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  • ‘FERMA’s major challenge is availability of resources’

    ‘FERMA’s major challenge is availability of resources’

    Nuruddeen Abdurrahman Rafindadi, an engineer, is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), an engineer,  and Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. He spoke with Olayinka Oyegbile, Deputy Editor.

    WHAT is your vision for FERMA?

    My vision would remain that FERMA should be the preeminent road maintenance agency in the country, with a commitment to efficiently administer  road maintenance and to keep all federal roads in good, safe and comfortable  condition with the best value in road transport. We want to have an agency that has the capacity in-house to carry out maintenance and at the same time the capacity to manage works that will be contracted out.  We want to have a FERMA that is in the leadership among the stakeholders on the federal roads across the country.  FERMA is not the only stake holder in the federal roads network. There are other important stakeholders; there are the Federal Ministry of Works (FMW), the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), state governments (because they have their own state roads), local governments, other agencies such as the security agencies and road transport workers and the rest of them – they are joint stakeholders. We feel we want to strive to leadership from these because our job precisely is to maintain the roads and make sure they are in good condition. That is the mandate we have in FERMA. Let me emphasis for now the mandate of constructing, designing, planning, constructing federal roads is with the Ministry of Works that could change depending on the dynamics of the road sector reform activities which we know as we speak are ongoing now. We want to create a preeminent and efficient   operator in the maintenance of our federal road networks and in collaboration with the states road networks. So the bottom line is we want to have a healthy road networks across the nation.

    What about inter-agency collaborations, and collaboration with state governments, how do you ensure these are not at logger heads?

    It is important that we have that collaboration. It’s one of the most essential things if you want to have a healthy and efficient road network.  FERMA and Ministry of Works should collaborate in all phases of operation from top to down. Whenever we are planning our works, we should collaborate with them, when we are drawing our budgets we should collaborate with them, when we are planning procurements, and implementing the road maintenance works, the idea always is to ensure we maximize the use of resources. We shouldn’t have duplications, when we are planning they should know what we are talking about  and we should complement each other and not duplicate or compete; and when we are implementing we should know people that will harmonize our programmes and the collaboration should be top to down. That means, at this level the headquarters here and through me should maintain collaboration with the minister and directors at the federal level. Also, at the field level, there should be collaboration with their own field officers, state government because we have seen very useful instances of good collaboration with the state government when we come to the assistance of the state governments or they come to our assistance. I have seen such things happen in different states in recent times.  Beyond ministry of works and the state government we need to have collaboration with the FRSC when we are taking a tally of the critical road condition across the country. The Federal Road Safety Commission has very useful information about every bad spot across the country, we need to have that information therefore we need to have that collaboration at that level.   Beyond that when get to the field and we want to start our work we need to take care of the safety of road users and our own workers and the FRSC work to prevent damages on the roads and in doing that we need their cooperation. We need collaboration with the armed forces and all other security forces too. So this issue about collaboration with agencies is very important.

    Road maintenance is an expensive endeavour. How much did FERMA get or proposed in the 2018 budget and if you are given that money are you assuring Nigerians that they are going to get a better deal in road maintenance in 2018?

    When I assumed office in early October, we found FERMA as an organization with low activity, low morale and the principal reason for that is the low funding. Which is classically illustrated by the fact that the 2017 budget which is N25.4billion for capital budget for whole federation. There is another allocation about 14 or 15 for overhead works, but totally we have about N40billion and to give you an example, as we speak today, the only release we have for capital is N800million, which is just about few percent now. I have taken it upon myself in the last two months that every arm of government, Executive, Legislature, Federal Ministry of Works and so on to keep making this noise that we really can’t do anything without the capitals release. I have gotten tremendous supports and assurances. In fact, as I am talking to you there should be a release any moment from now. But as you can see this is December, for the recurrent we have had the release of seven months out of 12 months when I came in it was only five months, so there was a little release of the recurrent and we have gone ahead to plan to utilize this. Even that came sometime last week. So it is a big challenge, most of the things that I have been doing since I resumed, has been planning. We’ve planned the next nine months work programme for the rehabilitation of the federal roads. However, now we are running behind schedule. Anytime we have adequate fund we mobilize, even as I talk to you now, I have spoken to all our field officers, discussed our plans, we’ve activated it actually, they are out there on the field, getting ready to receive the funding and mobilize and as soon as we have the money we start the work. We are however, taking some basic, emergency and quick actions which is fixing bad spots, taking care of the most critical and obvious bridge failures, wash outs bad potholes and so on.  I project that once we start we will not stop again. From now, even during the raining season we will keep watch, keep coordinating, taking care of emergencies, failures and so on.

    Apart from funding what other challenges do you have as an agency? In addition to this, what is the level of the capacity of the staff?  Do we have enough or we are having a case of the staff who can do this but the problem of funding?

    Well it is a combination of all of these. I already told you that the major challenge is the resources. There are technical challenges. I want an agency that is able to do more and more. I must acknowledge that over the years government have been able to invest a lot on  plant and machinery for FERMA; that doesn’t mean we can do all the things ourselves.  At present, I guess that we do not more than 10, 15 % percent of all the road repair works. I would like that to increase over the years, and will also want to see an increase in the number of technical staff in proportion to overall number of staff. In other words, we want to see more field engineers, technicians, craftsmen and skilled artisans and so on.

