Dickson Okafor
Member representing Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency of Imo State at the House of Representatives, Chinedu Emeka Martins, has urged the Igbo to enter a coalition with other geographical zones if they want to win the 2023 presidential election. The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) lawmaker in this interview spoke on various issues.
For the member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives, . In this interview, the first time lawmaker and mover of the motion for the abolition of acceptance fee in the tertiary institution in Nigeria gave reasons why he moved the motion.
He expressed confident that the mandate of Governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha will be affirmed by the Supreme, adding that just as he is the choice of the people of his constituency, Ihedioha is the choice of Imo people.
He speaks about other issues
Your emergence as member representing Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency in the Green chamber came as a surprise to many considering the fact that you were considered an underdog, but surprisingly, you defeated an incumbent and a member of the party in the centre; how were you able to achieve that feat?
I won’t say it is by my effort or the amount of money I spent, but I give God the glory because it is God that gives power. Having said that, I also work hard and I’ am the choice of the people. Our people were not satisfied with the crop of people who had represented us in the House of Representatives in the past from the late Independent Ogunewe to Nnana Igbokwe who were my predecessors. They were unable to represent us effectively and that resulted to the backwardness of my constituency within those years they were in the lower legislative chamber. So, I said to myself, let me go and change this narrative. I have the zeal and the will to impact people’s lives; even before I came into politics I had been impacting lives positively. I decided that since I have been touching lives, why don’t I go into politics and with public funds better the lives of people than I had done in the past. That is actually what motivated me to aspire to represent my people in the Green chamber of the National Assembly. I’m less than six months in office and considering what I have done so far, I believe that by the grace of God, I will do better than my predecessors.
Many have argued that voting out ranking members at all levels of representation and replace them with first timers like you may hinder development and continuity, what is your reaction to that?
For me the case is totally different because I have come to work and that is what my people had yearned for many years which made them seek a better replacement for my predecessors. Yes, lack of continuity may affect development. That is if the representatives or leaders are doing well. But in our case, the reverse is the case. You will agree with me that no coach will change a winning team just as my people could not have changed my predecessors if they had met their expectations as their representatives in the lower chambers. Before I got elected, there was no Federal Government presence in my constituency and we see representatives from various constituencies attracting projects and amenities to their areas, but you cannot point at any project our past representatives attracted to Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency. So, my people decided to shop for a better replacement and I was chosen. In 2020 budget that was passed by the National Assembly few days ago, I made input for my constituency in the area of infrastructure. I captured the necessary projects my people are yearning for in the budget and by the time the budget is implemented, my people will see visible infrastructure come to them. So, as a first timer or new comer to the National Assembly, my people are not going to be shortchanged. Just as I have started doing and will continue to offer them quality and effective representation that will indeed, change the narrative. Talking about experience in the parliament, it all depends on your exposure and ability to catch up with legislative proceedings and processes and the zeal to deliver the dividend of democracy to your constituents. My people already have been commending me for starting well through the motion to stop collection of acceptance fee from parents before their children and wards can be admitted into tertiary institutions in the country.
What motivated you to move motion for the abolition of Acceptance Fees in the nation’s institutions of higher learning?
As a grassroots politician, whenever I’m at home either for constituency briefing or meetings, I do interact with my constituents mostly youths and among the youths, there are brilliant ones who I believe are supposed to get admission into the university and other tertiary institutions, but I discovered that most of them had not gotten admission. When I asked them what was the reason they could not secure admission, they said because they could not afford acceptance fees demanded by the institutions. Most times, I get several calls from my constituents mostly parents and students asking me to assist them financially pay their children or their acceptance fees. The painful part of the story is that they may get admission, but because of their inability to pay acceptance fees, they would not get admitted. I now thought of it, and I said, why younger generation of Nigerians should be denied education because of acceptance fee? I remember back in my days, there was nothing like acceptance, all I did when I got admission letter was to acknowledge the admission letter in writing without paying a kobo as acceptance fee. So, that was what motivated me to move the motion. I also found that a lot of candidates are losing admission because of the inability to afford acceptance fee. Most of them find it difficult to raise the fee. So, that motivated me to move the motion.
How was the motion received by your colleagues?
