Second Republic lawmaker in old Rivers State, Secretary Bayelsa Elders Forum, and Chairman  Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Bayelsa State chapter, Chief Thompson Okorotie, in this interview bared his mind on some topical national issues and the way forward.

By Samuel Oyadongha

How would you react to the Federal Government planned RUGA project which was recently suspended following widespread public outburst?

It is only fair that the country leadership should make conscious effort to unite this country and not divide it. The sensibility and aspirations of the indigenous people of the various lands, states and regions of the country should be respected by the  leadership.

•Thompson K.Okorotie

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If you are talking about Ruga, which meaning I don’t know, even somebody cannot say a place where you want to settle herdsmen that will have all the amenities – health facilities, schools, housing and you still call it a temporary abode. That does not make sense to me because these facilities are permanent structures. What are the intentions? I think this country can easily explode.

It would have been better for the Federal Government to completely cancel this policy and let there be a round table. Let them consult more. From what we are seeing in the media, most of the geopolitical zones are opposed to it. I think the idea itself is punitive. It is deliberate and does not take into account the feelings of the indigenous people in the various places. If the leadership of this country is interested in peace, unity of the country and the welfare of the people they should not just suspend but also abandon that policy.

Some have argued that restructuring would have addressed the myriad of problems confronting the country. Do you agree with this school of thought?

I am not just a member of PANDEF I am the Bayelsa State chairman and member of the national executive. Our position has been very clear for a long time, close to two years. PANDEF took 16 points agenda to Mr. President and so far it is only one that is almost fully implemented and that is the Maritime University at Okerenkoko. Restructuring we can say is in the interest of all parts of this country. If this country is not going to die we should restructure it. What are we talking about restructuring?

You can call it true federalism; you may call it resource control whatever it is. Let us look more inwardly, there is no state in this federation that is not endowed with natural resources for which the constitution provides for now 13 per cent derivation. It has just come to the fore because of the banditry in Zamfara State and the amount of gold that is available there.

People have been selling that gold, exporting it, and excluding the income from the federation account. It should get into the distributable pool so that the rest of the country will benefit as they are doing to oil and gas. A former Minister for Solid Mineral said in an interview that they went to Dubai and discovered that in one year the business of exporting gold to that country amounted to over $60bn. Who is doing the business? Who are the people that have been given licence and why is the money not to the official knowledge and central purse of the Federal Government so that all the states can benefit first as they are benefiting from oil and gas? When there is restructuring everybody will have their resources.

They should own it in the first instance and there is a portion that will be paid to the Federal Government. We have also by restructuring meant that there are too many responsibilities on the Federal Government. The Federal Government should be limited to defence, customs and foreign affairs. The rest of the items are supposed to devolve to the states, what you may call federating units. Then there will be healthy competition. Look at the police, we have been saying it is over centralised let there be state police and some are saying if there is state police the governors will over use them. What about now is the Federal Government that is in charge of the police not over using it?

Some are of the view that the implementation of the 2014 national confab report will help in addressing the ills of the country

I am in complete agreement with those who belong to this school of thought. As far as I am concerned the 2014 confab had provided the best solutions for resolving most of our problems in Nigeria. But an administration came and felt that there was even no need to read the report. So, I believe that document is the best in this country and the need to implement the recommendations is becoming more compelling on a daily basis even as we speak now.

Vanguard