
Militancy has been a very big problem in Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta, the core oil producing local government areas in Imo State. This has led to many traditional rulers and highly placed individuals leaving their homes and villages to other parts of the country for safety. We have been battling this issue for a very long time. The most serious part of it was when they grouped themselves as Avengers and started destroying pipelines, destroying properties and killing innocent citizens. The attention of government was drawn and we held several Security Council meetings on how to aver the situation.
I must at this point commend the Nigeria Police Force, the Army, the DSS and other security agencies, including our local security outfits which are called the Civil Guard, the Niger Delta Security Vanguard and the Community Watch. All these are efforts to solve the problem of militancy in the state, including the donation of 100 pickups to the security agencies. But then, we had so much difficulties and casualties. I took this matter to the Federal Executive Council on several occasions and reported the situation. So we decided to take the bull by the horns and applied the option of negotiation, lobbying and threat, all combined, and it worked out well. When we reached out to them with stick and carrot, including a show of force too from the police and the military, we were quite pleased that they accepted. That was what gave birth to the laying down of arms.
But I must say that a good number of them are yet to lay down their arms. On Thursday, another group, which I consider the most notorious of all the gangs, will be coming to lay down their arms. The leader, I was told, has a lot of AK 47 and a lot of ammunition with over 500 boys in the creeks. Our understanding is that the same people operating here in Ohaji-Egbema also operate in Rivers State. So we are directly or indirectly solving the problems of both states by the strategy we have put together. But remember that mine is only to grant pardon. It is for the President to grant amnesty. But our pardon will lead to amnesty. We have assured them that we are going to guarantee them good living and better environment. But you know, I cannot do all that alone without the support of the Federal Government. That is where we are now. First is to get all of them to lay down their arms and then we commence the amnesty process.
Apart from the militants, there are other criminal elements, like kidnappers and armed robbers who have been terrorising the riverine communities. Will they also benefit from this process?
You may be surprised to find that the same people are doing all the harm to the society. They first of all come up as militants, as cultists, and when they no longer have resources to keep them moving in the creeks and forests, they resort to kidnapping and armed robbery. So, by solving this one problem, we are directly or indirectly solving the entire security problem of the state. You will recall that in the last nine months, we have not had any incident of kidnapping or armed robbery in the state. So I think this is the right movement in the right direction. As soon as this is done, Imo will become a safe haven.
During the disarmament exercise, the major reason given by the restive youths for taking up arms was marginalisation occasioned by the indifferent attitudes of oil companies and the failure of government to address the challenges. How do you hope to tackle all this?
Let me say that the agitations of the youths are germane but the approach is wrong. What they are agitating for is correct and worthy to be agitated for, but the approach is a conflicting lie. The youths have complained seriously about the activities of the oil companies, and 90 per cent of the problems we are having in the area is caused by the oil-producing companies. It is the oil companies who create these cult groups. First, they start as youth formations and they create the differences and fund them to fight each other to have easy way to extract their oil.
We have continually asked the companies to liaise with the state government to address the issues of these communities but they prefer to deal with the communities as they claim that they have no business with the state; that they were empowered by the Federal Government to come for these projects. So when they come, they don’t even see the governor or any government official. They just go straight to drill their oil and desert the area and give the youths little money, sometimes N2 million, sometimes N5 million, and they start killing themselves. So oil companies must be warned in the Niger Delta Area to behave right, because they are the major cause of the problem.
At a time in the life of your administration, the state government gave N500 million to youths from the oil producing communities as empowerment package. How far did it go in solving youth restiveness? Are you going to employ similar measure in the case of the repentant militants?
No. Remember the first time when I came into office, through the office of the ISOPADEC, we were able to raise N500 million for the youths of Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta for empowerment, and that meant almost N10 million for every community, which was enough to start a small scale industry. But because of the restiveness of the youths at that particular time, and the urgent need to meet up with some of their challenges, we raised the money and empowered them individually to start barbing, farming and other kinds of businesses. Some of them actually succeeded, while most of them did not succeed.
