Hon. Benson Igbakpa represents Ethiope Federal Constituency of Delta State in the Federal House of Representatives. In this exclusive interview with The New Diplomat in Sapele recently, Igbakpa spoke on the bill allegedly being contrived by some legislators from the North to delete 13% derivation principle from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended; the ongoing Committee Public hearing on DSC, the ongoing screening of Delta State governorship aspirants by DC-23 and sundry issues.
Excerpts:
TND: A few weeks ago, a report emanated from the National Assembly to the effect that 59 members of the House of Representatives have sponsored a bill to amend Section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution to delete the provision for the 13% derivation principle. Some members who interacted with us claimed that such bill was non-existent while others said the bill has been gazzetted and distributed to members. What is the position of that purported bill now?
Ans: Normally, the first reading of a bill in the House is usually not taken seriously because it is just for mention. It is the second reading when we debate the merits and demerits that really matters. But the truth is that, as an individual, I have not seen that bill. But if it is there, it is their right to seek for an amendment to any section of the Constitution. But a constitutional amendment bill is not just like any other bill. It will go through the whole hog. I have spoken to some of my colleagues and they said they were not part of the bill but their names are there. That tells you that there is something phoney about it all.
If they continue to push it, there are so many things to be done. Like I said, Section 44(3) of the Constitution is about full-blown resource control. So, if you are thinking about removing the 13% paltry sum which we are even saying is not enough, then we should be thinking about amending and deleting Section 44(3) so that every state manages whatever it has as a state. After all, Zamfara State Government is already managing its gold. But that, I think, is an affront to what is happening in the South.
TND: Still on the bill, a few days ago a group came to express support for the purported bill to delete the 13% derivation principle and their argument was that over the years, the South South governors have been collecting the money and doing nothing to improve on the lot of the oil-producing communities. So, I ask, do you see anything political in this bill?
Ans: Well, there is nothing that politics will not creep into in this country. As for that group, I give it to them that they have the freedom of expression. It is enshrined in the Constitution, so they are free to say what they like. But for me, as somebody from the oil-producing community in the Niger Delta and a representative of the people of Delta State, I feel that the 13% is not enough. So, I disagree with anybody who is canvassing that the 13% should be removed from the Constitution because that is the only little way we get extra for what is coming out of our place for the deprivation, degradation and environmental pollution. What we are suffering they don’t suffer it up North.
TND: Are you defending the governors of the Niger Delta that they have been diligently managing the 13% even though there is a strong argument that the money should go directly to the oil-producing communities and not the governors, as it was done in the days of OMPADEC?
Ans: I think that issue has been resolved with the 3% granted to the oil-producing host communities in the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA. So, there is no need over-flogging that issue. As for the money that has been going to the governors and they are the ones managing it, you should understand that if you throw money into every community there is going to be a lot of crisis. I agree that there are so many communities which have nobody to represent them in the government and therefore, they are denied the chance of having projects sited in their communities even though they produce oil and gas.
As for the purported bill, if it is true, then the intention is evil. The intention will be denial and another struggle to reinstate it. So, let’s not go into that at all. Let’s have the people who have the interest of the people at heart to represent us. That is my prayer.
TND: How did you feel when the management of Premium Steel and Mines Company, MSML, (current owners of Delta Steel Company, Aladja) unceremoniously stormed out of the committee hearing on the allegation of mismanagement of the company?
Ans: Yes, they stormed out. It is the right of the management to go out of the committee meeting if they choose. Even when one is in the court, he is free not to appear before a judge in some cases. We cannot force them, but be that as it may, we shall try to follow the rule of law as it ought to be and the legislative power of the House which is enshrined in the Constitution in Section 88 and 89 that empower us to invite and seek clarifications of documents, oral and written for the purpose of investigation. We are going to ensure we go the full hog of the law. They were summoned but they did not show up. When we resume plenary we are going to see how we are going to handle it and ensure that they come to answer questions. Certain things are wrong and we are going to go into it. My own is to ensure that whatever wrong has been done to that government, investment is brought to the fore and sanction meted so that people are deterred. I’m very sure that Nigerians are part of this issue, not just the Indians. I’m very sure that there are connivance on the side of so many government agencies.
We are going to face BPE, we are going to face AMCON. Fortunately, the EFCC is part of this investigation. In the last sitting, I asked them what was the status of the investigation, they said they were not done yet. The second sitting, they said they were not ready. The chairman of the Committee Hon. Halims Ibrahim, told them that they were trying to frustrate the effort of the House, to cover up. Even the Corporate Affairs Commission has not been able to supply us with the necessary documents of registration that have to do with Premium Steel Company and Global Infrastructure Steel Ltd. So, that is where we are. People walk out everyday but they keep coming back.
