Private sector experience counts in politics –Eno, A’Ibom PDP guber candidate
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umoh Enoh, speaks on his private and public sectors experiences, his plans for his state, and other issues in this Channels TV Political Paradigm interview monitored by Deborah Onyofufeke
We understand that perhaps it’s not easy for a technocrat to win an election in this country because of the way the system is structured. Some question whether or not you were interested in being governor and that you were hand-picked because you were not an active member of PDP and that you were not in the conversation until Obong Victor Attah endorsed you, what do you say about this?
I have always been in the PDP from the ward level as a matter of fact, from the days Obong Victor Attah, I was a chairman hospitality and tourism world in the days of Obong Victor Attah way back 2004 to 2007. I’ve always been in politics but I’ve concentrated on my business, I’m growing my business, doing the things that I love to do but a time comes when you have that instinct that you have what it takes and more so when a few persons tell you, we think you can do it, we have seen your antecedents and if someone like Obong Victor Attah is the one saying so, he’s been around for a long time, he’s basically regarded as a father of the modern Akwa Ibom, so if you have the support of people at that level and course you don’t just jump into politics, Before throwing your heart into the ring you have to consult widely and find out from the people, ask for their endorsement, ask for their thoughts and when they say we think you can do it, we’ve seen what you have done before. So, politics for me is not something you sit down and plan five, 10, 20 years and you give someone a cup of water and write it down and say well I am doing it because I expect you to pay me back in the future. I don’t think that’s what politics should be. We need to begin to look at politics in a different dimension and you know in other climes people who come to politics have had a track record in the private sector so they come in to serve, they come in with the experience to serve the people because they understand the needs of the people rather than become the councillor, then I want to be the supervisor of a local government, then the chairman of a local government, you now go to House of Assembly, it’s like a career path and we are just there and we keep doing that. It’s not going to work out that way, politics is becoming very dynamic and the right kind of people just have to get involved.
What does your private sector experience add to the table?
Apart from working before I joined I started my own private company, I had worked in Lagos, in union bank, I had worked in a petroleum machine tools, I worked in Norman Holdings, I rose to become the group general manager before we started out with royalty hotels, in 1995, and then we’ve grown it now to become a conglomerate where we have other subsidiaries like the royalty apartments, aqua fresh waters, we have eateries and of course Royalty hotels was the very first local company that won a major bid to provide catering services for Exxon Mobil offshore in Eket, we did that for 12 platforms of Exxon Mobil for 12 years and we’ve had wide range of experience, we’ve worked for few IOC’s providing catering services real time for them and you know that to work off shores, to cater for a company like Exxon Mobil offshores, 12 platforms, 12 years, you must know what you are doing because you know that they have timing for their meals, you are running your logistics you have to move your food, you have to take it offshore so you have a logistics company, you have your staffing, you have your safety health environmental issues, you have community relations. These are all-encompassing so it’s just beyond, you bring all of that and again You have to be very detailed, you must have attention to details to be able to do all of that and all of these 12 platforms at any point in time sometimes we have their tea will be totally on board and we will be like thousand, 1,200, 1,500, depending on the situation. So, for you to do all of that l, it’s not just about I am cooking food, I am not selling a restaurant, and if you are in a hotel, you know that the guest is your king and you have to do everything to satisfy the guest. I’ve been in the catering/hospitality business for the last 25 years and we are still growing so, you bring all of those to the table to show that you can multitask, and you can look for details. You understand the needs of the people and you can fit into that need as encapsulated in our ARISE agenda.
Akwa Ibom has had that consistency since 1999 and some argue that there has not been as much, that Akwa Ibom is not where it should be with that level of consistency because you also talked about foundation has been laid from Obong Victor Attah’s time till now, and it has just been eight years now of Governor Udom Emmanuel, Akwa Ibom is an oil-producing state, and if Akwa Ibom is not where it should be, why do you think that people of Akwa Ibom should give the PDP another opportunity?
First of all, we have to look at where it should be because it’s easier to say that we are not where we should be. Where should it have been at this time? You have a governor that came in on industrialisation and moved a state away from a core civil service state and has brought a lot of industries to the state and partnered with a lot of investors and as we speak right now, Akwa Ibom is a work in progress, we have a petrol chemical plant coming up, we have a fertilizer plant coming up in the state, we have an ongoing syringe company, we have a flour packaging company that is ongoing, we have infrastructure that has been developed. Ibom Air is Critical component, the pride of Nigeria today and you know that’s coming up, we have the MR that is coming up and we have a brand new smart international terminal at the airport building that is coming out, come to Akwa Ibom look at our roads, getting from the airport look at our roads, getting into the city look at all of the infrastructural developments that have been done, Ibom deep sea port is one of the things that this government has achieved and don’t forget that this is not the state again, it is a PDP state but it is not at the centre, so it is sub national and this government has done so much in terms of education, we are still running free and fair education, we are still building infrastructure like I said this government has opened up Akwa Ibom in the area of land air and sea and so investors are coming in and Akwa Ibom has remained none of the most peaceful states in Nigeria so we need to look at this and bench mark and say where do we think we should have been? We’ve not arrived there yet but we’ve made significant progress. When you compare Akwa Ibom from what it was eight years ago to the milestone we have achieved today and then you can now project building on this where it will be and that’s what you need the next level for.
