Abaribe: I’m the Issue in Abia Governorship Race

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Interview

Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe is a frontline governorship hopeful in Abia State and in this interview with Olawale Olaleye, he bares it all. Excerpts:

What are the problems the next Governor of Abia State will inherit from the outgoing Governor?
Let me say that the challenges of development in every state in Nigeria will is exactly the same that Abia will have to confront – underdevelopment, massive unemployment, infrastructure that is not up to par with what you need for a 21st century economy and then, of course, the basic ones of education, health, environment and agriculture.

Basically, what I think is the biggest challenge you have to face will have to do with all the young men and women who are coming out of schools without a job.

First, we will need to deal with how to produce people that are functional in our state at the moment. Abia stands at a very good vantage position being at the top of the whole Niger Delta region and all the ancillary industries in the Niger Delta – the oil and gas and all the other things that go with it and Abia will provide manpower, provide skill set that is already burdened on the ground.

Usually, when people want to do anything within the Niger Delta region, they can come to Aba to get it. For specific reasons, all the while, Abia has always had through Aba, an industrial set up with skilled people, artisans and managerial skilled people who have been doing things locally. Now, what we need to do is to move their skills up and also to train them enough to fit into the manpower needs within the oil and gas region.

We think that as a matter of policy, you must be able to move people away from the grammar school literary type education to technical based education now and that you will have to do if you are governor of the State. Second, you will also have to be able to retrain those who are already in the different sectors in Abia, who cannot fit into the new ICT-based economy. That is part of the PDP manifesto for the state to let people acquire the relevant knowledge for those types of industries that are there.

There are jobs, but you do not have the requisite and trained people for those jobs and when you don’t have it, what the oil and gas people do is to import from outside. That’s why you find that if you go to most of the industries in the Niger Delta region, you see a whole of Chinese; you see a whole lot of Koreans, a lot Indians, you just have people bringing those skill set which we ought to have but do not have.

We are also going to partner the federal government because we are part of the Niger Delta. We should also be part of those who get training for all these because I know that a lot of money has been spent by them in upgrading the skills of the Niger Delta people. Being part of it, we are also supposed to enjoy that federal government largesse.

Apart from those, what other challenges?
The other challenge that you have to meet if you are governor of Abia is infrastructure challenge because the amount of money that comes to the state which forms the basis of the spending is very low compared to the surrounding states. So whoever is going to be the governor will have to do two things: first prudence, which means that whatever money that you get, you are going to make the optimal use of that money. That is the only way to go.

Second, you must also start to seek newer ways of funding things and must have to get better ways of doing both the internally generated revenue and what comes from the federal purse. For the internally generated revenue, what happens today as we have seen, in fact the governor in a recent interview bemoaned the fact that it was so low and there were so many leakages within the system.

That means you will have to deploy technology to reduce leakages and you also now have to find new and innovative ways of doing things and making sure that counterpart funding for the things that come from both multilateral agencies and the federal government that you are going to have to do that.

If you do that, then there are of course other areas that you have to deal with, especially the city of Aba. If you need to increase the internally generated revenue, you must have to go to the place where there are industries and where the people doing business can pay their taxes. To do that, you have to also show them that what you are doing in their interest and for their own benefit.

Therefore, you are able to provide for them physical evidence of what you are doing and get them to buy into it; then you will get their support and it is that support that Governor Mbakwe used when it was the old Imo State to develop Imo and most of the funding came from Aba actually. So, we are going to have to make Aba a test case for a new government and private sector enterprise.

What more?
Arising from the infrastructure, of course, you will have to deal with all the other areas that are lacking. The governor of the state at the moment is doing certain things that we have tagged the legacy project. What we are going to do is to sustain what he has done. One of the biggest problems in our governance structure in Nigeria has always been that a new government would always want to do something different from what the previous government has done. I don’t have that kind of ego problem of completing what another person has done and giving the person credit.

By my background as a university lecturer, it’s instilled into you that when you are doing a paper, you will acknowledge the person from whom you are taking from his work so that you avoid the charge of plagiarism. There is no lecturer that doesn’t know you have to acknowledge other people’s work and when you bring him to public service, what happens really is that if another person has done something and he hasn’t finished it, then you complete it, call the person and actually give him credit for it. So, I will not have that problem of saying let me go and do my own for whatever reason.

Of course, given time, you will always have to make your mark and when you make your mark that is what you go with. That another person has done something and you have to ignore what he has done, to me, does not help in developing a state. We need to develop our state and we are really in a big hurry to catch up.

A state where you get N4billion and you have to compare it with another where you get N16billion or N25billion or N23 billion per month, it means when you have to do something, you do it in a way that you will get the best value for your money. Of course, you will also have to cut your clothe according to your size. So, the grandeur projects that are being done in those areas, you may not want to venture into that. If you cut it according to your clothe and your clothe is very small, then of course you may not fit into your clothe that you have cut.

