I’ll facilitate a better standard of living in my constituency- Ekeledo

Reverend Sam Ekeledo is the Ikwuano/Umuahia UPP House of Representatives candidate in the coming elections. In 2002, he contested as the candidate of the defunct NRC for the same seat. In this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO, the former Executive Chairman of Umuahia North Local Government Council talked about his plan for his constituency, his regrets over the state of Abia, the national politics in relation to 2019 and the agitation for secession by some groups, which he said was a product of historical injustice. Excerpts:

It’s over two-and-half decades since you contested for the Federal House of Representatives as the candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), today you are back as the standard-bearer of the UPP for the Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency. How did it happen? 

We are interested in history and the decision of 1992 to run for the House of Representatives was hinged on one or two different factors. It was a decision we made at the time to reflect the circumstances of that era. In my view not so much has changed since 1992 to date; a period of about 26 years. It’s instructive that a whole new generation has emerged, a new crop of young men and women have come into maturity, yet virtually little has changed.

I will not place the blame on any particular person, however, my aspiration now is to get back to the federal House of Representatives and propose exactly those same bills I had in mind 26 years ago and see how they could help to rejig the system.

Are you saying that 26 years down the line nobody has thought of the ideas you had in mind?

Not one of them, I don’t think thinking is a special forte here in our clime, I don’t think we are deep thinkers.

What are those bills you want to sponsor now?

Close to the idea of restructuring is my own thinking that states as organ of government represents a bogusness that is not effective for political administration. I believe in what I call a two-tier administrative arrangement- Federal Government and local government. We believe the Federal Government need not retain more than 15 percent of the revenue. That way we will curb urban migration, and again Nigeria will operate on a more even way because there will be a plethora of leadership all over the place. So, it’s not just about one person emerging governor of the state and he is like the emperor, whereas there is multiplicity of leadership with 774 local government areas. It will improve things.

Do you think this idea is feasible in Nigeria given the fact that local government councils have a reputation of not performing?

We don’t have local government as they should be, what we have particularly here in AbiaState are parastatals of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. They are not councils that deliver some of those dividends of democracy. We have a situation where in terms of staffing, appointment or promotions or even sack, the local government in Abia is totally subjected to the Local Government Service Commission. On the other hand, the administrative control whether it’s budgeting or receipt of allocation, they are again subjected to the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Local Government Affairs. Ask the Accountant General, no local government chairman can authoritatively say that what the Federal Government publishes as their allocations is what they actually receive.

In my time, you only appear at the JAC meeting and what you are given is what you take back to the council. In view of this kind of foundational deficiency, you can’t expect anything better. What I advocate is local government system as it should be, as it is practised all over the world whether it’s USA, UK, or Hong Kong. It’s a different ball game because when you are a local government chairman you are in charge.

The other two is the fact that I always believed that a more healthy and productive society is built by what we call youth acculturation. What we have today as NYSC scheme should be abrogated and in its place we should have compulsory universal military service. To me, this is the best way we could build back our nationhood. We are a divided people now, but we can build back our nationhood by making this a three-year programme. It’s universal in the sense that it’s not your graduation from the university that qualifies you, what qualifies you is attainment of a certain age across board. At 18 years you become eligible, and you will be drafted into the compulsory universal military service, so that you can actually get to serve your nation whether male or female. All this idea of trying to train people in entrepreneurship skills etc will be subsumed in the programme. That is to say that people will pass out after three years full of skills, of discipline and of course greater zeal and sense of patriotism.

Do you think Nigeria is ripe for this kind of programme?

What are we ripe for, armed robbery?

But our system…

It’s easy, what we will do is utilise the standing army to train the reserve army, that’s it. During the three-year period, they are active, at the end they are discharged into the reserve, it’s simple. Then you carry it out in phases, every year we take a certain number. It’s for our own good and we are not lacking in military facilities, then we expand them. We are actually delaying the development of our capacity. I can tell you again that one of the things it will ensure is that there will be no crime again in this country because every other person is trained.

The third one is very dear to me, we continue with the agitation for N30,000 minimum wage for civil servants, but we cart away N13 million every month as representative of the people. The question I ask myself is that when you have been made representative of the people, does all that money belong to you alone and your family. I think we should find ways of investing it around our constituency to energise youth employment and productive capacity around.

