Nigerians in Diaspora should be allowed to participate in our electoral process —Nwoko

Prince Chinedu Munir Nwoko, the senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in this interview with ALPHONSUS AGBORH, speaks on his initiative on constitutional amendment to make way for Nigerians in the Diaspora to actively participate in the nation’s electoral process, among other issues.

HOW do you feel returning to the National Assembly after many years?

I feel good because I am in a familiar terrain. I enjoy the idea of representing my people, particularly the Anioma people of Delta State. It is something that I have, over the years, been working towards since I left the House of Representatives in 2003. I nursed the ambition and I’m glad it happened at a time I am fully prepared and equipped far better than I was in 1999.

What do you intend to achieve for the people of Delta North and Nigeria in general this time?

There are so many things to be done in Nigeria and in its entire states. For example, I want to sponsor a bill for an agency that will specifically provide grants for the youths who are entrepreneurs. We’re looking at empowering as many youths as possible through this agency. For the first time, we should target the youths for upliftment. This particular bill, when passed into law and implemented, will target more than 1,000,000 youths per year. They will be funded to stand. They’re already in existing businesses. Currently, there’s nothing for the youths and many of them are struggling on their own. Some have been able to acquire many skills as farmers, barbers, hairdressers, fashion designers and as musicians. Those even in the universities have skills and they are struggling on their own. But they are not getting support from anywhere. So, for me, this is a priority. And then, we have floods ravaging many states of the country, particularly my state, Delta. So, we are looking at how to dredge the River Niger and River Benue. It’s something that has to be done as a matter of urgency, possibly building of dams.

The Asaba-Benin highway, which has suffered failure, will receive attention. The Uromi-Agbor-Eku-Sapele road is in a state of total disrepair and the coastal Oko-Utchi-Onuaboh-Aboh road linking the East-West road, that has been on the drawing board for decades, will attract federal attention as well.

You hope to seek a constitutional amendment to enable Nigerians in the Diaspora to participate in the electoral process.

What I am proposing is not new. Americans, British and other countries allow their citizens abroad to vote. A country like Niger republic has almost exactly the same thing I am proposing, where they have their people in the Diaspora being allocated some seats in the parliament. If they can be voted for, they can vote. If we are able to move our electoral processes to another level that will involve electronic voting, it will encourage people to vote and their vote will be counted. Every vote will be done through electronic voting, and it will help us move to the next level that will be accepted all over the world.

What do you think the Nigerian government has disallowed the Diaspora to vote all this while?

Maybe nobody has pushed for it. But for me, as a solicitor for the Supreme Court in England, I’ve always wanted to do this. It is one of my dreams to make sure that Nigerians who reside abroad or who are born abroad, have the same rights and obligations as those who are here. And this is the right. One of the obligations they will have is that they will be also be required to pay some tax into Nigeria. So, payment of tax will generate a lot of revenues to Nigeria by those who want to exercise this voting right. I mean, you don’t just get up and say I am a Nigerian, I want to vote. You have to show some commitment that you are a Nigerian. The details of it will be worked out later at committee hearings. I know some people will say no! I know some will say yes, but let’s hear their views. Don’t think this is from Ned Nwoko; it’s not just about Ned Nwoko. It’s about the right of our people abroad. It’s about the privileges; it is about doing some things differently. So, when it is done and they have this right, you know many of them can’t even come home because they are losing interest in Nigeria. They are losing touch from Nigeria. There’s no family in Nigeria that I know of who doesn’t have one or two people abroad. Why do you want to disenfranchise them?

Do you think those in the Diaspora actually have confidence in Nigeria?

