Governor Chimaroke Nnamani speaks with Maureen Chigbo, general editor, and Akatu Ajonye, reporter/researcher, on the projects recently commissioned by President Olusegun Obasanjo and developments in the Nigerian polity. Excerpts:

Newswatch: Yesterday was a momentous occasion in the life of your government and Enugu State people in general. How would you describe the visit of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the projects that he came to commission?

Nnamani: I will describe it as the crescendo of the activities that have been going on since September 2004. I believe that in our first tenure, essentially, we were talking about the dividends of democracy. We were talking about what our people get in exchange for their votes. In the second tenure, as a result of the lecture series, as a result of the process of self rediscovery, we got involved in poverty. At the same time we were also being exposed to the Millennium Development Goals, essentially the declaration by the 149-member General Assembly, providing a road map with about forty indicators. A road map to alleviate poverty by 2015. So we got exposed to all that literature. And also our relationship with our development partners matured. So we now got involved in the reform process that addressed all issues but basically using the main focus of government – which is eradication of poverty and application of the Millennium Development Goals which is essentially eradication of hunger, adolescence issues, issues of universal primary education, issues of gender parity and gender empowerment. Looking at issues of infant mortality, maternal mortality, looking at HIV/AIDS, malaria, looking at environmental sustainability and of course global partnership. So we are now focused using a reform process to address issues of government. As part of that we decided to embark on certain projects that needed to be done so that future governments can devote their resources to other areas. These projects would include the judicial headquarters. You know we have the concept of the Three-Arms-Zone here in Enugu state. However, we only had the executive and the legislature. So it was clear that there was a need for the judiciary headquarters. We decided to do it. We were also aware that the university has been in existence for about 26 years and students were still staying in the temporary site, living in shanties, boys’ quarters and people’s garages. We also realized that part of our repositioning of Enugu State, in terms of tourism, in terms of a gateway to the East and regaining its past position as a major regional centre, we needed a conference centre. To decongest traffic we also needed a tunnel, a vehicular subway, we already have a pedestrian subway.

The teaching hospital also needed a permanent site. So we decided to go along with focus on reforms and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, and meanwhile put these structures on the ground. We started essentially in September 2004. So since then it’s been an aggressive drive, it’s been intense. I visit most of these places everyday. So yesterday was the crescendo, seeing all these things come to fruition within so short a time. So the visit, for all of us, is about the best thing, the height of seven years of service to Enugu State. I believe that the visit of the president yesterday was the peak…seeing a university emerge, a teaching hospital emerge, a tunnel emerge, and a judicial headquarters emerge, all these roads. I believe, in addition to what we’ve done in terms of reforms, that this is the crescendo.

Newswatch: You talked about poverty eradication. Do you think there will be a time when poverty will be eradicated from the state.

Nnamani: Yes, from the world. We don’t know when. But clearly a lot has happened. When you take the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals, the poverty rate is not the same as it was. Even though it’s arguable, it is much lower. You know it went all the way from 16 percent in 1966, went up to about 28 percent in the 80s and at the time my administration was coming in we were talking about 70 – 80 percent. Indicators are subject to argument, maybe coming down to about 60. If you look at it really, if you look at universal primary education, you will see that school enrollment has increased remarkably. You will see that with the UBE scheme, education is free up to JSS3. For us in Enugu State we have hired up to three thousand teachers, we also instituted the School Meal-Plus programme, which is a programme to provide one meal a day to a child. But it is plus because as part of that meal we also provide social services which will include immunization, vitamin supplements, malaria prophylaxis and the supplementations as needed. For the index child, we also look at the siblings and if the mother is pregnant, whether she is involved in the antenatal care system. How does it address Millennium Development Goals? By providing food, you reduce hunger, by providing jobs to the mothers who will prepare the food, you decrease poverty because you create some business for them. Because it has demonstrated clearly increase in height and weight for kids in the programme, you are affecting child mortality. Because you are also looking at the mother, you are also affecting maternal mortality. And of course, it’s environmentally friendly because it is School Meal-Plus in the sense that working with our development partners; DFID, UNICEF, World Bank, all the associated development partners, you have provision of water either through boreholes, provision of VIP latrines, and also the food are homegrown, so you can see how it addresses Millennium Development Goals, just the School Meal-Plus programme. So I can say, for us in Enugu State, poverty is coming down. And when you look at Nigeria as a whole, the advances of the Obasanjo administration in the past seven years have also taken a lead in that regard, in the sense that in seven years the so-called pariah status has been removed. President Obasanjo is effectively taking Nigeria into the globalised community, into the comity of nations, nations without boundaries, through the trend of globalization which is information technology; privatization and, of course, developmental governance, the three cannons of globalization. So you can say, how does this apply? Look at telecoms, look at the expansion of the telecoms sector; look at the energy sector. Look at reforms in banking and finance; look at public sector reforms; look at expansion in tourism, building and the transportation industry. So clearly, Enugu is working and Nigeria is working.

