Hon Philip Okey Igwe is the PDP Deputy Governorship candidate in Abia State and also the Lawmaker representing the good people of Umunneochi State Constituency at the Abia House of Assembly.In this interview with our Reporter, Okereke Kate, the Lawmaker, talked about his emergence as the PDP Deputy Governorship candidate for the 2023 election,what he will be bringing on board, the Gov Okezie Ikpeazu led administration and other issues.Excerpt
Sir, Recently you were nominated As the PDP Deputy Governorship candidate for the 2023 Guber election, were you expecting that nomination?
I liken myself to David the shepherd, who was busy tending to his sheep.I was busy at the Abia State House of Assembly.I come from a district, Isuikwuato,that is believed to have be forgotten in the Abia project.We have never tested some key positions like the Attorney General of the state,SSG,Chief of Staff, Speakership or even Deputy Speakership, Governorship or Deputy Governorship.God in His mercy decided to remember the old Isuikwuato district by laying it in the heart of the Governor of the State and the PDP Governorship candidate, Prof Uche Ikonne, to think to my direction.Deputy Governorship candidacy is by nomination and not election,so they nominated me in accordance with all the elders of the party.They thought it wise that the old Isuikwuato district which i am from, should be involved into the mainstream of Abia political governance.I am delighted for this opportunity. It is politics,we need to do what we need to do.Political democracy is simply government of the people,by the people and for the people.We have been moving around, consulting and telling people why the pair of Prof Ikonne and myself is best come 2023.
Alright sir,you have been on the corridor of powers for close to ten years now, Rising from a Local Government Chairman to a Lawmaker and now to a Deputy Governorship Candidate,What has been your driving force?
What drives me, is because i see politics as an instrument of public service,a vehicle through which you can serve your people.Like you rightly mentioned, I started as a Local government chairman from there, to the House of Assembly and now, i am aspiring as a Deputy Governor and i will be the next Deputy Governor come 2023 to serve the whole of Abia state.Like i said before,i come from a district which is largely forgotten by the Abia experience and by God’s grace,in my time,i have been nominated as a Deputy Governorship candidate.So, it is a combination of my own drive to serve and the grace of God.
Sir,you said ‘Service to your People’ is one of the driving forces that has brought you this far, Can you tell us briefly what you have actually done for your constituents in the past seven years as a Lawmaker?
As a Lawmaker,my duty is in theee forms.To make laws for the good order and governance of Abia State as a whole, but bearing it in mind, i come from Umunneochi State Constituency and as the saying goes,”Take heed to yourself first”.We make laws,serve as check and balance and carry out oversight functions.With these not withstanding, you try and take care of your people by attracting projects. I have done that. I am a big believer of infrastructural development.When i was the Umunneochi local government chairman, i led the restoration of electricity to Umunneochi.I have continued to do that to ensure electricity is electrocuted to every part of Umunneochi,not only in Isuochi but in Nneato,Umuchieze and environs.Couple of roads here and there.Most importantly, i led the effort to reach out to the indigent,the indigent women most especially.I have a pet project where i reach out to indigent widows who have nobody to speak for them.We do cash stipends to them on a monthly basis.I started this initiative as the chairman of the local government, which i used my salary and spread it across the widows.At the moment, we reach out on a monthly basis, fifty widows.We give them cash stipend to sustain life.It has been a couple of tough years for everybody economically. It is something i take seriously and i am proud of it.On the law making end, i think the tragedy of this country is because we have failed to industrialize. We discovered oil and we lost our souls.That is why today in the APC government,a dollar exchanges for #710, which means,our currency is useless and worthless basically. At the back end,we don’t manufacture anything. So we need to get back to industrializing our economy. For me, electricity or electrical power is major to our economic development.At the House of Assembly, i introduced the Bill (HMB12), which will become a Law very