Ewherido
Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido, who represents Delta Central Senatorial District, is the only Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) Senator. Ewherido, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Maritime, speaks on the implications of the Boko Haram insurgency, the difference between Boko Haram sect and Niger Delta militants, the need for a unicameral legislature and the clamour for a national conference. Assistant Editor ONYEDI OJIABOR captures his thoughts in this interview.
The country is faced with se rious security challenges. The impression of most Nigerians is that Boko Haram fundamentalists have virtually destroyed the economy of Northern Nigeria?
Of course that view is correct because nobody will invest in an atmosphere of insecurity. Recall that during the Niger Delta crisis when the militants took over the entire rivers and oil installations, investors had no option but to move away from the Niger Delta area. Even though, then, the militants targeted only oil installations and not human beings, today the Boko Haram targets human beings. So, it is not possible for any serious investor to move into that region now and that is not good at all because we talk of the need to create employment, we talk of the need to drive away poverty, deprivation and all that. Development cannot take place in an atmosphere of insecurity just like investment cannot take place in an atmosphere of insecurity. Once there is no investment, you cannot generate employment. It is only in Nigeria that people wait on the government alone to generate employment. Elsewhere in the world, employment is generated more by the private sector
You are the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Maritime. We heard about alleged plan by the government to concession the country’s maritime security to a private outfit.
The maritime security bill was withdrawn in the wisdom of the President. I am not aware of a private maritime security outfit.
You are from the Niger Delta area and a lot of people liken the Niger Delta militants to what Boko Haram is doing now. Do you think there is a link between the two?
Yes, there is a link to the extent that there is some violence involved, but during the Niger Delta struggle, predominantly, the militants struck only at oil installations to drive home their points. They were not really killing human beings. The second difference is that the Niger Delta struggle had clear leaders who were known; it was not as faceless as Boko Haram.
When it came for negotiations from day one the Niger Delta militants had spokesmen who were known, they had leaders who were known, names that were known and at any point in time they were required to meet with government, they were available for dialogue.
That is not exactly the case as you know today about Boko Haram. One of the difficulties in tackling the Boko Haram thing is that their leaders have remained largely unknown. At a point, government said they wanted to discuss with their leaders to state their grievances but they were not forthcoming. I believe that for every struggle to be meaningful the leadership has to be identifiable. So, for there to be consistency and regularity , I think they should have an identifiable leadership that can discuss either with the government or security agencies as the case may be.
What is your reaction to the call by some people that government should extend amnesty to the Boko Haram sect?
You cannot even make any statement about that until you have identifiable leaders.
Do you think that the Northern Elders have done enough or taken some reasonable measures to assist in addressing Boko Haram insurgency
I believe that Nigerians as a people have not even done enough to assist in terms of security because security is a general problem and the few people causing this insecurity are not spirits. During the Niger Delta struggle, in those particular areas, you would know those who were operating even though you could do nothing about it, but you knew them. I believe it is the same thing with the Boko Haram thing. So, if we have to be sincere to ourselves, these are people who live among us, they are people who are seen and known.
If we were doing enough, I am sure the security situation could have been different. Unfortunately, it is now the stock in trade for people to parry it and say oh the security agencies are not doing enough or government is not doing enough. Security is about intelligence and information and when they do not have the necessary intelligence or information how do you expect the security operatives to nip this thing in the bud?
So, we must do everything to tackle it. That is why I agree with some people who are saying there should be a national dialogue on that and many other issues because Boko Haram is not the only issue.
From place to place, there are issues and policies that Nigerians are not happy with. When we come together as a people and we place our cards on the table it becomes easier to understand because the problem in Borno State might not be the same problem in Plateau State or the problem in Delta or some other places.
What form should the dialogue take; could it be Sovereign as some have suggested?
There are two ways to look at it. I am sure that the constitution we have is a federal constitution, but today we are not practising full federalism because of the hiccups in democracy. The democratic institutions that you see are not as free as you look at them. So you cannot just come up and say it should be as it is in the constitution.
The provisions in the constitution are being flouted daily and nothing is happening. Take the relationship between the states and local governments for example, they operate a joint account, after the states receive their own money, they are supposed to disburse the funds to the local governments but we have reports that the governors operate as if they should not give those funds to the local governments, and use them as if they are funds for the state governments, it should not be so.
Then, some of the issues need constitutional amendments but as you have seen constitutional amendment is not an easy process in Nigeria because a lot of stifling take place. The first time constitutional amendment was undertaken, fiscal autonomy was granted to the states legislature but they voted against themselves. Strange things happen here, there are things you should not throw to the dynamics of a democratic system. That is the problem I have with democracy sometimes.
The issue is that some people don’t want government to coordinate it?
But the truth of the matter is that constituted authority must be recognised by that conference, otherwise, it will not make sense. Those of us in the legislature, we are also elected by Nigerians, you cannot therefore discard the mandate freely given to elected officials by constituents, unless you want to say that those constituents are not Nigerians, they are Nigerians.
The President was elected by Nigerians, so you cannot call for a conference discarding the entire mandate handed over freely by Nigerians to their elected officials. That will be working against what even informed the decision to convoke the national conference, which is you want the views of Nigerians reflected.
So, what are the issues you think should be addressed at such a conference?
I have always argued that I do not know what the federal government is doing with agriculture; it should be on the concurrent list. Roads for instance, I do not see what the federal government is doing with internal roads in states. I think the federal government should restrict itself to inter state roads, rails and all that. I do not see what the federal government is doing with primary education because these are localized matters. I don’t even see what the federal government is doing with secondary education. But the problem is that going through the constitution is always a difficult one. So, I am saying that the democratic institutions have their roles, the civil society and Nigerians generally also have their roles, but it is wrong to try to discard democratic institutions because they are also elected.
In a situation where a lot of people do not trust the government and are suspicious of the National Assembly, how will this thing work out?
Nigerians should learn to trust government because if we lose faith in government and at the end of the day we want to operate in a situation where there is no government, that is anarchy. I believe people should continue to agitate to refine the problems with government so that we can get a better government. Take for example people continue to complain about the high cost of governance, yes, I say let us see how we can streamline the parastatals, to streamline the budget demands.
I agree that we have so many parastatals and let us try and streamline them. I also agree that some of the figures in the budget are frivolous. I also look at our government and I also feel that the issue of unicameral legislature must be examined. Do we really need to have a Senate different from the House of Representatives? Because we are talking about cost of governance and if you are to achieve a lower cost of governance I believe that we will have to streamline a lot of things in the presidency and we should look at how we can address the legislature. I stand to be controverted, I don’t think we need a bicameral legislature. But instead of addressing the issues, Nigerians shouted and quoted some bogus figures and say that is what the legislators earn and we look at the figures and some of us wonder whether it is the same legislature we all belong to.
How would you explain resurgence of militancy in recent times in the Niger Delta?
My belief is that a lot of people no matter how good the intention of government is, must have avenues to resuscitate things that are supposed to be behind us. The recent one has to do with the Henry Okah thing. I think it is a legal matter in South Africa . I don’t know if you can hold Nigeria responsible for what transpires in South Africa. I don’t know if the government here has any powers to stop South Africa in carrying out its own judicial duties. But I do know that there was an open agreement for militants to surrender their arms and embrace amnesty. It lasted for a very long time and several opportunities were given. So I do not know about this new one, but I am sure the security agencies are meeting them and discussing with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment