Jonathan should be allowed to implement Confab resolutions—Capt.Ogbonna Mr Jerry Obike Ogbonna is a retired navy captain and a senatorial hopeful. In 2010 senatorial election in Abia state, he sought to unseat his political rival, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, but lost due to political manoeuvrings of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. He is currently gunning for the same position in Abia north senatorial district under a coalition of different political parties in the state. He thinks that the incumbent senator must be given an honourable exit and retirement from public live. In this interview, he speaks on a wide range of issues, including, state of the nation, the Confab reports, forthcoming general elections among other burning issues in the country. Excerpts: What is your take on Confab report? A lot of Nigerians believe in the need for the national conference to fashion-out ways for the peaceful co-existence in our country. Some of the resolutions at the conference were laudable. But the major issue is implementation of the resolutions. That is why we are calling on Nigerians to allow President Goodluck Jonathan to go for another term of four years to enable him implement those laudable resolutions. Nigerians should not allow the Confab report to go unimplemented like other ones in the past. It is not an easy task to assemble the calibre of eminent Nigerians that attended the conference. Federal government has spent a lot of money to convoke the conference and so the convener should be given the chance to implement the resolutions. We should de-emphasise where the president comes from. Whether it is Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo or any other tribe, it is irrelevant, what matters is good governance. Let us challenge Jonathan by giving him the chance to implement those resolutions. I am not campaigning for him, I am not a sycophant, and people who know me will tell you I am independent minded, but i believe he deserves another term to consolidate his achievements. Do you think this crop of National Assembly members will support the implementation of the resolutions? The truth is that we might not get the same crop of National Assembly members in the next political dispensation. History has shown that at the end of every general election, only about 20% of members of the Assembly will have the opportunity to return. The only way we can ensure good representations, is by allowing one man, one vote, so that people will directly elect their representatives, instead of imposing candidates on them. We should understand the enormous contributions of distinguished members of the Confab and those resolutions from the conference should not be frustrated by members of the Assembly. What we need in this country are members of the Assembly, that will be independent-minded with robust ideas and debates. The truth is that since it was President Jonathan that convoked the national conference; we should allow him to implement those resolutions. Since, it is remaining few months to the next general election; this present Assembly members might not make much impact in the implementation of the report. It is remaining only six months to end this political dispensation; so, there is really nothing this National Assembly can do before their tenure ends.. I think that, what we can do now is to try and get the White paper from the report ready, articulate issues there-in ahead of its full implementations. I actually think that this set of Assembly will not implement the resolutions before the end of its tenure. So, let’s cool-off and re-elect the president to implement those resolutions. If we try to change the leadership for the sake of it, then we will definitely lose the good intentions of the Confab. What is your position on creation of more states? My position on this are two folds-sentimental and economic. On the sentimental part, the Southeast region is feeling short-changed because they have only five states while other regions have more than five. There is no reason for this imbalance. To ensure equity among regions, the southeast should be given more states to be at par with other regions. On the economic part, I think multiplicity of states at the moment is not the best way to make people feel nationalistic. Some states might not be viable after creation. So, let’s balance the state creations among the regions and create additional states later. That is my take on this Jonathan has promised to complete the 2ndNiger bridge before he lives office, Is this a myth or reality? President Jonathan’s move is a good step in the right direction. It is a welcomed development. Mind you, it is the only bridge that links southeast to other parts of the country. It also poses serious security challenge to the nation. When i was travelling to east recently, i drove myself and we spent over 4 hours crossing the bridge. It occurred to me that if somebody throws a bomb on the bridge, everybody will perish. There is no other escape route. It is very bad. It is an important bridge that links southeast to other parts of the country. It is not only for the Ibos or any other tribe, but an important link with other parts of the country. It is a link to Benue, to Akwa Ibom, Rivers among other areas. So, I think, it is a major link to other parts of the country. If the President means well, he should start and complete the bridge before he leaves power in 2019. There is youth restiveness everywhere in the country. How can we arrest this situation? One of the easiest ways to solve the problem of youth restiveness in the country is to create employment opportunities for the teeming population of youths in our country. The restiveness is growing due to unemployment. Are you telling me that, if there are jobs for Nigerian youths, they will leave the jobs for crime? My suggestion is for us to create enough jobs for our youths. If we build N100 million-industry in each of the 774 local governments in the country, this problem will drastically reduce. Mind you every local government in Nigeria produces some form of raw materials that can be processed by these industries. Nigerian youths are enterprising; they are resourceful and highly committed. They only need encouragement through employment. They feel short-changed by the older generation. It will cost government about N77.4Billion only to provide N100million industries in all the local government areas in the country. Any hope for the nation’s aviation industry? I must say that the immediate past Aviation Minister transformed the nation’s aviation industry. What we need now, is the political will to sustain the transformation. Nigeria needs a national carrier. It will create jobs and generate more revenue to the federal government. Emirates Airline today is one of UAE’s most viable industry and the best airline in the world today. In doing this, we must involve the private sector to manage it. Government should have the political will to set up the national carrier because it has the resources and manpower to do it, but management of the carrier should be handled by private sector in order to sustain it. It is true that government might not have any business running industries, but it can set up industries and give them to private sector to manage because government has the capital to finance it. In Britain, most of the strategic industries were set up by government, but today the British government has devolved their management to private companies to run them. This programmes were started under Margaret Thatcher, all the Naval dockyards, British Aerospace, British Rail which has been taken over by Virgin Trains, Southwest Rail etc have all been privatised. Today, we have oil, tomorrow, we may not have it. We must as a matter of urgency develop our industrial infra structure. What is causing corruption today is because there is excess liquidity floating around especially in the public sector. For example 75% of our annual budget is spent on 2% of Nigerians in public sector employment and even the 25% for capital expenditure is controlled and embezzled by the same 2% of Nigerians in the public sector, this imbalance must be corrected if our country is to have some sense of justice and equity and an end to violence. It is a shameful thing for people to be carrying huge sums of money to some countries that do not need them, instead of investing it in Nigeria to create more jobs.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:36:26 +0000
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