Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, in a recent programme co-anchored by SHOLA O’NEIL, answered questions on a wide range of local and national issues, including the shift in election date by INEC, his eight-year tenure, ongoing projects, challenges and accomplishments as well as Nigerians’ negative perception of public officials and corruption. Excerpts
THE federal government and states like yours are lamenting that the drop in oil price is affecting projects and programmes, but considering that there was unprecedented high crude oil price for about six years, are you not paying the price of poor economic planning?
First, the drop in oil (revenue) is noticeable in the last four months but the drop in the funding to states has been up to the last two years, it didn’t just start yesterday. What was happening was that before two years ago, there used to be what’s called augmentation by the federal government during allocation. It was coming from the Excess Crude Account. But the shift started when there was division in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum. That was one of the fallouts from the division in the NGF funding to the states dropped because that augmentation was removed in 2013, 2014 and funding has being dropping.
Apart from the fact that funding has been dropping, the expenditures of states have also been increasing through minimum wage, allowances and all that; so the running cost of government has also increased in the last four years. What is left for capital expenditure has practically been dropping. So, it is not just about four months ago; what is happening these past four months is that the situation is now worse than it used to be, but the funding has been dropping in over two years now.
There is also the issue of corruption and leakages in states’ funds
The leakages are exaggerated, I must say because we have been doing everything possible to block the leakages. We use the ICT-based SAP system for our financial management and that to a large extent has helped us to block some loopholes. Some of the systems we have put in place in our financial management have also helped us greatly in blocking the leakages. The running cost of government is increasing; salaries and allowances are going up.
The internally generated revenue that we are supposed to be falling back on is going down because of what has been happening and many companies that left. Then the taxation law is making workers (to) pay less tax than they used to pay three, four years back. All these have added to the reduction of IGR.
But even the IGR collection is dogged by leakages; you see touts and some many other people colleting levies that don’t enter the government’s purse.
Businesses are not being taxed appropriately. What people are paying here is not near what they are paying in Lagos. Yes, there is the challenge of multiple taxations, mainly from the local government councils. We try to discourage them from sending boys to the road to collect levies; I have personally arrested many of them. Unfortunately, some of the councils see it as their source of revenue. The IGR is not as much as we would have expected.
Let me say this about corruption; people have it in their heads that government is so porous that once you are putting something in here a lot is going out there. A lot is being done to block leakages, not just at the state level, but at the federal level in the past few years and we must appreciate that. The truth is that the fund is not there and that is why we keep emphasizing that until we are able to build an economy that is not totally dependent on oil we will continue to have these challenges. That is the Delta Beyond Oil we are talking about and I am happy that we have started appreciating. But the realities have come earlier than we expected it.
I keep saying that the next administration at the federal and state levels and even all states, I don’t know how they are going to manage because some states are even owing salaries. I know some incoming governors will drop a lot of workers. It is unfortunate but I know it will happen and people have to face the reality that in going forward, certain things have to give.
What foundations have your administration laid for the ‘Delta Beyond Oil’, apart from the rhetoric and TV shows?
There are two aspects to it; one is to be able to put up infrastructure that will attract investment and investors outside the oil industry, especially in the area of agriculture. We have been able to attract heavy investment like the big poultry farm of the Obasanjo Farm and I have mentioned a young lady who has started poultry. The first thing is to get adequate infrastructure that will attract investment and it takes some time. Those are the major roads, airport, power in particular is a major infrastructure for investment and the IPP and various industrial parks Warri Industrial Business Park and others.
On the low hanging fold is the microcredit that we are also giving to the low micro businesses to be able to establish businesses that will employ some segments of the society. I talked about a young lady in Ogwashi-Uku who employed some people, including her grandmother, that is Delta Beyond Oil. So this concept is very real and we are putting it in the consciousness of Deltans. For those who have places to farm, we have to look at the farm and those in the riverine areas we have to look at fishing capabilities and go back to the basic of our economy, which is mainly agriculture.
Just over three months to the end of your administration, there are a number of road projects key to Delta Beyond Oil and it seems you won’t be able to complete them.
We might be able to complete Koko-Ugbenu road project. There are two parts of that project; the first 26 kilometers of the Koko-Ugbenu and another nine kilometres that goes behind Koko to join the Koko-Ogheye road, that is a very swampy part. But the first 26km, which is part of the old road that we are doing is almost completed. The back, I believe we should be able to complete it.