Newswatch: The projects you embarked on are very good and commendable. But your critics say that they are all sited within the Enugu municipality.

Nnamani: It’s not correct. You must understand, Maureen, you’ve been coming here for seven years now. I am sure you were here when we did Opi-Nsukka road, I’m sure you were here when we did Oboloafor-Ogrute road, when we did Ozalla-Ezinmo water project, the Obimo water project; these are not in the Enugu area. The Okpo water scheme; the hospital projects, the electricity projects. However, remember, I told you, in addition to other programmes of government which include rural roads, rural electrification, water, education schemes, health schemes, we started to provide these infrastructure in the state capital. Where are we going to do a tunnel for vehicular use if not in the state capital? Where would you build a judicial headquarters if not in the state capital? Where would you build a conference centre? There is nothing like that conference centre in Nigeria, you’ve been there and there is nothing like that anywhere in this country, Abuja or Lagos. The main auditorium will sit five thousand; lower deck, three thousand and upper deck, two thousand, with complete curtain wall. You have the middle auditorium that will take about one thousand and the third auditorium that will take about two thousand. A two-hundred-bed five-star hotel with offices behind. Where else would you do it if not Enugu? The teaching hospital is in Enugu because they are going to share services with UNTH, in terms of staff, in terms of lab services. If you look at hospitals all over the world, be it Harvard, Boston, even in New York-Manhattan, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, San Francisco, hospitals are always in a hospital district. The idea is that the same consultants, lab scientists, the same teachers, serve among these hospitals. So that is the idea. And, of course, I have no problem with the university being where it is, I don’t know if you want me to come and site it in your own village. The bottomline is that we’ve been here without a university for 26 years and we now have one.

Newswatch: The projects are huge, will they all be completed before you leave office, seeing that you have less than a year left?

Nnamani: You saw what happened yesterday. Let’s take it one by one. The teaching hospital is completed as far as I’m concerned. The tunnel is finished, judiciary is finished. You were there at the conference centre, and you saw that the concrete wall is done. That is the major bulk. We’ve already started putting the glass curtain wall. They don’t need to plaster it because it is glass. They will now do the finishing inside, do the audio-visuals, the seats and it’s done, four months. The roads are done, apart from the Ozalla-Agbani. You can see they have started doing the median. Part of it is ready for asphalting. All the buildings in the university are nearing completion, if you noticed. It’s a question of plastering. They should all be done by November, by God’s grace.

Newswatch: How much do you generate as revenue to cope with all these gigantic projects?