My research shows that in a three-year period, with selfless accountability one can apply that money to set up at least 18 cottage industries in a three-year period within your constituency. That can absolve at least 360 people and of course there will be requirements to train people. We can also work out a plan for ownership and transition, that’s not a big deal. If one accepts your role as representative of the people, you must be ready to give back a lot of your earning to that your constituency. We are ready to do so to ensure that life is facilitated to a better standard.

Are you saying you are not satisfied with the performance of the present Assembly men and women?

It’s obvious I have just enumerated three simple ideas to present, and in 26 years no one has come near any of these ideas. Again, those who have represented us, can we do a small assessment? Yes, some of them have made impact, but I don’t think the present man we have there that after four years he is deserving of a second term. His case is even made worse by the fact that we have in place a rotational system of doing it from one local government to the other. Why do we want to allow abuse of our system, it is a rotational system we have adopted and it has been working for us since 1999. I don’t see why the Ohuhu people should allow anybody to steal the lot of our inheritance. The consequence of that can linger, it can make life difficult. We must not allow it to happen because these are issues of justice and fairness. Any attempt to disrupt the arrangement will have catastrophic consequences.

What kind of representation do you want to offer the people of Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency?

It’s called constructive and productive engagement. It’s not about going to wear the toga of honourable member, no; it’s about ensuring that there is accessibility. You have to see and touch your representative. That’s guaranteed, anyone who knows me will attest that I’m available. The second will be to have an engagement with the youth, and the only way I can think is creating a productive environment where they can be fully trained and engaged. I’m not going to talk about going to establish health centres and giving out machines etc. We are going to have direct productive engagement with the people. It’s the people that count.

As a former chieftain of PDP, do you think the party stands a chance to win back the presidency come 2019?

I was a member of PDP, and I can also say that they have made their mistakes and learnt their lessons. As for me, it’s not entirely an examination of party but more of a focus on the prevalent life in the society. The economy, the standard of living and those issues that affect people in the society, if we zero in on them I will then want to argue that it’s possible that PDP has a good chance at the national level. But again, there is also the problem of numbers, where do you have preponderance of the supporters of the candidate of the PDP or the candidate of the APC? Who are they inclined to vote for regardless of their knowledge and information at their disposal. There is still that godlike image that President Muhammadu Buhari still parades, particularly in the North. Finally, I will look at both candidates more than the party because one of the things that is clear to me today is that Nigerians are a lot wiser that nobody is going to chaperon them into going to say PDP or APC, no!

How do you view AbiaState in terms of development initiatives?

If it is a race I will say that we started well in 1999, but over time we have lagged behind. We have not made much progress, we are held down by the peoples’ inability to question certain situations and events around them. Again, maybe in our attempt to elect our representatives we do not make the right choices. We had in 2015 a situation where there was a balance between the PDP Assemblymen and the APGA lawmakers, but overnight what happened? The APGA Assembly men disappeared into PDP. Of course, everybody understands how those things happen that people are usually induced to decamp.

This is for me a call for our electorate to ensure that anyone you will send to the state Assembly should be a person of consequence, who has a mind of his own and who understands that the responsibility he bears is first to his constituency and second to the administration. We are not too many in numbers in Abia, we don’t carry much burden and we have three major cities to explore. Any state in this country that has Aba alone does not have to request anything from the Federal Government, but we need to harness these and turn them around to become who we should be.

Biafra resonates 50 years after the civil war, the resurgence in the agitation for Biafra do you think it’s a product of injustice or that of the desire of a people to have their republic? 

It’s not about a people seeking to break out. Before the civil war we were one people, by virtue of the DNA we carry as Igbo people we are not contented in staying in one place. There is nowhere in the world you will not find an Igbo man, it’s impossible. It’s acknowledged nationwide that anywhere you didn’t find Igbo man better not stay there, that’s the way it’s now. We are witnessing the fact of historical injustice. When the war ended and we knew we fought a war of attrition, no attempt was made on helping to rebuild the Biafran enclave. And we also have lingering issues in the memory of the fathers and to some extent the children of this enclave. Our fathers were denied whatever money they had in the bank and they were only qualified to receive 20 pounds. Such official policy of impoverishment is what I think the Federal Government should apologiise. There are other sentiments that give rise to some of this Biafra logic. But be that as it may, I don’t believe that Nigerians of this side called Biafra really want to break away. They want correction of some of the injustices and of the fact that we are part of the project called Nigeria.