Category: Interviews

Prof. Frank Ifeanyi Asogwa is a Professor of Law and the current Dean, Faculty of Law, Enugu State University of Science & Technology, ESUT. He was previously the Head, Department of Public and Private Law, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, UNEC. From 2007-2011, he was the Enugu state Commissioner for Local Government under the government of former Governor Sullivan Chime. In this interview with the magazine, he bared his mind on how the local government system functions in Nigeria and the development cum challenges of Nigeria’s legal system. Dateline: December 7, 2022.

What was it like when you served as Commissioner for Local Government?

I think it was fulfilling, in that I was recruited right from the classroom, I was a Technocrat. Governor Sullivan was happy that I joined his cabinet and I was also happy that I was gaining experience outside of the classroom, and because I wasn’t what one would call a core politician, he gave me the latitude to operate. It was quite challenging because I had to supervise seventeen local government areas and their chairmen were mostly core politicians, elected chairmen playing their politics, although we initially had the caretaker committee chairmen but that was for a brief period of four to five months, after which we conducted local government elections. Part of the challenges stemmed from the fact that political language is not the same thing as academic language but I had to learn fast, yet not whittling down the core values of Sullivan Chime’s administration. Due to my insistence on the application of the rules and provisions of law and doing things the right way, I fell out with some chairmen initially but overtime we got on better. Our insistence on probity and accountability accounted for my commissioning of projects in virtually all the seventeen local governments. With all sense of modesty, I will say that after our tenure, the local governments have not witnessed the avalanche of projects executed by local governments like it was during our time. Almost on a daily basis, I was commissioning projects from one local government to the other. You would be surprised that around 2007 to 2011, there were some communities that hadn’t seen electricity but because Sullivan Chime never tampered with local government funds, these local governments were able to witness monumental projects-electricity, hospitals, roads, court halls and what have you.

The local governments are the closest tier of government to the people. Having formerly served as a commissioner, what bottlenecks do you think have stopped their effectiveness? 

For some time, we have seen protestations by local governments that they should be autonomous and they are simply referring to financial autonomy. Recently, the President of Nigeria accused our governors of stealing, I’m quoting him, local government funds. If you want to be nice, you can say the governors are tampering with local government funds but the President was as brutal as saying governors were stealing local government funds. I will reiterate that in my tenure as Commissioner for Local Government, Sullivan Chime never tampered with local government funds. We had in the state at that time what was called the Economic Planning Commission, I think it’s still in existence, and it was like a meeting ground between the state executive and the local government officials. What the commission did was to look at projects for local governments, prioritize these projects and while the local government will provide 30% of the funding, the state government provides the remaining 70%. That was how so many projects were constructed. So, what the complaint is now is that local governments do not have sufficient funds for projects. I do not know why that complaint should come because money still flows from the Federal to the local governments. If there is any interference midway, I can’t say since I’m no longer a part of the system. As an academic, I do not believe that the local government is a tier of government. There are two tiers of government-Federal government and state government, and that is so because Section 7 of the constitution talks about the local governments being administered by the states, in other words, a system that ensures democratically elected local government must be ensured by the state. The only little problem is that states can’t create more local governments apart from the 774 in existence and that’s why you discover that many states now create what they call development centers and they don’t operate at the same level with local governments. I would say that under Sullivan Chime, we had the golden era of local government administration and I’m happy I was part of that system. Now, when local government chairmen manage to pay salaries of the local government civil servants, they are done but it shouldn’t be so.

Do you think that local government chairmen residing in their local governments have any direct impact on their efficiency? What was obtainable during your time? 

On July 3, 2007, I was sworn in as Commissioner for Local Government and one week after, I gave the same directive that local government chairmen must reside in the respective local governments. It was only obeyed in the breach than in the observance and it impacts negatively on the performance of the local government chairmen. One thing with the local government system which the law wanted to achieve was accessibility. The local government chairmen must be accessible but most of the time, they are not. It is like the Governor of a state living outside his state or the President living outside the country.

How would you advice that local governments be strengthened? 

It’s very easy. My advice is that local governments be granted the autonomy not just on paper but by ensuring that they are financially independent. In other words, grants or local government funds should move straight from the Federal Ministry of Finance to the local governments. There’s this committee called JAAC, Joint Account Allocation Committee, I don’t think the committee is necessary. Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission should be able to determine how much the Federal, State and 774 Local governments should earn and the money should be paid directly into their accounts. If this is done, local governments should be able to function effectively but the fear of state governors is that it is likely to be abused if local government chairmen are given the free hand to manage millions of naira. One other thing that works against the local government system is this idea of governors having caretaker committees or transition chairmen. It is unconstitutional and can’t be justified under a democratic setting that inspite of Section 7 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, that says the system of local governments in Nigeria should be democratic and must be guaranteed at all times, governors appoint local government chairmen. So, it is like a conduit pipe through which some state governors tamper with local government funds because when they appoint someone as a caretaker committee chairman, he takes orders from the one who appointed him which is the governor. In an event that he receives 100 million naira as the monthly allocation, once the local government wage bill, of say 20 million is paid, the balance is usually unaccounted for and spent as the governor directs. So, we will begin to get it right when governors stop appointing caretaker committees and RMAFC begins to pay local government funds directly into local government accounts.

Let’s get to your profession as lawyer. There have also been the argument for the independence of the judiciary. How independent can the judiciary ever be when judges are constitutionally appointed by the Commander in Chief?

You have said it all. It is he who pays the piper that dictates the tune. Talking about judicial independence is like talking about local government autonomy. What they mean is that allocations and budgets of the judiciary should be released to them directly and they should be allowed to operate their budgets by themselves. There was this case decided in 1983 where the governor of a state questioned why the judge he appointed should give a judgment against him. One of the things judicial autonomy will achieve is to make sure that the judiciary is independent of the executive. What is obtainable presently is that a Chief Judge cannot approve the purchase of cars for Judges; he only recommends to the executive who decides whether the Judges deserve new cars or not, and the kind of car they deserve. It is like the judiciary going cap in hand to the executive to beg for funding which shouldn’t be. If this is maintained, it means that the executive will be breathing down the neck of the judiciary and it doesn’t make for autonomy. Some judges will be able to resist that but some won’t.

So, would you advocate for an amendment of the constitution?

Precisely. There should be an amendment of the constitution. When you talk about the three arms of government, each should be complimentary, not superior, to each other, although we should take the word “superior” with a pinch of salt. Presently, the executive appoints the judiciary but if we amend the constitution to empower the judiciary to appoint judges and pay judges from its independent finances, then you will see a very vibrant judiciary. The Bar Association and other law professional bodies should be able to have a say in terms of who becomes a judge. What is obtainable now is that for a judge to be appointed in any of the 36 states, he has to go to Abuja to be interviewed by the National Judicial Council. Then, what is the job of the State Judicial Service Commission if a judge must be interviewed and approved at Abuja, then appointed by the state governor? It makes no sense of the Federal system of government we say we are running, and that is why some critics say we are actually running a Unitary, not a Federal system of government.

Recently, during the commissioning of a project by Governor Wike of Rivers State, the Chief Justice of Nigeria made some comments about the PDP’s G-5 and this led to the call for his resignation. You consider the call an overkill? 

I consider the call an overkill although judges are supposed to be insulated from the everyday politics. We know the evolution of G-5 and how they came to be. However, that somebody is a judge does not prevent him from exercising his constitutional right of freedom of expression. That is his freedom of expression and he has expressed himself in the way and manner he felt he could express himself. It is when a matter goes before him and he becomes biased because the matter is related to G-5 that you can tackle him for not being independent. The constitution does not say that a judge shouldn’t belong to a political party.

(Cuts in) Really?

Of course yes. It merely says that in the discharge of his functions as a judge, he should be impartial and do that without fear or favour to any person. Of course we know that Judges vote and one can’t vote for more than one political party, which means that they have sympathy for one or two political parties. Also, section 40 the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, talks about freedom of assembly including the right to belong to a political party. So, if a judge says he’s a card carrying member of one of the political parties, what is the law to prevent him from being a card carrying member of a political party? Morally, one may say it might be a bit wrong but the law doesn’t say you can’t belong to an assembly. It only says that in the performance of your judicial duties, and in keeping with the judicial oath of impartiality, you must do justice to all manner of people inspite of their political leanings and position in life. The same constitution would have exempted judges if it intended to do so. However in the case of Judges this right must be exercised with utmost caution because of section 36 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, on fair hearing. If a Judge is likely to be biased in a case before him because of his membership of a political party, then such a judge should disqualify himself from presiding over such a matter. It is a moral question as opposed to the legal issue of strict constitutionalism. In America for instance, you have the Democrats and the Republicans. When President Trump was there, he appointed majority of the Supreme Court and Federal Court Judges from those who are loyal to his own party, the Republican Party.

On December 6, 2022, some new wigs were called to the bar and the President of the NBA was absent, citing alleged misconduct against the Chairman of the body of benchers as his reason. Do you see a crack in the leadership of the largest bar in Africa?