    One of the other things I have done since I started is to review our plants and machineries; find out how many plants we have out there and what their conditions are. So, also our machinery, laboratory facilities, equipments, and road counts across the country. We want to know the condition of the road counts, the purpose of the road count is that they are out there on the field and we inspect every stretch of the federal road networks.  We have about 36,000 kilometres of federal road across the country.  We have many more in states, but those 36,000 at anytime probably we have 2,000-5,000 that under contract with the Ministry of Works and therefore the contractors are responsible for the roads.  As soon as the road is completed, construction or rehabilitation, there is a defect liability period over which the contractor is responsible for and after that there is formal hand over to FERMA to carry on with the maintenance. So we want to have every kilometre of those roads under our care to be under regular supervision that is what we use to plan our works so the capacity to be able to do that we have to improve on that.  We have to set up monitoring teams, in other words when we deploy resources to the field  to carryout repair and maintenance works  we want to have an effective monitoring framework to ensure that what is directed was what was actually executed. I would want to improve on that. And more important, we want to have independent monitoring so that it won’t be the same FERMA that will do the work and certify it themselves.  We would like to have independent verification from competent professionals. I am a professional consultant by background and I know the importance of having independent professionals to certify works that are done. It gives cover even to FERMA staff that what they did and what they claimed they did was adequately reported by independent professionals.  Not least important, we want to have effective media strategy. The work of FERMA is essentially directed to the public. I have seen the need for the agency to interface with the public for us to know what the public is feeling; we should have more engagement and knowledge about that. And that is why since I came, press and public relations unit is always a part of our programme so the public will know what we are doing. There are lots of areas when you go round the country where you will see road repairs that are actually being carried out by FERMA but you wouldn’t know because the synergies,  the signboards, notifications are not there to let them know. So you wouldn’t know if it was done by the Federal Ministry of Works, FERMA or state governments or the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), in case of Abuja. So we will need to clearly mark our synergies and when we want to pass out information to the public, regarding routine maintenance, use of road during repair works, issues like vandalism of road infrastructure, bridge railings, defacing of our signposts, burning of tyres by the road sides, all these are done by the public. We will address this in our media strategies. We are adding social media strategies; we want to get to the point whereby we use social media to get feedback from the civil society and even for the monitoring of our works. We are telling our staff across the country that we will not only monitor you professionally, we will have people from the public monitoring you. We are all on the platform.  Since I came, we have established social media platforms in which I am an active participant. We can see what our field engineer does regardless of what he reports to us. We can ask him questions; keep him at alert to know if he is always diligent. We are tagging the Ministry of Works on our social media platform. We are tagging the Vice President, too. We are taking that risk because we are reporting ourselves, we believe that that engagement will be for the good of FERMA. Because at the end of the day, we are going back to the government for more resources and we believe that the resources we are getting now are not as adequate as we want. I know that FERMA can absorb four times the funding we are getting today on all our road repair activities across the country.

    In addition to what we get on regular budget, we want to be able to access funding and resources from the Ministry of Works for special assignments that they want to give to us. We also want to be able to approach donors – local and international – for things that FERMA is going to do.  For instance, we are looking at the area of green construction and sustainability, we want to look for research area of plastics instead of bitumen for doing road pavements, that is a very exciting area that we can use and we can get funding from international donors in that area.

    You mentioned the issue of road bumps; I was going to come to that. Now, who is in charge of building road bumps, why is there no standardization, what is the role of FERMA?

    Well, the role of FERMA as a major stakeholder is to again engage with the public. The public is putting these bumps, strictly speaking they are illegal, whatever you do on a federal highway, by the way not only on the federal highway, but on the right of way of the federal highway should be something that is permitted by the owner of the road; the owner of the road technically is controlling these checkpoints.  The custodianship of the federal highway networks lies with the Federal Ministry of Works that is the arrangement for now. And the Federal Ministry of Works cedes the control for the roads that are to be maintained by FERMA. So FERMA is also an important stakeholder but the communities where the road passes are also important stakeholders, we do have issues of safety and we have to approach these things in a systematic manner. There should be standard designs for bumps. One of the things that we are doing since I resumed is initiatives for the protection of school children across the country. There is an NGO that we are  collaborating with as major patrons and stakeholder that are dedicated to ensuring safety of children at road crossings near schools.  We just recently came up with standard design, we are designing pilot projects in FCT and that is to be spread across the country while we have standard bumps and their designed signboards warning motorists approaching areas where school children are crossing, and if possible stationing people there to ensure that there is a safe crossing of the children. I think these are initiatives you need even while addressing the bumps because the public is erecting the bumps because of their concerns for safety, I see our role (FERMA) as important stake holders to address that question of safety bring forth standard approaches, standard designs for the roads and then deploy them after that you can then enforce their rule for any other arrangement that is contrary to what arrangement you’re making.

    What is your agency doing to educate road users and especially truck drivers because they constitute, about 80 to 90 percent of the damage of federal roads, vehicle break down and burning of tyres of tarred roads. Do you have plan for truck drivers?

