Follow Us on Google
By Chukwudi Nweje
Dr. Patrick Dakum is the Chief Executive officer of the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) and Associate professor in the Epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland school of Medicine in this interview with Journalists, states his vision for running for the governorship seat in Plateau State, and says that President Muhammadu Buhari has done a lot in the fight against corruption and development of agricultural awareness in the country.
For a long time you have been silent politically in Plateau State. Why?
Thank you very much because for a long time we have not seen, now we are meeting. I have not changed physically, maybe a little bit of grey hair but you guys are hiding yours.
But to answer the question, I left Plateau State in 2004. I left plateau State but I did not leave Nigeria.
I have been here in Abuja growing an Institute. In fact, an Institute of Human Virology ( IHVN) Nigeria.
It is an institute we established in partnership with the University of Maryland and it is mainly focused on responding to health challenges in Nigeria through support in infrastructural development, equipment and human capital. However, part of the condition of coming to work here is that Plateau State will benefit from whatever we are doing because I was Commissioner for health when I left Plateau. And so when we are at the height of this project, we came to a gentleman agreement that as far as it is visible, Plateau State will be a beneficiary of activities of this place and so because of that, I have always been in Plateau one way or the other because we will have one programme or projects in areas like Tubercluosis (TB) or HIV in the past.
But in terms of residence, I have been resident in Abuja, but in the last two years, I have been spending a lot of time in Plateau State basically to improve on my visibility and also to improve and get a better understanding of on ground issues in Plateau to enable me be a participant in 2023 elections as far as the governorship seat of the state is concerned.
So, how far have you gone in actualising your ambition of becoming the next governor of Plateau State?
Like you know, the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has a guide line for active campaigns but now consultations are allowed as part of raising awareness among the party members and you know I belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC). I have been meeting with party members and stakeholders and officials raising general awareness within party faithfully maybe through posters, billboard that targeted to the general public as the case maybe.
And by the time we get the INEC which is now out, I will go into active campaign but now we are doing consultations preparing for primaries that will start by the end of or early June.
And so for one, I have done a lot of consultations in 17 local governments of the state and I have gone round to meet party members. And I will be going round again targeting party members, officials from ward to local government areas including excos.
And also any where I visit, I meet the traditional Council members and other chiefs for their advice and blessings.
Why running under the All Progressives Congress (APC)?
Well, the reasons I have chosen APC are the guidelines, constitution and party manifesto are in line with what I believe in, and secondly, I have got a lot of my political allies and friends in the party, so if you look at it, that is the basis of going into a political party; one, if you believe in it and two I got friends within the party because without it you cannot win party primary because the general population will not have access to you. And so for me, APC is the party I have chosen.
What is your mission and vision of running for the governorship seat of Plateau State under APC?
Well, first of all, for me what is important is what APC stands for. One is to return Plateau State to peace or strength in security to enable every citizen to pursue his chosen career in the context of a very peaceful atmosphere.
So, I foresee Plateau State where everybody, both young and old are pursuing their career that meets their needs and goals.
How will you rate the performance of the present government in Plateau under the leadership Simon Lalong?
I don’t think I will want to rate the performance of the present government related to my ambition. But I will rather comment on some of the things I have seen him do that are very positive. And number one is the issue of strengthening security in Plateau State which is very paramount. This governor has established a peace agency and I have interacted with officials of the agency to get a better understanding of what they are doing and I found out that they have done a lot in peace building and conflict prevention and they are not an agency that is doing much in terms of crises management but in terms of preventing conflict.
They bring communities together to peaceful co-existence so they can continue to be or exist.
So for me, peace and security are one area the governor has worked very hard since into office and there are evidence of what has been achieved in that area so far.
And two is that the governor has identified a number of programmes and projects that have been tagged legacy projects and some are related to the health sector and some are related to the education sector.
And I believe that this programme and projects are of serious benefits to the people of Plateau State.
Each local government has a major project and some are completed and some may not have been completed. So those kind of things the governor is seen to be doing are very encouraging and off course, the relationship between the state government and the Federal Government has attracted a number of projects to the state.
For my local government, a college of Education was converted to a university and that increases the human capital of the state and I think it is because of the relationship between the state government and the Federal Government. And I think you have to lobby and that is what democracy is all about. And also there are a number of other projects attracted to Plateau State and I think they are good and visionary and worth building upon.
Your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is faced with so much crisis in many states. What is your take on the crises rocking the party?
I don’t know which crisis you are making reference to but I think APC in Plateau State to a very large extent is in a very stable state. And stable in the sense that we don’t have faction and that we conducted our congress in various wards and local governments and have issues of candidature and reconciliation Committee working. And you know you need time to reconcile people who didn’t get what they want or needed as a person and you know time is needed to put and strengthen things out very well.
But for me, the APC in Plateau State, we don’t have any crisis in the party. And I have always said as a party you need time to reconcile people who get or didn’t get what they want.
We have had an incident where our former chairman defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and these are things individual people are free to do. You can choose a party or where to belong if you feel disfranchised. For me as a candidate, if a party Chairman decides to leave, there is nothing wrong or you attached a problem or crisis to that. So for me, it is not a crisis.
Finally, can you give us an overview of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government in the last seven years?
Well, for me, I will say the APC as a party under the able leadership of Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari has been able to maintain a democratic governance and it is a major thing people seem not to be talking about and I think it is a major breakthrough that gives us much freedom to express our feelings in the country.
Secondly, I think we will not say we have arrived at the Ethiopia of zero corruption but we can say or will say the mechanism of addressing corruption is strengthened and people now are afraid to openly do things that are wrong. The other area I think the government needs to be commended is the area of agriculture, because we were importing rice at a very unbelievable and alarming rate before but if you go to the market now, you will see 99 percent locally made rice produced in the country. And Nigeria as an agrarian country is a major stride.
And for me, in Plateau, one of the major crops we are known for is potatoes and using a loan from African Development Bank, we are now able to research on developing more seedlings that can grow anywhere.
Secondly, of course for me, the fertilizer bleeding plant company that is being revitalized and the basis for that is to give agriculture a focal point.
And let me say finally that as a person that I have tagged my thought around what I called ATM, it is a consulting and assessment plan focused on Agriculture, Tourism and Mining.
