Christopher Isiguzo
18 June 2008
interview
Lagos — Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi state recently opened up to journalists on his experience so far on the saddle as the governor of Ebonyi state. He took time out to talk about the volume of debt he inherited from his predecessor.
Your Excellency, during your inaugural address, you spoke of reforms in the local government system, giving the impression of possible reduction in the number of local government areas and development centres. But few months on the saddle you created additional development centres to bring the total number of councils and development centres in the state from 64 to 77. With the attendant multiplication of personal and overhead costs, do you think that allocations to these councils and development centres will meet the development targets in the areas?
The issue of local government creation is a constitutional one. We want to ensure that the constitutional prevision was respected otherwise we could like Lagos state and some other states in the past get into constitutional problems of great legal dimensions and so on and so forth. So we thought it neater and safer to retain the local governments as they are in the constitution but then there was a problem of the entire system which was called local government areas without, in fact, being local government areas. In order to separate the local government areas proper from those residual we decided to rename them additional development centres just for purposes of clear administration and for purposes of ensuring that we have no constitutional conflict.
Having said that, it is still an experiment but you will agree with me that a situation which allow all parts of the local government area to have a say, to participate in the administration of the local government area is better than allowing just some cluster of people at the helm of affairs to disburse the funds the way they liked. People are happier (with development centres). But what it means is that the jumbo salaries that used to be enjoyed by the former operatives will now be slashed in order to ensure that it goes round. That way you still have the objective of development and at the same time ensure that the resources are spread. We have not started monitoring, that is part of what we promised to do; that is part of what the law expects us to do to ensure that the disbursement is so done that not more than 30% of the revenue is for personal emoluments and 10 %for overhead, while you devote the remainder for physical development. In some local government areas, because of the number of development centres comprised therein, even the entire amount of money received from Abuja and federation account is not enough for salaries alone and we say let each L.G.A. cut its coat according to its cloth. We don't want to be too rigid; we want the people to police themselves.
You inherited the sum of N2.996 billion owed contractors by the previous administration. How much of that have you paid? Secondly, Ebonyi State University needed N500 million to tackle its accreditation problem. To what extent has the state government gone in tackling the issue?
Thank you. I said that from the hand over note, we had an outstanding debt of N2.996 billion. That was as much as the hand over note revealed, but along the line we still received other claims which upon verification were validated so that has also increased the debt profile. But I can assure you that within the first four months all those debts were cleared. However, a company like Strabag had outstanding debt of over N900 million which we had difficulty in positioning within the handover note. You know accounting is a problem; plus or minus here and there. And because of the enormity of the debt we agreed with the contractors to spread that money over a long period, paying about N200 million at a time. I don't know as at this moment how much is outstanding, the ministry of finance and the Accountant- Generals office and or the Ministry of Works will be able to know. So when ever we discover genuine debts, even if they were not in the handover note we try to respect them because that is in keeping with the promise I made immediately I was sworn in during my inaugural address; any genuine contractual obligation will be honored: the matter of whether it is in the handover note or not is a mere administrative ritual you expect anywhere.
On the state university, yes we were able to critically examine their presentation and we have made available to them, I think in three installments, a total of N350 million and before November ,2007, they had scaled through their accreditation and they wrote to us thanking us and expressing satisfaction. So they don't have any accreditation problem as at now.
In your inaugural speech, you did talk about relocating the Abakpa main market, but one year down the line nothing seems to be happening there; secondly, when one visits Ebonyi Cable television, what is going on there is anything but a television station, even the road leading to the station is bad, so we want to know what government is doing?
If at any time, I fail to give you the full answer please come back with your second bullet (laughter). Yes with regard to Abakpa main market it is true that nothing has been done, it is a statement of fact but it does not imply that we have taken our holiday from our promise. Earlier impression we had was that the Ochudo city was a bigger layout than the existing metropolis. That has turned out not to be so from the power point projection we saw here it was a very small fraction of the existing city. We had thought that upon completion of design of the new city , there will be provision for a new market. That still is possible but perhaps not the size of the market we wound want to have in a big city like Abakaliki. We are now placed in a situation where we have to rethink; when the actual drawings are completed ,we will then see whether the provision in the Ochudo master plan is big enough to accommodate that size of market or we should go elsewhere. Good a thing, expansion of the city is not only towards Ochudo city, we are expanding to all directions. The large expanse of land acquired by the previous regime have not been fully paid for and because the amount is so much we scattered it, to pay within a period of 10 months. So by the time we know the size of land within our possession ,we will decide on the best place to locate a mega market like the type you have in mind, but for now I don't think that we have jettisoned the idea.
