By Paul Odili
Posted to the Web: Thursday, October 05, 2006

Since last week Wednesday, when the EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu stood before the Senate and indicted 31 state governors of fraud and mismanagement of local government funds, many of those involved had responded, most of them denounced the Commission of alleged witch hunt, and claiming innocence, but without necessarily clarifying issues raised. However, Enugu State governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, one of the 31 this week broke with the pattern by stepping out of the shadows to confront issues directly rather than through proxies. The first bombshell was his acceptance that while EFCC report is difficult to swallow, it is indeed good in terms of helping him strengthen the state’s financial governance.

Has he then being helping himself to the state’s funds? Governor Nnamani says there is no evidence that he has benefited because he has not. He, however, accepts that ethical issues could be raised concerning awarding government contracts to supply vehicles to a company his sister has interest in. But he says it was still done through a competitive process, although he accepts it may still be difficult for people to accept. He says considering the level of infrastrutural development the state had gone through under him, supply of vehicles and local government funds could hardly be avenues for personal enrichment. Nnamani touched on a whole of lots of other issues, including his idea of the profile of a president Nigerians should vote into office next year.
Excerpts:

The EFCC Chairman was before the Senate recently and made some allegations against Enugu State. What is your response?
I shall like to stay on the positive side to talk about the progress and development here in Enugu State. However, if you insist, and the fact that the issue is on the front burner as it were, I can respond. The EFCC reports, as you know, borders on three major issues, one is the issue of contractual obligation, two is in the issue of my estimated net or asset value and third, the issue of local government allocations.

On the first issue, we see the EFCC report as an exoneration, an exoneration in the sense that we feel that, with what appears to be a price variance in the value with which the government awarded the contract and the value of their assessment by experts or consultants, the total contract value is about a little over N30 billion. The EFCC engineers or experts who spent three days in Enugu admitted they saw about 70% of the projects and said that, contrary to that, the projects should have been valued about N2.8 billion less. 

We believe that that variance is not statistically significant and could be subject to either an increase or decrease based on the valuation of other consultants or experts. And as you know clearly, the contract value could be subject to energy cost, in terms of fuel, diesel, it could be subject to labour cost, the rate could be subject to availability of materials. It could even be subject to climatic changes vis-à-vis, the weather.  So, for us, it is an exoneration. If in this age of all sorts of accusations about contract inflation, there is price variation of N2.8 billion on a N30 billion total contract value, I believe it is something that is commendable and within the norms.

Also, part of the accusations is one regarding the ownership of the contracting company. You can see clearly that the government was exonerated in that regard. Certainly the report did not have any finding regarding the ownership by this company by government.  On the issue of the wealth of the governor, the report being cited of about an estimated N50billion asset value, that is about 400 million dollars. It also did say that this alleged asset value could not have been acquired during the period of 2003 to 2006 as what was available was, if misappropriated, could only have been N2.8 billion and when you look at the net allocation between 1999 and 2003, which amounted to about N30billion, you find out that it just defeats that argument.

Remember, these were the early days of allocation of N100 million a month, N400 million a month, N500 million a month and now N1.5 billion a month with expenditures of about N800 million to N1 billion, about N250 million for salary for teachers, N250 million for salary for civil servants, the rest took care of other leave allowance facilities, pension, subventions to parastatals and service which will give you about NI billion. So, it is only about 500 million left to pay for contracting obligations and other emergencies of the government. So, it is not possible. That is certainly not correct.

Then the third issue has to do with the local government.  We have stated time and time again that local governments are issues within the purview and authority of the state government as confirmed by the constitution and also the Supreme Court.  It therefore becomes a constitutional paradox as to whether an agency that cannot oversee an institution can have its sub-agency undertake the same responsibility. Therefore, if the Federal Government cannot oversee or supervise Local Government, I doubt whether its sub-agency can do that. But having said that, outside the issue of legalities, I can say clearly that when it comes to issue of fraud or embezzlement, even the man on the street or the NGOs can oversee any institution. So, without being legalistic, we can say that our allocations were handled appropriately as confirmed by the Joint Local Government Account Committee and also the House of Assembly, through its Committee on Local Government Matters. The other area that they also talked about was the ownership of companies by relatives of the governor.

