Professor Terhemba Shija is a lecturer in the English department of the Nasarawa State University. He is not a new comer to the political turf of Benue state, a state he seeks to govern on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He bares it all in this interview with Sam Kayode.
What is special about Zulum you admire or Zulumania as some people will describe his phenomenon?
Zulum is an intellectual. And his approach to governance is intellectual. He asks fundamental questions on virtually every issue. On basic issues about health services, resettlement of his people the internally displaced people (IDPs) and more. These IDPs are not from outside the country. They are within the state. He asks questions, like why should we go and concentrate them in camps instead of building houses for them. It’s only somebody with an independent mind that can ask such questions. That is the kind of person I am and that is why i am identifying with Zulum. You know when you start asking basic questions then of course you get answers to the problems of your society. That’s what he does and I want to be like Zulum that’s the truth.
How would you handle the seeming frustrations of Zulum concerning the lingering insurgency especially if you were in his shoes as a chief security officer of a state yet you can’t fire a shot at the insurgents hunting to kill your people?
I don’t think it’s a frustration. He is just like every public officer established by the constitution of the Federal Republic. You face challenges and for each step of the way he is able to sort out himself. So I wouldn’t say that he is being frustrated by the system. The man knows that the Federal Government controls the armed forces. And he is able to navigate himself very well between the idea that the Federal Government controls the armed forces. So he moves between the idea that the Federal Government controls the armed forces and that the citizens of his state are being harassed by insurgency yet he is able to navigate very well and is getting results. How do I know that he is getting result? Because he is able to establish projects. He is able to execute projects too while people who are in a relatively safe environment can’t established. And the President goes there every now and then to commission those projects. So you can’t talk about frustration as far as Zulum is concerned. He knows that government anywhere in the world requires solving problems.
The fact that the Constitution may not allow him to have a state police to help him secure captured areas for his people to return. I recall he once had a verbal exchange with a General when he felt the soldiers were misbehaving along the Damaturu Maiduguri road, yet he knows he can’t fight the insurgents to a stand still.
But that’s how it should be. A Governor who knows his onions will confront anyone that will militate against his own action. You are there to protect your people. You are not there to go on a social media making propaganda that you are the defender of one valley or one hill. So you are not defending the abstracts but tangible people. I believe he is solving problems because governance is about solving problems. Why would I be the Governor of Benue for instance and for six years there would be no commercial flight in my state? Which you know is basic as a foreign direct investment.
And then I would sign Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) for three times and it would not work. And you want me to consider that as frustration? That is not frustration. It’s a challenge which I must face and crush. How do you crush it? By insulting the President? No? By befriending the President by diplomacy because that is the language of government. You don’t do that and then you say the President is this and that, of course there are 35 other state Governors lobbying the Presidency and you are busy insulting the man. Who will care about who you are? That is the problem we are facing in this state. We are going to get Benue back to the light. We can’t just continue this way.
Obvious mistakes were made in the management of repentant insurgents which is why some return to the bush. How will you handle the plight of repentant bandits or insurgents as the case may be?
We are yet to have repentant bandits. In Benue our people are essentially people who have been unemployed they are people who were not been taken care of. A Governor Shija will take care of them. Younger people who are educated will get jobs. Uneducated will be recruited into certain categories of services in the state. They will be gainfully employed. There is not going to be a situation in which people who took arms against the state will be compensated and those who were obedient will be disregarded. No! We are going to make sure that we create a favourable environment in which people will get jobs. And for people to establish businesses. And then young people will be gainfully employed. So we are not going to have a problem like that at all.
Prof what’s your take on the overdue issue of state police to help state governments secure their people? Will you advocate for one if elected?
