Samuel Onuigbo, House of Representatives, Ikwuano/Umuahia North-South Fed Constituency, Abia State. Image: Twitter.
BY PHILIP NYAM
Hon. Samuel Onuigbo represents Ikwunano/Umuahia North/South Federal Constituency of Abia State in the House of Representatives and is the Vice President (Africa) Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE). In this interview with PHILIP NYAM, he speaks on a wide range of climate issues and the contentious agitation for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023
You were recently elected the Vice President (Africa) of an international environmental organisation known as GLOBE. What does the organisation stand for?
GLOBE stands for Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment. What is it? It is an international association of national parliamentarians in well over 99 countries of the world and the aim is for these parliamentarians to take interest in sponsoring bills and also supporting policies of the executive arm that are geared towards the preservation and protection of the environment.
The environment covers ecology, deforestation, agriculture, climate change, petroleum resources etc. All these are supposed to be done in a sensible and sustainable way; in a way that preserves the environment and leaves something for generations yet unborn. So that when you are carrying out your activities to make profit from your business, you also consciously know that you have to preserve the environment and by so doing, your actions are done in such a sensible, sustainable way to avoid taking from the environment and destroying it. So, globally, this association has grown phenomenally, it started with G8 countries asking their legislators to take interest in the environment, knowing that a lot of damages are taking place across the world from those either looking for timber, who cut down trees without replanting same.
Ideas like these gave rise to something like Great Green Wall of the Sahara and Sahel Initiative, which of course came from the African Union (AU). So, an organisation like GLOBE champions bills such as the one I sponsored recently on climate change. You can also sponsor on other aspects of the environment such as agriculture, petroleum and all these are geared towards ensuring that when you are taking from the ground, forest or ocean, you have to do it in a sensible and sustainable manner bearing in mind generations yet unborn.
GLOBE came to Nigeria through the efforts of the former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, in 2012 and the Nigeria chapter came into existence 2013 when the immediate past President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki was Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment. In the 8th National Assembly, the President of GLOBE was Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim while I was the Vice President and today I am the president of GLOBE Nigeria, and the Vice President (Africa) of GLOBE International.
You chaired the House Committee on Climate Change in the 8th Assembly and now you are Vice President of GLOBE. How are you mobilising other lawmakers on issues of environment?
I must say that in my first term in the House of Representatives, I made verifiable achievements both in terms of my cardinal mandate, legislation and facilitation of projects in my constituency. I am looking forward to further making solid contributions in this Assembly like I did in the 8th Assembly by facilitating laudable projects in my constituency.
My re-election, the first time an honourable member was re-elected in my federal constituency, which is an acknowledgment of my towering achievements in my first tenure and what my people did was to say; ‘we are happy for what you did in the development of our constituency’. In that way, to who much is given, much is expected.
So specifically I am going to pursue those things like the climate change bill, which I sponsored in the 8th Assembly. Fortunately it has gone through the second reading and has been referred to the committee of the whole. And what does that hope to achieve? It hopes to bring to the fore those issues that are involved in the bill. For instance, it is proposing the establishment of a National Council on Climate Change to be chaired by Mr. President and that Council will be peopled by so many ministers whose mandates are crosscutting in nature.
Apart from the focal ones as far as climate change is concerned there are others such as agriculture, environment, finance, transportation, education, petroleum, industry, Niger Delta, water resources, mining, etc., that their activities are climate change related. The Council is also expected to have in its composition the National Security Adviser, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), President of ALGON, a representative of the private sector (especially the manufacturing and extractive industries), youths, etc.
This broad representation is important because if you pass a law at the national level without involving all these stakeholders who are expected to enforce it, its implementation becomes very difficult. Some persons asked me why I want the National Security Adviser in the Council and I explained to them that the effects of climate change are far reaching. It is crosscutting. It is not only limited to those component parts of environment like petroleum, deforestation etc. Therefore, those negative impacts, those devastating effects now affect the security of the nation and I can give you a good example; the Boko Haram saga.
The Boko Haram saga was actually made worse by the fact that a place like Lake Chad that provided means of livelihood for well over 40 million people, who depended on it for animal husbandry, fishing and other forms of agriculture eventually found that the lake had shrunk to less than 10 per cent and therefore they could no longer perform those things they used to sustain themselves. What they did was to move into the city where they have no skills to survive. Unfortunately since their skills which are fishing, farming, and animal husbandry have been denied them they quickly became easy tools in the hands of those recruiting hungry but able-bodied youths for Boko Haram insurgency.