The Bar association should be the conscience of the people and if they must play that role effectively, they must be steadfast, outspoken and ensure not to take sides in any matter but look at the justice of the case and that is why we always crave for the rule of law. If there’s an accusation of any wrongdoing against a principal officer in any arm of government, it behooves that person to step aside and let an independent investigation be carried out and determined one way or the other. Unfortunately, we know that in this part of the world, public officials hardly resign. Having said this, we must also not lose sight of the fact that it is a mere allegation of impropriety which hasn’t been investigated and it is only after investigation and the Chairman of the Body of Benchers is tried by a court of competent jurisdiction that you can assign guilt. So, for now, he’s just being tried by the public.

How would you advise that the melee between the NBA and the Body of Benchers be resolved?

The courts are there. The Body of Benchers is not immune from litigation and if the NBA feels strongly about their position, they can go to court and let there be an independent inquiry into it. Aside from that, the Body of Benchers is operating within the law and the NBA is also a body of lawyers recognized by law. In that case, nothing stops arbitration from taking place. Having said these, as a lawyer, I do not think that it augurs well for the legal profession that the highest body, the Body of Benchers, that is saddled with the responsibility of calling new wigs to the bar and the NBA that is saddled with maintaining decorum and finest practice of the bar, are at loggerheads.

The advancement in digitalization world over has been amazing. We have also seen a lot of digital/internet assisted crimes being committed. How do you think the present Nigeria criminal law can expand to accommodate the cyber-criminal law? Will there be challenges?

Law is dynamic, Criminal Law is also dynamic, and we have a Law on Economic crimes and on Cybercrimes but these laws have not repealed the Criminal Code. So, it is just a matter of making sure that you have a kind of symbiotic relationship among all these legislations. As the society evolves and people think more about technology, we must expect that there should also be advancement in crimes. Criminality has gone higher now compared to when people were naïve. Crime has become sophisticated and you need similar sophistication in legislation to be able to tackle it. We have in place the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, at the federal level, and the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, at the state level. The essence of the Law Reform Commission is for constant review and reform of our laws and if this is done overtime, it should be able to take care of these technological advancements and the associated crimes. We have been able to do that in some areas. Section 419 of the criminal code when obtaining by false pretense was at its lowest ebb. When it developed to cybercrime, that offence was taken away and enacted as Advanced fee fraud. It didn’t repeal the offence provided in section 419 of the criminal code but it is now a special offence that can be tried specially.

Hon. William “Billy” Nwoye has served in the United States government in various capacities. He also contested and was elected Member of the City Council in Altadena, Los Angeles. He has been described as first African or Nigerian to be elected in the US and also first to hold such Executive positions in a Governor’s or Deputy Governor’s office in the US. He is a strong supporter of the PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. In this phone interview with The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine’s correspondent, he reiterates his belief that Atiku will win the 2023 elections. Dateline: 22:9:22

Your office in the United States government, what was it about? Was it an elected or appointed office?

My first position in the United States Government was through an appointment in the Executive office of the Lieutenant Governor of California. I served as a Senior Aide in charge of Chambers of Commerce and later managed outreach to the Ecumenical community. I was also privileged to work in the office of the State Governor in California. While in the office of the Governor, I was appointed as Liaison to the Consular Corp. I managed relations between the office of the Governor and over one hundred Consul Generals with offices spread across California.

I contested and was elected as a Member of the City Council in Altadena situated in the County of Los Angeles. I came across a write up that I was the first African or Nigerian to be elected in the US and also first to hold such Executive positions in a Governor or Deputy Governor’s office the US.

The PDP’s presidential primaries have come and gone. How do you rate the exercise? Do you believe Atiku’s emergence has gone down well with a majority of the party hierarchy?

The PDP primary presidential election was the most competitive in recent years. I would say it was intriguing and interesting at the same time. It ended with a victory for Atiku Abubakar and the process that produced Atiku was acceptable to the majority of the leadership of the party hierarchy. Although there are a few exceptions but it is almost common in Nigerian politics to have aggrieved parties in every process. The PDP recognizes this and has necessary mechanisms to address these grievances so that in the end, everyone will be carried along.

How do you react to Atiku picking Okowa as his running mate? It looks like this very act has torn the PDP apart internally

The power to choice a vice presidential candidate lies in the hands of a presidential candidate. A presidential candidate knows who will work with him best. This does not mean that all other options are not outstanding. They are all outstanding but it comes down to the personal choice of the Presidential candidate himself. Governor Okowa is a gentleman governor, he is experienced, loyal and also a presidential material. The choice of Okowa is simply a calculated one. With the change that has happened in our politics these past months, the appropriate thing to do is to use one stone to kill two birds. Okowa is a governor from the state in the south south and he is an Igbo, a tribe that is spoken predominantly by the people of the south east. With his emergence as VP, it would be very easy to appeal to both the people of the south south and the south east at the same time. This is pure political strategy. Aside that, Governor Okowa will make a good Vice President seeing that he is a presidential material himself and have done considerably well in managing Delta State. He also doubles as an experienced legislator. His experience both in the executive and legislature, will be useful to the new government as it seems to navigate the complexities of governance in Nigeria. On whether it has torn the PDP apart, I don’t think so. The PDP is still growing stronger. You can tell by the defections to the party everyday up north and even down south. Yes, there are one or two grievances but I don’t think it has anything to do with the choice of vice presidential candidate anymore.

During the recently held NEC meeting, some reshufflings were made in the party leadership. Obviously, it doesn’t seem like Wike and his camp has been appeased, especially going by their recent decision to pull out of the presidential campaign council and insistence that the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, steps down. Where does this leave the party?

The PDP is one big family. You can see that the party is committed to fairness and carrying everybody along by making efforts to solve all grievances. Conflict resolution is a process. The reshuffling at last Thursday NEC meeting is just a part of the process. The party is still on course to resolving all differences and carrying everyone along and this is what will happen before the elections.

In a big family like PDP guided by strong democratic values, no member is restricted on how they can contribute towards the growth or strengthening of the party. Contributions are not limited to material resources. PDP has the capacity to receive the concerns registered by any member of the family at any point in time. PDP’s current management is not ignorant of one of its guiding principles which states that the management of conflicts is the acid test of maturity. PDP is much matured as a party, stress tested and built to win and built to last. Anyway like I said earlier, the PDP is one big family. The internal mechanisms for peace in the party will ensure that in the end, everyone will be happy. All grievances will be addressed. In the end, the PDP will unite and go to the election ground as one family. Just wait for it.

It would appear that the control of the party has been left in the hands of state governors. Looking at the issue of electronic transmission of votes, can a governor still deliver his state to his party?

This business is a structure business. It is structures that mobilize voters at the grassroots. 90% of the elections are already done before the results will be transmitted. I don’t think the electronic transmission will have much impact on the capacity of governors to deliver their state; in as much as they are still in control of the party’s grassroots structures, they can still deliver their states to their parties.

What are the chances of the PDP winning the next presidential election? What fosters your optimism?

The PDP has the highest chance of winning this election. In fact the PDP will win the election. All the statistics and permutations are in the favor of the party. First is the superiority of the candidate of the party’s vision to all other candidates. Then, it is the fact that Nigerians are tired of the APC and there will be an umbrella wave in many states particularly states in the north. The other party, Labour Party, has no structure anywhere and are not really serious about grassroots politics and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has proposed a government of national unity where every group will be carried along. This gives me hope that everyone will indeed fall in line and work directly or indirectly for the success of the party.

Speaking of the Labour Party presidential candidate, in the 2019 elections he was Atiku’s running mate. His followership appears to be increasing since he left the PDP. Do you not consider him a threat, especially with the belief that he represents a different system and that a majority of online presidential polls tip him as the most widely accepted candidate?

The Labour party is not a threat to the PDP. I have said it earlier that this is a structure game. While I expect the party to pull up a couple of votes in some metropolitan cities, it has not made headway in rural areas and this is where elections are really decided in this country. The candidate of the Labour party will be back to the PDP after this 2023 Elections. Statistically, he can’t win anywhere in the north or west or south. The east is his stronghold and trust me, he is going to be sharing the votes there with the PDP. Elections are not magic. It is a science and a process and unfortunately, the Labour party does not tick any of the serious boxes.

A Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in a time like this in Nigeria, what feeling does it give you as a patriotic citizen?

Religion is a very sensitive issue especially when you look at things that have happened in the last 10-12 years. When you look at the activities of Islamist terrorists, Boko Haram, murderous herdsmen and the nepotistic style of the Buhari regime, you will agree that never has there been religious tensions and divisions and fear of religious domination as we have in Nigeria today. Adopting a Muslim-Muslim ticket is an insult to the sensitivities of Christians in the country both in the north and in the south. This is the more reason why the APC will fail because well-meaning Nigerians will oppose this attempt to completely alienate one of the two largest religions in this country and set this country up for a religious crisis.

Let’s get back to your presidential candidate. What are Atiku’s plans for Nigeria?

Atiku’s plan for Nigeria is well stated in his five point agenda. I dare say this is the most comprehensive plan for this country. Without Unity, there will be no security, without security, there will be no prosperous economy. All his plans are interrelated and connected. Atiku wants to unite Nigerians by giving every group and section a sense of belonging. His experience as VP and head of the national economic council that gave Nigeria its highest GDP growth since 1999, will be useful as he will replicate that feat and even more this time as President. Atiku will unlock the power of the private sector and engineer an economic miracle through that in this country. He will invest in the education sector and he is the only candidate who believes in restructuring. All these put together will get Nigeria working again.

