One of the leading voices from the South-East in the National Assembly, Senator Victor Umeh, is appalled by the neglect of the Eastern Rail Line by successive administrations at the federal level. The Labour Party chieftain said the abandoned rail line is supposed to be a trade enabler and game-changer for the haulage sector, moving goods between Southern Nigeria and the northern region, saving costs and reducing tanker explosions and other risks associated with the movement of goods by road. Unfortunately, he said, successive governments have neglected the rail line to pursue politically motivated railways like the one to connect Nigeria to Niger Republic, among others. The lawmaker representing Anambra Central District bares it all out on Channels Television?s Political Paradigm programme.

Excerpts:

The South-East Development Commission has been so applauded. There have been conversations even before now about how important the South-East Development Commission is. Could you talk about what you understand to be the euphoria or the buzz around the South-East Development Commission?

The demand and the push for the establishment of the South-East Development Commission through an Act of the Parliament was driven by the need to close the gap in the infrastructural development of the zone since the war ended in 1970. And (General Yakubu) Gowon promised the people of that zone, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and restitution, the Rs to show that the war had ended. But it turned out that it was a promise made in vain. It?s 55 years now since the war ended. The region had been very badly marginalised in terms of infrastructure development by the successive military regimes and administrations in terms of the provision of infrastructure, the latitude is wide on what the commission can pursue.

The commission will serve as a springboard to bring the five states of the South-East zone together and pull their resources together to pursue projects of common interests that will traverse the five states in the zone. So, it has been greatly applauded by our people and welcomed with so much expectation and hope. As soon as the South-East Commission was passed and assented to law, all the other zones brought their bills for their zonal development commissions.

Does it downplay the importance of these commissions, or is it just political balance?

I do not begrudge any zone having a development commission but I think all the other zones went in to ask for their own, bringing the advantage or rather the compensation, the South-East people would have gained by that commission being established for them because that is the zone that has been largely marginalised and neglected over the years. So, all the other geopolitical zones came up with their requests and they were approved. For me, no problem, no hassles. I?ve always been in this National Assembly fighting for equity and fairness.

But that reduces the resources. If resources are channelled to regions that need development based on assessment, would it not be more effective than this proliferation based on political balance?

Well, I will say that everybody wants to take a share of what the commissions can do for others. You know, we first established the Northeast Development Commission following the activities of Boko Haram in the northeast, the carnage and destructions that took place there. The South-East tried it but it didn?t work, for some reason, things have happened in the past, the zone hardly gets listened to when they complain. But it took the tenacity of the National Assembly members from the zone to keep pushing for this commission. And it?s not new because it came up at the 2014 National Conference.

This issue of marginalization of the Southeast was a topical issue at that conference?

If you remember, after all the deliberations, particularly as it, bordered on state creation, the national conference resolved in the first instance that one additional state should be created in the South-East geopolitical zone to make their state six instead of five. It was aimed at addressing the seeming marginalization of that zone by giving them an additional state on the basis of equality of political zones. That was the outcome of the national conference 2014. So, when we came back with this development commission thing, it worked and the other zones came again to look for it.

But for me, it is still a great opportunity because if you look at the budget for 2025, the South East Development Commission already has ?354 billion in the budget in the head of statutory transfers that will go to that commission. It?s a first-line charge, ?354 billion will go to the South East Development Commission. Any serious commission will do a lot for people with that money, irrespective of what other zones get.

Northwest, because they have had their commission approved for them because they have seven states, the provision in the budget for that North-West commission was ?590 something billion, you know. So let them take it and go and do whatever they like. At the end of the day, it will now be left to the ingenuity of the people who will run those commissions to use the money for the purpose for which the money was appropriated, that?s in tackling developmental issues. So it is not a question of who has one trillion. It?s a matter of how you channel those resources, tackling the infrastructure deficits in your zone.

Two states in the South-East are part of the Niger Delta Development Commission, and we know why that commission was established. Many have questioned whether it has even fulfilled a tenth of its mandate. When you take a look at Imo and Abia in terms of infrastructure, how much have they benefited from the Niger Delta Development Commission? And why do you think the South East Development Commission would be any different, especially considering the political undertone that may accompany this?

Well, Abia and Imo are in the Niger Delta Development Commission. Mind you, the NDDC is different from the South-South Development Commission which they have applied for now. But they are in that commission for the simple reason that they produce oil. So, they are there as members of the Delta Development Commission because they produce oil. Even Anambra State now has approved and accredited oil wells that ought to join the Delta Development Commission.

Some attempts have been made to join Anambra State to the Niger Delta Development Commission because we produce oil in the Ogbaru Oil Basin and Aguleri. In Anambra State, we have oil wells but they?ve resisted it (the state joining the NDDC). The amendments to include Anambra State in that belt failed. They said Anambra is not in the Niger Delta. I think it?s just a matter of politics and semantics. Now coming to whether Abia and Imo have benefited from the NDDC, they?ve been getting money. No matter the amount, they serve on the board of the commission.