Another saga that we have in our hands is the herdsmen/farmers clashes. So, when we had green areas around Lake Chad, around some parts of the North where people were rearing their cattle, they did not bother to push down South or the Middle belt in a violent manner. But today, you see there is no green vegetation in most parts of the North, rather there is desertification and therefore the herdsmen are everywhere looking for pastures for their cattle. So that is why it is important to have someone like the National Security Adviser in the Council to provide advice. I am focused on this bill because of its importance to the nation and I am hopeful that this time around it would be assented to by the president. Once that is done, it would attract investors in renewable energy and other aspects of the economy, while checkmating the devastating effects of climate change. But this cannot happen if there is no governing law on climate change in the country.
The need for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023 has continued to dominate national discourse to the extent that while the South-West is insisting that it would produce the next president, the North is also plotting to retain power beyond 2023. As a lawmaker from the South-East geopolitical zone, what is your take on this?
It is difficult to predict now because the parties as far as I know today are significantly fluid and a lot of the party members have been moving from one party to another. You have pieces of evidence to support my assertion. On the issue of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, it is not out of place to believe that yes we can get a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction if Nigerians in their wisdom look down and say okay.
Well, this country is built on a tripod; forget whatever reconstruction or restructuring that has produced the six geo-political zones of today. You should also remember those who made contributions to the federation gaining independence in 1960. I remember that most of them were of Igbo extraction then. After reviewing these scenarios, you will convince yourself to expect that Nigeria can happily and satisfactorily get a president of Igbo extraction who will fit the bill and who will do extraordinarily well.
You will recall that in the 60s the eastern region was the fastest growing economy in the world. It is documented; it is not a baseless talk. And I also remember that the eastern region was also the first region to build a full-fledged university by first passing a law on May 18, 1955 for the first university to be built and they did not stop there. The 1955 law provided that the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Board should set aside £500,000 annually for the successful development of the university. That long term planning was what led to the successful take-off of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on October 1, 1960.
You were recently elected the Vice President (Africa) of an international environmental organisation known as GLOBE. What does the organisation stand for?
GLOBE stands for Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment. What is it? It is an international association of national parliamentarians in well over 99 countries of the world and the aim is for these parliamentarians to take interest in sponsoring bills and also supporting policies of the executive arm that are geared towards the preservation and protection of the environment.
The environment covers ecology, deforestation, agriculture, climate change, petroleum resources etc. All these are supposed to be done in a sensible and sustainable way; in a way that preserves the environment and leaves something for generations yet unborn. So that when you are carrying out your activities to make profit from your business, you also consciously know that you have to preserve the environment and by so doing, your actions are done in such a sensible, sustainable way to avoid taking from the environment and destroying it. So, globally, this association has grown phenomenally, it started with G8 countries asking their legislators to take interest in the environment, knowing that a lot of damages are taking place across the world from those either looking for timber, who cut down trees without replanting same.
Ideas like these gave rise to something like Great Green Wall of the Sahara and Sahel Initiative, which of course came from the African Union (AU). So, an organisation like GLOBE champions bills such as the one I sponsored recently on climate change. You can also sponsor on other aspects of the environment such as agriculture, petroleum and all these are geared towards ensuring that when you are taking from the ground, forest or ocean, you have to do it in a sensible and sustainable manner bearing in mind generations yet unborn.
GLOBE came to Nigeria through the efforts of the former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, in 2012 and the Nigeria chapter came into existence 2013 when the immediate past President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki was Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment. In the 8th National Assembly, the President of GLOBE was Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim while I was the Vice President and today I am the president of GLOBE Nigeria, and the Vice President (Africa) of GLOBE International.
You chaired the House Committee on Climate Change in the 8th Assembly and now you are Vice President of GLOBE. How are you mobilising other lawmakers on issues of environment?
I must say that in my first term in the House of Representatives, I made verifiable achievements both in terms of my cardinal mandate, legislation and facilitation of projects in my constituency. I am looking forward to further making solid contributions in this Assembly like I did in the 8th Assembly by facilitating laudable projects in my constituency.
My re-election, the first time an honourable member was re-elected in my federal constituency, which is an acknowledgment of my towering achievements in my first tenure and what my people did was to say; ‘we are happy for what you did in the development of our constituency’. In that way, to who much is given, much is expected.
