From Chijioke Agwu
Commissioner for Information And State Orientation in Ebonyi State, Orji Uchenna Orji in this interview in Abakaliki, spoke on the state government’s war against fake news, fights against insecurity, infrastructural renaissance in the state and other topical issues.
Let’s start with the recent arrest of one social media influencer, Chijinkem Ugwuanyi, from Enugu State by the Ebonyi State Government. He was said to have been arrested at Nsukka and brought to Abakaliki last week.What was the reason for his arrest?
It was not the state government that arrested him. The police acting on information by individual persons in the State who are aware of the Laws of Ebonyi State Government on fake news trailed the suspect who published very fake news that is capable of tearing the entire South East Zone apart; police got him after trailing him for some time and now he is in the net of the police. As the Ministry that is responsible for the implementation of the laws on fake news, I continually say that we would ensure that the needful is done to ensure that the perpetrator is brought to book and that will serve as a deterrent to others. Ebonyi State is actually having a different consciousness about the future of this country, the future of this state; we are thinking of a state where all inhabitants will be very responsible and responsive, a situation whereby we will all work together to have a new order where there is peace, where there is love, where there is no distrust, no lack of confidence among the people of the state and the people of the zone and the country in general. So, we will lead in ensuring that we stamp out all forms of fake news. And like I did say, fake news under the law is very clear; if your publications are false, that is one hurdle; second hurdle is if the false news is capable of tearing the entire place apart, causing confusion, crisis, distrust, causing a section of the people to hate a group of people, then it goes to the issue of fake news.You can agree with me that it has caused a lot of havoc in the society, all of these violence killings, it is not because of agitation but it is because of fake news I tell you; so we are doing everything to live by example to contain the scourge of fake news. And so, the governor is not in any way connected with the arrest of the young man, but as a Ministry that is working for the people and the Government, I will ensure that I monitor the process to ensure that if he is found wanting, he will have to face the law. The law is not a respecter of persons, any race, or any group of people. Come to talk of it, Ebonyi State and Enugu are very wonderful neighbors, and we have demonstrated that in several ways in the engagement of our brothers from Enugu here in Ebonyi, and so we have no issue. The governor of Enugu State has been a very wonderful governor, relating very well with our own governor to ensure that the South East is policed and I think that every right thinking person in the whole of this country will agree that fake news has been a social problem that has been militating against peace in the country, and so I also believe that from the information that I am gathering, that more than 90 percent of the people from the suspect’s locality are condemning what he did and we also want to appreciate them for that.
What was the content of the publication he made against the Governor?
It is really horrible, very horrible publication he made during the Anambra governorship election, which we all know was an election that defined the culture of the people of South East but at that moment, when we were all praying for a peaceful election in Anambra State, this young man wrote and I quote “I am doing this press conference for the world to know that there was nothing like gubernatorial election in Anambra State; there were a lot of electoral malpractices during the election by the APGA Candidate and the sitting Governor Willie Obiano and we will not accept the outcome of the Anambra election results; Ndi Anambra massively voted for the APC candidate but APGA’s desperation in retaining power in Anambra has subverted the will of the people and this cannot go unchallenged; we urge all the people of Anambra who voted for the APC to calm down as we are on top of the issue and must make sure that justice prevailed. The will and wish of Ndi Anambra must be respected and nobody can deny Ndi Anambra that opportunity.’’ This very mischievous element and agent of darkness after writing this put the name of the governor of Ebonyi State as the author of the nonsense, and made it go viral. His aim was to set Ebonyi State Government against the government and people of Anambra State. And to cause Anambra Government to have hatred for the Governor of Ebonyi State. For us, it is really very evil of the suspect but like I did say, our dear Governor has got no time for him. It is our concerned citizens that wrote a petition against this young man, but we will monitor to ensure that the needful is done.
Considering that the laws of Ebonyi State are jurisdictional, and this offence that this young man committed was allegedly committed in Enugu State, which law are you going to use in trying him?
It is the police that will decide that. Allow police to do their work. It is not me, it is the police, and they know what to do. Police is the police of the federal republic of Nigeria.
Your Office has the responsibility of orientation of the people,what have you done in terms of orientating the people on some of these laws especially the dangers of fake news?
We have been on Air carrying out sensitization processes by way of advocacy round the various Local Government Areas through our information officers and our Public Relations Officers, and off course from time to time, we do a social Media Documentary about the menace of fake news and I think that our people are beginning to show more consciousness on this issue and I think that with time, everybody will appreciate that this law has come to really give us better value as a people.
Recently, the state government embarked on what it called recruitment of over 4000 into Ebonyi Civil Service, promising to enroll them by January 2022. But few weeks ago, a statement from the government came out to announce the stoppage of the exercise, what happened?
The process of recruitment of 5000 civil servants is ongoing; it was begun with advertisement, people from all walks of life and all parts of Ebonyi did apply and it is being processed; the list of those that did apply Local Government by Local Government, Discipline by Discipline, Ministry by Ministry has been pasted and very soon, they will go for interview. The governor is looking at January to February as the time that we will be able to finally recruit the successful applicants. You do know that we are making every effort to ensure that the budget of 2022 does take care of the issue of recruitment and so we have got no issue at all. In 2022 financial year, Ebonyi State Government will be doing a lot to empower our youths and women and that goes to show how methodical the governor is. He has provided the environment and also established necessary economic facilities; he is looking at raising the human capital to drive those environment, and those facilities that we have provided and I can tell you that Ebonyi State Government is really leading by example..Look at his 2021 budget assessment performance, you will see that Ebonyi State is doing quite very well,
Recently, three consultants working at the Effium axis of Ebonyi ring road were kidnapped by gunmen. What is the update on the incident?