    Yes we do, and I think this is also one of those joint responsibility areas with the Ministry Of Works, FERMA, state governments, with the association of road transport owners, union of road transport workers and so on.  You are right, the trucks are some of the major factors contributing to the damage  of our roads, by overloading themselves, most of our highways are designed for 30 tonne trucks and some of these trucks are reaching 60, 70 and above. There are supposed to be weigh bridges strategically located on our highways, there used to be at the toll gates but the lack of their use is one of the contributing factors that led to their failure. Trailers also drop diesel on the road and I have seen a study where it was estimated that on the corridor between Abuja and Kano trucks drop about five to ten drums of diesel on our highways on a daily basis and these liquid gets on to the road and chemically dissolves the road surface and its eventually contributes to the deterioration of the roads.  We have to get into active engagement there has always been an engagement with the road transport owners and union of road transport workers we need to bring that back.  On the board of FERMA there is always a seat in membership from the association of road transport owners and then we should have regular forums engagement for the agency and ministry responsible for us and road transport owners.

    What about park areas for trucks? This was mooted some years back

    The issue of truck parking areas across the country, there is a project that was started by FERMA.  I understand now that it is to be taken over by the ministry, it can go both ways actually having a truck park that brings all the facilities for trucks to get there and park is actually in my mind a joint responsibility not only between FERMA and the Ministry of Works but it should also include the state governments that allocate and regulate the land use, planning the areas, it should include the transport unions and transport owners. The truck park could be there with all the facilities and the trucks would be there on the road parking.  You can’t really force them because there’s no stake holders’ agreement between them. The National Automotive Council, I am aware is also considering that as a project. I have seen state governments considering Truck Park as a project.  I believe that a successful project would be the one that put all these different stake holders together and by the way it’s going to be very highly commercially viable. Such facilities like workshops, spare part shops, resting places, restrooms, even hotels with the right combination of stakeholders should be business worthy, it can be very profitable and can take the trucks away from the major high ways into the truck parks without stress and with maximum convenience to the truck owners themselves and the trucks so we have a very tremendous potential for that. If you check most of the highways you will see at regular locations truck parking areas, they are already there designated what we need is the right means of funding and private sector enterprise and government’s policy support and the project will work. It is our intention at FERMA to see that we play our role to do that.

    This is a festive period particularly towards the south, there’s bound to be high density of external movements along our roads or corridors. Is your agency doing anything at all to maintain the roads at those high density areas to avoid accidents?

    Yes we are doing a lot but within the constraints of the resources that we have. One of the first things I did when I came here was to throw out a question to all the field road maintenance engineers across the country. We have offices in every state, we have federal road maintenance agency in every state. I asked our field officers to send five worst spots in their areas of operation. I also asked can you send us information on each of this spot? Precise location, nature of the problems, the solution and the pictures. Next, we took the total map of the highway networks and federal highways. With particular references to those corridors that are highly patronised. The ministry of works is doing a similar exercise on to identify what they call ‘eastern movement’.  That is the phenomenon at the end of the year. That means there will be high traffic of those that will be moving from north to east and also from the south west to east, so we have isolated those roads that are in this highly trafficked area. Then we now use the data of these bad locations, along these roads and identify those critical provisions where we need to do something. As a matter of urgency what we need to do depends on the resources deployed for immediate repairs. We have deployed our men to the field, we have actually been doing some within the constraints of what we have along some of the major roads. We are not just standing idle.

    We have people on the field who have excellent connections with suppliers of the construction materials with workers. If you notice, the end of the year is usually closure time for construction workers, we have vital plans on plants and machinery across the country we notify them to please hold on for us. We have deployed our men in positions in those areas,  if there are resources we move in to repair them. FERMA is working in many places across the country. And we want to improve on that so we buy the good will to let people understand when we are working and also understand when we are unable to work for whatever reasons.

    What is your message to road users on their responsibilities in using our roads?

    My message is that the roads are our common resource, it is owned by all.  If the roads are damaged it is to all our detriments. So I would want Nigerians to use the roads responsibly knowing it is an asset we have to access our communities, to access our work places and that when these are damaged everyone suffers. We should all know that using the road responsibly allows us free movements; we should use them patiently with consideration of others.  I appeal for cooperation with our workers, FRSC, workers of the state road agencies and so on.

  • Let every part of Nigeria control its resources, says Atiku

    Let every part of Nigeria control its resources, says Atiku

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has advocated total fiscal federalism, which will ensure that all parts of the country control their resources.

    To him, the system Nigeria presently operate is incapable of leading to growth.

    He also said struggling to get a president from a region was not a guarantee of the region’s growth

    Atiku spoke at the weekend in Abuja in an address at a youth forum organised by a coalition of civil societies. It was under the banner of Play Forum.

    He said: “Left for me, I will ask every part of this country to take charge of its resources while the Federal Government should handle defence, foreign affairs and immigration among others in the Exclusive List.

    Describing the present arrangement as unitary in supposed federalism, Atiku suggested that since Nigerians have agreed to remain together, “it should not be complicated to start with all the recurrent items in the Constitution. The President can dialogue with the governors or the National Assembly for states to take charge of the roads, hospitals, schools and such other items in the Concurrent List while the Federal Government will continue with items on the Exclusive Lists. ”

    Atiku said for the effectiveness of the leaders in the First Republic, it would have been difficult for somebody from a poor background as him to go to school.

