Why We Have ‘Boy-Boy’ Governors In Nigeria - Attah, Elder Statesman

Why We Have ‘Boy-Boy’ Governors In Nigeria - Attah, Elder Statesman

August 15, 2021

•Warns: Nation will break unless we renegotiate

•Rules out peace in APC, PDP, explains reason he quit politics

•Life after being gov: I returned to architecture despite insults

•Speaks on his legacies in A/Ibom

Elder statesman, Obong Victor Attah,  remains one of Nigeria’s most consistent and vociferous voices for the return to the parliamentary system of government to guaranty true federalism, resource control by states and ideological politics as a means of promoting stability, peace and unity in the nation’s polity.

The former governor has proudly returned to his first love – architecture and town planning – working hard to design and implement new projects aimed at environmental regeneration, aesthetics and societal wellness after presiding over the affairs of Akwa Ibom State for eight years. Even as a statesman, and with his humility intact, Attah remains a down-to-earth leader, politician and a source of inspiration to many, sharing and mingling with his people anywhere and anytime.

In this interview, monitored by Save Our Nation (SON), Attah speaks on how Nigerian can make progress, reduce agitations for secession and become a united and stable country. According to him, the current system of government betrays the ideals of the founding fathers of Nigeria, adding that the terms of nationhood must be renegotiated based on true federalism implemented through a return to the parliamentary system of government, which Nigeria operated in 1963. He also speaks of what he wants from his successors. Excerpts:

Given the crises afflicting the two dominant political parties in the country, what do you think these portend for the next general elections? Do you think 2023 polls will hold in a peaceful manner to consolidate our democracy?

Why do we use the word fear? We don’t have political parties with clear ideology on which they can stand with and defend. This is because the parties were formed for the people instead of the people forming them starting from the community level and electing the people they want and trust. That is best done in a parliamentary system which provides for as many parties as possible, but with a small group coming together across party lines and forming the parties of their choice based on ideology and shared opinions about government.

But this is not done in Nigeria. The major reason we have crisis and fear in the system is that we don’t have parties that are based on ideology. What we have as parties is nothing but platforms for putting people into offices.

There is turmoil because there are people who left PDP for APC and those who left APC for PDP and don’t know where to go again or how to go back to where they came from. That was why we recommended that the country should lay a solid foundation for Nigeria’s political stability and progress but nobody listened to us. For me, we don’t need to abolish parties but we must go back to the parliamentary system. In 1963, Anthony Enahoro moved a motion in Lagos for our independence but the North opposed him on the grounds that they were not ready.

Some of the (southern) leaders went to meet them in Kaduna for them to see reasons and agree for early independence but they booed them and, when they approached them again in Kano, they said the entire North was ready to secede if the issue of independence was not dropped. The delegation from the South was almost stoned. That was what started the Kano riot of 1953. That riot consumed the whole of Sabon Gari and spread into Fegge which is almost an exclusive area in Kano.

There are some lessons to learn. The colonial masters then started the London conference which eventually gave rise to independence in 1960. We lost more than seven years in that process because of the attitude of the North. That was how we had an independent country based on federalism and we gave almost total autonomy to the federating units and it was by negotiation and with the parliamentary system along with it.

I can jump from there and tell you that later in the life of this country, Biafra said they were going and we sent soldiers after them and it became a complete and total mess. We can draw two lessons from that. One, nobody will agree to stay in a union if they consider the terms and conditions of staying together unacceptable and oppressive in any way.

The second lesson is that when we have such a situation, we negotiate.  If you send soldiers, you may have a messy situation and that is why today, we have to admit that this is not the Nigeria that we agreed we should have because we are not practising true federalism and we have gone away from the parliamentary system. Admittedly, the number of federating units has increased but even during that period, it increased. There was a demand for COR State, Midwest Region, Middle Belt Region but only Midwest Region was created. And there was a feeling that sooner or later we will get it. So, it has increased and increased by military fiat to 36. And that has brought some level of peace and stability to the country.

