My vision is to build A’Ibom’s private sector – Nsima Ekere

Immediate past Deputy Gov­ernor of Akwa Ibom State Nsima Ekere, is one of many political heavyweights jostling for the ticket of the ruling Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of next year’s governor­ship election. In this interview with Sunday Sun, Ekere ex­plains why he’s the candidate to beat, his relationship with Governor Godswill Akpabio, as well as the driving force of his ambition to succeed his former principal. excerpts:

It’s almost two years since you left govern­ment as deputy governor of Akwa  Ibom state. Peo­ple are still wondering why you left. The story is that you would have been impeached if you did not resign. Why, real­ly, did you leave office?

You rightly stated it well that it will be two years in a couple of days since I left office. The truth of the matter is that, at a time I had to leave for some very personal reasons. I want to ex­press thanks and appreciation to the media. They have been very understanding and have granted my privacy on those issues.

…You just needed to go and take care of some things?

I needed to go. I have spent the last two years trying to take care of some personal family issues and pay some attention to my business interest. More impor­tantly, I have been reflecting on the issues and challenges facing Nigeria and Akwa Ibom state. I have been trying to articulate some responses and action plans which, I believe, if followed, will cause some positive changes in the nation and in Akwa Ibom state. That is why I am running for office.

You have been out of government and now try­ing to get back in. What have you seen different­ly? What do you think can be done better?

A lot of people, before they get into government, sit back and make beautiful speeches on what the issues facing Nigeria are. Now, when you now get into govern­ment, you discover that it is a dif­ferent ball game. The bureaucracy and the system itself are so com­plex and complicated that they need proper management if you must get the results that you desire. What I mean is this: If you take a white serviette and throw it into the government bureau­cracy, if you are not very careful, it will come out yellow or brown. So, you need to follow through to ensure that it comes out the way you expect it to be. You need the experience to deal with the civil servants, the political class and your aides. That is what stands me out from the rest. I like to tell this story. My first experience in gov­ernment was as executive chair­man of Akwa Ibom Investment and Industrial Promotion Council. It is the private sector arm of the government. That was very good for me, considering the fact that I was coming from the private sec­tor. I needed that kind of experi­ence. We sat down and articulated beautiful plans for the state. Some­how, I saw the things that hindered some of those memos that we made from being executed. That was why I said, with the kind of experience that I have, I can only add value.

One of the planks upon which you are contesting is industrialisation and entrepreneurial growth of the state. I read some­where that, as deputy gov­ernor, you were entrusted with the industrialisa­tion aspect of the work to you, while the governor faced the infrastructural development of the state. It was alleged that you fell flat and did not deliv­er. How would you react to that?

That is not true. The government never said that. I recall that some miscreants and mischief makers posted some stories online to that effect, but promptly, the governor had to issue a statement and fault­ed the claims. He said the govern­ment was not behind it and that it was the handiwork of mischief makers who were bent on causing disaffection. There is no way as deputy governor you could be said to have been entrusted with the re­sponsibility of running industriali­sation. There are organs of govern­ment that had that mandate. The former office I occupied before is there and you have the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. None of those departments of government reported to me as deputy gover­nor. They were all reporting to the governor. I was not part and par­cel of their work. I was not even a board member in any of those agencies and my inputs would not have mattered. I could not have been part of the implementation of anything that fell under the man­date of those agencies. They were not reporting to me. Anyway, like I said, the governor had already is­sued a statement and had faulted the whole claim in its entirety.

Today, we are seeing massive construction of roads and bridges etc. There is so much govern­ment presence. But you said your focus is mainly going to be on the human capital development as­pect. How are you going to go about it?

Unfortunately, most of the cam­paigns that have taken place in my state have not been issue-based. Now, I am aware that about 16 as­pirants have collected nomination forms. If you go back and look at it, nobody is coming to say why they want to be governor and what they intend to do for the people. It is only my campaign that has been able to spell out clearly what our focus is. I have spent the greater part of the last two years articulat­ing what my response would be to the problems facing my state and the country. I have a ready answer in my palms. We will hit the ground running. I have been an acting governor before. I think in this country, I am one of the few deputy governors who had the privilege of being gazetted as acting governor when their gov­ernors had to go on leave. I have done this work before and I know what the challenges are.