    He said: “I would not have gone to school, if I were born today. My parents were so poor they couldn’t afford to send me to school. I was born during the era education was free, food was free for me, I was sponsored from primary school to the university. There was even a job waiting for me before I graduated. Yet, there was no oil boom then. I am certainly not a product of oil boom Nigeria.

    “So, I don’t know what those who are against restructuring are afraid of. Those afraid must be lazy. We fought the civil war with the Igbo. Today, the Igbo have been completely rebuilt, but we still find mud houses in the North. Is it the fault of the Easterners that the North is like that?” he said.

    “I think that what is most important is the devolution of powers and resources with the various governments whether states or regions. How do the people hold those in power accountable for the resources handed over to them?

    “I want to agree essentially that there is every need for us to sit down and talk about our future. This is because the arrangements in the last 50 years or so have not served us very well.

    “We cannot determine the nitty-gritty of this restructuring until we are able to dialogue and agree on how we want to continue to live together as a country.”

    He said Murtala Muhamed military regime of 1976 created the strong centre, which he rubber-stamped with the Constituent Assembly of  1978.

    “It all started after the civil war, when General Murtala Muhammed set up the Constituent Assembly of 1978 and specifically instructed the Assembly to recommend a very strong Federal Government, which no component could challenge.

    “He was understandably coming from the perception of Biafra civil war. He felt that the war was caused by the region, which felt that it was too independent to poll out of the country.

    ‘Subsequently, they kept amending the constitution centralising more power at the centre”

    He said the military government failed to implement recommendations of  the Constitutional Conference of 1994/1995 of a single term of six years for the President to rotate among the six geo-political zones.

    “Of course, I was a member of the Constitutional Conference of 1994/1995 and what we actually drafted was not what they eventually came out with. We proposed a presidential system with single term of six years to be rotated among the six geo-political zones of the country.

    “By now, about four zones would have produced the president. We also said that after 36 years, we could review that provision if Nigerians believe it is the best season, otherwise we could discard it.

    “By the time we win election in 1999, we saw an entirely different constitution. I was told that they set us a review committee headed by Niki Tobi, which tampered with the draft and ended up with the constitution we now have today.

    “However, on a serious note, we have seen that the fact that a zone produced a president does not mean that he will get the zone developed.  Former President Goodluck Jonathan could not construct a road from Port Harcourt to Bayelsa.

    “Even the Southwest road we started during our administration Obasanjo could not continue. Former President Obasanjo  could not complete the road from Lagos to Otta, where his farm is.”

  • Reps seek prioritisation of water resources

    The House of Representatives is seeking the prioritisation of water resources by the Federal Government.

    It therefore ensured that  an executive bill being considered by the House on water successfully scaled second reading yesterday.

    The Bill for an Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for Water Resources Sector in Nigeria seeks to provide for  equitable and sustainable development, management, use and conservation of Nigeria’s surface water and groundwater resources and for related matters.’

    House leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, who introduced the bill said it contained solutions confronting the water sector in the country, including provisions that touched on uses of water such as domestic, industrial, irrigation and other agricultural components.

    He said: “This bill guarantees our right to use water but guide against private ownership of water and ensure that the water resources of the nation are protected and managed in a sustainable and equitable manner for the befit of all persons.

  • Bello: no godfather to spend state resources on

    Bello: no godfather to spend state resources on

    The Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has said the state resources will be used for the benefit of the people because he has no political godfather to service with the fund.

    Bello addressed reporters in Lokoja as part of activities to mark his one year in office.

    According to him, his administration sought God’s intervention for good governance upon assumption of office and, having thought of the way forward, applied common sense which is now making the state better.

    He reiterated that in as much as the state is not corrupt, resources from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) will always be available for services.

    His words: “Like I said, we were somewhere watching and observing our dear state. But since we came in, we sought God to assist us, and He did. We wore our thinking caps and applied common sense, and we’re getting better.

    “It’s common sense that if there’s no corruption, resources will be available. It’s common sense that when you tap into your internally generated revenue, there will be resources and, as such, all we need to do is to apply it to get things done.

    “If you don’t have godfathers that you service periodically through the coffers of the state, the resources will be available for the state. I can assure you I don’t have any, so why won’t I use the resources for the people?”

    Bello hinted that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide electricity, noting that before his tenure ends, Kogi would have sufficient power to attract investors.

    “We have the land and we have designated certain places as industrial areas. The land is fertile, and we’ll prepare it for investors to come.

    “I’m sure before the end of the first quarter of this year, a lot of them would have sprung up because they are more or less falling onto each other now to come and invest.”

    Governor Bello added that the state is taking advantage of its waters to develop agriculture in order to create jobs and wealth for its citizenry, which prompted his trip to Omi dam.

    He saidthe state declared a state of emergency on agriculture, which is expected to yield positive results in the next one year.

    On accusations that he bought vehicles for his aides without paying workers, Bello explained that he inherited a state where the last administration collected about five months federal allocation, with the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), without paying workers and contractors.

    He vowed that the state “shall recover every single dime”.

    “We came on board and cleared the minimum of that five months arrears. Because of the screening, as they cleared, we paid. Apart from a few cases, Kogi paid workers both current and arrears before December 20, so we’re up to date. Let me set the record straight.

