Senator Victor Umeh represents Anambra Central District on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), and he is Chairman Senate Committee on National Identity and National Population. In this interview monitored by KENNETH OFOMA, he speaks about national development, especially in the light of the establishment of regional development commissions and other issues
There has been conversation around the South East Development Commission and how important it is. Can you talk about the euphoria around the commission?
Yes, the demand and the push for the establishment of the South East Development Commission through an act of parliament was something that was driven by the need to close the gap in the infrastructural development of the zone since the war ended. The war ended in 1970 and Gowon promised people of that zone rehabilitation, reconstruction and restitution, the three Rs to show that the war had really ended. But it turned out that it was a promise made in vain.
From 1970 till 55 years after the war ended, the region had been very badly marginalized in terms of infrastructural development by the successive military and civilian administrations. In terms of provision of infrastructure, the latitude is very wide, what the commission can pursue and that commission because it covers the South East zone. It’s a zonal thing, it will serve as a springboard to bring the five states of South East zone together, in terms of pulling their resources together to pursue projects of common interest that will traverse the five states. So, it was a very great thing that happened, greatly applauded by our people and welcomed with so much expectation and hope. As the Nigerian thing goes, as soon as the South East Development Commission was passed and assented to law all the other zones brought their own bill for the establishment of their own zonal development commissions. The North West brought their bill; the North Central brought, the South West brought, the South-South brought and all of them have been passed now.
But does it downplay the importance of this commission or is it just a political tool?
You see for me I do not begrudge any zone having a development commission but I think all the other zones went in to ask for their own bringing the advantage or rather the compensation the South East people would have gained by that commission being established for them because that is the zone that has been largely marginalized and neglected over the years. So, all the other geopolitical zones came up with their own request and it was approved for them. For me, no problem, no hassles, I have always been in this National Assembly fighting for equity and fairness.
But that reduces the resources because there has been the argument as well, whether the proliferation of these commissions are needed. If resources are channeled to regions that need development based on assessment, would it not be more effective than this proliferation based on political balance?
Well, I will say that everybody wants to take a share of what the commission can do for others. You know we first have the establishment of the North East Development Commission following the activities of Boko Haram in the North East, the carnage and destruction that took place there, they first of all came with the North East Development Commission, it was passed long ago. South East tried it, it didn’t work for the same reason things have been happening in the past.
Our people hardly get listened to when they complain but it took the tenacity of the National Assembly members from the zone to keep pushing for this commission. And it is not new because in the 2014 National Conference, I was a delegate to that conference; this issue of marginalization of the South-East was a topical issue in that conference. If you remember after all the deliberations, particularly as it bordered on state creation, the national conference resolved in the first instance that one additional state should be created in the South-East geopolitical zone to make their states six instead of five. It was aimed at addressing the seeming marginalization of that zone by giving them additional states in the first place before we now accepted the creation of additional states on the basis of equality of geopolitical zones that was the outcome of the national conference 2014. So, when we came to the creation of these development commissions the North and other zones came again to look for it.
But for me it is still a great opportunity because if you look at the budget of 2025 the South-East Development Commission has already N354 billion in the budget in the form of statutory transfers that will go to that commission. So, it is a first line charge. Any serious commission will be able to do a lot for the people with that money irrespective of what other zones will get. North-West, because they have had their own commission approved for them because of the fact that they have seven states, the provision in the budget for the North West commission was N590 billion plus. So, let them take it and go and do whatever they like. At the end of the day, it will now be left for the ingenuity of the people who will be running those commissions to use the money for the purpose for which the money was appropriated.
That is tackling developmental issues, it’s not a question of who has N1 trillion, it’s a matter of how you channel those resources in tackling the infrastructural deficit in your own zone. In the South-East our people are very hungry and very expectant that those things that they have not received requisite attention from the Federal Government that this commission with this money will not have any excuse to give.
How optimistic are you considering the fact that those states in the South-East that are part of the Niger Delta Development Commission, and people have even questioned whether it has fulfilled its mandate. Have you looked at how much Imo and Abia states have they benefited from the NDDC and why do you think that SEDC will be any different especially considering the political undertone that may accompany this?
Well, Abia and Imo are in the Niger Delta Development Commission; mind you the NDDC is different from the South-South Development Commission which they are fighting for now. But that commission, for the simple reason that they produce oil they are there as members of the NDDC because they produce oil. Even Anambra State has now approved and accredited oil wells that ought to join the NDDC. Some attempts have been made to join Anambra state to NDDC because we produce oil in the Ogbaru oil basin and Aguleri in Anambra state, we have oil there. But they have resisted it, they said Anambra is not in the Niger Delta but I think it’s just a matter of politics and semantics. Now coming to whether Abia and Imo have benefitted from NDDC, they have been getting money no matter the amount; they serve on the board of the commission…
Is that the point? Is the point to get money?