We have already started because naturally every state or region is handling the idea of state police in the state of insecurity we find ourselves. “Hisbah” is like State police. “Amotekun”, etc. These are all preludes to State police. Its obvious that State Governors must have a certain regimented outfit to tackle insecurity that will issue directives We will get one and arrest such tormentors of our people and prosecute them for violating the laws of the land. So I can predict that in the next 3 to 4 years every state would have its own police. Its been an idea that has been long over due. Same way if I become the Governor, I will set up the Benue State Marshals. Its in my blueprint. We will recruit young people, give them para military training and they would be responsible for sanitation for instance. They will also be on the team of enforcement of tax collection, fire service and emergency response services. They will be well kitted and some will be sent to Israel for special training to expand their knowledge. Some will even be sent to Europe to train properly. That is the kind of training I will give them, but for now, we will not give them AK 47 guns. But will have all other trainings for them. And they will work closely with the Federal police helping with prosecutions. That I can assure everybody, I am not going to be an Ortom who will raise his hand up shouting they are coming to kill us oh! They want to kill us.
For me, if you touch any Benue person we will get you no matter where you run to. And we will prosecute you. You can’t kill someone and run away in our State. A Benue person can’t kill a Benue person. Also, a Fulani cannot come and kill a Benue person and then the Governor will sit there and lament. We will use the security operatives to get you, no matter where you are. That is a promise not a threat. We will get you for your wrong doing.
But there is a key component missing in your proposed Marshals and that is intelligence management. Any reason why it’s meaning?
Cuts in………thanks for the reminder. Intel is a vital component of every regimental service we will train people for that. They will get it and they will complement the Federal Police. Don’t forget also that I will be a Governor that will work closely with the Federal Government. I will not be confronting them. President Buhari has been very friendly with Governors who have chosen to work with him. The VP came here and said whatever happens we will give N10 billion to recover and resettle these people.
How on earth will a Governor look at his people standing in those squalid environment and allow them to stay for 4 to 5 years. Its unfair. But if he got that and was really empathetic and waiting to settle them, we can set up a mega city together in Daudu like what Zulum has done by building two bedroom apartment for each of them. Give them something to start businesses. And let them go back to their normal lives. You know it’s a disgrace, a shame in the tiv culture to line up people like they did recently to come and collect “mudule”of rice. It’s a shame. A tiv man is a farmer who needs to feed himself and his family. Once you reduce his dignity to a level of just collecting a module of rice its humiliating we can’t do that. We will elevate the dignity of the tiv man and not denigrate him. That’s what my Government will do.
The vice president believed so much in fiscal restructuring. What is your view on fiscal restructuring?
You are talking of revenue allocation. All these are specified in the constitution. We know what the State Government is to collect legally. The same with local Government areas. There is a jungle of confusion in the country. State Governments go to collect local Government taxes. For instance local governments are to collect taxes from council markets and motor parks, etc. Yet State Government go there too. I know what the constitution says about States. A local government establishment here has to collect their PAYE. That’s what the constitution says. Its specified. I have no problem with that. All that I am saying is that if we are to review the revenue allocation formula. Its not the business of one State Governor alone. It’s the purview of the Governors forum to handle. They should take a decision about that which should also affect the council areas. Ever since Ironsi’s time when the unitary decree was in force everything was concentrated in the centre. Those who were saying that the North were exploiting the South have suddenly forgotten that it was a Southern head of State Ironsi then that concentrated everything in the centre. So now, those who are smart enough took over the centre, got the lion share. But now people are beginning to realize that it’s wrong. You will see a single parastatal in the Federal level has a budget as big as the State Government’s. That may not be my business alone but that of the Governors forum.
Cuts in……to go to court or fight back through lobby or any way they can?
But I as a Governor having studied the Constitution I know that the state is entitled to its own revenue. And the remedy to that is to rescue my state. And I will have enough cash to provide infrastructure and employment for my people. When people are given employment or opportunities to set up businesses because people are taxed and the government gets money to provide infrastructure and do other things.
Benue to me has not seen good governance since Aper Aku and Rev Father Adasu which explains why it has not moved like sister states in the same league who hardly rely on federation allocation but IGR. Do you agree?
Aper Aku was an excellent Governor. Everything you see after him was set up by him. He was a good man who worked with little resources. Now Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is abundant. Its just being mismanaged and misused.
