Dr. Effiong
Edunam, who is a
former
Constituent
Assembly
Member, a former
University lecturer
and former
Commissioner in
the state is a
journalist’s
delight and not a neophyte in the Akwa Ibom
political space.
In this interview with Aniefiok MACAULEY, he
warned that Akwa Ibom will sorry for itself if Oron
man does not emerge governor in 2015. Excerpts:
What factors do you think contribute to the
impediment of proper running of government in
Nigeria?
You know some of the issues we always refer to
as the national question. What kind of federalism
should we have or should it be federalism? What
kind of parliament should we have, should it be the
parliamentary or presidential system? What kind of
citizenship do you envisage for Nigeria. Nigerians
are aliens in their own country, people gets killed
because you are not suppose to come from that
particular part of the country. Should that be? That
as Nigerians we are classified as settler in our own
country? And then there is the bigger problem of
corruption in every facet of Nigerian life. There
must be a deliberate effort to whittle down the
impact of corruption in our national existence.
Otherwise a whole lot of things that we count on
which could make governance rewarding to the
citizens will avail nothing if corruption is not
tackled. Then the nature of our political parties, at
the moment parties just claim to be parties, they
do very little more than the platform of contesting
elections.
The government brings out a policy and
you do not see fifty something parties in Nigeria
bringing out their own perspective what that policy
ought to be to show that they justify their
existence as opposition party. Instead they are
busy condemning the president as a person, his
style, speeches and such frivolous things. We need
political parties, properly so called, that can offer
alternative idea regarding the whole policy
direction of the existing government. So all these
issues will come in to play in determining how
Nigeria becomes a better place either as a
democracy or whichever political arrangement we
choose to adopt.
Should the result of the conference be submitted
to the National Assembly as being canvassed?
I think so. You can only ignore the national
assembly if you first of all do away with the
constitution as it is because if the constitution
exists as it is then the national assembly is
constitutionally in place and vested with the
authority to amend the existing constitution. So if
you do not alter those clauses, it is only the
national assembly that can amend the constitution.
The constitution does not recognize any other
sovereign forum which could then substitute itself
in place of the national assembly. So as the
situation is now, the National Assembly must have
a say. And as I said earlier, I don’t think the
Nigerian Constitution produced over the years is
necessarily been so bad that we must be making
constitution almost every five years. I think there
are provisions in the existing constitution for their
amendment and the national assembly went round
the whole country collating opinions regarding
what Nigerians wanted to be altered. Wasn’t that
in itself offered everybody an opportunity to have a
rethink on what they would like the Nigerian
constitution to look like, what they would like to
incorporate in the content, so I think it is necessary
to talk, let us talk, the more we talk the more we
understand ourselves better, the more we
understand the viewpoints of others as the position
dictates on certain national issues. You may have
read in the papers how some northerners are
saying there will be bloodshed if power does not
rotate to the north. We need to sit down and
explain to such people, why power may not
necessarily rotate to the north because the north is
not monolithic neither is the south, there are other
interests beyond just north/ south in Nigeria and it
is through a process of conversation and
mediation that those interests can be properly
understood and addressed.
Don’t you think submitting the report of the
Conference to the National Assembly for further
debate and ratification will make nonsense of the
conference as a mere talk shop?
If we do not have the authority to override the
constitution and override the national Assembly
then the National Conference can as best be
described as an advisory forum. The only
alternative they have is to have authority to make
their own conclusions law as long as they do not
have that kind of authority, then it can only be
considered advisory.
Does that not also presuppose that it should be
called a sovereign national conference so that
resolutions have a binding power?
That is because you are probably assuming that
the problem of Nigeria will be solved simply by
calling the conference sovereign. Don’t forget that
from the colonial time Nigeria has been making
constitutions, and the way we glamour for new
constitution is as though we are just as at the
juncture of making constitution for the first time.
We have put in the constitution facility for
amendment, eliminating and inclusion, eliminating
what we don’t want and inclusion of what we want
in the existing constitution so that we can move on
and not come back to this juncture every five
years. So don’t also assume that our problem is
only the constitution.
It is not because other
countries have had constitutions not as elaborate
as that of Nigeria and the run their country. I think
a time have come for whoever meet Nigeria at
whatever level to begin to see beyond himself, to
begin to see the larger picture and being more
critical than personal interest or one personal
position in history. The more we begin to think
along these steps the more likely that we will have
a constitution that endures, the constitution that
can be shaken but not broken.
