The Governor of Delta
State Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is unarguably one of the country’s more sturdy
political office holders having learnt the ropes as a local government
secretary, local government chairman, commissioner, state government scribe,
senator and now governor.
It is against the
background of his wealth of experience that much hope is on him to successfully
navigate the governance of Delta State towards impactful service delivery.
Okowa, a product of
Edo College, Benin; University of Ibadan Medical School, in this interview
responds to a variety of issues affecting the country even as he takes on his
local political traducers frontally with his narrative of his strides and
successes in governance. Excerpts:
What do you think
is the solution to the problem resulting from herdsmen attacks?
I think that the
security agencies must stand up to this very wrong approach to the issues of
cattle rearing with guns; I don’t think that that was what used to happen in
the past. In the past we used to see herdsmen, they come in, they relate to the
people in the various villages, (but) that is not the position at the moment.
When you just stroll
into people’s farms, stroll into people’s lands and continue to do all manner
of things, it is not right. I believe that there has to be a strong statement
coming out from the presidency and such strong statements will possibly spur the
security agencies to take appropriate actions.
First, every herdsman
must be disarmed; no Nigerian is empowered to carry such rifles except security
agents. And I think that the Federal Government itself must come up with a
strong policy and that policy will be on the issue of trying to encourage
cattle ranching in one manner or the other.
I believe there is
enough land within the various northern parts of the country and the suggestion
by the Minister of Agriculture at the onset of this administration where he
intended to import the fast-growing grass that could be used. Yes, that could
cost some money, but there is nothing that is done at this moment in terms of
spending money to avert all forms of crisis and all manner of unspeakable
deaths that will be too expensive for us.
Will Delta State
concede land for the colonies?
In the first instance
you know that Delta State is possibly half of water, half of land. So,
obviously we are in dire need of land. We don’t have land for that purpose,
that is the truth. It is a growing state, and because of the very coastal areas
and the exploitation of oil, most of our lands are destroyed, and we don’t have
enough arable land, and the pressure is now coming because we are encouraging
our people to go to the farm.
So, we need quite some
lands; we do not even have enough of it because, beyond the waters, most of the
creeks and even a lot of land we have within the upland area are also
encumbered because of the oil exploitation and oil spillages that have taken
place in the last several years. So, we won’t have land at all in Delta State,
obviously not for cattle colonies.
The opposition in the
state has alleged that the recent local government elections were marred by
irregularities?
When you talk about
the opposition, I think it is only one party that made that complain because
the other parties that participated didn’t speak in the same manner. I believe
too that if you try to follow up several weeks to the elections, I was out
there on campaign. I went to the entire 25 local government areas campaigning,
and after that, after giving our candidates flags, they went to every ward and
every unit campaigning; we took it very seriously.
Throughout the time
through to the elections, I did not see any other political party truly
campaigning. Those that complained we never saw them campaigning anywhere!
So, I do not know how
people want to win elections. If you do not campaign, you do not go to the
people; you do not go there to ask for their votes, I don’t know how you are
going to get their votes. I think that that was exactly what they did and the
statement that they did make, I believe that it was like when you fail an exam,
you find a reason to give.
I think that was
exactly what happened because they did not actually come out to campaign and if
some people gave them money for the elections, I don’t think they spent those
monies campaigning, I don’t know what exactly they expected.
We were ready for the
elections, unfortunately, the APC that complained, they were not ready for the
elections. So what they tried to do was on the Election Day they came with
violence in some local governments, and you are aware of the Ughelli office
that was burnt down. We hope that Police is investigating it because we know
those who burnt it down; the particular person that led them to burn that place
down is known. He ran for the House of Reps in 2015; he led them to burn down
the place.
But on our own, we are
convinced that we did the right thing, and I don’t think we owe any apologies
because we were ready for the elections but they were not ready for the
elections.
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
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