Gov Idris Wada pleads
 Says political office should be turn by turn
Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada has pleaded with the nation’s political leaders to allow peace to reign and avoid activities that could affect the unity of the country as the struggle over who occupies various exalted offices in the 2015 elections. 

“We must nurture this democracy; let us save this democracy. We must not do any act that will destabilize our democracy. Let’s put the nation first. Let’s try to build the nation that our children will be proud of, and be patient. If we don’t make it this time, look forward to next time. If God has not given you the opportunity, look to those that God has given. Power comes from God. It does not matter the level of desire, it does not matter how smart or how rich you are. If it is not time for you to be President or governor, or local government chairman, you can never be. So, my advice and appeal to our people is to be patient on the issue of leadership”, Wada begged his colleagues in public offices and other aspiring political leaders.
The governor made the plea when he played host to a select group of Journalists last week in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital where he bared his mind on the nation’s 53rd independence anniversary and other issues of national interest. ISMAIL OMIPIDAN was there for Saturday Sun. Excerpts.

Nigeria at 53, how far, how well?
For a country that is composed the way Nigeria is  a multi-ethnic, multi religious, country with a climate that spreads from the swampy forest from the South to the desert climate in the North and the inherent complexity, I think as a nation we have done well. If you look at the context of our broken phases in leadership, changes in leadership, tribal, regional conflict and all that. I think we have done well to be quite honest. I think sometimes, we under assess ourselves or we underrate what we have achieved. But some of the recent happenings in the world show us that we done well as a nation. So, for me, I think Nigeria has done well and my prayer is that the democratic experiment that started 14 years ago should be sustained so that we continue to move steadily towards full development.

What are some of the challenges you think Nigeria has faced in the last 53 years?
The first challenge is the transition from colonialism to self-rule, to nationhood, a country of our own, rule by our own people and so that involved the challenges of manpower, trust between the leadership in terms of the various negotiation in form of amalgamation that brought up Nigeria. Again, we also had political instability, regional politics, rather than national politics. And because of lack of manpower, we had to invoke the Nigerianisation policy. But it took us time to fill key positions. Also, we took our eyes away from agriculture and other economic activities that could have sustained us. And after all these, came the military coups that interrupted progressive governments, thus making succession of governments difficult. And each one that came, condemn the one that was before it, through away all their policies whether good or bad. So, if we are to look at Nigeria in terms of sustained development, we have to look at the last 14 years and if we are honest, we will know that things are looking up, they are looking positive. In spite of the positive development, however, we still have issues of tribalism, religious conflict and now we have terrorism, which is a new thing. Nigerians are good people, and are generally honest and genuine people. Some of these things happening are strange to us, because in the past, we trust one another. Many of us, who grew up in villages, know that in those days, there was trust, people were honest. You can leave your door open, and sleep outside. There is that dignity of being a Nigerian where ever you are. But all of these are today being disorganised by the new trend. So, for a nation that has gone through this kind of trends, I think we should just thank God for this our country and forge ahead with our democratic experiment.

Many also believed that, but for leadership, Nigeria would have moved farther than where it is today. What is your take on this?
Yes, I agree with that. I think that again, our political leadership has been frequently interrupted by military regimes. Even in the last 14 years of democracy, things have not been easy, because of the nature of our politics, where you are required to balance so many things in everything you do. It is not straightforward. For example, if you become a governor or minister, you cannot just appoint people the way you like. In other climes, you do that. But here you have to balance with what local government the persons come from, is he a Christian, a Muslim, which ward, which tribe, all those issues. So, I think in our own context, we have done well. The leadership has some blame, just like the citizens too, have some blame.

