WHY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MUST BE RESTRICTED - UDUAGHAN
By Emmanuel Aziken Political Editor
The Delta State capital, Asaba last weekend, hosted the strategic retreat of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, SCCR. On the fringes of the retreat, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan took time off to field questions from a team of visiting journalists. Excerpts:
WHAT is your impression of the retreat of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review that took place in your state?
It is obviously a constitution that requires some tinkering with. There is no doubt that no constitution is perfect.
America has been trying to modify its constitution for several years now and we just started in 1999. Because of our experience in the last 13 years in dealing with the constitution, many people have experienced the flaws and they believe we need to do some changes. Then the Nigerian people who have been governed with the constitution, have also experienced the flaws. So everybody, whether you are in or outside government, believe that we need to deal with the constitution and I believe that what will come out at the end will be the people's constitution.
What provisions of the Constitution in your opinion deserve immediate attention?
For us in the South-South and as a state, the issue is really, what kind of federation are we practicing? The various governments should be able to manage their affairs, somehow independently, with all of us converging at the centre.
Kind of federalism
The Federal Government is taking too many things and should be confined to certain areas and let the states do a lot more than they are doing now. Why should the federal government go to build primary schools and healthcare centres or boreholes? We believe that the states should handle these. We also need to review the allocation formula. There has to be a proper way of dealing with the funds that come from oil: who gets what? Who has the right to get what?
And we the states of the Niger Delta, the oil producing communities, because of the challenge we have and the difficulties in the terrain and in developing our area, justice and fair play demands we should be getting 100 per cent and paying tax at the centre. But if that arrangement is not on, then they should increase the derivation to the various oil-producing areas. And then we need to review our security arrangement and one of the areas that we believe should be reviewed is the area that states that the States should have their own police. Everybody knows and I speak in my position as a governor that if we don't go that way, our security challenges will continue to get worse.
To what percentage should derivation be increased to?
The minimum should be 50 per cent.
When is Delta State likely to have a local government election and secondly, you are reported to be against the Anti-Kidnapping Bill passed by the House of Assembly? Why?
There are two federating units in Nigeria, the federal government and the states. The truth is that the local government is not a federating unit; the House of Assembly can make laws for the governing of local government councils. In my first tenure, I did a local government election so you cannot accuse me that I have not conducted a local government election before. Unfortunately, their tenure finished sometime last year and you know we had the highest number of elections in Delta State at about that period.
Gov Uduaghan
The tenure of those local governments finished and almost at the same time, the tenure of the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) expired. Unfortunately too, the DSIEC has been having its own challenges in the sense that the membership of the DSIEC with the old law is lopsided and there have always been complaints about the membership; some senatorial districts have more than others.
So we sent an amendment to the House to ensure that there is equity and justice in the representation at the commission level. That has been passed; we are just collating the list now which we will send to the House. Once that is put off, we will give them three to four months and we will do election. The second question was about the kidnapping. First, what happened was that at the time the bill was passed, I didn't give assent to it. Then they started a second one and the time they brought it I was also not in office and the lifespan of that assembly passed.
They have resuscitated that bill, they have had a public hearing, they have not quite finished and it has not been brought back to me. When they were doing the public hearing, I sent my Attorney General to give them my own view. And one of the things I did send him to do was to tell them that I don't believe in death sentence for any crime because death sentence has not stopped any crime in this world.
Public hearing
I also believe that all human beings have the right to life, it is my principle. But the bill has not come back to me. I need to correct that impression. When they bring it back to me and I look at it, then I will let you know whether it is acceptable or not. Right now, there is no dispute between the executive and the legislature.
There was a dispute between your administration and an elder statesman in this state. What is the status of that dispute now?
We have reconciled fully. Nothing is static in this world, I don't make permanent enemies and I don't think anybody should make permanent enemies. In any case we were not even enemies, we only had political differences. He had the advantage of age, experience as a former commissioner, minister, senator (and) he has been a lot of things so he had that experience.
He had his own style of putting up whatever he had against me and I also had my own style of dealing with it by not first responding, being abusive and rude, taking him as an elder, listening. Reading some of the things he was talking about and the ones I could do, I did them. It got to a point that everybody decided that it was enough and that it was not in the interest of the state or the interest of anybody.
Do you share in the fear that Nigeria could break up soon?
It is not possible. Forget it. Nigeria will not break up. In fact, the review of the constitution is not even going close to that at all. We have our contacts, we have our feelers, we have our friends, nobody is contemplating a breakup.
What is the reason behind your vision of Delta Beyond Oil?
What I am saying is that we can use those funds (Derivation Funds) no matter how small they are, to develop other areas of the economy which are almost totally zero now. Let us develop other areas of the economy so that in future (whether near or far; oil is not something you can rely on fully, there might be fall in price, it can finish, ) whether we have oil or not we can have a stable economy. What has happened is that because we have oil, we seemed to have forgotten the other areas of the economy. Not just in this state alone even in the nation.
Delta State is a rich state compared to a state like Akwa Ibom, but is the state spending judiciously?
Really I hate comparisons. That was why when you said we are rich I wanted to be clear on what the richness is about. The state you called now, our allocation is not as much as theirs. It has never been since the past five years; we don't have the same allocation. Two, states have different problems and challenges.
Producing communities
This is the only state or maybe Ondo, where whatever we get, especially the derivation part, the governor does not spend all the derivation money. What we are talking about now, when it comes, I have to divide it into two; 50 per cent goes to the state level and 50 per cent goes to an outfit we call the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, to be able to deal with the oil producing communities. I needed to explain that. So the bit that is left is what I have to use for the whole state including the oil producing areas. I still have to deal with them from this money.
Two, I have a challenge of having the highest number of urban centres in Nigeria. In Delta State, there is Asaba, there is Warri, there is Agbor, there is Sapele, there is Ughelli; and all of them are urban centres that can be state capitals. When you are doing something in Asaba you also have to be conscious that you also have to do something in some of these places; it might not be as much as what you are doing in Asaba but whatever you are doing in Asaba you have to do near that in Warri.
We have many urban centres that you have to pay attention to at the same time. You go to some states and the state capital is the only urban centre and people are assessing from just getting to the state capital. But you cannot do that for Delta. You cannot come to Asaba and assess from only Asaba and go back. A lot of people will take on you if you make assessment from only Asaba. That means that our development has to be more widespread than many other places.
When people say, 'He is not doing much' they don't take some of these factors into place. In any case, people have different programmes. I am not in a popularity test. If I want to be in a popularity test, I will just come as a governor and ask what the people like, maybe renovate all the schools and leave other things undone. It is easy to be popular but governance for me is not about popularity. For me, if you come in and go in a popularity test, you are creating problems for the next person coming in.
For me, governance is about strategizing for the good of the people for a long time and the strategy you are putting up is not just for you alone but for the person coming after you and other people coming thereafter. But you that is starting that strategic planning, obviously you cannot be popular. It is like you are planting a mango tree, nobody sees the mango tree because you are already planting it on the ground and you just water it.
All they see is maybe the sand that is being watered, they cannot appreciate what you are doing. Specifically, what we are doing is trying to strategize not just for today but for the future of the state. And what is the strategy we are adopting? We are adopting a strategy in which we are using the money that is coming now to prepare for tomorrow.