PDP STILL BIGGEST PARTY IN AFRICA - HON REYENIEJU

                 HOW POLICIES TO PREVENT COUP CRIPPLED MILITARY, AIDED BOKO 
                  HARAM - HON REYENIEJU

       *SAYS PDP STILL BIGGEST PARTY IN AFRICA

    

Hon Daniel Reyenieju is a 3rd term member of the House of Representatives representing Warri Federal Constituency.  In this interview, Reyenieju, who was a member of various committees, including Navy, Airforce and Petroleum (Upstream), in the 6th and 7th assemblies, explained how past administrations' policy to cripple the Armed Forces in order to discourage coup plots hampered the Boko Haram fight, why the PDP lost the election and the PIB, among other issues.

EXCERPTS:

Your Party, the PDP has gone from the ruling party to being the opposition...

Interestingly, we are in the minority, yet we remain the biggest party in Africa, irrespective of being the minority party. Yes, being the minority is not a negative point to democracy; it is part of the evolution of democracy. Our party was in government for the past 16 years and we have done creditably well to the best of our ability. It is subject to other peoples' view about it, but for me, as a PDP member, who has represented the party for the past eight years, I wouldn't say we have done too badly. Yes, in some areas we weren't able to meet up the expectations of Nigerians, but you must not forget that we had some challenges after the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Beginning with the president who with thought would be there for up to eight years, but unfortunately we lost him and Goodluck Jonathan took over from him, who did about six years.

There were so many challenges: of infrastructure , dwindling oil prices, governance and most challenging one was the Boko Haram insurgence. It was something we had never experienced before. We had various domestic challenges - kidnapping, robbery and others, but international terrorism was not something we were used to. It was difficult for us to combat it and I think that was the sour point of our regime. Unfortunately we couldn't combat it with a credible approach. We tried our best towards the tail end of the administration and do not forget that the elections were shifted for about six weeks to enable us tackle Boko Haram. Whether we like it or not, I think that was a turning point in the history of the fight against the insurgence because within the six weeks we were able to deplete the flanks of the insurgents.

That also goes to show that at some point our military was ill-motivated and the equipment were not there to fight because within that six weeks a lot of things happened; funds were taken out of the country, huge cash, to directly procure arms and ammunition from the international market for the military. When it started arriving was when we started making some substantial inroad in the fight and this was something we couldn't fight in five years.

--(cut in) A section of the country and the international community wondered why it took that long for the PDP-led FG to take the fight seriously, particularly on the eve of the elections?

Firstly, there was that desperation to get vote for PDP, that was key. Also, the insurgency was becoming something very unbearable and we needed to do something to manage them from that point on. Thirdly, I would say that the inability of our country to manage the Boko Haram as at when it started and when it began to grow up was the fact that our military was depleted by successive governments in the past. There was this sense of getting down the military so that they don't become too powerful to plan coup and take over government. It became an issue which later costs us dearly. 

The military was actually down; all we had as military men were just men in uniforms without arms as Girls Guide and Boys Brigades. 

People might not know this, but we (lawmakers) knew it because we interact with them. As a member of the House Committee on the Navy and the Air-force, we interact with them and they used to tell us in closed door meetings that the military was ill-equipped. At that point it was too sensitive to bring to the public because it had many negative dimensions to it. We are a country, a sovereign nation for that matter, if we start to expose our military as ill-equipped then we are at risk of being attacked at some points by our neighbors. So we kept quiet and hope that we would be able to manage it. So, while we had it that bad was a result of very many factors.

Even before the death of Gen Abacha, successive military government tried to cripple the military to make them unable to plan coup and take over government. That turned out to be a very sour point in our the history of our military. 

But today, I think we are doing well, a lot of arms have been procured and we still need more to be able to combat this menace. 

I think we (PDP) were also desperate as a party and it became an issue because people were saying if we have a government that cannot provide security, secure lives and property then of what use is that government. We knew were having challenges with the electorates so we decided to come out very frontally and we did our best.

To what extent would you say the embarrassing situation of Boko Haram contributed to your party's electoral defeat?

I will take it front the political point; don't forget that the North - Northwest, East and Central formed more than 60percent of the aggregated vote of the entire country. I can tell you that for sure. I will give you an example, if you take the votes from Kano State, you have nearly five million votes, juxtapose it with the votes of the entire South-south, which is about six million, you will find out that you have one state taking care of an entire region. It is like that even in the Southeast, take Katsina that could have 2.4 - 2.6million votes and that is almost half of the entire votes from the Southeast region. So, that area (North) was political key in terms of voters' strength in the country. Now, don't forget that it was that same area that was being ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.  People (there) were becoming very tired and it was obvious that it was going to be a problem for us. People were not happy because their loved ones were being killed and their towns being devastated, their economies of those areas were completely down and they (FG under PDP) could not do much and ultimately it was an issue, an electoral issue, which any right-thinking political party would see as dangerous to its success..

Okay, away from your party's electoral loss, do you think the leaders of your party as it is now is capable of providing strong opposition to the APC?

It is subjective, but I think we are doing well, considering that we have never been in opposition before. Now that we are there, it is nothing new because we saw people doing it and we knew what they were doing. If they were doing it negatively, I think what we need to do is be constructive; constructive criticism of the governing party, because Mr President said he doesn't want his party to be seen as a ruling party. We are going to give robust and constructive engagement - we are not going to be opposing, we are going to be engaging the government on issues. We are all Nigerians, whether you like it or not, elections have come and gone. Opposition, ruling or whatever party are all nomenclatures because what affects an APC man as a Nigerian is what affects me as a PDP member. So, we should be looking as one Nigeria people to be able to frontally confront the challenges. Our experiences are common; if there are no roads, power, good healthcare, it is not just for PDP members, it is same for APC or apolitical Nigerians. At some points our fears will also be the fears of the governing party. So, there is nothing that we should be fighting and killing ourselves for on daily basis.

We must at some points continue to prick the consciousness of the ruling party so that they do not derail because we have been there before and we know the challenges and that is why they must consult us in taking some policy actions. We have been there for 16 years and we know the problems of this country. What we need now is just engagement and reminder so that they are not carried away by the victory of an election that has come and gone. I don't like the idea of saying we are opposition party; no, that is not it.

Having resolving the internal crisis that rocked the House at the inception of the 8th Assembly, what are the issues you think the House should now make its focus?

Unfortunately, we started very unfairly to Nigerians. As a member of the House, I use this opportunity to apologize to Nigerians for that unfortunate incident; it was too early in the day, it shouldn't have happened in a house of 360 members. Nigerians were expecting so much from this Assembly, unfortunately we started with crisis and I think it is better to have had the crisis when we had it so that we can now settle down to business. 

The House is always very vibrant, but we want to see this better than the 7th. I can assure you that with the crop of people I have seen in the House and the leadership we have as at today, we are going to hit the ground running. The crisis in the House was an issue, which ordinarily, I would have said was uncalled for, but it is natural to have disagreement at some point. I am not in the APC and I won't want to blame them for having such disagreements. I have seen them trying to pick the bits and pieces and get going; they are trying their best. At some point, I saw it as an issue that would have been easily resolved by the APC. I stayed off it because it was my party issue and the only thing I offered, as a ranking member of the House, is to advise those interested parties within the APC to give them some level of guidance based on our experience as a ruling party in the past. We, PDP, at some point also had same challenge.

In terms of our legislative duties, last week we rounded off debates on our legislative agenda as put forward by the Honourable Speaker of the House, whom I must say is a very stable character. I have known him for the past eight years and I know he is of impeccable character. He is capable and able of delivering the House at the end of the session. We debated on the legislative agenda, which is the cardinal points of activities for the next four years and it was unanimously adopted by the House and we are set to get running.

What we need to do as Nigerians, because we have a new government in place, is to support, as members of the House, the executive to be able to discharge its responsibilities in terms of making good laws for the governance of the country, security and protection of lives and property, food security and power. These are critical areas which we need to focus on. 