Are you saying that Nigeria would have been better if we had continued with the parliamentary system?

I am not just suggesting but I am saying with emphasis that we must adopt the parliamentary system if we want to be better as a nation. It is not too late to do so. If anybody wants to change the rule, let it be by negotiation. This unitary system that we have was foisted on us by military interregnums; nobody negotiated with anybody.

If that is done, the majority of the people would be happy to support parliamentary system which has true federalism where the responsibilities of the Federal Government are limited as was the case in 1963 where the late Awolowo (Premier) of Western Region paid higher wages than the Federal Government because he could afford it.

Are you now saying that the Federal Government should negotiate with those pressing for secession?

No I am not championing any cause or mentioning anybody’s name. But the question is why are people pressing to leave Nigeria? It is a strong question. Why do they feel like seceding? The answer is simple: They feel that this is not the Nigeria that we agreed to be part of. But how do we bring about the ideal Nigeria? This is why we must negotiate the terms and conditions of the union. But that negotiation is not done with individuals but with representatives of the people through a sovereign national conference backed by the country’s parliament to ensure that the outcome of the proceedings are binding on everyone.

But how will the conference you are talking about be different from the one that was convoked by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014 in which you were a delegate from Akwa Ibom State?

It will be different because the one we had in 2014 had no backing of the parliament. If Jonathan had got the backing of the parliament, President Muhammadu Buhari would not have thrown it away calling it ‘Jonathan’s conference’. It would have been a national conference backed by the people. So, the parliament would have to ask the President to convoke a national conference and to do something to prevent catastrophe.

Many prominent Nigerians have spoken about this and it is necessary to listen to them. Anybody who keeps saying that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable is not sincere. We have agreed that this is our country and that nothing should be done to cause its disintegration. Many countries do things like that to make their countries better. Everybody knows that this is not the constitution that Nigerians subscribed to and it should be reviewed. What is wrong with us is that there is a total departure from the political system that we agreed upon.

So, how do we change the system to make Nigeria better?

We must go back to the parliamentary system. The community knows who to elect to go to the parliament to represent them and they have to be responsible to their people. Right now, the system we are operating is too bogus and is not working because there is no money to develop the country.  You have the Senate, House of Representatives, the Presidency, Ministers and their aides and all of that which take a lot of money from the system.  All these layers are money-consuming and the little that is left is used to pay ransom to bandits and kidnappers, who are the only ones earning money in Nigeria today. Representation in the parliament makes those in the government to be more responsive to the people and brings about checks and balances in that anyone who cannot serve their people effectively is removed. The system forces the representatives of the people to do what their people want and checks corruption better than what obtains in the country today.

 We are having problems checking corruption in Nigeria today largely because of the system we operate, which encourages influential people who steal public funds to jump from their parties to the ruling party in order for their ‘sins’ to be forgiven. This is a serious setback to the country and something drastic must be done and urgently too, to stop it for the country to move forward.

But do we need to change the corruption-fighting institutions or are they inadequate?

It is not a question of adequacy but that of whether they were put in place to fight corruption in the first place. If the President chooses anyone he likes and imposes on the country as the Chairman of the corruption-fighting institution it is very unlikely that such an appointee would anything outside the whims and caprices of the person who appointed him. 

But if such powers reside with the people through a parliamentary system of government as we have seen in some other climes, anyone put in such position would be afraid of the people and would do what is right without any fear or favour. Let us have a system that makes it possible and easy to remove the person the people don’t want.

But where is the problem coming from?

The problem stems from the fact that we changed from the parliamentary system which we agreed to run as a true federalism to a unitary system. That was truncated because the military cannot operate the parliamentary system. Let us go back to the 1963 Republican Constitution to make things better for the country and its people.

How do you ensure some level of sanity in the polity given the crises in both the ruling APC and the PDP?

There is complete breakdown of ideas and direction in the two big parties simply because they are not true parties founded on ideology but platforms for people to do business. If the system is strengthened and the institutions are strong, all will be well. That is why I left politics a long time ago and only contribute ideas and commentary whenever I feel like doing so.