Yes, we never denied that fact; we have stated time and time again that those investments are laudable investments and we are happy to have them here in Enugu State . Our relatives are free to do business anywhere in the world, especially here in Nigeria, under constitutional democracy, more so as they are contributing to the economy of Enugu, as long as there is no diversion of government fund to these investments. But to summarize this issue, I must give credit to President Olusegun Obasanjo and to the Federal Government for this anti-corruption agency, as part of targeted moves to move Nigeria into a globalized world. And it has yielded fruits, in terms of removing the so-called pariah status of the country and inflow of investments.

And I believe we can give credit to EFCC too, that their activities have played a major role in the areas of sensitization and enlightenment, also, there is an awareness in this issue of anti-corruption. For us in Enugu State, there is an awareness.  Where otherwise brown envelopes would have been passed, they are not passed anymore. And it gives us the opportunity during this summer of our administration to dot our i’s and cross our t’s. Even though the investigation was and still is not pleasant, it has enriched us, it has made us much stronger.  It has made us more aware of our responsibilities. It has also exposed areas of improvement, the areas of the report where we could use to improve governance in Enugu State. We didn’t even wait for the report. As soon as the EFCC came, by the time they were here for three or five days, we knew the areas they were concerned with and we had to act on those areas.

The EFCC also said that the contracts were inflated…And could you tell us the rationale of stating that the Obasanjo government is a God-sent to Nigeria?
We certainly would never do that. For what a targeted purpose? I have just proven to you that what we run in Enugu State is a government of excellence; our excellence would not permit such in our system. Having said that, to your second question, Nigerians have achieved a lot. We have a country that is in the summer of history, a country that is certainly mature in growth, development, maturity. We can say that, we have to talk about Nigeria in the context of its leadership. In the PDP, a few weeks ago, we designated President Olusegun Obasanjo as the father of modern Nigeria, father of modern Nigeria in the sense that no individual in this country has shown a clear parallel in the area of evolution between man and country. 

A leader that has bestridden the firmament of the nation. A leader who has played in the area of Bukavu in Congo, involved in the immediate post-independence stages and evolution of the Nigerian Army, activities that saw us through the civil war, the post civil war rehabilitation, the immediate civil war rehabilitation and the establishment of peace. A leader who saw us through what appears to be the first formal hand over from military government to a civil government.  A leader whose period in government saw what appears to be Nigeria’s own Marshal plan, with expansion of various areas of development and infrastructure. In terms of roads, we have, Enugu-Port Harcourt express way, Enugu-Ontsha express way, expansions in the universities, Teaching Hospitals, expansion of the airports, sea ports and river ports, expansions in the areas of agriculture and of course, today’s Nigerian diplomacy came of age and now a leader that is seeing us through a re-awaking, a re-engineering.

That’s why we say he is the father of modern Nigeria. Seven years of governance that have seen active efforts to globalize Nigeria in the three cannons of globalization, information technology, privatization, stakeholders developmental governance, a reform process that has seen the expansion of the telecom industry – so called GSM; has seen the liberalization of energy sector, has seen the attendant effect of economic diplomacy, with debt relief and of course reform in the public sector and of course the banking sector. So, certainly, 46 fruitful years and the past seven have marked the crescendo of that fruitfulness.

When EFCC was conducting its investigations, were you given the opportunity as a state to explain your position on some of the allegations on Enugu? Also, focus seemed to have been on the state in particular. Why was this so?

