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Mr Asishana Okauru Esq MPa (Harvard) is a True Nigerian, who has performed heroic well enough in a unique field of call as the Director General, Nigeria governors’ forum an umbrella association for serving governors. Has a B.Sc degree in Economics from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. Also studied law at the University of Ibadan, he was called to bar in 1989, and has another master’s degree in business administration and Information science from North Carolina central University in the United States of America. He is a foundation management staff of the economy and financial crime commission (EFCC) and a pioneer director of the Nigeria financial intelligence Unit (N.F.I.U). In this interview, he speaks on the scope and challenges of the Nigeria governors’ forum and other issues. Excerpts.
Let me first use this opportunity to thank you for the invitation extended to me to dine with thirty serving governors recently.
It was a honour you merited by your hard works and to say that you are also as unique as the governors, only that you are of a different department.
I was highly honoured.
If you are doing the right thing as a young man in Nigeria, you will definitely be recognized one day. I am most grateful that you came and the governors as you saw them were happy too.
That has encouraged me to do even more for the federal Republic of Nigeria.
I mean seriously it was a privilege. I mean we gave that event each time with one or two invitees who must have performed so exceptionally. That was a meeting of all the governors, I means, we surely had to invite one or two persons we consider exceptional in the country and your name came up.
Does that mean I am exceptional?
Well, because of impart you had made.
Yes, we consider all that especially impart. We considered the role model you have made of yourself as a hardworking Nigerian.
So while we searched someone in such class to invite your name poked up. I did not know you and I have never met you before then but then I said ok, how do we get you to come?
The fact is, when you said you did not know me it reminds me of one of the guest we had on this program. Infarct, the executive governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom who talked about the importance of appointing people base on merit, not sentiments.
Yes merit.
Thank you, it is like you watched that episode. Based on merit not sentiment he said. So when you said you did not even know me but my name popped up, that means merit?
Yes it was of merit because your name is ahead. It means that you imparted a lot on people and people have notated you for good. I said ok the next challenge was how to meet you. Then my head of public relations said he was going to look for ways to reach you and I was very excited because two days after he was in contact with you. Then he said to me that he was not just in contact with you, but that you accepted to come. You see, that was because you play in a space that is different and unique. Yes governors are very important personalities, and you were there with thirty governors? Yes thirty. I mean I have the list I can actually share with you.
Yes I saw them all and had dinner with them. I recall that I was the only person who was not a governor at the dinner?
But you observed the very time I introduced you, they all knew you and a number of them were excited nearly 90% were connected. They knew you and I was happy it was not a wrong decision to invite you. They were there to humanize and that goes to underscore that people like you are as important as governors too. Just that you play in a different space, and we thought that, just as they do their work, you too you have contributed in your own way and we thought that you have a way of helping them because a lot of people do not know that governors are heavily misunderstood.
They are not as far as people think they are to them.
Absolutely you have a ring around them, you have a network of people around them and then the way things work within the system, I mean is such that you really have to be tough. You really have to be mentally ready to get yourself tasked. Mind you a number of them are just coming in for the first time. They had never governed a state before. We have some of them who are medical doctors, businessmen, lawyers and all that and they are just learning the robs and getting to understand what they are supposed to be doing. So you came at the right time. And I was very, very happy. When you said that you were coming.
Not that I don’t know you from afar, I have watched one or two programs and your hat and your torch and I recall some of the governors came asking for your torchlight.
Sir, we have a traditional question. In your own definition how will you define a true Nigerian?
A true Nigerian is a person who believes in this country. You really have to believe in the country and the people. For me, not just in a tribe like Hausa, or a Yoruba person or an Igbo person, but the country Nigeria and we need to understand that. You must equally share the hopes and aspirations as well as the challenges because the truth is that there is no country without challenges. You might think that Nigeria is worst of, but that is not true.
Yes, considering what other countries are even going through, we are even better of? Yeah people sit down there and said ok. I mean they want to run to China, they want to go to the U.S, they went to go to the U.K, they want to go to Liberia and if you get to Liberia, you will get to discover their own serious problems, bigger than what you ran way from here. It may appear to be different in texture, but the truth is that they equally have their own peculiar problems. So why not stay back and repair your country and make your country good for all of us. The more respected you are outside this country is how well positioned your country of origin is, because you really can’t be bigger than your country. If only we can just understand that bottom line. So whatever you contribute as your good quota into the system positively will equally help to enhance your status as a person within and outside the country. So as a Nigerian, people respect you and of course they know that you are from Nigeria. I did not even know all about you as regards to your state, but I have always seen you as a Nigerian. It was until when you pointed at the governor of Benue state and said that is my governor.
O yes He is my governor,
Then I said oh you are from Benue. I also heard the governor of Anambra state the one with the red hat saying to governor Ortom, this man is wearing the type of your cap. He was even teasing him that your cap is even shining more than his. Actually, they were just joking? But then they recognized that you do a lot, you connected with a lot of youth, you connected with a lot of people and if only you know the statistics in the country. You have significant percentage of Nigerians belonging to that segment and that was why we thought that there are a lot to do in the health sector, in education sector and unemployment is huge and you addressed waste management and you addressed their future as well. These have been a big challenge for the governors. It is such a large population that you administer.
What is the aim of setting up this kind of forum. With this kind of organization what do you hope to achieve?
Ok. Let me state today because I can say it is necessary. Now the truth is that the Nigeria governors forum is just an association for serving governors and we have grown in stature overt time but it has not always been like this. This forum is just an association. Just as you are a professional musician, you are a producer, I see you have other talents people don’t know much about. I am watching you I mean I have been watching you, studying and that is what I do first with people. Let me further describe it this way. Sometimes, when musicians come together as a group, they meet and work together because they want to be able to make unique impact and leverage on the strength of the group. They together pull to achieve a number of things for their organization.
Yes like we have PMAN (Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria)?
Yes so the governors too, desire at some point that there was need for them to come together as governors and think about themselves and think about the institution governorship institution. Think about helping themselves across party lines so you are looking at 36 of them. It is a unique type of organization. You just have 36 members and all of them are governors and they created this association and registered it. It didn’t have a formal secretariat before and overtime they felt that they needed to build a professional secretariat and desired to get technocrats to help them run it with a sole aim of improving their performance and efficiency because they cross bread ideas.
At what extent do your forum intervene in governors affairs.
First you must know that we run a federal system and the governors have their autonomy and you cannot compel them, rather we provide for them a platform to meet each other informally and exchange ideas and when there are federal government policies that are not favourable to many, the platform is where such matter are discoursed and if need be a committee will be set up to further negotiate with the federal government. Sometimes when there are differences with some governors, it’s been resolved so amicably. We also provide them with information on new and better ways of doing things because we do visit state to study their system and new approaches that are yielding results and where they seem to be doing better, we share such experience with other states to improve as well.