On E C TV, remember that it is a cable television, it is not yet a full fledged television station and that is why as I said two days ago, the commissioner for information and the General Manager, I don't know who else was in their company when they went on a study tour. I have received the preliminary report but not yet the full report. When we get the full report, we'll evaluate what is on ground and decide on the best option. If the authorities of E CTV feel that the location where they are now is good for them; then we improve on it, if they decide to relocate, then we will also, within the available resources, look for a better environment and do the proper thing for them. Everything there so far is on ad-hoc basis which gives us enough time to plan properly. So that is my response to that.
When you said we are concentrating our development efforts in the rural areas and very little in the state capital, I may not totally agree with you but you have the right to differ. The shifting of quarry site is a major economic activities alteration. We are still on the access roads, we provided water, we provided electricity, the place has been acquired and surveyed, what remains is the internal roads, so that when you relocate the quarry industries then you have enough space, you have the right atmosphere to effect whatever changes you want to make. For now every little thing you do somebody says you are stepping on his toes, even the illegal structures that constitute nuisance to the metropolis. When you touch them somebody cries foul, "he is anti-poor people".
Any thing you do has a hue and cry from the affected person, even those who sell their wares and fruits on the tarred road within the town, when you tell them to relocate; they say you are fighting the poor . So what we are doing, we are doing with a human face trying to relocate the quarries so that the town will be cleaner. The bio-mass electricity project is on course with UNIDO; that is also in the capital city. And then the road development project which people have been commending us for . I'm shocked to hear that nothing is being done in the capital city. The roads are receiving facelift and we intend, in keeping with the advise of our consultants on Ochudo city, to see how some roads may become one way only to ease the traffic along Ogaji road. These are some of the efforts being made. You also witnessed the relaying of water pipeline and the improvement on water which was again interrupted by the problem of old pipes we had on ground. These are things the ordinary people see.
It has been observed that relationship between your administration and labour is not very cordial, I want to know whether you are trying to bring labour closer?
You said labour and government have been doing somehow. I don't understand that sir (laughter). I think in the past one year you must have heard me repeat late Sam Mbakwe's definition of democracy as "some gree, some no gree" that is the simplest definition of democracy. I don't think we have problem with our labour force basically but some measure of misunderstanding is inevitable in any enterprise. Originally the labour force had the misguided notion that they are entitled to this new grammar called monetization and in my ignorance I ordered that whatever was the promise made by my predecessor should be carried out. And we proceeded to pay monetization and found that it was a burden we could not carry, and that led to the earlier ripples. But what the civil servants are entitled to was the 15% pay rise which at the time, the state government had already paid 12.5% remaining only 2.1 %.
We reverted to the old structure and the national body was of course surprised that civil servants were asking for monetization in Ebonyi state and they gave us a pat on the back for paying 15% promptly. That was the background. Thereafter the labour themselves within their own rank and file had their own internal wranglings, apparently because it is not real. If what they did was done democratically and according to the rules of the union, then you can't say there are parallel labour leadership; you have one of them , the opposition is entitled to express grievances the way they did by importing students and all types of people and clothing them in black to give the impression that the majority of the labour force was not with government. That is far from the truth. But as I said some days ago, any salaried person, I have not seen one person, world wide who said his salary is enough for him. People continue to agitate, when the need arises, the salaries review commission will do its job and review perhaps a new level of wages. That is normal but for now we believe that we stand on a good stead with relation to our labour force. By their own statistics, in the entire south east geopolitical zone ,only Abia state pays a higher wage than Ebonyi state. Ebonyi comes second. But if you take it in the contest of oil producing and non-oil producing states; oil producing states have additional revenue, 13% derivation; the non -oil producing states don't have that and Ebonyi state is one of the non oil producing states, and Ebonyi receives the lowest federal allocation in what used to be called eastern Nigeria. And in spite of that this state pays the highest wage among the non oil producing states.
Shouldn't we get a pat on the back? So we have no problem with our labour force, but opposition must exist in democracy.
How has your administration been addressing the issue of youth unemployment in the state and what does the workforce look like?
The youths of Ebonyi State like youths in other parts of Nigeria are youths, they are our great assets. But you will agree with me, it is easier to take 10 wrong steps than to take one right step. Our educational system, I will continue to say it, has not helped us. That is the genesis of it all; first is the belief that unless you become a university graduate you are Mr. Nobody; that is the worst conception. Secondly, by the programmes the students are given in the Universities, they are given programmes in most cases that are not relevant to the needs of the society. When you train people who don't qualify for the particular need of the moment, in economic system you don't call that unemployment; it is disguised unemployment or shadow employment. It is only when you have statistics of those you require in relation to the existing jobs who qualify for those jobs that you can rightly talk of unemployment. Two days ago when this matter came up for discussion, I was asking supposing I want ten plumbers or ten electricians to mend some of the appliances here and somebody with a doctorate degree in political science comes to me for employment, what do you expect me to do? He doesn't qualify for the existing job, period! And so you cannot talk of his case as unemployment because he trained for the job that doesn't exist.