So, this time, we are not going to apply that same strategy. We are going to set up things under our project of one ward one factory, to set up things that will actually engage these youths to contribute their quota to the productive sector of our economy. This is what we intend to do. For instance, if I had used that N500 million to build factories, more of them would have been working now, rather than just empowering a few of them. So, that of our amnesty programme, after we have discussed with the Federal Government, is to see what we can set up in those areas to engage the youths positively.
So what are the rural-based projects with which you have addressed unemployment in the state?
Remember, we first set up what is called the Community Government Council (CGC), which was one of our first services to bring the government closer to the people and teach them to do things by themselves. Rather than everybody coming to Owerri, to the office of the governor, seeking succour, we decided to decentralise government and formed the fourth tier of government, which is called the Community Government Council, and this has helped a lot. It has helped us to kick-start a palm project where we got the youths into farming. We have started fish farming in Oguta and some other areas. These are some of the things we have done.
It is mainly agriculture-based but we are trying to now anchor on this Federal Government’s borrowers’ programme to also get most of them committed. What is basically done is to establish a government where they can reach easily and where they can reach within a walking distance and get their own government and work out what is best suited for their lives and how they can use the resources of their land to empower themselves.
Recently, you raised a serious concern about the deplorable conditions of Federal Government infrastructure particularly roads in the South East and how the people have waited in vain for the Federal Government. What are you and your colleagues in the South East doing to address this?
Well, the infrastructure in the Southeast is really bad. I think it is the worst in the whole country, talking about the road from Enugu to Port Harcourt, Enugu to Onitsha, Owerri to Aba, Owerri to Umuahia, Aba to Ikot-Ekpene, Owerri to Bayelsa, all these roads are in sorry states. Unfortunately this was a creation of bad governance in the time past, and it is the challenge which is meant for this government to address. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari and I think we the Southeast Governors have spoken loud on this and we have agreed that there is need for urgent government’s intervention in these areas to assist the people of the South East who are currently suffering.
You cannot even drive from Owerri to Enugu now. It is impossible. So we have all spoken with a loud voice, and this is where we should rather concentrate more—asking government for infrastructural support rather than talking of who gets what appointment and how. Because if it was appointment, the South East has held most of the lucrative appointments in the country in the last 16 years of the PDP administration. We produced the Minister of Finance. We produced the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. We produced several Senate presidents. We have produced the Deputy Senate President. We have produced the Governor of the CBN. We have produced the Chief of Army Staff. We have produced Inspector General of Police. We have produced all these under the PDP rule, but it didn’t reflect on any development in the land.
So I think we should change our style, come together and inform President Buhari and the Federal Government to do something infrastructure wise. That is what we are asking for. Why we are asking people to represent us at the Federal Government level is because of these infrastructure. So if we can get the infrastructure, we are fine. So for me, I think we should emphasise more on infrastructure.
Still on infrastructure, how are you coping with the numerous projects going on in your state, especially the urban renewal projects, in the face of the economic recession that has forced several states to abandon ongoing projects?
It is a matter of passion. When you have passion for your country or your state, you will do what I am doing. I wish I can turn Imo State around in a couple of days to look like Dubai or America. This is my dream and I am restless about it. So I make sure I cut down cost drastically where necessary and put more in infrastructure. It is not easy, but I have been trying to do my best in this regard.
Yes, agreed we have more projects than people think we can handle, but let me assure you that we will complete all of them. People were doubting that we would not complete the 27 general hospitals, 200-bed general hospital each in the 27 local government areas of the state. You will be surprised to know that some of these projects are 100 per cent complete and others are about 85 per cent complete. We have completed the 205 schools we are building. The roads we are constructing are all being completed. The Ikemba Ojukwu Centre, the Hero Square, the Government House, all the schools in the city are now brand new schools. The projects are just uncountable. It is about passion and determination to do so.
But what really drives me is that I am building for the future. I see 100 years from now, not just 2019. I see beyond 2019 for Imo State. What we are embarking on now, which is making the headlines, is this urban renewal. We are trying to create eight lanes in all the roads in the city, and this is going to take about 100 kilometres of road within the city of Owerri when completed. Now, this is a huge project, but somebody has to do it, and we are happy we are getting the result. We will finish it before 2019. So it is about passion, cutting down cost and addressing priority projects rather than the sentiments and the euphoria that goes with the office. So you make sacrifice. I do not collect security vote. I have cut down the cost of governance to almost zero and interestingly too is for you to know that we have paid all our workers salaries up to date. We do not owe any worker a single salary in Imo State and we have commenced payment of pension.