My boss, the governor has spoken on this; I will speak no more on this. But I can assure you that the governor is doing a lot to ensure that he tackles security challenges in the state and we are beginning to get success. He is also going further to ensure that the stakeholders also appreciate the need to collaborate with the security agencies to flush out criminals in the localities. So, it is already a charge to the stakeholders especially office holders, while we fail in our duties to give in information to security agencies and to collaborate with government to ensure we flush out bandits, then we will be undoing ourselves; so the governor is going beyond the fortification of the security architecture, he is looking at engaging stakeholders within the communities and I think it is going to work. You can see that communal clashes have been completely halted by the engagements processes of our dear governor. You can see that violent agitations have been also halted by the engagement processes of our dear governor; he has appealed to all players to lay down their arms. You can see that we have the lowest case of banditry or criminality if you compare us with other states. I mean it and this is because of the show of responsibility by our dear governor making sure that he is always on top of any matter at any time, working proactively to ensure that he nip all issues of security matter in the bud and I can assure you that he will do more by 2022. You will be seeing that virtually all the major junctions in the state will be captured by our security viewing center; the viewing center is one place that you can stay and see all the junctions within the state. So far we have gotten a coverage of the satellite town and network policy. So, by 2022 we shall be going to hook the nooks and cranny of the major communities, the junctions, the boundaries to the viewing centers where you can be seeing all of these places and that will help a lot in tracking and cracking criminals.
You have been making serious case for Governor Umahi to be president in 2023, what are your convictions?
My conviction is that if the governor is given the opportunity to be the President of this country, I am pretty sure that he will change the narratives of this country. As a man who became the governor of Ebonyi State at the time that we had nothing, infrastructurally-speaking, and in the area of human capital, we had nothing. He came on board and today we are celebrating a very much transformed state. We can boldly say that Ebonyi State is a reference point in good governance, a flagship of excellence in terms of infrastructure and human capital development, and that testimony is being given by anybody who comes into Ebonyi State and so if he gets that opportunity to be president, I can tell you that he will make a great difference seeing a situation whereby world leaders will be asking what is happening in Nigeria, they will be asking is it that God sent his angels from heaven to come and transform Nigeria; so these are the things that we are going to see if the governor has the opportunity of becoming the president of Nigeria. But come to think of it, Nigeria requires virtues of selflessness, passion for service, monitoring and evaluation; it requires the virtue of somebody who is a bridge builder, somebody who is a detribalized person for this country to move forward; it requires fixing of the critical infrastructures such as roads, power and all of that. It requires also getting opportunities for our people through industrialization and entrepreneurship programme for the people. The people of Nigeria are people that have patience, they also have confidence in themselves but they would just need the right environment. So I think that if the governor could do this in Ebonyi State, at the National level where there is much more money, I think he will go places; I think the world leaders will applaud Nigerians for having made him president.
The governor recently sought N10 billion grant from President Buhari to enable him complete the Airport project.What is the state of things. Has the request been granted, what is the fate of the project without the request granted?
I am not the president, but I can tell you that the governor has been doing a lot in the airport to ensure that he completes it by the end of 2022; you can see that we are having the longest tarmac, its construction is ongoing. It is having about 14 inches concrete pavement, the thickest in the whole of Africa; you can see that many facilities are already rising progressively on daily basis; the terminal building is ongoing strongly, one of the most beautiful; it is over 60 percent completion, The runway unit of course is ongoing, the fire bay, the tower control unit which is over nine floors is over 60 percent completed; the police building, the immigration building, the presidential lodge, the car park very large, the gate house among others. They are progressing very fine; what you can trust about the governor is that he has the highest level of prudence in the management of resources; he believes that quality assurance is all there is.
So, we are expecting that the international airport when completed will compete with the best international airports in Nigeria. It is going to be one of the best, that users of airlines will have a lot of options, including the option of using the Ebonyi State international Airport. So, that is the idea of the governor and looking at the various facilities that he has established including the shopping mall, the university of medical sciences and other facilities; you can be sure that investors will be moving straight from any part of the world to Ebonyi State as the first landing point in Nigeria and that is a very good idea of the governor and of course, we shall be raising exporters and importers who will eventually be millionaires and they will have to use our airport to do their business.
Finally, what is your advice to political parties, Ebonyians and the general public as politicking begins next year?
Play by the rules, avoid fake news, and call a spade a spade no matter whose ox is gored or whose spade is in the garden. Don’t call white black because it can cause provocation and again understand that at any time, God raises a person to be the leader of any particular position and so where you lose, you must accept that you have lost and when you see somebody performing, it is good to also appreciate that. I can say that in Ebonyi State, we have APC and others and nobody who will see what the governor has done in Ebonyi State will go to support any other party, I tell you, unless somebody has no conscience. So, I will also tell other political parties to also ensure that they bring morality to their body politics; it is important. Politics has to be played with morality and that is the way to go.