'Govt Should Use Excess Crude Fund To Develop Niger Delta'
Right in the Church on Friday, October 22, this year, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG) fell during his 50th Birthday thanksgiving service. He was exhausted and consequently compelled to proceed on vacation to have complete rest from overwork and the attendant stress.
No sooner, he travelled outside the country, the rumour mill went to work, like a wild fire in the harmattan season, that he had stroke and was confined to the wheelchair. Just when the public particularly in Delta state was adjusting to the information, words went round again that he was dead.
Uduaghan returned to his Office in Asaba on Monday December 6, and spoke with our correspondent, Sunny Ogefere dwelling on his purported death, the elections in Warri and the import on the peace process, the billions of naira that have accrued to the State since 1999, the ex-convict saga and governance in the state, among other issues.
His Rumoured Death And How He Took It
After the incident of October 22, I had to go on vacation. The governor approved a vacation for me because for over two years now I had not gone on vacation. I used the opportunity of the vacation to do a lot of things. First, to do a personal medical checks both in Lagos and the U.K. And I want to assure you that all my results came out normal. The only problem I had was that I was told that I was slightly overweight. I am six kilogram overweight and I had to try and shed the excess weight.
Well it is obvious that it is not true that I died because if it is true I would not be talking to you now. Secondly, it is not true that I was on a wheelchair. I never had stroke, I never had high blood pressure. My temperature has been normal. If anything it is even on the low side. While outside the country, I did not sleep in the hospital for one day.
It is true that I did not communicate as much as people expected. I did not because I wanted to put behind me a lot of the things that caused the stress, a lot of the problems associated with running the State. For that period, I did not communicate much. That may have worsened the rumour.
The first time I heard the rumour, actually I heard the one of the wheelchair - that I was taken on a wheelchair to the clinic, I was a little bit upset.
I was sad for the people of Delta State because what is now happening is that a few people gather somewhere and just decide that they should spread the rumour. And they start it. That is the pattern of what has been happening in this state since this administration came into being.
But I thank God that this one on me is very easy to verify. You do not need a soothsayer or prophet. Oh the man is dead, oh he is not dead. Now the man is here.
That is why I am happy that it is this kind of rumour. It is a rumour that is verifiable. It goes to tell you the kind of stories that have been going on that are not true and people believed. You talk and talk, you are not able to convince people because most of them are not even verifiable.
People say this one has a house in London, he has bought a house in London, he has bought a house in South Africa. He has a refinery in South Africa and all that. Those are the things that people tend to believe. My advice on this matter is that people should desist from such rumours because they are destructive.
Ex-Convict Case And Governance in the state.
The court case at Abuja has caused a lot of sensation. It was won by the governor and it is a very sweet victory. A lot of people wondered why I was not in court on that very day (which also contributed to the false story of my death). I may not have been in court physically but I was present there in spirit.
The case was my life. I thank God that God took control and the truth came out on that day because I read the judgment over and over again and except you were in court all through the proceedings, it is difficult to appreciate some of the things the judge said. But for those in court, we really appreciate. The way the judge wrote the judgment, the way it was delivered, was natural and there was no way it can be faulted because it was very detailed. I thank God for the Judge that he was bold enough to tell the truth.
We thank God that the court vindicated the governor. But since then I have read a lot of commentaries with regard to the claims that the state was in a standstill all through the period of the case; that is not true.
It is true that some of us had to go to Abuja during the period the case lasted but I want to assure you that it did not affect the running of the state. State affairs went on even when the case lasted.
I use this opportunity to thank every Deltan especially our leaders who stood firmly behind the governor during this period.
Funds That Have Accrued To The State Since 1999 And How They Were Spent
N208 billion or so was said to have been released to Delta State and a lot of noise is being made about it with people asking where are the billions? I assure you that we can account for every 10 kobo that was sent to this state. You will notice that we were the first state to publish our audited accounts and we will continue to publish it every year. The details are there.
The impression being given is that all the money that come to the state should be use for capital development. We know that almost 50 percent of allocations or almost 50 percent of the revenue that comes to the state goes to recurrent expenditure. That means money to pay salaries and running the affairs of government.
