South Daily
Related Articles
Chief Samson Oyimi is a Community leader and a PDP stalwart from Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom, Warri, Delta State. He is a one-time chairman and Secretary of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom Governing Council. A petrochemical engineer by profession, he has a vast experience in the oil and gas industry. Little wonder he is known as the Pulo-Ebidiwei of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri (meaning the ‘minister’ of petroleum in Ogbe-Ijoh Warri kingdom). In this interview, Chief Oyimi took a critical look at the present state of the Nigerian nation, predicted what would be the mindset of the Northerners concerning the presidency in 2023, the Ruga settlement policy, insecurity among other issues.
Excerpts:
From your own perspective, what would you say is the state of the nation at the moment?
The state of the nation is in a very terrible situation because, since the inception of the President Buhari administration, there has been a dramatic change. I want to state from the onset that the administrative approach of a system affects the output of that system. By administrative approach here I mean the ideology of the driver of a system. And I’m saying that where the ideology of the driver of a system is in tandem with the expectations of the masses, then the masses will be completely submissive to the leadership of the driver of the system. But from what Nigerians are experiencing at the moment one could conclude that the Buhari administration’s ideology is widely at variance with the expectations of the masses. He is only looking at one particular region. Even in his speech during his inauguration in the first tenure, he made it clear that he will only give attention to those areas where he got massive votes. But the question is, when you take a critical look at the areas where he purportedly got his massive votes, what is their contributions to the nation’s economy? Once you become a leader, you must carry everybody along irrespective of those that voted for you or against you. So, the ideology of President Buhari at the moment is not only at variance with the expectations of the people, but it is making it difficult for the nation to move forward.
Let me give you good example with the issue of insecurity in the country. Look at the activities of the Fulani herdsmen, look at the Book Haram in the North East and the activities of bandits in the North West. The Fulani herds men, for example, have been around since the inception of this country. They have been living with us. So, what suddenly went wrong that they have become a terror among Nigerians, visiting all kinds of criminal activities on all parts of the country? The same is the Book Haram. Were they not there during Obasanjo regime? They were there and the Sambinsa forest which has become their headquarters has been there. So, what has suddenly changed since the inception of Buhari regime? There is no state that is spared the havoc of the herdsmen. The 36 states of the federation, including the federal capital territory, are affected by the activities of Fulani herdsmen. They have been with us over the years. Who are the Fulani herdsmen? Are they not the cattle rearers whom we have been relating with for decades now? They have been living peacefully with their neighbours and host communities. What therefore caused the sudden dramatic change? It is the ideological concept of who is in power.
Now let’s come closer home, the Niger Delta which is home to the production of crude oil that sustains the nation’s economy. I’m deeply involved in the activities of the oil and gas sector. Since the inception of the Buhari regime, there has not been any budget for the development of the infrastructure in the upstream and downstream sectors. The oil industry is just struggling and managing with old infrastructures. If you come to my area, Ajuju Batam oil field and the Odidi Jones Creek oil fields, we have a lot of oil wells that are aged. As a petrochemical engineer (I’m a petrochemical engineer by profession), I’m aware the wells are aged. They are drilled in the 60s. How do you expect a well drilled in the 60s to still produce well now without proper maintenance? There are some of them you need to shut down for a period of time, and drill other wells. In the 90s, a company, Western Geophysical, did a seismic survey and spotted areas which are known as oil reservoirs. Those reservoirs ought to be drilled by now. When they are drilled, they become very fresh and they produce more for you and boost the overall oil production in the country. But the President does not look in that direction. Again, take a look at the oil pipeline network infrastructure in the Niger Delta. They are also aged – and that is responsible for the incessant oil spillage due to pipeline damage. The pipelines which were laid in the sixties have also become aged. What about gas flaring? Gas is one of the highest selling hydrocarbon byproducts. We have been wasting our gas resources everyday by flaring instead of compressing it and preparing it for industrial and domestic uses. It is not as if they don’t know what to do to improve on the system but because of the ideology that if I do this it will favour a region which is not their interest. But they forget that this is the area from where the bulk of the resources they use in managing the economy come.
So, the state of the nation is not in a good shape. The government ought to carry everybody along collectively irrespective of which ethnic nationality you are. As a President, he is supposed to listen to the people. The former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has written a lot of letters to the President. Call the opinion leaders and hear from them, what is the problem of this country. You who is in government, there are certain things which you may not see compared to those who are by the sides. They may see little things that matter. You are in the hot seat; when you are in the hot seat it is not everything you see.
