I Will Always Triumph
By
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Jolly Nyame, is the only reverend gentleman who is a state governor in Nigeria today. He is also one of the two governors who have been elected three times to govern their people, the second being the Yobe State governor.
In those years, Nyame has gannered experience and attained maturity which have helped him in successfully navigating the very difficult terrain of governance. He has transformed Jalingo, the state capital from its rural state in 1999 to a prosperous city with well paved streets, an airport which is under construction, housing estates, a modern hospital which boasts of equipment comparable only to those of Nigeria's best teaching hospitals, an ultra-modern market, a stadium and more.
Most of those projects are also replicated in the local government areas of the state. His people are appreciative of what has been achieved. But there are those who have not only refused to acknowledge what has been achieved but are on a campaign mission "to pull me down." To those people his message is "I Will Always Triumph." He sent that message during an interview he granted a team of journalists in Jalingo recently. Excerpts:
Question: We will like to have a summary of the major things you have done for the state?
Answer:You have seen some of the things we have put in place. When I took over the mantle of leadership in 1999, there was a complete absence of visible physical infrastructure on ground. I found myself in a position whereby, I wanted to make Jalingo look like a state capital. I wanted to make Jalingo a model whereby if you come to Jalingo even if you close your eyes, you will feel that you have come to a state capital. One of the very first things we did was to create an atmosphere, whereby when people come into Jalingo, at least the township roads will give them the feelings that they have come to an urban centre.
We came up with road network within Jalingo and we also created a by-pass. So there was massive road construction. We gave it to two different contractors. The housing programme we adopted was to help Tarabans not just workers, but indigenes and also those people that will want to come and stay and do legal business in Taraba State are also welcome. You must have gone around and have seen for yourself. These are going to be on owner-occupier basis and some are going for outright purchase.
We also know that sporting activities are some of the things that will project any urban centre and that's the reason we came up with this multi-billion Naira project of a stadium, a games village and outdoor facilities. We also know that if we have a stadium, we need to provide the means of communication, that people can come and participate, not necessarily by road. That's the reason why we came up with the airport project which you must have seen and if we are able to do very good funding, we are very very sure between March and April, the job will be completed.
We are sensitive to the health of our people. We decided to come up with state of the art hospital, which you must have seen too. We try to build a very good hospital and equip it with the best ultra-modem equipment because we know that in Taraba and other states around, when people are sick, they either go to Lagos and Ibadan while some that are rich fly out of the country. These equipment that are here are the ones that could be seen either in Lagos or Ibadan, even abroad. We feel these are some of the things that should be put in place in Jalingo.
When we came in 1999, the water supply network was very very bad. It was the one that was put in place since the Gongola State days. So we tried to expand the water network, so as to cover the entire town. We have not covered the entire town yet, but we are going to expand it, by the grace of God, before the middle of this year. We have embarked on rural roads, provision of water in the rural areas, rural health care delivery in Gashaka, Donga, Kumi, in Kunini and Mutumbiu. These are all places that we try to put small health care centres. We have a big hospital in Takum, which is comparable to the one in Jalingo. So we try to put one in the Northern part and another one in the Southern part. These small clinics will be like feeder to the big hospitals.
The tractors we provided are also combined harvesters, to help boost food production. The whole idea behind this is to eradicate poverty. We know that the state is agrarian in nature. Also the only way we can improve on our internally-generated revenue is to boost agriculture and that's why we have a massive programme on rice production. The government has also encouraged co-operatives. The government provides the land, ploughs it, harrows it, sow it and whatever they get from it, we just take a portion of it and the rest they take to their homes. We have done the same thing for cassava; we have done the same thing for maize. The state government will have lots of food.
Question: You talked about airport, but there is the controversy about the airport and aircraft. The government paid for the supply of an aircraft. What is the situation about the aircraft?
Answer: We have got two aircraft, right now on ground. One is in Kaduna, the other one is in Abuja. It's with EAS. They are like our consultants to take care of the aircraft.
