Arts and Life
I Will Guarantee Full Local Government Autonomy—Sen. Achonu
Senator Athan Achonu is the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the forthcoming November 11 Governorship election in Imo State. In this interview with newsmen in Abuja, Achonu spoke on his blueprint to rebuild Imo state, including ensuring a full autonomy of the Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Excerpts:
You have been reported not to be a serious candidate but only a placeholder for Gov.
If I’m a journalist and they say somebody is a placeholder for the governor, it is my job to investigate the veracity of that claim.
I will expect that Hope Uzodinma will offer that candidate at least $20 million dollars to step down for him because the man has almost won the election, without campaigning.
Even in the last election, where did you see the candidate, did they win in the actual voting?
Then, myself, Athan Nneji Achonu, you investigate me. You find out my capacity, the level of contact I have in this country, which is more than his. The level of respect that I am accorded in this country, because of my integrity and my personality, which he doesn’t have, how can I then collect only one million dollars to sell out as claimed ? If I’m that hungry now, if I’ve suddenly become hungry to be his placeholder, at least I should demand $100 million for God’s sake.
What are your plans to confront the problems given what happened at the last election, and why are you in the race for Douglas House?
About my plans and strategy, I can’t expose my plans here. I have my plans, I’m ready. I’m very, very, very ready.
I am in the race to secure Imo for Imolites. I have to do that. I’ve often asked myself, why am I alive? Because I’ve been through so many things in my life. God protected me, saved me, kept me alive. I believe it is for this day. And I’m very very ready to take him on. He doesn’t believe in voting. He has never really won any election. If you investigate properly, you see that he has never really won any election. I’m going to win him in his local government. That I can guarantee you.
Can you give us a highlight of what your administration will do when you become governor? What should Imo people expect from your administration?
The first thing I’m going to do, I’ve been championing autonomy of local governments since Obasanjo left the stage till today, I’ve funded it, I’ve sponsored it.
After being inaugurated, I will inaugurate a caretaker. The caretaker is not known to the constitution, but just for six months to enable me, because I’m trying to set up an electoral umpire now for that purpose. So I’m already working on it. So they will work for six months. We’ll have the freest and fairest election in black Africa. Happening in Imo State. So we need to lead by example. So we’ll do that. Why am I insistent on local government autonomy? I’ve been saying that if you Google me, so many interviews I’ve granted, go to YouTube, see a lot of them. I’ve always believed that it was since they hijacked the local government system that criminality came in. You know the local governments used to patronize these local warlords. These men, the big men in the villages, the local governments, strong men, they used to be contractors. They used to build drainages. They used to grade roads and make money. But the moment governors started to pocket Local Government money, all hell broke lose . If you have a councilor elected by the people because for the people to elect you to lead them as a councillor, they believe in you, that you have the integrity to protect their interests. There is no way you will be an elected councillor and a criminal comes into that immediate environment and you will not notice. You will not be brought to your notice.
That’s why if you look at some of my billboards, I was advocating vigilante for communities and local governments. So, immediately, the first bill I’m going to send to the House of Assembly is to set up a vigilante, every local government has their own vigilante. So I’m going to work in partnership with all the arms of government, based on mutual respect.
What will you put in place to create employment for the youths?
Now, I’m going to, within the first one year, we have gas obligations from the gas companies working in Imo State. Now they’ve just signed into law the fact that state governments can produce their own power. So we’re going to go into partnership with power companies to give them the enabling environment. They’ll come and give us power 24/7 in Imo State because without power, you can’t do anything. We have mapped out six industrial layouts, two per geopolitical zone. Charity, they say starts at home. So already my home is an industrial, agricultural processing zone. Oh, yes, I’ll use my personal resources. So I’m going to enlarge it with government resources. So other people can come and invest. Some people can come and be producing tomato, canning, processing fish. I have a cattle stockade that can accommodate 5,000 cattle. I’m now breeding ehi Igbo (Igbo native cow) because it was going extinct. So right now I have 53. It’s growing. I’m buying more and more. So now my focus actually is job creation, industrialization. That’s why I’m focusing on power. I have a license to operate a refinery. I’ll activate it, but now I’m going to sell it because I will not have the time for the next eight years, I will be busy. Running a refinery is not an easy business. But I will encourage people to come and take it over, or get their own license, and have another refinery there. I’m going to create so many things. I have already completed plans with Afri-Exim Bank, and ADB, to support industries. I have the Imo Airport there, which I tried to take over as a private individual to activate, to become the hub for West Africa. I’m going to activate it. I asked Hope Uzodinma, when he was Chairman of Aviation at the time, in the Senate to support me in that, you know, that bit. But it didn’t work. He didn’t give me any support. So you know when I talk I say go and verify. So now I’m going to activate it. Look at Ghana, it’s now the international hub for Africa. Ghana, as small as Imo State. Because Lagos Airport has stopped growing. The city has surrounded it, no area, no room for expansion. Unless you build somewhere else. But here in Imo we have the land, Ngor Okpala has a lot of land. You can have phase one, phase two, phase three, phase four. I brought the people who built the airport, I engaged them, I paid them millions to come and do a study for me, to take it over. Jonathan gave me the go ahead. But before you know it, all the land around it has been acquired by government just because I was involved, so I just kept away. Now all those things, all those ideas I have, I’m goincg to bring them into play to create a lot of job opportunities. Look at Orlu, they are pharmaceutical people. I approached Orange Drug, he doesn’t support me, so he’s there to answer this, for people to go and verify. I approached him, I got banks to finance it. I wanted to docc pharmaceutical pack in that area, so that we create the enabling environment, investors will now come.
