Suswam: The ‘New PDP’ is Artificial

Benue State Governor, Dr Gabriel Suswam

The Gubernatorial Interview

Benue State Governor, Dr Gabriel Suswam, in an interactive session with journalists in Markudi, the state capital, addressed topical national issues including the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party and the lingering ASUU strike, among others. George Okoh was there. Excerpts:

Can you explain what went wrong during your party’s recent convention in Abuja that led to the emergence of the new PDP?

Well I was the deputy chairman of the Screening Committee for those who were contesting for various positions in the party. So I am conversant with the issues that led to where we are today as a party. But let me hasten to say that this kind of crisis in the PDP is not happening for the first time. You would recall that during the time of Chief Solomon Lar, there was a factional PDP which led to the setting up of a parallel office.

The party was able to come together and resolved the crisis. Also, during the period of our own son, Chief Barnabas Gemade, there were crises at the highest level. And of course, you know what happened to our own son, Chief Audu Ogbe, during the 2003 primaries of the party. So these issues within the PDP as a big party have been reoccurring.

The present crisis has assumed a different dimension and magnitude, the governors who are agitating for a change in the leadership have insisted that the leadership of the party must be changed.

We went into the convention and all the PDP delegations were there but then as we were told, the governor of Adamawa and his delegation had no accreditation to come in. And the five other governors who as you know have been going around together insisted that he must  be allowed to come in since the delegates that were supposed to do the election were the ones that were elected in 2012. When that was not possible, they went out and then went to a different venue to declare a faction of the party. I think that the reason why people engage in that high level agitation is that they want the problem solved. They would have simply said they were going to another party but they said it's a faction of the party and they are insisting that their own is the actual party.

I think it's a crisis still within the family. It hasn't gotten out of control. The President was able to call us the next day which was on Sunday and four out of the six governors that walked out were at that meeting. Another meeting was agreed to which has been shifted to let the seven of them meet with the President and other party leaders. I believe we will be able to solve this problem. It's not a crisis that is out of hand. Yes, it must have to be taken seriously because when you have seven states out of 23 saying that they are pulling out to create a faction, it must be taken seriously. And I believe that the leadership of the party at the highest level is taking this very seriously.

The crisis, for me, is one that I believe would be sorted out soon because out of 23 of us, seven governors are agitating. Seven is a large number and the President is taking serious steps in order to address the crisis within the PDP. I want to assure you that this crisis will be sorted out and PDP will come out of it a stronger party.

Which faction do you belong?

You saw people who created the faction and you didn't see me there. You saw me at the Eagles Square and not at Yar'Adua Center. As far as I am concerned, the so called faction is artificial. It's something that must be sorted out. I do think that the people who went out had a reason for doing that and if that reason is sorted out to the satisfaction of both sides, I don't think we will have factions. So, I believe that no matter how difficult the issue is, we should sit down, dialogue and sort it out. And so, we are all members of PDP and they didn't say they are forming another party.

They say it's a faction of the PDP and they have continued to insist that they are still in PDP. So, I don't think it's the issue of where you belong to. We are all members of PDP. There is a crisis situation. I want to cast your mind back to the NPN days when there was a red and white corn in Benue here. NPN symbol was corn. Some people said they were the red corn while some said they were the white corn. You know in a big party like this, what is happening is nothing unusual. NPN had a similar situation then but at the end of the day, they were able to sort out their problem. This crisis too will be sorted out.

The rains are here again and warnings have been issued over impending flood. How is the state preparing to avoid a repeat of last year’s flood devastation?

There was an early warning even during the last flood that this year's flood would be worse than last year's. And within the resources available to us, we have started to embark on certain measures. You know that the federal government gave us N500 million as a palliative measure for us to buy food stuffs and some relief materials for those who were affected by the flood. But when we looked at the number of people who were affected, we discovered that if we divide the money some people would get N3000, some N5000. In states where the money had been shared, people got N3000. If you have your farm washed away by the flood and you are given N3000, it's a joke.

And so, what I decided to do in consultation with leaders in the state was to keep the money and decided that it would be better for us to use the money in a more meaningful and purposeful manner. So, if you go to Gboko Road now, we are building a big drainage that is taking N200 million out of the N500 million. And we have divided the rest of the money to the local government areas that were affected. We have asked the chairmen and they have brought bills of quantity in the kind of things they want to do in those communities. Some are building clinics; some are building schools. I think the highest local government has about N100 and something million and I think that is Gwer-West.

The entire project that you see on Gboko Road is over N300 million. Intervention from the flood money is N200 million out of the N500 million that was released by the federal government with the state adding over N100 million to it. I think that makes more sense than sharing the money and giving people peanuts. That makes more sense. A lot of people have continued to insinuate that we have embezzled the money.

We will give the money to the affected local government areas by the end of this month when the rains would have receded substantially. We are going to distribute this money publicly and make sure that we monitor these projects that are to be done by the various local governments. People just believe that money should be shared. No one dime of that money is going to be shared to anybody. We will do things that our children would wake up tomorrow and say when we were affected by the flood these were the intervention from government.