So, to address most of these issues, the President and his cabinet should listen to the advice of elder statesmen and opinion leaders of the various geopolitical zones. If possible, call for a conference to hear from the people. I want to repeat, the Book Haram and the killer herdsmen they are talking about, are they not human beings? They are human beings. Even though it is believed that some of them are imported into this country, there are people who import them. You cannot come into somebody’s home without being led by someone from inside. And that is where the problem is.
Talking about your assumption that the leader’s ideology determines the response of the people, do you see the recent protest of a group with hash tag RevolutionNow as a potential reaction that could snowball into mass protest in the future?
You see, Nigeria is a place where you have too many ethnic nationalities. Otherwise, what is happening in the country now is far more than what happens in other countries of the world where the masses would rise against their leadership that they are tired. What do they mean by revolution? It is for people to come out to say we are tired; we are tired because things are not going well as we expected. As I speak with you, the oil production in Nigeria is 2.2 million barrels per day. But do you have anything to show for it even though oil now sells for about $64 barrels per barrel? But that is still good money. Go to some countries that have no oil, their economy, living standard of the people and state of infrastructure are very okay.
So, the issue of revolution in this context, is very simple. The people want to express themselves that they are tired with the way things are going. In other words, the concept of this revolution is a mass protest. It does not mean that they want to overthrow the government. Even though the man who is championing the revolution was a presidential candidate of a political party, in my own opinion, he does not have the intention of attempting to overthrow the government. All he was trying to do was to demonstrate to the nation and the international community that all is not well with the country.
Just last week a fleet of new mine-resistant armoured personnel carriers (APC) suddenly surfaced in Adamawa state. The army claims no knowledge of their source nor destination. What does that tell of the security of lives and property in the country?
That is why some of us have made statement before now. See, if the government is committed to the security of lives and property of Nigerians, then it cannot be seen to be ignorant or complacent in any security issue. Sometimes it baffles me when they say that boko haram have sophisticated weapons more than the Nigerian army. Nigeria is a sovereign nation. Is boko haram a sovereign nation? The answer is no. Notwithstanding that the terrorist group is being sponsored by some faceless individuals and international bodies, can’t Nigeria arrest the issue of boko Haram? How are they allowing them to get supply of arms and ammunitions from time to time? It shows that the government is not serious. Nigeria has treaties with neighbouring countries, that anything likely to threaten the internal security of the country, as Nigeria is taking measures to address such issues, the neighboring countries will also take security measures to avert a possible occurrence in their areas. Where are they passing these military hard wares from? They must have passed through a country. Even if they passed through the air, that airspace belongs to a country; if they are passing through water, that falls within the territorial waters of a country. If they pass through land, the land border belongs to a country. So, if you look at the whole activities, they cannot import these sophisticated military hard wares and the federal government claims it is not aware? The state government is not aware? It baffles me. As a community leader, when I was the chairman, you cannot come into my community without my knowledge. Even though there is a free flow of people, we know when a stranger comes into the community and we will ask you what is your mission. Nigeria is s sovereign nation. And they are not telling us who is behind the movement of the equipment. It is a very terrible situation.
President Buhari has just appointed 43 ministers. How do these appointments affect your community?
You know we have 36 States in the country and the federal capital territory. From the constitution, every state is entitled to a minister. The other 6 are appointed by Mr. President, using his discretion. Human beings are difficult to work with. The president may consider those whom he thinks understand his ideology and are prepared to work with him to achieve it. It does not matter if he or she is the most educated. So, what I’m trying to say is that, as far as the constitutional provision is concerned, the appointments have reflected federal character. As for the 6 other nominees, the president has to rely on personal and party interest. He is an APC member, so it will be difficult for him to appoint a PDP member into his cabinet. So, in all honesty, the appointments have satisfied the federal character requirement.
It is a common saying in politics that the end of one election marks the beginning of another. So, with 2023 in view, going by the principle of rotation, there are speculations that the presidency may go to the South West under APC. But just recently, Governor el Rufai of Kaduna State, argued that it was time to jettison the rotation of the presidency to pave way for consideration of merit and who is more suitable. Does this tally with the speculation that the North are not prepared to relinquish power in 2023 to either the South East or South west as the case may be?
