NDDC Needs Technocrats, Not Politicians To Run It – Barr. Godwill Umoh

• Gov Emmanuel Is A Man With Great Divine Vision, Very Proactive
• I’ve Never Seen A Political Leader That Believes In God Like Gov Emmanuel

  

 

Barr. Godwill Umoh, chairman, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Service Commission is a renowned legal practitioner, University teacher and consummate public officer.  He recently completed a successful four-year tenure as state legal adviser of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Barr. Umoh, a former two-time commissioner in the Akwa Ibom State Executive Council, is an interviewers’ delight. In this exclusive interview with Crystal Express, he speaks on a wide range of issues bothering on governance, politics, NDDC and other salient matters. Excerpts

Please let us meet

Welcome, gentlemen. My name is Godwill Umoh but people prefer calling me Goddy. I am from Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. I am a lawyer by profession and two days ago made it 35 years since I was called to the Bar as a legal practitioner.

Out of those 35 years, I have been teaching in the faculty of law for over 20 years. I have been head of the department and acting dean of faculty among others. I have been involved in politics too. I was actively involved in the politics of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the Second Republic even though I wasn’t yet in the university then. I was also active during the National Republican Convention (NRC) era and when the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) came, I became more active.

In 2008 I was appointed commissioner for special duties and my sole responsibility than to the governor was to complete the airport. I facilitated the landing of the first aircraft (Arik Air) at the Ibom International Airport in 2009. It was a marching order from the then governor to ensure that accomplishment and I achieved it. In 2009 after that assignment, I was moved to the Ministry of Economic Development because of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) programme he wanted me to co-ordinate and we did a lot of renovations and construction of primary health centres in Akwa Ibom State and I even attracted one to my community.

By 2012 I left the executive council and returned to the university when Prof. Comfort Ekpo was the vice-chancellor. She reappointed me as acting head of public law and continued there until the governor asked me to contest as state PDP legal adviser in 2016 and I have served out my four years in 2020. I have a record that at the end of my tenure, I did about 80 cases for the party and we didn’t lose anyone.

In our records as at today, we still have four cases at the Court of Appeal in respect of those lawmakers who defected from PDP to APC before 2019 elections.

They lost at the Federal High Court and they are now at the Court of Appeal.

Before now, from 2003 to 2007, almost all PDP cases were done by me even though I was not the legal adviser and my record has it that in-between that time and now, I have done over 100 cases. That has been my political travails. Recently the governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, appointed me the chairman, House of Assembly Service Commission.

You have worked as a lawyer for 35 years and one of the contending issues in the state at present is the creation of additional political wards by Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) which the opposition party here is challenging in court. What is your take?

I am aware there is a case in court and would not want to make any issue out of it as it will be sub judice.  The All Progressives Congress (APC) got an injunction restraining AKISIEC from going ahead with the October 30 local government election, one of the reasons they gave was that AKISIEC created additional wards. As a seasoned lawyer, I try to restrain myself from making contributions to matters that are still in court. I would have spoken elaborately but since it is in court I must give respect to the rule of law and rule of practice which stipulates that when a matter is pending you don’t make contributions that will be detrimental to the fair decision in respect of that matter. They got an injunction but I have it on good authority that the injunction was quashed a few days ago while the substance of the matter is still pending in court. I will try to restrain myself from making comments on the issue.

The main opposition in the state -the APC- has pulled out of the October 31 local government election. Do you think that the election if held will have any credibility?

Credibility is a matter of decision, a matter of rule of practice and a matter of whether it was done well. One of their leaders, Senator Udoedehe, has said in a newspaper I read that it is not advisable to go to a fight you know you have lost already. I think it is a tactical manoeuvre to withdraw knowing too well that they cannot win any election here. In 2015, I was the Divine Mandate coordinator for Ikono Local Government Area, how can they win the election when we went down every unit campaigning for votes and you think somebody will sit at home and win the election? Of course, they lost in all units. I think their fear is losing woefully and not the process of organizing the election.  They are not prepared for the election. You cannot go to war without the apparatus of war. Udoedehe was right when he said that no right-thinking man will go to an election he knows he has lost.

With their tactical withdrawal, what does that connote for a party people are looking up to for the role of major opposition?

