Rep Ogbonna Nwuke, former director of Press Affairs to River State Governor and member representing Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency of Rivers State in the House of Representatives, in this interview, speaks on wave of insecurity in the country, gains of the National Conference and the frosty relationship between Governor Chibuike Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan among others. Excerpts:
By LIVINUS NWABUGHIOGU

*Hon. Nwuke

It is the third year of the 7th House of Representatives. How may you assess the Assembly?
I think the National Assembly has done what is expected of it. The National Assembly exists mainly to enhance governance through law making and to that extent, the 7th Legislature has done creditably well in terms of law making, oversight and dealing with issues that are primarily, national. At the last count, the National Assembly has over 300 Bills that are receiving attention. Luckily, people have said so much about the PIB.

You saw that at the level of the House, the Bill has gone to third reading and because so many people do not understand; it is not at plenary that some of these issues, particularly relating to laws are being treated. They are handled at the committee stage where inputs are made by experts, where law is properly tinkered with in order to make it sustainable. Gradually but steadily, the National Assembly has pointed in the right direction.

It appears that the current leadership of the House has enjoyed more support of the members than the previous ones…
I think the point that we must make here is that the leadership has shown effective leadership and then the followership has become increasingly mature. The issues that in the past divided the assembly and gave vent to power changes do not exist. I think that there has been a more open system of administration. People understand the agenda of the leadership.

Take the House of Reps for example. When we came in 2011, there was a road map and that road map clearly expressed the anticipated direction of the house and thus far, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and those that he is working with have not deviated from that agenda.

His take on happenings at the National Conference
What most Nigerians thought was that the National Conference would concern itself with issues which affect our common unity, which will define our future relationship with one another and come up with clear positions. There has been, for example, a salutary pronouncement on rotational presidency, the fact that every part of this country should have the opportunity at any given time to present a president.

I think that given the level of our political development that is one good news that has come from the confab. Now, beyond that, some of the issues that the confab concerned itself with were not issues that they ought to have dealt with
Issues of administration, agriculture and even power and all that were not supposed to be issues to be discussed at the confab. We have a government which has a mandate to provide those services.

Gov. Amaechi and President Jonathan

Are you excited that the confab has adopted the proposal for the creation of state police?
Yes, they are calling it multi-policing but it doesn’t depart from what it is: state police. In other democracies, you have clear police system that are national, state and one that is metropolitan. When my Governor (Amaechi) raised the issue of state police, a lot of people said he was challenging the president.

But it was simply a suggestion that was designed to help and enhance Nigerian security as it is. It is clear that the Nigerian police force, for example is not well positioned given its number now, to police the entire country and that it needs help. Now, what we should do is to tinker with the idea, trim more the rough edges and to make sure we have systems that work not for persons but for institutions or government. I am glad that at the end of the day, reason has prevailed.

His take on the relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State
The issues are beyond the relationship of the two men. They are issues that affect long, short and mid term interest of Nigerians. At every point in time, my governor has spoken not as a partisan but a patriot of Nigeria. And so, as the leader of Governors Forum, the issues they discussed were issues that affect Nigeria. They were not personal.

Now, back home the issues that affect us more are the resources that have been taken from us and given to our neighbour and when the governor was sworn in, he swore an oath to protect the interest of Rivers State and Rivers people. The issues that the governor has handled; his reactions to issues have purely been driven by that fact: the protection of the long term interest of Rivers state.

So, it is not a matter between him and the President as some apologists of the president would want Nigerians to believe. If there are differences at all, they are differences that originated from the way power has been used; the relationship which exists between the federal and state not the relationship that should exist between President Jonathan and Governor Amaechi.

On the spate of insecurity in the country It is so sad and disturbing. People are dying everyday and it is not something that should happen in a system where there is law and order and appropriate security. I think there is disconnect. Something is wrong and we need not to play politics with it. We need to address those issues.