Mbadinuju’s Many Obstacles

Teachers, civil servants in Anambra State stay home over non-payment of salaries, allowances.  Will the strike action stop the governor in 2003?

Geoffrey Ekenna

For Chinwoke Mbadi- nuju, governor of Anambra State , govern-ance is a crown of thorns. He is not only faced with the task of surmounting the Anambra People’s Forum, APF, whose members are threatening to upstage him in the 2003 elections. He is now faced by mass disenchantment occasioned by a general strike of teachers and civil servants in the state’s employment. As the 2003 elections draw nearer, rather than abate, Mbadinuju’s problems appear to be growing.

His inability to pay civil servants and teachers in the employment of the state is the latest and most threatening problem to his re-election bid. For seven months running, teachers in the state have been on strike. They started the strike on October 29, 2001 while civil servants joined them on February 15. They are all protesting the inability of the state government to pay their entitlements, ranging from salaries, leave allowances to arrears of increments. The strike action has not only grounded public schools in the state but has left government-owned offices and parastatals  empty.

On Monday, April 15, when the governor went to the state secretariat for the weekly Monday morning devotion, which he conducts, the secretariat was under lock and key. What used to be a lively activity with massive turnout of workers, was only attended by top government officials and workers in the government house, not more than 50 in number.  "That tells you what we are passing through," said a senior government official who requested not to be named.

Charles Onyeagba, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, told Newswatch that the workers would not resume until the government made substantial payments to settle all the debts owed them. He told this magazine that workers in the state had not received their salaries since December and had not received their leave allowances for two years, in addition to arrears of increments since 1999. He put the total debt owned workers in the state at N5 billion.

“We want them to make substantial payments. We have called on prominent people of Anambra to call on the government to order the payment of teachers’ salaries or do they want us to be working without salaries,” he told Newswatch in Enugu .

Students in public schools in the state have resorted to evening classes and private extra-mural classes. A student at the Igwebuike High School ,  Awka, told Newswatch that the situation was becoming unbearable. “It is not the best for us at all. It is bad. We are not in any way happy about it. What we do is to go for evening classes. That is where we are now,” he said. He is in SS3 and hopes to write the forthcoming May/June senior secondary school examination.

Rumours that teachers had decided to return to school proved to be false.  A male teacher at Nimo Girls Secondary School told Newswatch that teachers went back to their houses after due consultations with the NLC. He said that an attempt by some people to resume academic activities was stopped by a monitoring group of the labour body. However, he said that the teachers would still supervise the examination when the time comes. “The students themselves know that the problem is not ours. It is the government that is causing it all,” he said.

The workers’ resolve not to return to work was strengthened by a directive from Adams Oshiomhole, the national president of  NLC. He visited the state March 28 and urged the workers to continue their strike. He also gave the governor a two-week ultimatum to pay the workers. “We will explore all the frontiers of crises for the government of Anambra State . For the avoidance of doubt, we are giving Odera 14 days within which to find the money and pay all the workers’ outstanding salaries, arrears and allowances, otherwise, we will chase him out of government house,” Oshiomhole said. The ultimatum expired April 11. The government failed to pay.

But the strike is turning out to be a subject of political warfare between Mbadinuju and the APF, his main obstacle to the 2003 elections. APF is an arm of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, funded by Emeka Offor, a businessman. While Mbadinuju accused NLC of dancing to the tune of the APF, the latter attributes the non-payment of salaries to the governor’s inability to manage the finances of the state.

On Wednesday, April 3, a new state executive of the APF was sworn in at Onitsha . Nathaniel Anah, the chairman called for a declaration of state of emergency in the state. He said that that was the only way to salvage the state from total collapse.  Anah reasoned that the strike action by workers and teachers in the state was enough indicator of danger in the state.

“ Anambra State has no schools now functioning, no civil service functioning and we are still answering a state. In actual fact, a state of emergency should have been declared in Anambra State so as to create a situation where our children will go back to school and the civil servants will go back to work,” he said.

On Sunday, April 13, when select members of the APF were hosted by J.C. Oragwa, the traditional prime minister of Uga, in Aguata local government area of the state, the strike action and Mbadinuju’s “poor” performance was the refrain.  Speaker after speaker reiterated the need to  ensure that the governor does not get re-elected, because of   the people's plight in his hands.

