2023 presidency not automatic for South-East —Ndoma-Egba

WE heard that the government has decided to return the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the Ministry of Niger Delta. How do you think the decision of the Presidency will impact on the Commission, knowing the bureaucracy in the ministries?

I have heard the rumour. I call it rumor because we are yet to be officially notified of any changes in our reporting lines. But let me say this: whether we are in the Ministry or the Presidency, each one has its advantages and disadvantages. So, either way, we are comfortable. But it is up to the government to take a decision on the reporting line and ours is to comply.

The APC in Cross River is embroiled in crisis as regards its authentic governorship candidate. What do you think will be the fate of the party, given the last judgment by the Bwari High Court, Abuja? 

Yes, there are a number of suits actually. But we are aware of the recent judgment by the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Bwari. Even before the judgment, the suit had generated appeals. Why? Because people had envisaged that the judgment would affect them one way or the other and they applied to be joined.

But the judge, in his wisdom, declined to join them and at the end of the day, he made orders that were binding on people who were not parties to the suit. For example, he made an order that was binding on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and they were never party to the suit and you don’t bind an entity that is not a party to a suit.

Secondly, we noticed that prayers that were not asked for were granted by the court. The court is no Father Christmas. Though it is Christmas season, it isn›t everybody who is entitled to a Christmas hamper. But the long and short of it is that there are appeals on the substantive judgment and the refusal of the judge to join necessary parties to the suit.

So, the status quo remains and that is the fact that it is Senator John Ewah-Enoh’s name that is with INEC as the governorship candidate for the race in Cross River State. Until INEC substitutes the name through the judgment of the court, he remains the candidate.

Are you not worried that as a party, you are not going into next election as a united family, considering the internal bickering?

I am concerned. As a party person, of course, you will like to go into a battle with a united army. But the good news is that both persons claiming to be the authentic candidate of the party will be campaigning for the APC. At the end of the day, whoever the court determines to be the candidate will be declared governor if we wins the election.

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Let me also add that the party in the state has set up reconciliation machinery. As we speak, the reconciliation committee is meeting and I am sure it will bring an end to this seeming dispute.

What should we expect from South-South, which is traditionally a PDP zone? Can the APC pull any stunt there?

Yes, it was traditionally PDP, because at a time, we had our son who was contesting the presidency. There was that underlining sentiment that our son was contesting. But today, we don’t have that situation and we don’t have anybody who is contesting from that zone. The two major candidates are from the same region and from the same religion.

So, that sentiment will not be there. Take the example of Cross River State. In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari got a paltry 28,000 votes and despite the low level of support, see what he has done for Cross River.

Cross River remains the only state that he has visited twice. The state is well represented in government. We have the Chief Justice of Nigeria, though he is not a politician. You can’t run away from the sentiment that he became Chief Justice under President Buhari; anything could have happened.

The Head of Service of the Federation is from Cross River State. The Auditor-General of the Federation is from that state. The Minister of the Niger Delta; the chairman, NDDC; and the Special Adviser on Prosecution are all from that state, in addition to chairmen of boards, all for a paltry 28,000 votes.

Now, what was the record under the PDP? The best we ever had in the 16 years of PDP, as a state, was when we had Kanu Agabi as minister and Senator Liyel Imoke, who later became governor, as special adviser.

These are arguments that will be taken to the field in Cross River. So, as far as I am concerned, in Cross River, it will be the height of ingratitude for anybody not to vote for President Buhari and it will be uncharitable ingratitude.

Recently, I had an interview with a radio station and I challenged the public on any tarred road that was constructed in the last two years in Cross River; that 90 percent of the chances is that it was tarred by either the NDDC or the Ministry of the Niger Delta. Any renovation of any school in the last two years, the chances are that it was done by either the NDDC or the Ministry of the Niger Delta.

So, we have benefited a lot from this government. We also have our arguments.

What was the experience under the PDP government? It was one loss after another for us as a state. It was under the PDP that we lost Bakassi; and lost 76 oil wells. It was under the PDP that we lost the hosting right to the National Sports Festival.

Cross River, at a time, was a paradise under Donald Duke when we had the cattle ranch and the mountain range. But it was still under the PDP that the paradise was lost. These and many more are the arguments that we are going to confront the people with.

So, the circumstances have changed. The sentiment that our son is contesting is no longer there. We are now dealing with verifiable records which we are going to be dealing with and the records favour the president and the APC.