Lokoja played an important role in Nigeria’s formative years. Will you say Lokoja has attracted the due attention it is supposed to attract, considering the role it played?
Lokoja has not attracted the kind of attention that it should get, and it is very unfortunate because Lokoja is a special city. It is a city that has special blessings from God Almighty. It is a confluence city. The two biggest rivers in this sub-region, both confluence in this city. Historically, as you said, this was the city of Lord Lugard. This was the city on top of the mount that Lord Lugard’s partner, Flora named Nigeria. She looked at it and said look, ‘the best name for it is Nigeria.’ It was named in 1847 and then we had the 1914 amalgamation.
The nation should pay more attention to Lokoja. And for me as governor, I am focusing on renovating and refurbishing all colonial relics, with a view to giving Lokoja a new face. We got Lokoja adopted by UN habitat as one of the 10 cities in the world that the UN wants to work with, to develop into a world city without losing its cultural value. So, we are working with UN habitat to see how we can transform Lokoja into a world city without losing its cultural value. So, I think the nation needed to have paid more attention to Lokoja, as a symbol of our country’s unity, centre of Nigeria, the heart of Nigeria. Every Nigerian should feel part of Lokoja, because 23 states cross us from North and South. So, I think during our own time, we would try to make it a home for all, make it hospitable and try to project the image of Lokoja in the scheme of affairs of Nigeria.

Before you became governor, the security situation in Kogi State, especially, Okene, used to be bad, how have you been able to address this?
Well, when I came in, I said no to thuggery and I practicalised it. When young people came and started causing rancour, looking for money, I said no. We provided a youth empowerment programme that will provide opportunities for youths to stand on their own. I let them know that thuggery is not going to take them anywhere, and we demonstrated practically that we will punish anyone caught in the act, in accordance with the law. We said please organise yourselves and we provided them with empowerment. We empowered the security agencies as much as we can, supported them to do their work and in me they have a listening governor. We hold regular security meetings. They come with strategies, we implement them. People can see them practically. We are straightforward, we are focused and we mean business. So we passed the anti-thuggery law by the House of Assembly. And with the various opportunities available in agriculture and some of the small scale businesses, the youth are now seeing that crime does not pay, and that it is better to have something to do. And this is what has helped us.
In the Okene area, where there was a lot of violence, again we mobilised police and military into action and made example with a few people. We are able to bring peace there with the cooperation of the leaders and elders. The elders there were tired of the violence and they could see that they have a partner in me, who is sincere about stamping out this violence. I told them that my own political ambition is not worth the life of any individual.  So, I will not tolerate violence or encourage such things, never! I thank God that the message has gone across, and with the cooperation of leaders and the youth groups, women groups, everybody working hand- in- hand with the government and security agencies, we have been able to bring the situation under control.

Very soon, you will be two in office, as Kogi State governor, how has it been so far?
It has been very interesting and very challenging experience. I came with a clear perspective of where I want to take the state to. There were many challenges, particularly, that of finance. After we pay salaries, we have very little money for other things. I am working very hard to see that our tax collection increases, because if you don’t have people working, you can’t tax them. We are encouraging people to do something with their life so that we can have tax revenue, encouraging industrialization, promoting agriculture, unity of our people, peaceful co-existence, all of these we are working on. Kogi is a melting pot. But because I have a clear blueprint, that is on the path of development, which I am pursuing, I can see that things are improving gently, not as fast as the people want because of lack of resources and because of the time it takes to settle down in government. I came here from a private sector perspective. And in private sector, everything is straightforward. You select the best; deploy the resources and move in. But in government, it is not like that. In government, so many considerations come in. I think, for me, we have made a satisfactory progress in the last one year or so.
For instance, in our youth empowerment programme, agriculture is the focus. That is what we are doing. You know we started with accelerated rice programme. Immediately after the flood, the whole place was looking shabby and devastated. I said look, ‘what are we going to do with this,’ and that is how the idea came. I say let us do rice farming. So, immediately, we contacted the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and got few people together for agriculture development programme and we turn this nasty place to beautiful grain environment with rice.
We encouraged cooperatives, youth groups to come in, we give them one acre, and some half acre. We also give them seedlings, fertilizer and other inputs. The people were able to grow rice. Within two, three months, the rice was ripe for harvesting and from there so many of the youth embraced that.
We have a sharing formula of 60-40. We give you the seedling, the fertilizer, the land, you look after the land. When you harvest, you take 40 per cent, government takes 60 per cent, which we will sell or recycle to give us seedlings again for people to grow rice again. And that has helped. As the water is receding, we will follow it by planting more rice. We are also growing upland rice in place that are not on the flood plane. Some of the local governments that have comparative advantage for growing rice, are also growing rice, other places, they grow cassava, some places we are doing soya beans. So, many of the agricultural programmes are going on and youth are embracing them. Some were being empowered with funds, others with inputs, and so far, so good.

