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By next year, Ike Ekweremadu would have been in the senate for 20 years. He recently unveiled his agenda for Enugu State to the media and followed it up with a conversation on a live radio programme in Enugu which was monitored by MAGNUS EZE.
With vast experience in politics and governance, the former Deputy Senate President who wants to be Enugu State Governor in the forthcoming general elections said he would fight insecurity with infrastructure if he emerges victorious.
Support for Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in 2015 governorship polls over Ayogu Eze
I have known Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Ayogu Eze for a very long time. Both are passionate about what they do. When the election came, there were several issues around who the candidate should be and we decided to end it and make progress. And the governor at the time preferred Ugwuanyi. That was the meeting point between us. So, I felt that the best thing to do then was to support Ugwuanyi as best as I could to make sure that we remained peaceful. After the election, I met with Ayogu Eze and suggested that we should go back to the Senate, believing that when he comes back, he will do well. But he was determined to pursue his ambition of becoming the governor. He took the matter to the Supreme Court. But that did not stop us from being friends and he still relates with the governor today. In politics, you disagree to agree. The decision to let Ugwuanyi be governor did not affect the relation the three of us had built.
Consultation with the governor over your ambition
After the 2019 election, we had a programme where I said that I will not be going back to the senate and that my people had tried to keep me in the Red Chamber for 20 years. After I made the declaration, many people came to ask me to run for the governorship of the state. I told them that it was too early to decide at that time and that it will also be distracting to Ugwuanyi. In July 2021, I had a conversation with the governor where I requested him to go back and consult widely. I gave him reasons why I wanted to become governor. I believe he is still considering it and that ultimately, he will decide which will be favourable to me and to the entire people of Enugu State. I would like to see him support me in every respect.
Non-interference in affairs of LGAs
At the time I was an LG Chairman, we were receiving our allocation directly from the Federal Government. That was in 1997. But by 1999, a new constitution came, creating in Section 162 what was referred to as the joint local government and state account. The idea was that instead of the money going directly into the LG account, it goes into a single account run by the LG and the state. It is expected that when the money comes, the state will beef it up from its IGR before distributing to the LGs. However, some states have abused it. Instead of adding to the amount, they are removing from it because of joint projects and other considerations. That is why most LGs are underperforming. But when I become the governor, I will not tamper with any LG fund. However, I will tell them to build roads, schools and ensure that there is security. That will make my work easier.
Zoning of governorship
I don’t like talking down on my leaders, friends and colleagues. You know if you are talking about zoning, you are talking about the interest of the entire People of Enugu State, men, women, traditional rulers, town union presidents, representatives, the ordinary people. Then someone is telling you that he and few people sat down in one place and discussed zoning. Which party were they representing? That is the thing. I heard that narrative; someone said it was in the Banquet Hall in the Government House during Sullivan’s (Chime) regime. If you and few people decided to visit the governor and had some food and drinks and then had a conversation, does that mean you should wake up and say you discussed? What kind of rubbish is that? So, there is no such thing like zoning. Which organ of government or party were they representing? If you go to PDP Constitution, I think Article 6 or thereabouts, dealing with local government and state organs, we have the Caucus, State Working Committee, State Executive Committee and State Elders’ Committee. There is no organ of the state party machinery in that PDP Constitution that empowers anybody to go and zone governorship. So, I don’t know the meeting they were having. It doesn’t make sense. Now, they said it was in 2013. So, what happened to Sullivan? How did he emerge? So, he is not a product of zoning? People will always canvass such argument provided it supports what they want to achieve. They don’t even look at whether the argument makes sense or not. I am a lawyer; so I like agreement, I like decisions. If there is such agreement, I will abide by it but in the absence of that, people should stop telling lies in order to achieve their aims.
If you are zoning the governorship of a state, it is a serious matter. It is not a matter of friends meeting in a Government House to say they have zoned the governorship. So, it is ridiculous. That is why I don’t like addressing this issue because it is annoying and it makes one to say what he doesn’t want to say. If there is agreement, I will abide by it, but for now, there is none. I know there are trying to get people to sign a document to say they have zoned governorship. We are waiting for them. Don’t forget, if you are zoning the governorship, what criterion are you going to use? Is it senatorial zone or the cultural zones? We have four cultural zones in Enugu. We have Awgu, Agbaja, Nkanu and Nsukka. So, you believe that someone from Awgu will never be Governor of Enugu State. So, when are you going to zone to them? The issue of Governorship of Enugu State is a serious matter; let’s drop all these mundane discussions because everyone has his own arguments. Zoning is not going to put food on our table. It is not going to employ our children, it is not going to give work to our people. Let us be able to have arguments that can advance us into the Enugu State of our dream.