But in spite of these, the opposition against your government in the state seems not to be relenting…
What do you expect? Do you want the opposition to sing my praise? Definitely not. They are not going to sing praises for the projects. When you are asking how I am doing, definitely not from my enemy, because he will tell you I am dead. That is the normal culture, especially in this part of the world where hate and hate campaign is the rule of the game. If you remember, the opposition said I was going to Islamise Imo State. It is not true. The opposition said that the church I built here is a mosque. You can see it. I am not against Islam, but I am a Christian. The opposition said that I was sick and that I was dead when I only went to see my grandchildren abroad. So, there is nothing literally that they have said that is correct or right. I think they are only overwhelmed by the number of projects. Things they could not do were done by somebody.
The shocking thing is that what all of them in the past put together could not do, they now see somebody doing it. So it is expected that you have this kind of envy. But that is coming from a few but vocal people, and I liken it to a big forest that is very quiet until you have a falling tree and you hear a big noise and you think the whole forest is making noise. It is just the falling tree in the forest that is making the huge noise, so it is negligible. But with the social media and the type of our media practice, everybody has the right to say what he wants, but that does not reflect any practical reality.
You made the headlines recently with the reduction of the working days for civil servants in the state from five to three. What are the perceived benefits of the new policy?
I think that was really misconstrued and misrepresented in the public. What I said was that we should have three days of solid work in Imo State, likely from 7 o’clock to 5 o’clock every day, and we should try and finish all we have to do for the week in three days and leave the other two days for agriculture. Considering the economic predicament this nation is going through, at least we should be able to feed ourselves by so doing. Because of the high cost of living, the workers are able to save some money from washing their clothes, from transportation and having to feed outside their homes on working days. These are strategies to cut down cost, but most importantly, to go back to the land for agriculture, which is the best way to go.
But having discussed properly with the workers, I think they now understand where I was coming from. The initial problem was that they were not properly informed, so they were scared that we were going to cut their salaries. We didn’t cut their salaries. We are still paying them what we are paying them and we are prepared to pay them. The initial issue of cutting their salaries was just noise from the opposition. So we are doing them a favour. We have packaged agric loans and we are also asking them to take advantage of the Anchor Borrower’s programme of the CBN. So, every worker in Imo State, we want them to have a second office because that single office of civil servants can no longer meet their needs and those of their families.
Recently, the Federal Government announced that the economy had slid into recession, and the opposition is blaming your party, the APC, for lacking the capacity to manage the economy…
Let me help you on this. I think there is a misunderstanding of the whole scenario. Mine will start with a question and really understanding what President Buhari is doing. Firstly, does President Buhari have the capacity to borrow $500 billion from the World Bank and all over the world? Yes, he has. And he has the credibility more than anyone else to borrow that money today, even in Africa. President Buhari can step out today and borrow money from Korea, China, Dubai, and he can bring this money and open the door for importation and rice will fly into this country from all corners of the earth. Water will be imported. Toothpick will be imported. And when there are more goods than the money available, the price will go down and rice will come back to N1,000 per bag. This is the scenario if we want to adopt that approach, which is what Nigerians are clamouring for without knowing how to put it.
Now, given the fact again that Nigeria never made any savings when oil price was at its peak, we blew the money in corrupt practices, with people having billions of dollars in their accounts and buying properties abroad. So Nigeria had no reserve anywhere in the world. Now, our foreign reserve in which we used to have about $43 billion has come down to less than $19 million and we import everything. This is what the people do not understand and I don’t think anybody has been able to explain to Nigerians what this really means.
But what President Buhari is saying is ‘I will not borrow. I will not allow importation. I have closed down all my borders so that Nigerians will bring down these cracked walls of economic inefficiency and build a sound one and create a new foundation.’ That is my understanding of the man’s language. And by so doing, Nigerians will now look inward. For the first time, Kebbi State is producing rice. And in Imo State, we are now embarking on rice production possibly to feed the entire Nigeria, because we have the water and we have the climate. Before now, we wouldn’t have thought of that. Now, many people have started producing tomatoes. People are looking inwards. Let me tell you, when one economic door closes, another one opens.
