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Friday, September 10, 2004
For a man who worked closely with the present acting Chairman, Peoples democratic party, PDP, Board of Trustees, BOT, during the Ibrahim Babangida transition programme, Mr. Godson Echegile, a stakeholder in Delta State politics, comes across as an unassuming individual. His foray into politics dates back to the Second Republic, at a younger age. He also comes from a banking background where he rose to the board of one of the leading merchant banks in the 90’s.
He was the Executive Director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in charge of Finance and Supplies. In this chat, he with a high sense of commitment and responsibility on the politics of Delta state, the agitation for a national conference, the economy, and other national issues. He is one of those who remain die-hard members of the ruling PDP. Whereas he says President Olusegun Obasanjo has done quite well, he makes some points on how to further support the president jst as he provides some alternatives on how best to handle the Nigerian nation, economy, polity and all. He expressdes confidence in this interview with Vanguard's Jide Ajani, that PDP is the party to beat. Excerpt: Can you explain what your foray into the PDP has taught you and the benefits to the people?
There is a high level of poverty, you see, for instance in the 70s with a School Certificate you could find a job. With the money I earned, I could feed my self , I had enough to even pay my school fees up to university. But today, it is not there. The level of poverty has gone so deep, that even the teachers that used to boast of saying I could send my son or daughter to the university, can no longer boast of that. That is the problem of PDP and as a member I feel concerned, but notwithstanding I have remained with the party. So for me I cannot leave the party because I believe the PDP is better than other parties in terms of organization, in terms of principles, and in terms of programmes.
So looking around I honestly believe the PDP is the only national party. I will want to remain with the party that is national in focus , that is the major attraction of the PDP. The internal problems that we have can be solved, like the way we solved the one in Oyo state. As for this issue of zoning formula, this idea is a recent development in our politics. I remember in our days in UPN and SDP, when we were in the old Bendel state, we didn’t know the difference between an Urhobo and Itsekiri man. Even the Ijaw man and the Ishan man. We talked as Bendelites, and there was peace. So, those who clamour for ethnic divide in the state, are those who benefit from it. They are the architects. I don’t believe in zoning. I believe in the best candidate emerging as the governor of the state, because the governor is not coming to preside over a zone, but to preside over the three zones of north, south and central. But in the spirit of live and lets live, which the party preaches, we started zoning from the federal level, then to the state level. Well, if that is a way to bring stability to the system it is okay.
What is your position on the governorship tussle in Delta State ahead of the 2007 election?
Like I told you, I come from the Northern part of the state. We have senatorial districts, the North, the South and the Central, and the central has ruled eight years. By 2007, they would have ruled for eight years. So I think just like Mr president said, he does not expect anybody from the South-west to replace him. That means it can come from any other zones, except there. And the point I am making is that the present governor is not from my zone. Okay, so the last thing he could do is to exclude his zone, but not to exclude those who have not actually had a shot at it.
Let me also make this point that if you look at our country from Independence, when we started with the west minister system, some people felt the corruption level was too high. They criticised the people running the system, the military intervened and from one military rule we entered another one. After a time we started complaining, that General “A” is worse than General “B.” We graduated to the Buhari, Idiagbon, Babangida, then Abacha regimes. At a point we said no. What I am trying to bring out here is that let Nigerians sit down and thank these leaders. Are they so wicked that they would want to ruin the economy, or they would want to better the welfare, the life and quality of living of the people? Every leader comes with very good intention. I think the basic problem we have is the low level of resources. To a population of almost 130 million, our total budget for the year is less than that of a city council in America. There is no way such limited resources can take care of the needs of everybody. So our problem is resource management. How do we get enough to go round?
What do you have to say concerning the 25 billion Naira recapitalisation of banks?
To start with there is sincerity about this new policy of N25 billion recapitalization of banks, and I don‘t see how that will trigger distress. You see, if you have been reading some articles, the whole things tilts toward mergers and acquisition. You see, if for instance, bank “A” merges with bank “B” and Bank “A” has 90 branches and bank “B” has 200 branches, there is every likelihood that they would have 290 branches and you still need workers to work in those 290 branches and very likely they would be the same group of people working with bank “A” and bank “B” now merging to work in those 290 branches. If you are talking of job elimination, it would be at the top, not at the middle or at the lower end of the system.
I don’t see N25 billion causing that distress. In the last two weeks, what we experienced is not because of the N25 billion. What happened was that there was panic in the public sector, and it was not over the issue of recapitalisation. Secondly, bank recapitalisation is good, but I would have preferred a longer period so that a shareholder can now say let me sell. If for instance, I‘m a shareholder, I could say let me increase my total equity to 25 billion and am going to multiply my equities by five times. I might decide in other to gather enough money to put some properties in the market, and doing this could take me another one year or two to sell. So, what I am saying is that the time span is not enough. At the same time, I would not be against the people who want stratification of the banks, which is what the senate is saying. We have the small ones , the medium sized one, and the large ones. There in UK, you find such banks, you do your financial transactions and it works out fine.
How can a national conference come about?
I have a good lawyer friend who says “Oh, let‘s have National Conference.” I asked him, on what basis do we have a National Conference? That‘s the first question. Secondly, we have the National Assembly that represents the people, I think it should start from there. Don’t forget that when people talk of the National Conference, it is because we want to bring some people to have quality debate. The point I’m making is that if we need to discuss our Federation, people should get their Senators and the House of Representatives people to debate on the federation. If we in the South-South don’t feel comfortable with this Federation, we should go through our elected representatives to push our case. We did it on the issue of derivation, on-shore, off-shore dichotomy. The essence of democracy is power belongs to the people.
What are ways to improve education in Nigeria?
The 6-3-3-4 system we are implementing today is out of date. We need to first talk of not just increasing the number of schools, we need to improve on the quality today. A teacher with a degree will write you a letter, you can barely read it. So you can imagine the standard of what they are teaching in the schools. Technical education which is an avenue for preparing one for self employment is gone. Today, you want to make a furniture or you fix your Television, you have to look for Togolese or Ghanaians to do it. Why? Our technical schools have collapsed and the artisans we have today are not patient enough to stay for three or four years to learn the trade. So, we need a proper technical education that will solve this problem. And what we seem to be neglecting is that, when a man has had technical education or attends a technical school for five years, six years, he could start his own business and employ workers. What I would suggest is for a manpower board that should work out how to redirect the people and as such create positive impact on the economy.
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