What do you think about having state police considering the level of insecurity we found ourselves in and the politics that has trailed the matter?
It’s neither here nor there. For me, if there’s a state police good. Whether there’s a state police or federal police, you must look at the pros and the cons. So, what the government is doing in Akwa Ibom is to work with all of the security agencies and then give support, so I am not going to sit here and begin to talk about whether we want state police or we don’t want state police but I know what we are doing currently is working and we need to just upscale it and continue to collaborate with the security agencies, provide the needed tools, they need, provide support because every state has its peculiarity and If you work with them and provide what they need and bring all of them together and let them see the need to serve the people and help the people, I’m sure they will do well.
So, you are saying that you don’t support the state police?
Like I said I am not going to speak for or against, I am saying that I’m going to work with the tools I have and improve on what is on the ground if in the process there’s a need for state police, very enough but then again when you say state police, It is the locals that provide information for the security agencies to work with so there are many ways you can engage the locals in working with the police, not until you come out to have state police as it were.
There are arguments, especially from an analyst that you cannot have a central police force for a country like Nigeria as we do not meet up to the UN recommendation of how many policemen to a citizen
Are you also aware that some of these things have pros and cons, are you also aware that state police will be directly responsible to the state governor, and are you also aware that the state governor could exercise some authority that would make the state police work against opponents? There are arguments forth and back, that’s why I am saying the best manager is someone who uses what you have to get what you want. It’s not someone who keeps giving excuses I couldn’t do this because this was not available, people want to see the result and so if you work with the people you have now and fund them, support them, respect them, they will deliver,”. They’ve been delivering.
How do you intend to address issues of healthcare in the state?
The truth is the ARISE agenda is the only agenda today that have a robust health care plan. I’ve met with healthcare professionals in Akwa Ibom across the board and various candidates have made presentations. They have acknowledged that we have the best healthcare plan. Right now in Akwa Ibom our secondary healthcare is good but again I have a passion for the rural communities so, we want to take healthcare to the rural people. Recently we did a free medical outreach and I discovered something. It will shock you that people have had maybe for like three or four years they don’t want to leave the village so the general hospital they are there but when we took this outreach there, they came and they had surgery. What is that saying? If We want to concentrate on our primary healthcare system to ensure that we provide at least in every other world, they have cottage hospitals that the locals can rally around. We want to make sure that from primary healthcare we move to secondary healthcare. We want to be able to provide ambulances in our local communities we may not be able to maybe in each local government and you monitor it. Technology has made these things very easy right now so that if I have a medical emergency by 11 pm if one is about to be put to bed and that woman has an issue in the primary healthcare cottage hospital they can quickly take her to the secondary healthcare. These are things we have in our plan. We have a plan to ensure that we bring medical insurance to our people because of some of the health conditions they are not able to pay for it so there’s an insurance policy, there is a medical insurance policy, why can’t we make it work? We can do that and make it work for our people these are things we have, and we want to make sure that we look out for our people. Even our dispensary system, in those days people could walk up to a dispensary and get at least their prescription now we have to go and stay in our secondary healthcare facility so what we want to do is to ensure that by the grace of God, we provide and we are already working on it. I didn’t come to this interview with designs, but we don’t just say these things. Note, my background is not just a background of just politicking, we set goals and set Mile stones and achieve them within a specific time so we intend to focus on health for our people in the rural areas and make sure they connect them to the secondary and of course, we have robust healthcare for Akwa Ibom state. If you come to Akwa Ibom you will find that we have the Ibom specialist hospital and we want to ensure that around that hospital we can open a medical city between that hospital and the full point marshal hotel, there’s a good corridor that we can create a medical city and then be able to boost medical tourism.
Will this medical care be free to a certain class of people?
No. From age 65, you can have access to certain basic healthcare. The rest we can cover with insurance. I believe that our elders should be able to have access once they can prove their identity, and you should be able to have basic healthcare.
Akwa Ibom is currently the largest oil-producing state in Nigeria but there are concerns that it’s been neglected by the federal government over the years and perhaps that has affected the status of the state. Do you agree with those who say that the Federal Government has neglected the state?
Well, I can’t agree less, I would like the federal government in all of these, to show us at least one project, the presence of the federal government in Akwa Ibom state, just one. You see I am not someone who likes criticising, I am not trained to criticize, but I am trained to deliver results some things are factual I believe that the federal government can support our state and the oil-producing states, right now the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is being rejigged and we have hope that with the present administration and with what we are seeing, then maybe the benefits will begin to come.
