Hon. Alexander Mascot Ikwechegh, member, representing Aba North and South federal Constituency in the 10th House of Representatives on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, spoke to George Mgbeleke on a broad range of issues, specifically calling on the Tinubu-led government to declare a state of emergency on Electricity and Agriculture.
Excerpts.
Well, before we go into the main issues, what exactly is your background?
Well, I was born many years ago by Chief and Lolo Mascot Ikwechegh and they passed away when I was 11. I have six siblings, making us seven in number. I attended Constitutional Christian Primary School and Sacred Heart College, Izugu, in Aba. I gained admission into University of Calabar, and studied Business Administration. After my graduation I went into Business. In 2005 I became Deputy Chairman of one of the Local Government Area Councils that made up my constituency called Aba North Local Government Area of Abia State.
I became Executive Chairman of Aba North Local Government Council and served in that capacity until it expired on the 10th of January 2010. I then served as a Special Adviser to the then Governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji for about four months, and then resigned from politics and went into the private sector.
What are your views on the last nation-wide protests embarked by Nigerians from August 1-10?
The truth is this. There’s so much hunger in the land. I don’t think Nigerians had it this bad, except for maybe just a couple of years the citizens were pushed into a civil war.
During the period, people could barely buy food to eat. It may be slightly difficult for the political class, especially people that have been successful for a long time, to truly understand the plight of the people as of today.
There are certain things that go on and when the poor, the poorest of the poor, get to hear them, it breaks their hearts. You cannot be telling people to tighten their belt when governors, presidents, ministers are still busy driving bulletproof vehicles, Lexus 600 SUVs. You see one governor riding on 30 cars. You see the President riding on 50 cars and then you expect them to tighten their belt? If government is truly interested in having people’s belts tightened, government should live by example.
So, what do you advice this government to do?
In a country of almost 300 million people, there is no electricity. How do we manufacture? We should declare a state of emergency on electricity and agriculture.
That is what I believe we should be doing. Declare a state of emergency in these areas. Bring in all kinds of consultants from different parts of the world. Let them come here and the president will say, I am mandating you within six months to give Nigeria Light. I am mandating you within 6 to 9 months to make agriculture attractive again. Who are the people killing farmers? Who are they? Let us find out whom these people are and get rid of them, so that people can farm. Nigeria has fertile land. Our soil is fertile. We can produce in industrial scale.
We are known for or dexterity, artisanry and work of our hands. Nigeria has a city in Aba that can be considered or compared to China. They used to compare our products from Aba to that of Taiwan. So what are we talking about? Today, if you go to Aba, because of the bad government, you see a lot of people riding Okada, Keke Napep or pushing wheelbarrows. These are young graduates who are supposed to be producing different things. So my dear, it is imperative that government sits up.
Nigeria cannot possibly be poor. Nigeria is a powerful country. I don’t know if there are elements from outside Nigeria that is selling this very nefarious, malevolent and ominous narrative. I believe that Nigeria is a rich country and not a poor country. But who are the people that ma our waters? Who are the ones that are allowing these vessels to sail into our shores and lift our oil and move back to wherever it is that they came from unaccounted for? Who are the people that are managing our mining industry? The gold in Zamfara as I hear, can literally empower this country. Why are we not harnessing what we have? If we harness our oil, harness our natural resources; we would have solved a lot of issues.
We cannot be doing the same thing and expect different results. Then again, it’s easy to sit by the corner and accuse the government, repudiate the government, repudiate the president, impugn their credibility, than actually doing their job. So, I do not want to be amongst those that will repudiate the President’s policies or repudiate the President’s administration. But I would like to be the one that will speak the truth, so that the president possibly, maybe some of the people within his circle might not be telling him the truth.
So, I want you to quote me very clearly and make sure that every single word that I have said here appears on your newspaper, so that it will be said that its possible for this country to be powerful. But we have to handle oil theft. We have to harness properly, our mining sector. We have to harness human capital.
Do you have news for us? Or feedback? Reach us at info@theplenary.com.ng