Ijaw people deserve two more states –Okaba, INC leader

• Political alignments are for personal benefits, not in Nigeria’s interest

National President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof Benjamin Okaba, has said that state creation in Nigeria has not been fair to minorities in the country, hence, he’s canvassing the creation of two additional states for the Ijaw people.  

In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the former provost, Delta State University (DELSU), Oleh Campus, called on President Bola Tinubu to create the South-South Development Commission for equity and justice. He noted that the proposed development commission for the South South region is without prejudice to the existing Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

What would you say about the situation in the country at the moment? 

It is very difficult to describe aptly because on one hand, the hunger level and the disillusionment among the citizens of this country still remains very high. The insecurity of lives and property is still going on unabated. Several expectations as to the economy getting better before the coming of the present administration seem not to be met. The economic and political indicators still point to a high level of instability. So, we are still expecting the best.

There are several reforms introduced, there’s no doubt about it, but unfortunately they are yet to yield the expected impact. So that is where we are.

What is your view on the various development commissions established by the Federal Government in the six geopolitical zones?

It boils down to just emphasising what I have said earlier. Nigeria does not lack policies. Nigeria does also not lack institutions. But are these institutions strong enough? It’s not the number of commissions that matters. The responsibilities of these commissions are not in any way beyond what existing institutions will have actually done.

Let’s take the NDDC for instance. NDDC is seen as an interventionist agency by government to fast-track development in the region. Why do you need NDDC if the federal government and the state governments and local government areas are doing exactly what they are supposed to do?

You can see that the NDDC is like a very fast machine, which if you say you’re putting light all over the place, the lights are all here and there and all that.

But, if you go into what it takes to administer this execution of projects, you will realise that if the same monies were given to ministries, you will have still gotten the same result.

So, like the North East, the South-East, South-West commissions and all that, if they are not properly managed, if they go the same way of the NDDC, of poor funding, corruption and the institutional ineptitudes of several forms, they are not likely to achieve any result that will be very fantastic.

Like I said earlier, it’s an acknowledgement of the failure of existing institutions. And that is why we’re having all these new bodies coming in.

If we want them to work, you should be ready to inject more money. We should have leaders that are more focused. We have policies that are achievable and also release the funds and make them work. There shouldn’t be political overbearing on the persons and the institution. Let them work independently, get their funding and run their policies. It is only by so doing that we are likely to have good results.

Some people from the South-South are clamouring for a South-South Development Commission that will take care of just the region, instead of the NDDC. What’s your position on this?

I think the NDDC is an institution put in place to fast-track development and it is for oil producing states and communities. It’s not the same thing as the South-South.

The South-South Development Commission, even if it is put in place tomorrow, is not a replacement for the NDDC. The NDDC has its own modus operandi; it has its own focus and mandate. These are oil producing communities and oil production has caused a lot of damage to our environment. There must be remediation; there must be compensation. There is a lot that needs to be done that a normal agency would not ordinarily get through.

So, even with the South-South Development Commission, NDDC should be in place to bring it to speed with other regions. That is why you have the NDDC. Until that mandate is fulfilled, the NDDC should remain.

Now, when you talk about the South-South Development Commission, we need it. Because when the NDDC was set up, we told the government that we needed a South-South Development Commission because in the first place, the NDDC member states are beyond the South-South.

For instance, look at a state like Ondo, which is in the South West Development Commission and at the same time in NDDC.

Imo State, for instance, is part of the South East Development Commission, but also part of NDDC.

It is only Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, Rivers and Akwa Ibom that are in only NDDC alone. That tells you that there’s an error.

We are looking forward to Mr. President signing the bill for the creation of the South-South Development Commission so that the issues of justice and equity can be addressed.

What would you say of the recommendation by a committee of the House of Representatives for the creation of additional 31 states?

It is a very courageous effort, and I pray that they push it through. I’m not talking about the number of states, but the fact that state creation is brought to the front burner at this time of our development. State and local government creation at this time is very important because over the years we had the military come out with states, some are arbitrarily done without recourse to justice and equity. Local governments are also arbitrarily created. Bayelsa State has eight local governments, while some states have 44, 40 etc and at the end of the day, there is so much injustice. You have unbundled some states, while some are left the way they are. All over, you can see that state creation has not been fair to some people particularly, the minorities in this country.

The House of Representatives should begin to look at all of these, to deal with the issues of imbalances and square up the polity. State creation for the Ijaw people will solve the issue of their balkanisation. Just imagine, the Ijaw who are the fourth largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria have only 24 local government areas out of the 774. Other groups have 200, 300, but we have only 24. These local governments are sustained by the resources from our area. Not just having a few number of local governments, but the Ijaw are also so balkanised in pieces. It is only in Bayelsa that we can say this is a homogenous state. Ijaw are a minority in Rivers State, where they have only 11 LGs. In Delta State, Ijaw are only in four LGs. In Edo, Ijaw are not dominant in any local government. Ijaw situation in Edo is so bad that it is difficult for an Ijaw man to win a local government chairman in the state. And Ijaw is not even appointed a commissioner.