Nnamani: That is why we always say “To God be the Glory.” I am not trying to advertise my religion out of undue religious fervor, even though there is nothing wrong with that, but we cannot explain it. What is happening in Enugu State cannot be explained. If man can explain it maybe man can take credit. How do you explain what happened yesterday, a state that is in the bottom three in terms of allocation. What you saw yesterday you won’t see anywhere else, with all due respect. I stand to be challenged. Look at the quality of the work, with curtain walls. Our revenue is about N1.4billion, bulk pack, on a monthly basis. When you came here earlier in the first term we had about 200, 400, 500, 600 all together. The wage bill is now about N800 million, with overhead and subventions, so the rest goes into the projects. What we cannot accommodate, we take overdraft. So we recycle overdraft. We’ve also seen some increase in our internally-generated revenue over the years. Remember I told you, initially when we started we were not too aggressive on internally-generated revenue because I felt that government had not, at that time, met the social contract with the people. Government still has not met the social contract with the people. But philosophically, then, I was more idealistic and I felt it was unrealistic chasing people all over to collect taxes when you are not providing jobs. You are not providing infrastructure, sometimes emoluments are not regular even if paid. So we did not aggressively pursue taxation. But now philosophically I am a little bit relaxed on it and we’ve hired consultants. And our revenue in the past three months has remarkably grown. We also got some back taxes paid to us by ANAMMCO. That also helped us. And I believe that working with the consultants we are going to look at agencies like NITEL, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, a lot of agencies here that are owing the government running into hundreds of millions.

Newswatch: Do you think that the conference centre, after it has been completed, can generate enough revenue to maintain itself?

Nnamani: Yes it will maintain itself. Remember the medium auditorium can be used for weddings and it will take over one thousand. I see it being booked on Fridays and Sundays for weddings and all sorts of activities. The third auditorium can host conferences, especially scientific conferences. And, of course, the first auditorium is likely to be hosting big meetings, crusades, church revival meetings, and even international meetings like African ministerial meetings. We’ve already discussed with the World Bank’s regional director for Africa, who gave us an indication that if it can be ready for January we can host the African ministerial conference here. We don’t have many centers in Nigeria sitting five thousand, all comfortably seated with air conditioning, that level of quality development.

Newswatch: How did you manage to get Enugu State College of Medicine accredited? Was it because of the building or there are some special efforts you made?

Nnamani: Staff. Remember I trained in this area. These are all my teachers. Some of them are almost reaching retirement age. Some have retired and there are some younger ones that I know personally. So when you look at the facilities, forgive my immodesty, if it sounds that way, but I am just trying to be realistic, there is no facility like that in Nigeria. In terms of the structure, I am not talking about equipment now, I’m not talking about staff. But in terms of physical structure, there is non comparable in this country. It is a holistic teaching hospital cum service complex built to meet up with JCAH – the Joint Committee for Accreditation of Hospitals in America. Those hostels are all en-suite. The complex has facilities for different clinical labs and facilities for basic science labs. It has an administrative block, which has offices for teachers and for workers. The cadaver tank is recycled.

There are so many things that I can’t really explain to you. That hospital is built to international standard. So we have many of my former teachers there, some of the best consultants, people like Professor Azubike, whom I believe is still the president of the Academy – the postgraduate medical school. We have Professor Onyigbo who is the leading pathologist in this country, and in Africa. We have Professor D.C Nwafor there, a leading cardiothoracic surgeon, Professor Obianyo, a leading pediatric surgeon. So they are all there, everybody seems to be there and more are coming…So I believe that helped the accreditation process.

Newswatch: Let’s move from projects to politics. There has been a kind of discord among the political elite in Enugu State. What are you doing to bring harmony?

Nnamani: I believe we can talk about that now. Because after all what was the discord, what was the quarrel? The quarrel certainly was not the fact that we are building a university. It was not because of a teaching hospital or judiciary headquarters, it wasn’t about policy, education, health, agric, it wasn’t about policy…it’s just that people have become dislocated from the decision-making process, a terrain they held sway for decades. These are men who have acquired almost a ritualistic halo, an ownership complex of power over the will of our people. Men who believe they think for us, movers and shakers as Nigerians call it, the power to make and unmake. They controlled the territory for a long time. And we have a group of young men who got them dislodged. So they are in the periphery of the power equation. And they are not happy. So we had to ignore them and do our job. Now that the projects are completed we are going to find a way of reaching out to some of them. Especially when the problem is purely ego. We are going to reach out and widen our base, try as much as possible to carry them along. Some of these things may just be issues of protocol, the issue of office. So from today we are not going to give any excuses that they are trying to distract us because the jobs are essentially done. We’ll find ways of carrying them as much as possible. We are going to make out time to message their ego. We are also going to make out some resources, because for some of them it is essentially the issue of welfare, issue of providing welfare now and then. That is what we are going to do to achieve peace and harmony.