At least, four major presidential candidates have emerged. Who do you think can fix this country?

We still have not got the man who we think will fix Nigeria. What we have on the ground is not good enough.

Even Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP?

How can you look at Tinubu and Atiku, and say they are the ones who will fix this country? They have been on the ground for the last 25, 30 years and so on. What have they done? What are we looking for? I was the one who encouraged a technocrat to join the consensus. You probably saw Dr Mohammed Hayatu Deen on the group of people going around looking for a consensus arrangement in the PDP. I was one of those who encouraged him. We haven’t got the materials on the ground, unfortunately.

Given what we have who would you ask Nigerians to vote for?

It is still not too late. Within the next seven months we can always fish out some people who will come and fix the country for us. We can.

Were you surprised that Tinubu emerged the candidate of APC?

Nothing should surprise me about Nigeria. It just shows you how bad things are.

So what factors did you think played a role for his emergence?

It is just the politicians who would just want to pick power easily if they have nothing to contribute to the country. It’s purely a connivance of politicians who sat down and said we want power and therefore, we should organise ourselves to see somebody who must get it. That is what they have done in the two cases of Atiku and Tinubu.

We have a younger person in the race now and there is so much frenzy about him. So, what do you think is going to happen to Peter Obi?

Peter Obi, unfortunately, I don’t know him that much. He is a young man. He was a governor of Anambra State and he is a businessman now but this is not the way to approach it. If we were really serious about the problem facing this country, the approach should not have been an issue of where are we going to put a president or who gets what, which section of the country gets what and so on.

The elders are at fault too because I have been talking to my peers, my colleagues. They know my feelings on some of these things that we haven’t done, what we are supposed to do. No matter how painful, the truth must always come out from elders. But the elders have relaxed themselves in the crowd of irresponsible political classes and they are just shouting like all the politicians are shouting during campaigns and so on.

So, there is a difference between the elders now and the politicians on ground as far as I am concerned. But what I thought the elders should do is to agree that this country needs real fixing and therefore, we should sit down and seriously look at all the issues and objectively, honestly, and truthfully agree that these are the issues facing Nigeria; not the issues facing North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-East, South-West or South-South.

What are the issues facing Nigeria? These are the responsibilities that elders should sit down and and agree that these are the problems and what are we going to do to solve them from the various fronts, political and so on.

So, by the time we agree to approach it this way, we won’t be talking of where the presidency should go or who will be the president. We will be talking about who is qualified to take it. There are so many people who will qualify but we have to take a decision as to why this one should do it at this particular point in time. But unfortunately, we got lost in emotions, tribalism, religious sentiments and so on and that is why we are where we are now and I can’t see how we are going to get out of this.

Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is in the race too…

He is a good young man. He started his politics with us and he is quite smart. No doubt about it. Of course, he had some of these debts that he acquired or he must have picked in other political formations and so on but clearly he is one of the bright ones around. No doubt about that.

Would you advocate Obi-Kwankwaso ticket?

No. I am not going to advocate anything from a distance. Each time, before I make a pronouncement as to whether it is A, B, C or D I get all my information right. So far, I don’t have that kind of information that will make it possible for me to say this is a good pair to deal with the Nigerian crises because Nigeria is in crises.

This is something that we have to accept first: The Nigeria we have and want to keep because I assume that we want to keep Nigeria. We must sit down and say what’s wrong and this is the way to go about it. But the way we have gone about it with the kind of riff-raff politics is wrong. How you can say 750 people, one per local government will decide who will be the president of Nigeria? How? How can you say this is a democracy that is participatory?

That is the delegate system?

This is something that we have tried to avoid. The delegate system produces nothing but godfatherism, irresponsible mentorship and so on and so forth. We did not have participatory democracy. We have tried to say the INEC or National Assembly should introduce option A4 like we had in my days when I contested in the SDP and won in Kaduna. No matter how rich you are, you can’t go out and get N100 million, N20 million or N30 million. You can see the corruption. How can you pick a form for N100 million? For what, is it not outrageous selling nomination forms for N100 million?

I mean this is clear sign of irresponsible corruption because somebody whose total legitimate salary in four years, assuming he is president, will be, I think, N34 million. Why should you pick a form for N100 million and you are not even sure you are going to win the election? So, these are signs that the entire political system is corrupt and unless we go back to the drawing board and do the correct things that will make Nigerians participate in the process, we cannot ensure emergence of good candidates from the grassroots. How can you say it is only one person from my local government who can represent me to elect the president? How?

What do you think made seven aspirants to step down for Tinubu on the day of APC presidential primaries?

It is all corruption. The system is corrupt. That exercise is a reflection of the enormous corruption that is in our system. Corruption is not necessarily exchange of naira and kobo or dollar. Corruption means you are not telling the truth in your mind. You are not really judging things fairly and objectively and so on. If you are looking for a good man, how could you compare X and Y and you know that there is a difference between X and Y but you went to the wrong place? So, it is all part of corruption in the system and until we go back to the drawing board, I cannot see how we are going to get out of this mess.

Who do you think the North will queue behind- Atiku, Tinubu, Kwankwaso or Peter Obi? Will there be block votes from the North?

No, I wouldn’t know because I am not in the process. Block votes for what, and for who? If I had a position in terms of the quality of the party or candidate, I would have thrown my opinion in terms of yes we should vote this way or vote another way, then the issue of block voting or whatever voting perhaps will come to my mind. But as I told you I won’t throw my weight anywhere.

So you are not supporting anybody?

I am not supporting anybody out of what is on ground.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has been on strike for several months now. You were a VC of ABU at a time. How would you respond to this?

I was at one time the secretary of Nigeria Teachers Union. It wasn’t ASUU at the time but I was in the union activities years ago and I was also involved with ASUU when I was VC of ABU and when I was the chairman of the university council.

It is very sad that the universities are shutdown for a long time. And the fault is that of the government. Nobody says it is this government. This agreement was not signed by this government. It was signed by the previous government and the mistake was done by those who signed those agreements.

As a former VC, and former teacher, I couldn’t have appended my signature on the agreement the way it was.

It is very sad that the universities are closed but the fault should be shared between the government and university lecturers.

Let’s look at the economy. One dollar is exchanging for about N600 at the moment. How do we get out of this?

Let me tell you. It is a true story in which I was involved. In 1985/86, there was a debate in Nigeria about IMF loan and our colleagues in the universities; I remember in particular my friend, Bala Usman and others, argued against Nigeria taking IMF loan with the conditionalities that were attached.

The first demand from those conditions was that Nigeria should devalue its currency. And that particular time, One naira was equivalent to one dollar 40 cents, one naira, 20 kobo was equivalent to one pound sterling. Now when this devaluation started, it started at N5 to $1. I called a dinner in the VC’s lodge and the main people I called were from the social sciences – economists, sociologists, etc.

After the dinner, I jokingly said to them: ‘This food is not free, I wanted to ask you a question and that is why I set up this dinner. What is the meaning of this devaluation and what is the meaning of this structural adjustment programme? As a VC, I am expecting some answers from you. I am an agronomist. I am a farmer and that is why I called you economists to come and explain to me what is all this

One professor of economics, a friend of mine, he is still alive, said, ‘professor, this process that has started, I will not tell you where it will end. I will only be able to tell you the beginning of almost total destruction of the Nigerian economic system starting with its currency.’

You remember I said one naira equalled to one dollar and 40 cents, at that particular time. Today, as we speak, I understand now that one dollar is about N600. Just try and imagine this in your mind. And you don’t produce anything in Nigeria to sell, except your crude oil, much of it which is stolen. You are not selling anything. You are not creating things for which you receive payment from outside but you buy virtually everything. Everything you see shining on the road today, it is imported. So you have to have all the naira that will translate into the dollar and then you go and buy whatever it is that you are buying. So, with this in your mind, if you are going to do the calculation correctly, you can almost reach the conclusion that your economy is down and only God knows when it will ever rise again.

Who will you vote, who are you voting for if I may ask you?

Why do I have to vote if I know that there isn’t a mechanic that will fix my car, my broken down car? Why should I bother myself?

If you are to advise Nigerians, what would you tell them?

What I will tell Nigerians is that we are in trouble and that the way to solve this is for Nigerians to agree that Nigeria is in trouble and that the machinery on ground today is not appropriate and we have to go back to the drawing board to see what we can do to save Nigeria.

I believe the politicians have failed. My belief is that the political class had over the years failed to produce the kind of quality leadership that we require to deal with the problems of Nigeria and which means that we should look for quality materials not necessarily within the mainstream political parties, from outside and there have been a lot of discussions in Nigeria recently about technocrats.

One of the things that I would have preferred is to search from array of technocrats and for Nigerians to agree that one of the technocrats can do it and therefore should be put on one of the political platforms for Nigerians to rally round and elect him. I believe that we have not had a good array of politicians. With due respect to some of them that one saw contesting I am not being selfish here by referring to certain people like Prof. Osinbajo. He is a quality material but the political system will not tolerate him.