Honestly, I felt very disappointed. I had wanted them to give us a fair contest. The position of the opposition here is a complete failure. How do you run away from a war of electioneering by sitting at home to surrender instead of going to the field to battle it out? That is how to show that you are an opposition party. I read what the acting chairman of the APC said at a press conference recently where he rose in defence of Senator Ita Enang and wondered if he is a lawyer to the presidential aide. I had expected him to make a passing remark on what Ita Enang said but got disappointed that a state party chairman dwelt on a very personal issue which is the opinion of the former Senator Enang.

That tells you the story of the party that is ready, willing and capable of going into the contest. For me, the local government election is very important because it is an opportunity to test your popularity at the grassroots level. If you lose at that level, how do you hope to make it in bigger elections? I think their fear is uncalled for. They should have been bold enough to join the contest. Chances are that they may win one or two wards. You recall what happened in their last election and how we lost Mbo State Constituency in the House of Assembly? However, when you run away completely it smacks of defeatist tendencies.

Opposition members never believe AKISIEC will be neutral. They say the body is tied to the apron strings of the ruling party in the state. In Ondo State ruled by the APC, they won all councils in the state. Ebonyi ruled by PDP also won all councils in the state all in recent councils polls. What’s your take on this? 

What is good for APC in Ondo State is also good for PDP in Akwa Ibom State. Do they expect to sweep the council polls in Ondo and come and reenact such feat here? Akwa Ibom is PDP and any political realists must come to terms with that reality. Every political party knows their weak point and a strong selling point.

You completed the first phase of the Akwa Ibom international airport with the landing of the first aircraft. Can you say that many years after, the vision you had for the airport has been realized?

Just like you said, visions don’t have a terminal date. The important thing is that the vision is there and the government is driving that vision. I was very excited when the governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, moved a step forward and acquired aircraft for the state. I was not sure that was the original intention, which was to build an airport with the world-class facilities but for the governor to move a little further shows how credible he is. He has given the dream a wider vision. We have today a governor who thinks larger than the so-called vision and expanding the aviation industry here to the benefit of Akwa Ibom people.

I was told a few weeks ago that more aircraft will be brought in to fly to Cameroun and the Gulf of Guinea. The vision from the time of Obong Victor Attah was to create an airport around this area where people can conveniently have their movements smoothly facilitated but today it is wider. I also gathered that the major terminal building is under construction. Airport construction is quite a capital-intensive project and in Akwa Ibom, it is not only progressing, but new ideas are also being explored. The MRO is being worked on. Our airport development is making progress and the vision is being realized. As I said, vision is not a one-day thing; it could come over a period, it could come even in generations. Governor Emmanuel will do his best and leave, and some other person will come and add to his efforts.

2023 is around the corner and the drumbeat in some quarters is that it is an open contest since the three senatorial districts have completed the zoning arrangement. Is it?

When you look at the PDP Constitution or even the 2017 amended Constitution, zoning and rotation are the cardinal principles of the PDP and they work like magic. So when people said it has finished, we must start all over again. However they want to do it, there must be zoning. I don’t know how the practitioners will want to handle it but the truth remains that zoning and rotation of power are the cardinal principles of the PDP as a political party. The relevant stakeholders will meet, deliberate and come public with their position.

Politicians are also campaigning, aligning and realigning for 2023 elections. In some quarters it has been described as a distraction to governance. What is your opinion?

I don’t think so. The governor has been discussing politics and governance and they are very difficult to divorce. Practically speaking, it is difficult to draw a line between politics and governance.

The governor has been trying to marry the two. Look at the latest appointment, I told my people in Ikono that this administration has treated us well with the commissioner, board chairman and other positions and soon we will get our college of governor’s aides just like they have in Etinan and Uyo. You cannot divorce politics from governance. The governor is still making appointments to support political equation and that will have a very good impact on governance. We need people to work for the government and at the same time, they are the key political players. It is difficult to draw a clear line between the two and the governor has been able to combine both very well.

Looking dispassionately at the strifes of the governor in the last five years, how will you rate him?

Well, you would have said looking truly, not dispassionately because I am a party loyalist. My governor is doing very well. Look at where I come from, we are better off in terms of appointments. All we need now is to add a few infrastructures and they are already in the budget, some sizable road networks for my local government area and if we can implement it we are good to go. We never had it this good, so the governor is doing very, very well. If he was in my class, I will score him A-plus.