But the Asaba-Ughelli dualisation, there are three sections: the Ughelli section, the midway (Sector B) and Sector C, which is close to Asaba. Where we have the challenge is the Asaba end of it. It is an unfortunate battle that we have been having issues with the contractor. I terminated it initially, there were challenges and we now came to an agreement that he was going to sublease the contract to the Chinese firm (CCCEC). It has been very difficult managing that part of the contract.
But the other two sectors, the Sector B is almost ready that is the part from Ossisa back to Ozoro; the Ossisa Bridge is also complete. The Sector A, which is the Ughelli part, will reasonably go far before I leave office. Like I said, it is that Ughelli part that has been very embarrassing.
Government is a continuous process; when I came in, I inherited very many uncompleted roads that I had to complete. They were the Okere, Bowen and Jakpa roads that I inherited and I had to complete. Even the Ughelli roads that we inaugurated today on Friday, February 13, they are roads that I inherited.
The Ughelli-Asaba dualisation project, I think, is the most ambitious road project by any state government in Nigeria – it is almost 149km. There is no state government that is so ambitious to undertake that kind of project. We have gone very far and I do hope that the next administration will complete it because the advantage of dualising that road can never be taken for granted. Once that road is fully dualised, the connection between Warri and Asaba and by extension, Onitsha, will be very easy. The volume of trade between the two axes will improve. What has been slowing down the economic benefit is the issue of the road.
The Asaba-Ughelli, Koko-Ugbenu and the Effurun-Eku roads are all federal roads projects that we are doing. Ideally, the FG is supposed to pay back and we have made some requests. When you combine the cost of those roads, it is about N80billion, but so far we have made a request of about N40bn to the FG and I can tell you as at today, not one kobo has come in. But there has been positive response. They have made their assessment and they have agreed at about N40bn or N44bn, I cannot tell you the exact figure. But they have agreed that they are genuine claims. Our papers are there and I think the next administration will be able to get the money.
What about ongoing road projects in Warri urban, environs as well as the BRT?
The Deco- Okumagba Avenue is almost ready; it will be ready in the next three, four weeks. I usually like to commission roads in the urban areas with street lights. The Deco is supposed to have street lights and I have told the contractors that it has to have street lights. Once they complete installing the street lights and the other parts very close to Olodi Primary School and the old bridge (at Mudiaga-Odje) which they are expanding now. Those are the only two places remaining. Once they complete those, we will commission it again at night so that people will see its beauty.
The BRT project (in Warri/Effurun) is like an exercise no pain, no gain. It is giving us pain but eventually it will bring lots of gains. We designed it to go from the Effurun Roundabout to NPA. We might not be able to finish it to NPA, but we want to finish to the Enerhen Junction. The challenges we have are the outer section. Unfortunately, in the process of design, they did not capture it initially. We have done that now and we are expanding the outer lane. They are removing the utilities; the old phone lines and PHCN poles. They have started that and they will expand the outer lane to take at least three vehicles on both sides. We should be able to finish before I leave, even if they don’t, within a few weeks of the new government, they should be able to finish it.
The flyover at Asaba and Effurun roundabout will be finished before I leave. People keep saying finish before you leave; I don’t think it is like that; government is a continuous process. Yes, it will be nice to finish them.
There are challenges with roads in Asaba, the state capital and some areas feel neglected
Asaba is an emerging state capital and there is no way I can tar all the roads in Asaba although we have tarred but there are still so many to be tarred. The ones I have tarred will be part of my handover note to the next governor. We must understand that Delta is a multi-urban state; there are well over 14 major towns in Delta that can be a state capital and you need to balance them. We are biased towards Asaba because it is the state capital. You also have to think of other areas like Warri, Effurun, Sapele, Ughelli, Ozoro etc. These are places that really have challenges of roads in addition to the rural communities. There are so many communities that are doing very well in the area of agriculture and we need to connect them to the urban areas with road.
What is the state of the Effurun-Warri ADB-Assisted water project?
That is a project that has been on even from the military era; the story of that project is quite long. When my predecessor came in he tried to complete it and when I came, I completed the main station and if you turn the tap there now there is water. But the challenge is to connect the water to the various areas. Unfortunately, we discovered that the pipes that were laid several years ago, many were destroyed in the process of road construction, especially the Airport Road. We did reassessment and eventually re-laid the pipes and that costs us quite some billions. Some were either rusty or have been damaged.
Now, there are areas where you can get the water through public sources. There is a third phase, which is to connect it to homes and we have also started that. We need to pay some amount and once we pay some of the contractors those monies – it’s not much – they would finish the final phase. Hopefully, some homes should be able to get the water before I leave.
What is the state of the multibillion naira Independent Power Project, will Deltans enjoy the benefit before you leave?