In saying that, I would want to say that there is over-stigmatization of Nigerians, everyone is being seen as corrupt. People are being pushed out of government on a daily basis and we just say they are corrupt. I don't want to say that all Nigerians are corrupt. Not all Nigerians are corrupt and most of these Nigerians being kicked out of offices are entitled to jobs. 

The drive, which is one of the key points of this administration is anti-corruption. The president has no tolerance for corruption and we would support him with good laws and strengthen those in existence to support the executive in this drive. 

Unfortunately for us, economically, oil prices are tumbling on daily basis. As at the last time, it was about $49 and that is exceeding very low. So, it is good that the President has come out to talk about diversification of our economy. It has been a mono-economy that depends about 90percent on oil. That is risky for our nation and when the president said we need to go back to the land and cultivate it, to see how we can use agriculture to sustain the economy, I was very happy. We would be ready to give him all the support he needs to achieve this.

The oil sector has not done too well a couple of years back and it is something Nigerians need to review and that is why we are ready to support Mr President in that regard by passing good laws to enable him carry on with his reform agenda in the oil and gas sector. I sympathize with him about the time he is taking over the rein of governance when our economy is not so rosy, we are facing challenges and the funds are not there. All we need to  do as an arm of government that makes laws and monitors them in terms of oversight, we will do our very best to see that he gets the maximum support from us. This is the rebirth of our nation and taking over from one government.

Nevertheless, I want him to know that the days are not waiting for us; the minutes are counting into hours, into days and months. Eventually, the years will start counting and the four years that we think are enough may not be enough if we do not start early enough. I am saying this because I listened to APC National Leader, Asiwaju (Bola) Tinubu, recently and he said that the president is on honeymoon with Nigerians. I think that  honeymoon needs to be cut short and I need to tell the president that he needs to sacrifice his honeymoon for the sake of this nation. The nation is need of action.

What is the state of the Petroleum Industry Bill? Do you think it will ever see the light of day?

I apologize to Nigerians once more on the PIB, which has been in the parliament for almost 16 years of the PDP. The PIB had always been in the front burner. I was opportuned to be a member of the Petroleum Committee (Upstream) in 2007-2011 and I was a member of the committee that was set up to look into the bill. We worked very seriously and we got to a point where we started considering it on clause by clause basis. Unfortunately, it was aborted because our time ran out. Then in the next assembly, I was also a member  of the Petroleum Committee from 2011 to 2015. We did creditably well; we did anything that needed to be done. I was the only returning member of the committee to handle the PIB so I was in the driving seat. We did a lot; all consideration of the bill and harmonized all considerations and came out with the report and it was presented to the House. Sadly again, we started and finished the consideration almost on the day the House was winding down, which was about the same thing that happened in the 6th Assembly. Although in that assembly we couldn't conclude the clause by clause consideration, but in the 7th we actually did complete it, but almost the same day we were winding down the House. It became like it was jinxed.

The issue is that the bill needs to concur with the progress in the Senate, but the Senate couldn't get to the extent which we got to. The PIB was passed by the House (7th Assembly) now we have to wait for the Senate to conclude because we definitely have two different versions and we have to come back again to gavel-to-gavel table where we need to harmonize the two positions. After harmonization, it doesn't take anything more again, we merely need to adopt and it goes and become law. 

However, because we have a new government in place, we may have the government of the day coming up with some input, fresh ideas, which 'may' affect us. But I think it is one issue we need to take up. I  promise I will be one of those that will bring it up as soon as possible.

How has the non-passage of the PIB affected the oil bearing communities and the oil sector?

I will take that of the communities first. The bill is for the entire country; it is to reform and allow our oil companies to run in line with best practices all over the world. It is not an oil producing environment bill; this is where we get it wrong and this is where the wrong perception that the bill is fashioned towards supporting the oil producing states or region. A law made by the National Assembly is never sectional. Don't forget that oil could also be found in the north or any other part of the country today and the bill covers it; if it goes to the Southwest, Southeast or any other part, it is the same thing. So, the laws are not for the South-south or the oil producing communities; it is not for the Warri Federal Constituency because they have oil, it is a law that is meant to govern in the acceptable best practices all over the world. I don't want people to see it as a law that is made for particular section of the country because that is where we sometimes have challenges with our brothers and members from other parts of the country. 

