Governor Suswam of Benue State was on President Goodluck Jonathan’s entourage to New York, United States, in September, when the president was in town to attend the yearly meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. The governor was gracious enough to avail himself for an interview session with sharpedgenews.com’s editor-in-chief, OLADIMEJI ABITOGUN, in which a host of issues were addressed. The following are excerpts of the second part of the interview, after the original one published last September:
You have been spotted in at least three different, previous investment forums. The pervasive concern is that after these events, investors would come and they would leave Nigeria wholly disappointed. They claim government officials are not mostly serious or sincere. Does Benue State have any different approach to knowing that these investors do not have sour tales when they bring their money?
If I may define investors, there are serious investors and there are some who are mere jokers. Majority of the people you find in some of these fora are jokers. I have had situations in which we followed prospective investors to their countries of origin, sometimes we have expended resources inviting them, accommodated them and at the end of the day, they failed to return back. I think that two factors are largely responsible for that. Serious investors are in Nigeria and they are doing business. Those who are not serious would give you reasons.
Even in Afghanistan, Pakistan, people are inkling there. Nigeria does not have the kind of violence being witnessed in any of these countries. We don’t have their level of instability here. But most times, you meet people who go to Nigeria and give the lame excuse that the country is not stable, and they walk away saying they cannot invest with us. Agreed that there are issue, it is not just to assist the state.
Once a country has the right conditions and enabling environment, serious people would come. Is our environment enabling enough for investors to come? Yes and no. yes to the extent that our intentions and efforts are genuine enough to make the conditions and the environment right. There are deceptive, 419 swindlers at times who parade themselves as people who can partner with foreign investors.
Most times the con men are the ones who mostly attend these investment promotion forums, dressed in very fine, well – cut and tailored suits. They sometimes stay in big hotels. They get the big investors, who often to their chagrin, discover that the man may not be serious because they often end up talking about things that have no bearing to investments. There are ugly situations like this.
Most investors who come through governments end up revealing something because it now becomes a boss that he born as a Chief Executive of the state to make sure that strong and concrete things stream into your domain.
In Benue, there were times we gave lands to investors who never turned up. When people now come and say that they should be given land, we are usually skeptical. We have given so many of them. We gave Certificate of Occupancy (C. of O.) for four years, we never see them come back. It is not everyone you see at these international events that must be taken serious. Some of them are as unserious as some of the people they think are Christians.
Somebody may write a letter claiming to have limiting situation coming in his account and says you should provide an account and that some money you do not work for will come to you. If you take the bait, it means you are greedy. Why should you believe such a thing, when you know that you have not worked for such money in the first place. It is a two way thing. When you see such investors, you will definitely know.
Those people have come to Benue to take samples. I went to Iowa, the Press Secretary of Agriculture in the Obama administration, was the Governor then, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U) and now we are operating together. They came, the farms were set up, the pigs for meat production are now being raised, the meat processing joint would follow. These are people who are serious. The unserious ones are complaining. The structures are on the ground. There are lots of unserious people who want to dupe Nigeria.
What have you achieved in the last eight months? What should Benue people expect from you between now and 2015?
In the first four years of our leadership, rural infrastructure became our main focus. Ninety percent of our people live in the rural areas. And we had serious infrastructural deficits in the rural areas. I concentrated on providing roads and water. As a matter of consolidation now we are alleviating poverty and creating wealth.
We just distributed not long ago one billion naira to rural small scale farmers, to encourage them in enhancing agricultural production. We got the one billion naira from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). We have guaranteed the farmers, some farmers were asked to access loans to the tune of two million naira, five million naira without collateral security. I have gone to the farms. I have just signed an M.O.U. with the Bank of Industry for one billion naira for small scale businesses and farmers. People who can start small businesses, and create jobs are being encouraged.
We have created a commodity trading company in Benue State that will compete in the market with other buyers so that there would be food pricing competition in the market. The roads are better improved to create commerce, there must be free movement, it bone thing, a model that we are following logically. First loans and encouragement, we are on the move. We are energy of real activities.
It is believed that the North Central has had an epiphany, that the myth of a monolithic, hegemonic north is it sheltered. It is believed that as a successor to the heritage of the great Joseph Tarka, that people like you no longer subscribe to the notion of a north more minorities are never allowed to ascend to the presidency. What do you know that the rest of us do not know about the new power structure?
The north is the biggest region in Nigeria. It has central out of it, the North West, the north central and the north east. It is only in the north that you have nineteen states. Six states come from the south east, five in the south – south and seven from the south west. That means that you have a very huge region made up of different tribes. What bonds together is the fear of being in the same geo region. In terms of language, culture, religions, we are totally different. But we have remained together as the north. Even after we are being divided, we still have this north – central, north – this, north – that. Yes people practice different religions in the north, in the dominant northern states you have substantial member of Christians and even in Benue that is predominantly a Christian stronghold, you still have substantial population of Muslims who live together. In some families you find a mix of religious people who have lived together for long. Some people, unfortunately who are mediocre have taken much advantage of this rainbow beauty to lately introduce religion in politics, to the extent that it is avoiding us as northerners. Emphasis is now being placed on issues that were non issues in the past.
We are in situation in which a group of criminals are burning churches. Ordinarily, Christians would feel that only churches are normally the most affected. But people vie politics to fan the tension, so that they can further avoid, what need to be a monolithic north. They want to divide it by all means. Certain elements are being introduced into the body politic of the former northern region which is non three geo political zones. This is just unfortunate. We should live together, not because we are from the north, the south, but as Nigerians. We were amalgamated for reasons of commonality, God’s essence in creation. Our strength is in the number we have. That is why you have bigger countries namely like America, bullying other ones. They have the size, they have the number. Once you define yourself, or break-up into lilipolia states then you are discontinued in serious discussions in the enormity of idioms. If we recon together as a country, that helps us.
Some people for selfish reasons don’t want that. Are they engaged in all kinds of selfish acts to divide us? That is what we are experiencing in the north. The north has never in terms of culture, religion, language has never been monolithic. Hausa is largely spoken in the north, yet there are small tribes. If you go to a state like Gombe, you will be amazed on the language types and tribes. Go to Bauchi the same thing. We are lucky in Benue, we have put two main tribes, there are smaller ones like the Igedes, the Etiros, that makes it four. Outside of Benue, any other street in the north, we have close to twenty tribes. It is not as if anything is new, the politics of some people is what introducing decision and accentuating the differences from northern and Christians, these are coming from mediocre politicians who have nothing to offer, but these mediocre politicians exploit this natural situation to divide us. They use the situation to project.
What is your reaction to the recent accusation against you by Senator Waku, that a divisive player amongst the elders of Benue state. What are you doing to correct this kind of image?
I did not read the interview with Waku, I did not listen to what he said. I would have wanted him to define who the elders are and how exactly I have created division. Of course if one is in ACN I don’t see how or what his perception would affect the elders in PDP. Waku is an ACN person and so he is bound to see everything wrong in what I am doing in PDP. I don’t know the word context he is defining the elders of Benue because I have a lot of elders in Benue who have no complaint.
I have the Senate President, David Mark, I have Chief Gemade, I have Senator Gado. These are quality Benue elders. I have king Fulua, General Ejiga, General Garuba, I have a whole lot of them. They are in PDP and we are working together. Waku belongs to a different political party. I believe he won’t talk about me. He probably was talking about a different issue. He is speaking for the opposition not the ruling party in Benue.
Waku does not speak on behalf of all the real and genuine elders in Benue state. May be he is issuing a coded S.O.S. for one internal crisis in ACN that cannot be my concern. We do not pray on the same altar.