Now, Governor Godswill Akpa­bio, like you said, has built mas­sive infrastructure all over the place. He has created that name for himself. I want to come in and create a name for myself as the governor that succeeded in put­ting in place a solid base for sus­tainable economic development. I want to come in and deliber­ately build the private sector. We will make the private sector very vibrant in Akwa Ibom state. It is the private sector that will build industries, create jobs, grow the economy and create wealth for the people. Ultimately, it is the pri­vate sector that will lift the people out of poverty. We will make very deliberate policies and put in place programmes that will give the required incentives to the pri­vate sector to operate. I know the kind of incentives needed to at­tract investors to the state. I know what has been done and what is remaining. I interacted first hand with the business community. I have spoken with a range of busi­nessmen and I know what it is they want. I am committed to en­suring that I put those things in place and set up incentives that will give them the confidence to operate in the state.

Out of 36 states in Nigeria, Akwa Ibom is 22nd on the favourable places to do business. Despite the fact that there is so much money in Akwa Ibom, there is so much poverty going alongside. How much of the pri­vate sector will be home­grown?

Like I explained to you, there must a reason why you think Akwa Ibom people cannot operate in that sector we expect them to operate or they cannot do what is required of them. Now, the point I am making is that, because I know what those impediments are, government can be an enabler of the dream. Akwa Ibom people are very resourceful and industrious. They may not have the kind of economic might that other parts of the country have. They may not have access to the kind of credit people from other states have. That is what my government will do differently. I will give you some examples. You can partner with some of these development banks and set up an industrial fund. Start with maybe N10 billion. If you go to the Bank of Industry for exam­ple and tell them to set up a spe­cial fund for Akwa Ibom people with N10 billion and tell them that government is willing to give them half of that money as our contribu­tion. If, for instance, their interest rate is 18 or 15 per cent, govern­ment brings half of that money. So, you tell them to crash their inter­est rate from 15 per cent to half of that which is 7.5 per cent. That means Akwa Ibom people will be able to access a special fund they need for businesses within the state. By the time that happens, that fear you are expressing now will not be there.

There are a whole lot of other ideas. Let me not discuss more so that other people will not steal the ideas. But you will agree with me that if you do that for a start, you get people to access funds at a single digit interest rate. It will be cheaper for businessmen. Apart from that, we will go a step further and attract major players like the Dangotes of this world. We already have Jim Ovia who is putting up a plant. Oba Otudeko has expressed interest to build something in the state. T. Y. Danjuma has expressed interest to build a ceramics factory in the state. Once they know that there is a friendly government in place that will help them take care of issues that are of concern to any genuine investor, why won’t they come? We will be able to en­courage our people and give them support to operate in the local economy. We will also attract ma­jor players to come and operate in the state.

If you’re elected gover­nor, are we going to see a continuation or consoli­dation of Akpabio? If you are ready to go with some things the governor has started, how come you could not stay and exe­cute everything together?

You see, government is a con­tinuous thing. Since the creation of Akwa Ibom state, there have been successive governments and every government is expected to come in and build on the successes of the previous administration. By the grace of God, once I become governor, we will consolidate on whatever the gains of the current administration are. I am someone who has always advocated that we should not bring in politics into development. I do not play politics with the development of my peo­ple. I keep politics out of it. The present administration has done well in the areas it has concen­trated on. We can only use that to boost us to the next level. It would not have been possible to talk about going to the next level if the required infrastructure was not on ground. So, the present adminis­tration has done well in putting in place the right infrastructure that will enable the next administra­tion focus on the economy of the  state.

Are you thinking of spread­ing this gospel of development outside of Uyo? It appears Akwa Ibom begins and ends in Uyo…

One of the four cardinal focuses of the administration is rural development. Major­ity of our people still live in the rural areas. Like you rightly said, Uyo is just one out of the 31 local government areas we have in the state. We intend to aggressively pursue rural development. It will stem rural-urban drift. We will give them some rural econom­ic base. We want to use agriculture as a ma­jor tool to tackle rural development. By the time we set up large mechanized farms that will produce and look at the value chain, by the time you harvest the products, they will have to be processed and stored. So, we have small aggro-allied industries we can set up along that line so that the entire process will be integrated and sustained. That will create jobs for people and grow the local economy at the rural areas. Once you put money in their hands, their wealth will increase and the purchasing power will be there. A whole lot of things will change.