They get their money. What is important is what you use the money to do, so you hold the government responsible to the extent that monies received have not been properly used for the development that the money is meant for. And because they have not done well you will not say that it wouldn’t have been necessary to have that commission for the simple fact that the argument has been that these are the areas that produce the oil, they suffer all kinds of environmental degradation due to oil production activities. So, the money given to them was noble but what politicians do with the money is a different thing and I think the NDDC has not been able to achieve its purpose simply because of politics. You know when you begin to create a commission and you run the commission with politicians and people who make appointments use political considerations to make the appointments…
Is that the same thing with the SEDC, after all there are politicians in the SEDC?
I’m coming, you see, that is the same thing that has happened, but I can tell you it’s going to be different. It’s going to be different because this is a zone that has been receiving the short end of the stick over the years. Our people will hold them squarely responsible if they don’t meet their expectations in terms of the funds that will come there, it won’t be fair to our people and those who will manage the place will be put on their toes because we cannot stay by and allow the opportunity lost again. Who are we going to blame again for marginalization in areas of infrastructural development? Our people are going to drive it wholesomely and at the end of the year with N354 billion, we have to see concrete achievements. Our eyes are open, the various groups in the South East will want to know what will be happening in the commission, so it’s not something like the governor being imbibed with immunity take the money that comes into the NDDC into the pool and spends it’s the way he likes like a czar.
One of the concerns from a lot of people will have to be the level of confidence they may have especially the opposition parties, states with opposition parties and the implementation of these projects and if we have to address the elephant in the room it will be whether this will not be a political campaign tool for some states?
No, I think if you look at our history, we have suffered together as a people. Political division among the five states in the South East will have no effect on the activities of the commission. You know why? We are the same people, we are homogenous people, we are Igbo people and our people have been crying out loud against their marginalization, you know, going by the word we have not been able to get our fair share in the development of infrastructure in the zone. So, our people will not come out to begin to marginalize themselves, it will not happen, and for the fact that the governors will not have any role to play in dictating to the commission, the commission people are answerable to the South East people. That commission is going to if properly run, raise the hopes of the people beyond what the governors have been doing. And let me tell you again, looking at the commission, the membership, I can tell you that the people who have been appointed to steer the affairs of that commission are very credible people. The Managing Director for instance is a very young man, who has attended the best of schools, has been in the development programmes of Anambra state as a young star, before now he was the Managing Director of Anambra State Investment and Property Development Agency, (ANSEPA), so there is nothing that is new in terms of development economics and he is a young man that has undergone through so many programmes both in Harvard and many good institutions. So, he is an establishment person.
The other people in the commission are people we know very well. They are our friends, even this afternoon I was with some of them out there so they are people we can hold accountable. And I can tell you, we will give them a chance to run the commission and it’s not going to be a place where the politicians will go and feast. If politicians have been appointed also in the commission, the politicians are human beings and they know what the people want, we will not allow them to misuse that opportunity which God has given us.
Senator, when you speak of marginalization, I would like to know from you if you believe that this commission addresses the concerns around marginalization especially with regard to agitations for secession?
Well, this commission will not address everything conclusively but it’s a step in the right direction. In the sense that the commission will be in a position to address some of our challenges. There are some they will not be able to deal with because of the level of funds that will be made available to them. If you talk about marginalization, there are programmes the federal government has been undertaking which the federal government can on its own as the biggest spender help the zone in driving some of those things. Let me give you one example that I have been advocating for since I came to this senate; the Eastern rail line. That railway line that runs from Port-Harcourt through Aba, through Enugu, Makurdi, Kafanchan, Jos, Bauchi to Miaduguri, it is called that Eastern rail line. And that is the oldest rail line built in Nigeria by the colonial masters.
That rail line is not within the current Federal Government rail line modernization project. In 2018 when I came into the senate moved a motion to include the Eastern rail line to the railway modernization programme of the government of Nigeria. And what is that modernization programme to build standard gauge rail instead of the narrow-gauge rail which the colonial masters built. The federal government has excluded that Eastern rail line from that programme till date. The federal government has done Lagos to Ibadan standard gauge line, Abuja to Kaduna standard gauge line, Kaduna to Kano standard gauge, Kano to Mardi standard gauge which is ongoing now. Then from Itakpe to Warri – standard gauge. Then this Eastern rail line that is the oldest rail line in Nigeria government has been playing politics with it. That is the most important economic corridor you can think of because that’s why the colonial masters did it the first time because it links the whole of Northern Nigeria, it traverses five geopolitical zones. North East, North Central, North West because Kaduna is involved, then South East and South South. So that rail line when it was functional was bringing cattle from the North down South, hats the corridor. And from Port-Harcourt petroleum products were moving up to the North through that rail line and you could imagine the level of savings the government had because our roads were spared the pressure of moving these goods up and down. But now the rail line has been abandoned long ago so everybody now has recourse to use the roads, that’s why you are having tankers falling here and there killing people. But when we had the rail line functional, such things never happened. So, the need for that rail line can never be over emphasized, it connects the North East to Port-Harcourt, the seaport because there is no other way from the North to shipment ports than to go to Port-Harcourt to ship their goods. So now it has not been done. I’m talking about marginalization. I have been crying about it, this year’s 2025 budget when the president submitted his budget there was nothing for the Eastern Rail line again. I was on a tour because I was a member of the Senate committee on transportation…
Is there no way for the governors of the South-East to come together to advance a position for the President?