So for you the main interest is to develop the State?
What we are after is development, a way to create opportunities for young people. For example, as a private person, I’ve set up a studio now in my village. We invite young musicians who are talented, who have a bar with instruments, tablets who don’t have money to record themselves. When they come and play there and we like their music we encourage them. In fact, village I engaged one of my PA’s, a musician, my PA in the now for that purpose. When we like the music, we record them on credit. So we now, after sales, we collect our cost of recording, then we give them their profit so that they can grow from there.
What are your plans to develop sports in Imo?
We have plans for sports as well because that’s the thing that’s making our young people generate income that are not direct employment. That we can enhance to now train and give them the opportunity to excel and then they go on from there. So sports academies, we’re working on it now, we’re going around to the whole of the State to sensitize the youths, football clubs, sports activities, towards that so that it will be ongoing, so that once we take over we hit the ground running. That’s why we are doing all these things now, sensitizing the people. So many things.
What is your take on the alleged huge debt burden of Imo State which is said to be running into hundreds of billions?
That is a very good question. The huge debt profile of the state is unbelievable. There are people who have been owed six years salary from the last time. Up till now it’s the sixth year. Then when this government came, they said that they have found a lot of ghost workers, as a result there are so many people who have been laid off, people who have been working all their lives, and three years now going to four years, no salary, two years. And then pensioners. That will be a very big headache for any incoming government. Then the money that has been borrowed is unbelievable. The huge debt profile of the State is really scary. In fact only a ‘mad man’ like me can go there because I know what I can create. For me, as a private individual, I make money from the air. I use my brain, I create businesses. So I’m going to do that for the state. I’m going to find a way for it to survive. But I’ve told them, those pensioners and workers, I said we can’t pay it overnight. We’ll now start a gradual process with a timeline to pay all the debt. But it has to be gradual. And look, we are now 24th in education. From third, first three, we are now 24th. And that takes me to Education. Education will be our major focus because if as a state you are not educating your people, you can’t have the relevant workforce. Then, you have to go outside to bring your workforce. So we even have to first re-educate our teachers, because all of them have ran away. They’re in New Zealand, they’re in Australia. Teachers have, they have now ‘jappered’. So what we just have there are, we have to re-educate, and retool them.
On women and their empowerment, if you become governor what will be their expectations from your government?
Our women are very hardworking, very, very resilient. In my life, I’ve had that experience. I’ve had to trust women a lot. I’ve had to rely on them for survival in my business. So I’m sure of that. Do you know why I always work with women? They solve problems, even though we suffer a lot. I was giving somebody an example of what men go through. But women carry a lot of pain. These children that we have, it’s always their headache and their pain. When the children go out, from the moment they leave the house, the concern of the children will be in their brain until the moment they step back into the house. That is the same way they see us, their husbands, when they love you and you bring food home, when you step out, you’ll be stuck in their head, you will be their headache until you come back. I’ve lived with that as a young man growing up. So I understand that. And that’s why they boss us. Yes, they are very bossy. So I allow them to boss me in my business. I will also allow them to boss us in the government. So I’m going to give women a lot of opportunities as governor.
How will you describe the administration of Governor Hope Uzodinma, his achievements in the past three to four years?