Question: Are they using it on behalf of the state?
Answer: Yes, but the money is being put in our own account on a monthly basis.
Question: How do you react to the notion that the aircraft you paid for was not supplied?
Answer: The thing is that there was one of these times that we wanted to buy an aircraft. We wanted to buy another one, because there was a very good return on investment in that business but we realised that the make was not as good as the ones we had. We had given the contractor part of the money, slightly over N200 million and I am surprised that some people are making others to believe that N200 million is for an aircraft. It takes about a billion Naira to get an aircraft. That money was only part payment. When we realised that it was not as rugged as what we wanted, we told the contractor we don't need it again. It is generally accepted anywhere in government. It is either you get your money back and if you are going to get your money back, definitely, you can't get it intact, because there are some charges for breach of contract. So we told him, so as not to loose money, please can you supply XYZ in place of aircraft. And that was exactly, what he did. There are receipts to it. Some people don't even believe we have a tyre, but we have two aircraft on ground now.
The need to have an airport in Taraba State cannot be over emphasised. It took over 8 to 9 hours for me to get here from Abuja today. And as soon as we arrived, my special assistant told me there is another meeting in Abuja tomorrow. So, imagine how I can go back to Abuja. Again, if you want to open up the state for tourism, you need to have an airport.
Question: How much of the deposit paid to the contractor was recovered?
Answer: The entire money was recovered.
Question: We understand the harvester tractors were not supplied?
Answer: We have about 50 tractors, which have been distributed to farmers. They paid for them, some of them filled forms. Some groups, co-operative, over 50 groups, and individuals have benefited from the tractors.
Question: Apart from the Federal Allocation to your state, what efforts have your administration put in place to increase the internally generated revenue?
Answer: It is to boost the internally generated revenue that we embarked on agriculture. We have been able to plug some loopholes. Before now, most of these taxes and levies due to the government were paid into individual accounts. And because we have blocked those channels, some people that are no longer benefiting from there, are blackmailing government. If you trace these blackmailers, you will trace it to those people that were benefitting from siphoning government revenues. A case in question. Nobody talked about the looting of the treasury in 1992/93. There were huge sums of money, millions and millions. There was a complete bank account in Bank of the North that was supposed to be meant for payee. They paid in the money with the right hand and collected it back with the left hand. There are records. There are fake vouchers, receipts that were printed and used to siphone the money. Nobody is talking about that one. We have plugged these loopholes. For our target we are looking at least N100 every month, before the middle of this year.
Question: How can you justify the building of an NYSC Camp? Some people are saying that you are spending so much of the state government's money on such a project that is supposed to be executed by the federal government?
Answer: Most of my detractors, because they are not involved in the issue of contracts, are unhappy. This is the fact. If you have been to the NYSC Camp, you will need to have that kind of camp. By the way, it is not just an NYSC Camp. It is a satellite camp and it is going to be used not just by youth corpers, but also by Christians, who will prepare themselves for pilgrimage to Jerusalem and it will be used by Moslems who will prepare themselves for Mecca. And it is going to be used too to generate revenue. There are instances that Moslems or Christians will like to go for camping. Gowon is here now for Nigeria prays. They are renting the trade fair complex. If you have a more decent place, where people can camp, pay little money, you are generating revenue. You are providing services to the people and you are also generating revenue for the government. The present NYSC camp in Jalingo is a secondary school. We sent the students home very year when NYSC members are campng. Whenever the orientation is about to take place, we force the students to go home. They are loosing. We are displacing the students. This should not continue. That is why we are building a camp in Zing.
Question: How come after you paid the money for the project, the contractor did not move to site until EFCC operators came to the state?
