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My Plans for Imo State [interview](AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Imo State Ken Njemanze, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a Knight of St. John International KSI is one of the few Owerri people who wants to take over Douglas House Owerri as the next Governor. Njemanze talks about his ambition and what to expect if elected governor in this interview with Jude Igwe You are one of the many governorship aspirants for Imo State come 2015 election on the platform of the PDP. Tell us a bit about your background? Interestingly, I am not just one of many governorship aspirants. Rather I believe that I am the most credible and competent aspirant. I am a devout Christian and member of Knight of the St. John International. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a former Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General of Imo State and a Prince of the Njemanze royal dynasty of Owerri, Imo State. What these track records mean to the people of the state is a unique opportunity for an honest, humble, honorable and straightforward person to serve our people. Growing up under the tutelage of His Royal Highness, Eze Njemanze has helped hone my skills in community leadership, public service and drive for citizens' happiness. My devotion to Christian teachings has imbibed in me humility, compassion for the poor and underserved people especially women and children besides full obedience to God. As the State Attorney I had the opportunity to demonstrate these virtues, which I carried out judiciously. I attended Government College Owerri and proceeded to University of Lagos where I graduated with a bachelor degree in Law in 1983. I qualified as a solicitor having completed my Law school and since then have practiced law in the prestigious Njemanze and Njamanze Chambers. These rigorous years of training and experience as barrister of law and solicitor have provided me with the foundation to properly discern what is good for our people with the wisdom to do the right things at all times. Clearly, these are the differences and qualities that set me apart and confirm my credibility to serve my people come 2015. Having risen to the pinnacle of your profession as a senior advocate of Nigeria, why do you want to risk your professional reputation as it were by getting into the murky waters of politics and running for Imo State governorship? Your question presumes that getting into the so called murky waters of politics would be putting my professional reputation at risk. This is unfortunate, because that appears to be the mindset of some people. Politics of service to the people would not put my professional reputation at risk at all, and that is what I intend to give when I win in 2015. Having said that, I am driven by the need to give good governance to the people of Imo state. Let us not talk in the air. Let's take a hard look at the situation today. A snap-shot of some sectors will suffice. In the education sector, Imo State has the highest educated persons in Nigeria relative to population and highest number of professors, 320, according to the 2010 release of National Universities Commission. You would expect that we should harness this abundant human resource to create jobs, reduce poverty and migration from the state. But the reality today is different. Unemployment in the state in 2011 was 26.1% today it is 36% much more than the national average of 22.8%. As if this is not bad enough, the highest concentration of Imo population is in the youth, averaging between 28-30 years. However according to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2012, Imo State created the least jobs for youth amongst the entire South Eastern states. Imo created 1.28% of jobs for the youth; Anambra 1.80%, Abia 1.66%, Ebonyi1.70%, Enugu1.65% and Adamawa 1.65%. We shouldn't talk of states such as Lagos, Ondo or Akwa Ibom where it is 12.94%, 6.16% and 1.88% respectively. We were only better than six states in the country namely Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Niger, Kwara and Ogun. In terms of poverty incidence, in 2009, it was 39.6% today it is 50.1%. With regards to migrant population, on the average 48% of our male and 43.8% of our female migrate out of the state in search of jobs. These are disturbing statistics? Indeed they are. As a matter of fact, I shuddered when the research unit of my campaign organization churned them out. Let me also point out that one of the critical indicators of poor development is migrant population. Best practices suggest you should keep labour in your state and attract labour to your state. A situation where nearly half of the state potential labor forces are migrating out of the state is not only disturbing but catastrophic. What are you going to do to reverse the situation if you win in 2015? If elected as the Governor of Imo State which I am very confident and optimistic will happen I will swing into action to address and reverse the trend of high rate of poverty which stands at 55%, unemployment rate of 26% and income inequality in the state. Specifically, I will leverage the huge 13% derivation from oil, as an oil producing state to create industries that compliment oil servicing with medium to high talent skills required to support the oil industry such as deep water welding, seismic data analyst, geophysics, safety consultants and boat house construction. We will also invest a substantial junk of the revenue in information technology and bio technology. Granted that ICT is the tool and fundamental to many developed economies and that Imo State has great potentials to redirect the skills of its quality population in the areas of green technology for state and national transformation, I will give priority attention to information technology. Similarly, I will address issue of lack of transparency and due process in award of government contracts and engagement of consultants. To achieve this, I will set up a due process unit under the watchful eye of professionally-trained and accountable special adviser to the governor. I will provide health plans and programmes to address issue of high infant mortality and morbidity rate which at the moment is over 35%. These are caused by poverty and low standard of living. The 325 hospitals in Imo State will be equipped with modern beds, diagnostic tools and systems, specialist and personnel. The pharmacies will also have modern drugs and I will encourage exchange programmes with Imo State doctors in Diaspora who on numerous occasions have informed me of their willingness to positively contribute to health care initiatives in the state by offering free medical health care, check-ups and specialist treatment of patients with diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure etc. Imo State, given its highly educated population should not be among the states with the highest ranked unemployed persons in the country currently at 26% comparable only to Gombe and Bauchi states. What this means is an unproductive population because skills, talent and competencies are not utilized. The solution will be to engage the quality population in a meaningful and productive occupation thereby contributing to Gross Domestic Income of the state. Similarly, the main thrust of my government would be to transform Imo State into the hub of ICT diffusion and penetration in Nigeria. It is not by coincidence that a great percentage of indigenous ICT and telecommunications companies in Nigeria are founded or managed by Imo state citizens. Thus, in collaboration with the private sector, we shall co-create a local software ecosystem in Imo State which will tap into the global 360 billion dollars ICT market. In terms of agriculture, we shall leverage on the 75% arable land in the state to increase for export the production of cocoa yam, cassava, palm produce, rubber and maize. Some of your competitors for the key to the Douglas House have brandished their experience including accomplishment in business, what experience do you bring to bear? With all due respect, I served as Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state in the recent past administration. During this period, it is on record that Imo State Government defended the most number of cases in the country. We registered success rate of over 80% including cases from state high courts all the way to the Supreme Court. So, my score card in that regard is solid. Let us look at some PDP governors adjudged generally to have performed well. Akpabio is a lawyer. Imoke is a Lawyer even Fashola of APC is also a Lawyer. You can push the envelope by looking across our shores, Obama, Mandela, Clinton etc are all lawyers. Maybe there is something about Lawyers and good governance. How do you view the current security situation in the country? Security is key. No development can happen under a situation of chronic insecurity. Today, the highlight of insecurity in Nigeria is the Boko Haram terrorist attacks. Of course, it has completely eclipsed other form of insecurity such as kidnapping, armed robbery, human trafficking etc. The federal government is working hard and with the acceptance of foreign support, we hope to see a significant improvement in the situation. For someone under huge pressure running a campaign for governorship, you look very well. How come? I am indeed well. Good health is a blessing from God and I am grateful for that. I do my bit by eating what I am advised by experts as healthy diet and also follow an exercise regime. Campaign for the office of governorship has not been flagged off according to INEC time table. As a senior member of the Bar and a responsible politician, I respect this. Yet in spite of this fact, I have been under huge pressure in preparation - meetings, strategizing, reading tons of paperwork, attending lots and lots of presentation etc. In addition, I have to also attend to the law firm because that is my primary constituency so to say where I earn my living. Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |