Comrade Ovouzorie Macaulay was secretary to Delta state government during the last tenure of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. In this exclusive interview with Austin Oyibode of ZENITHBLOG.com, he speaks on serious issues affecting the nation. It will make your day. Excerpts:
What is your take on the clamour for restructuring in Nigeria?
Restructuring is defined from the perspective of different people. For me restructuring of Nigeria does not mean Balkanizing Nigeria, which is the thinking of many people. Nigeria was brought together by the British in 1914 for administrative convenience. They amalgamated a people with different socio-political background, made a constitution and gave to them and thereafter, gave them independence.
After a while we saw the need to fashion out our own system of governance. We went to America and borrowed a constitution and adopted the presidential system of governance, but in implementing it, we added unitary system. So it’s a mixture of two different constitutions and that is where we have our problem.
First, the constitution we practice in Nigeria is too expensive. The number of people involved in governance is just too much. Secondly, unlike the America system of government which we tend to have borrowed, the central is too powerful. The American President may rule and never visit some of the states throughout his two tenures.
So when you talk of restructuring, the question we should nurse in our mind is: Why should Delta state make so much money and yet be so poor? What is the business of the president of Nigeria with a hospital being constructed in Owhelogbo, my village, or any part of the country? In my perception, restructuring must be hinged on devolving power from the central. The federal government should be made less attractive.
Exclusive interview: Restructuring is a necessary ingredient for people to have a sense of belonging – former Delta SSG, Ovouzorie Macaulay. Photo: Austin Oyibode
We must practice true fiscal federalism. We have been saying it for so long yet nobody seems to listen, but that is the way to go. Let states control what they produce. I said it when I was even in labour leader in Delta that any man who wants to become governor does not have to put on any thinking cap because the thought is once I am elected, in every thirty days, my commissioner for finance will go to Abuja to bring money.
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Why am I saying this? I am not saying governors have fared so badly; because that is what they met on ground. Lagos state makes so much money on value added tax and the money is supposed to go to the central purse? You who said you don’t consume alcohol why should you share from the money which comes from alcohol? Akwa- Ibom, Bayelsa or even Rivers produce so much oil and all of that money go to the central.
When we were fighting for resources control we were tagged saboteurs. Today, I laugh because the problem the federal government is having with the NNPC wouldn’t have been there if they had adopted the principles of resource control. Well that was part of what took Chief James Onanefe Ibori to jail.
The issue is, if they had listened we wouldn’t be here at this time. They had a myopic understanding of what resource control was all about. Their understanding of resource control was that everything produced in a state particularly the oil producing state, would be taken by the state. No, what we clamored for was for states to have a hold on what they produce. For instance if Chevron is exploring in Delta state, Chevron should be accountable to the Delta state government. Supervision is easier if it is done within the territory. The governor should know the quantum of oil being explored in Delta state and the export chart. It is not the minister sitting in Abuja with his directors that should know what is happening in Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa or Akwa- Ibom.
That is why you hear stories of money meant for the federal government being diverted by NNPC or that NNPC. Why should they not when they are not supervised appropriately? I keep saying that the quantum of oil that is being diverted to illegal sales in this country is more than what is being delivered officially. What they do is to collaborate because there is no serious supervision; hence you see so many illegal vessels on the high sea.
I have been to the high sea; I use to do some consultation for Shell BP in those days so I know what happens there. If you go into the sea you will see vessels floating. These vessels are for bunkery. Some term it illegal bunkery; so is there any bunkery that is not illegal? The quantum of oil the government takes away is nothing compared to the quantum our boys are refining which the government is destroying on daily basis.
When you say restructuring, it is not as narrow as people look at it. It is not about tearing the country to pieces. It is all about doing something that will make everybody have a sense of belonging. The reactions round the country today are because people feel they are not being fairly treated and which to some extent you cannot deny them. All the oil blocks in the south, how many of us know where they are or let alone benefit from them? Who are the people controlling them? What criteria were met by the people controlling the oil blocks?
It was published some time ago. Let’s bring it to the table and explain why people from Niger Delta cannot own 60 percent of oil blocks and the other 40 percent go to the generality of Nigerians; because we are all Nigerians. But today you deny them. Today if anybody from the Niger Delta owns an oil block, he is a joint partner with somebody from another region that does not produce the oil. These are the unfair treatment meted on the people and you see some reacting because everybody cannot be docile.
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Let me say that soon there will be no road from Benin to Asaba; it’s broken into two and nobody is talking about it. But if the powers were with the state government they will be appropriately repaired. Under Uduaghan’s administration, we took over the dualization of Asaba/ Ughelli road. Till today, has the money been refunded? If not for that dualization, after the flood, there would have been no road linking Ughelli and you know what economic hold this road is to the country not even to Delta state.
Acting President Yemi Osibanjo
Instead of concentrating attention on how oil money comes, how roads are built and maintained in the state which is a major reason behind the lack of roads, the federal government should face foreign policies, face currencies, face security, face immigration and they will make more impact in the African sub-region and in the world.
So for me, restructuring is not about breaking Nigeria into pieces. There is strength in our diversity and population. But then, let us define how we live. One, we must devolve power from the central, two, there must be fiscal federalism. Federal government must remove their hands from some things. If you check, it is one of the reasons why the FG is not productive.
What is your take on the calls for state police?
Again, I say the federal government is not doing enough. I am not exonerating the state, but if things are properly defined, security is supposed to be a natural thing, but we are not concentrating on it. For me again, we should look at the future of this country. Give the state some powers. You cannot give me a commissioner of police or Director of State Security Service who will not take directives from me.
You hold meetings with them, they go back and call Abuja for final order; hence as a governor you don’t have a hold on these people. It is a misnomer to refer to the governor as chief security officer of the state, because, if they are your appointees, they should listen to you.
As it stands, a governor of a state does not command a troop. Thus, it makes a mess of his position as the governor or as the chief security officer of the state. Instead, the chief security officer is the army commander, the police commissioner, and the director of SSS because they are obviously the ones with the troops. You can’t say I am a commander when I don’t have a troop.
I remember as an SSG so many times we wanted the army to mount road blocks at the point where the state was really boiling, we had to write to the chief of army staff who had to give approval to the brigade commander in Benin, who also had to give approval to the man in Warri and the different units in the state and the state has to provide the logistics.
You need an Armoured Personnel Carrier for the government house gate or to move around town, you have to write, the inspector general of police has to approve, the commissioner has to approve for you to provide it. It doesn’t make sense. Where is the national security vote going that you cannot buy vehicles for all police formations and army units?
Why should it be the responsibility of the state to provide and they are not given the authority to command? If I am going to give you a hundred million to do a job, I should be able to check, inspect and audit you. But today, if you give it to them, you cannot go back and ask them how it was spent; it is termed a free give. So all of these issues again, fall back to restructuring of this country.
The general insecurity today is a result of how this country is structured. If the governor calls the army or the police for an intervention, they will need permission. They immediately call Abuja, because if they lose one man, they will account for that soul. So we need to restructure our security system. It is not right, the way it’s structured. It does not guarantee the security of life and property. Again devolve some powers to the state. Hold less at the national so that you can do it well. There is nothing wrong with a state police, but you must define it well.
In the civilized country, you have the national security which is their police, the state and even the county. So when they encounter situations, you see ambulances coming from different directions to attack the development. They are working together, but they are independent. So when you have a situation, I can call the state, you call the federal and they all come together to solve the problem. I must say establish the state police.
I am not saying establish a state police for the governor to use them for elections, in short anything that has to do with security in this country should be funded from the consolidated funds. An appointment should not be in the hands of the governor alone but in the hands of the whole system. The governor may nominate, the house of assembly must scrutinize and when they don’t agree with the nominee’s character, he or she should be dropped.
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If the person is appointed, he should be independent. He does not need to beg the governor or the house of assembly to be included in the budget. It should be defined so that the man can look at the governor eyeball to eyeball and say Your Excellency, with all humility, this is the way I feel it should be done and this is the way it has to be done.
If the house of assembly summons him, he will say yes Mr. Speaker, this is the way it should be done and this is the way it will be done without exercising fear that if I don’t do it their way the governor or the house will sack me. There must be professionalism and independence of these bodies. If an I.G knows that a president can fire him tomorrow, why won’t he kneel down to beg him.
Herdsmen insurgencies have assumed an alarming dimension in recent times. What do you think could be a viable solution to it?
The herdsmen thing, we pray and pray seriously that it should not turn to another Boko-Haram because it is not an attack against the south. They are everywhere in the north. Benue state has suffered more. Taraba has suffered immensely too. So it’s not about the south. I don’t want to also think it’s a Christian or Muslim affair. Because in this country, it is very easy for us to hide under the cloak of religion and ethnicity. In doing this we are hiding the weakness of our system. And people who want to be mischievous take advantage of these facts that once they canvass on the basis of ethnicity and religion, people will follow them.
We must devolve this from serious issues. The federal government has to sit up. We must call a spade a spade. If a man commits murder, he should be tried for murder. That you are grazing animals does not give you the audacity to carry guns and not just small guns but AK47 assault rifles. When we were growing up in those days, the herdsmen were known for carrying bow and arrows, but it degenerated to a level where they started moving about with double barrels. Today they are moving about with Ak47 assault rifles. Now they are not just fighting people on whose land they graze, they are involved in robbery and kidnap. They are building camps all over the place.
If you go into our bushes you will see their camps. To rob on the high ways and retire to their camps and you dare not go near them. I think we must do something about it.
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