For your own ambition, what are the challenges you see on the way?
For every politician, whenever you put yourself forward to the people, you will always have challenges. The challenges are two-fold. First of all, you have challenges from those who also are having the same ambitions as you. Second, you have the challenge of fitting within the dictates of your party, since we are running a democracy that does not allow any independent candidate. First, you have to look at yourself and be sure that you meet the criteria that are being set up by your party. Once you meet that, second one will now be putting forward your credentials and your criteria for running.

Other people are also putting up their own and what you want is a level playing ground so that the party people who have to make the choice of who becomes their candidate would be at liberty to do so. I do not see any challenge. I have been in the field; I have done consultations at all levels; I’ve done consultations with stakeholders in the state – individually and collectively. I’ve done consultations with the party people in Abia North, Abia Central and Abia South. I come from Abia South and I have also done consultations with people at the state party level. I can tell you that I had a lot of enthusiasm from people when I went. No other aspirant in Abia has been able to traverse the state in the way that I am doing.

I’m going into the second level of consultations now which will start sometime next week. It is a one-on-one consultation at every local government level in the state. So, in terms of consultations, those two things – first continue to expose you to the party members and second, to make sure that party members also understand what you have been doing all along and how you intend to continue for their benefit and the benefit of Abia State.

Third, it gives you an idea of what goes on in every local government and you know the local governments and their real problems because you are coming to them, you are talking with them; you are going through the roads there; you are going to know what is dear to their heart and what they want government to do for them.

You can discuss it at this interactive level and it’s been very instructive. Sometimes, the things that you think they need are not actually what they want. It is only by this type of interaction that they tell you this is actually what they want. For example, I’ve done some water projects for some people – 3 or 4 water projects and when I got there, we now found out what they actually need.

In the 60s, we actually had major waterworks that really would serve an area with everything reticulated and this is potable water that is treated. But today, we just continue to do small bits. So, the question we now have to ask ourselves is which one is better to do; to do it in small bits or to do regional schemes. Those are the questions we have to answer when we debate for the governorship.

How well have you represented your district in the Senate in the last eight years?
I had said it earlier that what I bring to the table is not theoretical; it is something that has already been done and among all the things I have done when I was talking about exposing our people to the 21st century, we did something that was unique and never been done by anybody before. Aba is the key to the industrial sector in the South-east. In time past, things made in Aba used to enjoy wide patronage until we started having the twin problems of poor physical infrastructure and power. We think that those two things are dealt with; Aba will rise again to continue to fulfill her potential.

But we did something that was unique. We said every time they do Trade Fairs in Nigeria and you don’t do a trade-fair that is specific to a particular place. So, we did a made in Aba Trade Fair in Abuja. We brought the different groups that manufacture things in Aba – from people who were manufacturing petrol pumps to sell and diesel to people who are now manufacturing just shoes and bags, belts and so forth. We brought all of them to Abuja and we did an exhibition in which we now brought the key people in government.

We brought the Minister of Trade and Industry. We also brought different heads of the military – the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Defence Staff, the head of the police, the head of the civil defence and so on. We just wanted to expose to them that most of the things that they import and give to their people we could make them in Aba. My view was to do a sort of backward integration.

In other words, if we make it in Aba and you buy from us – let’s say for the military, there are more than a million people under arms in Nigeria from police to army, to Navy to the airforce and you say okay, you have a million people and you need a million boots to match on the ground, a million boots being made in Aba puts the economy on a very high scale because as you are making it, all the people have to hire new people. Those people that are hired, of course, when they have work to do, they no longer look at crime.

Of course, they spend all those monies within the economy and everything will have a multiplier effect. We actually showcased and we did it. We also found that the procurement process within the agencies and all that is such that procurement takes a long time to have all those things available. We sort of brought it to them and said you can now ask these people who are coming to do procurement, who are putting their companies forward that these things are available here. We also got the companies that we brought from Aba to be able to also now look at the way we are going to now enter the procurement process – either by merging or having partnerships and so forth.

We helped them also through Airtel to show what they can do. So, we were able to expose them, not merely to produce and wait until somebody comes to take it. We got a lot of lessons and even people are already registering for this year’s made-in-Aba Trade Fare and we intend this time to even go beyond the minister to get the president to come to see it. Most of the people, the people who ought to make policies may be detached from the reality on the ground. We want to bridge this reality.

I have done it. I took people and I exposed them. These are the things that we intend to do when we come into government; to do practical things. Like I told another set of journalists, the way we are going to go is to start from the things that are doable. From the things that are doable, we go to things that are possible. And when we get to things that are possible, you now find that those things that we call impossible are actually possible.

We have a written document that shows every project that we have done. But I will also encourage you to find time to talk to my constituents. Usually for everybody, if you want to talk about yourself, you will always say the best things. You will say I have done too well for them; they have no reason to complain. But if you talk to them directly when I’m not around, they probably will give you a much sober assessment of what I have done.

But do you think you have done well in the Senate to deserve being trusted with the governorship?
Of all the people who have been in the Senate from Abia, I think I have done more than anybody. If what you have done for your people is the criteria, then I deserve to be governor based on that and the evidence is clear. This is not evidence that is coming just out of my mouth but the evidence is pictorial and otherwise, for which we will expect that people can verify.

