Former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu
recently unveiled his agenda “A Pathway to a New Enugu”,
and later spoke to newsmen where he threw more light on his governorship ambtion, saying he would use employment, technology, and infrastructure to wage war against insecurity. Excerpts:

Did you consult with governor Ugwuanyi over your ambition?

After the 2019 election, we had a programme where I said that I would not be going back to the senate and that my people had tried to keep me in the Red chamber for 20 years. After I made the declaration, many people came to ask me to run for the governorship of the state.  

I told them that it was too early to decide at that time and that it would also be distracting to Ugwuanyi. In July 2021, I had a conversation with the governor where I requested him to go back and consult widely. I gave him reasons why I wanted to become governor. I believe he is still considering it and that ultimately, he will decide, which will be favourable to me and to the entire people of Enugu State. I would like to see him support me in every respect.
 
Why did you support Ugwuanyi in 2015 governorship polls over Ayogu Eze?

I have known Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Ayogu Eze for a very long time. Both are passionate about what they do. When the election came, there were several issues around who the candidate should be and we decided to end it and make progress. And the governor at the time preferred Ugwuanyi. That was the meeting point between us (myself and Chime). So, I felt that the best thing to do then was to support Ugwuanyi as best as I could to make sure that we remained peaceful.

I met with Ayogu Eze and suggested that we should go back to the senate, believing that when he comes back, he will do well. But he was determined to pursue his ambition of becoming the governor. He took the matter to the Supreme court. But that did not stop us from being friends and he still relates with the governor today. In politics, you disagree to agree. The decision to let Ugwuanyi be governor did not affect the relation the three of us had built. 
 
 On the claim by some Enugu leaders of an existing zoning agreement
 I don’t like talking down on my leaders, friends and colleagues. You know, if you are talking about zoning, you are talking about the interest of the entire People of Enugu State, men, women, traditional rulers, town union Presidents, representatives, the ordinary people. Then someone is telling you that he, and a few people sat down in one place and discussed zoning. Which party were they representing? That is the thing.

I heard that narrative; someone said it was in the Banquet Hall in the Government House during Sullivan’s (Chime) regime. If you and few people decided to visit the Governor and had some food and drinks and then had a conversation, does that mean you should wake up and say you discussed or agreed? What kind of rubbish is that? So, there is no such thing like zoning.

Which organ of government or party were they representing? If you go to PDP Constitution, I think Article 6 or thereabouts, dealing with local government and State organs, we have the Caucus, State Working Committee, State Executive Committee and State Elders’ Committee. There is no organ of the state party machinery in that PDP Constitution that empowers anybody to go and zone governorship. So, I don’t know the meeting they were having. It doesn’t make sense. Now, they said it was in 2013, so, what happened to Sullivan?

How did he emerge? So, he is not a product of zoning? People will always canvass such argument provided it supports what they want to achieve. They don’t even look at whether the argument makes sense or not. I am a lawyer; so I like agreement, I like decisions. If there is such agreement, I will abide by it, but in absence of that, people should stop telling lies in order to achieve their aims.

 If you are zoning the governorship of a state, it is a serious matter. It is not a matter of friends meeting in a Government House to say they have zoned the governorship. So, it is ridiculous. That is why I don’t like addressing this issue because it is annoying and it makes one to say what he doesn’t want to say. If there were an agreement, I would abide by it. But there is none.

 I know they are trying to get people to sign a document to say they have zoned governorship. Maybe from next week (last Sunday), you may start seeing funny, funny documents and statements here and there. But we are waiting for them. Don’t forget, if you are zoning the governorship, what criteria are you going to use?  Is it senatorial zone or the cultural zones? We have four cultural zones in Enugu. We have Awgu, Agbaja, Nkanu and Nsukka. So, you believe that someone from Awgu will never be Governor of Enugu State? So, when are you going to zone to them? The issue of Governorship of Enugu State is a serious matter; let’s drop all these mundane discussions because everyone has his own arguments or candidates. Zoning is not going to put food on our table. It is not going to employ our children; it is not going to give work to our people. Let us be able to have argument that can advance us into the Enugu State of our dream. 

 Those who say I support, I canvass zoning/rotation of the presidency, but not disposed to it at the state level are not being fair or don’t seen to understand the difference. At the federal level, the presidency is yet to rotate round the six geopolitical zones. But as God would have it, in Enugu State, all the three zones have had the opportunity to be governor of Enugu State. So, what are they talking about?
 
 Perennial water scarcity in Enugu
In the short term, we will ensure that we reduce the amount these tanker drivers pay to supply water . I’m not going to tell you how I’m going to do that, but the first two months of arrival, I’ll do it.

Now, in mid-term, we are going to rehabilitate the existing lines. As for the well at Oji-River, which the Federal Government assisted us with during Senator Chimaroke Nnamani’s administration to set that up, what we need to do is to re-establish those lines, refurbish them and then we have several boreholes at 9th Mile, also the Ajali waterworks.

