Prof. G.G. Darah, a former lecturer, Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, is a Delta State delegate in the ongoing National Conference. He speaks with FRIDAY OLOKOR on the recommendation of the Committee on Devolution of Powers among other national issues
The National Conference ends in few weeks, can you give us a brief overview of what has been done so far?
When I reflect on the work we have done, it is obvious that we have made more progress than we even anticipated. We had a lot of hiccups at the initial stage which were a consequence of what I call “bottled up prejudices.” This was expected with many politicians as delegates who have fought themselves over the years on ethnic and regional grounds. In the first three weeks, these were drama that we were witnessing. In the process, we began to learn from one another; people have become more sober now and they are ready to listen to one another. Listening is actually the tonic; it has changed the mood of the conference. This is in addition to the overall general pressure from the Nigerian society that had doubts. I think this has also motivated members of the conference to do something better than late General Sani Abacha’s conference of 1995, and also avoid a breakdown like ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s conference. As you can see, history is working and people are conscious of those pitfalls. So, people want to overcome them so that they can enter a more positive page in Nigerian history. The third factor is that President Goodluck Jonathan, the engineer of this conference, does not seem to have what I describe as a “satanic agenda.” If it is, it will be reflected every day. He has kept aside having poured out what he asked us to deal with on March 17, 2014. If you add all these factors together, it is understandable to know that in terms of quality of output, this conference has made a lot of progress than the other two that I referred to earlier. You said we have few weeks to go, yes! We have taken the report of the committees, one after the other and we had 20 of them. The Committee on Environment gave details of devastations of the oil wells and oil fields, which is the one that hits the headlines. Look at some of our Nigerian soils, for a thousand years, we have not fertilised them; the soils are tired. Look at the description of Eastern Nigeria, there is a book in which I read that the soil erosion in Eastern Nigeria is a thousand years old. Now you have gullies and where such exist, you cannot plant. That goes to show why most Igbo elite are always mobile; they cannot have a stable life in the East no matter how gifted they are. They need a peaceful and protective Nigeria. They will not be interested in breaking Nigeria up because the Nigerian market is their asset. So, each of the committees is throwing up new challenges.
You said the conference was devoid of a “satanic agenda” but some critics will disagree with you that the composition of the conference itself was a grand plan by the government to make sure that its interest was fully represented.
The federal and state governments are well represented; when you are asked to pick who is going to represent you, you will not pick a moron, you will pick one who will effectively represent you. Those chosen by the federal and state governments are not mediocrities. What is more important is: Do they have the credentials that can match what the conference requires? There is no way you can avoid certain Nigerians. If we had used election to select the members, as was the case before the Abacha’s conference, those with money would have won the election. What has happened here is a mixed grill. There are people here who are friends of the President. He will not put his adversaries there; otherwise, the conference will capsize in advance. The governors also nominated competent people because each state has at least one interest that needs to be defended. Like in my state (Delta), the governor (Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan) selected three of us. If it was purely a matter of ethnic consideration or friendship with the governor, I will not be selected. Although the governor and I were school mates, I am a critic and a journalist and so I cannot be considered as one of the men who sing the slogan of the Peoples Democratic Party. He had other people to choose, but he did not. The people of the ethnic group which I belong, the Urhobo, were happy. They even wrote to the governor in advance that I was their number one if he wants to choose people. But I am not representing the Urhobo people alone because Delta State sent me to the conference. I am representing other people in the state, oil workers are there; Shell, Chevron, and I am representing the interest of all these people.
Generally, what do you think about the representation?
I think that the selection is an improvement on the previous ones. In 1994/1995 when Abacha convened his conference, the country was split into two; Abacha vs NADECO and the South-West states refused to take part. So the best brains stayed back. The South-South states came because they had some issues; at least they got 13 per cent derivation. In 2005, there was meritocratic consideration because the nine people that we brought- Chief E.K. Clark, Gamaliel Onosode, two generals and seven professors- were a solid team. We brought the conference to a premature close when the conference was not in our favour. It is the delegates that are showing the quality of the conference now. This is however a mixed grill.
What do you think about the reports on issues of resource control and degradation of the Niger Delta as championed by the likes of Ankio Briggs?