So specifically I am going to pursue those things like the climate change bill, which I sponsored in the 8th Assembly. Fortunately it has gone through the second reading and has been referred to the committee of the whole. And what does that hope to achieve? It hopes to bring to the fore those issues that are involved in the bill. For instance, it is proposing the establishment of a National Council on Climate Change to be chaired by Mr. President and that Council will be peopled by so many ministers whose mandates are crosscutting in nature.
Apart from the focal ones as far as climate change is concerned there are others such as agriculture, environment, finance, transportation, education, petroleum, industry, Niger Delta, water resources, mining, etc., that their activities are climate change related. The Council is also expected to have in its composition the National Security Adviser, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), President of ALGON, a representative of the private sector (especially the manufacturing and extractive industries), youths, etc.
This broad representation is important because if you pass a law at the national level without involving all these stakeholders who are expected to enforce it, its implementation becomes very difficult. Some persons asked me why I want the National Security Adviser in the Council and I explained to them that the effects of climate change are far reaching. It is crosscutting. It is not only limited to those component parts of environment like petroleum, deforestation etc. Therefore, those negative impacts, those devastating effects now affect the security of the nation and I can give you a good example; the Boko Haram saga.
The Boko Haram saga was actually made worse by the fact that a place like Lake Chad that provided means of livelihood for well over 40 million people, who depended on it for animal husbandry, fishing and other forms of agriculture eventually found that the lake had shrunk to less than 10 per cent and therefore they could no longer perform those things they used to sustain themselves. What they did was to move into the city where they have no skills to survive. Unfortunately since their skills which are fishing, farming, and animal husbandry have been denied them they quickly became easy tools in the hands of those recruiting hungry but able-bodied youths for Boko Haram insurgency.
Another saga that we have in our hands is the herdsmen/farmers clashes. So, when we had green areas around Lake Chad, around some parts of the North where people were rearing their cattle, they did not bother to push down South or the Middle belt in a violent manner. But today, you see there is no green vegetation in most parts of the North, rather there is desertification and therefore the herdsmen are everywhere looking for pastures for their cattle. So that is why it is important to have someone like the National Security Adviser in the Council to provide advice. I am focused on this bill because of its importance to the nation and I am hopeful that this time around it would be assented to by the president. Once that is done, it would attract investors in renewable energy and other aspects of the economy, while checkmating the devastating effects of climate change. But this cannot happen if there is no governing law on climate change in the country.
The need for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023 has continued to dominate national discourse to the extent that while the South-West is insisting that it would produce the next president, the North is also plotting to retain power beyond 2023. As a lawmaker from the South-East geopolitical zone, what is your take on this?
It is difficult to predict now because the parties as far as I know today are significantly fluid and a lot of the party members have been moving from one party to another. You have pieces of evidence to support my assertion. On the issue of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, it is not out of place to believe that yes we can get a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction if Nigerians in their wisdom look down and say okay.
Well, this country is built on a tripod; forget whatever reconstruction or restructuring that has produced the six geo-political zones of today. You should also remember those who made contributions to the federation gaining independence in 1960. I remember that most of them were of Igbo extraction then. After reviewing these scenarios, you will convince yourself to expect that Nigeria can happily and satisfactorily get a president of Igbo extraction who will fit the bill and who will do extraordinarily well.
You will recall that in the 60s the eastern region was the fastest growing economy in the world. It is documented; it is not a baseless talk. And I also remember that the eastern region was also the first region to build a full-fledged university by first passing a law on May 18, 1955 for the first university to be built and they did not stop there. The 1955 law provided that the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Board should set aside £500,000 annually for the successful development of the university. That long term planning was what led to the successful take-off of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on October 1, 1960.
It was after that, that other regions followed suit: the Federal Government established the University of Lagos in April 1962, while the Western Region established the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1961, and the Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello University in October 1962, while the law establishing the University of Ibadan as a full-fledged university was signed in December of 1962.
Under the leadership of late Chief Michael Okpara as the Premier of the Eastern Region, an agreement was signed with Sir Kenneth Hutchinson and Mr. C.C Filstead of Conch Methane Services Ltd for the 18,000,000 gas production plant in the then Bonny Province. Then you think about the Obudu Cattle Ranch, the Hotel Presidential in Enugu and Port Harcourt, Trans-Amadi industrial layout in Port Harcourt, Golden Guinea Breweries and Ceramics Industry in Umuahia, Steel Industry Emene, Nigeria Glass Industry and Eastern Michelin Tyre Factory, Port Harcourt, were all built by Okpara. These initiatives came early and I do not think you will find such initiatives from those who lack the capacity and training to be able to exercise leadership up to the presidential level.