Well, again, we need to give credit to EFCC in the sense that in the ten months of their investigation, our officials of government were interviewed and answers provided. I believe the report appears to be consistent in many ways, depending on how you interpret it.  I believe that report, if given proper interpretation, is an exoneration. On the issue of the Senate, it is not an Enugu issue, not an Enugu issue in the sense that the report did mention 30 other states. It was categorized, so I don’t see anything special about Enugu in it, except in terms of media reporting by one or two media, Enugu was given prominence.

One of the reports says the Accountant General paid money to Local Governments through open cheques and some of those money were believed to have come back as kickbacks...

Yes, that was why I said the report was an exoneration and that is why I said we have learnt a lot.  I am a surgeon in government. Till the first week of January when the investigation started, I didn’t know  what was really going on, whether it was open cheque or not. As soon as they were found out, we found out it was an administrative lapse and it was immediately corrected.  The issue of kick-back did not really arise because how much do the local governments get?  Some of them do not even have enough money to pay their staff salary. I am sure you know that even prior to this political dispensation, these local governments were overstaffed and then you added the load of the politicians and of course there was a problem of teachers. So there is nothing to kick back. 

I don’t see anybody going to take N50,000, N100,000 when they don’t have enough and for how long can you maintain that process? These open cheques were paid over a long time, for how long can you maintain that under a democracy and you don’t create a level of awareness? Certainly, that did not happen. The local government chairmen themselves, when they were interviewed, did agree that it was better for them, complained that by the time they were getting back to their offices, people were always lined up waiting for their money, some say they had to use Okada for transportation, some said that they were worried about security lapses but the bottom line is that they were given their cheques and they opted to get the money at the closest place. I can say categorically that the issue of local government funds were dispatched according to law and the normal practice.

Have you achieved all you wanted to achieve?
No, we’ve not, certainly we’ve not. We’ve had limitations in the areas of fund and in the area of capacity and one can say that since January this year, we’ve also had limitations due to EFCC investigations. You know officers of government were taken to Lagos several times. Contractors and their associates taken to Lagos many times and we’ve tried, despite that, to do a lot in completing these projects but I can say clearly, we lost a lot of days this year as a result to responses to these investigations, including travels to Lagos.

The game plan of the opposition and part of the reasons why Enugu remains on the front burner of EFCC seems to be to make sure that you lose your firm grip on the party structure. Do you share that view?

I don’t share the view of Enugu being on the front burner regarding EFCC. Enugu is a new comer to EFCC. Our own started in January, others have been going to EFCC for years, weeks, months. We are certainly not on the front burner. We refuse to have EFCC being the issue of the front burner. What is on the front burner in Enugu State is developmental governance, excellence in governance, front burner in the sense that the President came here and confirmed it and said that Enugu is working. Our development partners confirmed it, 14 European Ambassadors came and confirmed it and of course, the bench marking process confirmed it, so what is on the front burner for us is that Enugu is working, developmental governance-wise. Having said this, it is quite unlike many, we have refused to say that our experience is political. It is certainly not political. It was a welcome experience.

We said from the beginning when EFCC came that we do welcome them. It is not pleasant but it is a welcome experience, welcome experience in the sense that we have learnt from it, we are now matured. It has also helped us to define some moral dilemma, ethical dilemma in governance, ethical dilemma in terms of, for example, using leverage or contacts to help relatives. As you know, this is a grey line and an area that I hope to do a lecture on someday, so that we can really define the matters of ethics and matters of clear-cut corruption. We refuse certainly to say it is political, it is rewarding, not pleasant; it is certainly rewarding. The opposition must have their say, that is the essence of democracy. They must have their say. 

In Igbo, we say, I ga eti nwatakiri ihe si ya ebala akwa, which means, you don’t just spank a child and expect that child not to cry!  I’m sure you know that, compared to many states, Enugu is politically locked up. There is no competition here. We are in total control of Enugu. We are in total control of the political process in Enugu, from the wards, all the way up, which means that our group will dominate at all levels, including at the level of presidency – presidential support, who we are going to support for the presidency, governor, senate, House of Representatives, chairmen, councilors, it is one group in Enugu State, and that group is also working in tandem with the political situation at the federal, so when you have such total control, the opposition have to do something. Man has to shake body somehow! So we don’t subscribe to this name calling of politics. EFCC, when they came, they were welcomed, they are still welcome, it has been a rewarding experience, though not pleasant, and we believe that as far as anti-corruption exercise is going, the EFCC has worked, the president has worked and more importantly, Enugu is working!

