South Daily
Related Articles
Hon. Rev. Francis Ejiroghene Waive is the member representing Udu, Ughelli North and Ughelli South federal constituency of Delta State, in the House of Representatives, Abuja. Although a first-timer in the Green Chamber, Hon. Waive has made some appreciable achievements in the few months that the 9th National Assembly was inaugurated, in the area of lawmaking which is his primary duty in the House, as well as reaching out to his constituents to keep them abreast of the happenings in the National Assembly. In this interview, the national lawmaker who is the General Overseer of the Church of Anointing and a popular Radio Evangelist, spoke, among other things, his experiences so far as a national lawmaker, his modest contributions to robust debates in the floor of the chambers, his victory at the Tribunal as well as the expectations of his constituents.
Excerpts:
You have been at the National Assembly as a representative of the people of your constituency for a few months now. What have been your experiences?
It has been an interesting experience. It is a learning curve by some respects; in some other respects it is a very fulfilling time; dream coming true and the privilege to represent my people. I consider it a big privilege. There are well over a million people from these three local government areas – Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu, perhaps about two million. They have all chosen me as their representative. I consider it almost a sacred responsibility to be able to serve my people in this capacity.
You have been a very strong and familiar gospel voice, especially in radio evangelism and it is obvious you have a great number of listeners whom you have touched their lives by your preaching of the gospel, across the country. Now, you are in the National Assembly representing only your constituency. Are you missing anything?
The truth is that social outreach has always been a part of my service to God, as part of my ministry. So, I have been in social service for people – free health care, supporting education of children, particularly orphans and vulnerable children across the Niger Delta. It’s been what I have always done. And I have not abandoned this. Rather, this has given me a bigger platform on which to serve humanity. I have not stopped preaching the gospel; my radio programme is still on air in a couple of radio stations across the country. I still preach the gospel almost every week in churches around, including our church. So, it is not like abandoning what you have been doing before and going for another. It is like doing what you have been doing before but now you have an additional space, additional responsibility, additional clout with which to serve.
Talking seriously about your oversight function in the National Assembly, recently, you were quoted as calling on the federal government to cater for the federal roads in Delta State which are in bad shape. You are a member of the APC. What impact will your call make and how do you think the APC-led government will consider this call from you?
We have a very caring president, President Muhammadu Buhari. He is very well-meaning. For me, the challenge is that our people have not been able to package our needs and bring to the attention of Mr. President and the federal government to the needs of our people. I see that as a gap. And it is not just a recent issue, it has been the situation since 1999. And I believe that advocacy is what we need to be able to solve this problem. And that is exactly what I tried to do in the matter of maintenance of federal roads in Delta State. I’m glad that it has attracted the attention of everybody. Other members of the National Assembly have made comments and I’m glad that, particularly from Delta State, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives has spoken on the floor of the House since I spoke. My colleague, Hon. Efe Afe from Okpe has spoken since I spoke. And the state government has reacted severally. First, this is not their responsibility, but secondly they have realized that Deltans are the ones that make use of these roads, not President Muhammadu Buhari. And I’m glad that His Excellency, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has swung into action. I know that the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, will make a refund at the end of the day. If he is having challenges with the refund, we will intervene. That is why he has some of us in the National Assembly. It will be our business to make sure that our state gets refunded. So, making that call was not like working against my party because, my party wants the best for my people. The President wants the best for my people. What my party wants, what Mr. President wants is for me to speak out to let him know what is happening. And that is exactly what I did and I’m glad that we are getting results from it.
As a follow up to that, you were also quoted as calling on Julius Berger Company to do the needful to complete the rail line flyover and bypass at Ujewu which is part of your constituency. Has there been any positive response from your call?
Yes, I’ve got calls from people who are in responsible positions. Julius Berger is an award-winning company; quality jobs they are known for. My response to everyone who has called to enquire is that I’m not complaining about the quality of work; my quarrel is stressed about the pace and speed of work. That thing has delayed for too long. My second quarrel is about the bypass they created. That quality of that bypass is not Julius Berger’s; that is not Julius Berger’s job. And that is what I’m calling for. They should do a quality bypass on that railway line or complete the overhead bridge quickly because the bridge itself is ready; it is just the ascension and descending arms that we are talking about; then put tar on it because they had put sand on it already. And I think that within this long period, that thing must have caked. There must be a gap somewhere. So, people have reached me and I think that Julius Berger has got the message. And I think that those who ought to urge them are already urging them on. I don’t want to say much on that but I think my constituents will soon see the result of that call.
Talking about your constituents, comments from across the federal constituency seem to suggest their satisfaction with your performance within this short time that you took over their representation in the National Assembly. They say that your voice within this short time is being heard loud and clear and they are happy with your effective representation. What would you attribute this to?
To me, there is no secret; it’s just that I came with a passion. I have seen my people so far, I have seen things that can be done easily not being done, just because the people we had there were not committed. I think of the flood in Ewu area, in Agbarho and some other parts of the state, all this period. We didn’t see the presence of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in this constituency at all. And I know they do elsewhere. I know that the difference is that somebody has to speak to say, come this is what is happening here. For the four months I have been in the National Assembly, I have seen them respond when other members call. That is what gives me the impetus to speak for my people. It is the gap that I came to fill. For me, it is a seamless natural thing to do and I’m happy doing it. And if you say my people are taking note of that, it gives me more push to do more.
Recently, judgment was delivered in your favour at the Election Petition Tribunal. What are your feelings concerning that judgment?
