Rt. Hon. Okpolupm Etteh, a governorship aspirant and immediate past Leader of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, is unarguably the crusader of the Eket Senatorial District Governorship. The Ibeno-born former Assemblyman, who has conquered the turbulent waters of business and politics within and outside the shore of Akwa Ibom State, says the APC-led Federal Government is hampering the progress of Akwa Ibom State. Excerpts:
The PDP appears to be back on track. Do you agree that the 2015 election contributed to the party’s problem?
It is the impunity that made people to revolt against the party, but today, with the amendment of the party’s constitution, which now accommodates former political office holders in the scheme of things, the party has bounced back to take its pride of place in Nigeria. The PDP must stop impunity and imposition of candidates. PDP must ensure political inclusiveness through zoning and rotation of political offices. And for those that dumped the party because of losing the presidential election, it is unfortunate. They forgot that there are states, especially in the South West, like Lagos, which never belonged to a ruling party at the centre then and still fared well.
I am very happy for the restoration after a long tormenting period. What I don’t understand is why we had to go through all that in the first place. It is unfortunate that the PDP had to wait for the Supreme Court to recover from the trauma. I knew that the PDP would lose power at the centre when they dislodged the owners of the party at the grassroots.
What is your opinion on the industrialization policy in Akwa Ibom?
The government is doing very well in terms of industrialization; they are doing what they ought to do. But there is something people don’t understand, when it comes to industrialization, government business is to set up a team, send them out to lure investors with different incentives. Government then provides very conducive environment for the investors and their investment to thrive. The issue Certificate of Occupancy to the investors is under the purview of the governor. But the license to operate certain types of industries is in the hands of the Federal Government. The Quantom Petrochemical industry cited in my own locality for years now is still struggling to get license from Abuja.
So, when people blame the governor for the slow pace with which some of the investments are dragging, they fail to understand that he had done his own but the frustration is coming from the Federal Government agencies. Governor Udom Emmanuel has always ensured he gives the investors all they needed to operate successfully but their licenses, unfortunately, are on the exclusive list which only Federal Government can handle and unfortunately again, Akwa Ibom State presently is in the opposition party, the PDP. So, I believe the APC-led government at the centre is striving to frustrate the state’s efforts toward industrialization. I feel our brothers in the APC should go to Abuja and appeal to the relevant authorities sitting on most of these licenses to release them rather than criticizing the state government knowing that the investments, when kick-started, would be beneficial to the entire Akwa Ibom people.
Are you alleging that the Federal Government is frustrating the state?
The Udom Emmanuel administration had done a lot in terms of bringing investors but they find it very frustrating waiting for over one year to get license to operate and their funds are tied down. The PDP government has done everything to ensure its industrialization thrives through creating conducive environment, quick issuance of Certificate of Occupancy, increase in power generation and interface with the communities. If people think industries are not erupting the way they expected, then they should blame the Federal Government agencies and their bureaucratic bottlenecks coupled with the fact that Akwa Ibom is now in opposition being a PDP-controlled state. It is the antics of the APC for 2019 campaign, but it will not work because the people are aware of this.
Governor Udom Emmanuel is doing his best for the state; the Federal Government planned stagnation through non-issuance of licenses is what has affected Ibom Deep Seaport, Quantom Petrochemical Industries and other refineries. A proposed refinery in my village, after all necessary things is still waiting for operational license till this moment, but if they are in Lagos, it would take them just two or three months to get it because it is controlled by the APC. Our APC brothers here should please go to Abuja and plead with the Federal Government to help the state.
Do you agree with those clamouring for restructuring?
Why not, we are presently in recession and how do we get out of recession if an investor had stayed here for two years without getting license to operate and bring in more funds into the country. The issue of restructuring is just to unbundle the centre and give more powers to the states to handle. If a company is coming to Akwa Ibom State to invest for instance, the state should have an agency to issue them licenses and pay tax to Federal Government. If the state should give land, provide Certificate of Occupancy, ensures security, why go to Abuja to get license? They should allow states do things like this. When people hear restructuring they think it is about division of the country. No! It is to further share the powers to the states to enable them manage well and then pay tax to the centre.
Do you see that as a solution to the many agitations?
What is the business of Federal Government with construction of roads when every road is in one state or the other? The money for construction of roads should be released to the states. Since the return of democracy in 1999, all the Federal Roads in Akwa Ibom has been done by the state government. The funds, which ought to be used to develop state roads, are being used to reconstruct federal roads in the state and getting refunds is a big problem. Over N36billion used so far by the state government to do federal roads are still hanging in Abuja. They would have refunded such money to enable the state to do more.
Again, what is the business of the Federal Government in Agriculture? The states are the owners of the land and they have the soil analysis of their respective lands in every part of the state. They know which area is good for a particular crop. What is the Federal Government doing with primary education, which should be the states’ business? The Federal Government should have no business in handling primary schools. My understanding of restructuring is to completely unbundle the Federal Government by giving more powers to the states which in turn will help move the economy faster. We have been in recession and still battling to come out. Nigeria is the only country that produces crude oil and imports the refined product yet we have companies here lining up to build refineries after they have gotten land, Certificate of Occupancy, power, total assurance of security and good relationship with host communities, a peaceful atmosphere to operate but where is the license to commence operation? It is in Abuja, we ought to have gone past this type of bottleneck.
Don’t you think that the centre is also handicapped because some of these issues are in the exclusive list?
I don’t think so. For me, restructuring means moving so many things from the exclusive list to concurrent list. Akwa Ibom today is generating power from Ibom Power Plant but cannot distribute it. If you want to have steady power in Nigeria today, the Federal Government should remove the issue of electricity generation and distribution from the exclusive list.
When you generate, you should distribute and make your money. Then Ibom Power Company can go to Taraba State for instances, cite a Plant there and generate power, distribute and make money. Now Akwa Ibom has built electricity sub-stations to help improve power in the state and how will the state recoup her money? The Discos are just there selling and making money on what they don’t have. The people who generates power should own everything including selling to make money. If Nigeria wants to overcome the present power challenges confronting the nation, the state with capacity to generate power should be allowed to distribute the power and Akwa Ibom State will have power 24 hours daily. Restructuring will help the Federal Government release some of the powers they have which they cannot manage well to the states to do better.
What is your take on state police?
There is nothing wrong with the creation of state police and it has nothing to do with the federal police. When you have issues that you are not satisfied with in its handling by the state police, you can take it up to federal level to take over the matter. The absence of the state police has made the issue of fighting terrorism a difficult one. You cannot fight certain crime without good intelligence gathering. A police man posted from Taraba State to Akwa Ibom to fight terrorism will not quickly understand the terrain.
You need a local intelligence unit to gather information and perhaps assist the federal police and that is where the state police come in. We should have an intelligence command manned by the indigenes to assist the federal police. The creation of state police will help fight insurgents and terrorism in Nigeria.
What do you think about the proposed scraping of State Independent Electoral Commissions?
The proposed scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIEC) is no guarantee for better elections in the local government councils in the country. For instance, the federal police force gets most of its logistics support from the various state governors. The issue of having only INEC handling elections is funny. INEC is populated by same Nigerians and if you think SIEC can be manipulated then INEC can also be subjected to manipulations. I don’t subscribe to the scrapping. I know it will fail when the proposal come to the states because the State Houses of Assembly will throw it away.