Answer: The contract was awarded sometimes in November, but the money was paid towards the end of November. And just in December, you had Christmas, you had Sallah, yet the contractor. If you know Bongos Ikwe (the contractor) very well or anybody that has anything to do with Bongos, if you give him down payment, he will use more than two- thirds of the money to buy materials. Apart from clearing the place, he took time to travel out of Jalingo, to get the materials. He couldn't get them here. It was recently that the EFCC invited him. He was paid November 29. So for people to say it was because of EFCC, they are not being fair.
Question: It has been observed that the EFCC has shown so much interest in your state over some time now. How do you react to that?
Answer: I wouldn't want to react to whatever EFCC is doing in the state. All I know is that, whichever questions they ask, we have answers for them. On our own we started looking at our book in 2000. A committee was set up. A white paper was issued. We were just about to deliberate on that white paper at an exco meeting. Just then EFCC started. So what EFCC is only doing what we have started.
Question: You mean your government was trying to investigate itself?
Answer: Yes, we investigated. We have got facts, we have got proofs that people looted. And when EFCC came, they first of all took that report. We thought they were going to help us recoup this money. From there, their works kept expanding.
Question: Why would your administration have to give half a million Naira to each legislator? There was an allegation that there was a deduction from local government account which was distributed among members of the state house of assembly and each person got half a million Naira.
Answer: It is always unfair to come up with an allegation without facts. If there is any deduction there must be tabulation. There is no column that any amount of money was deducted to give anybody. So for anybody to allege that we are taking N500,000 from each local government, to give to each member of the House of Assembly is somebody's imagination.
Question: How would you describe your government's management of local government accounts? Don't you tamper with it?
Answer: I wish you could ask the local government chairmen directly. Usually the commissioner of finance briefs us on what we get from the federation account; state and local government. The commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs is the chairman of joint account. He seats down with the local government chairmen and the representatives for Primary Education Board and Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Nobody will come from the RMAFC and sit down to see that they are deducting money carelessly from local government account. They would have reported.
Question: It is being said that you award contracts without competitive bidding?
Answer: It is just because those people saying that are not involved in the award of contracts. How do they know? Have they gone to ask the ministries concerned? It is just because they are not party to it.
Question: The reports we got is that you are very comfortable with some contractors and that they are actually fronting for you. Could you please react to that?
Answer: If there is any link between me and a contractor, I would have been jailed already.
Question: You have immunity, nobody can jail you?
Answer: What is happening to Alamieyeseigha?
Question: He was impeached before being arraigned for trial.
Answer: Thank you very much. It could also happen to me.
Question: What is your relationship with Lucky Ogbolua?
Answer: Lucky Ogbolua is just a contractor and as far as I am concerned, he is one of the few contractors who, when you give a job, he will give you the best. Take for example the radio transmitters, he deals with Harris and I didn't just trust him like that, I went to Harris myself, both in UK and the US. I also went to their stand when they were doing an international fair in Amsterdam. I had to convince myself before now, even as a chief executive, I gave to another contractor, who went and gave me something different and of low quality. And I asked: Why can't I go for the best? And the only recognised Harris dealer in Africa is Lucky's company.
Question: Apart from the supply of the equipment, how come that most of the contracts in this state are being handled by this same Lucky?
Answer: You cannot say most, but some. If you say most, you are giving the impression that two-thirds of the jobs are being given to him.
Question: We saw the specialist hospital but how soon will that hospital be put to use?
Answer: We still have a little bit of the money to pay the contractor. The physical structures are completed and we paid him 100 percent. For the equipment, we are still to pay him and then we take over. I am looking at the beginning of April.
Question: We saw some equipment in crates at the television and work is not going on there.
Answer: Those transmitters are meant for three stations. They are not for the station you saw. That is something good about Lucky. He is ever faster than us. The time we gave him the contract, we thought the manufacturing of the equipment will take long. He has delivered the equipment, but we are just on the contract for the construction of the three stations. All that is remaining is to set up the masts. The masts are already on ground. By the time the masts are set, we can relay the signals to the stations.
Question: It was not seen as a proper memo, because proper procedures were not followed.