But do you think we will have a smooth election in 2023 given the level of crises in the land?

The level of crisis in the country is alarming and I fear that if it is not carefully handled it could get out of hand. There cannot be another civil war. So, something must be done to stem the conflicts and agitation in the country. But we must all be conscious of the need to prevent any war in this country. We cannot survive another war.

Do we need to state police to stem raging insecurity in the country?

Please don’t take out anything from a federal arrangement and ask me. Did we not have state police under the parliamentary system of 1963? We did and there was no problem with that. Look, if we return to the parliamentary system, state police, local government and resource control are already given a safe place and the current agitation would not be there.

The local government has always been the third tier of government and directly and entirely left for the state to determine but the Federal Government has taken over that. The Federal Government should relate only with the federating unit, which is the state, under the parliamentary system we are talking about.

Do you think the level of support given the Niger Delta Development Commission since its creation in 2000 is adequate to change the development paradigm in the Niger Delta?

We need to change the name because what they have is oil-producing states agency and what we need is the physical development of the region and not supply of chairs, books and flowers. We need the physical development master plan, aerial survey to show where key development projects-roads, bridges, railways, ports and canals and new towns- will be and not what they are doing now by using the place to empower supporters of politicians. It is yet to start the development of the region.

It is interesting to see you still designing and planning cities many years after leaving office as a governor. Do you really feel good doing this instead of enjoying your life as other big men do after leaving big political office in Nigeria?

Well, the truth is that I am a contented human being. I still continue with my drawings and designs with a sense of pride and satisfaction. But do you know the insults I get almost on a daily basis? I go to some offices and some people ask me, “oga, are you still doing this work after being a governor?” That is the attitude of Nigerians that once you are a governor, you have to steal public funds and become so rich that you do not need to work again. But that whole attitude is wrong.

Jimmy Carter is still farming groundnut after being American President for many years.  That is not how it should be and that is what is causing the high level of corruption you are seeing today. That is why we have ‘boy-boy’ governors in Nigeria, a system where somebody brings his boy to be governor and that one brings another to succeed him whether they have anything to offer or not, whether they have any agenda or not and the practice continues unabated while the people suffer.

You conceived and implemented many projects with mass effect on the people. When you look at them today, how do you feel?

The projects I started in Akwa Ibom were transformational projects. My idea was to encourage people to go to Akwa Ibom and invest there because the state is a terminal one, not a transit one. The airport, which I started, has brought about the birth of Ibom Air, which is today the best airline in Nigeria. I then started to do a Maintenance Repair and Operate MRO Airport but that needed a power plant, which I also built. We also knew that the whole world depends on technology and that was why I started the Science Park. The Federal Government gave the state a university of technology but disagreement did not allow us to start it.

But I started a university of technology which was changed to a conventional university when I left office. But happily the Federal Government has given us another technology university. And then, we started the Five Star Hotel with golf course, marina, polo and so on. The polo and marina have not been developed.  I would like to see those dreams realised because they can add real value to the state and its people. I wanted the IPP I started to provide uninterrupted power to the state so as to improve industrialisation and check rural-urban migration but the insistence by the Federal Government that the power must first be fed into an incompetent national grip leaves much to be desired.

What fun memory do you have of former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, who is turning 80 next week?

The greatest thing he did was to create Akwa Ibom State in 1987 after several years of agitation. I am most grateful to him and I wish him well.

What makes you excited and sad about Nigeria?

I am really excited about the young Nigerians who developed an app and sold it for over $1 billion, which has added value to Nigeria and the world at large. But I feel bad that a lot of Nigerians now feel that the only source of income is through banditry, cybercrime, kidnapping and criminality in general. Bill Gates would not have been a genius today if there was no opportunity for him to learn science and technology. Nigeria should therefore provide adequate opportunity for the citizens to go to school and learn what will add value to their lives, the country and the world in general.