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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Fred Agbedi is a member of the House of Representatives, representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State.
Last week, he formally joined the contest for the November 16 Bayelsa governorship.
The lawmaker, who is seeking to be the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the governorship poll, gives an insight into his vision for the state and why the opposition party should nominate him as its standard bearer for the contest.
Recently, you joined the contest for the Bayelsa governorship seat on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Primary (PDP), what do you think stands you out from the other aspirants equally jostling for the party’s ticket?
I am a grassroots politician who has gone through the crucifix of politics, so I understand what it takes to be a professional politician. When you talk about party administration, I am one of the best in my state known by all. As chairman of the party, I was in charge of former governor, Timipriye Silva’s campaigns. I was also part of the Yar’Adua/Goodluck campaign across Nigeria. Today, I am agitating, campaigning and going round Bayelsa and Nigeria to say that that burning desire I have to serve my people in greater capacity should be realised in 2019. I am well suited, well qualified, well experienced. I have served my people both in politics and outside politics. I was a businessman as well as a civil servant.
In 1991 when Ekeremor Local Government was created out of Sagbama Local Government, I was prevailed upon to be the pioneer secretary of my party, the National Republican Convention (NRC). I didn’t quite want to be; but my leadership qualities were identified and leaders, as well as, elders of the local government insisted that I must lead the party as the secretary.
Since I left the civil service, I have been an independent man doing business to live my life. I know what it takes to generate money, invest it and make returns. I am fit and suitable to take decisions as to how to generate money in my state to run my government.
What would you be bringing to the table, if elected the governor of Bayelsa State?
Governor Dickson has done his best. If I am elected today as governor of Bayelsa State, what the people expect is that I do my best. Nobody can completely meet all the demands and yearnings of the people. One thing that I think is paramount, other than the federal allocation in this feeding bottle democracy that we are practicing, is what are the resources in Bayelsa that you can harness to generate internal revenue with which you can run government in the state, that will be a priority in my administration.
We need to deal with the issues of vocational education. It is very critical to grow the people’s desire to be independent, self employed and then run businesses and trade of their own to enable them make a living for themselves. We have abandoned research for a very long time. We have raw materials. If you vote quality finances for research, you will always turn out report of raw materials in your environment that you can develop which will also get people gainfully employed.
In Bayelsa, we have raffia palms that are tapped with which they process gin, the gin which the colonial masters described as illicit gin. Till today we are still at that level of illicit gin. But they are the kind of some exported or imported drinks that people should be consuming. However, we are still at that level because of lack of research and investment. People have even abandoned that trade and that was the trade that gave our people a lot of money. Research is going to form a cardinal part of my agenda, so that people will know what kind of resources they have in their environment and how they can harness them to get themselves gainfully employed, as well as generate revenue for the state. Why must we go the way of selling crude oil? Nigeria has failed herself by selling the raw materials. It is better that you turn that your raw material to finished products. There is need for us to ensure that we build a modular refinery which will access the crude from where we will produce finished products, to gainfully employ our people in the refineries and ensure that we make more profit rather than selling the raw crude. If you compare the price of crude oil to palm oil, palm oil is more expensive than crude oil. Now we have lost focus completely on the issue of palm oil, whose price is more expensive than that of crude oil. But because nobody wants to be involved in planting and process it, government will need to encourage that.
Our governor is doing so much to bring the age long deep seaport to fruition. If there were Bayelsa people who have one to five billion to invest in it, you will see that foreign investors will be happy to partner with them. We will look at core competences of our businessmen and grow them so that they can attract partnerships to come and invest in Bayelsa State.
How will you address the issue of power?
If you go to Bayelsa, there are communities that have 24 hours power. Have we sold that achievement to the world? Today investors from around the world go to China to build factories because of cheap labour. Bayelsa has communities even inside the creeks that have constant power. My government will deliberately tell the whole world that these communities have 24 hours power. You don’t need to come with a generator or buy diesel and you are going to make your profit from whatever investment you are going to put in Bayelsa. The issue of security also comes to the fore. Brass NLNG needs to come on stream. If they can put three NLNG plants in Nigeria, Nigeria won’t have any problem of funding their budget. I have engaged the MD of NLNG as well as the MD of SHELL; we have agreed that NLNG should come with the details on how that investment can be realised. I have access to all the nooks and crannies of Bayelsa, if anyone feels that this is his hideout, from where he is encouraging militancy, you will find me there. I will come there as governor of Bayelsa State. What I want in that regard is to ensure that these people are put together and a security company is established with these guys who understand the creeks and know those that are capable of making trouble. This will not only make them work and get salary, but also, any investment coming into the state will deliberately create a shareholding in those investments for that company.