    “We purchased vehicles aspart of security infrastructure. That is why Kogites can go to bed with their eyes closed; that is why both northerners and southerners that traverse Kogi will not travel with the fear of molestation by robbers or kidnappers.

    “It is evident and everybody is seeing it. In any case, we applied our ingenuity and common sense, and I can tell you from that particular transaction, we saved over N1.5 billion.

    “In other climes, they will claim that N1.5 billion and share it among themselves, but I said zero tolerance to corruption. We won’t allow that to happen,” the governor added.

     

  • Udom prudent with Akwa Ibom resources, says Udoh

    Udom prudent with Akwa Ibom resources, says Udoh

    Mr. Ekerete Udoh is the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel. In this interview with  Kazeem Ibrahym, he speaks on the efforts being made by the governor to diversify the economic base of the state away from oil and what the people should expect from the administration in terms of infrastructural development. 

    You had an interesting career in journalism. Can you tell us about it?

    I have been in journalism for about 31 years.  I pioneered a genre in Nigerian Journalism in 1985 called Romance and Society. I became possibly one of the youngest columnists in any national newspaper. That was the Sunday Times which as at that time was the highest selling weekly in Nigeria under the editorship of Chike Okafor. I started writing a column called ‘Stories that touched the heart’. A year later I was invited to join Concord and that column ran in Concord for almost 10 years. Sometimes in 1989 I got invited by a very good friend of mine who today is the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu. He asked me to come join him to set up a magazine called Hints. The Hints magazine was by far in the 90s the most successful, popular and profitable magazine in this country.

    Dr. Ibe Kachukwu was the publisher and I was the editor. I have written columns in practically in every national newspaper in this country. I don’t think there is anyone that I have not contributed or written columns. Until about a year and half ago, I was a columnist with This Day. I wrote that column for five years. It is called Diaspora Perspectives which was like a bridge across the Atlantic.

    In late 1996 I left for United States. I decided to pursue other things. Of course, I updated my skills because in life you have to constantly update your skills. Even if you had a bachelor somewhere else you still needed to update your skills. Journalism, being what it is, I have never left the media.

    I set up a newspaper in New York which was called the Diaspora Style and it became, without sounding immodest, the most powerful newspaper that dealt with issues concerning the African Diaspora community. We ended up being media partner to the Obama campaign because in United States there is what we called the ethnic media. In the USA, I think there are about conservatively 10 to 15 million Africans who went to USA, became citizens and they are all part of the United States.  My magazine was targeted at that particular audience and there is no political party whether Democratic or Republican that will not reach out to any solid constituent because 15 million people can swing an election.

    What party did you have affiliation with in the U.S.?

    I am a registered Democrat and my sympathies are for the Democratic Party. In spite of the fact that I lived in the United States, I was not disconnected from Nigeria. I was always coming to Nigeria. At a point in time, people didn’t know whether I was living in America or not. I was always here and I bought into the vision of former Governor Godswill Akpabio. I did a lot of media relations for that government, particularly from the Diaspora angle. I was the media consultant for four years.

    At what point did you finally return home?

    When the financial services expert Mr. Udom Emmanuel was appointed the Secretary to State Government and the speculation started making the rounds that he was likely going to be the next governor of Akwa Ibom State,  I said to myself the time had come for me to come back home fully and finally to be a part of what I believed was going to be a mass movement of people with ideas, people that are going to think outside the box. The governor and I are from the same part of the world. We are from the same community and I felt it is a thing of joy that an astute manager of resources was going to be the governor of Akwa Ibom.

    So, I came back late 2013 and when the then SSG Mr. Udom Emmanuel put himself in the ring, I joined the campaign as a Director of Media and Publicity. We crisscrossed the entire 31 Local Government Areas of the state. Thank God the good people of Akwa Ibom saw certain qualities that would move this state forward in him and they entrusted their fate in Mr. Udom Emmanuel. At the end of the successful election, the governor was kind enough to believe that I could add a little bit of value and invited me to his media team as the Senior Special Assistant on Media/Chief Press Secretary to the Governor. So far, it has been a wonderful ride.

    Do you think Governor Udom Emmanuel is fulfilling some of his campaign promises to Akwa Ibom people?

    Absolutely so; the governor came in with a five-point agenda. The major part which was based on industrialisation, the governor has done that part with enthusing zeal. Shortly after he was sworn in, Governor Udom Emmanuel set up technical committee on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) headed by Mr. Gabriel Ukpe as the Chairman and others. They have signed numerous Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs). The governor is of the opinion that you have to diversify. Why we are where we are today is because our leaders in the past refused to diversify because of the monies from oil. The governor is of the opinion that you cannot run an economy that is based on one product.

    The governor has done a lot in agriculture. If you look at what is going on in the country, even payment of salaries of workers is a huge problem to some state governments. Governor Udom Emmanuel has done so well in the sense that Akwa Ibom is one state in the country where salaries of workers are not being owed by the government. He has achieved that by deploying his skills as a financial services expert. He has also maintained some of what the immediate past governor started like the free and compulsory education. Kids under one to five years are still given free medical care. The aged and pregnant women are also given free medical attention.

    There is a new turn in governance.  He has done over 250 km of roads in the state. A lot of places that were affected by flood water, the governor has addressed that and made it motorable. The governor is also embarking on a lot of capital projects. The governor deserved to be commended and applauded.