Though, Oron nation is agitating to produce the
next governor, some of her prominent indigenes
have advocated for free and open contest while
some say Oron will be better off with Uyo
senatorial district having the governor. What is
your take?
The general interest of the Oron people does not
deprive a citizen of Nigeria his right to free speech
or to hold opinion freely or to associate freely.
There is never a community in Akwa Ibom state
that produced a governor that a condition of
unanimity was imposed on such a community
before they could produce a governor. So, if people
begin to use the fact that few Oron people say the
thing should be thrown open, to say that what is
due Oron should not be given; I think they will be
making a very big mistake. And let me sound a
note of warning that justice can sometimes be
taught if people do not learn it freely.
Oron
produces eighty percent of the oil wells of Akwa
Ibom State and have waited patiently for over forty
years; no Local Government in Oron has been
officially classified as oil producing, so for forty
years, they have not been receiving the benefit of
oil production although, they suffer devastation of
oil production and exploitation. So we are asking
Akwa Ibom people who like to count themselves as
Christians, and do more solemn assemblies than
any other communities in Nigeria, that they must
do what is fair and just and allow Oron that is the
third leg of the tripod in Akwa Ibom state to
produce the next governor in 2015. Anybody at
whatever level who is scheming to make that
difficult to achieve will regret the action because
we are not second class citizens in Akwa Ibom. We
cannot produce first class resources and be treated
as second class citizens.
Agreed that the next governorship position has
been zoned to Akwa Ibom South (Eket senatorial
district), and as a member of Oro Think Tank
agitating for a clear cut pronouncement for it to go
to Oro ethnic nationality, are you satisfied with the
declaration of the governor?
We have used several occasions to appeal to the
governor to do what his predecessor did to put the
matter beyond doubt that it is the turn of Oron
Nation to produce the next governor in 2015. You
must also admit that the governor is a human
being and can make mistakes. Being a governor
doesn’t mean that he is above mistakes. That is
why we tried to draw his attention to the right
thing to do, which is, to make that pronouncement
because it is a similar pronouncement that laid the
foundation for his emergence as the governor of
Akwa Ibom state.
The Anti zoning campaigners like Okon Iyanam
and Larry Esin who are also Oron indigenes are
inching their arguments on excellence, do you
agree with this position?
Well the parameters of excellence must first be
defined because excellence could be found
anywhere in the state. But the parameters should
be known. However, I do not like a situation where
the rules of the game are changed in the middle of
the game. When Akpan Isemin was the governor in
this state, who demanded excellence; when Obong
Attah was governor, who said he must be
excellent? Because I know people who contested
against Akpan Isemin, excellence didn’t come up.
If excellence came up at that time, there is no way
anybody could have pushed Mfon Amana aside,
Obong Attah was excellent but it wasn’t the reason
why he became governor. Other considerations
came in to play. His ethnic origin was critical when
it was argued that the Ibibios, the largest ethnic
group which produced the first governor in the
early 90s did not complete that tenure therefore
another Ibibio man should be availed the
opportunity to go and serve the term of the Ibibio,
so it went to Obong Attah. If we had gone to the
primaries in 1998, Obong Attah would not have
emerged; Benji Okoko that would have emerged
because FOVAN was run paralleled to the party.
And it was at a very crucial time that that
disability emerged which should have handed
power to Benji Okoko. But it was a round table
mediation that gave it to Obong Attah.
So
excellence is not an issue at all. When Chief
Godswill Akpabio became governor, there were 57
people who declared interest, when it was the turn
of his senatorial district and nobody was talking
about anybody being excellent, because if such
criteria had come, he may never have been
governor but see what he has accomplished. The
man nobody thought about, see what he has
accomplished. So I think we should not deceive
ourselves and it will never be in the turn of Oron
that all these spurious considerations will come in
as a way of suggesting that we cannot produce the
governor, this state will be sorry for it if it
happens.
You said for forty years Oron has been producing
oil without being classified among oil producing
areas of the state, can you expatiate on whose
shoulder it is to confer the status to the area?
