Accomplished business man and Anambra PDP chieftain, Dr Obiora Okonkwo, takes a candid view of developments in the party and asserts that it is the party to beat in the 2021 governorship election in the state. He also speaks on the need for South East economic integration and the central role of Anambra in the exercise. Okonkwo talks on marginalisation and other issues in this robust interview. EMEKA ALEX DURU, brings the excerpts.
Going by the outcome of the last election, especially for the House of Assembly, APGA seems firmly in control of Anambra politics. Do you see your party, the PDP, changing the trend in the 2021 governorship election in the state?
Things are different now for PDP in Anambra; these are better times. The state has always been a PDP enclave. Every APGA government in the past had been aided by PDP. The PDP won the elections in 1999, 2003. Peter Obi won with APGA in the court with the cooperation of PDP. Because of the internal conflicts in the PDP, critical elements of the party were busy fighting the party. Those forces for example fought against Chris Ngige’s government and supported Obi’s court process; that was bad news for Ngige. Obi’s second term election was based on an understanding with PDP. In 2013 and 2018, PDP people worked for APGA. If that was not the case, why was it that the APGA people were always embracing PDP in Abuja or Anambra? All that, has changed now. PDP will work for PDP and when that happens, PDP will take Anambra back.
Anambra is one state with enormous human and material resources. To what extent have these been leveraged on to develop the state?
Previous leaders may have done their best within the circumstances of their administration. I don’t have the information to assess them completely in terms of success or failure or what they would have wanted to do. But one thing is certain, there is need to create the atmosphere that will make the state benefit from the huge human capital base available to the state. Sometimes, it is obvious that the proper environment doesn’t exist to attract quality manpower in every field of human endeavour.
At every point in time, the needs of a people differ. At that time, resources must be deployed to that focus in terms of need. It could be security, education, ICT, agriculture, industrialization. The impact is what defines success and failure. The needs assessment has to change so that we can effectively use the available resources.
What do you think the state needs now to push near its potential?
It is actually not how I am thinking. I am thinking of how Anambra can play a role in the integration of the South East zone because of how it is situated geographically, politically and economically. It is obvious that we have not maximized those opportunities available in charting that course. The leadership must be able to design a way to make those special human resources be part of our developmental process. Our discussion, the strategies needed to move forward. We have abundant human resources, they have to be fully tapped. It is when that is achieved in Anambra that it surely will trigger the renaissance that is needed in the entire South East, because the multiplier effect will spread. It is then that the zone will start to develop an integrated economy, an integrated infrastructural development, integration in terms of policy and security. These critical factors can bring about stable development in the region. We can be one common economic unit. If today we are signing African Treaty for one African Market, that means nations have realized the needs to be one in so many aspects. The South East has to realize the reason to be one in many aspects. When this is done, we can then then begin to talk of a shared vision.
What role do you see for Anambra’s significant diaspora population within the context of the think home and come home principles?
The concept of think home is different from that of come home. Think home is an invitation to be part of the process of what is happening at home. You can also extend whatever you are doing wherever you are, to home. We can learn from what is called the Jewish formula. The greatest strength of the Jews is their population in the diaspora. The homeland, Israel doesn’t have enough landmass to accommodate them all. But wherever they go, they are first and foremost Jews. They, like the Chinese, link whatever they are doing anywhere else to their homelands. That is what think home means.
Anambra’s diaspora population should go as far and as wide as they can. And that places a huge responsibility on them. They must in doing so, think home always like the Jews. They must not forget their origin, which even includes not forgetting your culture. These are critical things.
In several other aspects, the diaspora population is the reason there is still stability, improved standard of living and quality of life in many families in Anambra. Available statistics has it that in 2018 the remittance from the diaspora into Nigeria was US$18 billion. This is higher than our national budget. And from this amount, 70 per cent are from South East. And we expect that more than half of the 70 per cent is from Anambra.
This is why Anambra is rated as the lowest today on the poverty indices in Nigeria. This is not because of any special policy to fight poverty. It is all about the cultural support system that has been built and sustained between those abroad and those at home. There is no government social programme that supports the poor or the aged in terms free medical care for example. Yet, 70 per cent to 80 per cent of our strong and active population are living in diaspora to support the 20 per cent old and younger population of parents and siblings. They are not earning incomes, so they are supported from outside. If they are sick, need to pay school fees or house rent, money is sent from outside the state. The diaspora remittances is one of the reasons a lot of things look normal in Anambra.
Do you think that government should harness this diaspora population in precise way to develop the state as it is done in the Philippines for example?