Newswatch: You came back from the United States to make your own contribution. Has your government taken any step to integrate Enugu State citizens in the Diaspora to come and make their own contribution?

Nnamani: You see, the advantage of globalization is information technology. For me by the time it’s morning, I’ve virtually gone through all the papers on the internet, I’ve spoken to many people all over the world, exchanged e-mails, exchanged instant messages. So the walls have been broken. Those guys know more about us than we know about ourselves. Some of them, by the time the president was leaving they had already seen the pictures and were asking you, what about this, why didn’t you do this? So we are in touch with them. They come in and go. You can see part of the advantage of what the President Obasanjo administration has achieved. Your earning power in the telecoms, banking, finance, energy, is comparable with America and the United Kingdom. It’s even more here, because here, they still pay you for your leave and even pay for travel and some children and pay for medical expenses. Nobody in America will pay you for vacation travel unless you are a super chief executive. But here it’s done, even for regular executives. They pay for their vacation abroad and travel with their children. So I believe the federal government has provided an enabling environment for those who really want to come back. I believe there are some issues that have to do with security that may need to be addressed. But I don’t see anybody giving any excuse not to come back here. I came back. I, at a very young age, with a very bright future, decided to come back and intertwined that future with the future of Nigeria. I came back and subjected myself to the fate of an emerging democracy. I believe that others who are also interested can do the same.

Newswatch: PDP is now factionalized. How do you see the development:

Nnamani: PDP is not factionalized. What has happened is that a few senior officers of PDP, after having left PDP to join other parties, people sold an idea to them and now they claim that PDP is factionalized. And they came back and set up an office. It is not factionalized. If you factionalize a party we want to see what are the factions in the local government , what are the factions in the state government, pardon me, what are the factions in the ward level, local government level, state level and national.

There are no factions. There are no active PDP officers on the other side. There are no active legislative members on the other side. The PDP as it is today, led by Senator Ahmadu Ali, has the support of all PDP governments in Nigeria, has the support of all legislators. Those who are not in support, they haven’t come out. As far as I am concerned, I have not seen a single member of the legislature at the local government, state and national level that has said anything in support of this so-called faction. So there is no faction. It’s all in the media.

Newswatch: So what happened to the PDP leadership?

Nnamani: Which leadership?

Newswatch: The Ali leadership.

Nnamani: It’s there now.

Newswatch: But some of these people are still members of PDP?

Nnamani: Like who? They went to ACD. Give me an example.

Newswatch: Like Solomon Lar, who is leading the pack?

Nnamani: He is not leading any pack, I didn’t say that . Have you heard Lar say he is leading any pack?

Newswatch: He said so.

Nnamani: No, I don’t think so.

Newswatch: He said so, it was reported in the papers.

Nnamani: No, I don’t think so. The last I heard of him was that he was convalescing. Even if you are a party member can you just wake up and say you have your own faction? If it were so, that means there will be hundreds of factions. There has to be a legitimacy to even call it a faction.

Newswatch: So why do you think that the police hastened to close their office?

Nnamani: I can’t speak for the police, I mean, who am I to speak for the police? We talked about it yesterday. Did you get it – how I tried to define faction? For me, you see, I believe that when you are talking about faction, it can also be interchangeable with fraction, do you agree?

Newswatch: You will explain.

Nnamani: Faction is part of a whole, so if you have a whole, a faction should be part of it, in which case it should be representative statistically to the whole, right? Either in number, either in content, to the whole. A faction is assumed to have come out of a whole. You have a unit, so a faction must have come out of that whole, in which case it should be statistically representative of that whole. In this case there is nothing like that, so it’s not a faction.

Newswatch: In December last year you hosted the Southern People’s Forum where it was decided that the presidency should go to the South-South or the South-East . Now the South-South is all over the place shouting. But the South-East is kind of fighting shy.