Obviously not; we will not be able to finish the IPP because we had challenges as we were going along, especially the challenges of funding. It is not cheap to have an IPP. We also have the challenges of approval because electricity is not the states’ responsibility; it was initially on the exclusive list although they have privatized some parts of it.
Again, we lost two years due to location. Initially it was supposed to be close to Warri but the land we acquired, the people would not allow us to locate it where we wanted. That was why we went to Oghara and unfortunately the terrain in Oghara is not easy. We thought it was a hard ground but we really need to reclaim. So that is where we are.
The DSC is one company that would have helped provide employment in the state, but what is happening now and what is being done to revive the company?
I am very emotional about the Delta Steel Company because that is one of the places I worked in my early life. When I became governor, there were a lot I did trying to work with the FG to revive the company. It was given to some Indians. For me, the terms that were put up were not very encouraging because I do know that the DSC can have up to six very viable companies if properly run. But as at that time, the Indians were just working with the Steel Rolling Mill and the other parts, including the foundry were not being used. I had several discussions with them and the FG and unfortunately, it didn’t yield any result and eventually they had to move.
Since then, people have indicated interests in trying to take the company. They included some Deltans, who unfortunately, do not have the capacity to take it over. It was taken over by AMCON which gave it to a new receiver, who I will say was very hostile. Very hostile in the sense that in between, I paid some visits to the company, especially the school and the hospital. I said as a state government let us see what we can do to assist some of the works. That is apart from the infrastructure because we also had to tar some roads within the estate. We placed the teachers on monthly salaries pending when the receiver would start paying them. This was done for both the teachers and workers in the hospital. I am passionate about the hospital because I worked there and it was where I had my first child.
The receiver started having problems with the Medical Director of the hospital and the principal and he eventually placed them on suspension. The issue was that he said the monies we were paying to the teachers should have been paid to them. I do hope that the new receiver will be more humane and revive the company.
There has been so much controversy on the shift of election; Nigerians want to know why.
I do believe that at the end of the day we will get better result from the election. First, there are two issues why the elections were shifted. One was the issue of security and that was squarely in the hands of the security agencies and they advised that they would not be ready. I think it would be foolish of anybody to go ahead because at the end of the day, there is no election that does not have security components. That part is beyond the agency conducting the election or the government.
I think that is an area that people do not seem to be emphasizing, INEC wasn’t quite ready because I was at the Security Council meeting where Chairman of INEC presented his report. Going through the report, there was a place where he said, ‘we are ready’, but every other thing leading to that sentence indicated that they were not ready.
Firstly, the issue of the PVC, at that time it was about 64percent distribution. But much more critical was the nature of the distribution. How can Borno, Yobe states, where you have crisis, have more than 80 90percent distribution of cards, meanwhile states down south, including Delta (which had 62percent) had 30something, Lagos was 40 etc. How did it happen? This kind of imbalance was very frightening.
But beyond that, even in terms of numbers, you have over 20 million people that are yet to collect cards and you are saying they cannot vote even when they have indicated their interests by getting the temporary cards. I am not a lawyer, but I know that they are being disenfranchised from voting and if the election is conducted and someone is declared winner, they can go to court and get the election annulled. We are not saying there should be 100percent collection of PVC, but people who want to vote should be given opportunity of collecting their cards and be allowed to vote.
If you read the report that he (INEC Chairman) presented to us, there was still the issue of training. The collating officers and presiding officers would have started training by February 12 while the election is February 14. There is no way the training would have been completed on the 12th, so it would have spilled to the 13th. Meanwhile, some of them were supposed to have been in their stations by the 12th, especially those in the riverine areas. So, obviously they were not ready.
Then the card readers, he said a lot had come and many states had collected and they were still expecting some. The challenge was that at the time he was presenting, even if he had distributed the cards to every polling units, he would not have enough backups because they are new and we are just using them for the first time and there were issues with it. I recall that about three weeks ago we had a meeting with traditional rulers and the INEC boss came and was demonstrating the card reader and something really funny happened. While demonstrating it, he called his junior officer and asked him to get the card reader. When he brought it, he requested for someone’s voter’s card, one of our media persons brought hers. They said the card was not configured with the reader, but within a few second he was able to manipulate the card reader to take the voters card. The reader is configured to deal with units, but this young lady was able to manipulate it to take the new card. That tells you that if you have 200 cards from another station you can manipulate it to take those cards. It was done in the presence of everybody.
There were so many things about the election and we are happy that it was moved to 28th of March. Hopefully, some of these issues, particularly the preparedness of INEC will be sorted out. Also the security situation in the North East would be better.