It is a known fact that the Nigerian presidency is not won on a platter of gold, that you have to work for it. Now that the South-East is neck deep into the PDP, under which political party is the region going to contest and win the 2023 presidency?
My dear friend, I told you from the outset that the political structure of this country today is fluid. Today you have APC, which is a conglomeration of so many other po litical parties, the CPC, ACN, ANPP and all that. You would recall that many opposition parties fused together and metamorphosed into APC, which is the ruling party today. Four years prior to that time, if anybody told you that this would happen you wouldn’t have believed. So, when I said this is a fluid political environment, I expect you to speak with caution. The PDP is there now, yes it has survived the test of time having been pushed left, right and center, yet it’s still standing strong. The space is open. You cannot say this is strictly an APC or PDP affair because this is a fluid political environment.
Today, President Muhammadu Buhari has provided leadership for the APC and we must acknowledge that and give him credit. Perhaps you have also heard someone like Senator Rochas Okorocha and others speculating that APC would probably go the way of PDP when President Buhari leaves the stage in 2023.There should not be any fear regarding who is in PDP and who is in APC when it comes to occupying that seat. Again there are no strong ideological differences between these parties. So, if you accept my analysis on this argument then you will then know that there is nothing to worry about.
If Nigerians agree with the contributions of the Igbos from how we got independence to when the Eastern region was the fastest growing economy till now and some other contributions we have been making and then acknowledge that the Igbos have demonstrated good faith and that they truly believe in this nation called Nigeria, they will then acknowledge that the Igbos deserve to lead this country. By the way, who else invests outside of its region more than the Igbos in Nigeria? No other tribe in Nigeria invests in this country outside their own region more than the Igbos. So, the South East can produce a president of Igbo extraction who has the potential to turn things around, reposition this nation, and restore confidence and trust in all Nigerians.
The House of Representatives has in the last few weeks being issuing resolutions on rehabilitation of infrastructure in the South-East. What are you doing in your own way to attract development to your constituency and South-East?
I have been able to facilitate many projects within my federal constituency; so many of them have been completed while some of them are ongoing. I do not intend to look back or stop. So, I want my constituents to really know that I will redouble my efforts to make sure that I continue to serve them well. You know funding constituency projects has been a big problem like the one I did in my place, the government has not been able to fully fund it. It was funded less than 40 per cent and it was abandoned and I had to look for money to complete the reconstruction of our hospital that was built in 1984 but was allowed to decay.
I will continue to facilitate projects that impact on the lives of the people. I will focus on hospitals, schools and training (human capital development). These are the things that I will continue to do and to the glory of God I think I have done things that are verifiable – things that are there for people to see in terms of projects that have been successfully executed. Without being exhaustive, let me mention just a few but impactful projects that I have successfully facilitated in my federal constituency.
When in 2016, the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road which was cut into two in many sections and consequently became impassable, I vigorously pursued the request for urgent palliative work to be done to restore the road. I received support and encouragement from Senator T.A Orji, to actualise that project. Also, I facilitated the erosion control work at Ukwudara, Amachara, Umuopara in Umuahia South LGA; erosion control work at Okwe-Obuohia road in Ikwuano LGA; construction of a block of classrooms at Afo Ugiri Girls Secondary School and a water project at Ohuhu and Avonkwu Ibeku in Umuahia North LGA; a massive skills acquisition centre at Apumiri Ubakala; blocks of classrooms at Umutowe Olokoro and Nsirimo Ubakala; hospital projects at Obuohia Obi-Ibere and Ahiaeke Oloko; electricity projects in all the Local Government Areas. I also facilitated the award of the total reconstruction of the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road.
I am currently working with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on an interchange at the Abia Tower to end the perpetual traffic gridlock and to achieve a proper dualization of the federal road from the Tower to Amawom Oboro in the first phase. There are many more federal projects that I am working on that are at the initial planning stages, including the building of a federal secretariat in Abia State.
Whereas democracy has become a globally accepted form of government with a leadership recruitment system built on candidates’ popularity and people-friendly political manifestoes, indications are rife that this system of government and indeed political stability on the African continent is under threat.
SOURCE: NEW TELEGRAPH
SOURCE: NEW TELEGRAPH
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