    How would the governor eradicate poverty in the short run since those industries are for long term period?

    I am sure you have been following the governor’s activities. The small scale loans the governor is giving to farmers and market women. That is still ongoing. That is a vital area that can immediately impact the lives of the people. Akwa Ibom is one of the few states that have given small scale loans to people across the board.

    Pensioners of Local Government recently protested over unpaid gratuities while the state government claimed it does not owe the pensioners. Why?

    The governor came out to address the world that he does not owe any worker. It is just the machination of certain elements that still do not want to believe that the 2015 election is a settled affair and some of those elements still believe that the more they agitate for certain things that would never be may be the more they would draw some mileage out of it. The state government has nothing to do with payment of salaries and pension of local government workers.

    Are you now saying the protest was politically motivated?

    Absolutely so, I will not mention the name of any political party but the protest is orchestrated by certain elements.

    We also heard that the governor has banned protest across the state, how true is that?

    Another lie from the pit of hell. Another manufactured subterfuge. The governor wouldn’t say that. We are living in a democratic environment where you have the freedom and right to agitate for certain needs. What the governor said was if you are being used by certain element to cause public disaffection and that it is illegal assemblage, then you have broken the law. You know we cannot live in a chaotic society where anybody can wake up in the morning and begin to block the road.

    For you to protest there must be police permit. That was not done. It was just a rented crowd of certain elements and the governor as the chief security officer of the state said he won’t allow people to cause public disaffection. So, the governor didn’t say that he is banning protest but illegal protest is what the governor is against. I don’t think there is any government in the world that will fold its arms and watch people cause public disaffection.

  • ‘Mimiko’s eight-year rule has been a waste of resources’

    ‘Mimiko’s eight-year rule has been a waste of resources’

    Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) is a chieftain of the All Progressives Party (APC). He was the governorship candidate of the then defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State. Akeredolu plans to contest the November governorship election. In this interview with SEGUN AJIBOYE, the former President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) speaks on his experience in the last election, the proposed primary and other issues.

    Why are you running again?

    It is necessary to have a change in the leadership of Ondo State. Governance in the state has in the last seven years, which will now culminate into eight years before the election, been a waste of resources and one is convinced that the time has come for us to make meaningful in the lives of our people and for them to at least have the impact of meaningful governance. To give the people the benefit of good governance so that they can derive the most which you can get from any government.

    The PDP has maintained that the APC is not on ground in the state. How confident are you that your party can displace the PDP in the election?

    What we need to do is to look at statistics. You see, my confidence is based on and backed by statistics. In the last election, in which you had widespread manipulation, even if we take the figures declared as being right, the LP scored about 35 percent of the votes, we were given 30 percent plus and Olusola Oke was given 30 percent plus. now that Olusola Oke is now in APC, you would agree that the votes that the two of us can gather is enough sign we are not bragging. The defeat which we were able to wreak on the PDP in the presidential election, which of course we won fair and squarely, is fair enough to say that the APC is not bragging. We have members of the House of Representatives and two senators. Can you call that bragging? Sure, that cannot be bragging. We are on ground in Ondo State and we are sure of winning the governorship election.

    How would the APC manage the crowd of aspirants that have shown interest in the ticket?

    Our party, the ACN at the time, did not fall victim of the crowd of aspirants as you put it. The party adopted a method to pick its candidate. Well, a number of people reacted to it and raised objection, which I believe have been taken into consideration by the party to have a full-fledge primary. With this method now, I believe that there cannot be any form of trouble that the party cannot handle. We are all members of the same family, and by the time of getting the nomination form, we would begin to understand what to do. I am also sure that after the primary, every other person would come forward to support whoever wins. Don’t forget that I have always said that primary is an essential part of party politics. All of us submit ourselves to the process, and for me, if you submit yourself to a process, you have to abide with the outcome of that process.

    You’ll agree that Governor Mimiko is one shrewd politician. How do you intend to beat him at his own game?

    Mimiko believes he is strong, but he was bruised and battered in the last presidential election. He was there and he campaigned for Jonathan, but he lost woefully. Mimiko’s time has come and gone. There is nothing like Mimiko again in Ondo State. I think what he is trying to do now is to see if he can have a situation whereby he would set, maybe Akure people, against other people. He wants to set the people against one another.

    What particular lesson did you take away from the experience of 2011?

    The major lesson that I took away from the last election is that, on the last day, particularly on the day of election, you need a core of dedicated people to serve, whether as agents or representatives, or to do things for you. You cannot afford to leave that important aspect of electioneering in the hands of people who are not committed to your cause or the party. people are simply after money. When you have people who are more or less traders, then you are in trouble. So, we would try now to win the primary. After that, we would go ahead to get people who believe in our cause. Any dedicated party man would be will to sacrifice anything for the success of his party. That is one particular lesson that I have learnt, that you don’t go around with people who don’t believe in your cause.

    What would be your main goal as governor?