State creation for us is another way of self determination; it is freedom from slavery. It is a welcome development. Ijaw people are clamouring for two states. The Mbanefo Commission of 1996 has recommended two states for the Ijaw – the Oil River State and the Torebe State, which will be carved from the Ijaw in Delta, Edo and Ondo. The Oil Rivers State will be made up of the Ijaw in Rivers State, Ijaw in Akwa Ibom that is the Ibono, Obono and Oron people. There is contiguity in all these proposed states. These are the places where the oil that is sustaining this country is got.  In order to make them politically irrelevant, they scattered them in other states, and nobody knows about them.

All the four export terminals in Nigeria are in Ijaw land, but there is underdevelopment, there are no roads. It is just recently that a road is getting to Bonny that has been an export terminal. If the Torebe State is created with the capital at Burutu, development would get there. As we speak, the fastest means of getting to Burutu is one hour by speed boat. So, state creation is a good thing. They should look critically at the applications for the 31 states and square them up according to what exists today and what should be given. They should look at those areas that have special needs and serious justification and the issue should be equity and justice.

President Tinubu from a budget of N49tn increased it to N54tn. What are your views?

Budget is a forecast. Maybe, he is seeing what we are not seeing. As the president of this country, he is seeing a lot of things. Let us give him the benefit of doubt that he will run through the budget.  What we have seen in the last 21 months is that most of the things he listed for execution have not been even handled. Budget is just a projection, which is not something you expect 100 per cent. The important thing is the judicious use of whatever resources. Also, money should be used in a manner that will increase our revenue base and educational base. We should spend more on capital projects that generate economic stability and development. The government has to play down on the cost of governance, which is too heavy. The government should focus on critical sectors, the economic sectors- anything that is money spinning like electricity, health, education.

The government should come up with a policy that no government officials from the president to the local government councillor should send his children abroad for educational and health services. Let us manage with what we have and devote the capital flight to what we are doing in this country.

Nigeria’s external debt reportedly rose to N142tn by the third quarter of 2024. What is your take on this?

It is very frightening and also unacceptable. Nigerians are asking the same questions they were asking during Buhari. The question is what are we using this money for? We have actually not seen where the money is going into. Are you saying that we cannot do our big roads without borrowing and we are earning money? The only answer we seem to have gotten is that most of our oil resources have been sold in advance. Nigeria is being run on deficit and when you are running a country in deficit, debt services alone takes a lot. That is where we are and we must put a stop to it.

A government becomes accountable and acceptable to the people when it is able to manage its resources no matter how meagre they are. But having debts, extravagant spending, officers of the state governments having a convoy of over 30 cars, wasting state money; the ministers and law makers are doing the same won’t help us. If things are difficult, we should have an austerity programme that should affect everybody. If a professor is earning less than N500, 000 while should political persons, even councillors earn millions of naira. There are certain things we need to standardise. The cost of governance is what is killing this country. It will be very wonderful if the federal government can start by cutting expenditure and income by showing Nigerians good example of saying, because the economy has gotten to this point, we are cutting our pays by 50 per cent. People will be glad, but you can’t tell Nigerians to manage when you are living in opulence. The management shouldn’t be for the downtrodden only, it should be by everybody and the example has to come from above.

Politicians are regrouping and there are realignments of political forces ahead of 2027. What are your expectations from 2027?          

Right from the beginning, we knew that after politics, it is appointments and development. Those who invested their resources will actually look for gains and the moment the expectations are not met, some are not happy. Of course, the president or the governor cannot give appointment to everybody that supported their political campaigns, and so, people will get aggrieved for not getting access to the commonwealth.

The alignments are expressions of how people felt or disappointed by the status quo, their expectations or what they are seeing. Some other persons are thinking of how to get a better thing because politics in this country is not much about development, it is much about operating in a better position; it is about positioning. The governor wants to be the president or in the senate after his term, the commissioner wants to be the governor or go to the House of Representatives or Assembly, etc.

Everybody wants to move up and be positioned. It is expected and it will go on. Before now, the president was able to put together all the opposition parties and became APC, and they defeated the PDP government. The politicians feel that if Tinubu was capable of doing that by taking off the government of Jonathan, why can’t they try? All they are doing is not for the good of the nation. It is about personal aggrandisement.

We all pray that Nigerians get wiser and that the institutions be strengthened that at the end of the day we get the very best for each position. Nigeria is facing a leadership crisis; we are yet to get somebody that will be sacrificial, it is not how long he stays in office, but what he did while in office that is very important.