It does appear you have taken advantage of the fact that the governorship has been zoned to your area?
As I said, I started my consultations in April; so, between April and May, we went all over the states and concluded it with the party in the state. Ultimately, by the time we completed the consultations in May, June had passed and it was in July that the state party now took the decision to zone the governorship fortuitously to my zone – Abia South zone. So, I could not have come because of the zoning. Actually, I would want to think it was because we had sufficiently told the party the reasons they needed to take the best decision and that may be part of what made them to zone it to Abia South.

What are you bringing to this race that will distinguish you from your competitors?
Three things: Character, competence and integrity. All the political actors in Abia know for one thing that it’s not just enough to talk the talk, you should also be able to demonstrate by your actions the type of person that you are. I can say this without any fear of contradiction that anybody in Abia knows that if it is in terms of character, uprightness and being able to be your own person and actually work for the people of Abia, they will not find me wanting.

If it is in terms of being competent enough to do the job of a governor, they will also not find me wanting because I have been at various levels and demonstrated at various times that I have the ability to run a state. For everybody who is a governor, your word is your bond. We have also had the unfortunate situation of having had a governor who will say one thing today and tomorrow will do exactly the opposite. That will never be me and that is why when I meet with Abians, they agree that this is the sort of person that is needed at this time of our national development.

There is this issue of the incumbent governor installing his successor. What kind of relationship do you have with the governor?
Let me say this very unequivocally that at the time we heard some people making claims of being anointed or so by the governor, I contacted the governor. I called a meeting of Abia South Senatorial zone, being a political leader of the area and we needed to deal with that matter. The governor told me that I should please tell the people when I meet with them that he has never anointed anybody and that he didn’t have any intention of anointing anybody.

Subsequently, the government of Abia also went on air, on radio and disowned any such statement. I’m sure those statements died down but people who do not have anything to sell themselves with usually try to do reflected glory of saying this man is bringing me. I just call it reflected glory because that means you got nothing yourself to offer when you now have to wait for somebody else to do so.

Also recently when the governor swore in the transition Chairman, he made the same statement and said he was not going to influence anybody; that what he is going to do is to ensure that the field is made in such a way that everybody will have an equal chance of being able to emerge the governor and he said it very clearly that the person who will become governor will be made by three persons – the first person will be God himself because everything that we do as human beings, its only when God wills it.

Secondly, that he himself as the incumbent will also have a say on how the process is done and thirdly is the party apparatus, that is, those within the party who will eventually be the delegates to the congresses that will bring out the nominee. After making that point, he has also subsequently made several points along this line. When the party made the decision for zoning to Abia South, there was a meeting called of all the stakeholders of the state to come and look at what the party has said and decided.

When the stakeholders met, I couldn’t go. I had to send the governor a text and he responded and told me that we should continue to sing the song of equity and fairness in Abia and that it’s only fair that somebody from the senatorial zone that has not been governor before to have the opportunity to be so. The governor has been singing the song of equity and fairness. As I said, he is a man that we trust in the sense that when he says this is what I believe or this is what I want to do, he doesn’t go doing something else. So, having said he believes in equity and fairness, we believe also that he will not turn around to be unfair in trying to pick anybody. I believe him when he says I will not interfere in the process in any way. All I want is that let the process be sure to bring out somebody who will work in the interest of Abia State.

What is your relationship with the presidency and the party in Abuja?
I am a very strong member of the Peoples Democratic Party. I have been in the Senate twice. I have very good relationship with the party at the national and I have also related with each and every member of the national party on a personal basis. So, I’m not somebody that is unknown to anybody within the national party. I am also not somebody who is unknown to the presidency because I have also played a role. My role today as the spokesman of the Senate also shows everybody that I have a very good relationship with them.

How are the leaders of the party addressing the need for all to work together in the event of the unexpected?
I think that matter has already been settled and dealt with by the incumbent governor today, Governor T.A Orji. Since 2010 when he came back into PDP, he has been able to weld everybody together; he has been able to bring the different factions of PDP together. So, what we have seen really is that the syndrome of disunity has actually been permanently buried by the way that Governor Orji has handled everybody.

Let me tell you that between 2003 and 2010, for example, several of us never went to Umuahia, not to talk of going to the Government House in Umuahia, even though we were senior members of the party; even though somebody like me was Senator in 2007; we never went there because of the way that the previous incumbent scattered everybody. But today, you can see that anytime there is anything that brings us together, everybody goes to show that disunity has now been permanently buried.

The governorship project is capital intensive and more expensive in the Southeast. Are you prepared?
I do not think that running for governor is expensive in the way that people see it. It may be expensive elsewhere but in Abia State, it’s not that expensive. Secondly, running for governor is also a collective thing; it’s not something that one person can do. The funding for whatever you do, you may just find that it is taken care of in different aspects by different people.

This brochure that I have is made by somebody and that is his contribution. This wrist band was done by somebody; people have been doing t-shirts and many other things. I have been very lucky that I have people who believe in the project and they’ve been coming forward and helping me to do all that. I also know that at the end of the day, whatever that will be needed for sustaining the governorship race will be available because I have the commitment of all friends of Abia in the project.

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