BY DAPO AKINREFON
DELTA STATE governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan was recently at the Pan African University to deliver a lecture. Following the lecture the Governor spoke to newsmen on some topical national issues including the clamour for a Sovereign National Conference, SNC, contentions over derivation among other issues.

Excerpts:

What is your take on the request by northern governors and elders for more derivation?

Every governor has a right to demand for more money and every governor also has a right to strategise to earn more money for the state. But like I said, that demand has to be done within the constitutional provision and the constitutional provision in terms of revenue allocation is that states can demand for more revenue or for higher share of the revenue allocation. Right now, I think the Federal government gets about 52 per cent of the revenue, the states and local government are getting 46 per cent, while the remaining two per cent is for ecological issues.

Gov Uduaghan

What we are saying even at the Governors’ Forum is that there has to be a review of that allocation and of course, the body that is empowered to initiate that review is the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission. For us as governors, we have come together, we are looking at it and we are also liaising with the commission to initiate the review. We think that more funds should be given to the states and local government councils, and that also means that the review of the responsibilities of the various tiers of government.

Some of us and I think generally, do not think the federal government has any business in dealing with primary health care problems. Why should the federal government come and build primary health care centres in your village? It’s just about the building, it is the running and who equips it. Federal government has no business constructing primary schools or even water project.

These are some of the things that should be left in the hands of states and local government councils. The federal government should be confined to the bigger issues of national security, bigger issues of bigger projects. That’s what we are saying. Taking a look at revenue allocation, we must also take a look at the responsibilities. Having said that, it is not acceptable for anybody to say that the revenue coming from a particular part of Nigeria, does not come from a state. It is not acceptable because every part of Nigeria, whether it is filled with water, fresh water, sea water, high sea or whatever all belong to part of a state. The constitution says revenue from any part will be put together and shared according to the laid down formular. So, no one can say this revenue from this part belongs to the federal government alone. No. These are issues that do not jive, like we say it our area and they are not correct.

It was alleged that you went on a trip to London during Ibori’s trial? How true is that?

You called it a rumour, so, why should I react to it? A rumour is a rumour and truthfully, it is a rumour. I will leave at that. Rumours are never truthful.

There has been no public statement made by you or the Delta state government over your predecessor, who is standing trial in a UK court. Don’t you think that a comment is necessary?

All the issues on that case are in the court of law, either in Nigeria or in the United Kingdom. Once issues are in the court of law, I cannot make any comment. The issues are in the court of law, let the court determine the case. Until the court cases are over, I don’t think it’s right for anybody to make comments because whatever comments you make, might either influence the court or the jury.

Why should I make a comment on a case that the judge has not delivered judgment on? Let’s not go into that debate of him being found guilty, you must get the truth of the whole matter before you make a comment. And I don’t want us to debate it because it is still in the court of law.

On calls for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference.

Everyone in Nigeria has a right to say what he or she wants to say. I don’t know whether you listened to the live coverage of a gathering in Lagos a few weeks ago. You know that there were a lot of inciting statements, there were some statements that were very inciting and were not just acceptable. That is my fear, that is my worry.

People have become unguarded in what they are saying, your freedom ends where mine starts. All of us have one issue or the other with Nigeria, all of us have one challenge or the other in Nigeria, but how do we deal with the issues? We can only deal with them based on laid down procedure and these laid down procedures are all embedded in our constitution. As deficient as you think the constitution is, there are sections in the constitutions that can deal with whatever deficiency we have in Nigeria today.

The issues of amendment are also in the constitution and the amendment in the constitution does not give room for a Sovereign National Conference. So, why do we want to deal with things that are not legal? Why do we want to deal with things that will make me hate you? What some people are setting out to do is for an ethnic group to face the other ethnic group.

That will not move us forward. It will cause more problems than we envisage. I do not believe that there is a need for a Sovereign National Conference, because a Sovereign National Conference, is a call for trouble except we don’t have faith in our National Assembly and I think that is very wrong. We have a National Assembly that has been approving budgets over the years, the budgets are being used to run this country.