We must not forget that this is a democratic era and unfortunately Nigeria chose the presidential system of democracy which is a very expensive system to run. The parliamentary is much cheaper. For the presidential, it is quite expensive - you have the executive, you have the legislature, which is virtually full-time and quite expensive to run.
This coupled with the fact that we are just putting structures in place after a long term of military rule. So, all these things involve money. What I am trying to say is that 50 percent of the money coming to the state is being used for re-current expenditure. The balance 50 percent we can also justify in the number of projects that we have carried out which are there for everybody to see.
Unfortunately, some of these our critics do not even come to the state, talk less going round to see things for themselves. May be they just come by air and drive to their houses. But I want to implore them to go round this state and look around to see if we have not done anything. If they were in this state five years ago and come to this state now, they will know that we have made a lot of difference.
We have spent our money well and can boldly say so anywhere This is the only state where you have four bridges being put up at a time, where we have done a lot in education, a lot in health, etc. The details are there for anybody to verify. They are not hidden. And
we are going to do a lot more in the riverine areas next year.
Council Elections And the Peace Process In Warri
Just before the local council elections in Warri, from what one read, it was as if Warri was going to burn if the local council elections were held. It was as if elections could never be held in Warri. There was a lot of tension, there were threats, there were fears. They were real, the threats were real, the fears were real. But like the governor has always done, he was able to manage the fears and threats, and the elections held in Warri peacefully. There was no gunshot, there was no fighting.
The results have been announced and nothing negative has happened. Those who won are jubilant and those who lost are sad...Well, it was a test of the peace process in Warri and the governor came out with a pass mark. So, we want to thank the people of Warri. We want to congratulate the Ijaws, the Urhobos and the Itsekiris of Warri who came together to take part in that election that turned out to be a very peaceful election..
. Ibori's Mother Burial
I want to use this opportunity to thank the press for the role they played and their contributions towards His Excellency's mother's successful burial. Since the burial, we have heard comments about the state's money being used for the burial. As the man in the centre, I want to assure Deltans and everybody that not 10kobo of the State was used for the burial.
A lot of friends contributed towards the success of the burial, including fellow governors and friends, both in public and private sectors. In any case, before Chief James Ibori became governor, if the mother had died then, he would have been able to give her a befitting burial. Ibori was not a pauper before he became governor.
Excess Crude Fund.
Let me tell you that your budget in this country is not up to the budget of the Fire Service of New York. That is the truth. The money that has accrued to this State from 1999 till now is not up to the money that is being used in building Wembley Stadium in London. So, when you talk about so much money, it's very relative because if you want the quality of life as in London, New York etc you must also know that we do not have the money to get to that stage.
Yes, we have had relative increase beyond what we used to make because of the problem in Iraq. Naturally, a lot of the money comes from a section of the country. So, more of that money should go to that section of the country. More of the money should be used in developing that section of this country.
I have said it over and over again that the focus of any development in the Niger Delta should be towards the construction of bridges and roads. I do not know whether the Federal Government has constructed one bridge in the Niger Delta since 1999. I am yet to be educated. If you constrict a bridge, you open up the entire area to so many opportunities.
An example is the Bomadi Bridge being constructed by the Delta State Government. Once that Bomadi Bridge is finished you can have cars getting into Bomadi and beyond. Some other link roads will get to the communities around and the entire place will open up. Another example is the Aladja Bridge. Before the bridge was constructed very little was known about Aladja, Owvian and Oruwhorun. They were stark villages. But with the construction of the bridge and the Delta Steel Company, those places became townships.
Even if the focus is on construction of bridges with the excess crude fund, in another five to 10 years, you will not know many of the villages any longer. Development will flow in naturally, I don't think it's too much to construct a bridge. We have estimates of what it would take to construct roads and bridges between Omadino and Escravos. This will take you round several villages enabling you to drive from Warri straight to Escravos. The cost is less than the money that was used to build Abuja stadium.
Going by NDDC estimate, it will cost about N46 billion and Abuja Stadium was constructed at about N50 billion. There is enough money for it. Then you will now open up another one from Bomadi straight to Burutu at about the same cost. Both projects will cost less than N100 billion and the Federal Government can do that So we want to appeal that more of these excess crude funds be channelled towards the development of the Niger Delta, specifically on bridges and roads. Other things like electricity schools, health facilities can follow.
