By Tony John Mr. Livingstone Wechie is the President of Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo in Rivers State; National Chairman of Ikwerre People’s Congress (IPC) Worldwide and Head, Future Nigeria Movement (FNM). He is an expert in International Constitutional Law and a public analyst. In this interview, he speaks extensively on the unstable political and economic issues in Rivers State, collapse of Eastern ports and Igbo people in business. So much attention is on Rivers State at the moment, as a result of man-made crisis. Is it possible to talk about growing the economy in an unstable environment? The political upheaval in Rivers State is an unfortunate one no doubt. But, we must start thinking about and looking towards a better future to ensure that normalcy returns. It is no mincing words that the politics of the state had been undermined by certain forces without the mass of the people on the priority list. Obviously, you can say that the devil is in all the details. You have rightly called it a man-made crisis because it is centred around vested interests of certain individuals. It may be unproductive at this point to sustain the argument whether for or against the State of Emergency declared by the President because we must be looking to the future with solutions which are of premium importance. Like the Chinese will say, don’t waste a good crisis, Rivers State must come out better from this situation. However, the challenge is that the biggest victims are the people and their overall livelihood. Regrettably, Rivers State has taken the centre stage for the wrong news headlines as a centre of political caricature. Make no mistakes, the first hostage of political instability is the economy. The economic indices in the state have gone from bad to worse. Investors are leaving to Lagos in droves. The defunct militancy and the armed struggle era where some acclaimed Niger Delta militants in this state destroyed the once booming Trans-Amadi Industrial Area through sponsored kidnapping of expatriates and transactional agitation in the name of struggle, triggered the deluge of economic migration to Lagos. Rivers State is still paying the hard price for it as the current development has again struck the straw to deplete what is left of the state’s economy to the delight of some unpatriotic political elements. They may not be bothered because it does not affect their livelihood which thrives on free public funds. However, let us agree that they mean well, we must rethink our approach and stop being a laughingstock. This has to change. I believe there should be a middle ground for a political solution to the stalemate. We can’t separate politics from economy or vice versa. The state of emergency in Rivers State is interpreted by many people as two-fold: go and steady the ship of government and governance and protect key economic infrastructure in the state. I want to ask, the protests and court suits against the State of Emergency and call for exit of the sole administrator are they in whose interest? Sure! Politics regulates the economy through policy formulation. It’s like the polity creating the politics that in turn formulates the policy to govern the polity. Without any pretence, deep within the minds of the actors and their followers, they are not comfortable with the state of emergency because none has a direct control of the government today which is the bone of contention. In my view, whereas the state of emergency may have been the President’s own best wisdom beyond the constitutionality or otherwise, no matter any opinion to the contrary, there is need to now revert to the people’s original mandate in Rivers State in the spirit of democracy. At least, as Mr. President can see, the pipelines have been safe and continue to be in line with his grounds for declaring a state of emergency. Although some hold the political view that the state of emergency was a lifeline for Governor Siminalayi Fubara because according to them, he would have been impeached. But, we cannot continue to tilt the apple cart and expect to make genuine progress. I have profound respect for President Bola Tinubu, the father of the nation today whom I believe has the latitude to intervene by firmly calling parties to order and mandated them through a statesmanship approach to stop further political carnage. He should institute a dialogue through the superintendence of some key patriotic stakeholders with a view to resolve the crisis. It’s not about either of the parties or the House of Assembly. It’s more than them even if they are the dramatis personae in this seeming Trojan war. There is nothing dialogue cannot resolve. Today, both sides have become redundant without any exerting direct control of the system. They may have learnt a new political lesson. Rivers State is losing. Today, another cycle of street political protestations have emerged painting the state in bad light. I can boldly say that all that is happening in the state is in the interest of our closest competitors like Lagos. Let me say this as an opinion: in contemporary Nigerian politics, no state has been so wrongly discussed in the news like Rivers State and this owed to our type of politics. It only shows that there is deficit of patriotism in the state politics and it’s a bad omen that must be cleansed through necessary rituals. As the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Rivers State, how do you plan to grow the economy of your people in the midst of this political quagmire? You know I wear some sensitive caps as President of Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo, National Chairman of Ikwerre People’s Congress (IPC) Worldwide and Future Nigeria Movement (FNM) Head. I am an International Constitutional Law Expert and these give me a lot of access to the fabrics of our state economy and place a huge responsibility on me to speak up for development and accountability. Firstly, Igbo dominate the economic landscape of not just Nigeria but Rivers State. We need a state government that will also partner and collaborate with Ndigbo to rebound and flood the state with investments. The government must connect with the indigenous private sector players to creatively rejig the economic and investment windows of the state and country. I view that Igbo hold the key to prosperity and economic growth in Rivers State as ace holders in entrepreneurship and apprenticeship. This is not in dispute but it must be harnessed to the state’s advantage. For sure, there are other indigenous players; but, we must have a collegiate approach for collective prosperity. It is incontrovertible that entrepreneurship is key for economic recovery. There is an Ndigbo return-home-investment idea that I recommend must be explored. For us, as a pioneer, I have proposed and initiated the setting up of the Igbo Business and Investment Club that will serve as a consulate to engage the State Government on investment opportunities and policies connecting Igbo at home and in the Diaspora to Rivers. Remember, Rivers State is the next destination for investment after Lagos where Igbo also dominate. Of immense appreciation is the strategic takeover of the petroleum sector by local investors. For instance, Oando Energy owned by a Nigerian has bought over the Italian-owned Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited which operational headquarters is in Mgbuosimini Rumueme Kingdom in Rivers State. The government should go further to engage local investors and give them incentives to invest in more areas to open up the economy. For this to happen, the political stability of the state must be guaranteed and I believe the President has the patriotic zeal to do it. The hostile political situation betrays that zest for economic surge in the state. The political climate has ridiculously made the Government House the only thriving business centre in the state and this is unacceptable. The Federal Government must help Rivers State to stand on its feet because Nigeria depends on this state so much to survive. We cannot be good only when it has to do with oil revenue. However, our politicians must know that our prosperity is in our hands. What are the economic implications of this crisis? It is reported by BusinessDay that economists have revealed through in-depth research that Rivers State lost public sector investments worth over N2 trillion as a result of endless political feud during the political debacle of a certain defunct administration. This is different from the World Bank Water project of more than N300 billion that was denied the state at some point for same reasons. The dispute has resulted in the lack of investment appetite in the state, wait-and-see attitude of businesses, sneak-away syndrome, and so on. Today, no reasonable prospective investor will consider Rivers State as currently constituted to put money here under the circumstances. The instant political downward trend has caused a lot of setback. But, things can still change. The uncertainty is debilitating and deleterious to the growth aspirations and projections of the state. The paradigm must change so that Rivers State can grow. Unfortunately, the value of distraction is always very insidious and not considered most times because we do not acknowledge the statistics of our loss. It is my considered opinion that the President should not extend the emergency rule beyond six months. If not, his intentions might be questioned and Rivers people may be completely disenfranchised. In the overall, the governor has to complete his tenure to avoid a needless constitutional crisis. Now that parties have sheathed their swords, it is the best time to dialogue and restore the democratic structure in the state. This in my view will be a watershed and a golden legacy in the political credentials of Mr. President. The state of Eastern ports has been a disturbing issue. Experts have advocated for 30 percent rebate. Do you agree? If anything today, the ports in Rivers State must be fully activated to operate at optimum capacity. The litany of words without actions on this matter is becoming degrading in every sense. There is no reason three ports in Lagos are the only fully functional facilities in Nigeria with a fourth one in the works. Yet, Rivers State which is the Oil and Gas capital and, indeed, the entire old Eastern Nigeria, cannot boast of one functional seaport. This is failure of governance and an intentional political economic marginalisation of this zone and region in general. The South-South and South-East must be treated as partners on the nation’s progress in every word. Bonny should have a major seaport, Ogbakiri should have one world class seaport in addition to Port Harcourt and Onne ports fully functional. Rivers State has the capacity for complementing the already over-congested Lagos in this area for the benefit of Nigeria. There is no excuse for not having free zones in Rivers State to stimulate industrialization in this state. The state has all the potentialities for a robust economic engagement. The fact that Rivers State is the Oil and Gas hub of West Africa yet has no visa office, no consulate and very limited international air landing slots should worry the President. He should make policies to this effect and write his name in gold. The fight over political structure should not stop alliances for economic prosperity. We must stop impressing those who delight in the fall of our state by finding areas of agreement, which will only require the spirit of genuine patriotism to achieve. The state is blessed with political high flyers who are or have been poster boys of respective administrations they served. But, we are yet to see the avalanche of opportunities that stare us in the face. We are yet to be an improvement of our patriarchs who demonstrated an invaluable level of patriotism and selflessness in putting the state ahead of themselves. Every politician will someday retire and the question is, what are you returning home to meet? Export value chain according to experts holds the key to curbing insecurity. What is your view? Rivers State has cassava and palm oil as key export commodities. We have seafood, petrochemical, including cultural enterprise due to our rich cultural heritage and other massive agro-related potentials. We have NLNG Train 7 or so where we should have trained thousands of skill-based professionals to service the project and return revenue through taxes from robust salaries and remuneration; but, we lost it. Rivers State, which made waves with palm oil before coal and crude oil took over in quick succession, must return to palm produce as number-one choice in Nigeria’s national project called one-state-one-product (OSOP) export drive scheme which is still lingering. The youth is one of the greatest resources of this state with a high intelligence ratio. This brings us to Information Communication Technology (ICT) including Artificial intelligence (AI). The youths are engrossed with these skills but need to be boosted to solve problems through an organized economic enterprise. You can see their drive in their political support structures. Rivers State must evolve from a Government House run political support group economy to a private sector driven economy. We must invest in technology and skills for our people. There is no future for our people tomorrow until we decide differently today and take steps. As a public analyst, and discussing blue economy, with Rivers State as the nation’s economic hub, do you see it achievable? First of all, it starts with a firm resolve and vision. The leadership of the state must resolve and be intentional about our development. Today, Akwa Ibom has negotiated its Deep Sea Ports as part of its Industrial city project with federal support. It had launched Ibom Airline, Cross River State and Enugu have launched airlines. Rivers State must align itself and negotiate our economic and industrial future with the federal government. This mediocrity and hypocrisy must stop and give room for excellence. What has become of the state-owned state-of-the-art abattoir, the Cancer Centre for medical tourism among others? Thankfully, the Port Harcourt Tourist Beach is being revived; but, there are more that can be achieved if we get intentional. The real estate potential of the state is so vast with limitless potentials and these are lying low without the necessary tools to harness them. In the end, between the last and present era, there have been some major ongoing ring road infrastructure and other prospective projects. But, there has to be a good governance in place which only democracy can provide in Rivers State to achieve the lofty aspirations of the people.