Engr Bath Nwibe is a gubernatorial aspirant of the Labour Party and an oil and gas businessman. He speaks with OKEY MADUFORO on the economy of Nigeria and the way forward as well as his vision for Anambra State
As an aspirant of the labor party for Anambra 2025, what is the fate of your party?
As a matter of fact, I am not a Board of Trustee member of the Labour Party not that I am a member of the National Working Committee (NWC), of National Executive Committee (NEC), but what we must understand is that this is a political party with people from divergent backgrounds, views and agenda and there is bound to be friction sometimes. The national leadership of the party is already on the issue of leadership and I have confidence that the matter would be resolved in good time and it is not up to me to take actions about that.
Some people claim that it is being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress-led government?
It is expected that people can say that but where and how do you get the proof of this allegations? Why I say so is because even the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have their own crisis which has always been there before President Ahmed Bola Tinubu came into power and the crisis was there under former President Good luck Jonathan a PDP President.
So, there should be evidence to prove that the APC government is sponsoring a crisis in the Labor Party. That does not mean that I am holding brief for the APC government, but what comes into play is the fact that despite the collective ideology of our party, there are some individual differences that are battling themselves for supremacy and the leadership of the party is addressing them.
The silence of Peter Obi and Alex Otti appears not to be golden in the midst of the crisis. Does it?
That is not fair because recently they met and far-reaching decisions were reached and as we speak the modalities are being worked out and at the appointed time, they would be made public. Some people somewhere are trying to cash in on the internal affairs of the party to create an impression that all is not well in the relationship between the two great members of the party and this is against the party’s vision, mission and ideology.
How confident are you about winning the ticket to the party?
This is a democratic process and in line with the Electoral Act and the constitution of our party we shall go for primary election and a candidate must emerge. I have that confidence that it would be a free, fair and credible transparent process so the fears you are entertaining doesn’t come in at this point. Secondly, I am not new to politics or Anambra politics because I have been around for more than 10 years and I had in the past sponsored people in my area who have won elective positions in the state so there is nothing to fear about.
As a Nigerian, are you not worried about the level of imbalance in the country generally?
It depends on the area that you are talking about. If it has to do with political issues, yes there are imbalances here and there. The number of senators in the country may appear fair, going by the fact that we have three seats per senatorial district, but when you look at the number of states in the North-East and North Central, you would discover that the North has higher representation than the South-East with only 15 senators and those areas with seven to eight states have more. It is the same problem at the Green Chambers which is the Federal House of Representatives, and if you go further, you see the same imbalance in the number of state constituencies and number of local government areas.
That is the level of imbalance that we have across the country and that is fair at all and that explains why the Constitutional Conference under the regime of President Good luck Jonathan should be implemented.
How about our economy that relies solely on oil and gas?
That is the sick baby of our country, because whatever we do and whatever policy or work plan that we have now is hinged on the proceeds from oil and gas and that sector has a serious problem. President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s administration is facing enormous economic challenges whose solution lies in encouraging Nigerians to produce for export.
The Federal Government should intensify efforts to tackle oil theft, corruption and diversify revenue sources outside oil to shore up and stabilize the economy. This foreign exchange is sourced mainly from the sale of oil which the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari in turn pledged in servicing the huge debts of money he borrowed from varied sources.
What this means is that the NNPC is left with little or nothing after debt servicing obligations, thus rendering removal of subsidy on fuel senseless because it came at a time the value of the Naira has nose-dived.
If at the time of removing the subsidy, a litre of fuel was said N700 and you go to the market to learn that it has quadrupled, what do you do? The only solution lies in producing for exports, adding that Nigeria has the capacity to produce over three million barrels of oil a day.
The government should make conscious efforts to diversify the economy, especially agricultural production utilizing the vast arable land across the country, fight insecurity and stop oil theft and corruption.
The government has to find a way to stop oil theft because it will be difficult for genuine business men to put their money into investing the sector. given the uncertainties therein and the emphasis on green energy and the rest of it. These are the challenges. There is no way crude oil will be stolen without those in government knowing about it
The vessel that comes to load the crude oil anchors on our shores for at least 30 days, yet we have the Navy and the government officials mounting surveillance and after about 30 days the vessel loads and goes, who is fooling who?
The government should also beam its search light towards the NNPC and corruption that goes on there. For instance, the NNPC told Nigerians that we consume about 60,000 barrels per day and I wonder why that quantum of fuel consumption daily has remained if it is true when people have cut down their movements, convoy and fuel consumption due to increased cost of pump price of fuel and at times scarcity.
The quantity of fuel we consume if what the NNPC is telling is true ought to have dropped under the prevailing situation. But to NNPC it is constant. So, we have to deal with this issue of NNPC corruption which right now is positioning to buy oil from Dangote Refinery and sell to Nigerians.
There are issues that have to do with Dangote having problems in selling his refined products. What is your thinking?
It is wrong for the NNPC to buy fuel from Dangote to sell to our marketers because he owns the product and should be allowed to do business with our marketers. They should allow our marketers and everybody to register with Dangote and buy directly from the company.
The fact that they are angling to buy oil from Dangote, shows that there is something they are hiding, and fuel marketing should not be the business of NNPC but to design policies and regulate the industry. It would amount to over regulation if the NNPC does otherwise, what is needed is good governance on the part of our leaders who lacked the vision to drive a country in crisis like Nigeria.
Back to Anambra State your ambition is indeed changing the zoning arrangements because you would want to go two terms?
Yes, the incumbent governor is from Anambra South Senatorial District and in fact, from my own local government area. But what we are talking about is good governance to the people and this can be done in one term of four years and it goes to Anambra Central District.
We in Anambra State respect the zoning arrangements which are written in our hearts and it has come to stay, and I wish to assure you that the question of going for a second term has not come up. This is because we need to be in power before talking about the second term and if one can fix three to five sectors in the state that would continue to be sustained driving the process the issue of a second term cannot come in.
There used to be a Constitutional Conference under the late Sani Abacha that made provisions for a single term of five years without a second term. That constitution made it clear that once you go in as an elected officer, be it governor or President you must do all that you have to do within five years.
It is this issue of the second term that has been the bane of governance in Nigeria, where the first term is to study the books and find your bearing. Then you start doing something two years to the end of the first term and then start campaigning for the second term without anything to show for it then get a second term and begin to prepare for senatorial election as a soft landing.