In politics, there are so many pregnant statements so much so that sometimes you may not know which direction to go. But for me, I did the political analysis immediately after the 2019 presidential election. You see, politicians are very difficult people to understand. So, you must be very careful with them. When elections are coming, they will make all promises but what they are after is their personal interest. Now, the PDP before now has its own internal zoning arrangement from 1999. And the first arrangement zoned the presidency to the South West which saw President Obasanjo taking the first shot. He ruled for 8 years. It was expected that the presidency had to go to the North for 8 years. Now, our late president, Umaru Yar’Adua from the North took over but after two and half years in office, he died leaving one and half years of the first four years from the North.
Going by the provision of the constitution, at the demise of the president, the vice president is expected to take over. The North expected President Goodluck Jonathan to hand over to them after completing the remaining one and half years of late President Yar’Adua. But you know politicians with their selfish interest, he frustrated that arrangement. Instead he contested in 2011 and won. That was why the Northern political bigwigs left the PDP. And about 16 political parties went into alliance to form the APC to weaken the strength of the PDP to enable them secure the presidency in 2015. And they succeeded in unseating President Goodluck Jonathan and brought in the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
If you check well, you will notice that Nigerian politics is more of ethnic interest, which ethnic group gets the power. Going by the Northern calculation, El-Rufai is quite correct. The North is not prepared to hand over power in 2023. Now, in 2023, if the presidential ticket of the APC goes to anybody in the South, whether South West, South South or South East, the politicians in the APC in the North will carpet-cross to the PDP. The Presidential conventions of the parties will not take place at the same time. So, they will have the opportunity to cross-carpet when the conventions take place at different times. especially when the arrangement is not comfortable them.
In all fairness and in the interest of peace, the rotational presidency arrangement is the best option. When the North rules for eight years you rotate it to the South. It is the best option because we have lost confidence, we have lost trust between ourselves. We are just staying together as one nation. By the time the North executes their planin 2023, you will see that it will heat up the polity. So, what El-Rufai was saying in earnest is that the North will remain in power until the balance of Yar’Adua’s eight-year tenure is completed.
…You said the North will carpet-cross, but for what reason?
They will cross carpet because they want to have a firm grip of the presidency. Take note that the only two contending political parties in Nigeria as at now are the PDP and APC. If you go to any other political party, you are just wasting your time. They will cross carpet if the presidential ticket of APC goes to the South West, the Northerners who are in APC will cross carpet to the PDP. As we speak now, Atiku is in the Tribunal. If the result of the tribunal does not favour him, come 2023, the North will arise and say that it is still their right to rule because they have not fully utilized the eight years which is part of the internal arrangement of the PDP. Yar’Adua ruled for two and half years, and he died. Jonathan took over for almost six years from the South South. The North feels that that six years ought to be for them and not for the South South. For example, when the PDP did their national convention in Port Harcourt, it was a north north ticket. Chief Raymond Dokpesi and others from the South stepped down. The contestants who eventually participated at the primary were all from the North. Kwankwaso, Tambuwal and Atiku are all from the North. So, it was a North North ticket. Now, the man did not succeed and he is now in the tribunal. If he does not succeed in the tribunal, come 2023, that idea will come up again, that we have not ruled for a complete 8 years after Obasanjo completed his 8 years from the South. And if at that time, the APC gives the ticket to the South West, it will now offer them the privilege to cross-carpet to the PDP.
You are an Ijaw leader by all standards, would you say that the Ijaws have benefited in the present Buhari administration to your satisfaction?
Let us be very sincere, NDDC was created by the federal government as an interventionist agency to address some of the problems in the Niger Delta region. Now, if you go to other regions, they also have such type of interventionist agencies. In the North East, we have what they call the North East Development Commission created by the federal government and allocated billions of naira. If you take a look at the Niger Delta, apart from the projects undertaken by the NDDC, there is no federal government presence. Take the case study of Warri and its environs and Delta State in general, there is no federal government presence. And then you go to the Ijaw area, there are none. Go to Bayelsa State, the projects you will find are those executed by the NDDC or the Bayelsan State government. The federal government presence is not there. Now, go to our riverine area, places like Ogulaha that has a tank farm, where is the federal government presence? It is not there. It is only the Delta state government that is constructing some roads in that area including the Gbaramatu axis. The only federal government presence which we felt the federal government will put more emphasis on is the Maritime University. But the institution is not getting the required funds. And this is where the bulk of the oil money that is sustaining the nation’s economy is coming from.
