Quiet, evasive, almost shy but blunt in opinion, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw is not afraid answering questions. The challenge is in getting him to sit down for an interview. A banker by training, he worked in the United States of America for a long time before returning to Nigeria; but not straight into politics. After serving for two terms in the Senate, Ewa-Henshaw was appointed Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission by former President Goodluck Jonathan and later removed by President Muhammadu Buhari. In this interview with SAM AKPE and AYO ESAN in Abuja, he spoke about restructuring of Nigeria, and state of the nation. Excerpts:
You left the Senate in 2011 after two terms. What have you been doing since then?
I’ve been doing so many things. I have been doing my business trying to earn a living, and in the last three or four years, or thereabout, I have also been deeply involved in efforts to build a coalition within the South and the Middle Belt to push for the restructuring of the federation of Nigeria, devolving powers to the states and allowing the states and perhaps the geo-political zones to become a lot more autonomous. So I have been busy.
There are six geo political zones, so there is no human being in the whole of Igboland that is suitably qualified to head any of the branches of our security forces or unit? Those are the issues
So, what has been the results of that so far?
I am sure you have been reading the newspapers and listening to the news about the South and the Middle Belt people that are now firmly together. There is a coalition called Southern and Middle Belt Forum and all the members and leaders are working together. The South South is led by Chief E. K. Clark, the East is led by Chief John Nwodo, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; the West is led by the Leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo. Many prominent people are there, and the Middle Belt was led earlier by Dr. Bala Takaya, who passed on about a month or two ago, and they have elected a new leader, Dr. Togun. We have been holding rallies and conferences.
All the zones have been taking turns. The first one by the Afenifere was in Ibadan, which was a huge success. It was followed by another one in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Ohanaeze held its own in Awka, the Anambra State capital. Then it was the turn of the Middle Belt. We are now planning a mass rally for all the political zones in Lagos or Abuja. We will continue to disseminate the message about the importance; the necessity and the potential benefits of restructuring Nigeria. You cannot have a single police force under one person. That is difficult to determine how they operate. If you remember, recently, the governor of Taraba State said he was no longer the chief security officer of the state because he cannot control the police or any of the security agencies.
Meanwhile, there are continuous killings in the state. And recently you saw the massacre that took place in Plateau State. So, security has become a major issue and many people believe that we should allow states and community policing to come into effect and, thank God, I think the National Assembly has begun the move to amend the Constitution, accordingly.
I have suggested to the Senate that it should take steps to abrogate the Land Use Act. There are lands all over but control is one hundred or thousands of miles away from the owners of land. Those who own the land should benefit from the land and, whatever income they generate from the land, they can pay an agreed percentage to the Federal Government, so that they will be able to run common services. It will unlock the economic potential of land.
I remember that I tried to make that proposition known to the then president Goodluck Jonathan and some officials of Due Process Office, who said we should be careful, because General Electric is here to sell tits turbines
This restructuring, is it a political move?
Restructuring is all about politics. It is about how to reorganise the present system under the 1999 Constitution. I think almost all or substantial majority of Nigerians have agreed that this present arrangement is not working, and that is why there is pressure for restructuring. There is the need for a new Constitution to be written by the Nigerian people. During of my interactions with senators, I said to them that Section 14 (2) (3) of the Constitution are the most vital part of the present Constitution. 14: 2 says that the whole business of government is the security and welfare of the Nigerian people. How have our elected officials enforced the provisions of that Constitution? Has anything been done? If they have done it, why are there so many killings across the country unabated? Section 14 (3) talks about the federal character principle. Has that been the case? People have complained about the composition of the leadership of the security architecture, particularly the people from the South East? There are six geo political zones, so there is no human being in the whole of Igboland that is suitably qualified to head any of the branches of our security forces or unit? Those are the issues.
The last time we met, you were in PDP. There have been a lot of cross-carpeting. Where are you now?
