Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie
Ikpeazu, at the weekend field questions from a selected group of Editors in his
office in Umuahia,Abia State over various issues as he marks two years in
office..Chris Kehinde Nwandu (CKN), Editor In Chief Of CKN News was among the
Editors.
These are excerpts from the
interview (Concluding part from yesterday)
In some states, governments make
sure that federal roads leading to their cities are accessible, what are you
doing about this, especially with regards to Aba? Secondly, where you
distracted by the litigations and how do you feel now that it’s over?
We are doing all but one of the
federal roads leading into Aba. We are doing Aba-Owerri Road, we have mobilized
Setraco to fix Port Harcourt Road, and the other one is Aba- Ikot Ekpene Road
which the federal government is to handle. We might have issues with the
quality of the contractor handling it and the pace of work but we will give
them the benefit of doubt.
But even if the federal government
does not reconstruct Ikot-Ekpene Road in a timely and qualitative manner,
we are already constructing two alternative routes to Akwa Ibom from Aba. Just
7kms to Akwa Ibom because we know the area very well and our new roads are
through virgin forests.
Port Harcourt Road is going to be
done using concrete pavement. I don’t want people to forget that we pionerred
Rigid pavement technology. As far as I know, Abia is also the only state with 3
grade A contractors working on her roads concurrently: Arab contractors,
Setraco and the Chinese company handling the Osisioma flyover or interchange.
On distractions, I am somebody who
does not want to wallow in self pity and I rather want to be judged as if
nothing happened. If the devil wanted to distract me in any way, he failed
woefully.
I don’t want the devil to get any
glory. It is only to the glory of God. Besides, through it all I didn’t lose
the faith of my people. Abians have faith in what we are doing and so I have
every cause to glorify God.
How are you coping with recession?
Also you are the only Governor in the Southeast in good terms with your predecessor.
How are you managing the relationship?
Our response to recession is very
simple; promote Made in Aba, local skills and agriculture. One of my greatest
achievements is the promotion of Made in Aba across the globe.
As we speak, the Made in Aba logo has
been officially launched. Governments pay to be on CNN, but our case is
different because an international organization that saw what we are doing, saw
the need to promote it using CNN and others. This means that our artisans and
their creativity are being promoted free of charge.
People argue about political
correctness, instead of economic advantage. We are more focused on doing things
that give economic advantage to our people as against being politically
correct.
My predecessor respects me and I also
respect him. He doesn’t struggle for space with me. He knows there can only be
one governor at a time.
Because of this, I respect him, one
as an elder, two as a senator, and three as a former Governor.
It is a relationship that is based
on mutual respect and understanding.
You are two years, very soon, you
will be talking about second term, what are we going to hold you on, if you get
a second term?
Even in the midst of the supposed
distraction, couldn’t I have found an easy alibi not to perform if I had
wanted? Yet our people can judge us and see that we never stopped working and
never gave them excuses because we were at all times focused on the things that
are important to our people.
I will continue to do my best
because there is need to serve my people with commitment. Things got to a point
in the legal battles that I had to pray and ask God to genuinely search the
minds of everyone contesting for the Abia Governor’s seat with me and let
whoever loves Abia more than me win. God prevailed and used the Supreme Court
to reaffirm us.
Igbo youths in particular are
disenchanted with the present administration in Nigeria. What message of hope
are you bringing to them? Some Fulani herdsmen still operate along the highways
in your state, like your Ekiti counterpart, shouldn’t you have enacted a law to
deal with it? And how have you been able to integrate non indigenes in Abia as
we have noticed that Abia has the least record of conflict with Fulani
herdsmen?
First, I recognize that there are
more Abians in the North, than Ekiti. Whatever action I take must take
cognizance of that fact. Abians also add value to wherever they are by
employing youths from that place, building structures and generally living
peacefully with others. I make bold to state that 60% of Nigerian youths
working directly and indirectly through the private sector in Nigeria are
employed through the efforts and contributions of our people. It is therefore
natural for me to consider all angles in taking decisions. What if there is a
reprisal for whatever action we take here, how will that affect our people
living outside our state?
We believe in ensuring the safety of
our visitors against all odds. So what we did was to create conflict resolution
committees at the local government level, after a critical study of the areas
the herders live and visit. We have 2-3 layers of conflict resolution.