Talking about ethical dilemma, the report says the company which supplies vehicles to your state is owned by one of your relatives. Can you confirm this?
Yes, I can confirm it. That was why I said it is an ethical dilemma. One of the companies that supplied vehicles to Enugu State, one of my relatives has majority share holding there. Were the vehicles supplied at market prices?  Yes, they were. Were the vehicles supplied in good condition? Yes, they were. Was there a bidding process, transparent with integrity? Yes, there was. Is it indeed possible that if my relatives were not to have share holding in these companies, they could not have the access, even bid or supply? It is possible.

That is why I say it is an ethnical dilemma. Will I do it again? No, I will not, because it is not worth the wahala. That was why I said it is an ethical dilemma and an area that maybe through lectures, maybe through orientation courses, Nigeria has to address. Also, the issue of contacts, the issue of networking, the issue of phone calls. For example, is it possible that if my relatives did not have share holding in this company, that they could not have supplied the vehicles? It is possible; it is yes or no, it is an ethical dilemma, it is a moral dilemma. Have we learnt from it? Yes, we learnt from it. It is not worth the effort but I can tell you that the company was not the only dealer that supplied vehicles to government, though it was through a transparent bidding process and the vehicles supplied were supplied at market prices. Were there advantages to the government? Yes, there were advantages to government because when you do business with a group, you know things can be supplied on credit while payments are made later.

Would others have the confidence to do that? They may not. It is an ethical dilemma. Has it profited me in any way? No, it has not. It is not worth the effort. A government that spent 14 billion Naira building a university, about N5-6 billion building a Teaching Hospital, maybe N1 billion or thereabout building a judiciary headquarters and many billions building roads, would that government official or governor, if they were corrupt in the first instance, do that? You can’t be talking about a N100,000, N50,000 from local governments when you are paying N14 billion and spending all those money. I said that the EFCC report is an exoneration. It shows clearly that these contracting companies do not belong to government officials. You can see that they were commended, exonerated in the sense that the EFCC report had commendation for the contractors.

We had statements in the report saying that the contract prices were under-priced, we had statement saying that the roads were done very well and the quality of the job, the building fine and commendable. So, if you look at the EFCC report, if you really look at it, not the first reading, not even the second or the third reading, forgetting the theatre and drama are  inherent in African culture… Once something happens, once his name is mentioned in allegations, then he must be guilty; whatever we read in the newspaper is true. So forget both the theatre and drama and go and read the EFCC report, it is an exoneration of the government of Enugu State .

The Senate set up a committee on what it said was the collapse of the local government in Enugu State. What is your reaction to this?
No, it is straight forward, we are in a democracy. Democracy is a wonderful thing. The Senators will be here in the next few minutes, they will be here 12 pm or thereabout (on Monday). We are going to welcome them, we are going to give them a red carpet reception. I’m going to dialogue with them; they are going to meet the House of Assembly and organize a public hearing. We are not looking at a Senator, we are looking at distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we are looking at strong opinion moulders, representing various opinions in Nigeria. We look at the Senate as a microcosm of the Nigerian nation and when they come calling in Enugu State, we are not going to resort strictly to legality, even though we know that the Constitution, Section 7, states clearly that local government business is the state government’s business, even though we know that two or three judgements of the Supreme Court have confirmed that local governments are the business of state governments.