soon, hopefully,before the expiration of our tenure.The Bill basically champions an energy policy for Abia State. What the Bill means is that,we are going to repeat what we did in the Telecom industry in the Energy industry. Which is to say, the National grid which sends power to some grids in the North which has not work,part of the reason we have this perennial power failures.Is either they tell you the grid has collapsed or something else.What we need to do basically is to unbundle EEDC so that we can open up the sector as a state,for people to come in and invest, generate power and sell it within the state.You remember back in the days of telecom before we unbundled NITEL,before you can make calls those days,you will have to travel far distance.Then,we were traveling from Umunneochi to Enugu state just to make calls but today the story has changed, everybody has a cellphone,that was because we unbundled NITEL.So that’s what the Bill HMB12 seeks to address. Let’s unbundle EEDC or NEPA for people to come and invest.If we truly do this, it will open the economic energy space for Abia State and you are going to see alot of knock-on effects because the multiplier effect is endless.The insecurity you are seeing is because of economic hardship. Everything is tied to the economy.So if we can generate enough power to run our factories and do our businesses, the economy will take off. That is what i have championed largely in the House of Assembly. Is not about making bunch of laws but laws that actually will back policies that will change people’s lives. That is what i have done.Beyond that, my approach is Umunneochi first.Anything that concerns Umunneochi concerns me.I have been able to secure employment for hundreds of our young men and women.Even last week, we were able to secure about forty job opportunities which we gave out to my constituents.The crop of the matter is to be able to listen to your constituents, know where the problems are and try a way to profer solutions.
The Security Situation ravaging Umunneochi Local Government Area,is quite worrisome,how do you intend to clamp down on the activities of these marauders?
Worrisome is an understatement, but understand that the security situation you are seeing in Umunneochi is not an isolated incident.Part of the tragedy of APC government is that they have not only destroyed the economy but have destroyed the security apparatus of the whole country,so there is insecurity everywhere. Just recently, worshippers in a church in Owo,Ondo state, were attacked. Insecurity is everywhere.Unfortunately for us,it has come down to Umunneochi that used to be the most peaceful of places in Abia State.Well, we are working.Efforts are in top gear to arrest the situation.The challenge is not sustainable,sooner enough,we will turn it around.
If you are elected come 2023 alongside your principal,what will you be bringing on board differently?
My job is easy and constitutionally my job is to effectively carry out any assignment delegated to me by the Governor of the state.But at a larger level, the way people visualize governance is wrong.We are not suppose to be looking at government ethnically,we are looking at the state as one monument and we need to change things. We need to create a system that works for everybody.Is not a case of I’m the Deputy Governor, let me take care of my people.We are looking at the state as a whole.If we can economically turn the state around, then it can work for everybody.If our youths are gainfully employed,if factories start springing up from all nooks and crannies of Abia,then we have succeeded.That is why you hear Prof Uche Ikonne talk and emphasize on participatory governance-not just thinking of what the government can do for you, but what can we as citizens of Abia do collaboratively with the government so we can take Abia project to the frontier. These are the key questions we should bother ourselves with.My principal also talked about comparative advantage, which means government partnering with everybody in your various communities,base on comparative advantage,what is it we have in Umunneochi that we can harness to uplift the people of Umunneochi. What is it in Isialangwa North,Obingwa,Bende among others, that government can harness for the general welfare of ndi Abia.Those are the things we are bringing on board.I am going to be an effective partner to Prof Ikonne.We are going to initiate policies that will uplift the state and set it on the faster pace of development.
Alright Sir, Today Abia is celebrating her 31 years of existence, do you think as a state we have fared well politicaily.