You were reported as saying you would complete the works of your predecessor before starting your own. How far have you kept to that promise?
What I said was that we would not abandon projects started by my predecessor due to two reasons; one my predecessor ran a PDP government, ours is also a PDP government, so there is a form of continuity. Second, if I decide to abandon the projects, psychologically, it is the people of Kogi who will lose. I sustained the key projects, and many of them are completed now, before we start thinking of new ones. That is not to say that we are not doing new projects. Things like providing water, some rural roads, electricity for villages, health facilities, schools, and building, tourism, and the rest are being provided. But projects, worth like N3b, N4b, are the ones we cannot afford now, because we had to pay a lot of money to sustain the ongoing projects, which we met and which we believe are of benefit to the people of Kogi state. So, abandoning them will be great disservice to the people of Kogi State. That is what I did it. And I think it is good thing for the people of our state. And also in our country, if we can adopt this, it will be good, because it is the people who matter, not the person who was there before. We have done significant work in completing the projects that we met.

Away from Kogi State, there is this perception that the PDP-led central government has not done well. How will you react to this?
The Federal Government has done well.  Let’s be honest. Let us be realistic. That is the talk of the opposition. You saw the president’s mid-term report. It has never happened in our nation. After two years, he said ‘this is what I have done put it together, and assess me.’ So, if you have time to read or watch its presentation, I think it is impressive. The criticism is to be expected. I am happy you (journalists) are not the ones saying so. You are only reechoing what they are saying. The President has a road map. Transformation is not easy. People like to hang on to their own ways of doing things. Transformation means you have to do things differently, from the way it is being done. That is the big challenge and I think the Federal Government is doing this in a sustainable way. You research things, bring people together, debate it, where are we, where do we want to go, how do we get there, and putting resources available, expertise available. So, I think the president has done well. The Federal Government has done well. I don’t expect the opposition to praise Mr. President. But the PDP has done well.

Talking about transformation, do you think Nigeria’s politicians will ever be transformed, with regard to election matters?
I think it is a going to take time, because of our own nature as Nigerians. Because of these many languages, many tribes, multiple religion. It is going to take time. But again, we are making progress, because the National Assembly has tried to modify the electoral law, they had to change some things in the INEC Act, to address some of these things. For example, election cases can no longer last forever, we did not have that before. Before, there was no provision that if you do not participate in an election, you will not benefit from that judgment. But we have that now. And a few other things are already in our law to address some of the challenges existing in our system, that create some of these rancour and challenges on the persons in power. I think as we modify, I want to also suggest that we should make sure that when an election is over, whatever the judiciary cases are, they must be completed before the winner assumes office, so that the person coming  in to govern, will know his fate ab initio. Once the person comes in, you can criticize him. But don’t distract him with legal cases and others. You can challenge him, criticize him and debate his performance, but dragging him to court, where he is not sure whether he is going to be the governor next week, or after the ruling, is a waste of time and resources.

…(Cuts in) I am sure you are talking from experience?
Yes, I am talking from my experience. I still have several other cases in court against me with one year and eight months in office. It just does not make sense. It is not good for the country. So, these are the things we need to address. Also, the attitude of our people too needs to change. They do not accept defeat and this thing is a tenure thing. You must go one day. If you are alive, you will finish your tenure, if you die, somebody will take over. That is the nature of power. And to many people, it must be them, and this is the sad thing.  It is not about the people, it is about the individuals, and unfortunately, that is the problem. If we think of the people, we think of the nation, we think about democracy of the nation, we will always give in and prepare for the next one to challenge the person. But unfortunately, that is not the case.

Could that be the same reason there is crisis in the PDP now?
Well, we agreed not to speak to the Press on that. So I will abide by that.

As we move towards 2015, what is your advice to your colleagues-the politicians and Nigerians?
Let us be patient. We must nurture this democracy; let us save this democracy. We must not do any act that will destabilize our democracy. Let’s put the nation first. Let’s try to build the nation that our children will be proud of, and be patient. If we don’t make it this time, look forward to next time. If God has not given you the opportunity, look to those that God has given. Power comes from God. It does not matter the level of desire, it does not matter how smart or how rich you are. If it is not time for you to be President or governor, or local government chairman, you can never be. So, my advice and appeal to our people is to be patient on the issue of leadership.
[Sun News]