In terms of how the bill would have helped the oil producing communities: I have looked at the bill, apart from the aspect of the environmental issues and host communities fund, there is nothing fantastically to the benefit of the oil producing communities and states. Unfortunately for us too, the host communities fund aspect of it, which was to be a 10percent aftertax profit of the oil producing companies - it is not coming from the government. That again lost its value in so many ways. One thing people don't seem to understand to is that the 10percent is coming from the profit after tax of the multinationals and oil producing companies. That again lost its value because what was passed was that all parts of this country are host communities to oil. I find it very laughable to say that the entire country is host to oil. Yes, in terms of our federal law, it says all resources etc belongs to the country. But then do not forget that there is a derivation principle and definition. If you drill deeply, like they do when drilling for oil, into the meaning of derivation, you will find out that the entire country cannot be host communities because there is a point from where that oil is derived. It is that point and adjoining environment that is mostly affected by the oil activities. As such, what i suffer as somebody sitting right now in Warri talking to you in terms of the adverse effects of oil exploration and exploitation activities, is not what a northern who is thousands of miles away from Warri would suffer from the impact of oil exploration. In terms of environmental damages too, what I suffer here may not be what other somebody in other parts of the country like South-west or South-east or North would suffer. I suffer more. What we are  going through in Warri as we speak is something we need to evaluate and take measure to actually put to rest, if not, this is going to be very dangerous to the generations yet unborn.

But that is how it was passed and that is how it is with parliament; we have a loud minority, but the majority would have their way. The law has been passed that way and even if it is not right, we said, 'let's not throwaway the baby and the bathwater.' That is for some of us who are against the principle of having the entire country as host community. We cannot say just because of that alone, let us throw away a bill of more than a thousand clauses. We would come by way of amendments to some aspects of this bill sometimes in future. That is if it is eventually passed and if it will ever be passed.

The PIB, as it seem, is like the controversy generated by the DESOPADEC Law amendment in your state, especially with regards to the nomenclature and its definition; whether host communities or host ethnic nationalities. What do you think about the state's law?

I am a stakeholder from an ethnic nationality that produces oil and I will always be ready to speak on any law that has to do with oil in the state or any other because at the end of my tenure as a federal lawmaker, I am coming back to Warri and in that sense I am a stakeholder.

Having said that, I would say that the fund that is propelling the DESOPADEC is called the 13percent derivation fund. So, I tell you again, drill into derivation and you will understand what I am saying. The 13percent derivation fund is a constitutional issue. It is in the constitution that 13percent of X amount of money must be made available to the host communities. Why I say I like people to look into the meaning of derivation is that the place from where oil is source, the point from where it is sourced, must be taken care of  and it has to be taken care of by whichever way. I am not saying that the bill is saying No, we cannot take of it, the bill has been passed, I have not seen the final copy, so I am not going to be able to make comment. But all I will continue to say is that the area from which that oil is derived must not be forgotten. They must be given adequate attention because the area is being bastardized, the ecosystem is being completed polluted on daily basis. What I suffer as somebody from Warri is not what somebody from the upland in some areas suffer. That was why the FG was magnanimous to say 'You can have 13percent', although we are saying it is not enough, but if it comes to the state we should be able to be magnanimous enough to reconsider those areas that produce the oil. The emission that I suffer, environment damages to health and property as someone living in Warri, is not what somebody in say Okpella suffers; it is quite different.  So, we should look at those areas; it is not just the money. What people are looking at is the money, but they are not looking at the existence and adverse effects suffered by those people closer to these exploration and exploitation activities and it is so sad.

The bill, to quote the governor, is to make DESOPADEC become a more robust and effective in terms of operation than as it used to be. Let us see how that works out. The NDDC, which it is being modeled after, is another issue. I would say that at every given point, that we think about the policies of oil production, we must think about the definition of derivation and how oil production affects the people closest to its source.

How do you think these various intervention agencies (DESOPADEC, NDDC and others) can have more impact in the lives of the people for which they are set up?