By the time we tackle rural development and focus on agriculture, a lot to people will not want to live in Uyo anymore. They will go back to their villages. We already have 85 per cent of electricity coverage in the rural areas right now. The present administration has vowed to complete that so that every part of the state will have electricity by May next year. That will be fantastic and if it does not happen, we will complete it. Then, we will provide other basic amenities of life. We have the ADB-sponsored water projects in the state which have not been completed. We will ensure that we complete that. We will provide primary healthcare facilities in those rural areas. We do not want people to walk long distances before they can have access to basic health facilities.

What about the Independent Power Plants (IPP) projects?

The IPP is an enabler. It is one of the things the state government has done that will make it possible for us to say the things we say today. We all know that one of the things that make industries to fold up and move over to Ghana was power. Now, we have a power plant in Akwa Ibom State that has the capacity to generate 190 megawatts of electricity. Currently, the state is one of the major shareholders in the electricity distribution company in that part of the country. It means the state government is in some level of control over the power situation in Akwa Ibom State. We will look at whatever is left to be done in that area and strengthen it. One of my dreams is that Akwa Ibom will be one of the first states in Nigeria where you can have uninterrupted power supply all through. If I want to build the private sector that I want, I want to be able to give the industrialists a reason to leave other parts of the country and come to Akwa Ibom once they know that we have uninterrupted power.

From what I have gathered, the incumbent governor has his own candidate he is supporting. You are not that candidate. It is like the proverbial camel going through the eye of a needle for you to get the PDP ticket without the endorsement of the incum­bent. How do you weigh your chances?

Well, the governor issued a statement recently, saying he had no anointed candi­date and that there would be a level-playing field for all aspirants. Ultimately, the PDP as a political party has its own constitu­tion. It has gone ahead to issue guidelines that will direct the conduct of the forth­coming primaries. I believe that the PDP under Alhaji Adamu Muazu as the national chair­man has strength of character to abide by the provisions of the guidelines. I want to very specially commend the national chair­man and members of the national working committee for their tenacity and adherence to the constitution of the party as far as the primaries are concerned. We are aware that in the last couple of days, there have been all kinds of meetings gong on with the party leaders, the governors and the presidency on this issue.

The party has maintained its ground that primaries must be done transparently. With this kind of commitment from the national leadership of the party and from President Goodluck Jonathan, I am very confident that the primaries will be held in line with the guidelines of the constitution of the par­ty. That means that Akwa Ibom people will have the last say. They will decide who they want as governor and in all other offices that are going to be contested for. It will not be totally left to what Mr A or Mr B wants, but left to Akwa Ibom people and members of the PDP in the state to decide who gets the ticket of the party in the next general elections. I have spent the last couple of months, consulting members of PDP in the state. Everywhere I go, the kind of reactions I get from party members in the state are the things that have helped me to forge ahead. They know me and have worked with me. They know that I have what it takes to give the state what it needs at this level and for the next administration. That is what gives me the confidence that I will win the prima­ries.

How far are you willing to go if you do not win? Will you de­camp to APC?

I am a foundation member of PDP. When in 1998 some people came together and brought PDP to Akwa Ibom state, I am one of the few people who made financial con­tributions for this party to be entrenched and established in Akwa Ibom state. I am a loyal party man. 

I have every convic­tion that if the PDP conducts its primaries in line with the guidelines that have been published, I will emerge victorious. I do not have to go to APC or anywhere else. I am a PDP man and I believe in party supremacy. At the end of the day, PDP will have the last say. My fate is tied to PDP and not to any other political party.

Recall that in 2011, the opposi­tion gave the PDP a tough battle. With the likelihood of some aspi­rants kicking against the out­come of the yet to be conducted primaries, do you foresee a mass exodus to the APC in Akwa Ibom state?