I was elated about that judgment. In any case, I knew I would win because I won the election clean and clear. I won in the three local government areas. During collation, some people did some ‘mago mago’, in Udu and Ughelli South but that notwithstanding, I came out clean, winning. They couldn’t do it in Ughelli North. And we are trusting God that in the next four years, the INEC in those two local government areas that are without property will get their property first. So, we won the election. If you take the units results, we won it clear. So, winning at the Tribunal was not a surprise. But I’m glad that the judges did the correct thing according to law. And I have appealed to my opponent to congratulate me and let’s work together. He has refused and yesterday, I was served his papers from Court of Appeal. Fortunately, I was already there waiting for him before his filing. So, we are coming out victorious again. It is a victory for my people really, not for me, so that my people will continue to enjoy quality representation.
Your constituents had no doubt in giving you their mandate to represent them at the National Assembly. Somewhere a few days ago, some members of your constituency were jokingly saying that the time for ‘enye nye’ (that is, press the ballot papers) was over and that now is the time for ‘erie-rio’ (that is to eat and eat). What do you think are the tangible expectations of your people from you?
Laughs! I hope they are expecting what I promised. And what I promised is quality representation, accessibility, a voice speaking for our people, constituency projects that are traceable, visible and useful to our people, a budgetary process that will capture the needs of our people. Those are the things I promised and I’m going to deliver on them. I also know that, more than what I promised, many are looking for stomach infrastructure, which is the ‘erie-rio’ you are talking about. Within the limits of what a legislator can do, of course, I will do my beat. But, I’m sure they know that the man representing them now is a reverend gentle man. So, I won’t go and break a bank or do something unwholesome.
What is your reaction to the accusations from some quarters that Senator Omo-Agege has not put up enough support for Chief Great Ogboru’s governorship bid so far?
It is very sad for anybody to think, conjure or voice that out of his mouth. We have 25 local governments areas; our governorship candidate won in the Senator’s local government. I don’t know what the people want to expect from him that he will make the governorship candidate to win in each and every unit, each and every ward, each and every local government? That practically is impossible! I don’t know where that is coming from. Good enough I have not heard it from our governorship candidate. So, those who are peddling it; I don’t know what they are expecting. It saddens me, it makes me feel sick that somebody will think of this or say something like this. It’s very sad. I pray that our people will become realistic and more tolerant and not expect magic from the Senator. I don’t understand it. I’m in the system. I ran the election, won the primary and won the general election. I don’t know what somebody will do which the Senator did not do. Fortunately, this is not the first time our candidate is running for an election. It is very annoying and very sad. I would call on our party men to be more realistic. The loss of the governorship is a pain to all of us, but to me particularly because it increases the number of people putting pressure on me for whatever. If we had a governor, at least there will be a commissioner among my team, there will be at least people who will get boards appointments. Now, I get calls from people in Isoko, from Ika, from Warri South – APC members, just because I’m the only APC House of Reps member in the National Assembly. If we had a governor, I won’t go through all of that. So, we must sit down and think of how to turn the tide rather than play the blame game. That is the way I look at it.
What is your message to your party men on this issue?
My message to our party men on this issue is for them to stop the blame game. Let’s put our house in order. 2023 is four days away, not four years. Let’s prepare, let’s work hard and ensure we win the state. That is what we should do. The 2019 elections are over. I keep saying this that the 2019 elections are over, but some people don’t listen to this. It is 2023 that we should be working towards. And you know, it is said that the end of one election is the beginning of another. So, anybody who is still thinking about 2019 election, is wasting his time. 2023 will come and pass you by.
For the few months you have been in the National Assembly, you should have known now that your primary duty is that of making laws. So, what kind of laws do you expect to make that will positively impact on the lives of your people?
Laws that will better the lives of the citizenry; laws that will improve the standard of living of the people; we are also looking at laws that have become obsolete that we can review or propose for review and some new laws we can make in the circumstance for the betterment of my constituent. But let me give an example. We have proposed a law which will soon be in the floor of the House to make the Nigeria police use the concept of community policing in their postings. Some of us are not comfortable with the demand for state police; so we allow them continue with the concept of federal police structure, but in posting of their personnel, community structure should be adopted. So, we are bringing a clause in the Police Act to change that. Like the Nigeria police in my area now, I’m not sure if any of the several DPO’s who is from my area, not to talk of the rank and file.
There is this federal government proposal for Rural grazing area, RUGA. Although the government has said that the proposal has been suspended for the meantime, but it is obvious that the bill has not been brought before the National Assembly. What are your thoughts about it?
When we get to the bridge, we will cross it. For now, it is not before the House. Take for example, we have the Land Use Act which is a law in this country. If anybody is breaching the law, you go to court. There are three arms of government. If it comes to the legislature we know what to do. But if you think that the executive arm is doing anything that is against the laws of the country, you go to court. The judiciary is the third arm of government. And I’m sure they will do justice to that.
What would be your reaction to the appointment of Chief Bernard Okumagba as the Managing Director of NDDC?
It is well-deserved, square peg in square hole; very well educated, very well brought up and he is from the area, that is Delta South. If you look at the trend of appointments in NDDC over the years, whenever it goes to Delta South, it has always been the Ijaws, the Isokos andw the Itsekiris. But there are also Urhobos there, they are human beings. It’s just like in the case of Delta Central; we cannot say it should go to only one local government area. So, to say that if anything comes to that senatorial zone, the Urhobos in that area should not get it is nonsense. None of us is responsible for the tribe we come from. I didn’t chose my parents; I didn’t chose my tribe. I think that Deltans should rise above this trend of tribalism and know that we are all humans created by God. Look at Warri today, look at where we are. Shell is gone; all the oil associated companies are gone. Go to the markets and you will see poverty in the land. And we are still talking about tribe? That is nonsense as far as I know. Or do we want the position to go another state? What are we talking about?
My congratulations to Chief Bernard Okumagba and to Deltans. We expect to get the best from his tenure.