What is your reaction to the governor’s management of Covid-19 in the state as records show A’Ibom has the least casualties? Could it be providence or good handling of the situation?

I have never seen political alder that believes in God like Udom Emmanuel. By the time you spend 20 minutes with him, he would have given you a lot of portions in the Bible to meditate on. So when he said ‘Only God,’ it is very important. You cannot divorce God from what you are seeing. When he started building the disease control centre, a lot of people kicked against it including party loyalists. They believed that there should be a makeshift tent for the pandemic like it was done in other states, but the governor saw ahead and decided for a permanent structure. I am not too sure there is such a structure in other states.

The governor knew the pandemic will stay longer than anticipated and prepared well for it. It shows he is a man with great divine vision and very proactive in handling state matters.

Years after, will you say that the Dakkada creed brought by the governor has energized the youth in any way to rise and do their best?

I think so because the youth are faring better now than ever before. I have come across many and I am happy with their determination to make the difference. Dakkada is a creed, a clarion call for people to rise to greatness. It has propelled people while others are yet to key into it. The reciting of the creed alone can spur anybody to greatness and there are still needs to keep teaching the younger ones to imbibe not just the wordings but the spirit behind the clarion call. We must give kudos to the governor for that level of creativity.

PDP has just finished its primary for chairmanship and councillors with pockets of angst here and there. How will the party manage it?

You know we are dealing with human beings and also with a popular political party. The new party chairman has done very well with the organization of the primary, the screening process was perfect with the involvement of party faithful and stakeholders in the exercise. The party also created a lot of appeals panels and the screening had different stages all to ensure fairness, justice and equity. However, there is nothing you do that everybody will be happy.

Politics is an expensive business and anybody who has staked his N1millon will think he is supposed to be the best candidate but I give it to the leadership of the party, especially the governor. The leadership of the party did very well. They were thorough and took time and energy to ensure perfect delivery. They set up 10 screening panels for the 31 local governments and they worked hard. I think the primary and the scoring process are what fairness and justice are all about. When the party introduced the above ethics, you must give it to them and moreso dexterity came into play. I use this opportunity to thank the leader of the party, Gov. Udom Emmanuel, and also Hon. Udo Ekpenyong for a job well done.

I salute the governor for giving him the latitude to work freely. What happened in PDP can hardly be done in any other party but note that even in court after judgments are delivered, somebody will still say that justice was tampered upon because he lost and that is the tendency of every typical politician. I am looking at the wider picture if the process turned out reasonable well before the majority of the reasonable people and the answer is yes.

 What is the staying power of PDP in Akwa Ibom State even when they lost a former governor to the opposition party, the party still came out stronger?

The selling point here is about the organization. I was the state legal adviser doing cases for the party, about 80 cases in a session and never stayed away one day. I moved from courts to the tribunal and even travelled as far as Abuja to handle legal matters involving the party. Even during the defection galore in 2019, I had to pursue the defectors and till date, the matter is still in the Court of Appeal. Even the one from my local government, Hon. Victor Udofia who defected, people would have thought that since I supported him to the State House of Assembly I would play double standard but I pursued him to the Court of Appeal. That is the spirit that sustains the party. Look at the way and manner he organized the state congress despite the pandemic. Our selling point is organization, integrity and ability; and those selling points are still intact despite the changes in leadership and Udo Ekpenyong is coming with even cleaner picture what will make the party stronger. It is difficult for you to come from anywhere to uproot the party from here. The selling point lives in the hearts of the people.

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We have a good internal mechanism to resolve disputes. The party also carries members along, especially those at the grassroots. The party’s constitution which is being amended is creating another tier of governance at the unit level. So we are taking the units, we have come to the point of creating unit structures, we have what they call defenders and others and we meet them in their homes. I told the party when I was the legal adviser that we should play down on tallies and do more of campaigns, we must go to the owners of the votes which are obtained at unit levels not even at ward level. So the unit structure has become a very important development at the unity level of the party and that is our selling point. A lot of other parties do rallies at Uyo stadium and return home while PDP went further to homes and units to solicit votes.

The pandemic and rainy season have affected the timely project delivery of the governor, it is speculated that many may be left undone or substandard because of those factors. Do you think the governor will complete his projects before his exit in 2023?