Nnamdi Nnoruka, a retired group captain and co-ordinator of APF told the people to use their mandate as voters to remove Mbadinuju in the next elections.  He later told Newswatch that the APF foresaw the situation and warned the people about it long ago. He said that the government’s inability to meet its financial obligations to the citizens was due to a “borrowing spree” engaged by the governor without executing the relevant projects for which the money was obtained.  “All the money coming from the federation account, both allocation, ecological fund and VAT were being collected and nothing was being channelled towards what it was meant for. We forecast that civil servants will no longer be paid.  By that time, pensioners were being owed and we knew that the trend will continue,"   he told Newswatch.

He said that it was when he noticed the way things were going and the “corrupt practices of the governor” that he wrote a petition to the federal government calling for an investigation of Mbadinuju. The governor was, however, absolved of any financial impropriety by the panel set up by the federal government. “I still stand by every allegation I made against him.  It is now manifest,” he said.

Martin Igbokwe, immediate past chairman of NITEL board told Newswatch that APF was vindicated with the situation in the state. He said that the state was crippled as a result of heavy loan taken by the governor, for which the projects were not executed. “Because of corruption, our people are not going to school and workers are not being paid,” he said adding, “you won’t be exaggerating the fact if you say that the government of Anambra State has collapsed.” he said.

Igbokwe’s position is shared by Anieze Chinwuba, a political scientist and runner-up to Mbadinuju in the 1998 gubernatorial primaries in the state. He told Newswatch that by the time the APF succeeded in installing a government in the state by 2003, Mbadinuju would go on trial for misappropriating the state’s fund.

“Mbadinuju has not done well. He is a disaster in Anambra State . So, why are people in Abuja still wasting time with such a man?  His continued stay in office is going to cost the PDP a lot of votes.  Anambra State has become   poor because of Mbadinuju’s mismanagement,” he said.

The APF is not alone in the disenchantment against the governor. Across the towns of Awka and Onitsha , which Newswatch visited, there is a deep resentment of the state of affairs in the state by workers, teachers, artisans and traders. At the Eke Awka market for instance, Ngozi Agbo, a dealer in textile materials told Newswatch that business had come to a standstill since workers in the state had not been paid. “Save for these university students in this town, there’s no other thing to do in the market. Life is coming to a standstill here,” she said.

A hairdresser at Nnamdi Azikiwe Road , Awka also told this magazine, that her business had been crippled by the strike. “You know a young lady of my type needs to eat. I don’t understand what Odera (Mbadinuju) is doing here,” she said.

Mbadinuju told Newswatch in Awka that the non-payment of salaries were not due to mismanagement or corruption as being alleged but to short-falls in the federation account and deductions by creditor-banks from what is left of the state’s allocation. He said that the state spent about N573 million while it received about N600 million from the federation account.

"Every month, they deduct about N400 million from our account. Apart from that, there are other local banks, which we are owing which we repay not less than N300 million every month.  So, when you add up all these things, you discover that what we collect from the federation account is spent in paying debts. There was a month we came home with N75 million. There was another one we came with N100 million.  So, how can you pay salaries of N573 million? Assuming that we are here to pay salaries, the money cannot pay it,  he said.

“The labour people have been so unreasonable about it. Of all we have done for and told them, they are the people carrying the rumour of APF opposition,” he said.

Mbadinuju said he intended to clear the backlog from the end of April. He said that  he had instructed the head of service to start preparing vouchers for the payments. He said that his government was making every effort possible to pay the workers.

As part of efforts to generate revenue to pay the salaries, the government has embarked on a massive revenue drive within the major cities in the state to boost its internally revenue base. Chinedu Emeka, the state deputy governor is at the head of the new drive. On April 15, he appeared at the governor’s office in a pair of jeans ready to lead the pack by 12.00p.m. Newswatch gathered that every trader in Anambra State will pay N1,100 in the new drive. This is broken down into N500 development fee, N500 yearly income tax and N100 security levy. It is believed in government quarters that traders in the state do not pay taxes.

Newswatch gathered that the revenue drive is a last ditch effort by the governor to solve the salary problem after several negotiations for loans from banks failed. A source told Newswatch that the move came after one of the big four first generation banks failed to grant a loan at the last minute to the state but demanded the payroll of the workers to effect payment. The source told Newswatch that the governor refused to accept the arrangement but “wanted the loan in cash."