What is the level of Budget implementation in the State?

I don't think budget implementation this year would be as good as last year for many reasons. You know that there are issues of funding this year which affects the entire country. So, we might not have the kind of implementation that we had last year. Implementation of recurrent expenditure is about 72%. When we now add the implementation of minimum wage of teachers, it's going to jump to above 80% which means that we are just coming to offices and going back because in any budget where you have that level of recurrent expenditure, you are no longer running government.

Unfortunately, that is the situation. And like I said, it's not peculiar to Benue. It's across the country. You have a lot of graduates on the street. If you don't employ them it's a problem; if you employ them it's a problem. So, it's more like a vicious circle but we are going to look into the report of the NUT Primary School Teachers Minimum Wage Implementation which would be received by the Deputy Governor after which we will sit down and see what is possible for us to do.  Whichever way we go, it's like the devil's alternative; whichever way we go, people are going to die. That is what the devil's alternative means!

How is the situation in Taraba State?

The issue in Taraba is unfortunate but I think that certain people have unnecessarily over-heated the polity in Taraba. The governor of Taraba is back and he is not incapacitated as most of you saw it. It's possible that he has not fully recovered but he is able to read and write and do an inauguration which most of you watched. His speech is slow because he is not fully recovered but he is in no way incapacitated. So, the acting governor of Taraba in consultation with the governor can continue to work for and on behalf of the state.

There is nothing wrong with that. Even when I am here hale and healthy, the deputy governor stands in for the state and for me in a lot of functions. So the essence of having deputies is that in your absence, they stand in for you. You can also ask them to represent the state in a lot of functions. That is the essence of deputies. While I was up in the office, my deputy was here with you and with his presence here, you

felt that I was here with you. So, as far as I am concerned, I don't think there is any issue in Taraba.
The delegation that went from the party also said that the acting governor should be working in consultation with the governor because the governor is doing everything just that he is not yet that strong. He is fully alert. There is no controversy about the acting governor representing the governor at all functions. Some people are just over-heating the system.

What is government doing to stem the tide of crimes in the state?

The security agencies have been instructed to take decisive measures and you would see that within the urban centres, we have stepped up checks and activities of security operatives so as to curb criminality. The new dimension to it worries me most and that is cultism. There are a lot of cult activities going on in the state but I believe that the security agencies are working round the clock to curtail them. Security issue is becoming a big burden on the lean purse of the state because all the money seems to be going on security issues.

Now that we have been able to subside the problem between Fulani and Benue farmers, other security issues like armed robbery, cultism and the rest of them are coming up. But like I said, I have instructed security operatives to take whatever measure that is necessary in order for us to curb this act of criminality within the state. We are working on that.

What is the situation with ASUU; is your committee making progress?

ASUU has continued to insist that the federal government had an agreement with it in 2009 and 2012 and that nothing was done. Yes, it is true that there were agreements in 2009 which were reduced to a memorandum of understanding in 2012. In that memorandum of understanding, certain processes and mechanism were supposed to be put in place for the federal government to attend to ASUU issues. Yes, federal government delayed in the implementation but we have started. I am involved in the NEEDS Assessment which the committee that I headed has been able to put together the sum of N100billion which has been distributed.

All federal and state owned universities with no exception have benefited from it. Our dear university (Benue State University) has gotten N950million from that N100billion that has been distributed. The N30billion given to ASUU for Earned Allowance is distributed only to federal universities because ASUU said state universities are not involved. So, I don't see any reason why Benue State University (BSU) should remain on strike because we are paying them the Earned Allowances and we have no issues about that.

On the NEEDS Assessment which is infrastructure we have gotten N950 million. So, there is no need or any reason why our own university should remain on strike. I believe that if the federal government has shifted grounds, ASUU should shift grounds too. What is suffering is the entire education system in the country. And I think people are beginning to play politics with it and we should not under any circumstance play politics with education, no matter the divide that we belong to. It doesn't make sense because it destroys the entire future of this country.

Everybody including those of you in the pen profession should appeal to ASUU to come back so that our educational system will begin to role again. I believe that if N30biliion is given and they are asked to go and verify the actual amount, they should go back. If you go back and what you think you are entitled to is more than what you think is given to you, of course, the federal government is ready to go back. But they (ASUU) want to deal with the university councils and management. After all, this money is going to the university management and not to ASUU as a body. So, I don't see any reason why ASUU should still remain on strike if these demands have been met.

They keep insisting that there were delays. Yes, there were delays but something concrete has been done. Money has been distributed and these projects are going to start very soon provided the universities complete their procurement process. Some of them have started. The Vice Chancellor and Registrar of BSU came to show me the allocation given to them and I said they should go immediately and start the procurement process in constructing the projects that have been given to them. Once they finish the process, they give them the money to come and do the project. So, I want to appeal to ASUU to please call off the strike so that our students can go back to class.