The answer is yes and my reasons are thus, the government works with the budget. I was the commissioner for economic development and one of the things we looked out for was budget discipline. You cannot start a project, and in fact, it is illegal to start a project which has not been captured in the budget. There is what they call rollover, if you cannot finish this season you roll over to the next budget and continue. It is not possible to have substandard projects when you have a supervisory role played by certain knowledgeable persons.

There is a programme of actions, jobs are given and there is always a template for completion. I know as a fact that people try to work towards that. Yes, Covid-19 came with a lot of distractions but I think the governor has an antidote and he is looking at it closely to see where to bridge the gaps. But that is a natural phenomenon; it is even recognized in law, it affects contracts and beyond the control of the governor. It has slowed many things including the funding and turning of the projects. The rain structure has changed too, in the past 20 years we have never had August break more than one week but this year it is over one month and counting. However, my prayer is that God will continue to energize His Excellency to do the needful.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is undergoing probes and forensic audit owing to alleged fraud in the interventionist agency. Twenty years after its creation, do you think it has justified its existence?

I don’t want the NDDC scraped but we should look for ways to overhaul its operation. There is a road in my village with a very big signpost indicating the award of the road project by the former administration in NDDC. It was a major road and all they did was to dig what looks like a pool and called it gutter. The road which is bout 20km links my village to Uyo. We later discovered that the contractor collected money for the construction, disappeared and abandoned the project. I have struggled for the past two years to have it in the government budget and it is there as we speak. I feel bad whenever they talk about NDDC. It’s alleged that sitting allowance gulps about N51billion when there are several projects awaiting execution. My only worry is that the northerners will be laughing at us that government has given us the agency and money to develop and we are still complaining. It is sad people are just too selfish.

You give some people money to go do a job and they pocket the entire sum and walk away. NDDC brings emotions and tears to my eyes each time I try talking about it. It is not doing well but I wouldn’t want us to propagate its extinguishment. The government should do something to rescue NDDC. The whole idea of NDDC is to assist in infrastructural development of Niger Delta and South-South and over 70 per cent of the budget should go into projects and somebody is talking about spending a whopping N31billion on palliatives.

 Records have it that the Rivers State Government has gotten court judgment stopping NDDC from executing any job in the state without their consent. Has it?

I have not seen the court judgment but my position is that there should be synergy between NDDC and the state. Every state has a plan, a survey plan on where to site each project. NDDC cannot just enter any state and start opening up roads. What is wrong with NDDC going to meet the state governor or his works commissioner, discuss and see areas they could intervene? The problem sometimes is the political differences. I think what NDDC needs are technocrats who can relate and not politicians at its heads. The NDDC should liaise with states to understand their road maps and areas they would be needed to assist. For instance, Akwa Ibom State has well cut out roads including ring roads and dual carriageways. They should ask questions from the governor and know which of them could be assigned to them; not just entering the state and start opening roads where there is no provision for such a project.

That will amount to distracting the developmental plan of the state which could be the case in Rivers State. I want to believe that there is a provision in the NDDC Act which makes provision for collaboration between the agency and the partnering states in areas of projects. NDDC cannot work in isolation of the benefiting state.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in which you are a member appears to be factionalized with the emergence of the New Nigerian Bar Association (NNBA). What do you think can bring the body back as one?

I heard one of our Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) said the idea of recalcitrant NBA is dead on arrival. I think simply because there was a little issue about the last election, some people think they can have a new branch. When I was the chairman of the NBA, I created the Eket and Uyo branches and it is also on record that I was the longest-serving chairman of the NBA from 1998 to 2002. I was also one of the longest-serving members of NEC in the NBA. I went there in 1991 and stayed till 2004. I have seen the politics of the NBA but unfortunately, they are bringing the natural Nigerian politics into it. Maybe one of their grievances is that for the first time in a long time a person outside the level of Senior Advocate of Nigeria took over as the national president, that position had been occupied by SAN for a very long time.

The rank of a senior advocate is a revered one and they may feel that it is defeatist for a non-SAN to become national president of the association, but for me, their position is wrong. The idea of a new branch will not work because of the need to amend the legal practitioners’ act since the NBA is a creation of the law. I don’t see the possibility of them going through the rigorous process of creating two or three branches of NBA. It requires going to the National Assembly to mend the legal practitioners’ act which creates the NBA as a professional body.