Nnamani: I don’t think the South-East is fighting shy. I’ve always maintained that the South-South has greater leverage in terms of press exposure and that is what we are seeing. What we are seeing is not a weakness of the South-East but rather a dominance of the South-South from the media apparati.

Newswatch: So what do you think? If you look, nobody is coming out from the South-East.

Nnamani: They are coming out. Coming out is one thing but somebody has to publish it. The other day there was a meeting tagged Ahamefula and we’ve had our conference of governors. People are coming out. And you’ve heard about governors who are coming out, that they are contesting. Are you not aware of it? Have you interviewed them? (Laughter).

Newswatch: The last time they called a meeting none of the governors attended. The meting that held in Owerri to discuss the presidency issue. Only Governor Udenwa who called the meeting attended.

Nnamani: I can’t speak for my colleagues but I was in Abuja and some of them were in Abuja too.

Newswatch: So they think the meeting is not important?

Nnamani: Those who are contesting or those who are not? (Laughter)

Newswatch: Both. Because those who are contesting need the support of those who are not.

Nnamani: When you look at the people who were there, it was an important meeting. And the communiqué that came out from it did address those issues.

Newswatch: So where is your position? Are you going to run?

Nnamani: Run for what?

Newswatch: For president.

Nnamani: Well, I just told you, that we just went through the crescendo of our commitment to the people of Enugu State. And you reminded me that there is still a lot to be completed. So our emphasis is to complete those things. We can’t pay attention to that issue right now. We cannot.

Newswatch: But when can you start if you don’t start now?

Nnamani: I don’t have to start at any time. I’m saying that our priority right now is our projects; making sure that whatever is left we get it out latest by November –December this year. And also the remaining focus in terms of our reforms; maintaining the peace and security, thinking about our own local succession. It’s not our priority now to address that issue.

Newswatch: So what about the reconciliation going on in the PDP?

Nnamani: Reconciliation is a good thing. Whenever there is reconciliation, it is good. We have always maintained that in Enugu State there is really nothing to reconcile. I mean, if people have personal differences they can go and sort it out. But as far as the party is concerned, the party is one. The party we work with has hundred percent of the state’s power structure, either executive or legislature. At the national level we have all the members of the House of Representatives, we have one senator. Only two senators believe that things are not okay and are working with the opposition and that is their business.

Newswatch: When the EU ambassadors visited Enugu State last year, they said Enugu State is the beginning of the future of Nigeria. What does that mean?

Nnamani: I don’t know. I cannot really start dissecting what it means. But what is more important to me is that our detractors need to understand that all these things are not mere accidents. It is the verdict of 14 European ambassadors that addressed the issue of leadership, government performance, peace, security and infrastructure. Whatever the opposition and our detractors say, both internal and national, you cannot really wish away some of the events of 2005. Fourteen European ambassadors, for the first time coming together in that huge number, to one state and passing a verdict, not just from what they saw but what they already know based on our relationship with development partners. We are the leading reforms state in Nigeria, in all spheres, security, justice and growth, health, budgetary reforms. The significance is that they saw a future in our state. They were able to assess governance in our state, they were able to assess the leadership and what we have on the ground. They were also able to concretize the partnership between development partners associated with them and our state government. Also, I’m sure you are aware of the benchmarking process. It was a process of performance assessment of the 36 states of this country and the FCT. Bayelsa did not participate. Enugu State came first. We had the highest score of almost 66.12 or 67. The next organization to us was about 46. And it was assessed looking at service delivery, looking at transparency and communication, budgetary and fiscal management and looking at government policy. Although people started coming out with all sorts of statistics, the bottom-line is that whatever presentation you may use, Enugu State scored higher than any other organization, that was the assessment. This is not the first time the president has come here. The president has been here several times. He has made his viewpoint clear on Enugu State. He has always given us a very good rating, I’m sure you are aware of that. The same with the national chairman of our party. The same with the chairman of the board of trustees. You cannot wish all these things away. So the significance for us is the recognition by legitimate authorities, by legitimate organizations on what we’ve been able to do in Enugu State viz-a-viz other organization, viz-a-viz other states.