How has the NDDC fared in the last three years under President Buhari? 

Well, I have been chairman for two years. But I would like to say this: the release of funds to NDDC in the last two years has been the best that we experienced. In last year’s budget, the Federal Government’s contribution was even increased and for the first time since the commission was founded, the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) is now contributing to it. For a long time, there was this argument on whether or not the commission was getting its rightful dues under the act establishing it. The NDDC has always believed that it has been shortchanged. It is under this administration that a reconciliation exercise was established.

So, as we speak, there is reconciliation going on between the Ministry of Finance, the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the NDDC to establish the exact indebtedness of the Federal Government to the NDDC. It has never happened before.

Now, in terms of projects, yes, we could have done far better than what we have done in the last two years. We came with lot of projects, with some of them completed and others ongoing. The Nembe/Ogbia road with about 57 bridges and culverts has been completed. It is a landmark and we are just waiting for a date from the president for the inauguration. We have quite a number of projects like that. We are also partnering with state governments on major projects. We are partnering with the Ondo State government on the road from Ilaje to Ibeju-Lekki. We are doing the same with Edo and Delta state governments. It is far better in the last two years than it had been in the past.

How would you react to allegation of corruption and contract racketeering in the NDDC?

First, the NDDC still operates manually and one of the things we are hoping to achieve before we leave office is the application of technology to our processes, to make our operations more efficient. We are still applying manual processes to our operations, carrying files up and down.

When we came in, we inherited over 10,000 contracts. I did a simple analysis and discovered that even if we deployed all our technical staff, including drivers and security men, to supervise these projects, each one would be supervising at least 50 projects. That is bound to bring inefficiency. The first thing we did was to cancel over N300-billion-worth of contracts in trying to clean up our balance sheet.

So, with that manual system, there is bound to be inefficiency and we are working on that. It didn’t start today, but we are trying to clean it up. The inefficiency was deep; it will take a while to clean it up.

You are here campaigning for Buhari, but some Niger Delta leaders are pushing for Atiku Abubakar. How do you reconcile this? How do you intend to sell Buhari in a predominantly PDP stronghold? 

You don’t expect a region of many millions to go in one direction. No two people share the same position. For different reasons, people will have their preference. Even in my own community, for instance, with all APC has done there, you still have people who are sympathetic to the PDP.

So, we cannot all behave alike. It will be most unusual, even in a small nuclear family, for everybody to share the same opinion. We are playing politics and we are going to campaigning on verifiable facts.

There is a lot of horse-trading going on about 2023. We know that South-East and South-West are positioning themselves. What will the South-South be pushing for? 

For Cross River State, I have told you what the position is. For the South-East, let me hazard a guess. They will go with President Buhari and I will tell you why. They are hoping to produce president in 2023 and that opportunity can only come through a President Buhari, because by the application of the law, by operation of the Constitution, come 2023, Buhari will become ineligible to contest because he must have ended his tenure and that is when the South-East can have their opportunity. Any other person who comes, forget whatever promises they make. The moment they seat on that chair, they must take their constitutional entitlement of two full terms.

So, any other person will delay the prospect for the South-East. That is why I think the South-East will go with President Buhari.

Is it automatic for the South-East to go with Buhari? 

No. It is not automatic. We are talking about the opportunity and it is for the zone to go and organize itself and be ready for that opportunity. Will it have an opportunity in 2023 through President Buhari? The answer is yes, the opportunity will be there and you need to put your house in order. Will any other person give you that opportunity in 2023, considering the fact that the person would have a constitutional entitlement to two terms? The answer is no.

Let us go back to Cross River. What do you think is the solution to the influx, from Cameroon, of the Amazonians? Secondly, your people nurse the expectation that the Buhari-led government will look into its loss of oil wells. What is the update?

The solution to this question lies with the Republic of Cameroon. It must resolve its internal crisis, because the issue of refugees is humanitarian and an international law issue. When you are running away from war, another country must give you refuge. But the refugees should also be looked after, and I think that the Federal Government and the international community are doing their best over these refugees.

But the solution to it will be to resolve the internal contentions in Cameroon. Therefore, the international community must be interested in how the contentions within Cameroon are resolved quickly. If that is not done, the refugee situation will worsen and put pressure on our lean resources. I come from a place that is less than 10 kilometres from the Cameroonian border. So, you can imagine the kind of pressure I will be going through.