On comments that by running against Tinubu, Osinbajo betrayed the trust, loyalty and the friendship of the former Governor of Lagos State

What has it got to do with what Nigeria wants? Is he a slave to the former governor? I don’t understand this kind of analogy. Professor Osinbajo is a human being entirely on his own merit and his accomplishments are entirely his own and people should assess him as such. Those who needed his services asked for his services. When he served as the attorney general of Lagos State, he was invited by the political system of Lagos State. This is the way I look at it and when he became vice president, I understand it was the president/party that identified him as qualified and competent enough to be the vice president in the current dispensation. And why shouldn’t he be because he served under XYZ?.

(Vanguard)

David Okelue Ugwunta, Ph.D., is the Enugu State Honorable Commissioner for Budget and Planning. In this interview, he explains the budgeting process, measuring the efficiency of a budget and other budget allied issues. Dateline: March 10, 2022.

There seem to be so much politics around the preparation and presentation of budgets, nationally & at the state level. Why is this so?

Before a budget is prepared, the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) is considered and approved by the State House of Assembly. Safe to say that the MTEF is drawn from the Medium-Term Sector Strategy (MTSS). Also, in preparing the MTEF we take a look at the performances and utilisations of previous allocations to ministries, departments and agencies, as well as projections for revenue. The MTEF gives an idea of what the total budget size will be. Once the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) is considered and approved by the State House of Assembly, we issue call circulars to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government. The Call Circulars contain ceilings of a specified capital expenditure allocations, information on revenue projections and recurrent expenditure expected to be provided for in the budget by MDAs. In preparing the budget, there is always a specific allocation. This is because, for instance, MDAs just like when an individual is asked to write down what they want to do, their list might exceed what could be budgeted, but when a specific amount is allocated, MDAs will make provisions for activities based on the allocated amount. This helps in prioritising the items in the budget knowing that there is a ceiling based on a specified amount allocated. It’s now left for the MDAs to stipulate projects they want to embark on and then submit to the Ministry of Budget and Planning for collation and discussion.

We also organise Bilateral Discussions, where Management (Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, their Directors of Administration, Accounts, Planning Research and Statistics) of MDAs and the State Budget Committee headed by the Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Budget and Planning and consisting of the heads of Ministry of Finance & Economic Development, the State Economic Planning Commission, the Office of Accountant General and the State Internal Revenue Service come together to discuss MDAs submissions. In the course of the Bilateral Discussions, we find out if they’re providing for all staff of their Ministries and their promotions as at when due, we can take a look at their capital provision and also make sure that pending/ongoing projects come first before the new ones to ensure that ongoing projects are completed. We also look at their revenue projections in the case of revenue earning MDAs. At the end of the Bilateral Discussions, there is an agreement and the MDAs signs off on it. After which the Ministry of Budget and Planning then collates the submissions and the proposed budget is presented to the State Executive Council by the Hon. Commissioner for Budget and Planning where the submissions will be ratified and the Governor then presents to the House of Assembly. At the House of Assembly, Committees of the House will also invite MDAs and ask them relevant questions pertaining to their budgetary provisions. After being contented with the provisions the House can then pass the budget and returned to the Governor for his assent after which it then becomes a law.

So, I have no knowledge of the influence of politics in budget preparation, well unless you are referring to the national budget and on which I can’t talk on. I’m only aware that the Governor is very particular about the development of the state and that he tries to ensure that projects are earmarked for the 3 Senatorial zones in the State depending on priorities and policies. For instance, in the 2022 budget there is a one billion naira provision for interventions in road for each of the 3 Senatorial zones aside from specific projects in the budget. The essence of this provision is in case an emergency comes up, it can be attended to from it.

Do you think that the public fully understand the importance of the budgets and that they participate well enough in its preparation?

In as much we can say that citizens understand the role of budget in governance, however a lot still needs to be done because in most cases, people misconstrue budgeting and they feel that once a budget is prepared, passed and signed into law, it’s as good as implemented, but in most cases, there is a very huge diverse between budget preparation and implementation. For instance, when we provided a budget of 186 billion naira in 2022, it doesn’t mean that the 186 billion naira is sitting in a bank vault waiting to be disbursed.

The question is, what comes in every month from the revenue sources?
Firstly we talk about the internally generated revenue, that is the taxes and other payments the state government generate from the state, the allocation from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee, and then the capital receipts (debt/grants) aspect of it. So, you can now see that what you get is what you spend on a daily and monthly basis and that’s why we draw a cash management policy to make sure we track how much we’ve realised and how it will be expended around recurrent and capital expenditures. In a month for instance, we pay salaries, we give subventions to subventable agencies because they require it. Once that is done, we provide overheads of MDAs, the remaining funds are usually used to fund the execution of capital projects. Because Enugu state government believes in the welfare of the citizens and in respect to welfare, the workers in the state need to be paid first, and of course the state has maintained continuous payment of salaries in line with the latest minimum wage even when other states are revising their minimum wage. As we speak, the salaries of all civil servants in the state for the month of February have been paid and projects are also ongoing.

This kind of interaction (referring to the interview) is also important so that the public can understand more about budget processes and that not all items provided for in the budget may be implemented at the end of the fiscal period. Budget implementation is also subject to availability of resources / fund and of course the government have good intentions of implementing any item in the budget, but because all the resources are not available, government begins to prioritize the items in the budget and attend to the more pressing ones. I think there is still need for more education so that the people, the citizens can understand. We do our best to carry the people along which is why throughout the budget processes, we engage the citizens. Asides from the daily engagements where people walk into the ministry/budget office with questions regarding budget and the random questions on the social media,
we have provisions for citizens’ engagements in the budget processes. During the budget preparation “citizens’ engagement” we reached out to stakeholders cutting across Traditional rulers, President Generals of town unions, leaders of religious and faith based organisations, youth organisations, civil society organisations and others in a town hall meeting, then we get their inputs into the budget, because there is also what we call the citizens nominated project, where citizens suggest projects they want the Government to handle. For examples the reconstruction of Agbani road going on right now was suggested by citizens that participated in the last citizens’ engagement in Nike Lake Hotel. The construction of the flyover at T-junction Abakpa was a citizens’ nominated project and many more. So, this Government listens to citizens.

The Government of Enugu State led by Rt. Hon. Dr Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, is committed to carrying his citizens along throughout the budget processes. Due to the bulky nature of the budget document which is about 300 to 400 pages, citizens find it difficult to go through the document page by page, so, we now streamline it to produce a “citizens budget” which is more of a pictorial presentation of where funds are expected to be generated from and what the funds will be used for. There is also the quarterly budget implementation report as well as the citizens accountability report which shows what item have been implemented and achieved at the end of the fiscal period. These are ways in which we carry citizens along and let them participate in budget process. Irrespective of this, I still feel there is need to engage the citizens continuously and more because the population grow every day and it is difficult to cover the entire population that are interested in participating in the budget process at a single or multiple engagements.

Are there issues to be worried about in the 2022 budget, either at the state or national level?

The major challenge in the preparation and implementation of budgets at both the national and state level is the unavailability of needed resources/funding and the 2022 budget may face it. This is the reason for percentage performance in budgeting. For instance, the 2020 budget had 72% performance, meaning that out of the 146 billion earmarked for 2020, only 112 billion was achieved. The Government didn’t achieve100% of the budget because of lack of or lean resources. If the resources were available, we could strive to implement the budget 100%.

Can you summarize the present budget Enugu State is running and how Enugu’s budget has fared so far, especially since you assumed office?

It’s early to assess the 2022 budget, because this is just the 3rd month, almost the end of the first quarter of 2022.

However, we produce quarterly budget implementation report, whereby we sum up and present all inflows into the state and then all outflows in terms of expenditure by the end of each quarter. It’s only when we’re able to do that, we can now attach a percentage to what we call budget performance. We do the budget implementation report every quarter then we do the final wrap up in the fourth quarter which now gives us an idea of how the budget is faring. So far, the state government is implementing the budget. The state government has been paying salaries as at when due in terms of personnel, the State Government has also been providing resources for the day to day running of the offices. Now capital projects are also ongoing. The capital projects that we procured since last year including Agbani road project that’s been reconstructed currently, the flyover at T-junction Abakpa Nike, work is currently ongoing at these sites, the remodelling of old government lodge, the Nsukka Stadium, the cottage hospitals and others. New projects have also been awarded, the State Government is going to build additional type 3 hospitals, at Aninri, Awgu and another at Uzo-uwani LGAs.

How does the Ministry plan on using the 2022 annual budget to implement poverty reduction strategies, employment generation and wealth creation?

Well, this is part of the 8-point Agenda of Governor Ugwuanyi’s Administration and the government is interested in Poverty Reduction. The Government doesn’t deal with the citizens directly, there are agencies of government established for representing the government in these areas. These agencies include the Ministry for Human Capital Development and Poverty Reduction, having their functions and activities in respect to addressing the issue of poverty and achieving its reduction, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Centre, having programmes and policies on poverty reduction, support to emerging SMEs and youth employment, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of gender and social development, Ministry of Agriculture amongst others. These government agencies are saddled with responsibilities of implementing programmes and projects that will directly affect the youth, the poor and the vulnerable.

Now the NG-CARES which means Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus, is running concurrently across the 36 States of the Federation and Enugu State is part of it. The NG-CARES have delivery platforms and result areas which addresses the poor and vulnerable and helps them recover. The 3 delivery platforms of the State include, The FADAMA, The Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Centre and The Community and Social Development Agency. NG-CARES is a World Bank Assisted Program aimed at helping states and citizens recover from the negative consequences of Covid-19 and Enugu State is benefitting, so we’re at the fore front of tackling the issues of poverty reduction to the best ability of the State.

