No Need To Advice Gov. Udom Now– Saviour Akpan

 Saviour Akpan, Esq., is a no-nonsense and tough-talking human rights activist who has become a household name and one of the leading forces in the Nigerian civil society today. He is the executive director of COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peace-Building, a registered human rights organization established in 2002 to serve as centerpiece in defending citizens’ rights and advocating for improved justice delivery and peace-building system while also seeking to build public confidence in justice and security sectors of Nigeria. As a National Chairman and a Board Chairperson of Network of Police Reforms in Nigeria, Akpan has played a critical role in re-strengthening security apparatus in the country.  In this interview at Abak with our Editor, UBONGABASI ISE, recently, the vocal rights activist frowns at unaccountability and wanton abandonment of projects in Akwa Ibom State. Saviour Akpan would not mince words in expressing disappointment in the fact that the state governor who marries from his local government area, Oruk Anam, seems to be making  infrastructural development in the area a subject of conflict between himself and the Oruk Anam people, EXCERPT:  

 

*You are a community policing partner, but we are not going to focus more on that area because you have been talking extensively in the media on police brutality and related issues. Let’s look at our society, our state and country, do you think the government has really lived up to the expectation, and do you also feel that the people have benefited from the dividends of democracy?

 

The issue in the first place is that do we have democracy in Nigeria? I think what we have is constitutional civilian experimentation, because if actually we have democracy, most of the things that are happening in Nigeria today are not supposed to happen. Currently we are running a government that is nepotic, opaque in nature, not transparent, does not value the sanctity of human life, and it’s not concerned with providing those things that would have made the country or the citizens to enjoy and say ‘yes we are in a democracy.’ This is a country whereby the citizens do not understand the political dynamics of the day based on the fact that some persons somewhere are bent on ensuring that they are not accountable to the people. Any relationship that is devoid of accountability is bound to fail because accountability is the bone of every relationship. In marriage, if you keep on giving your wife money to go to the market and you don’t see the value of that money, of course you will stop. There is going to be conflict in such a marital home. So I will say that with our constitutional civilian experimentation, that Nigerians, narrowed down to Akwa Ibom State, are not yet sure whether we are actually having democracy. Sometimes people would say that the worst democracy is better than the best military government, but I want to tell you that in assessing the current democracy in Nigeria, a military government would have even been better if you judge by the past.

 

*Talking about accountability, on your evaluation, do you think by any rate, we have not experienced accountability?

Let me use Akwa Ibom State for an example. I want to use this opportunity to set example of issues of accountability. The current governor of Akwa Ibom State, when he came into office and took a decision to build a worship centre for Akwa Ibom State, we all informed him, as far as I am concerned, that it is a white elephant project and of no use. He said that the place is going to be built without funds from the state purse. But even in the 2022 budget that has just been submitted, the worship centre is in that budget. So the question now is: why are you using the state fund to build a church in a state like Akwa Ibom where not everybody is Christian? Have you prepared to build a shrine? Have you also prepared to build a mosque? And what about atheists who don’t believe in worshipping in any of those facilities? So the continuous reoccurring of budgetary allocation for worship centre in Akwa Ibom State is what the citizens should stand up and ask questions. Let the government of Akwa Ibom State explain why. Do we really need a worship centre in the first place? Akwa Ibom State is one of the states that have, within every five poles, a church. At any empty space: parlour, bedroom, and even at where they are selling kaikai, immediately they vacate the space you can hold a tarry-night at that place. So I don’t think we need such a project. Secondly, the level of infrastructural development in Akwa Ibom State is calling for concern in the sense that we need to know why some of the projects are not completed. If it is because of money, why did we even choose to embark on all the massive projects when we know very well that we don’t have the money? If we have been able to conduct a Need Assessment in an accountable and a transparent manner, we should be able to know the immediate project within our needs and the ones within our wants so that we know how to place them on a scale of preference: we could have asked where do we start and where do we stop? Thirdly, the situation of the local government, especially in Akwa Ibom State, is very pitiable. Like my Oruk Anam local government area, we supposed to have benefitted from largesse of infrastructural development of this current administration but recently, it has even become an infighting game between us, the people of Oruk Anam, and the governor. Let me use this opportunity to remind who is going to read this about the attitude of the Akwa Ibom State governor. Personally, as an Oruk Anam son, I am disappointed, and as far as I am concerned he is an in-law only to Obio Akpa where his wife comes from, and not an in-law in the entire Oruk Anam. Yes, we need to draw that line and let him understand that he is an in-law only to Obio Akpa, narrowing it down to Sampson Udoidiong’s family that his wife comes from. He should never call us in Oruk Anam his in-law because of the way and manner he talked to the priest recently, simply because the pastor reminded him about the road projects in Oruk Anam. He is not using his personal funds for the projects and this shows that he does not have respect for his in-laws; he doesn’t love his wife because if he loves his wife he wouldn’t have addressed Oruk Anam the way he did.