So, if you go round the Ijaw area, from here to Gbaramatu down to Egbema and the boundary between the Ijaws and the Ilaje people in Ondo state, there are no federal government presence. Then if you move from Bayelsa to Rivers down to Akwa Ibom state, you will hardly see an appreciable federal government presence. Now, look at this Warri port. Is it not for the federal government? What stops it from being dredged? It is the responsibility of the federal government. If it is dredged now, it will benefit a lot of Ijaw people; it will benefit other people from the Niger Delta.
You have the NDDC which you have just talked about as an interventionist agency. There is also the Niger Delta Ministry as well as the 13 percent derivation fund which the governors of the Niger Delta collect every month from the federal allocation. Are you satisfied with the way and manner the governors apply the 13 percent derivation fund in the development of the Niger Delta?
That is one very big area where the governors of the Niger Delta have failed us. To be honest, they have failed. This is because, yes, we have the 13 percent derivation coming from the federation account; then we have the Niger Delta Ministry. Then we still have the statutory allocation that comes with the 13 percent. The governors are not using the money judiciously for the benefit of the people. Most times, I express my opinion and I ask, what is the difference between the federal government and the state government? I don’t see any difference. The money that the federal government is using to execute its projects, it is the same money the states are having. So, why can’t the state governments perform even with their independence as a tier of government as provided for in the constitution.
Take a look at DESOPADEC in Delta State. They will award a contract and it will take five or six years to complete. They will continue to do review every year. And this is money accruing from the 13 percent derivation. The government is not doing anything to checkmate those who are given the responsibility to utilize the money. If you are not checkmating those responsible in DESOPADEC to utilize the money, it means the government has some hidden interest. I cannot give a job to you to do for me and on hearing that it was not well done, I will just keep quiet. Although some of the governors are trying but most of them are just going to the television to do advert of what is not true. Take a look at some of the road projects they construct, six months after, the road is gone. Julius Berger constructed the NPA-DSC dual carriage way in 1976, it is still as solid as ever. The same is the Enerhen junction to main market in Warri. It was constructed by late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia in 1973. It is still as solid as ever. Are you telling me that there are no more quality materials again to do a good job? There are quality materials. The problem is corruption and kickbacks. They will award a contract to construct a road with 12-inch thickness of asphalt. But they will reduce it to 4 inches. And this road is in the swamp area. They don’t consider the acidity of the soil there. So, how do you think the road will stand the test of time?
The Rural Grazing Area settlement initiated by the federal government continues to generate controversies even though it is believed to have been suspended by the government. You are from the Ijaw area. How do you and your people react to that policy?
There are three things in life. First is that you conceive an idea. Secondly, how you could sell the idea to others to understand you and support you and finally, how do you execute the idea. These are the three things in life. Now, the idea of Ruga settlement is the same thing as ranching. The government by that policy is now thinking of how to standardize the process just like what obtains in other developed countries, so that we can boost agriculture. Some countries are living solely on agriculture. They don’t have oil and gas and solid minerals; only agriculture. But they are very okay. So, the government is failing in those three steps I have just mentioned. The government has a very good idea, let us refine the settlement of these people who are bringing these animal products in a very organized form. Now, what government ought to do is to engage the people because where these herders will settle are owned by various ethnic nationalities. You cannot use government power to take peoples land even though the idea of ranching or ruga is a good one. So, government has failed in that aspect. The way government blew the ruga thing was too wide. We have 774 local government areas in the country. You cannot say you want to acquire 134,000 hectares of land for ruga. What is the size of Warri South Local Government Area, for instance? What is the size of Uvwie and Udu? So, where would you get such wide land mass to execute your ruga plan? The government blew the idea too much and that was why people say no, the government may have an ulterior motive. We must resist it. Without the people you cannot establish your idea of animal husbandry in peoples’ land. It is not possible. The government may not have an ulterior motive but the problem is the way they market the product. That is where the government failed and that also is adding to the insecurity problem in the country.
You did a projection analysis on what 2023 political climate may look like at the national level. Can you do the same for Delta State?
Take note that Delta State is more or less a one-party state that is dominated by PDP. We don’t have serious opposition in Delta State. It will continue to be dominated by the PDP.
…Can you comment on the rotational system that has been adopted by the PDP in the state?
We have an understanding and that understanding must be maintained in the interest of peace. By the time that rotation is not respected, there will be a crack in the PDP. Every zone has taken its turn. We are now in the last turn which is Delta North. After this turn, there will be one heated debate that will come. The cycle will be completed in 2023. Who wants to kick-start it again? It cannot be in the North because they have just had it. There will be a heated debate between the Central and the South. But I believe that when we get there, we are going to harmonize and cross the bridge.