This year’s budget is at least 9.9% higher than last year’s budget. One wonders what the reasons are.

The reason is simple. Of course, you know there is inflation, and the exchange rate and prices of goods in the market are no longer the same. A project that was worth one million last 2 or 3 years may cost 1.2 million naira or more to execute right now. Secondly this government is winding down, the tenure is almost coming to an end, so the government is interested in completing all ongoing projects and making a mark, this is the reason the budget is titled Budget of Sustained Growth and Consolidation. Now government is thinking of sustaining the growth recorded in previous years and then consolidating on what been achieved, hence the 9.9% increase in this year’s budget. Enugu state government also intends to do more programs and projects and that’s why the capital budget is at about 115 billion naira. This is because the government is interested in finishing the construction of ESUT College of Medicine at Igboano, equipping it and ensuring that it’s set up and academic activities commence there this year. The water sector will be getting a lot of boost. The government is at the verge of delivering the 9th Mile crash program, which has 8 boreholes that will be powered by Solar. It is already functional, we’re just at the verge of finishing them and connecting them to the supply into the city.  The 3rd National Urban Water Sector Reform Project is also on. These are strategic areas which the government wants to deliver on. Construction of roads both urban and rural. The NG-CARES is also among the list of projects the government is also committed to. These are part of the reasons why there is the increase in the budget. Government also intends to operationalize the Type 3 hospitals built, 7 of them have been completed in seven locations including Udenu, Ezeagu, Awgu is a cottage Hospital with isolation wing, Igbo-etiti, Isiuzo, Nkanu East, and then about two other Locations. In a bid to operationalize them, the government will have to make investments in recruitment of staff and relevant skills that will work there as well as recruitment in other sectors of the state economy. These are part of the things that will increase the need of Government. For instance, the recurrent expenditure of the last budget (2021) was about 68billion but this year, it’s 71billion. Personnel expenditure was about 28billion as of then but this year it’s 31billion.

When the state expenditure and income are placed against each other, what progress would you say the state made the previous year?

We are still waiting for the office of the Accountant General to publish the Audited Financial Statements, which will reflect the revenue and expenditure of the State in 2021. It’s only when the audited financial statement is published that we can know the level of performance and progress in terms of percentage. But for the year of 2020, the budget performance percentage was 72%, in 2019 the performance percentage was 80%.

There are speculations that some projects contained in some past budgets of Enugu State didn’t see the light of the day. Were the budgeted funds returned?

Funds to implement the budgets are not given in advance. Like I said earlier, in 2020, 72% of the budget was achieved, about 28% wasn’t achieved. Funds are not dished out in advance; we implement as we generate funds so, the question of returning funds doesn’t come in here. This is called Cashbacking of expenditure. Any project procured by this administration is paid for. When contracts are given, the government pays as the contractor gains mileage in execution. The government provide funds based on activities, the budget and the spending are activity based. It’s not a situation of excess funds or unutilised funds. If for instance the Ministry of works is ready to start the construction of a particular road and the Executive Council approves 100million, the contractor mobilises to site. The government can give initial advanced payment to the contractor, about 20% of the approved funds to start the project, no other funds are given to the contractor until he has finished utilising the funds that have been given to him and he gains some mileage in implementing the project, after that he will generate certificate based on the activities carried out on the project. The Ministry will supervise it and then the Government will pay. The budget implementation is purely activity based, we monitor activities and implementation and then pay.

Seeing that Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration terminates on May 29, 2023, will he pass another budget for 2023 or will that be the duty of the next administration?

Yes of course, he will pass a budget for 2023, it’s an annual activity. But whatever budget he passes will not be fully implemented by him. Government is a continuum, whoever succeeds him starts with the same budget, perhaps midway into the new administration, his successor can now revise the budget, depending on his own priorities. Whatever budget passed in 2023, the Governor will try to implement as much as he can and time permits before he leaves the office, so whomever comes in will continue with that Budget.

How does the Ministry intend to improve the funding of some sectors?

There are standards, the United Nations have standards when it comes to most of these thematic areas that are in the social sector, like education, health, gender issues, youth and sports development and all that. As a State we try to match those standards in budgetary allocation and funding.

So far have you been successful with matching those standards?

Well, we do our best. Of course, no implementation is 100%. In education, basic, secondary and tertiary education, the government have been doing so much. This government has constructed and reconstructed about 1,355 classroom blocks with instructional and learning materials in various primary and secondary schools across the 17 Local Government Areas of the state that were dilapidated in the past, like the Ekulu Primary School as well as recruitment of thousands of teachers. We support the state-owned tertiary institutions IMT, ESUT College of Education, ESUT, Enugu State Polytechnic Iwollo. This Government is known for making huge investments in critical infrastructures in the social sector, education and health, of course when people are healthy, they can fend for themselves, when people are educated, they can gain employment, become entrepreneurs etc. We take such investments serious.

The mandate of Nkanu East Consultative Forum is to ask our brothers and sisters to support Nkanu East to produce the Governor of Enugu State in 2023- Bart Nnaji

It is difficult to talk about Nigeria’s power sector development and science without mentioning Professor Bart O. Nnaji. Professor Bart O. Nnaji is Chairman/CEO, Geometric Power Limited, the first indigenous private sector power company in Nigeria. He championed the process of power reform and reform in the science and technology ministry, not to mention the recent takeover of power in Aba by his company. Our correspondent had an exclusive chat with him on issues from science, power, to politics. Dateline: March 19, 2022.

You were Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Science & Technology in 1993 and later Minister for Power. What was it like as a Minister in both Ministries?

As the Minister for Science and Technology, I was there for a short time. Before I came on board, the Ministry had been abolished because in the past, the government didn’t know much about what the ministry of science and technology was about. When I came on board there was only a decree to re-set up the Ministry, then I started what is now known as the Ministry for Science and technology from my hotel room, and put together some of the agencies already scattered; some to health, some to education, some to agriculture and the presidency. I gathered them together, and that was it.

I got an office in the Federal Secretariat and set it going. The critical thing was to educate my colleagues and the cabinet about what the ministry was supposed to be. It is supposed to be an institution that does research in science and technology, and the commercial products will become industries. That’s it. There used to miss the connection as it concerns this, but I am happy that since then, this has not been an issue, the Ministry has never been abolished again.

In the Ministry of Power, I came on board, when the government was doing power reform, the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act (ESPRA), but the Act was more on the shelf than in action, except for the regulatory commission, the electricity regulatory commission. It was on our shoulders to implement the Act. In order to implement it, we had to actually have a plan. With the plan, part of the implementation is what we now know as privatization. It means that the private sector would handle the generation and distribution part while the government handles the transmission part of it. This didn’t mean that transmission couldn’t be concessioned and still driven by the government. I felt that before the reforms, we needed to ensure that power continued to improve so that the reforms would make sense to people. So, at that time, we made sure that power improved, that then some parts of the country could attest to two weeks of uninterrupted power.

That was a big improvement for us, and if things continued that way, with a plan to roll power to about 100,000 Megawatts, and to attract investors, things would have been better, But, for now, things are rough for that.

There were issues around your exit, some said you resigned, some said you were sacked. What actually happened?

I resigned. If anybody prefers to call it a sack, it’s up to the person. Few days after my resignation, the President was in Onitsha and he asked “What did our son do?” He said “Prof. Nnaji committed no offense”. You don’t sack somebody that committed no offense. That’s it. President Jonathan knows the truth and I do, but there are people who like to say things they like.

Geometric Power had a long battle. Perhaps you could you give us a hint

There have been too many battles Geometric Power had to fight. Geometric Power is the first private power company in Nigeria. So, you can imagine how it was. The good thing then was that the President, Olusegun Obasanjo, then saw the importance of the private sector. The EPSRA made it possible for private power companies to exist but at the time, there was none. First, there was the NEPA battle before setting up Geometric Power. We had to get a model; to build a power plant or to build a power plant with distribution. We chose the model that would work, which was, acquire an electricity territory, get a power plant embedded in that territory, generate electricity and supply to that territory. That way, the territory won’t rely on the national grid. This way, you remove the sensitivity of the national grid transmission, instead you rely on this distribution infrastructure. But you have to improve on it because the Nigerian distribution infrastructure was dilapidated. We needed to improve on that by investing heavily on that, to make it more stable, more reliable, and improve on the connecting system and the systems to deal with the commercial part of the business. We also had to improve the technical part of the system. You can’t have a system where the response time is so elongated. If someone’s transformer blows, you don’t respond quickly, that’s a problem. We need to be able to respond, to fix power lines fast. You need to use the appropriate cables, so you won’t have issues with the sub-transmission infrastructure. This was the model we designed, but it required that the government should concession or sell a territory to you. If this is done, you can now ask the government to give you what is called Sovereign Guaranty. All the people that would build a power plant would need the sovereign guarantee because of the enormity of the cost of building a power plant. At the rate of $1.3million per megawatt at that time, now it’s probably $1.5million or so. It’s quite expensive as you can see.