That is what we are going through, and it is a matter of patience. It is either we decide to suffer it now and get it right for generations yet unborn or we go and open the boarders again and bring in the dollars and we crash and everybody will smile. But one day, either this President or one other President in the future generation will have to bear this brunt and fix this country once and for all. This is the Nigeria we are talking about, and I don’t think anybody has been able to communicate this to the people. And if we agree and all Nigerians will sign and let us push him to go and borrow $100 billion and allow them to import rice and make Nigeria a dumping ground, are we comfortable with this?
Do we share in the pains of the poor? Yes we share in the pains of the poor. Are people dying, are people suffering? Yes, people are suffering. But what do we do? To suffer now and fix it or enjoy now and let our children suffer in the future? This is where I stand. So it is a 50-50 thing. What I advise now is that we should open some window for those basic and essential commodities that touch directly on the lives of the people, like health related matters. We should open up a little window for fresh air. The opposition is taking advantage of this because they think that Nigerians are not informed and it is difficult to deal with people who are not informed because they can sway them to anywhere for political gains.
So, my worry even is that I don’t see how such a vision can be accomplished in such a short time, because it is a long-term project. I wish the previous leaders had built a state for the Nigerian state before we embarked on this democratic structure which allows us to work for only two years and use two years for campaign. It is a problem that should be addressed for me. I am not the President. I think the President of the country should highlight more on this.
You were renowned for philanthropic gestures before you became governor. How much of that are you doing now?
Philanthropy is my spirit and my spirit is charity. I have come to this world to help the needy and those who do not have. This is where I focus on and this has characterised my government. And that is why I am not in good terms with the big men of the society. But I have asked them to please bear with me. It is my nature, I care more about the people, the masses and the down-trodden. And for the Foundation, we are doing much. We are still expanding. In Imo State, we have built what we called the Imo Foundation with Cancer Palliative Centre and a full-fledged hospital. Now I am meeting the needs of the poor people. So charity is in my blood and my family. My wife has also built over 200 houses for indigent widows who live in shanties. So philanthropy is in my blood and I cannot change it.
What were your growing up days like?
I never had the privilege of being born into a rich family. If you know what is called a very poor family, that is the best way to describe my family, and that posed a lot of threat growing up. It affected my education, as I had to joggle with education in and outside the school premises. That I am able to have a master’s degree in Law is a miracle. It was really challenging. That saw me becoming a street trader, hawking different goods from garri to pineapples and oranges, graduating into the sale of used clothes, used cars, and later into new cars and real estate to become who I am today. But I love that history and I am proud of it. I cherish my poor background. In fact, it inspires me, rather than bring me down. It makes me to hate poverty and injustice.
What gave you the insight to choose such a supportive woman as wife?
I saw my wife and we got married in less than one week. There was nothing like courtship. There was nothing like chasing a woman. I saw her and I said, you are going to be my wife, and that was at the age of 22, 23, and I got married at that age. I think it was divine. It was more spiritual than physical. It is something both of us cannot explain, and that is why we have the happiest home in the universe. I am blessed with six children, three boys and three girls. I have four grandchildren and over 15,000 children of the Rochas Foundation.
Have you ever thought about your political future beyond 2019?
Don’t forget I have run for governor before. I have run for President of this country. I have run for Senate in the past. I have been a member of the PDP. I was also a member of the ANPP. I have been a member of APGA. All these in pursuit of my political ambition. But the stage that I found as a governor, am I satisfied? No, I am not satisfied, because I have not achieved all that I desire for this state and my country Nigeria. I will walk out of this state a great governor and I want to see a better Nigeria of tomorrow.
But one thing I have said is that if I see somebody who can do that job which I think I can do, and my vision tallies with that of the person on how to make Nigeria great, I will subsume my ambition and support the person. That is my statement. But if at any time I do not see anybody who shares that vision and I do not believe that you can move Nigeria forward, then I will return to the trenches and dramatise that I am not satisfied