 

*The governor said something at the funeral…

 

(Cuts in..) He said his in-laws were the first people to kidnap a white man and killed a soldier…

 

..What’s the implication?

 

The governor who understands his onions shouldn’t have used such words. When you say your in-laws kidnapped, are you saying it is in Akwa Ibom or in Oruk Anam that it is, for the first time, a white man is kidnapped during road construction? Anyway, he was trying to give us accountability of his relationship with the brothers of his wife because when he said that his in-laws were the first to kidnap, he was directing us to the people of Ata Obio Akpa otherwise he shouldn’t have used that kind of statement. He shouldn’t have generalized it. And that is why we need to draw a line and let the governor know he is not an in-law in Oruk Anam, but an in-law in Obio Akpa and in Sampson Udoidiong’s family.

 

Looking at the issue of infrastructure, we all look up to the state government for provision of infrastructures, but very recently the accountant general of the federation reportedly start disbursing allocation directly to the local governments. As somebody who is advocating for government accountability, have you found out whether the local governments have received these monies, do you also know whether they have used this money judiciously? Have you monitored the system?

 

I don’t have to monitor the system. In the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there are provisions for checks and balances and we have elected group of persons to respective arms of government. We have the legislators who supposed to make laws for good governance in the state and at the federal government level. We also have the executives who supposed to implement policies and programmes to the benefits of the people, and we have the judiciary who supposed to interpret the laws and ensure that justice is accessible to all and sundry regardless of creeds. The situation where those things are not happening is as a result of a systemic failure. We the citizens also have to take the blames because we have gone to sleep and fail to do what we supposed to do. What am I saying here? We are supposed to ask questions. The Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission is there to apportion allocation to local governments and states every month in Nigeria since we are operating allocation system of government where you have people at the helm of affairs not being creative. It would have been better in a situation whereby those who are in office understand that they are accountable to the people. Let me use this opportunity to remind them that whether they are accountable to the people now or not, a day will come for accountability and the law is no respecter of anybody.

 

On the local government councils, we want to believe that they are expected to give account....

 

(…cuts in) Yes, but you don’t expect local government councils in Akwa Ibom to give account to the people because in the first place we don’t have local government councils in the state. What we have is a glorified poverty alleviation programme whereby names of persons are scripted and read out to the public. When did we vote for the local government chairmen? We didn’t vote for them; election did not hold. You cannot tell me that in a democracy you have election that hold and one party just stand and win all the polls. No! In the state, there must be room for opposition whether they win election or not. They would help in encouraging checks and balances. What we are currently having in Akwa Ibom State is, like I said, a glorified poverty alleviation programme and not local government administration because the local government officials do not even know their functions: the councilors who are the legislators at the local government level, that suppose to sit and make laws for good governance at the local government level do not even sit. Do they sit? They don’t. The reason they don’t sit is not farfetched. These are inexperienced young men whose names had been written down and read out as a kind of a political compensation and then they would be placed on a salary payroll for three years. At the end of the day, we have nothing to show for it.  So what are we saying here? The way out is that we are approaching 2023 elections, the citizens should rise up. We need to prioritize anti-corruption and accountability in all the campaigns as the election is coming in 2023. We should make sure we document, and not only document, keep them in such a way that we use it and hold whosoever wins elections into any political position accountable especially the governors and members of the state house of assembly because currently, I am, as a person, not all that happy with the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly because they are not been able to handle their oversight functions seriously. I challenge the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to publish the report of their oversights on all the infrastructures embarked upon by this current administration or even the previous administration, and what is their intervention with regards to lawmaking which is their core and primary function.

 

Government is made by the people, and it is believed that people need government to give account of whatever they do. So what are the ways that you in a civil society employ to make government accountable?