Plans for water
To ensure that we reduce the amount these tanker drivers pay to get water, I’m not going to tell you how I’m going to do that but the first two months of arrival, I’ll do it. Now, in mid-term, we are going to rehabilitate the existing lines. Like for the well at Oji-River which the Federal Government assisted us with during Chimaroke’s administration to set that up, what we need to do is to re-establish those lines, refurbish it and then we have several boreholes at 9th Mile, also the Ajali waterworks, we will fix all of that and be able to deliver bulk water to Enugu urban.
There’s also water presence around Iva valley and all of that which government can harness. A friend has always been asking the government to give him opportunity to provide water for Coal Camp and all of that. We will partner with such people to provide water for such areas but additionally, we are going to look at the small rivers in Enugu and dam them, treat the water and reticulate, because we don’t have underground water within Enugu Metropolis due to the presence of coal. So, we will take advantage of the surface water and water will be delivered to everybody’s home within two years.
The Enugu State Government was approved at the National Assembly for funds, about 50 million euros to provide water for Enugu State. That money, I believe, has not been spent and that will help us to take off immediately. I believe that if the present government has started, we can continue from where they stopped. The fund is always there. All we need is the will and the correct vision to get this done. It is not rocket science.
Constructing superhighways
It will create some level of security because kidnappers drive more on very bad roads and when you slow down, they will overtake but if you’re doing 120km/h on a good road, I don’t believe any kidnapper can come near you. Now, the road infrastructure we’re looking at is one that will be out of this world. I’m talking about superhighways.
Now, what we have is a two-lane express, but we plan to do up to four to six lanes on both sides, well lit at night and travels can be 24 hours without problems. We are going to have security cameras, a surveillance centre in Enugu so that from the office, we can track cars coming in and going out and challenges can be resolved speedily because of the security centre in place.
In some places, we are also going to provide rest-areas for people on the road, to buy fuel, eat and relax before they continue their journey. There are two challenges in doing this. One is finance. We are going to partner with the private sector. We will provide the contractors there, but they are going to help us with funding of these contractors, then recover their money through tolling. It’s not going to be a burden to one single Enugu person because the tollgates will be at the entry points. It’s only when you’re leaving Enugu or coming that you’ll pay, if you remain within Enugu, you’ll pay nothing.
The other challenge is about federal roads which people think will be a legal issue, but there is a law called ‘Land Use Act’ which empowers the governor to take any land he wants in overriding public interest. We will exercise our powers under the Land Use Act to compulsorily acquire those lands and rebuild them, I’m sure the Federal Government will be happy for it.
We can also peacefully speak to the Federal Government and say we want to take over this road and we’ll have an agreement with them on that. Then we can bring in our partners who will do the roads and later recover their money. So many people are already interested and I’m getting calls from people who want to help us actualize it.
On the ring road, we have started. We’ve joined Oji-River with Awgu, Awgu has joined Aniri, Aniri has joined Enugu East. So, what we are doing now is planning how to get it round the entire state when I become Governor. What we’ll do is open up a road from Nara, between Nara and Agbani to Amagueze and join it to Amechi road and from there, we’ll come to Enugu-East-Isiuzo, Isiuzo will connect to Udenu and there’s also a road already between Udenu and Isiuzo, as well as Isiuzo and Igboeze-North, not forgetting the road from Igboeze-North to Igboeze-South, to Nsukka, to Uzo-Uwani and other parts to make it complete. We want to actualize a city-state like Lagos where there are no boundaries between one local government and the other.
Plans to build industries across local governments
Specifically, we said we are going to do some specialized approach, every local government will have one product based on its own comparative advantage. This is one of our approaches to boost the economy of Enugu State. Secondly, it’s also a strategy for creating employment. Which is why within four years, we will reduce unemployment by 70 per cent, as the government cannot accommodate everybody, thus unemployment. I’m not sure any administration from Enugu State has built one industry since 1999 till now, hence the unemployment and the recruitment of bandits all over the country.
The focus of China on economy, security, and domination, is their concentration on building factories and industries. It worked for them, and it can work for us. That is why we say we’ll do two industries per local government. I was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Affairs. SMEDAN was under my jurisdiction. We studied the whole 774 local governments, and we came up with a booklet called ‘one local government, one product’ based on comparative advantage. The present Minister of Industry met me at one of our friends’ house. He said the Federal Government is trying to look at the document we produced, and I tell you that it can give an insight, so, I believe that it is doable.
In Nsukka for instance, they produce pepper, in Ezeagu there’s cashew all over the place, in Aninri and Nkanu East they produce rice, so we can set up industries to process these products and explore these comparative advantages. But we are not going to bother about ordinary products but focus on products that can compete in the international market. All over the place, people all over are looking for tomatoes, in Kenya they take just flour to Europe every morning which is a lot of money. In Norway, people are looking for ogbono, you can’t supply enough cashew to Singapore. So, we are going to identify all these from local government to local government.
Message to Enugu people
I just want Enugu people to help us maintain peace in Enugu State and to support the present government to finish well. That is their responsibility now. It’s for the people of Enugu State to all go out there and ask God to make the processes leading to the next government in Enugu State smooth and that nobody will be hurt.
