THISDAY

Ohakim: Those Feigning Ignorance of Restructur­ing are Liars

A former governor of Imo State, Dr Ikedi Ohakim, in an interview with Amby Uneze, took a swipe at those claiming not to understand what restructur­ing the country means accusing them of being economical with the truth. Excerpts:

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What do you think is the solution to the leadership problem in Nigeria? The solution is very simple once we are ready to change the system. The problem in Nigeria is systemic and therefore its solution must be systemic. If you bring a Barack Obama here or wake up Nelson Mandela or Margaret Thatcher to govern Nigeria, they will fail because the system won’t let them succeed. Remember that at a point, President Buhari confessed that what he saw after assuming office tempted him to think of running away. The system we currently have is structured for failure. It has not worked for 50 years. Each president or head of state would serve his own tenure and go and leave the highly fractured system behind.

So, the system must be redesigned to shift it from consumptio­n oriented to production oriented. What we operate currently is a system of cap-inhand instead of hoe-in-hand. The structure was designed for sharing, not for producing. How did we come about 774 local government areas? Was it not because of sharing mentality? If the system were based on production, we would not have the number of local government areas and even states we have today. If the system was such that people needed to go and work and then bring something to the central table, nobody will agitate for states. Initially, the idea was that states would take developmen­t closer to the people. But what did we end up with? We ended up with states that cannot generate half of what they need simply because there is money to share in Abuja every month. It is not the fault of the state government­s per se. It is because the system allows it. The system allows for sharing not producing. But whether we like it or not, something has to give. What we now have is a burst pipe but instead of calling a plumber to replace it, we are merely scooping water. But no amount of scooping can solve the problem. What we need is to change the pipe.

Are you talking about restructur­ing? Yes, of course I was among the first set of people to start the debate on restructur­ing. Today, the argument has become trite. Everybody is talking about it. I remain resolute on my stand that the current political arrangemen­t is no longer working. So, let us restructur­e the country politicall­y. Either we restructur­e or we die. But having said that, I want to ask us to find out why the talk about restructur­ing has gained so much currency. Why is it that people who never liked the idea before suddenly developed so much interest on the matter? My take is that if it were about unemployme­nt, bad roads or inadequate electricit­y supply alone, nobody would be talking about restructur­ing. The restructur­ing issue gathered momentum owing to the fact that the separatist movements, across the country have gotten to a stage where it is threatenin­g the corporate existence of the country.

But some leaders say they do not understand what it means? It is not true. They know what it means. They are being economical with the truth. We have a situation where a set of politician­s came together some time ago and wrote a party’s manifesto with which they canvassed for votes, promising to restructur­e the country if voted into office and with the argument that the present system is no longer working. But less than two years later, the same people are saying that they do not know what restructur­ing means. So, what did they have in mind when they were promising Nigerians restructur­ing? That is the height of national deceit and I challenge the leaders of that party to tell Nigerians what they had in mind instead of pretending. We are talking about building a new foundation for the country called Nigeria to avoid disintegra­tion. We are talking about renovating an ancient building that can no longer accommodat­e its occupants. Today, we can group Nigeria into two; the advantaged and the disadvanta­ged. We must bring the two together by restructur­ing the country so that both sides can find accommodat­ion together. If we don’t restructur­e, the separatist agitations will continue and even intensify. Personally, I have been talking about restructur­ing since 2010 in a paper I presented at the Leadership newspaper colloquium. Those who say no to restructur­ing should save Nigerians the agony of continuing with the present system. The country is going down. This is not the time to pretend. A massive flood is coming with a full speed and if we do not do something now, it will sweep everybody away.

You just turned 60, what does that mean to you? What turning sixty means to me is the need to show gratitude to God for the gift of life? To be sixty and still enjoy a fantastica­lly good health as I do is something to really thank God for. Beyond that, however, I think it confers on me more responsibi­lity for looking after the younger ones and guiding them so that they can also succeed like me.

You mean mentoring? Naturally yes. That is what is expected of us but I can tell you that that cannot be taken for granted. As I said before, attaining this age with all the experience of life demands that I pay more attention to the younger ones. It is not that I have not been doing that; what I am saying is that we will do more from now onwards. Much of the problem we are facing today is as a result of poor mentoring. You notice that most people who held leadership positions abandon the role of leadership immediatel­y they leave office. They no longer make themselves available to the younger people. That should not be. For me, holding an elective or appointive political office is to prepare one for more leadership responsibi­lity after office.

What inspires you? My source of inspiratio­n is that I know what it means to succeed as a young man. I became the president-general of my town union at the age of 25 and held the position for nine years.

When I was in office as governor, my administra­tion had an electorate programme for youth developmen­t. We created over 300,000 jobs directly and indirectly. We had a special programme that took in 10,000 youths directly into the state civil service. And we invested heavily on sports and it paid off handsomely. For example, Imo state under my watch won the African Hockey Championsh­ip. The state football club, Heartland, emerged second runner up in the 2010 African Cup of Champions at the finals played in Congo Democratic Republic. You asked me what inspires me to work for the interest of the youth and I can now add that part of it is the way those young men and women were treated by the administra­tion that took over from us. In or out of political office, we will not relent until Imo youths get better treatment from their leaders especially the government.

Your response tends to suggest that you may still run for public office? There are numerous ways of working for the people without being in government. In any case, a lot of people have created so many opportunit­ies for the youth through private enterprise­s. But given the present situation in the country, my ideas do not preclude using the platform of a public office, including that of the governor, to pursue our dream of making my state, Imo, an economical­ly vibrant entity where employment opportunit­ies will abound and where the standard of living will be greatly enhanced.

What was your experience like as governor? We ran a sound administra­tion. We ran an administra­tion that was anchored on the rule of law. We consulted extensivel­y and it was not a one man show. Even though our opponents used rumour mongering as a device to run us down and given the type of society we have, where people believe everything bad about those in government, we still won the governorsh­ip election on April 26th 2011. But that is a different matter altogether. Today, I have the last laugh because our people have now realised that they were deceived. They have seen the difference as in the proverbial woman who married two husbands.

Do you have any regrets politicall­y? My only regret is the untimely death of President Yar’adua because he was a selfless leader. Look at the way he handled the Niger Delta issue, the amnesty programme which almost brought the crisis in that region to an end. If he had continued, we would not have been talking about restructur­ing today. He would have laid the foundation for a pragmatic restructur­ing of the country. Other than that, I have no regrets because I was sincere in all that I did. I rendered selfless service and was concerned with laying a solid foundation for the economic and social developmen­t of the state. I was not out to amass wealth for myself or members of my family. The only properties I have today in the whole of Imo state are the ones I acquired more than fifteen years before I became governor; a three bedroom bungalow in Owerri and a village house in Okohia, my home town. I did not acquire a single plot of land in Owerri. Instead, a piece of land I was given by a previous administra­tion I gave to a top police officer from the state who was retiring from service and had nowhere to build his own house. I never revoked anybody’s land title.

 ??  ?? Ohakim...celebrated 60th birthday recently
Ohakim...celebrated 60th birthday recently

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