From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha’s Chief of Staff and frontline All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Imo State, Chief Uche Nwosu, has said that the 2016 budget assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari recently will bring good tidings to Nigerians as he sees better days ahead.
Nwosu in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun said that the budget would particularly solve most of the nagging problems of the people of the South-East, where most federal roads are dilapidated.
Besides, he noted that President Buhari has through his fight against corruption plugged the loopholes that served as drain pipes, saying that the budget implementation would now be very effective.
Nwosu also looked at the one year of the Buhari administration, as well as Governor Okorocha’s rescue mission in Imo, among other issues.
Excerpts:
President Buhari recently assented to the 2016 budget after a long delay, how do you look at this passage of the budget and what does it hold for the country?
First of all, I want to commend President Buhari for his stance on the issue of the 2016 budget; in the first place, the president made sure that there was no addition and that everything he sent was what he signed. So, it is a budget of hope for the country because I can see a budget where roads and other infrastructure are given more and priority attention, including human empowerment; so the budget has a lot of hope in it for this nation.
Because of the long delay in the passage of the budget, do you think this budget will still achieve its purpose?
Wonderfully well, the budget will still achieve its purpose. Let me tell you, what the president has been doing since was laying the foundation for this budget. For example, he has been fighting corruption. Before now, if you appropriate certain amount of money to Ministry of Power or Ministry of Health for instance, when you go there, the money will go down the drain and the purpose for which it was budgeted will not be realized. So, since President Buhari assumed office, almost one year now, he has put fears into the minds of the civil servants and politicians that if money is coming to any ministry, I don’t see any minister or civil servant or politician that will have the courage to divert or tamper with the money like was obtained in the past. So, this budget for this year will still achieve its purpose because the way the country is now, the ministries and agencies have been stabilized through the fight against corruption by Mr President that when the money comes, it will definitely be applied to the purpose for which it was appropriated. It is only when you have corruption in ministries and agencies that misappropriation is possible; because they would so much delay application of the fund when it arrives until all eyes are out of it and they will divert the money. So, I agree with the president in the first of all, laying the foundation before the money will come for disbursement and implementation for what they are appropriated for.
When key appointments were made by Mr President at the beginning of his government, the Igbo were not quite happy as they didn’t get much, but Governor Okorocha assured that the Igbo would benefit infrastructure-wise; so from this budget, do you see that happening?
There are a lot in the budget to address the infrastructural need of the South-East; let me draw your attention to the Imo Airport, the Federal Government has directed that it should be fully completed and cargo airport become fully operational. Let me also say this that a cargo airport is very essential and key to the people of the South-East. You know that most of our people are entrepreneurs and therefore most of our businessmen and women travel as far as Lagos to go and clear their goods from the airport; so, when this our cargo airport is fully completed and become operational, those goods that would land in Lagos will now be landing here in Imo State. And this will save our business people from the risk of travelling long distances and moving their goods in trailers and other vehicles with the attendant road hazards in long distant journeys. And if you come to the issue of road infrastructure in the South-East, our roads are taken care of in this budget, so I don’t see the South-East not benefiting from this administration or lagging behind.
The problem we have is that our people have refused to key into the mainstream of the politics of Nigeria; we must accept that President Buhari is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Some of our people still see President Buhari as the president of APC; no, he is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and therefore, the entire South-East governors should take this and key into his administration for the benefit of our people and region. Look at the North now, the entire North is queuing behind President Muhammadu Buhari and have kept politics apart. So, when our people are saying that we are being denied this or that, then you ask, have you moved from your old stand, have you gone to Mr President, have you told him we are in support of your presidency; it is only Owelle Rochas Okorocha who keep on saying that President Buhari will not disappoint the South-East; other South-East governors should join him so that our people will get their due. For completing this cargo airport for the South-East, our people should learn how to say Mr President thank you, we are businessmen, you have done well at least we don’t have to go to Lagos again for our cargoes. So, I believe that this budget will favour the people of the South-East greatly.
How would you like to assess the first one year of the Buhari administration, particularly his fight against corruption in the face of the outcry by the PDP that the president appears to be using the fight for vendetta?
No, I don’t believe so, when you talk about corruption, you know who President Buhari is and what he did when he was the military Head of State. Corruption has gone into the bone marrow of most Nigerians that when you mention fight against corruption, people think it’s a vendetta. For crying out loud, the money we are talking about is over N21 billion, and our people up till now have refused to understand that this money can take care of so many infrastructural development in the country and people should know that in Nigeria, we have passed that stage of saying that because I am from the Igbo area, that is why they have arrested me or because I am from Yoruba or the North and the president doesn’t like me, that is why he arrested me or that I am from the PDP. So, if you are in the PDP, is that the reason you should steal Nigeria’s money? Or if you are in APC, you should steal Nigeria’s money because you are in power, no, Nigeria belongs to all of us.
And our constitution does not say because you are in PDP or APC or any other party, you can therefore, steal; no, the law must take its course. And what the president is doing has instilled fear into public and civil servants and politicians and people are scared of even saying give me N5 before I can do this thing for you. For me, President Buhari has done wonderfully well on the issue of corruption and I don’t see him as a person carrying out vendetta against any political opponent or party.
You can see that in the beginning, some of the people that were arrested had their roots in APC, but when they made their statements and were cleared, they were released. So, let us remove ourselves from the sentiment that because of I am from so, so party if I steal, the government and the law should keep quiet; no, Nigeria has grown above that and whether you are in APC or PDP, corruption is corruption, the same way hunger is hunger, whether you are an Hausa man, Igbo man or Yoruba man, hunger does not know tribe or religion; the same way corruption does not know tribe or religion, if you are corrupt, you are corrupt and if you are corrupt the law should take its course. So, to me, the president has done well in this one year and as I said earlier, he has laid solid foundation for the country to stand on.
On the issue of Boko Haram, who will believe that you will stay one, two weeks or more without Boko Haram striking in Nigeria, but look at it now, Boko Haram has been decimated. The issue of corruption has drastically gone down, the image of Nigeria abroad is coming up; what we should wait for now that the budget has been passed is infrastructural and human empowerment, especially for the youths which I know the president will surely deliver.
Last week, your boss, Governor Okorocha was reported to have said that he won’t be contesting the 2019 presidential election because of Buhari despite his obvious ambition to lead the country. So with his new decision, what will he be doing after 2019?
First of all, I have to give it to the governor for coming out boldly to say that because of President Muhammadu Buhari, he will not contest in 2019. I think what it shows is that Owelle Rochas Okorocha has great respect for the man called Buhari; first, he saw the vision that he has been trying all these years to give to Nigerians and now he has seen a man that has that same vision. One, is the unity of Nigeria which Buhari also has; so, saying that he will not contest the 2019 presidential election is laudable and a welcome development because people believe that until you vie for a position, that is when you will know that you are the best. It is rare in Nigeria to see somebody who has contested several times for the presidency to come out to say I am not contesting, let me support another person.
What you will hear is that I must contest, this person is not the best; we must learn how to support whoever that is doing good. And Owelle Rochas Okorocha has toed that line by saying that we should all support our president, Buhari and all of us in Imo State will support him by toeing the line of our governor. On the issue of what the governor will be doing after 2019, it is left for him; the Owelle I know is not a man who hungers for power. He might decide not to go to the Senate, he might decide to go, but this is between him and his future. For now, he is the governor of Imo State, he has not told us that he would go to the Senate, the only thing he has told us is that he would not run for the presidency in 2019 because of our president, Muhammadu Buhari and the good things that he has done.