Answer: That's a flimsy excuse.
Question: It is being suggested that contracts awarded by your administration are generally over inflated?
Answer: I have the Taraba House of Assembly, which is a separate arm of government, which is supposed to check the excesses of the executive. If the Taraba State House of Assembly has not complained, I don't see anybody that has the legal right to question that. Before we award any contract if it has to do with construction, it passes through the ministry of works. If it is electrical, it passes through the ministry of works, because we have engineers there. To say that the contracts are inflated, I don't understand.
Question: You promised to rededicate yourself to the service of the people of Taraba during your 50th birthday anniversary. Exactly, what do you mean by that?
Answer: There were lots of pitfalls generally. I am the chief executive. I cannot just fold my hands and be looking at the whole situation. There were pitfalls on the internally generated revenue, there were big chunks of money going into people's pockets. I said no, we have to find out where and we did find out where and the reason why this time around the internally generated revenue has jacked up by more than 30 percent.
Question: With all these, what are your projections, your dreams for an average Taraban, before the expiration of your tenure in 2007?
Answer: I have always said we are going to put smiles on the faces of people, but I will make it more practical. When I spoke about agriculture, I really meant it. We are going to eradicate poverty by encouraging people to go back to farm. There is going to be food on the tables of people than before. Better services will be delivered to the people, health care, supplies of water and the rest of them.
Question: How well spread are the projects of your administration?
Answer: Well, we have projects outside the state capital. Like I said before, when I came in, there was virtually nothing in the state capital. We have to give the state capital a befitting outlook. We have to put in a lot of funds to develop the state capital. We are not unmindful of the fact that our electorates also live outside Jalingo. We have taken serious measures to develop the rural areas by providing water, roads, healthcare delivery, schools renovation etc.
Question: How do you react to the allegation that some of your government officials who were arrested by the EFCC, volunteered more information than you expected and that you are disappointed with them?
Answer: I would have sacked them; I would have sacked anybody that I am disappointed with. If I am not comfortable with anybody why would I stay with the person. I appointed them. If I am disappointed with any person, I sack him. But the thing is that investigations are still on. Why should I be angry? Let's see the outcome of the investigation. We will know whether the person is right or wrong. After all, I have not been briefed by the EFCC. If EFCC discovers anything, they will let me know.
Question: We also learnt that you awarded contracts to a company and over N200 million was returned to you.
Answer: If there is a contract and I want to do it, why can't I do it myself. Why do I have to give it to somebody to give me back the money? If there is any iota of truth in this, I would have been in jail. My familiar background does not condone such a thing.
Question: You are the only reverend gentleman in Nigeria who is a governor. What impact has that background had on your administration?
Answer: It must have given a positive projection in Taraba State and even my style of governance. That's even the reason why the people have more confidence in me. I will stand to be corrected. When I leave, the people will see the difference. There is a remarkable difference actually if you know what to do and you do it well. And because you are afraid not just of the law you are afraid of the world hereafter. So it makes the difference.
Question: Most governors are grooming their successors. Who is likely to succeed you?
Answer: I am very comfortable with every Taraban. I am not unmindful of the fact that there are some people out to destroy what have been put in place. So I have worked with a lot of people in the state, be it from the North, South or Central senatorial zones. There are good hands that I know can handle the mantle of leadership and government will run very well.
Question: In other words, you are interested in who succeeds you.
Answer: Not as an individual, because the format that I am going to adopt will make you believe in me that I don't have anybody in mind.
Question: We understand that some people who opposed you initially are coming to your side now. What is the secret?
Answer: Well, my detractors are in different forms. One group is those that contested with me and lost and they are trying to get at me at all cost. They want to pull me down. Some are those people like I said earlier who felt that the channel through which they used to get money has been blocked. If you use to get money through, for instance, water board and the channel is blocked, you won't be happy at all. The new system has plugged all the loopholes. The money does not flow to anybody again. I know I will always triumph. But I don't keep malice.
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