Newswatch: Continuity of developmental programmes by successive governments has always been a problem in this country. Do you habour any fear that the administration that will succeed you may retrace some of the laudable steps that you have taken in the development of the state?

Nnamani: No. Where people see pessimism, I see a lot of optimism. Where they see rain, I see sunshine, where they see dusk, I see a glorious dawn. I always go back to what the Igbo say: that the father’s wish is that his son will be greater than him. I have no doubt whatsoever that those who will succeed us will even be greater. They will make greater achievements. They will leave better footprint, because we’ve provided the foundation from which they have to take-off. They are not going to go around trying to build a foundation. The foundation is there. They are likely to be younger, if I had my way. They are likely to be more computer literate. They are likely to be more hardworking. They may not have the same vision. They could, but they may not, as they may not have the same background and the same antecedents. But they are going to work harder. They may have grater dreams for Enugu State. They are going to build on what we have. They are not going to spend money building a university, a teaching hospital, or conference centre. They are now going to concentrate on the rural areas and also building institutions, continue the reform process. I would like a situation where there is some relaxation on the stringent hold on government resources, so that emoluments and allowances could be more freely paid. Things like leave allowances, travel allowances; things like continuous education, in-service training allowances. These are some of the things that have had to suffer because of devoting the bulk of expenditure to infrastructural development. I would also like that government to be more humane and more compassionate and bring the government closer to the people. When you are building a university in fifteen months it means you are driving people. I would like the process to be a little bit relaxed and things done over a long period of time, so you have less attrition of the human capacity.

Newswatch: So are you going to anoint your successor?

Nnamani: No, the structure will produce my successor and present him to the electorate and he will win the election.

Newswatch: What structure are you talking about here?

Nnamani: The PDP structure in the state.

Newswatch: Do you fear that other parties can take over?

Nnamani: There is no other party in Enugu State that I know of.

Newswatch: AD

Nnamani: Not here o. It is not even anywhere anymore, how much more Enugu.

Newswatch: APGA?

Nnamani: APGA is not here.

Newswatch: Is there any other thing you want to say before we round up this interview?

Nnamani: To you?

Newswatch: Not to me, to Nigerians.

Nnamani: I would say that yesterday made it clear to me that I took the right decision when I decided to come home. After all what did I do? In America I was just a number. Glad I had succeeded in academics. I was succeeding in practice. I had the American dream – big house, a Porsche in the garage, a family; that was the American dream. But I came back to pursue a Nigerian dream, an African dream. Yesterday it became clear to me. Nobody is going to wish away that university we built, the teaching hospital, the tunnel. These are concrete things that are going to be there for hundred years, two hundred years, three hundred years. There is no way I could have achieved those things in America. I would have just remained a number. I’m also glad I came here at the height of my energy; I didn’t come here to retire. I took the decision when I was 36. I became governor short of my thirty-ninth birthday. So the best years I’ve tried to put in service to my country. And with what happened yesterday you can say that we’ve positioned ourselves in the dreams of others. The dreams of Azikiwe who built the university of Nigeria, the dreams of Sardauna, Obafemi Awolowo, who built universities, even Olusegun Obasanjo, who built universities. We continue the dreams of Michael Okpara who built a pedestrian tunnel; today we have built a vehicular tunnel… the dreams of Michael Okpara who set out to build a Three Arms Zone. He did the executive, did the legislature and now we’ve done the judiciary. It may be too early to say, but I believe I’m fulfilled. I’m trained as you know, as a high-risk obstetrician, in maternal foetal medicine. Coming home was a risk. I believe that the risk has been justified.

Newswatch: In all these your achievements, what is the greatest challenge you have faced?