On the issue of oil wells, we made an appeal to Mr. President. Ours was to prepare his mind so that when the state government does the needful, he will be disposed to assist. The rest is for the state government to follow up. How much they have done, I don’t know, because the party in power in Cross River isn’t my party. So, I am not privy to details of efforts they have made in that regard. But as a stakeholder in Cross River, each time I have the opportunity to see the president, I always prepared his mind so that he will be favorably disposed to finding a political solution for the state. But the state must also make its moves. As I said, the state government is not an APC government, but when we take over, I can assure you that it will be one of the first issues we intend to put forward.

What is the role of the NDDC in the Ogoni cleanup project?

The cleanup is more of a Federal Ministry of Environment issue; the NDDC is not directly involved. The managing director of the NDDC sits on the board of the Ogoni cleanup. So, I don’t have the details.

You have served as commissioner and senator from Cross River. Have you foreclosed your chances in the governorship race? 

I ran for governor at the age of 31 and today, I am 62. The position of governor of Cross River State has traditionally has been for very young people. U. J. Esuene was our first governor in the old South-Eastern State. He was governor at 32. After him was Paul Omu, who was 36; and after him was Elegbede who was 37. Then, Clement Isong, who came from the Akwa-Ibom end, was the only one in his 50s who governed Cross River State. Senator Don Etiebet, who took over from Isong, was 47. Clement Ebri, with whom I ran, was 48 when he was governor.  Donald Duke was 35. Imoke was in his early 40s and then, Ben Ayade is about 50. Ayade is actually the oldest governor of the state.

Given the history of governance in the state, I think I have gone too far, at 62, to contemplate contesting the governorship of Cross River State, given its history.

So, I should respect my age and play politics at another level.

What is your take on the recent rancour in the National Assembly at the budget presentation session?

Parliaments, all over the world, are rancorous places: they throw chairs, they throw punches; they jeer and boo. But we haven’t had that experience in Nigeria before and I will tell you why. It is because every situation has a cultural undertone. Culturally as Nigerians, irrespective of tribe, we respect age and that’s why it has never happened in Nigeria. So, it should worry us that it happened at all, because there is a cultural requirement for respect for elders, which I didn’t see when the budget was presented.

Back to Cross River’s loss of oil blocks, you said you are expecting President Buhari to intervene and help your state. Do you think it is something that can be done by executive fiat, knowing that you lost those blocks as a result of offshore/onshore dichotomy?

There is always a political solution to every human condition. Remember that when this onshore/offshore thing started, I think, there was a judgment. The government and the stakeholders went to a roundtable and found a political solution to it. Even with the judgment, there can still be a political solution.

I still found it awkward because when we lost Bakassi, the then Attorney-General, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), gave Nigerians the assurance that we were not going to lose a single oil well as a result of the loss of Bakassi. Bakassi was lost to the Cameroon and the oil wells now moved to another direction.

The loss of Bakassi is something that should entitle Cross River to compensation in perpetuity. I was in the Senate when Bakassi was ceded. I remember Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw and I took, at least, three motions on the floor shouting ourselves hoarse. At that time, we had no substantive governor because the election of Senator Imoke had been nullified and we had an acting governor. We knew that ceding Bakassi at that time was going to come with security and humanitarian challenges and we were pleading that there should be no hurry. Despite the people of Bakassi and above them, Bakassi was ceded. That place is the heritage of a people.

Their forebears were buried there. Their shrines are there. Their history is there. If you lose your cassava farm to the government, it will pay you compensation. So, why not Cross River? We are entitled to compensation in perpetuity for the loss of Bakassi.

The unsavoury development at the National Assembly during President Buhari’s budget presentation has been described as a reflection of the disconnection between Assembly and the Presidency. What is your take?

There is some logic to that. Though they are different arms of government, there should be some synergy between the executive and the National Assembly. That is why you always have Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters. He is supposed to provide that connect. The Senate Leader and the House Leader are also supposed to provide that interface between the two arms of government. In time past, there used to be frequent meetings between the president and the National Assembly leadership. I don’t know, given the circumstances in which the current leadership of the National Assembly emerged, whether those meetings are still taking place.

So, it could be a reflection of that disconnect. I agree, but that does not take away the fact that we all came from the background of culture of respect. No matter the level of anger, it should have been better managed on the floor of the National Assembly. That is my personal opinion.