But the major problem with the
conflicts is the inability or lack of understanding of local sentiments and the
idiosyncrasies of the Hausa/Fulani man, which I understand because I lived in
the north for 7 years. Our conflict resolution approach is tailored to use this
knowledge and solve real and potential conflicts.
On youth agitation, it is very
unfortunate that a part of the nation feels the need to agitate for fairness
and equity within the federation. Social mobilization is very important and
even more important than infrastructure. We have not mobilized Nigerians from
the centre socially and that is where our leaders have failed.
Every leader should be a vendor of
hope. My strategy in Abia is to focus the minds of our youths on hard work and
creativity. We are sending 100 people to China for one year to learn how to
make shoes. Not because we are not good, but we need to add some icing on our
cake. We are using the China Model of technology transfer and standardization
of export products. Criminality in Nigeria is occasioned by too much energy and
creativity in the youths not finding positive outlets. Let us get it right at
the Centre through fairness and equity as well as providing positive outlets
for the massive energy of our youths.
What is your take on the recently
signed executive orders by the presidency?
I commend the presidency for that.
It is very encouraging to our efforts. It is what we have been expecting them
to do. But whatever they say or do, it is not complete, until it affects rice,
baked beans, salad cream and other imported products that we are consuming
daily in Nigeria.
I am looking forward to a time when
they will stop serving imported rice, baked beans etc at the FEC meetings and
other events around the villa. Since I became Governor I have been eating local
rice and wearing made in Aba clothes to support our people.
In the past years, we saw how
well Abia performed in WAEC especially those in Public schools, what are you
doing in the area of education to ensure that Abia remains in the forefront? On
attracting investors, what kind of incentives are you giving? Also Abia has
allegedly been the bedrock of kidnappers, though it has been controlled
recently, but somehow pockets of criminality are raising its heads again, what
are you doing to sustain a safe environment where business can thrive?
Our strategy to develop education is
through taking cognizance of our foundational issues.
The problem of education, not only
in Abia but Nigeria, is the quality and morale of our primary school teachers.
Early child education is as important as tertiary education, if not more
important.
We are partnering with Australian
school teachers to go to our schools and help in developing our learning
environment, information Communication Technology, classroom management, first
aid and how to manage children. They will train our teachers who in turn will
become trainers for others.
We want to ensure that at primary 3,
a pupil is able to confidently operate the computer efficiently.
We would model primary schools to
achieve this, as well as embark on advanced teachers training which Is critical
to educational capacity building.
In the next 12 months, there is
going to be a revolution in Abia education sector. Our idea of model schools
will spring up across the geopolitical zones of the state and the Australians
will return to continue the work they are partnering with us to do.
On incentives for investors, the
Abia investment House, which is private sector driven, is for ease of doing
business in Abia. It will help investors get all they need to operate in Abia
in at most two weeks.
I have the bulk C of O of 9,000
hectares of land, which any interested investor can get in 2 hours, if he’s
interested in as much plots of land as possible. We are ready to give the lands
to those who show seriousness in investing in Abia.
The present unitary political system
in Nigeria is it sustainable?
- In the first instance, there should not be any “federal roads”, because there are no federal citizens. Let the funds for fixing of so called federal roads be given to state governments with monitoring by the relevant federal agency or ministry. Most of what the federal government is doing should be done by the state governments while the federal government concentrate on generating and monitoring guiding policies
What do you think about the clamour
for restructuring of Nigeria?
I would say that question has
largely been captured in my interaction with you here and whatever I said is my
opinion.
But I believe we should start
spending time on the way forward in Nigeria, instead of federal government
spending too much time on money appropriation. Recession is a huge opportunity
and we are yet to fully tap the opportunities presented to us by this
recession.
For instance, without
recession we won’t be working so hard on Made in Aba, increased agricultural
production with over 40,000 palm seedlings and a mushroom industry that can guarantee
a minimum of N70,000 daily to an Abia youth. Nigeria needs to tap into the
prevailing recession instead of focusing on huge appropriations and issues
around sharing of money. If the federal government is serious with tapping into
the opportunities presented by this recession they should look towards Aba and
focus on using Aba as the model to bring out the best in Nigerians.
Tags
Business