No, it doesn’t need a governor to tell the President where to build a rail line. The Federal Government can develop a policy on it, so they don’t need pressure from anybody. These are rail lines that have been existing. For the fact that that rail line has been neglected is a result of politics and that’s why I’m saying it is marginalization.
Is there no way a political solution comes in, for the governors to come together to push for that position?
No, no it is for the president to do what is right for all Nigerians. If you have anything to share, share it to all Nigerians, bring everybody, don’t leave anybody behind. For the fact that that place has been left and all the other rail lines, including new ones are now being done including to Mardi in Niger Republic and the one that the colonial masters built before independence, has been abandoned. So right now, what they are doing is rehabilitating the narrow gauge from Port-Harcourt to Aba only. From Aba going all the way to Maiduguri, no train runs through it. The rails are being removed by vandals; trees are growing on the rail tracks. So, this is the extent of marginalization I speak about and it is rail. But now that we have a development commission, they may not have the money to embark on such activity like rail line projects but they can conceive it no matter how much it takes time, one day they will be connected to all the states in the South East through rail. I don’t know when it will happen.
One thing about Nigeria is that there is always the option of a political solution. You have spoken about the need for balance for the South-East to have additional states, especially coming from the 2014 confab. Now, we have proposals from 30, 31 states across the country which have been generating a lot of reactions. So how do you look at the failure or otherwise of the state governors to develop their region and yet calling for a new state, where do we balance this new call for new states because new states mean more money?
I will come to that. Let me finish with the first question and I will come to this one. Whether you use a political solution to solve the neglect of the South-East zone? I think because Nigeria is now one country it behooves on anyone who is the president of the country to run the affairs of the government without any form of discrimination, all parts of Nigeria will become relevant in the scheme of things. In terms of pressure, remember that on the 4th of February the president, His Excellency Ahmed Tinubu was in Enugu and through the interactive session the stakeholders pointed out this Easter Rail line and he promised them that he will build it, 4th of January. And when he brought his budget on the 18th of January, that rail line was not there.
Well, it’s just two weeks…?
Listen to me, it takes the political will of the leader to balance things and carry people along and build national unity. Remember when the president brought a bill to pursue reversion to the old National Anthem I was one of those who supported reversion to the old National Anthem, I spoke in support of it very well because I believe that that National Anthem reminds us who we are, in stanza three it says ‘oh God of all creation grant us one request, help us to build a nation where no man is oppressed, so that with the peace and plenty Nigeria, may be blessed”. Where no man is oppressed – that is the cardinal stanza in the Anthem. If you are doing anything, do it for all Nigerians, it doesn’t matter whether you are Itsekiri, Warri, Hausa, Yoruba or anything. Whatever Nigeria has, apply it in improving the wellbeing of all Nigerians. So those who are neglected will continue to agitate for one thing or another because in the previous question you asked me whether the SEDC will help to address the issue of secession or whatever call, you know, Igbos can no longer secede, the Eastern region as a whole not just the Igbos alone, including Cross River and Akwa-Ibom and Rivers State, they were all part of Eastern region that seceded and the war ended, that chapter closed. It is just the mismanagement of the fall out of that war that you are still seeing these agitations here and there. When people feel excluded from the programmes of government they cry out. When the Niger Delta threatened the government of Nigeria through the Asari Dokubo and his group there was amnesty and peace returned to the Niger Delta so that they can exploit the oil. So, it is not difficult for government to listen to people and hear their grievances and address them. If you address them, it is cheaper and easier for government because that peace that you are looking for that will engender development will be there for you.
Do you ink the President is tilting to that direction?
It’s just two years. Let’s give him chance. I know that he is interested in reforms. The President is interested in reforms and he has to be interested in reforms we have to carry out a lot of reforms to be able to build the Nigeria of our dream. So, what we do is that we take it by the strides as they come. In know that he is a civilian he is not a military ruler. When things get crunchy, he must look at what he is doing and see where to make amends to be able to have peace. He needs peace to be able to bring Nigeria to the level ha he wants it.
On the question of 31 state creation proposals, it makes a mockery of the process. Remember that the 36 states we have today and the FCT were all created by the military and all of them was created through no democratic process. The last time Nigeria created one unit of government through the act of parliament was when the Midwestern region was created by the parliament before the war in the First Republic. Midwestern region was created through the act of the parliament in the First Republic. Thereafter the war started in 1967 Gowon created 12 states from there if you are in government or a military leader you get one state that’s how we got 36 states today non was negotiated, none was subjected to any referendum before it came to be. All these states and the local governments, 774 of them were created through military fiat, no negotiation, the military Head of State and the Supreme Military Council announced that this is what should be, people will start moving lockers and tables to different locations that states have been created. The very proposal that the House of Reps submitted, you will see that they are going to be subjected to a civilian democratic process. So now they have put out 30/31 states as a request but I’m happy the Deputy Speaker has clarified