 

I have been part and parcel of monitoring the implementation of government policies and programmes including the budget. Policy Alert is also doing the analysis of 2022 budget. What we also do is sensitizing the citizens on their inherent rights in regards to governance. Also, we have to be asking questions. There are so many tools in our hands to use in asking questions: the Freedom of Information Act is one of them. Akwa Ibom citizens should stand up and ask questions, get answers and make good use of the answers. Anybody at the helm of affairs in Akwa Ibom State should not forget that he is also from Akwa Ibom. You are not going to be in that office forever. Most is eight years if you are reelected in regards to the governor. If it is at the local government level, it is three years. Thank God that it is just two-term tenure. It shows it is not your father’s compound, and even if it is you father’s compound, you are not the only son or daughter. So what am I saying here? It goes round to come round. Anybody that is at the helms of affairs, who suppose to do something for the benefit of the generality of Akwa Ibom people and fail to do that, will still come back and share the agony. When you leave office, you would still pass through that road that you refused to work. But what I also want is that, let the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, for example, pass a bill or make a law that if any government official abandon a project and leave office, such law would compel the person to come and complete even when they are out of office.  When this happens, you are coming to complete under another person’s tenure and you make sure you complete as it was budgeted for.

 

Members of the State House of Assembly you are talking about are not holding account for constituency projects…

 

(…cuts in). There is nothing like constituency projects. All those things are political settlement. The constitutionality of the legislature is to make law, and not to build borehole.

 

A lot of money has gone down the drain because…

(…cuts in) It is as a result of ignorance. A legislator is to make law for good governance. You make laws and nominate a community where borehole could be sited. There is a ministry that oversees that. So when you see a legislator coming to sink borehole for you, he is usurping the function of another arm of government except he is using his personal funds to do that. But if it is from his office, that is not his function. Let all the arms of government carry out their operations based on the statutory provisions for their respective responsibilities and functions as legally defined and provided for in our constitution.

 

Have you been able to use your platform to track some of those line items called constituency projects in our budget?

 

I am not accountant. I don’t believe in plus and minus. I believe in multiplication. (chuckles).

 

Now, let’s go back to the Akwa Ibom State Governor. Recently, Policy Alert raised alarm that N171 billion was disbursed to Akwa Ibom State Government. That money is from 13% derivation from oil resources. What is your view on this?

 

We can call the governor to answer. That is why the State House of Assembly has failed.  They know. The governor is hiding it. That is why I say the man is not my in-law because if he is caught, they would say he is my in-law and I say No! The issue is that Akwa Ibom people should join voices and ask the governor to let us know where the money is: have you received it? No! Ok why? Buhari is no giving us! With this, we could match to Abuja and tell the man, thank God you didn’t give our own to our governor, please give it to us, we are here (laughs). Things like these are what supposed to be done. We don’t need to sleep over it. We should ask questions. We need that money; it’s our money before they would even bring it back and borrow us again.

 

We still have deplorable roads despite huge amount of monies accrued to the state. Where are we going from here? What would you love to suggest to the governor if you see him one on one?

 

If an opportunity exists, what would I even advise him? The advice is too late. If it is at the beginning of his administration, I would have advised him not to embark on too much projects that he would not be able to complete. But now, my only advise to the governor is that let him stop talking carelessly, prepare his bags to leave because he is less than 16 months to leave office. Let him not plan of bringing a successor because his performance cannot allow me as an Akwa Ibom person to vote for anybody this current governor is bringing up to become the governor of Akwa Ibom State. So let him just prepare, after 29^th May 2023 and carry his bags and go to where he wants to go. I would not ask him to start any kind of project now because he is not going to complete it. If it takes him over five years to complete a mere flyover how much more the one he is going to use less than 16 months to complete?

 

But if by a twist of fate, you become the governor of Akwa Ibom State…

 

(…cuts in) That fate can never twist (laughs)

 

…But what are the core, fundamental things would you have done?

 

If I become the governor of Akwa Ibom State, the first thing I would do is to jail this current governor. I would definitely jail this current governor who claims to be an in-law in Oruk Anam for the way and manner he is disgracing us. If I become the governor, first project is to get him arrested and jail him.

 

Then what other thing would you do?  

 

I would jail him, then resign and come back (chuckles).

 

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