One of the things I told you before we started this interview was that I am a principled politician; perhaps not a good politician, not in the mould of a typical Nigerian politician. I should be able to do my politics on the basis of conviction or principles. No question about that. PDP has made a lot of mistakes, and that is why people opted for APC and change. But now they have a chance to compare. And I think it was a good opportunity. There is a hymn that says ‘God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. When God works, He has a purpose. It is for you to see some revelations of what He already knows. Now, we have the chance to compare. Forget about the propaganda that is going on in the media. People can feel what is happening to them in the Nigeria of today and they can compare notes. Nobody seems to talk about those facing difficult situations. We only talk about those killed by herdsmen and Boko Haram. There are so many that are dying because they can’t feed well, because they don’t have money to buy drugs, because they are frustrated and desperate. They cannot pay rent, they cannot send their children to school, they die of hypertension, and nobody talks about those. But I can assure you many Nigerians are suffering.
So, people now have a chance to compare. For me, I remained in PDP. They made plenty of mistakes and I hope that those who run PDP now would learn from the past mistakes. I see the current chairman, Uche Secondus, reaching out to the people, as one that keeps his doors very open. He consults and talks, urging everybody to come. I think it is a good sign. I am hoping that at the end of the day, it will be possible to identify a good, credible Nigerian that the management of the affairs of this country can be entrusted. We want this country restructured so that we can have a certain amount of freedom, try to rebuild our lives and our communities by ourselves.
On the efforts to restructure Nigeria, we learnt that the Northern Elders are also collaborating with you. How true is that?
There are people in the north that are also talking about restructuring. I grew up in the North. I grew up in Jos, partly in Kano but mainly in Jos. And I know as a youth, I used to see groundnut pyramids. Now, have people stopped eating groundnuts? The North has potentials for agriculture, huge potentials that can feed this country and export. If you go to Kebbi, Kebbi is one of the most prominent producers of rice in the north. I had the privilege to visit many of those areas. So in answer to your question, yes there are many northerners who are now coming round to believe that restructuring is necessary. It is not an attempt to exclude our northern brother from getting money from oil. But oil has created a dangerous dependency. Every month people just gather to share, rather than looking for ways to build and to create. So, the problem is not in sharing oil revenue, it is in the psychological dependency that oil revenue has created in the minds of many people, especially the leaders who think they don’t have to lift a finger. They just sit back and money flows in.
Some days ago, Ahmed Gulak, former special adviser on Political Affairs to former president Goodluck Jonathan, said people who talk about restructuring are creating confusion. That he doesn’t really know what you people want, whether you want to return to regional government or whatever?
Only those who are insincere and want to maintain the status quo are the people that are saying they don’t understand what restructuring is all about. It has been explained over and over again. When Nigeria became independent in 1960, we had Federal Constitution. The three regions had their own Constitutions. When Mid-West State was created from Western Region, it had its own Constitution. And everybody was able to develop their states or their regions within their ability. Chief Awolowo gave free education, built Cocoa House, built WNTV from the proceeds of cocoa. There was no oil. Sir Ahmadu Bello developed the north from groundnut, cotton and hides and skin. You know there were fashion houses in Europe that used to come to Northern Nigeria to buy leather. The East had oil palm, they had other things. What is there that people don’t understand?
Don’t you think that if the Federal Government had adopted the report of the 2014 National Conference, most of these questions would have been answered and most of the problems would have been solved?
Absolutely yes! I agree with you. The tragedy is that the conference took place and every part of Nigeria participated. All stakeholders, whether civil society, the press, the judiciary, professional bodies or what have you participated and they came out with recommendations. If only our government has agreed to look at those recommendations and implement them, most of these questions would have been answered.
You left the Senate when people expected you to continue. You were not one of those senators who faced recall process or protests from their constituents. Why didn’t you return to Senate for more terms?
Well, you know politics is full of intrigues and conspiracy. And, unfortunately, I am a very straight forward and honest person. Many people have asked me how I survived and my simple answer is ‘God’. I just do what I believe in my conscience to be right. And I leave myself to be guided by Him. Many things happened, but that’s a story for another day. But it was clear that there was conspiracy and a lot of things. And I just said, for me, it is not a matter of life and death.
