Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, a medical doctor-turned politician, will be leaving the stage in May 2015, after completing two terms of four years each since 2007. A prophet of sorts, he practically saw the tumbling of oil prices that Nigeria majorly relies on for running of its affairs and enunciated a programme of ‘Delta Beyond Oil’, an initiative to get to other sources of revenue. However, he hopes to have a successor that will continue and sustain the programme. The governor recently fielded questions from journalists on this issue and related matters in the run-up to the 2015 general elections. Excerpts:
Your reported stand on those who will or will not succeed you in office
I know those who will not succeed me. Those who have not picked forms will not succeed me. So my prediction was right. Some were moving around even before the whistle was blown but eventually they did not pick forms. So, those ones will not succeed me. Those who have picked the form and have declared, one of them will succeed me. If you want to talk about anointed candidates, I have 16 anointed candidates. We have agreed that they are going to do six months each over eight years because I don’t have one anointed candidate. On a more serious note, the wish of everyone, whether you are governor or an editor, is that whoever succeeds you should continue from where you are stopping. I think it is the wish of everybody. Now, what we have experienced over the years is that some government come and put aside the works of the previous governments. For instance, we are talking about Delta State Beyond Oil today. I’m not praying that whoever will come and take over from me will say Delta beyond oil is nonsense. Because of the reality on ground now, we are even talking about Nigeria beyond oil. Everybody is now talking about the alternative to oil and we have been singing this song for the past seven and half years and then somebody will come tomorrow and say it is not a good economic plan, strategy, let us jettison it and go back to depend on oil budget, which is no longer there. That was what I meant when I was talking about successor. I was just praying that somebody who will take over from me will continue from where I stop because when I took over from the previous administration, I continued and completed projects that he started. If I had said let me not do that, the Okere Road in Warri that people are talking about today, the Japa Road and all that, I was not the one that started them but I have to complete them and people are using them. So, as I leave, I pray that the person coming after me will do the same. That was what I meant.
On some PDP governors’ alleged arm-twisting of the National Chairman with court cases and also playing God in terms of the emergence of party candidates
As for arm-twisting the PDP National Chairman and court cases, what I can say is that I don’t know of any governor who is behind the court cases. And we feel sad because my colleagues and I are talking. We feel sad because the party’s national chairman, who is a onetime governor for two terms, is our colleague, a senior colleague in terms of governorship – that people are subjecting him to the kind of thing that is happening – we feel sad that he is going through this kind of embarrassment. In fact, two weeks ago, there was an alarm that he had been taken to court in Delta State, but, of course, there was no record that he was taken to court here. It is a kind of propaganda to pitch the governors against the PDP national chairman. The national chairman was a governor before and we are proud that he understands some of the things we are going through. We are totally and I can assure you that the PDP governors are totally working with the PDP national chairman. Then the issue of playing God; I don’t think the governors are playing God. The party structure puts a lot of responsibility on governors in terms of organising the party at the state level, in terms of funding the party and in terms of ensuring that the party wins at the state level. And if you expect me to win for the party at the state, as a governor, I must be interested in who is running for which seat. It must be someone that the party can market to win elections. It is not an individual thing, really. It is a party thing who becomes the party’s governorship candidate. It is the party at the state level that will decide who goes into the House of Assembly. I came back to Asaba around 3am on Saturday because we had to look at all the aspirants running for the House of Assembly, together with leaders in the local government, till the early hours of this morning. We looked at the aspirants. We were doing horse-trading and eventually we narrowed it down to two. So the two of them are going into the field this morning (last Saturday). And when I leave here (Asaba) now, I’m going to vote because I’m entitled to vote. So, one of them will be our party’s flag bearer for the local government election. And most local governments are doing it, too. The governors cannot really impose candidates. What really happens is that when people are not able to get their ways, the easiest person they can blackmail is the governor. That the governor has done this or that. But when they have challenges in the party, the person they run to is also the governor. I guess that is what is happening. Governors cannot play God. I’m sure you know that in some other parties, they play more God than the PDP. I’ve heard some governors of the other parties in some states just announcing governorship candidates without primaries and heavens are not falling. We haven’t seen any protests. If that was done in the PDP, I’m sure people will make a lot of noise.