Mbadinuju is not worried that the non-payment of salary may threaten his re-election. He told Newswatch that as far as his mandate in Anambra State was concerned, he had fulfilled his promises to the people. He said that he was the best candidate the PDP can present in the state.

“When once the incumbent has done well, the only good thing is a second term. I came to office with a lopsided support in spite of opposition of the APF. I made three promises during my campaign. One, that I will give the state a befitting capital. We’ve done it. You can’t pass through Awka now and say you didn’t know when you passed it. Two, that I will leave the state better than I found it. We’ve done it, minus propaganda. The third promise is that I will put God first, that I’ve been doing,” he said.

The governor’s confidence is bolstered by the recent  by-election into the state house of assembly which was won by Chris Aniagor, from his camp. Mbadinuju believes that, that victory is a warning shot not only to other parties but to the APF, that his government will sweep the polls in 2003.

Aniagor defeated Jona Okolo of the APP for the Awka North constituency held April 4. Aniagor replaced Ken Enemuo who was recently appointed  commissioner of housing and environment by Mbadinuju.

The  governor told Newswatch that the victory was a sign that the APF had lost out in the state’s power play. He accused the APF of fielding Okolo on the ticket of APP but were defeated. “After what happened at Awka North the APF is no longer in existence. They have lost out and it is difficult for them to go back to PDP out of pride,” he said.

That is the same view of Nkwo Nnabuchi, Mbadinuju’s factional chairman of the PDP. He said that the APF had lost out and should not constitute any obstacle in Mbadinuju’s re-election plan. He reasoned that the victory at the by-election was an indication that his faction would have an upper hand in the next election, come what may. “If we won the by-election, it is an indication that we won after three years, which is 75 percent of our term, then by next year, we will do better,” he said.

He, however, acknowledged that the salary problem was a big minus for Mbadinuju’s government, even though he argued that civil servants and teachers constituted a minor arm of the voting population in the state. “If I were in charge we will pay them. If I were in position, I will allow our children to go to school. But I don’t hold brief for the government,” he told Newswatch.

The APF, however, denied fielding a candidate on the platform of the APP. Both Chinwuba and Igbokwe told Newswatch separately that APF’s main aim was to push out Mbadinuju. Chinwuba told Newswatch that it was only reasonable that the PDP won the by-election since the state is largely a PDP state. He said he did not see any reasons for chest-beating by Mbadinuju. “PDP is the party in Anambra State . You don’t need to talk to anybody before they vote for you. If Mbadinuju wants to test his popularity, let him go to another party or let him wait and seek renomination,” he said.

For Mbadinuju , a re-election in 2003 is not coming on a platter of gold. Anambra State is manifesting signs of high stake politics, double-dealing and intrigues. Efforts by both the national leadership of the PDP and the presidency to resolve the Mbadinuju - APF deadlock has often hit the rocks.   In government quarters, it is believed that Atiku Abubakar, vice-president and Vincent Ogbulafor, secretary of PDP are behind the APF, while President Olusegun Obasanjo and Audu Ogbeh have sympathies for Mbadinuju. That probably explains why Mbadinuju supports the second term bid of President Obasanjo. The governor said he had confidence in Ogbeh’s administration but not particularly in Ogbulafor.

Ogbulafor signed the letter which recognised Alex Edozieuno of the APF as the PDP chairman in the state in February this year. That was after an inconclusive congress election in the state produced two factional chairmen, Edozieuno and Nnabuchi. It is believed in Mbadinuju’s camp that Emeka Offor used his friendship with Abubakar to secure that recognition.

Mbadinuju said that Ogbulafor signed the letter when Ogbeh was away from the country. He regretted that he became a casualty of his own judgment. “His governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, told us at the governors’ meeting with vice-president that he would not recommend him  (Ogbulafor).... I was the governor who got up and said look, it is not a question of whether they are good or not. The president wants them. The other governors accepted it. The first casualty of Ogbulafor was myself,” he said.

The APF on the other side accused some unnamed executives of the party at the national level of sustaining the crisis to rip off the state.  The APF alleged that the fact-finding team to the state from the national PDP compromised itself, hence its recommendation that Mbadinuju’s faction be recognised. The team led by Pogu Bitru recommended that the zonal list submitted by the governor be recognised, and that Alex Ekwueme, the party’s board of trustees chairman, who incidentally is in the governor’s camp be respected in issues affecting his state.

Newswatch Volume 35 No 18, May 6, 2002

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