As we were doing this, about 90-95% completed, the distribution infrastructure, power plants, power lines, sub stations, gas transmissions pipelines, 27 km; we built all these, when suddenly the territory that was concessioned to us which said we should buy the territory from the government if we had privatization, got sold to someone else after we had invested $500million. So, we went to court and after a lengthy battle, we won in court. The people who bought the territory refused to move, until the new government mediated and we were able to get back the territory, and had to pay back what those who bought the territory paid to the government, plus penalties.

With the progress made by Geometric Powers, what’s the implication as your company takes over electricity provision for Aba? Any plans for the entire southeast?

Well, in terms of distribution, electricity is somewhat territorial. So, a distribution company operates within an electricity district zone. You can’t allow people into your zone and you can’t enter other zones. For now, what we have is Aba, which has 9 out of the 17 local governments in Abia state, about 4,000 square kilometers of land space. We supply electricity like any other disco within that region. We have mandated ourselves to make our supply reliable, to achieve a 24/7 electricity supply. This is what Aba should expect. We are not going outside of the territory unless the people who own the rest of the distribution infrastructure agree to work with us. Our connection with the transmission company is to import power if we need it and to export power if we have an excess. Our district is autonomous.

On the possibility of Geometric Powers distributing energy to the entire southeast, we set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Uma Power. We have a partnership with a US company, General Electric Company, to build bigger power stations and we have completed the development. The development takes years to do and it costs millions of dollars. However, at some point, the government suspended signing power purchase agreements with all companies. The SPV was to build a 1080 megawatts power plant, with the intention to be a national grid power.

Let’s look at Nkanu East Consultative Forum which you lead. What is it about?

First, let me begin with zoning. The zoning arrangement has been good for the state because it has maintained relative peace and what the governor said is that he wants to sustain that. The previous governor did the same. It started from Enugu East zone, went to Enugu West and now in Enugu North zone. It is about returning to the Enugu East senatorial zone. Now, we in Nkanu East believe that since it’s returning to our zone, we should ask our brothers and sisters in other local governments, key stakeholders in Enugu State, to support us. The mandate of Nkanu East Consultative Forum is to ask our brothers and sisters to support Nkanu East to produce the Governor of Enugu State in 2023.

Politics is about consultations, communication and appealing to people who have the capacity to do so and that’s what Nkanu East Consultative Forum is about.

Constitutionally, every other local government in Enugu East Senatorial Zone has the right to field candidates, including Enugu West and Enugu North senatorial zones, but it’s just about fairness. In the course of our consultations, prominent leaders of the local governments making up Enugu East zone are convinced that Nkanu East should be supported. It is believed that Nkanu East, Enugu East and Isiuzo are to be considered more in terms of fairness. So, we from Nkanu East are saying that we should be supported. That’s just it.

Recently, after Sen. Ike Ekweremadu declared his guber ambition, we saw Enugu West zone leaders provide a document (minutes of a meeting) where zoning was said to be endorsed in 2013. Now, Ekweremadu’s group have denied the authenticity of the document and have gone ahead to argue that if zoning is claimed to have started in 2013, what produced the 2 past governors of Enugu State? Do you not think that they have a point?

Well, for me, I prefer to be practical. We have had movement of the position of the Chief Executive of the state from one zone to another. Even if it had not been written, you can now see the practical aspect in the rotation.

Those who have run the state like former Governors Sullivan, Nwodo, Chimaroke, have spoken on this and what they have said can be used to check the facts. I do not want to get into arguments or debate about signing or not signing because I wasn’t part of the signing but what I know is that zoning is very good for the state. At the national level, when it looks like the North has held on to power beyond what it should be, we say it’s not fair, right? So, we are saying that this rotational arrangement works even in towns for production of traditional rulers where there’s no inheritance of the traditional rulership.

In clear terms, are you running for Governor of Enugu State in 2023?

Did I say anything like that? I have not said anything like that to anybody but I have been going around saying “support Nkanu East” and in no place did we mention the name of any candidate. We want somebody from Nkanu East to become the Governor. When it comes to Nkanu East, we will sort it out. Do not try to pin me down to a particular position. My answers are fair.

His Royal Majesty Igwe Kenneth Onyeneke Orizu III is the Obi of Otolo and Igwe of Nnewi. We were at his Nnewi palace some weeks after his 95th birthday and he bared his mind on issues. The excerpts are below.

PFM: You are the 20th Obi of Otolo and Igwe of Nnewi and you have ruled for 58 years. One begins to wonder, how long has Nnewi existed?

Igwe Orizu: (Giggles) Well Nnewi has been in existence since the 13th-14th century. Nnewi was a person who also ruled like I am ruling now. He lived in the wild (Agu) beside Nkwo at a place called Oyo. He had four children named Otolo, Uruagu, Umudim and Nnewichi. He lived for years and died, so his first son, Otolo, replaced him. From Otolo to Enem, to Nnofo and so on, up to Ezechukwu, Ezeukwu, Iwuchukwu, Eze Ugwuonyiamba; he is Orizu I. Orizu I began ruling Nnewi during the advent of the Whiteman. At his transition, Orizu II took over in 1925 and transited in 1962. After the traditional one-year gap, I took over leadership of my people in 1963 when the then Premier of the defunct Eastern region, Dr. M.I Okpara held sway. The exact day I ascended the throne of my Fathers, ndi Nnewi gathered from all parts of the country and presented me to Dr. M.I Okpara. It is important at this point to emphasize that the Kingship of Nnewi is never contested, it is purely hereditary. Upon the transition of a reigning King, his first son takes over after the performance of the necessary traditional rites.

PFM: Your Majesty, you just said that the Kingship of Nnewi is never contested but hereditary. We want to know, are there certain things that would happen and the stool will depart from a particular lineage? Has such thing ever occurred in the history of Nnewi since the 13th century?

Igwe Orizu: Kingship in Nnewi is from Father to Son except where the son misbehaves. Where there is such misbehavior, the stool leaves the first son and goes to his younger brother. Such things that amount to misbehavior include stealing; there was a particular generation in Nnewi where the first son who was to take over from his father had an affair with his father’s wife, that was an abomination so he lost the throne because of that. Anyone who is to take over must conduct himself properly knowing that eventually the stool will become his. Another time such happened was during the time of Enem to Nnofo. Enem was a hunter. There was this festival called ikwu aro. In those days during the festival, it used to be more celebrated than even the Christmas celebration. As part of the preparations, the walls of compounds in Nnewi were always decorated with uli. Before the festival commences properly, we go to Nkwo Edo to worship and consult with our gods about four times and the visit was to be made with the ofo. When the first visit was made, Enem who represented Otolo was absent because he was on his hunting expedition but Nnofo was present. It was agreed that the visit be rescheduled and on the rescheduled day, Enem was still absent so the three sub heads told Nnofo to inform Enem to be present in the next rescheduled day else they would take a decision. Nnofo informed Enem of the decision of Nnewi and Enem handed over the ofo used in communicating with Edo to Nnofo and asked him to represent him. When Nnofo arrived with the ofo, that was how the stool left Enem’s lineage. Another was when Ezeaya was king; he had sons but the problem was that his sons were so aggressive and violent. He couldn’t imagine any of them leading Nnewi and because he didn’t what that, he presented the son of Ezenwa his brother to Nnewi as the person to rule after him.

PFM: Our findings revealed that at a point in your Kingship, you allowed your people choose your title to avert a crisis. Tell us about this crisis.

Igwe Orizu: It was in 1996. Like I earlier said, Nnewi had four children and all the Kings of these four communities begotten by Nnewi were all referred to as “Obi”. At a time, there was an organization formed called Youth League and they fomented the crisis, they wanted the thing to be rotated but it wasn’t possible. My people didn’t want me to answer Obi as the other Kings so they suggested the title Igwe, to make our throne different from others. At that time, the title wasn’t common so it was unique to us, although the government later adopted it as a title for all traditional rulers.

PFM: When you abolished the Osu Caste System, was it just a verbal exercise? What gave you the push and how effective has it been in practice?

Igwe Orizu: I abolished the Caste system because in times past, those called Osu were feared and abhorred. No one dared do anything or relate with them, you couldn’t sleep on the same mat, walk, sit or eat with an Osu. Come to think of it, no one was born as an Osu, it was a creation of circumstance owing to the fact that these persons were maltreated by fellow human beings and when they could no longer endure it, they approached their shrine, took nzu in their mouth and dedicated themselves to the deity of the shrine. From that point, anyone who touched them had the deity to contend with. Now, majority are Christians and when you go to churches, you find out that the freeborn and the osu sits together. Some womanizers pretend to avoid the osu during the day but at night, they go to their chambers. After looking at all these, it didn’t make sense to me to sustain the Caste system so we decided to abolish it. On its effectiveness, it was widely accepted and effective.

PFM: At some point, you began to discourage the waste of resources during funerals and traditional marriages. People believe that is tampering with the age long tradition of the Igbo people.

 

Igwe Orizu: Well, that law is good and acceptable. If you have made money, there are so many ways to use it to develop your people and community, not to throw it lavishly. There are still so many persons who need to go to school. You can choose to sponsor such persons up to the university level. Ideally, the death of a loved one ought to be a painful occasion, requiring solitude, introspection and self-examination. It shouldn’t be a time to show that you have made money.