The people have to demand for adequate attention by way of agitation. This does not mean that they have to be violent or a call to take up arms. Agitations are in various forms: There is the peaceful violence, intellectual approach to agitation and finally, the violence, which I will not subscribe to, because I don't want lives lost, I prefer the other two.

What you should know is that a northerner is not on the management board of NDDC; they are all people from the Niger Delta, who know what the issues are with these areas. They must have lived here and people that lived here before their appointments as members of the management team. So, they know. The people should demand their rights from these people.

I want to take you to an NDDC project, which you facilitated in your state - the Koko-Ogheye road project. - what is the state of the project?

The road construction is ongoing. It might be slow, but work is going on there. As we speak, we have accomplished about 6km and we are getting close to the first critical aspect of the job, which is the bridge over the Ologbo River. There is progress towards sand filling to the river. By the time we get to the other side, I think we would have completed close to 15km to the Ologbo Bridge. The bridge is a very massive one, which is the next most critical stage of the bridge. There is something I would say and I have suggested it to people; the road should be divided into sections as it is with the East-West highway for quicker accomplishment. It should be for two or three construction companies: one at the beginning, another at the middle and finally one working from the Ogheye end of the project. That would have gone a long way to expedite action on the road. But because we have one contractor and issues of funding is also a major problem; funds are not readily available to all the mega projects around the Niger Delta. Irrespective of these challenges, the project is ongoing, although as I said before, maybe not so satisfied with the pace. 

That road is one of my dreams and I often asked myself if I have to leave office without the completion of more than 50percent of that project. I ask myself: Would somebody who is taking over from me have the same passion for it as I have? That road is very important and I will tell you why. I have looked at developmental strategies in terms of infrastructure, housing. roads, lights and others and I chose road as one of the most important and primary fundamental process to development. Why do I say this? It may be difficult for an ordinary man to put a motorable road into the thick of the forest, but once that road is built, people would start moving in there and they would build their own houses. That is what you are seeing in the Koko-Ogheye road, for the first 6km that we have accomplished, go to the entire area it is been bought up; people are building, tank farms are springing up and they are growing on a daily basis. That is just within two years and the place is opened up completely. 

I want to use this is a forum to advise our governors that what you need to do for the people is to give them infrastructure in some of these areas. What are these infrastructure? A few of them - road with good drainages, light etc -  and you will see the people moving in with their funds to build. There are some instances where I don't think the FG should be engaged in some of these other ventures like building of houses and others. The people want to build their houses to their tastes but give them the necessary facilities for the people to move in. You can take the Ifie road (in Warri) for example, before the construction of Trans-Warri road, it was a one-street village, but today the whole area has become an urban city because of that single road that crosses to the river, it has opened up the entire Ifie. That is the same thing that the Koko-Ogheye road will do to both the Ijaws and Itsekiris on that road because in-between, there are Ijaw and Itsekiri communities - you have Ijaw villages from where you cross into Itsekiri villages and so on until it ends in an Itsekiri village. So, although it starts from an Itsekiri town (Koko) and ends in an Itsekiri village (Ogheye) you have more Ijaw communities in-between with the likes of Ogbudugbudu, Tsekelewu, Opuama and other major Ijaw communities in Egbema Kingdom in the Warri North and that is the beauty and importance of that road. It is a road that will open up the entire area. If you take a drive through the road, you will find out that from the left down to the 6km even beyond that has being bought. Even ahead, developers are buying in anticipation of the road's completion.

The economy  of the area is now shifting focus to Koko because of that road because there are a lots of potentials in the river ways and people don't seem to know. For instance, it is easier to get to Escravos from Koko, so people are moving now and getting ready for the boom. If you go there and look for a piece of 100x50 land along the first 6km, you won't get it. That is why I am worried about that road project; would the person who takes over from me have the same spirit and zeal for it?

You sound like you don't expect the road to be completed before the expiration of your tenure in 2019?

I doubt it would be completed, but that won't stop me from pushing and hoping. Whatever it is, I hope whoever takes over has the same passion and drive to push it through because of how much it means to the people in this area. 

END