When great leaders of society come to Enugu, it is my responsibility as a host to open the book as this was better than to resort to legality.
2007 is here and it is clear that you cannot go for a third term. Do you have a successor in mind?
I have many successors. We have a mansion, our house is a house of many children; big mansion and there are many children that can fit into these many rooms in that big mansion. So, we have a myriad of successors. What is important to us is that our philosophy of governance continues and whoever goes there will understand the history, the essence of history is  that if you know where you are coming from, you know where you are and where you are going. I believe that the pertinent issue for us in Enugu State is that God has given us the opportunity at this stage to try to replicate, to try to continue the dream and vision of our great forefathers, the Eyo Itas,  the Nnamdi Azikiwes, the Akanu Ibiams, the Ojukwus, the Michael Okparas, the Ukpabis, the Imokes, MT Mbus. God has given us the opportunity to continue with their vision.

Where Azikiwe built a university, today, we his children can say that we have also built a university; where Okpara built the Government House, built legislative building, we can say that we his children have been able to complete the third arm by doing the judiciary Headquarters; where he built pedestrian subway, we his children have also built a vehicular subway; they built capacity, we have also built capacity. So what is important to us is not 2007, what is important to us is that we have achieved some level of permanence in the firmament of the social history of our people, so that 50 years from now, when the story is told, we are going to be counted; when they are going to look at footprints, they will see our footprints, and more importantly, they would say that we passed through.

Some of your colleagues have signified intentions to run for the presidency, why have you not?
Well, the presidency of this country is not subject to individual interest but rather, collective interest, and we subscribe to that collective interest.

Do you want to contest the presidency, vice presidency?
(Cuts in). No, contest does not arise. We are not going on a presidential hunting, but I shall say that there is a collectivism in the presidential pursuit in Nigeria and we subscribe to that collectivism.

What would you like to be remembered for?
Simple: I shall like to be remembered as an apostle of what the President espoused a few weeks ago, when he talked about the can-do spirit of man. Having spent quite some time in the United States, I can relate with that, the spirit of human achievement, the spirit of man’s pursuit of excellence, the spirit of man daring to achieve, going beyond the norm, because what differentiates man from animals is that, where animals vegetate; if they see food, they eat and if they see water, they drink, man provides food, man provides water, man changes his environment. I can say with all sense of humility and respect and with gratitude and glory to God, we have changed Enugu State positively, permanently.  Enugu will never be the same again.

What kind of President do you envisage for the country after 2007?
2007, we shall expect the President in the mould of President Obasanjo, in the areas of infrastructural development, in the areas of reform, in the area of security, in the areas of economic diplomacy.  We expect an engineering or building process that will continue. Where President Obasanjo did the foundation, we expect a President to continue the building; where President Obasanjo put the window panel, we expect a President who will put the glass; where President Obasanjo did the roof, we expect a President who will do the ceiling; we also expect the continuity of the reform process, reform process in the area of developmental governance, reform process in terms of privatization, reform process in the areas of information technology; we expect further extension of the telecom industry, and further reform and liberalization of the energy industry; we expect a continuation and even expansion of an agrarian revolution; we expect attention to housing, both rural and urban; we expect implementation of transportation matter plan.

As you know, a few weeks ago, the president provided the nation a transportation master plan that addresses the rail-road system, that addressed the water ways, that addressed air transportation as an intra-complimentary-sector; we expect the master plan to continue in the sense of data collection, census of movement, who goes where; we expect the component of economy to come into it; we expect continuation in the areas of attention to air safety; we expect attention in terms of intra-boarder trade; we expect continuation of economic diplomacy; we expect continuation in being a strong voice in Africa, not just in Africa but a strong voice representing Africa in the United Nations, the financial Institutions, the European; we expect a strong voice for poverty, a strong voice for HIV, a strong voice on small arms proliferation; we expect a strong voice that will maintain the sanctity of democracy in the whole of the nation; we expect a strong voice that will defend Nigeria and the Nigerian people, but more importantly, we expect a strong voice that will continue the vision of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the vision that I told you is well over 50 years, that cut across the adulthood of the Nigerian states.