PFM: Nnewi is home to the largest number of Billionaires. What exactly is responsible for the business acumen of the average Nnewi man?

Igwe Orizu: I think we have to ask our God who created us that way. People of Nnewi are very enterprising and they have imbibed the apprenticeship style of business wherein an established Nnewi business man takes a younger Nnewi indigene to be his Boi and after some years, he opens up a similar business for that his Boi as settlement. The settled Boi, after a while becomes successful in business and he repeats the cycle again, circulating wealth in such way. We render services and it yields dividends, that’s all, there’s no magic. Our people are also very educated.

PFM: You lived through the time of the Civil War and years after, the Biafran agitation is still raging. Did you ever have the opportunity to speak with the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu before, during or after war? What was the conversation about?

Igwe Orizu: Emeka Ojukwu was Governor so I wouldn’t want to go into details of whatever I may or may not have discussed with him. As for the continued agitation, what I can say is that the vanguards should follow the appropriate way. Once there is a good case, there’s no reason why it won’t come. Getting Biafra is not the issue, the issue is the crop of those who will lead then. Will they lead like Emeka did? He sacrificed his father’s wealth; all demands of weapons were made to him as if it was easy. Nigeria won because of foreign powers, Biafra had most of the scientists, the ultimatum was 48hours but to the shock of Nigerians, it lasted for more than two years. I was a teacher then so I was privileged to be at the war front.

Prince Lawrence Ezeh is the CEO of Buzuzu Construction Company and the Crown Prince of Mburubu in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State. In 2019, he ran for Senator to represent Enugu East Senatorial Zone. In this exclusive interview with Pacesetter in his Enugu residence, he bared his mind on the tripod on which his life stands.

Tell us a bit about growing up. What was it like for you?

Well, I will describe my growing up in two parts, the rosy part and the struggling part. The rosy part has to do with the fact that I was born into royalty as you rightly know. As a king, my father was doing well in his business in Port Harcourt. My father had a brand-new bus called Kombi bus; it was more like a private car, for my mum and also for driving us to school. It was fun then because very few families could afford such luxury. But business went bad and we had to relocate to our village Mburubu in Enugu. That was when the second part started. We had to trek some kilometers barefooted from our home to our primary school in the village because they could not afford us sandals then. I always work with my exercise books in a polythene bag, sometimes we use the bag to shade ourselves when it’s raining. That was what growing up was like for me. We continued like that until things got a little fair and my parents could buy us sandals and other things. I came from a large family of 12 children at that time. Three died and we were 9 children left at that time. But one thing my parents did well for us is that he swore we must all go to school. Some business men doing well then came many times to take some of us as their business apprentice, as their boi so that we go and learn trade; my parents would always reject the offer. They insisted we must all go to school, not minding that my mama was almost going on one wrapper. My mum is from Rivers State, leaving the busy and bustling Port Harcourt to my village was a hard decision for her, but she did it; because she loves my father, she stayed with him and they fought through it together to bring us up. After my secondary school in Nara Boys, I sought and got admission in the university to study Marine Engineering.

Let’s get to your business life. You are the owner of Buzuzu Construction Company, how did the company come about?

These days people think life is so rosy; that you just wake up and become something. God in his wisdom made the world to be guided by order. There is a sequence to things and a foundation. Anything that has no foundation will not stand. I am into road construction too; foundation is not only about buildings alone. Before you build the road, you must take off the top soil; it’s called Stripping Away. When you are done stripping the top soil away, you start the layering. If you don’t strip the top soil away and start laying sand, asphalt and cement on it, the road will crack up from the bottom.

Foundation matters a lot. The foundation you acquire in a business is the experience you gather in the practice. That’s why the Igbo culture practice the Boi Boi apprenticeship system. The years the person (boi) stays with an established business owner to learn a trade, the foundation is the experiences the person gathers within the years of apprenticeship. This makes him understand the business better, to be able to manage the business, to know the best commodity to buy and the best customers to sell to. When the ogas say there is no money to settle their apprentice, some of the apprentices opt to be settled that way, with or without money, then the oga will begin to lament that the Boy must have been stealing his money with which he would go and start his own business, but sometimes that is not the case. Most of those boys through experience already has a good understanding with most sellers that trust them enough to sell goods to them on credit, they will sell and pay off. There are also some of the customers from his oga that must have fallen in love with his person that would be happy to do business with him. He grows from there until he stands well; buys a motorcycle, then a car, build a house and then talk of getting a wife. That has been our practice as Igbo People.

For me, I registered my first business in my second year in the university. I called it Buzuzu Organization, it was just an enterprise. Left for me, I wouldn’t have registered it, but circumstances made me to. Coming from a large family, catering for all of us was not easy for my parents. My father paid my school fees once, N200, N80 for hostel accommodation and N120 for school fees; after that, I never asked for a dime from my parents, I had to work to see myself through the university. I did souvenirs for people, then I had a contract to do for a company. I usually would go to Aba to get the souvenirs done and deliver them. After I delivered to the company, they insisted they would only write the cheque in my business name, the same name that my bank account should bear. I had no business name or a bank account then; I had to use the little cash I had on me to register my business and open an account in order to get paid and to avoid losing the contracts. I had no one to support me, to ask for money. My uncle from my mother’s side that I stayed with when I wrote JAMB had his own kids in the university, disturbing him was not in the option. I had to work it out myself. I told myself that it’s either I struggle and fight it or go back to the village. The choice was mine to make, and I made the rough choice. I did the souvenirs, customize brand names on them; people bought into it. I did them for so many persons, some paid me while some owed me till today. But through it, I always made enough money that would last me the next session in school. In fact, at some point I made enough to pay my younger brother’s school fees who was studying law in University of Jos at that time. It was that lucrative for me. At some point some Council Chairmen in Rivers State bought into it. I made souvenirs for some of them. One job led to another. Someone would see the ones I had done before, like it then call on me to do for them.

Someday I was going to meet with my cousin who was working with Shell in Bayelsa, when I had a breakthrough epiphany. By then I had graduated from school and already did my NYSC, bought a car, and was building a house at home. I was already making some good money from the business. The car was rickety, it almost turned me into a mechanic, it would always break down on the road, and I would start trying to fix it, but I did all that happily. On my way to Bayelsa, in a bus, I heard a voice say to me that I was going to meet my breakthrough there and some Bible verses accompanied it. In Bayelsa, I picked up a prayer book at my cousin’s place to pray and the exact verse that came to in the bus was what I opened to. I started making calls to Lagos, sent a company souvenir samples and payment. They later sent the samples to Port Harcourt. I picked them and went to Bayelsa. I got there, lodged in a hotel, then I started meeting people, making connections. Each person I met, the voice would say I hadn’t met the person I should meet until I met a certain man; the voice confirmed that the man was going to lead me to the person that would assist me. I met the man at Radio Bayelsa. I told him I needed to meet with someone that did souvenirs who was an S.A to the Governor of Bayelsa State. He said his friend was the SA to the Governor’s wife, that is Her Excellency Patience Goodluck Jonathan, then His Excellency, Dr. Ebele Goodluck Jonathan was the governor of Bayelsa State. I told him I would like to see the SA, he asked me what I wanted to show him, but I insisted that I would only show it to his friends. He kept postponing the meeting, I kept calling and praying until he accepted and took me to his friend.

His friend, the SA was not settled and was reluctant to meet me, but on seeing the souvenir samples, his mood immediately changed, he was amazed. He asked if I made them myself and if I could make them in large quantity, and I replied yes. We went through many protocols and they eventually gave me a contract to make souvenirs worth thirty million naira. Then, they paid me fifteen million naira as down payment. That was my first big win because at that time I had never been given any contract worth five million; it was a milestone for me. I travelled to Lagos, stayed about three weeks to get the souvenir done. After that, I charted buses that delivered them to Bayelsa. The contract launched me into Bayelsa. It brought me in contact with Patience Jonathan, and I started making all her souvenirs. I started making some good money. It was in Bayelsa that met another of my cousins who worked with an oil and gas company in the hotel where I was lodged. He told me he was there with his superiors that they wanted to mount a gas pipeline. He arranged for me to meet with his boss, to see if I would be getting contracts from the oil and gas companies, too. I met with his boss, we discussed and he gave me a souvenir job of N5,400,000 to do for them. The man used the contract to register me with them. We stepped up from souvenirs and started providing gas to them; from there we went into the mechanical engineering aspects of the job in the oil and gas industry.

It was from there we made money and decided we won’t limit ourselves to the oil and gas industry. We diversified into construction. I was already registered as Buzuzu International Limited, but when we wanted to go into construction, we registered as Buzuzu Construction Company, which forms a conglomerate of businesses. That’s basically how the company was birthed.

You ran for the office of the Senator to represent Enugu East Senatorial Zone in the 2019 general elections. Have you had any political sojourn before then?

Yes, in 2011 I ran for the office of the Local government Chairman of Nkanu East Local Government Area, I was the best man for the job. But at some point, the then Governor of Enugu State, His Excellency Barr. Sullivan Chime and the then Chief of Staff to the Governor Hon. Ifeoma Nwobodo met me and pleaded I step down for Hon. Pst. Iyiogwe. In the end, I stepped down for him and spent money to support him. In the end I got nothing, not even from the state after their promises. When it was over, I shared what was left to my supporters and held a party for them, then left to focus on my business.