Again, we have this historical record of our legal practice, in Europe, London in particular where we got the English law, some people become barristers while some people become solicitors but it is a different ball game with somebody bearing both barrister and solicitor. The training in England is different for both. It is either you choose to be a barrister or solicitor but in Nigeria, we have a different agenda because we have just one law school which is Nigerian Law School which calls people to Bar as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme  Court. I think the problem is just the cry of losing in an election. I think time will heal the wound.

You have not considered the El Rufai angle in your analysis of the problem bedevilling the NBA. Have you?

For me the thing is very clear, there are lots of people who have been disinvited to events. The NBA has a right to call or not to call somebody to its events. The NBA is a legal person with the right to choose what they want. If they invited you and later changed their mind you shouldn’t be pained. I have presented a paper in Calabar before during NBA conference as one of the resource persons in 2004. I was invited and if there was a reason to ask me not to come, I would have accepted it in good faith. The northerners are just introducing unnecessary politics into it because to me there is nothing unusual to stop him from coming if he is no longer wanted.

Akwa Ibom contributes the highest to the natural coffers from her resources. However, there is no motorable road leading to the state with all her neighbouring states. Do you think the Federal Government is fair to the state?

I am very emotional about this question. I have some cases to attend to at the Court of Appeal in Calabar next week and there is no road to Calabar. During my earlier trip to the state, my car broke down more than five times owing to bad road. After the 2019 elections, I did 18 cases at the Court of Appeal, Calabar, and was going to Calabar twice a week and got sick. If you drive through the road you will be angry with the government. I heard Governor Ayade said he will dualise from Calabar to Odukpani but I don’t understand what I saw on that road. Chief Godswill Akpabio did from Uyo to Ekit Itam and stopped there. My question is, can’t there be a synergy between the states of Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Abia and even Imo to pull resources together and fix that road? My greatest worry is that Senator Ita Enang keeps telling us that the road has been done with a spur in Ididep his community. Sometime last year Julius Berger came on air to say that they were given the project with only N14billion mobilization which is grossly inadequate to mobilise to site. We had a President of Nigeria then, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, his era could have been the best opportunity to do that project and help Akwa Ibom but he failed to do it. I am personally affected by the terrible shape of that road. I have eight cases still pending in the Court of Appeal, Calabar. I will soon embark on another ‘merry-go-round” on that road. I have slept on Calabar-Itu Highway on five occasions. I have driven out of my house by 4 am and couldn’t get to Calabar until well over noon on a journey that ought to take just one hour. I am joining our people to pray for solutions on that road because what we experience there is nothing but agony.

In a few weeks, Akwa Ibom will be 33 years. What is your take on the development strides?

There are no two ways about it. Akwa Ibom has come a long way. We have since left where we started, our journey is rich and good. Akwa Ibom is working, there is progress and the people are also moving forward. There is massive infrastructural development if you know the state from when it was created in 1987. Therefore, when people talked about unemployment statistics I wondered where they got their information from. I was a former commissioner for economic development and I know that there is always a synergy between our statistics office and the national body, so I don’t know how they came about their records. Earlier they had rated the state as the second-best in foreign direct investment; so when you look at both analyses, you discover that one is faulty. At 33 years Akwa Ibom has fared very well and we are looking forward to better days ahead. The developmental speed and transformation in the state have gotten to a point that those who have stayed away from the state for long may find it difficult to locate their destinations owing to massive infrastructural changes the state has witnessed.

You have just assumed duties as the chairman, Akwa Ibom State Assembly Service Commission. What are your plans for the place?

It is a wonderful place to do a little thing different but I discovered that my experience as commissioner in two different ministries and as a lawyer will help me a great deal. I have gone through the laws creating the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Service Commission and also have it on record that the commission was the example borrowed to create the National Assembly Service Commission. I also gathered that it was Hon. Asuquo Nyong Essien who moved the motion in 2000 for the establishment of the commission. We just resumed and there is a lot to do there. Remember that the commission is serving a complete tier of government which is the State House of Assembly and more or less the engine house of the State House of Assembly. It controls everything relating to the appointment, training, discipline, promotion, retirement and pension. The commission must be well equipped and luckily the governor did a wonderful choice with the calibre of people chosen at this time to serve in the commission. The speaker admitted before us that the calibre of members chosen this time for the commission is the best. If we work the way I believe, we will certainly achieve more than our target.