Can Benue make up to N2 billion monthly as IGR?
What is N2billion to Benue? This lying Governor we have here says that salary wage is N7.5billion in a month and people believe him. So if civil servants are paid N7.5billion, payee alone is 10% of that which is N750million. The same Governor tells you IGR is less than 5million. Does it make sense? It means, they are not even smart enough to make a good lie that would be convincing. Then of course they tell you about the formal and informal sector of the economy where they are collecting taxes. In spite of the insecurity, Benue still remains the leading producer of Cassava in the whole country. They came second in yam in 2020 and rice, the state took the third position. They came first in two, Cassava and citrus. By 2020, Benue produced 12.5% of all the Cassava in the country. And Nigeria is a leading Cassava producer in the world today. So you can safely say that Benue is the leading producer of Cassava in the entire world. In 2020 Nigeria sold Cassava to the international countries worth $760m in form of Cassava chips, starch and flour. Multiply that by the dollar rate, we are crossing the trillion mark. So the contribution of Cassava to the GDP of Nigeria, was N1.2trillion. imaging that 12.5% of that was produced from Benue. Is there any index on ground to indicate that this is happening?. Now, we are talking of a situation where Benue has not started irrigation or has not been given any encouragement by way of mechanized farming. We are talking about a situation where about 5.3% of the Benue and Katsina Ala basin is put to use. And yet Benue will contribute 12.% or N1.2 trillion in cassava to the National GDP. Due to a commodity called cassava to the Federal economy and its not reflecting here. People have to realize that and we must also help our people to be part of the economy. If you leave here to Gboko you have many spots were people are being taxed in the name of cassava production. Does it get to the state? No! So you allow corruption to distract from the state economy and nothing shows for it and then you that you are re-organising the same economy? If they have me in there as a Governor, I will re-organise the place. So by the time the month ends we are talking about IGR getting to about N3 to 4 billion. We may not even need the federation allocation to pay for our salaries anymore like some states. I would not tell people lies that I need N7billion to pay salaries to state civil servants that are only 18,000 out of 6.1million people. What kind of cheap lie is that? With a minimum wage not up to N30,000. And then people hear all these and keep quiet?…. Sighs…
Do you have new minimum wage in Benue? Will you pay the amount to workers if elected?
You see, there are certain questions you cannot answer just like that. You can only answer them if you imagine that its going to be so. Just like security questions. You want to see the information available and what is on ground before responding. For now its difficult to imagine. If you get to the ministry of agric on a good working day, you can’t see up to 100 people as council staff. And then some one tells you that their salary is up to N1billion. Now you want to give that person the benefit of doubt. So, Account General, let me see what is there then you take that decision. As someone who has worked in the public service I would want to get to the bridge before crossing. There is no way myself as Governor of Benue State will not pay the 13 months salary. It means if you pay them by 12th or 13th December I will definitely pay them by 29th and 30th December for new year. So If you tell me that the wage bill is N7.5 billion and I am telling you I must pay, I will be lying.
I already know that it can’t be more than N2 billion then I will pay them double. Because I understand that Christmas and new year alone, the protocol demands for your stake holders go beyond N3billion so I will use my determination to pay civil servants at least N2 billion and the political VIPS will get N1billion to make them happy. So if someone is telling me I must look for N14 billion to pay salaries in the month of December. How is that possible? Not even Lagos can do that so we are in a situation whereby you don’t have access to the correct information somebody in government is dishing out lies and its very clear that you are listening to lies.
Or can we be battling with ghosts?
Which ghosts? What is so complex about the Benue civil servants i have it on my fingertips. The entire population of Benue state service is 18,000. That includes teachers and everybody. That of LGAs is 25,000 all 23 LGA’s. So you are talking about a situation in which we are dealing with less than 40,000 people. And then somebody tells you he is dealing with N7.4billion or so. Haba and then you say no please, reduce it now, yet he is refusing to reduce it. Why? Is that transparency?