We will fix all of that and be able to deliver bulk water to Enugu Urban.
 There’s also water presence around Iva valley and all of that which government can harness. RICO, my friend has always been asking the government to give him opportunity to provide water for coal camp and all of that.

We will partner with such people to provide water for such areas. But additionally, we are going to look at the small small rivers in Enugu and dam then, treat the water and circulate, because we don’t have underground water within Enugu Metropolis due to the presence of coal. So, we will take advantage of the surface water and water will be delivered to everybody’s home within 2 years.
 
 How do you intend to achieve non-interference in the affairs of the Local Government?
At the time I was a local government chairman, we were receiving our allocation directly from the federal government. That was in 1997. But by 1999, a new constitution came, creating in Section 162, what was referred to as the Joint Local Government and State Account. The idea was that instead of the money going directly into the LG account, it goes into a single account run by the LG and the state.

It is expected that when the money comes, the state will beef it up from its IGR before distributing to the LGs. However, some states have abused it. Instead of adding to the amount, they are removing from it because of joint projects and other considerations. That is why most LGs are underperforming. But if I become the governor, I will not tamper with any LG fund. However, I will tell them to build feeder roads, schools and ensure that there is security. That will make my work easier.
 
Construction of superhighways to Enugu’s borders
 Superhighways will create some level of security because kidnappers like it when you drive more on very bad roads and when you slow down, they will overtake. But if you’re doing 120km/h on a good road, I don’t believe any kidnapper can come near you. Now, the road infrastructure we’re looking at is one that will be out of this world, I’m talking about superhighways.

 Now what we have is a two-lane express, but we plan to do up to four to six lanes on both sides, well lit at night and travels can be 24 hours without problems. We are going to have security cameras, a surveillance centre in Enugu so that from the office, we can track cars coming in and going out and challenges can be resolved speedily because of the security centre in place.

 In some places, we are also going to provide rest-areas for people on the road, to buy fuel, eat and relax before they continue their journey. There are two challenges in doing this, one is finance. We are going to partner with the private sector, we will provide the contractors there, but they are going to help us with funding of these contractors, then recover their money through tolling. It’s not going to be a burden to one single Enugu person because the tollgates will be at the entry points, it’s only when you’re leaving Enugu or coming into Enugu State that you’ll pay. If you are within Enugu, you’ll pay nothing.

 As I said about the ring road, we have already started. We’ve joined Oji-River with Awgu, Awgu has joined Aniri, Aniri has joined Enugu-East. So, what we are doing now is planning how to get it round the entire state, when I become Governor. What we’ll do is open up a road from Nara, between Nara and Agbani to Amagueze and join it to Amechi Idodo area and from there, we’ll come to Enugu-East Isiuzo, Isiuzo will connect to Udenu and there’s also a road already between Udenu and Isiuzo, as well as Isiuzo and Igboeze-North, not forgetting the road from Igboeze-North to Igboeze-South, to Nsukka, to Uzouwani and other parts to make it complete.
 
Plans to build industries across local governments
 Specifically, we said we are going to do some specialized approach, every local government will have one product based on its own comparative advantage. This is one of our approaches to boost the economy of Enugu state.

Secondly, it’s also a strategy for creating employment which is why within four years we will reduce unemployment by 70 per cent as the government cannot accommodate everybody, thus unemployment. I’m not sure any administration from Enugu state has built one industry since 1999 till now, hence the unemployment and the recruitment of bandits all over the country.

 The focus of China on economy, security, and domination, is their concentration on building factories and industries. It worked for them, and it can work for us. That is why we say we’ll do two industries per local government.

I was chairman of the senate committee on government affairs, SMEDAN was under my jurisdiction. We studied the whole 774 local governments, and we came up with a booklet called ‘One Local Government One Product’ based on coparative advantage. Otunba Niyi Adebayo, the present minister of industry, met me at one of our friend’s house – Mr Wayas.

He said the federal government was trying to look at the document we produced, and I tell you that it can give an insight, so I believe that it is doable.

 In Nsukka for Instance, they produce pepper, in Ezeagu there’s cashew all over the place, in Aniri and Nkanu-East they produce rice. So, we can set up industries to process these products and explore these comparative advantages.

But we are not going to bother about ordinary products but focus on products that can compete in the international market. All over the place, people all over are looking for tomatoes, in Kenya they take just flour to Europe every morning which is a lot of money. In Norway, people are looking for ogbono, you can’t supply enough cashew to Singapore. So, we are going to identify all these from local government to local government. 

 Most importantly, we are going to build auto cities where we can build our own cars, motorcycles, buses, bicycles and tricycles, encouraging everybody in Enugu state, including the government, to use them. One of my friends from Nsukka has Hara Foam, he employs thousands of people.

He says he has over 50 hectares of land in Emene, once I’m sworn in as Governor, he will come back to set up industries there. There are alot of people, Innoson is my friend, and he can help us replicate what he is doing in Nnewi, in Enugu.

 Some of our friends are in Ghana, prepared to come here, I will provide lands for them, and business here will be one of the best in Nigeria. Many in diaspora have been reaching out me earger to come home and invest.

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