From Samuel Bello, Abuja
Governor of Taraba State and member of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Darius Ishaku
in this interview spoke on happenings in the
state and ideas for national development.
Have you read Trendiee Today? Click here to
read
PDP was in power for 16 years, maybe as a
result of some lapses they lost in 2015 election,
has PDP learnt any lesson from that event?
Indeed, having lost an election and we are now
in the opposition, we know the bitterness of
being an opposition and we have learnt our own
lessons too. PDP made her own mistakes just
like any human organization that stays too long
in a particular place would, there are obvious
abuses in the party. A committee have been set
up to look into what had gone wrong and how
we can correct it and we are in the bid of
correcting it, and we would make sure that what
happened before does not occur again. We would
correct it and put the party into a firm setting.
For Nigeria to get proper and good democracy,
we need to as of a necessity, have vibrant
political parties. Deceiving of political leaders
starts from the party. If the party is well
structured and properly stabilised to filter its
leadership, then it will be easy to have a very
good leader from any party. For example, I was
in Minnesota when Obama came during their
primaries to campaign with eight other party
members, we watched him in the auditorium.
After the debate, a professor turned to me and
asked me what my take was on the debate of
the eight people; I told him that the whole eight
party members who are looking for nomination
for the ticket of the Democrats in America are ‘A’
class. Now the question is strategizing which the
A’s are and I said Obama was an A triple plus,
but he won’t get it because he is black. Clinton
is ‘A’ double plus and she is likely to get it but
Americans are not ready for a female president
yet. So I graded them and as God would have it,
Obama became the president and Biden which I
graded in A class, became the Vice president. So
the critical point of repairs is from the political
parties.
Reports have it that there is an Agric revolution
going on in Taraba State; can you give us an
idea of what is going on there?
Yes there is an agricultural revolution going on in
Taraba State. Before I resumed office, I have
always said the state is nature’s gift to the
nation and is nature’s gift to herself. We have
three very important things, if we harness
correctly in Taraba, it would stop me from
coming to Abuja to get the monthly stipends.
Agriculture, mining, and tourism among others
are what I am concentrating on.
As for Agriculture, we are there and we are
working assiduously to make sure that we get a
lot of people to farm rice. Taraba State can
supply the whole country with rice. I understand
that about $8 billion is spent annually to import
rice. That can be wiped out by Taraba and one
or two other states in the country. We would not
need to be importing rice, it is available here. I
used to farm rice in the 80’s, I had four square
kilometres of rice farm and I was doing well. I
know all the rice millers in Abakiliki, but when
they lifted the ban on rice importation, my rice
farm came down, all the farmers near my office
went to Bentachi and they collected it, but now
we are on the rise, we are on soyabeans. We are
on cassava too; we have a cassava mill in the
state. We are also going to palm oil; we have
started something on cocoa.
The luck we have in the state is that, from the
temperate climate to the tropical, we have it. I
have started with the tea and it is doing very
well, it has been passed in Germany. Our
problem now is the quantity that we need to
export. We have started on coffee, it is also in
the high land and it would do well there. Wheat
has been recommended for us on the high lands
but I want to start one at a time. On the low
lands, we have the rice which we are working
very hard on, I established the best green House
in the country, Taraba vegetables, if you go to
Shoprite, I am sure one will get it there and other
shops in town. We are working very hard on
agriculture. We are trying to work hard on bailey
seed and soya beans that is our targeting
export; we are trying to work hard on rice and
cassava to feed our people. Taraba has a lot of
potentials when you talk of agriculture.
The truth is that diversification is very much
possible, and it is already working in Taraba
State. One time when we were bringing our truck
vegetables to Abuja, somebody spotted it in Karu
(an Abuja suburb), he followed the truck to
where they offload the contents and when the
manager came out, he asked if it is true that
they have vegetables, so they opened the truck
for him to see and he said he was buying from
somewhere else, we told him to come and buy
from us and we would supply him so he can
supply to whoever. It is already working because
these vegetables that are being consumed in
Abuja are mostly brought in from our side. A
country that does not feed herself is not yet a
country. Everybody is stopping exportation, very
soon oil would be old fashion but if you can feed
yourself you are comfortable.
Is there any other sector that you think could
help the country’s diversification agenda apart
from agriculture?
Mining is a huge potential. If you ask me, I
would get more money from mining in Taraba
than agriculture. Problem of mining is the law,
the law gave the federal government exclusive
right on the mining but there is a snap. The
constitution gives the states right over the land
and gave the federal government the right over
the mining but the point is, would you mine
without going through the land? There is a
problem there; there is a need for harmonisation
because all the states, inclusive of mine, are
afraid. As of now, if you want to start mining it
has to be from Abuja, and you have to get the
license.
I had a case where a fellow had a certificate
since 1978 on a land. But when he came, there
was an owner of the land. The fellow went ahead
and put his rig and started, I said ‘no and asked
the police to quit him.’ You cannot mine on
somebody’s land. So unless these kinds of
conflicts are resolved, the mining is painfully not
being exploited.
I was in Germany for a mining workshop and I
found out that a lot of these countries have gone
round and broken these laws, an example is
Chile, they have a very good mining law, how I
wish we could learn from other countries that are
mining. Australia is also good in mining, these
are countries we should look into their laws, see
how we can harmonise it. If I am a state
governor and I am given a full license and I mine,
let the federal government get her own taxes, let
the state government get her taxes and then we
develop the people within the mining sector, I am
very sure that mining can give Nigeria a lot of
money.
You were accused of mismanaging N130b in two
years, how do you react to this allegation?
It is just like anybody accusing a journalist of
talking too much, is that an accusation? The
person did not come out with any facts. Even if I
give one of my booklets to a blind person he will
see that within two years my state had never
gotten 30percent pass in West African
Examination Council (WAEC). Last year we had
67.3percent. This is a state that came first in
WAEC, in the north, for the first time after 27
years of its creation. And we were 8th in the
country that is in education.
You need an opposition, but let the opposition
criticise you properly not crazy criticism that is
going on. The same man said that I spent the
whole money of Universal Basic Education (UBE),
but the contracts were just awarded last week.
The point is that we take our time to go through
due process.
When I resumed office, I called a meeting of the
water board the next day because when I was
driving to my office, I saw people fetching water
from streams and I asked why, they said there
has been no water for almost a year in the town.
I called the Permanent Secretary who is a
female; I gave her two weeks to make sure there
was water. I told her to give me three names for
her replacement and she did that. I did that so
that incase she unable to perform the task, I will
put the other person.
I also called the Head of Service to tell me what
they need and I will give them and in less than
two weeks we got water running from the tap.
The same thing with electricity, we have done a
lot of things. My state is one of the first states
that have a digital television station with studio;
I have a mobile van that can broadcast live
anywhere I am in the state.
What is your take on the recent pro and anti-
Buhari protests?
I told them in my church that it is now that I
understand when they mean, when they say
‘pray for your leaders,’ the Christian faith
encourages it. When your leader is sick, you need
to pray for him because if he is not well, you too
are in trouble. A leader has to be well to take a
decision that affects you and I. We should be
sympathetic and pray for the president to get
well. I do not support any protests; I will rather
support people to be praying continuously for
him to get well. The machineries are already in
place and they are working. We should intensify
the efforts of praying for our leaders, this is what
we are taught religiously and we should imbibe
that culture. When you go on demonstration you
are creating another problem, sometimes it starts
peacefully, sometimes it does not end peacefully.