    You know that the major responsibility of government is to provide security for your people. And in the light of the problems that we have had, job creation is key to everything. And there is no way that we can continue like this without creating jobs. These would be my major goals. And when I say that Mimiko has failed, let him point to one thing or one major outfit that he established that has created jobs for a thousand people. He claimed he was doing something about agriculture, that he had Ore. But the place is now totally abandoned and has been overtaken by bush. The boys came to complain that they were not paid, and they left the place. H also claimed that he had a ranch, there is no single cow there now. He and I know that agriculture is key, because of all the value chain that it will bring and the employment that will follow it is very important for everybody. We made a lot of money. Aside from Lagos, Ondo State is about the only state that has received the largest allocation.  Why is that for eight years, he abandoned a state university, and just at the last hour rushed back there to say he is doing something. Meanwhile, he established a new university. You don’t have to abandon the university in Okitipupa because you want to have a university in Ondo. I am not against establishing anything in Ondo, but you don’t have to cripple the other one because of that. I expect him to build on whatever infrastructure that he met on ground. A number of us have thought that we should have a harbor today, but we don’t have it, despite the fact that we have the longest coastline. We have the Olokola Free Trade Zone project. We had Dangote who showed interest in it, and I think he should made sure that Dangote builds his factory there.

    Looking at the financial status of the states, what is that thing that is motivating you to run?

    When the going gets tough, only the tough gets going. I am somebody with absolute confidence in my capabilities and capacity. I am never afraid of anything. I often guided by a song by Fela Anikulapo Kuti that says ‘Na goat dey run. A man will stand’. I am a man and I am ready to face anything. That has been my approach. If you recollect my message when I was running for the presidency of the NBA, my campaign mantra was ‘prosecuting our conviction with courage’. So, for me, whatever the problem may be, it is one that a courageous person can tackle. A man who has a vision will see beyond today. And I can see beyond today, the economy of Nigeria will not remain like this forever. I am a man of faith, and in my time, I believe the economy will be good. Even if the economy nosedives, the best of a good leader is to manage the affairs of the state within the resources he has. There are many things that the governor can cut down on. All these we would take into consideration when we get to office. I tell you, the problem is that our people spend too much on frivolities, which they have refused to cut down.

    What would you describe as your achievements as a technocrat?

    You are asking me to blow my own trumpet. But, why not blow it? I have not been a technocrat all my life. I had been the attorney-general of my state, which means running a ministry. I was the Chairman of Legal Aid Council of Nigeria. And my records are there to show. As the attorney-general, we laid a foundation that other states are now trying to follow. The governor then, Onyeregbulem was riding a 504 car, but we made sure that the chief judge had a Mercedes car. It was after we did it in Ondo State that the Supreme Court judges were given Mercedes cars. I did all that because I believed that we needed to enhance the status of judges. All my life as bar activist, I have fought for improving the status and remuneration of judges.

    How do you intend to resolve the quagmire in Owo and Akoko politics, particularly considering the number of aspirants from the senatorial zone?

    We are where we are today because of our disconnect with history. You see, a number of us contesting do have a disconnect with history. I take the north senatorial district, comprising Akoko, Owo and Ose, and I try to trace the history of our political relationship. There has always been this relationship among us, so there is no need for any conflict. But, I know that we are going to resolve it at the end of the day. You see, our sense of equity will help us to resolve it. When you talk of a sense of history, we have had Baba Adekunle Ajasin from Owo/Ose, who had been governor. We had Baba Adebayo Adebafarati from Akoko. He too had been governor. When he was governor, we had the senator from Owo/Ose. But now, we have a second term senator from Akoko, so why do we have this problem. In the last eight years, we have had two deputy governors from Akoko, it has produced senators. So, with this, I know that the people will reason, even if the aspirants refuse to reason. The people’s sense of history and equity will prevail at the end of the day. We are all part of the same family, and we cannot afford to alienate a section of the family. We have had a governor form the south for six years. We have a governor from the cntral for eight years. So, naturally, our sense of fair play, equity and history would prevail.

  • Ministry of Water Resources to pay arrears

    Ministry of Water Resources to pay arrears

    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Musa Istifanus, on Wednesday said the ministry had started working on the payment of promotional arrears for workers.

    Istifanus said this in an interview in response to protest by workers over unpaid arrears.

    The workers on Tuesday protested against lack of training, unpaid promotional arrears as well as the running of the ministry by Mr. Istifanus.

    But the permanent secretary dismissed the allegations against him, adding that the workers were protesting because he refused to approve Sallah package for them.

    He said one, out of the three persons owed promotional arrears had been paid, adding that the ministry would reprocess the other two before they could be paid.

    He said: “In respect to promotional arrears there were three batches one has been paid. But the other two could not go through to the Budget Office because it was a blanket request. Usually if you want to pay promotional arrears you attach evidence of the approval for the promotion from the commission, the list of officers affected and the grade level they are moving from and the state they are moving from and the distress that will arise as a result of that. You send this to internal audit for audit purpose and you must attach this computation sheet before you submit to budget office.

    “When I requested to take a look at the three issues only one of them actually met this requirement the other two was a blanket request and budget office could not have approved something like that. As it is now we have to reprocess the other two arrears. But one of them that went through the normal process has been paid since early this year.

    “I do know that starting from about two years ago most training was for every staff. The money that is available cannot train all the staff in one year. So what is being done is to train a portion of the staff in a particular year and another staff in the next year until all the staffs has been covered and then they come back and repeat the same process. If ten years the officer has not been trained it means he was not in our nominal rule.”

