Independent Newspapers Nigeria

Independent Newspapers Nigeria


Delta State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, in this question and answer session during the Editors Conference in Asaba, spoke on matters affecting Delta state, electoral system in Nigeria and role of the media in the 2019 general elections. MICHAEL OLADAPO brings the excerpts:

Why is it that Local Government Elections are always in favour of the ruling party. Do you think INEC should conduct Local Government Elections?

On the Local Government Elections, it is unfortunate that we are where we are at the moment concerning Local Government Elections. From the beginning, the whole process has been faulty. During the constitutional amendments when I was in the Senate, I actually voted for the situation where INEC should be allowed to conduct Local Government Elections. I wanted that but most of my colleagues did not share that view. I think that because of the way politics is structured in Nigeria as at today, as long as you leave Local Government Elections with the State Government, the fact is that the opposition parties would not actually want to commit themselves or participate fully in such elections. They believe from the beginning, the process is going to be flawed. They would not want to participate nor come out to campaign. At the end, you find out that the political party of the Governor usually wins landslide because the opposition party are not ready to compete as they would not trust the system. We have not gotten to a stage were that level of trust is built in such a way that we can have competitive Local Government Elections and elections conducted by state electoral commissions. I think that until we have gotten to that stage of polity when we can trust the people’s electoral system, it may best be that Local Government elections should be conducted by the INEC as it was done it the past.

What are your views on the safety of media officers and the role of media in the 2019 elections?

I believe that the media has a lot to do. Our electioneering process in the country is still growing . There is a lot that is wrong and until we begin to address all these issues where a candidate can afford to spend N5billion on an election. If someone is going to spend N1billion to become a Governor, after that election, how do you expect to have a process of integrity governance? It is a problem especially when the Nigerian system is such that the electorate is waiting to receive something before they go to vote even when they are with you. The question is, the money that you give, can it impact on their lives? Definitely not, it cannot impact on their lives, it has become a systemic thing within us as a nation. We need to discuss ways as to who is going to help us carry this education in such a way that people would adhere. When a politician comes in and talks about such, the people would say he or she is not ready to contest. There is a lot for the press to do.

In recent times most state governments have disallowed the opposition parties from using the state media. What has been your perception on this?

In Delta State, we allow it as long as you are able to pay, it is a commercial thing. We do not stop people.

Do you have any misgivings about opposition parties especially All Progressives Congress (APC)?

If you are coming to the Government House, the APC has a Secretariat almost next to the gate of the Government House. Sometimes I begin to feel if it was deliberate but when I saw it I did not have anything against it. The competition is on the field; the campaign is on the field, tell the people what you have done. Some persons would have stopped it but I did not as I do not believe in bitterness in politics. I am confident enough that within the very challenging times that we have found ourselves, i have related well with the people and I have been able to meet up with a lot of promises.

Would you have done better assuming there are no distractions from oppositions?

We could have done better if the economy was what we anticipated it to be from the beginning. Everybody knows that the first two years of this administration both at National and State level has been very challenging but within the limit of what we have received, we have been able to talk to our people. As a Governor, I have been able to move around to do town hall meetings to ask questions and allow people to ask questions, as well as inform people about what we have done, share our ideas and also allow them make inputs. We take all manner of bashing but we are also able to explain to the people what we have done and why we have not been able to do some few things. I believe that is the way that politics should actually be played.

What has your administration been able to achieve in terms of revenues generated within the state?

When we came in, because of the downturn of the economy, our entire revenue has gone really low. We have been able to improve our Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) from what we met it in 2016 when things were very bad. By last year, we were able to achieve about N51 billion as a state as we have had over 50 per cent increment on our IGR. We are also hoping we would be able to upscale this going forward. We have been able to bring a lot into the tax bracket but we have been very cautious knowing that the economy has definitely impacted negatively on the lives of most Deltans. We don’t want to over-tax them as doing that would be driving more people into the poverty line. For instance, what we do with market women who pay commercial tax, they pay N1000 per month but we cannot take N1000 at once. We take it on a basis on N50 daily, then we convert it to a health insurance for them so it is not all about taxation. Though they are happy they are paying tax but that tax is being converted into insurance and that is a way we use to encourage them.

What is your administration doing towards the Ibusa area. Many feel the area should have witnessed more development?

When you look at Ibusa, you will find out that there is a lot of expansion. Though you may not see it along the major road but when you go deep down. Asaba is extending towards Achala-Ibusa and I believe that if you are going to Onitsha now, in the next few years we are likely to have more people on that side than you have within the main town. Asaba is growing fast and there is a lot of expansion towards Ibusa.

What are the chances that you would still emerge winner after being elected as an unopposed candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Delta?

There is time for campaign, the campaign has not started, we have a lot to talk about regarding what we have done and prospects and what we have for the future. If it is in many countries, we are just to talk about what we have achieved and what we have been able to put in place, possibly I would not have had anyone to compete with me. Though that is not the politics in Nigeria, we will go to the field and campaign and also defend our votes. I am sure that if the elections are credible, I would return into office.

Has the idea behind “Delta Beyond Oil” been abandoned?

I do not have to mention that slogan. People know we are sticking to that. When we begin to talk about job creation and the youths agricultural and entrepreneurship programs, skills training entrepreneurship programmes and growing persons into agricultural enterprise, that is “Delta Beyond Oil”. All the entrepreneurship that have graduated from the scheme have begun to train other people. As you increase the number of people who are growing in one micro business, gradually with funding the growth becomes large scale business in the future. In the past, we sat back, it is either you are working for the Government or you are working for the oil companies. We were relaxing then but it is no longer so. We are already overpopulating our public space. Here, we have over 50 000 workers already . It was about 60,000 when we came in, in the public service that is not right. As a result we have been making people rely on their brains, hands and they are beginning to grow their businesses themselves. That truly is “Delta Beyond Oil”.

What is the State doing to offload outstanding pension of retired workers?

We need to understand the issues of pension in this country, as at today in Nigeria we have what we call a Contributory Pension Scheme. Initially, over 20 states subscribed to it, as at today if you follow through the newspapers only eight states are still effectively running with the scheme. Many of those who entered into the contributory pension scheme have exited from it, it is a programme for the future and a programme that should be embraced by all states. Unfortunately, it comes with a lot of difficulty. After you enter the pension scheme you need to pay salaries of people who are not in the scheme because you need to qualify at a particular stage. If you have about five years to exit, you cannot enter into the scheme and those persons are in the old pension scheme. For those who are in the contributory pension scheme, the worker pays about seven per cent and in some states five per cent then the state pays eight and a half per cent of your salary into that scheme as our own contribution. At this point, you are supposed to pay power services which is driving many states out of the scheme. In paying for power service, if a worker has spent about 10 years before joining the scheme, everything you have supposed to have paid for that past 10 years, the state would compulsorily begin to pay it overtime until we are able to pay and it is a difficult thing to do. Though unfortunately, we have not been able to pay for past services, we are paying the contributions as a state. There are huge volumes of billions of naira which comes in, considering the number of workers that we have there is a lot of money to be paid as we have not been paying for power services in the past. As a government, we have been paying regularly, for those with the old pension scheme we have paid fully. Paying for the power services is quite a lot, it is not something that the state can pay in a short time. As at today, we have upscaled our contribution for power services from N300 million to N500 million monthly.

Michael Oladapo :Michael Oladapo is a correspondent with Independent Newspapers.

Sometimes am forced to ask who is Delta state Governor .............

Maybe because you don't shout like Wike and Fayose