In fact, the first time I showed one of my colleagues the motion, he confessed to me that he had intention of moving similar motion. He said since my own was coming before his, that he would and he did support it. When I also met another colleague, Prestige, he commended the motion and ticked it as one of the motions he was speaking in support in the order, saying one of his constituents called and asked him to help him pay his acceptance fee. So, you find out that the motion is not only peculiar to my constituency, but to the 360 constituencies in the country. That is why majority of members spoke in favour of the motion and supported it and that is the reason it was able to see the light of the day.
What impact do you think the motion will make if passed into law?
According to my prayers, if the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Committee on Tertiary Education worked and diligently follow this motion, I can tell you that it is going to encourage more youths to seek admission. It would relieve many parents of the financial burden associated with acceptance fee. While moving the motion, I gave instances of a man who is earning a minimum wage of N30, 000 as approved by the Federal Government, an amount some state governments are unable to pay and this man’s sons were offered admission by a university and he is expected to pay acceptance, how do you expect this man to be able to pay the fee with low minimum of N30, 000? And you find out that the acceptance fee varies from one institution to the other. You have some asking for as much as N150, 000, some N60, 000, some N70, 000 and the lowest I have seen is N25, 000. Even at that, how do you expect a man earning N30, 000 to pay such fee? It did not end there, after paying acceptance fee, he has tuition fee to contend with. He also have developmental levy, hostel fees and text books to buy. That is a whole lot of financial burden on the parents. And this is a man who is earning just N30, 000. Invariably, what the system is saying is that the child of a poor man should not access to tertiary education. The system has denied that child access to tertiary education and it shouldn’t be so. Education should be for everybody not for the rich alone. You find out that if a candidate or an applicant is seeking admission and his or her parent were unable to pay the acceptance that year, he or she will have to wait for another one year to write JAMB again. By the time you know it, frustration will set in and if frustration sets in, it may lead the child into social vices such as kidnapping, armed robbery, drug addiction and abuse, cultism and it can even lead to suicide. These days, you hear people committing suicide, what is the cause? Frustration. A classmate of my daughter committed suicide because all her mates had gotten admission and because she could not get admission, the girl took her life. So, we should have a policy that will encourage all Nigerians to have access to quality and affordable education irrespective of class and gender; Not policy that will frustrate the children of the poor from gaining admission into tertiary institutions.
Could the acceptance fee be one of the measures to raise the standard of education in the country?
I give you an instance, there is a particular tertiary institution that is charging maybe N1million and its turnout is poor, does that raise the education standard? No. it depends on the standard of the lecturers you have in an institution. It is when the school has qualified lecturers and up to date facilities and students are reading hard, you can then say the school is up to standard and not just the fee. You don’t rate the standard of a school by the amount students pay. For instance, you find out that the children of most poor people even do better in terms of academics than the children of the rich who pay millions as school fees for their children. I can attest to that. I’m from an average family, my mother was a teacher and back in the days, I did better than most children from wealthy families academically. So, to me, the amount paid as school fees or acceptance fees does not determine to a large extent the standard of education. Rather, what determines the standard of education is the quality of teachers, the quality of amenities, infrastructure and how fast the student can learn. So, it is not a function of money.
What is your assessment of the new government in Imo State under the watch of Governor Emeka Ihedioha?
Just like me, Governor Emeka Ihedioha is the choice of the people. His motto is “Rebuild Imo” and I can tell you that Imo State presently has a performing governor whose vision is to transform the state into a mega city. Governor Ihedioha has started doing this immediately he was sworn in. I don’t need to tell you what is happening in Imo now; just take a trip to the state and you will confirm that the state is truly being rebuilt. You will see grade A contractors deployed to the 27 local government areas constructing roads. What we had in the state under the immediate past administration was ‘China roads’. We had substandard roads constructed by the former Governor Rochas Okorocha and the present government in the state is rebuilding virtually the major roads in the state badly constructed by Senator Okorocha. I was made to understand that Okorocha handled road construction in Imo through direct labour, but Ihedioha is using grade A contractors. So, the kind of transformation that you will see in Imo State will be second to none.
Many will disagree with you based on the fact that funds for the Third Tier of government now goes directly to local government chairmen; also, the refund of the bailout fund and N30, 000 minimum wage can limit the governor from achieving all you have mentioned so far. So, with all these financial burden, don’t you think that funds may not be available for Ihedioha to do all you have said?
My governor is a game changer and I have no doubt that he will pay the minimum wage to workers as at when due. Already, he started paying backlog of pension arrears. The governor has developed a template through which he will generate revenue for the state. The last administration was generating close to N200million a month, but the present government to my knowledge is generating N800million.