I foresee a hot debate at the plenary. I foresee controversy and antagonism because we are going to the heart of the matter. It is not for nothing that Delta State has the slogan “The Big Heart”. It is not for nothing that Edo State calls itself “The Heartbeat of the Nation”. All these slogans are reflective of their self-image in terms of the quantum of contribution they make to the national treasury. There are 10 of such states; nine are oil producing then Lagos. Only those 10 states contribute the money that Nigeria is using now and they are cheated, exploited, marginalised and even insulted by those who do not know, including those who are beneficiaries of the inequality in the federal arrangement. All these states that are victims of Nigerian oppression are represented in the conference and they are there to mount a liberationist campaign: Change this law so that we can feel that we are not a colony. Those issues will naturally arise. We had already played the micro drama in my Committee on Devolution of Powers. After self education and the quality of data that came in the process, many began to admire and respect each other. The Northerners were hostile to anything on derivation or that the exclusive list should be relaxed to give more powers to the states. Every federal arrangement in the world has two tiers of government: the central and the state or province or region. It is awkward in Nigeria where there is a federal, state and local government, and all these are entrenched in the constitution; as such you cannot touch them unless you reverse the constitution. For that to be done, you must go round the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly.
How does your committee think this anomaly can be corrected?
First, we agreed that the local government will not be a tier of government. While we were deliberating in our committee, those in the Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government had already decided so by defining the tiers of government and who should share money at the federation account. We did not abolish the local government. We are only rescuing the Federal Government from an illegality. The constitution states that local governments shall exist in the country but the Houses of Assembly will determine their duration, election and funding. Meanwhile, since 15 years of democratic rule, the Federal Government has been funding the local government as it used to during the military era. The Federal Government is even disobeying the constitution. Logically and legally, it should be a straight forward fight. There are many states in the country that are economically unviable and therefore do not even qualify to exist as a state. They exist because of what we call “feeding bottle federalism.” Those ones have so many local governments as vessels which they use monthly to collect money from Abuja. Now, when you say that local governments will no longer go to share money in Abuja, it is a major political decision that will please some parts of the country, but will injure some other parts. No matter how radical you are in defending the interest of your region, you cannot prevent the negative impact it will have in terms of provoking crisis.
What is this idea of Cultural Central Bank that you have suggested? Can you enlighten us more on it?
I coined that phrase to represent an area of my own involvement and competence. I am a cultural scientist, or you can call it cultural folklorist but it is a science. We gather cultural materials, analyse them using certain scientific criteria. I have headed the Nigerian Folklorist Society for eight years. I am also a member of the Nigerian UNESCO Oral Cultural Heritage and have some knowledge of the vast wealth that culture has and reproduces which orthodox economists like the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okojo-Iweala, may not have or will just take for granted. And I also know that there are some countries in the world that are surviving without minerals.
Unlike oil, culture does not pollute. I used that phrase to draw attention to the vast wealth in culture and if you have a country with over 170 million people, then you have potential singers, dancers and drummers. What this requires is to map it. So if you have 5,000 festivals, how many should be made annual? Government should make laws and provide loans so as to attract foreign investment into the country. That is what Botswana and Kenya are living on. In music, names like Fela, Timaya, P-Square, have made global headlines. If a band is set now, a lot of people will benefit from it in terms of job opportunities. Stories make the world: from simple stories in the Bible, there are over two billion people in Christianity today. People are being paid millions from film making today. When I made my presentation at the conference, if I had illustrated with a Nigerian example, they will say it lacks value, so I illustrated with a Greek folktale about Icarus and Didalos. Icarus was the father while Didalos was the son. They both said they wanted to fly to visit the sun. So, they used feathers with wax on their hands and they took off. The heat of the sun melted the wax and the feathers fell off and a result, Icarus fell and died. In America today, “The Journal of the American Academy of Science” is called Didalos. “The Journal of Aerospace Science” is called Icarus. The Americans name their journals after Greek myth of 5,000 years ago. I have categorised them into sub-sections; stories, music, fine arts, furniture, hair dressing and embroidery. The rebasing that the Minister of Finance did the other time did not include the cultural sector. In my paper, I said the Federal Government should put in N50bn yearly for collectors and translators and they will employ two million Nigerians in that field.
Does that suggestion of N50bn still stand?
I have increased it because I have more knowledge now. I have said that if the government can give N200m to Nollywood, which is only one branch of the cultural production, it should invest N200bn in the collection of these Nigerian tales.
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