It is a political decision. You are from Eket
senatorial district, where are the oil wells of Onna
LGA and where are the oil wells of Eket LGA? I
can point to the ones of Ibeno but they are oil
producing and are even called core oil producing
communities. Why? By virtue of belonging to the
old Eket Local Government and the old Oron Local
Government comprising five local governments
now, produce 80% of wealth derivable from oil in
Akwa Ibom state and not one is classified. It is a
political decision, we have been fighting this over
the years and only Mbo is recognised as
catchment area not oil producing. No community
in Nigeria has taken the trouble of even getting the
National Assembly resolution to be recognised as
oil producing but only Oron. The National
Assembly sent five committees to Akwa Ibom state
and they conducted their surveys and went back
and passed a resolution that the five local
government areas of Oron must be declared oil
producing.
The Secretary to the Government of the
Federation communicated that to Akwa Ibom state
government, the governor some months ago
declared that the five local government of Oron, on
the strength of the correspondence from the
National Assembly and the Federal Government
should be considered oil producing, but where is
the benefit of that pact? Akwa Ibom even recovered
76 oil wells from Cross River and all the oil wells
recovered are located in Oron, but nobody credit it
to Oron. Currently, people are fighting for money
for oil spill and the government is prepared to give
billions of naira to even local governments who do
not produce even one drop of oil but the Oron area
and Eastern Obolo are treated as if the oil spill just
ended at a particular location when you know that
the tidal waters spread in all direction carrying the
devastation of the spill. So there is a kind of
injustice that our people have been bearing silently
over the years and it is on the foundation of this
that 2015 is coming which is why, I think Akwa
Ibom will be making a very big mistake if they do
not play the game of 2015 very well. They do not
need any form of crisis or conflict, because the
peace we have in Akwa Ibom is what has promoted
the development we all talked about and if that
peace is not there, there will be no commensurate
development. We may have the money, investors
won’t come and the people will not enjoy the
money in peace, therefore Akwa Ibom should do
the right thing.
Don’t you think the recent appointment of Etim
Inyang Jr. as Commissioner on the Board of NDDC
is part of the recognition of Oron as oil producing
area?
Well, is his appointment in arrears? Oil has been
produced for more than forty years and now we
are getting appointment for the first time, is it in
arrears? Because Oron people must demand
benefit they were denied in error over the years.
One sunny day, does not a summer make so we
are still waiting for the wrongs visited upon Oron
nation in the context of Akwa Ibom state and in the
context of Cross River state and in the context of
South Eastern State and Nigeria to be corrected.
The governor himself insinuated that the
appointment of Etim Inyang necessarily implied the
recognition of Oron as oil producing. Is it that way
that others are recognised? There are benefits
which should go to the local governments which
produce oil and we haven’t been receiving them
and until those things are done properly and we
are treated as others who are called core
communities are treated; we will consider
ourselves to be shot out of resource benefit as oil
producing communities.
Are you not worried that the 13% derivation
accruable to the state is denied the oil producing
local government areas are a result of lack of the
political will to establish an oil mineral
commission in Akwa Ibom as in other states?
We are worried because the governor during his
campaign kept promising the oil producing areas
that he will create an oil mineral producing
commission as done in other oil producing states.
But it is one promise the promise keeper has not
kept. He has been reminded on a number of
occasions and I think it is not late for that
situation to be remedied because oil is a wasting
asset and if the areas devastated are not
developed now it will be difficult to ask people in
the hinterland to bring the resources to use to
develop those coastal areas. And indeed, in most
part of the world development starts from the
coast to inland, it rarely starts inland to the coast.
So there is something like turning our own
development approach bottom up. So that
situation, we believe deserves to be corrected as
quickly as possible. In the next fifteen to twenty
years, there will be no longer oil producing in
those areas and those areas will be left high and
dry. The government has proposed Ibaka Industrial
city, but as you know there is no road to Ibaka and
the people keep saying the land has not even been
properly acquired, let alone anything being started
as an industrial city in Ibaka.
These are all things
that could have assuaged the impact oil
devastation in the oil producing areas and we have
confident that His Excellency who is a listening
governor will quickly address some of these issues
as he also promised to repair roads in Oron
because Oron is the area with the worst road in the
entire state. You only need to go there to know the
situation the people there find themselves and it is
no wonder at all that the place is descending to
anarchy because there is nothing uplifting the
environment and the economy of the Oron area.
Culled from Radar Newspaper
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