What were the intrigues that led to your losing the ticket under PDP?

Well, the intrigues are not much. It’s just the act of blame-shifting even when it’s clear whose fault it is that I don’t like. The leader of the party in the state is the governor. Yes, we have the party excos, but there have little or no influence. Everything is on the table of the governor. What happened was very simple, the Governor had preference for Senator Chimaroke Nnamani and never told me on time. I don’t want go into the nitty gritty of what happened. I believe strongly that as a governor he has every right to support who he wants, but it should be done right. The Party went to members to reconcile matters arising from the election but they never came here. When the governor called me was when I had already moved to APC, and they already gave me the ticket to run. At that point it was too late. We went to APC and did our best, but our best was not enough and we lost the election. I am back, PDP has always been my party, and I have never been able to manage myself in another party; going to another party felt like walking into a strange room built by other people. These things are the bad aspects of politics. All these are in the past, I am back, and we have made peace. We are supporting the Governor and we hope in 2023 the best decision will be made.

One would say you wanted the seat at all cost, seeing that you quickly defected to the APC and now back to the PDP

You know in politics people manufacture all kinds of languages to support whatever agenda they have. I don’t know why anybody will think or say such. I just explained to you that I was in the race and the hottest contender for that office and for things to play out the way it did that the incumbent Senator was in faraway United States of America and things was done the way it was done, the position was ceded to him outside those of us that were frontrunners for the position. They were able to set up a reconciliation committee that went to meet with Gil Nnaji and excluded me; does that give you an impression of a man who was desperate? There was no desperation, that I went to the APC was primarily for a reason between myself and the governor so if anybody feels I was desperate, what’s the desperation? Every contender works hard to get the office he or she vied for, like I initially told you, when I contested for Nkanu East Local Government Chairman, not minding how much I had already spent campaigning, when I was spoken to to step down, I did it wholeheartedly and even went ahead to support the party and the candidate’s aspiration.

People who are desperate in most cases are people seeing politics as the only means to feed themselves but for me, I have a lot of means of survival, I have a lot of things that pay my bills-those who manufacture this language of desperation are those who feed fat from the party without investing anything. Anyone who is my genuine supporter knows this already. APC in Enugu state as it were, I don’t know about now, had no footing, there was no foundation. It was just a room for people who were supposed to be the opposition to sit down and try to negotiate with the state government. How would you explain the fact that on the election day, people who were APC agents negotiated and removed their tags, sat at a corner, drinking while the election was going on? So, the level of sabotage and non-commitment to the party ideals and success of elections that I saw there wasn’t something that encouraged me to stay in the party so I walked away and returned back to the PDP. Even if they were committed, I had lived all my life as a PDP man and had all my friends in the PDP. I am not the first to leave a and return back, I am also not the first that had certain things that drove them out of a party and most of these were as a result of lack of internal democracy. I have said this countless times that parties should have internal democracy.

As long as a governor can sit in his cozy office and decide all those to run for elections from Councillorship up, and his decision flies, Nigeria won’t get it right. In some states like Anambra and Imo, it is different but in others, that is the usual practice. That someone is the leader of the party shouldn’t make him the party, we need to learn how to call what is white, white and what is black, black. The danger of this is that once the governor serves out his term, he is deserted immediately and could even be made irrelevant in party affairs by his successor.

If you had won the election, what would you have done differently?

I would rephrase the question to “What actually propelled you to run?” You know, I have been able to set up a foundation that has given scholarship to over 100 students in rural areas with about 2 persons already in universities. I have been able to use my personal funds to maintain roads for years and embarked on construction of virgin roads totaling 4.5km in rural communities in Nkanu East. I have given electricity to my people but there’s a limit to which one’s personal resources can go. There’s also a limit to which one can keep quiet to things happen wrongly around you. If you come to Nkanu East, it is the most neglected and deprived Local government in Enugu state. Before that election, nobody in Nkanu East thought himself eligible enough to vie for such office. Our interests were just in the House of Reps, House of Assembly, Chairmanship and Councillorship seats. We didn’t deem it fit that running for Senate could attract more infrastructural development to your people and one that would cut across the six local governments of the senatorial zone. These were basically the drives I had to contest. Let me be honest with you, if I was the one representing us today, I am very certain that what we are having now won’t be what we will have. Why have the best you can go for and settle for less? Because of interests? Because some people will always prefer the old order.

People advice one not to say the truth because they believe you need to do such to get political power. My father told me to always stand on the path of the truth and that’s what I believe should be the proper definition of politics.

You just concluded a national assignment for your party. You have also been on air numerous times commenting on state and national issues. People are saying you still have your eyes on the political ball. How true would this be?

The truth is that any politician who tells you he no longer has his eyes on the ball has lost his worth, he is no longer a politician. What makes politicians throw their hat in the ring is that they weigh themselves, their chances and their pockets. To contest an election in Nigeria is expensive, quite expensive, especially when you are not an anointed candidate. When you are an anointed candidate, the election becomes a walkover-people will always chant “ojebego” for you and i je be kwa na eziokwu.

Once you have weighed yourself, chances and pocket, and they are giving you the right results, you will always contest. So, if anyone is saying that I still have my eyes on the ball, I may not want to dispute that, that is the people’s perception so I am neither accepting nor denying it. I wouldn’t want to say beyond that because 2023 is quite far to say anything. In politics, 24 hours is very significant for things to change. Between myself and Chimaroke things changed within one week. So, if you start now, it doesn’t make any sense. I know people are building bridges and making contacts and these things are healthy but in politics, when you start the race first, you will run for so long and get tired, so it is better to take your time and know whether or not your chances are fair enough.

The cliché everywhere is that the basic problem with Nigeria is the lack of good governance. What would you say are the basic attributes of good governance, seeing you seem to have what could be called an unusual view?

We have failed to understand the intricacies and actual meaning of good governance. Good governance to me simply means giving to the people what belongs to the people. It is that simple. Good governance is about having the political will to look truth in the face and tell the truth. I’m sorry to mention names but if you have listened to the Governor of Rivers state, you will see good governance and political will. Political will is that I want to create a road here and I know that you are a senior citizen but your house is obstructing the project, especially because you built it without approval and encroaching into the road, and after I call you to do the needful yet you refuse, I go ahead to bring your house down as Governor. Political will is not just to want to please everyone, not injure anybody’s emotions and wanting to be friends with everybody. You can’t achieve good governance that way, it is not possible, how can you? When governors are sworn in, one of the lines in their oath of office reads “what is right for the state above my personal interests”, it is quite deep, but what happens around here is the reverse case. The personal interests of the governor override the interests of the state, so how do you achieve good governance? Do you why what has been happening in Enugu has continued to be a normal order? It is because there hasn’t been a vibrant opposition party. When there’s a vibrant opposition and you know you can’t easily rig elections, what will happen is that politicians will leave sycophants and look for the right people to help them govern better and make the system work but in the event that we continue to pilot this one party system, the ruling party won’t be on its toes.

With all the lofty projects that Nyesome Wike is doing in Rivers, you still see the opposition firing him up daily and the more he works, the more he gains the people’s confidence. Over here, what you get is a chant of “our leader you are doing well, even though you are not doing anything, we know that you will still do”. Even religious leaders that ought to seek for God’s intervention in the state begin to also sing the leader’s praise. If you make me the governor of this state, I will pray for a very strong and viable opposition because they will help me to give my best. I think the governor is doing his best but this is not what Enugu ought to have gotten from him if there was a vibrant opposition.

The call for the next president of the country to come from the Southeast is high. What do you think the hopes are?

Well for me, any hope that has no expectation is dead. We as Igbos are highly expectant and that is what is keeping our hope alive that by 2023 the president of this country will be of Igbo extraction. I think that if Nigerians are able to give an Igbo man the chance to be president, they are two major things it will help resolve. One, it will help the average Igbo man to put the issues of the civil war behind him completely but as long as this is not done, the issue of Biafra will continue to resonate and if you suppress one group, another will rise so the best way to go is to give an Igbo man a sense of inclusiveness in the Nigerian project. We should have a reason to continue to rust and defend the nation. If you give me the impression that I am not part of a system, why should I mortgage my life in defence of that system? Nobody does that, but if I know I have a stake in the system, I will defend it. Two, I believe that all other sections of the country have done their best in developing the country so give an Igbo man a chance to develop the country. The level an Igbo man will take the development of this country to will be quite different and will come with an unprecedented passion. Why do I say so? I one discussed with a South African in a hotel and when I told him I was from Nigeria, he said “Nigeria is the China of Africa”. When I asked him why he said so, he said Nigerians are everywhere; and you know that the Nigerians all over the world are basically Igbos. The Nigerian sate appears to be limiting the efforts and growth of the Igbos and this has been responsible for having lots of Igbos in diaspora. So, giving an Igbo man the opportunity will make him harness the potentials of the country, put those of the diaspora and things get better. The fact that the Igbos are scattered even in the remotest parts of the country will make him develop the country equally because he knows it would be to the benefit of all. The Igbo man is more Nigerian than any other tribe because he invests heavily in and even marry from other tribes. How many persons from the North and West can build mansions in other states?