I don’t think it can be harnessed along that line because most of the remittances are channelled towards survival, feeding, day to day expenses, hospital care of relatives. You cannot wake up one day and make a policy on how to get part of income of a typical young man who trekked from Nigeria through the desert to Libya, hid himself inside a vessel and got into Spain and went into prison and finally found himself into the system and eventually started sending money to his parents. How dare you do that?
In the absence of a government policy in Anambra you can appeal to their sentiments bearing in mind that the only people who can develop a place are the indigenes because one way or the other, they will find themselves engaging in certain investments that may not be driven by the values of the formal economy, but driven by the passion and sentiment that ‘this is my place’.
On a national level, diaspora remittance is a very serious business. It requires a deliberate policy that of course doesn’t exist in Anambra or Nigeria today. Philippines got US$38 billion diaspora remittances and that constitutes about 40 per cent of their GDP. They have a working population but they don’t have a strong economy.
India has the highest repatriation rate of funds; but they were properly planned for. They are coming from highly skilled personnel that benefitted from clear government policy of skill acquisition and training. Over 90 per cent of these people were employed directly from their country and given the necessary residence permit to go into that place and work.
What’s your view on the issue of marginalization and other feelings of Nigeria being unfair to the South East?
If any section thinks that Nigeria has not done them well, the principle is to get up. You don’t fall down and remain there. You cannot be sitting down there and crying. You need to do something. Some parts of this country cry because they don’t have the means to do anything for themselves. The Igbo are a people that cannot be stopped.
Anambra is rated as having the highest number of billionaires per square meter in Nigeria. How do you rate the relationship between the ruling political elite and this class of money bags in terms of the development of the state?
I don’t think that beyond certain philanthropic gestures or social responsibilities, they have been properly harnessed. But for that to happen, there must be a clear government policy that will bring about an enabling environment to grow business. Sometimes ago, a good number of these millionaires were living in Anambra. The idea of them living outside Anambra today is a response to certain developments. While they stayed back in Anambra, the headquarters of their business empires, they sent their oldest boy, their most trusted lieutenants to go and run things out there. This was the situation until things happened that started shrinking or threatening to shrink the economic infrastructure of the state.
Suddenly, the economy shrunk, and these men left the territory, went out of frustration because of insecurity; kidnapping had become worrisome. They looked to secured havens for their businesses. Other factors included the breakdown of infrastructure. At this time, the road network was hellish. Coupled with the failing security, things went so bad that people were giving their daughters away outside Igboland.
There is a very big opportunity to recreate that glorious era. But it has to take a leadership that attaches some significance to that relationship, and this is critical. Every Anambra man loves his home.
Do you think there is any truth in that claim that the billionaires in Anambra can fund the government without the government going to collect federal allocation?
I know that there are people in Anambra who have the capacity to provide any amount of money needed to strengthen the economy of the state. I don’t mean that these individuals will pay out their money into the pockets of government. I mean that if the government can create the enabling environment, they can bring their resources and invest in critical areas that will bring about economic growth, create employment and then strengthen the economy of this state.
When government provides infrastructure, there will be multi-billion dollar factories, industries, the internally generated revenue will improve, unemployment will drop, security will improve, workers will pay taxes. There will be so many other economic activities that will grow the home economy, standard of living will improve, and generally, good things will begin to happen. This is just what it means.
If that should happen, you will then see Anambra sons and daughters coming home to invest in critical economic areas.
How much of an issue is zoning in Anambra politics going into 2021?
Zoning is not a problem in Anambra politics. I am particularly interested in the kind of leadership that is in the state. We are in a democracy and the people would select their leader. Anambra needs a competent, capable and credible leadership to enable it play its role in the South East zone.
As a member of the PDP, am not aware of any zoning, in my party or in the state. At the last stakeholders meeting, the PDP hierarchy encouraged everyone to come out and contest. They were not talking about zoning. They want people to contest.
For the sake of the discussion, my interpretation of zoning is that it should be discussed and agreed upon with the understanding. Then, the formula should situate whichever position that is under contest in a particular area. And it should be established that at this time, anyone desiring to contest the said position, can only come from the area. Most importantly, this must be respected by people from other areas. Once, those people from other areas do not keep to that understanding, it has nullified the zoning arrangement or the agreement. And then it is mutually agreed on who goes and who goes first, who follows thereafter. And then that rotation must be respected under any circumstances. Is that the case in Anambra? So far, nobody has been able to say where it was discussed, who sat down to discuss it, and what is the formula.