Nnamani: An unyielding opposition. I mean, you build a university, they say it’s a photo trick, a computer imagery; you build a tunnel they say computer imagery. They tell the president not to visit your state to commission a project. I mean, I thought that the whole idea was development. They cry corruption. They’ve not been able to show the houses I have abroad. They’ve not been able to show the huge bank accounts I have abroad. They’ve not been able to show the huge financial lodgments, either abroad or even in Nigeria. Nobody understands the virtue that a governor was in Nigeria for seven years and only left four times. Only four times I’ve had to travel out. Nobody seems to understand the virtue of the life we live in Enugu State. Little or no travel, not just for the governor, but virtually everybody. People trying to cut down on expenditure so that we can put thing that will satisfy the general good on the ground. So I guess the dilemma has been an ever-questioning elite. I thought that some of these things would have been able to satisfy them because they should known these things are not for me, that they are for the people. And they are for their children’s benefit. They use these facilities. They are direct beneficiaries, even more than the people in the rural area. I thought that, as the president says, that there comes a time when you pull together, in terms of development. You cannot always have development when you have pervading corruption. There is no way we could have achieved all we’ve achieved in an atmosphere of corruption. They don’t go together.

Newswatch: Any regrets whatsoever?

Nnamani: Yea, I do have regrets. I mean, if you don’t have regrets on what you could have done better, then you are not human. I would have started all these earlier. There is really no reason to build a university in fifteen months. It’s more expensive and it comes with a lot of human attrition, it puts so much pressure on the system. If we had started all these things when we came in 1999 we could have still completed them by now, it would have been cheaper, it would have put less pressure on the system. I could have had a holistic plan from the beginning and start chipping it off, block by block. But we got into governance with the fear that the whole thing was transitional and we were still subject to the vagaries of political stability in Africa. And we were in a hurry to accomplish as much as possible. But it’s become clear that democracy has come to stay. Future governments may have greater rest of mind to achieve over greater length of time. Also the opposition has been there from the beginning. We were also trying to put something on the ground so that we can take a quick hold on the people and hold their trust to help fight the opposition.

Newswatch: That means the opposition has kept you on your toes…

Nnamani: They have. I believe it’s been helpful too. We cannot deny the fact that a lot of what we achieved was also due to an opposition that was breathing down our neck.

Newswatch: After you leave office what other projects are likely to engage your mind to execute for Enugu State?

Nnamani: I believe I will go into some social causes. I’m not going to tell you what they are now. But I’d like to look at things like child labour, homeless people, areas of immunization, that is, mainstay immunization, not carnivals. You see, here we have a lot of carnivals of immunization. When a governor is visiting or when something starts then you have immunization. I would like to have mainstay immunization. I would also like to look at sickle cell disease and pregnancy-related issues. I would also like to look at school meals, work with agencies and look at the quality of primary schools. I’d like to be able to work with some people, just like Jimmy Carter does with Habitat or guinea worm; raise funds and go paint some primary schools and put some chairs from time to time. I would also like to look at prison reforms, about minors in the prison system and those awaiting trial. Some people go in for things that may be one thousand, five thousand, ten thousand naira and may come out hardened criminals. I’d like to take a look at road traffic accidents. Even though we talk about HIV and another things, a lot of people are dying from road traffic accidents and dying from malaria. One needs to look at the night buses, the human wastage… there are so many things that need to be done. There are so many things that will keep me busy and, of course, continue a process of self discovery. My return to Nigeria was also a process of self discovery of my Nigerianness and my Igboness. That was why yesterday we gave the honour to Z.C Obi because of the discovery of my Igboness. The Igbo mythology. The sociology of Ndigbo, the so-called Igbo worldview. The trinity of the character of the Igboman, Aka-Ikenga philosophy. Ahamefula was the last conference. And, of course, the Nigerian nation state. The different mini nations, the Niger-delta issue.

Newswatch: As a way of rounding up, you forget the third term issue. How do you feel about the bill being thrown out of the National Assembly?

Nnamani: I don’t think that it was the third term bill that was thrown out. I think what was thrown out was the constitutional amendment. The constitutional amendment that would have addressed the issue of a state for the South-East zone, and correct the imbalances, that would have addressed the issue of local governments, in terms of revenue distribution; that would have addressed the issue of the Niger-Delta in terms of resource control. An amendment that would have addressed fiscal federalism and even physical federalism. The third term was just a part of it, a little part of it. I feel that they didn’t look at the big picture.