After the Senate, you were appointed Chairman of NDDC. That put you at the centre of managing situations in the Niger Delta in terms of development and crisis. If you were to summarise your tenure, what would you say is the greatest challenge you faced?
First of all, let me say that we were supposed to have a four-year term; unfortunately we got sacked after 18 months and, therefore, many of the programmes and policies that we had evolved, we could not implement. If you remember, the South South created something called BRACED Commission under Ambassador Keshi. BRACED is an acronym using the first letters of names of states in the South South. Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Edo and Delta. The idea, which I think is an excellent one, was for those states in the South South to come together and try to evolve common development policies that would liberate their people from poverty.
Unfortunately, again because of politics, they were never able to do anything concrete. And so when we went into NDDC, I saw NDDC as a viable vehicle for achieving that kind of goal, because it was not pure government as it were. I also saw it as a very suitable vehicle for implementing infrastructure development through private public partnership (PPP). So, I started with two major proposals, one was for power. General Electric had come to Nigeria and they were in Calabar and expanding. I spoke with the officials of General Electric and said “couldn’t we form partnership between General Electric and NDDC to develop power?” And they said ‘why not’? They became very enthusiastic. I said look, let us not go for a huge project. Let us start with small projects, 50 megawatts for example, embedded. Embedded means that it will serve the local need, it is not connected to the national grid. It would be as if you are setting up power for an industrial estate. I said if we take the nine states and their capital cities, start with fifty megawatts in each state capital. If we put 50 megawatts in a place like Calabar, they will have power 24/7, with 98 per cent efficiency. Let us start with that, how much does it cost?
I was told it would cost between one and 1.2 million dollars. For ease of arithmetic, let’s say one million dollars. That time, a dollar was under two hundred naira. That was in 2014. So, 50 megawatts would cost about 50 million naira. Take 25 per cent of 50 million naira. That is twelve and half million naira. That will give you about two billion naira. It was something that was completely within the ability of NNDC to do. Even if you cannot do all the nine states, start with two, three, or four. Next year you do the second part. When you are talking about two billion naira per state, for four states, that would be eight billion naira. At most say ten billion naira. Those facilities can be put down running in the 18 months.
Did your exit from NDDC kill that dream?
I think so. In states like Cross River, Bayelsa, and Edo, the large industries there already have power. Therefore, you will take care of ordinary people, lower scale companies and homes. Therefore, these people: the welders, the mechanics, market women grinding pepper, the tailors, will have power 24/7 and we would have cut our unemployment by 50 per cent.
Did you make this position known to the government at the
centre?
I did. I remember that I tried to make that proposition known to the then president Goodluck Jonathan and some officials of Due Process Office, who said we should be careful, because General Electric is here to sell tits turbines. I said so what! I said look, if we invest 25 per cent, General Electric will invest 25 per cent, which they agreed. That is 50 per cent already. We can either borrow or find other investors to pay the remaining 50 per cent. So, it was a doable project. Politics killed it. I took Calabar-Itu Road, that was my second project. I said Calabar to Aba, which is a huge commercial city, is about 150 km. We travelled abroad every time and we see the kind of highways they have. Why can’t we replicate it in Nigeria? So, I spoke to the officials of a Chinese construction firm, and we started talking. At a stage, they started providing estimates and I said the road from Calabar to Ikot Ekpene and Aba was not designed to carry the kind of traffic it is carrying today; cement truck, granite trucks, petrol tankers etc. So, on a given day, you have about one to three thousands trucks moving back and forward on that single carriage road, not to talk about private buses or cars. So, I said let’s dualise this road and have toll gates. That idea also
died.
What can you say is the future of Nigeria from what we are
seeing now?
Look, I think Nigeria has tremendous potentials. I am one person that believe that if only we can rise above politics, it will amaze you what this country can become.
How long are we going to remain at the level of potentials?
I don’t know.
Do you believe PDP will come back strong as it was before?
Election is for them to lose. It depends on how they organise themselves.