And so it is a national problem; here we recognize the need to give everybody a sense of belonging, a sense of fulfillment in life. And we said let us start with the area where we have natural comparative advantage. That is agriculture, and that agriculture is not for school drop outs, it is not for people who have no other things to do in life. It is one area that has great potential for us to develop as a nation. It is one area that has a lot of employment opportunity and we are inviting our youths to take advantage of those opportunities. This government has decided to diversify agriculture; cross farming, different types we are used to, rice, cassava, yam, everything we are used to. Tree planting, tree crops; and recently we launched our crop planting season and unfolded the enormous potentials awaiting our youths. Just make a basic effort; we will help you, with our tractors, with the grains, with the farm input. We have gone further than to say we are going to send our youths to Songhai agric centre in Benin Republic . We have concluded arrangements and I approved more than N21 million for the training of 70 youths in different facets of agriculture. And the Commissioner for Agriculture tells me that by the end of June or early July, the first batch of 35 will leave. These are some of the things we think we should do and then we have gone back to schools to say qualitative education is the key, the rest is history because you know it all. Statistics of the workforce I cannot give you here.
We have always said we don't have correct statistics particularly with regard to teachers in the primary school system and also in secondary school system. And that is why payment of salaries can be delayed occasionally even when the money is available you don't know whom you are paying. In one month you have say a particular number of teachers. In subsequent month you have "Y" number of teachers. The third month you have "Z" number of teachers. So who exactly are you paying? Who is their authentic staff, those problems are there, they didn't start with this administration. So I cannot tell you exactly how many but those employed by the federal government and given to the State also constitute part of the workforce and at some time , the figures are bound to change but if we have a good system we around on a monthly basis know the exact number of people in the employment. That is not yet the case. But with the computerization of the ministries which we are trying to put in place, sooner than later ,that problem will be solved.
What is your take on the issue of Charter of Equity? Secondly, despite the reverence paid to late Dr. Akanu Ibiam, the only street that is named after him is nothing to write home about. What are you doing to immortalize him?
Charter of Equity is orchestrated more than reason should tolerate. But the first question I want to ask is do you believe what I tell you, if I say this is white do you believe me? And if I say it is black, are you prepared to believe me? Recall that I was the chairman of the state movement and if you read my book entitled "36-year road to Ebonyi State', I gave a whole chapter on Charter of Equity and at the end ,I concluded that we have an idea of the need to balance positions in the new state as envisioned so that no part will be left to feel marginalized and we set up a committee to propose a Charter of Equity.
That committee made its report but even within the committee ,the majority refused to sign the report. Committee of eleven persons, five endorsed the report, six did not. What does that mean in public administration? It is a minority report. And even that minority report was never debated by the whole movement, the body of Ebonyi State movement; it was never till this date discussed, debated and accepted. And so when people continue to talk of Charter of Equity I ask what are they referring to; a non-existent charter? But even of you had one, the important thing is not what you have on paper; more importantly is what you do in practice. Would any part of Ebonyi State today say it is not being looked after? Will any part of Ebonyi State claim it is being marginalized?
With regard to Ibiam, street, yes, I used to know Ibiam Street but if that is the only thing you remember about Ibiam and the naming of structures; then we will ask you to make more enquires. Have you heard of Akanu Ibiam Airport ? I was the author of the memo that went to the president to seek that as chairman a committee on immortalization of Akanu Ibiam set up by the past administration here. So if you have Akanu Ibiam Airport which the whole world knows I wonder how that compared to a road of 30 meter at the backyard of Ebonyi, today's capital. Then you have Akanu Ibiam round about, more conspicuously located than the 30-meter road at the backyard of the metropolis. We came up with the decision to have Akanu Ibiam conference centre. We could not start that project. The land then was with the military happily enough, that happens to fall within the land we have recovered from the military.
But as we were going round less than two weeks ago to examine the structures started by my predecessor, we asked ourselves in view of the proliferation of facilities that could serve the same purpose as the conference centre, is it still necessary to put another Akanu Ibiam conference centre or should we rename any of those new ones Akanu Ibiam conference centre? That is the question we were asking ourselves and only time will tell, let us complete them first. So we have not forgotten about Akanu Ibiam. Thank you for remembering that monetarily we did something for some of the founding fathers including Dr. Akanu Ibiam.
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