On reported growing apprehension among the people that after your tenure, Delta State will burst into another war session between the Ijaw and Itsekiri
Concerning the Ijaw and Itsekiri crisis, now let me assure you that the problem has been on before some of us were born and we are still having flashes. But one thing is that we have been able to provide a forum for discussion, to reduce the tendency for violence. And that is one of the strategies we are trying to use. Even in the EPZ matter, the two ethnic groups and the community leaders are discussing, both in Delta and in Abuja. So, there is no room for fight. Of course, because of the economic benefits of the EPZ, a lot of community interests are involved. So, what you are seeing is community interests for the project. It is just that there is little misunderstanding of the overall benefits of the project. And that is what we are trying to tell the communities: that what you are quarrelling over is just crumb compared to the bigger benefits of the project. And I think we are getting somewhere. I must use this opportunity to thank Mr. President, who has been very understanding. And also, the Minister of Petroleum. They have been quite understanding. And, fortunately, they are from this zone. So, they understand some of the complex nature of the relationship in this area. I tell you, there will be no fight. There are two things that usually cause fight: One is economic issues, which EPZ falls into, and the other is political. But the two, we are managing them.
The issue of agreement that some senators will be getting slots to return to National Assembly and his discussion with Senator James Manager to replace him
On the issue of governors and the Senate, really each state has its own peculiarity. It is not as if the whole thing is being lumped together. There are some governors who are finishing but who are not going to the Senate. I think there are about 18 or 19 governors that are finishing this year and so far, about nine have indicated that they are going to the Senate. The others have not. Yes, I have indicated that I’m going into the Senate but I believe that there is something I can offer, a lot I can offer. But what I know has been happening is that some senators have been assessed only on the empowerment they give to the people once in a year. At the end of the year, you gather people, gather tricycles, motorcycles and be assessed on that. But I think being a member of any legislature is beyond that. Yes, that empowerment is there, which anybody can give. But there is also the issue of attracting Federal Government projects to your area by people at the National Assembly. And I don’t know anybody who can have more reach than previous governors.
Being a governor of Delta State for eight years must have given you a lot of exposures for you to know a lot people outside the state – at the federal level, even internationally
I don’t know of anybody in politics in Delta State now who thinks he has more reach than me and I’m not boasting about it. I know I have the reach to be able to attract development to the state. But beyond that is the legislative duty itself. As a governor, one of the things I have tried to do is to work with my Thre-Point Agenda on security, infrastructural and human capital development. Why did we have the Delta crisis? It is the issue of underdevelopment, marginalisation and all that. I believe that if companies have come to this area, and since they came, the communities are involved in those companies; if the communities have equity participation, even if it is just five per cent or 10 per cent and at the end of the year, companies like Shell, Chevron and all that make profit and five or 10 per cent of that profit goes to the communities because they are part owners of the companies. I believe that over the years, these communities would have been better than what they have right now in terms of infrastructure, in terms of human capital development and this crisis we are seeing will not be there. Now, what is happening is that there is so much pressure on government at the federal, state and local government levels but a direct fall out from these companies, which is what happens in other parts of the world, can do a lot to assuage the feelings of those communities. Really, I want to pursue, working with others, if I get there, to ensure that there is legislation on equity participation of communities in various parts of the Niger Delta region. The second thing I want to pursue is also from my experience of pursuing companies and industries in actualising our Delta Beyond Oil vision. I also noticed that we do not have adequate laws that give confidence to investors. Israel is not the safest place in the world and South Africa is not the safest place in the world but investors keep going there. So, it is not so much about security but so much about the safety of their investments – legal protection of their investments – and that is one thing that they have challenges with in Nigeria. For us as a state, we have what we call Delta Integrated Development Agency Law, which gives some confidence to investors, but if you look at the whole thing, they need legal framework to protect investments of investors coming into Nigeria, which I believe the National Assembly will be able to do something about. Then, very importantly is the issue of environmental protection and environmental activities. Being a state that has suffered a lot of environmental damages, I know that there are so many things that the government can do if the appropriate laws are there to regulate our environment. And I believe that there must be laws to achieve that. Those are my interests in the Senate. Being able to go there and put these things on the table and convince my colleagues. So, I already have a Three-Point Agenda for going into the Senate.
Position of Delta Beyond Oil initiative so far
Delta Beyond Oil simply means looking at other areas of our economy apart from depending totally on oil. So, we are looking at the area of agriculture, manufacturing and tourism. I must say that the agricultural progress in this state is very encouraging. We have the Federal Government working with us. We also have the state organs and individual farmers that are working. But more interesting are the immediate gains of Delta beyond oil: the low housing scheme, which we are actualising through micro saving scheme being supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria. We got the CBN partnership about two weeks ago and we have a lot of testimonies of the Delta beyond oil initiative.