They don’t because of one, Insecurity; two, bad economy; three, the lack of law and order. We cannot trust the judiciary, and things don’t seem to be working in Nigeria as they know it does in the United Kingdom, America or Europe. That’s why we cannot do without those our people in the Diaspora. They can help us. They can help us to get things right. Many of them are occupying various important positions abroad. They are doing very well. Not just the first generation Nigerians, who are there, but for second generation and third generation, as well. Just imagine having somebody like Barrack Obama. There are many Nigerians, who are like Obama. But the Nigerian system is very frustrating. There are so many crooks within the system that make it almost impossible to get things done for the interest of the people. People don’t see office as a means of service to the people. They see office as a means to self-enrichment. Abuse of office is rampant. People use their positions to frustrate and incriminate others. But, I can assure you that if we have refined and exposed Nigerians abroad coming home to contribute to the upliftment of Nigerians, you will see the difference. It would not just be about Ned Nwoko or one or two other people screaming their head off and nothing is happening. If we have a lot of the Diasporas working in the parliament, working in the executive, just imagine those that came from abroad to work under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s, and many of them, they did so well. Take for example Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s children or even take my own children, who were born there, who have very good jobs, who are qualified as lawyers or doctors or professors, they are there, many of them. So, we need to encourage them to come back home and this is the only way to encourage them to do so.

Much has been said about the removal of petrol subsidy removal. What is your take on it, considering the toll it has taken on Nigerians?

I am very happy that the subsidy has been removed; very happy because I am one of those advocates of local production of refined products. We have no reason not to have our refineries working. We must get them working. And when our refineries work and we refine locally, it will create many jobs; it will save a lot of foreign exchange that we are using to import finished products from other countries. It will help to train our young ones, get them working in the industry because we’re never going to be dealing with imports or exports anymore. As long as we refine enough for local consumption, the rest can be sent abroad and we will still get some foreign earnings out of it. So, I am totally in support of the removal of the subsidy. I know in the long term, it would be in the interest of Nigeria and every Nigerian for that matter.

You are establishing the Sports University in your community, Idumuje Ugboko. When is the institution actually taking off?

The university is starting in September this year. Everything is in place. I’m happy that the Federal Government granted us the required approvals and the uniqueness of the university is that it is the first of its kind in Nigeria and in the West Africa sub-region. It is a university that will give the young ones the opportunity in sports and at the same time get educated alongside. So, anyone that goes  to the university must do sports. And when you graduate, you have to graduate with joint honors, sports and something. So, it could be sports and private crime studies, or sports and biology or sports and nursing or sports and whatever it is that you want to combine your sports with. At the end of your sports career, you can  rely on the other qualification to help you to find  another level of business or something to do. And like now, if you’re a footballer at the age of 35, you finish your football like you cannot find another opportunity or maybe you’re a coach or you’re a broadcaster or something like that. But if you have done football as your sports option and then maybe you now also study the maybe public relations or study Mass Communication, you can find job elsewhere to make sure that you don’t retire in life early. But, the beautiful thing is that we are not just offering degree programs, we are also offering certificate courses and diploma programs, so we accommodate those who are too young to go into university, but they are very good in sports. For example, some gymnasts who are 12 or 13 years can be admitted under what we call the foundation year, or the pre-degree year where we can  prepare them for their WAEC or JAMB, and subsequently the required examinations.

Your community is an epicentre for tourism because of the huge investment in that sector. So, what really makes the resort a special place?

It was built with that in mind. I don’t just do things for the sake of doing it. I had to build a tourism center. I wanted to contribute to development and growth of tourism in Nigeria. And so deliberately everything was planned. You see the architectural mapping. The place can be divided into three parts. You have the architectural design, you have the farms and you have the front and the flowers, as well as the rest of them. Everything there is about tourism. So if you go there and you like architecture, fine. If you don’t, you like animals, fine. We have animals there. We have some animals like horses, donkeys and camels, things you may not find in Delta State are there.

We have crocodiles, different types of birds, and at least about 25 types of birds.  There are trees like mustered (seed) trees and others. That’s why often there are school children and University students that go there on excursion.

When people are in Asaba for seminars or conferences, the best place that is recommended for them is Mount Ned Nwoko. Yeah, as I said, it was built intentionally to help to develop and promote tourism in Delta and of course in Nigeria.

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