TND: What are those things you have just said were wrong?
Ans: First, the Delta Steel Company was not established to be cannibalized. The setting up expenditure of about N1.8 billion in 1982 or thereabout is huge and when compared to its value today, it is close to a trillion naira. Now, the place is totally annihilated, totally destroyed and sold. I understand that the place is even used now for the assembling of tricycles (Keke Napep). It is supposed to be a steel plant. Venezuela, South Africa and Brazil who invested in the same steel technology at the same time with us, were able to make their countries steel dependent. South Africa today is the highest steel producer in Africa. We have the same equipment with them and we started at the same time. Ajaokuta Steel Plant cannot even operate without the kind of structure in Aladja. So, all that they are putting in Ajaokuta is waste because the feeder is still not there. Are we going to still import those ones so that Ajaokuta can produce? We were supplying Peugeot Assembly of Nigeria, PAN and other companies in Kaduna with liquid steel.
Secondly, is the fact that the process of acquisition was faulty, where the company was sold to somebody for about 30% of what somebody promised to pay. Dangote, Osaka and some of our indigenous companies bidded for this company but they were not given. But the company that registered when the bidding process had already begun won the bid. That was fraudulent and I think we need to look at that. That aside, what about the local content, the people that were working there? Now, they don’t have job and some of them have retired but could not get their retirement benefits. What about the land they took from the communities? Indians are now selling land in Urhobo land. Part of the Housing Estate has been sold. The Technical school has become their major source of revenue hence they increased the fees everyday.
A lot of wrongs have been done to the host communities. And even after the sale, it was agreed that 10% of the equity should come to the communities, but they have so far refused to honour it. So, we need to ask: did you acquire this company in order for you to cannibalize it and cart away all the machines? These people seem to know better than us. These machines they are taking away, I’m sure they are taking them to another country to produce steel and ship it back to Nigeria. This is because if you don’t know the capacity of what you have, somebody who knows it will come and buy it off you and begin to enslave you with it. So, these are some of the questions we need to ask and to see what can be done to revive it.
TND: But the management PSML seems to have answers to all that. They have said that for over 40 years of the existence of the company, most, if not all, the machines have become obsolete and therefore, for the plant to be revived, the machines need to be replaced with modern technology and that they are not stripping or cannibalizing it for the sake of merchandize. How do you react to that?
Ans: If you heard that from them, then the question you should ask is: what and where are the replacements? I’m telling you that all the machines have been removed. Removal is different from replacement. How long will it take you to replace them? And this was one of the questions I asked in the course of the public hearing. If you have removed them, then where are they? How long will it take you to replace them? Where can we find the machines which have been removed? If they are useless and obsolete then where are you taking them to? If something is obsolete it means it is useless, nobody wants it again in the whole world. Are they selling them as scraps? If they are selling them as scraps then they should sell them in Nigeria. Even, it should be noted that that place is a prime place which the Nigerian government is not supposed to give out to foreigners because of its security implication. That river was properly dredged to allow for evacuation of the products of the company. And now they are using that river channel that was developed by our government to take whatever they want to take and go away with it easily. So, the thing you have classified as obsolete, why are you now shipping it away? It shows that it is useful. And the question is how long will it take to revive the place? GSIL has come and gone. Now, it is Premium Steel. How long with it take even to set up a new steel plant?
They sold the transformers, they sold the generators. Are they still obsolete? Replacing a generator shouldn’t be a big deal: just remove the old one and replace it immediately. But they are all gone. There is no light there again; the place is in total darkness. So, for me, they are ripping the place into shreds.
TND: The process of sales and acquisition of the Delta Steel Company, Aladja, involved two major government agencies – the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE and Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON. Are these agencies not aware that the new owner of the company, Premium Steel, are in breach of some provisions of the sales agreement?
Ans: Global Steel Infrastructure Limited, GSIL bought the company at the first instance from the BPE, with loans it obtained from local banks. But over time, it could not repay the loans and so, AMCON acquired the company from GSIL and sold it to Premium Steel. I have gone through the agreement and there are some conditions in the sale to Premium Steel. One of them is that you cannot remove anything in the first five years of operation of the plant. That is, you must not do anything to reduce the value of the assets of the company unless you want to improve on it. Now, there is another thing which is called the Strategic Business Plan which they submitted to the BPE and that is one of the things I have asked BPE to supply in our next sitting. I want to see the Strategic Business Plan that tells you that these people have the capacity and this is what they want to do and for how long they want to do it? And they said that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, approved it for them before it was sold. Once we get that, then we will invite the CBN.