Well, politically as a state, we are doing our best but i am most concerned about the economy.We really need to advance economically.Politically,we have done well,but there is room for improvement. As an apostle of Gov Ikpeazu.I started as a local government chairman under Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.I consider Gov Ikpeazu as one who has been doing foundational work, because before him, we have not been lucky with leadership.Alot of things he is doing are largely unseen.But hopefully Prof Ikonne and myself will continue from where he will stop and improve on those things he has done well. Infrastructurally, the Governor has done alot of investment in Aba, which is our commercial city.I always tell people,we need a robust commercial city because Aba is nolonger for any particular set of people in Abia state.It is a cosmopolitan city not only for Abia state but the entire South East and South South.We need to get Aba right. As far as am concerned, one can boldly say Abia has not been lucky with leadership,until Gov Ikpeazu came on board. He is doing alot of foundational work and the coming administration will make improvement on it.We will take it to the next level through ideas, innovations and industrialization.Politics, governance are work in progress, untill we get to that eldorado,Abia is not there yet.The journey of a thousand mile begins with a step, we are taking steps, but we can stop taking steps and start running.
How would you describe the efforts of some Abia’s political gladiators, the likes of late Jaja Wachukwu, M.I Okpara,J.O Okezie,in Abia development?
We have had these gladiators and their contributions to Abia development are enormous.The Abia palm by M I Okpara and other Agricultural investments gave Abia a footing.Even though we have abandoned them,part of my argument,we need to start industrialization.Adolphus Wabara,Ike Nwachukwu,all did their best too.Like i said earlier, governance is a continuous process,it is always evolving,believing younger generations will take it to where it needs to be.
At 31,do you think the development on ground is commensurate with the number of years Abia has lived?
I like to look at things wholistically.Looking at it from the national,we have failed as a country.We found oil and we lost our souls.For me, when you fail to industrialize,you can’t do much. It is not a rocket science.It is important we industrialize our economy as a country.Note, if we are to get Africa right,we must get Nigeria right, because we are the biggest market here. A country that cannot produce anything.Why is anyone shocked that our currency has dropped when you don’t produce anything? Fine,it is easy to blame the state, but if you look at the structure of the country, everything is tied to the centre,so it is difficult for a state to do much. As a state, are we where we should be at 31? Absolutely No! This is because the state is a microcosm of the country.But we have to do better.Some things have been done, there is still alot left to be done.I can speak for the incoming administration,that we will try to get it right.
Alright Sir,in your view, which administration both past and present can you say gave Abia a push infrastructurally?
Each administration is different.I think that assessment should be left to Abians.I came into politics under Gov Okezie Ikpeazu. The present administration has done alot of foundational work which the coming administration can build on. Sometimes,it is difficult for people to see his contributions because things were too bad before he came. Aba was ravaged and in decay but he has done alot of work there too. There are alot of projects he has done .For the first time,he engineered an Economic Development Plan for Abia.Projects like the Enyimba Economic City has been ongoing and hopefully our administration will see to its completion. That project has the capacity to create employments.You have to measure projects by the number of employment they can create. The Enyimba city is a project capable of creating a million jobs for Abians.That is a noble idea. Though,it might not come on effect before he leaves office but government is a continue, that is why succession is important.We will take up that project by the grace of God. Other projects he has initiated like the Geometric is laudable too.The Governor has worked tirelessly to ensure the geometric power plant is actualized.A project that will serve Aba with power. Remember,once you get Aba right, you have gotten Abia right.He has worked on that project to ensure all the conceptional dispute with the EEDC is resolved and he made sure that they gather all the loan they need to get the project done. These are some of the things the present Governor has done within my time.I can’t speak much of previous administrations,let Abians be the judge of that.Like i said,this is work in progress,we will take it from where he stopped.
What will be your Anniversary message to your Constituents and Abians at large?
I congratulate Ndi Abia on this auspicious occasion.First of all,i want to say i am glad to be a running mate of Prof Eleazer Uche Ikonne,he is objective. Standing alongside with him,we are going to do something new in Abia. We will take the state to the very next level, building on the foundations Gov Ikpeazu has laid.By the time we will be done, Abians will be proud of our government and more importantly,we will start with the process of industrializing the state which is the key to getting Abia developed. Am lucky we are serving to get Abia right.I want Abians to come out en masse and vote for us and at a pedestrian level, i wish every Abian a successful 31st anniversary.We are all happy to be alive.There is hope.The hope for Abians is Ikonne/Igwe Ticket come 2023.