In 2011, the opposition did not almost take over the state. The results of the elec­tions are there for the whole world to see. Even when the opposition went to court to challenge the outcome of the election, it was judicially pronounced that we won. You can check the result. PDP had well over 85 per cent of the votes. We did not have any challenge. I do not think it is true that the opposition almost took over. It was the me­dia that created that situation. I remember when I used to read analysis about the elec­tions, they would say Akwa Ibom too close to call. There was nothing like too close to call in Akwa Ibom. The results of the elec­tions will show you that. Now, to the other issue, the only thing that makes politicians angry and move to another party is where they feel that the processes leading to the primaries were not transparent. Which is why it is very important that the national working committee of the PDP took the decision they took today. If any aspirant feels that the process was manipulated by anybody both at the national or state, they will go away. Then you have no control over what people will do in such a compromising situation. My take on this is that, it is very important that the PDP ensures there is a transparent and fair primaries conducted in Akwa Ibom state. They must ensure that the process is not hijacked to favour anybody. Once that happens, I can assure you that there will be no issue about anybody leav­ing the party. Having said that, I would not say that I am not unaware that the APC is already counting Akwa Ibom as one of the states they will win in the forthcoming elec­tions. They believe that the PDP will not have the capacity and the will to enforce a transparent process during the prima­ries. They believe that the PDP will allow the governor to have his way and that once that happens, the people will be so angry and they now want to move to the opposition. I have news for them. They need to think of other strategies. The PDP under Muazu is not going to do that. It is committed to a transparent and credible primaries. I can as­sure you that members of the party will not be aggrieved enough to want to leave the party. Once the thing is done and you can see that you have failed, there is no prob­lem. You congratulate the winner. Politics is not a do-or-die affair thing. You can only lead a people if they want you to lead them. In a free and transparent process, whoever emerges is who the people want.

What do you think the Jona­than administration has done to warrant a second term? Akwa Ibom runs some kind of free ed­ucation. I do not believe educa­tion can be free. Going into the future, can Akwa Ibom afford to pay and sustain that policy?

First of all, I believe education is key to development. At the level that we are as a country and as a people, government must continue to invest massively in the educa­tion of its people. The world is changing. We must also understand that it is time to mod­ify and adjust the curriculum to meet with the changing needs of the emerging new world. Our children must be given the kind of education that they need in order to com­pete in this modern world. Coming from that premise, I believe the next administra­tion in Akwa Ibom state must sustain the free education policy. As a matter of fact, they should go a step further to rejuvenate it in line with the new realities. It is a social responsibility of government to educate its citizens. We will continue to make that sac­rifice so that we can train and educate our children.

On President Goodluck Jonathan, I thank the PDP national working committee for adopting the president as the sole candidate in the forthcoming presidential election. This shows to me that our democracy is evolving. It shows that our democracy is be­ginning to come of age. In other advanced countries of the world, you know that when you have an incumbent who is still eligible to go for reelection, they usually get auto­matic ticket. For Nigeria to begin to import that into our political system, it is a good development. I applaud the party. 

Mr Presi­dent has put in a place a very robust trans­formation programme for the country. I tell people that the problems of Nigeria did not happen over night. These are problems that had arisen out of years of several neglect and failure to plan. The transformation pro­gramme the president has put in place has the capacity to change things for this coun­try positively. Nigerians must learn to be pa­tient for the results of this efforts to begin to manifest. It will not happen over night. There are several sectors this administra­tion has addressed. We talked about power few minutes ago. Power is one of the issues Mr President is working on. Today, we now have a private sector that is involved in the generation and distribution of electricity. I have a personal conviction that the private sector will be involved in the transmission of power very soon. Just like GSM revolu­tion that happened during Obasanjo’s tenure. I have this strong conviction that before the end of this administration after the next four years, our power sector would have been totally transformed. Nigeria would have been able to generate, transmit and distribute enough electricity to meet our needs. There are other areas. Look at agriculture. You can see that these things have got to be sustained. That is why we do not need to change a winning team. What Nigerians need to do is to give them support. Be pa­tient so that we can collectively reap the good works of Mr President.

If elected today, what would be the most pressing thing you will do within the first two weeks?

I believe in a comprehensive approach to tackling issues. I do not believe in a fire brigade approach. I am determined to lead Akwa Ibom state to run a very transpar­ent and efficient government and involve professionals. Let government be run like a business. You run a lean and efficient ad­ministration. I will tackle the issue of cor­ruption and block waste in governance so that we can deliver on the mandate given to us by the people.

Culled from Sunday Sun, November 2, 2014