TND: So, in all of these, are the BPE and AMCON ready to justify the role they played and have been playing, especially as regards the assessment of the capacity and performance of Premium Steel so far?
Ans: As of now, we are not putting any blame on anybody yet. We need to see facts, we need to investigate and we need to ask questions. By the time we get all the documentations, facts and figures, it is then we can apportion blame. But for now, it is just investigation. Nobody is indicted. So, I don’t know why Premium Steel seems to be avoiding it because when you are running away like that it makes people to focus search- light on you. We expected them to come forward to say we bought, this is what we intend to do and this is how far we have gone. But they chose to run away. First, they brought a lawyer to stand for them. I have not seen a situation where a lawyer will go into the dock to represent his client. They will always advise their clients and guide them. But they brought their lawyer to the dock to stand for them, and we said no, this is not the practice.
TND: While awaiting your next invitation to them after your resumption of plenary, a section of the local youths from the host communities led by one Hon. Keston Okoro had issued a seven-day ultimatum to PSML to apologize to the House of Representatives for their irrational conduct in storming out of the investigative committee or face the wrath of the people which may culminate in the shutting down of the plant. How would you react to that?
Ans: Well, that is local to them, it does not affect our activities. I think they have said that they have taken that position because of the arrogance displayed by the management of Premium Steel in our last sitting. It is said that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. This investigative hearing could even create a pathway to help them. For me, my drive is to see the company come back to life, even if not in the scale it used to be, but something that can be improved upon over time. We owe them a duty of care. They are investors, we have to look at our laws and we are ready to assist them.
TND: Budget 2022 is with you in the House at present. What is your constituency expecting from it?
TND: The budget, the way it is couched, is not a progressive budget. The President said it is a budget of consolidation but I don’t see what is consolidation in it. The budget that does not talk about economic growth, employment and wealth creation is not a budget. So, we are trying to do what we can do. Apart from the fact that it has to do with my federal constituency, I still have to look at it as a budget that must be nationalistic. How much in it to create employment? We were talking about steel production a moment ago. How can we revive our industries to create jobs? I’m entitled to N113 million for my constituency projects in the budget, not in cash, but in projects. But the problem is funding. If there is funding, I and two other members of the House representing Sapele and Uvwie can direct our constituency projects towards the maintenance of the Delta section of the failing portions of the Effurun-Sapele-Benin expressway in Delta while those in Edo could take it from there. But the funding of the budget is not enough. Even at that, our constituents don’t consider it good enough for them. There is so much hunger and people are looking for low-hanging fruits.
For some time now, I have been working on this portion of the Effurun-Benin highway. You could see the work I did at the bridge. I invited the Minister of Works to see the bridge and I will continue to do my best to maintain this portion of the highway.
TND: Recently, a group which to which you belong, the DC -23 that has been lobbying other senatorial districts to allow Delta Central to produce the next governor of the state, came up with a decision to prune the number of governorship aspirants to five and thereafter, to two. How do you justify this exercise?
Ans: For me, there is no person among the aspirants who is not qualified. The only person who may not be qualified is that person who did not attain the minimum requirement of school certificate. The other things people will start talking about is accessibility, capacity, relationship with people and perhaps, power of the purse. I believe all of them are qualified.
But my worry is the issue of this prunning. I don’t know how they want to do it, I have not really seen the terms of reference, but I think that when you see a serious person you will know. But again, it will be unconstitutional for you to stop anybody, unless you are going to appeal to the person. But if you come under any recommendation, it cannot be binding because everybody has their own style. Some start strong and start going down gradually; others start very slow and with time, become very strong.
Again, I think this is my very candid advice. The UPU (Urhobo Progressive Union) must not be dragged into politics. The UPU is our revered umbrella body that should sit like a king and pray for all the children. I don’t see why the UPU should go into selecting who should be the person to represent Delta Central as a governor. They have done so well in going round other nationalities asking them to support us. I support them on that. But going further, instead of being apolitical, they are becoming partisan. While I agree that too many cooks spoil the brunch, we should be careful in reducing the number so that we don’t cause internal crisis for ourselves.
TND: Don’t you think it is the pressure from other senatorial districts that is informing the reduction of Delta Central aspirants so that they could zero on the best among them?
Ans: Yes, but the DC-23 could do that but not the UPU. What I’m saying is that even the DC-23 should not come up with any recommendation at the end of their exercise. They should just sit our people down, not prune them, but rather appeal to them that for some reason, you join forces with the body to project one person. I’m talking of PDP, I don’t care about any other party. I don’t know what they do. So, the DC-23 should just appeal to them but not by way of recommendation. But if they say no, you cannot force them. It is risky for our project to produce the governor for 2023. However, it is their constitutional right.