  • Niger Delta Petroleum Resources wins Global Gas Flare Award

    The  Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited has been declared the winner of the “Global Gas Flare Reduction Excellence Award.”

    In a statement, the oil and gas industry regulator, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), expressed its appreciation on the recognition of the indigenous petroleum firm.

    It said the achievement was more remarkable as the Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

    DPR said: “It is a further testimony of Nigeria’s progress in its effort to strengthen indigenous capacity in adhering to international best practices while exploiting our natural resource.

    ‘’We commend the relentless efforts of the management and staff of Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited in ensuring gas flare reduction in their Ogbele gas field project, in line with government’s flare down policy, which has led to this global recognition.

    “We rejoice with them and acknowledge their excellent achievements as being the first indigenous company with a fully integrated oil and gas operation across the entire value chain of the Nigerian oil and gas sector.’’

    It continued: “The Department of Petroleum Resources will continue to provide needed support and guidance to all operators in an effort to encourage optimal productivity of their respective assets in line with global standards, as this will ensure a positive economic growth in Nigeria and sustainable development in the sector.’’

    Niger Delta Petroleum Resources  would be conferred with the award by the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership – a World Bank Group –  between September 9 and 10, 2015 in the Russian Federation.

  • Special teachers learn to teach without resources

    How can teachers teach visually-impaired pupils to read without a Braille machine? How can the hearing impaired recall what they were taught more effectively? Can intellectually challenged children actually learn enough to sustain themselves and contribute meaningfully to the society?

    One hundred teachers from the five special schools and inclusive units attached to conventional public schools in Lagos State learnt there are thousands of ways to teach children with learning disabilities during a three-day workshop organised by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) last week.

    Using a tailor’s tracing wheel, facilitators from Viewpoint Educational Services Ltd taught the teachers how to trace letters, shapes and other symbols on paper thereby creating an embossment on the reverse side which the visually-impaired pupils could touch with their fingers and learn concepts.

    They also learnt to use inexpensive beads and grains to outline symbols for a similar purpose – in addition to how to use visual aids to help hearing-impaired pupils remember, and hands on activities to support the education of intellectually-challenged learners.

    In addition to improving their pedagogical skills and ability to produce instructional materials from readily available resources, the teachers were taught how to identify children with learning disabilities and motivate them to learn, and how to use the internet to source for instructional media for use in the classrooms.

    One of the participants, Mr Muhammad Adebisi, who heads the Inclusive unit at the Local Government Primary School, Ipakodo, Ikorodu, said with 10 of his teachers in attendance, the training has imbued them with skills to revolutionise their teaching when the 2013/2014 session begins this month.

    “This workshop has changed me despite the fact that I have not been to school yet. I brought about 10 teachers. They have been informed here so they are going to transform the school when we resume. We were taught to produce and utilise instructional at little or no cost,” he said.

    Another teacher, Mr Philip Adeleke who works at the Ojuwoye Inclusive School, Mushin, praised the facilitators for showing teachers how to achieve so much with very little.

    “The training was practical-oriented. Children without special needs learn better when you couple your teaching with instructional materials. For special needs learners, it helps even more. For example you may sign as many times to a hearing impaired and they will not understand. But if you show them, they will understand and remember,” he said.

    As an expert in instructional medial, Chief Executive Office of Viewpoint Educational Services, Mrs Sidikatu Abiola, told The Nation that no child is un-teachable even with learning disabilities. She said this is so because the thousands of instructional media available appeal to one or more of the five human senses, which can be applied in the classroom.

    “Special teachers need to use instructional media to teach their students so they will learn and changes will take place. There is no way you use instructional media to teach and the children won’t learn. Instructional media are attached to one or more of the five senses. If a child cannot see, he can hear and feel, smell or taste. So you can use media that can appeal to others senses to teach him,” she said.

    Mrs Abiola urged philanthropists, NGO, and corporate organisations to support parents and government to education children with learning disabilities.

    “Society should come up. They should not leave children with learning difficulties to their parents or government alone. These children can be useful. Visit their schools and donate equipment for them to learn,” she said.

    In her speech, Lagos SUBEB Chairman, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, who was represented by board secretary, Mr Olakunle Idris, said the board will continue to enhance the capacity of teachers through regular training programmes.

     

  • Don’t waste resources on frivolities, ACN tells Mimiko

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State has warned Governor Olusegun Mimiko against “wasting the state’s resources on frivolities”.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, at the weekend, the party accused the governor of wasting the state’s resources on a birthday bash for his wife, Olukemi, in the United States (US).

    ACN alleged that Mimiko has a penchant for mundane things that have no positive impact on the people.

    It said: “It is ironical that a government that sacked workers and cannot afford to pay salary regularly has enough to throw around for an unnecessary Owambe party in a foreign land.

    “Ondo people, particularly civil servants, are groaning under the burden of unpaid salary, yet the governor has time for merry making around the world.

    “This is a pointer to the fact that he is not concerned about the plight of the people.

    “The mass sack of workers, high unemployment rate and the abysmal poverty level cannot be good testimonies of a man, who claims to be working for the people.”

    The party condemned Mimiko’s role in the crisis rocking the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).

    It urged ACN members and the people to remain steadfast and pray for the emergence of a people-oriented government.