Well, Hope is my friend and I will be fair to him. Number one, the only thing people say he has done is road. But those roads are tax credit, it’s not state money. So where is his state money?Where is the state money? The road that Buhari came and commissioned has collapsed. There is no road anywhere inside Owerri. No road, no internal road in the entire Owerri. Just drive from IMSU just to Mbaise –Owerri Road. Try to connect and see. That’s what Buhari Commission, it doesn’t exist anymore. It has washed out. So this road now that he’s building, they are tax credit. You know, this is something this big companies do. For example, the Owerri-Umuahia road that is ongoing, information at our disposal reveal that Seplat is constructing the road. It’s their own tax credit, you know it, Dangote, all these big companies are doing the same. So instead of paying tax, they bring the money, you apply it on road. But the companies are allowed to do that, and they do it well. They choose the construction company. But I hear that in this case, because the other ones were started before he took over. Now, this one that was initiated under his watch, see the progress there. I’m not sure, but I hear that the money was given out, that’s the rumour mill, and that state themselves awarded it. And you can see the progress on that road. Even the small places that have been done, they have all failed.
Do you want to say that Gov. Uzodinma has not really done much in the state?
Well, I don’t know what he has done except not being able to protect lives, not being able to protect lives and property. Okay, in a society, when somebody commits a crime, you arrest them and prosecute them you don’t come out with helicopter gunship to bomb them, bomb their houses. It’s not done anywhere in the world. Okay, if they are doing oil bunkering what about people mining diamonds and californium, lithium (elsewhere in the country). Look at the mine site, it looks like something you see in the Old Testament. Thousands of people, nobody is arresting them, nobody is bombing them, nobody is attacking them.
What are your plans for the youth population that is growing by the day?
We have plans for the youth. Someone has mentioned the Sports Academy, in addition to that, we also plan to develop our youth, especially in the area of ICT. What we have planned for them is to see that we turn Imo State into the next silicon valley of Africa, which is very doable. A whole lot of us are aware of what the young people are doing now from home, even with their phones. We see that happening in Yaba, and nothing stops us from bringing that home and ensuring that we’re able to mainstream our young people in ICT. And part of the initiative is actually what the current administration has attempted to steal, which is not working, but because we have the original manuscript, which is to develop 10,000 coders, meaning that every local government in Imo State will be developed. We will have what we call the IT E-Kiosks where, every local government will be interconnected, even amongst themselves, so there’s going to be a peer-to-peer connectivity and interaction amongst them, and we hope to get the very best of it. Those in the IT software companies and the rest of them to come in and help our young resourceful young people, help them to develop. And by so doing, we would also think of how much that will add to our GDP, especially coming from the young people. Because yes, we talk about restiveness amongst the young, but you don’t expect them to do anything when you’ve not created an enabling environment for that to thrive.
The health sector is critical to the development of any state, what are your plans for that sector if elected?
The health care of our people will be our priority. The former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha started something that was topnotch, the health system he did across the 27 local governments areas. That would have actually turned Imo State into a medical tourism center. That would have done a lot of good. It would have revolutionized healthcare in Nigeria. That vision was amazing but the implementation was flawed. One would have rationally thought that other former governors or successive administrations would have worked on it. We will rejig and make it work. We will get world-class health management firms, hand it over, concession it to them and by so doing, you could have a renal center in Obowo. You will have heart transplants in Mbitolu. Different, specialized facilities you know, you have ENT, and specialists in different parts of the State. What we record in the country as medical flights is a whole lot, and that revenue alone would have been coming to Imo State.
What’s your response to the accusation that you were awarded contract to build health centers in Nigeria and you embezzled the entire sum that runs into billions.
I saw it in the press, and that I have embezzled the entire budget. So, I’m sure Tony Nwulu forgot when he was talking about the health centre, the hospital. Well, we have built and equipped so that they are equipped right now, I think there are 26 health centres.
They are like mini hospitals, cottage hospitals in Imo State. There is only one local government that we have not been concluded. So the idea, like you said, is we will not have these centres we are talking about in sanatorium zones. In each sanatorium zone, we will not have a referral hospital. So that in any case, this month, we can handle. So we are ready to hit the ground running. All of them are fully equipped. And why they have abandoned them is because I built them. In fact, there was one in the Owerri Municipal, when Rochas Okorocha was governor of Imo state, Mrs. Jonathan wanted to come and commission it. He said that there was no health center, and that I didn’t build anything. Because she can’t come without clearing from people
So she didn’t come for that commissioning. But it’s running. So but the Centre is there behind my hotel, behind Owerri Municipal Council. It is there, fully equipped, with doctors’ quarters, some domestic quarters. All of them are the same, same design across Nigeria. 774 local governments. And about the embezzlement, like I said earlier, if I had embezzled any money, the governors have been fighting me over the project because they believe that LGA money is their pocket money. If I had embezzled any money they will be using microscope. The EFCC has investigated me three times. In fact they have seen the colour of my underpants. if I had taken one Kobo, I’m sure I would not be here talking today. That also shows that the government of day is scared of my emergence because immediately I emerged, all manners of rumours started flying around.