Is that the point? To get money?

They get their money. What is important is what they use the money to do. You hold the government responsible to the extent that the money received has not been properly used for development. And because they?ve not done well, you will not say that it wouldn?t have been necessary to have the commission. As an oil-producing state, they suffer all kinds of environmental degradation due to oil explosion activities. So, the money given to them, the intention was noble, but what politicians did with the money is a different thing. And I think the NDDC has not been able to achieve its purpose simply because of politics. When you begin to create a commission and you run the commission with politicians and people who make appointments use political considerations to make the appointments.

But what is different with the South-East Development Commission? There are politicians in the South-East Development Commission.

That is the same thing that has happened, but I can tell you that it?s going to be different. It?s going to be different because this is a zone that has been receiving the end of the stick over the years. Our people will hold them squarely responsible if they don?t meet their expectations. We know the pains of our people and those who will manage the affairs will be put on their toes.

Because we cannot stay by and allow the opportunity lost again. Who are we going to blame for our marginalisation?

In the areas of infrastructural development, our people are going to drive it wholesomely. For one year, 354 billion naira we?ll have to see concrete achievements. Our people?s eyes are open. The various groups in the South-East will want to know what will be happening in the commission. So it?s not something like the governor being a man with immunity can take money that comes from NDDC into the pool and spends it the way he likes.

Do you think the new commission will be a political campaign tool for some states?

No, I think if you look at our history, we have suffered together as a people. Political division among the five states in the South-East will not affect the activities of the commission. You know why? We are the same people. We are homogeneous people, we are Igbo people and our people have been crying out loud against their marginalisation. We?ve not been able to get our fair share in the development of infrastructure in the zone. Our people will not come out to begin to marginalise themselves. It will not happen. And for the fact that the governors will not have any role to play in dictating to the commission. The commission people are answerable to the South-East people.

That commission is going to, if properly run, raise the hopes of the people beyond what the governors have been doing. And let me tell you again, looking at the commission, the membership, I can tell you that the people who have been appointed to steer the affairs of that commission are very credible people.

The managing director, for example, is a young man who has attended the best of schools, and has been in the development programmes of Anambra State as a youngster. He?s the Managing Director of Anambra State Investment and Property Development Agency (ANSEPA). There?s nothing new in terms of development economics. He?s a young man who has undergone so many programmes, both in Harvard, so he?s an establishment person. The other people in the commission are people we know very well. They are friends, even this afternoon, I was with some of them out there. So they are people who can hold them accountable. And I can tell you, we?ll give them a chance to run the commission and it?s not going to be a place where politicians will go and feast. If politicians have been appointed also in the commission, the politicians are human beings and they know what the people want. We will not allow them to misuse that opportunity that God has given us.

Do you believe this commission will address concerns around marginalisation, especially concerning the agitation for secession?

This commission will not address everything conclusively. But it is a step in the right direction in the sense that the commission will be in a position to address some of our challenges. There are some that they will not be able to deal with because of the level of funds that will be available to them. If you talk about marginalization, there are programmes the Federal Government has been undertaking, which they can on its own, as the biggest spender, help the zone in driving some of those things.

Let me give you one example that I?ve been advocating for since I came to the Senate in the 8th Senate. The Eastern Rail Line. That railway line that runs from Port Harcourt through Aba, through Enugu, Makurdi, Kafanchan, Jos, and Bauchi to Maiduguri. That?s called the Eastern Rail Line. And that is the oldest red line built in Nigeria by the colonial masters. That red line is not within the current Federal Government?s railway line modernization programme.

In 2018 when I came to the Senate, I moved the motion to include the Eastern rail line in the railway modernization programme of the government of Nigeria. And what is that modernization programme? To build standard gauge rail instead of the narrow gauge rail which the colonial master has built. The Federal Government has excluded that eastern rail line from that programme to date.

The Federal Government has done Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge right, the Federal Government has done Abuja to Kaduna standard gauge rail, Kaduna to Kano standard gauge rail, Kano to Maradi standard ongoing now, then Itakpe to Warri standard gauge rail. This eastern rail line is the oldest red line in Nigeria, the government has been playing politics with it. That is the most important economic corridor you can think of. That?s why the colonial masters did it the first time because it links the whole of Northern Nigeria.

The red line, when it was functional, was bringing cattle from the North down to the South, that?s the corridor. And from Port Harcourt, petroleum products were moving up to the north through that rail line. You can imagine the level of savings the government had because our roads were spared the pressure of moving these goods up and down but now, the rail line has been abandoned long ago. Everybody now uses the roads. That?s why we?re having tankers falling here and there, killing people but when we had the rail line functional, such thing never happened. The need for that rail line cannot be overemphasised. It connects the North-East to Port Harcourt, the seaport because there?s no other way from the north to the shipment ports than to go to Port Harcourt and move your goods overseas but it?s not been done. I?m talking about marginalization. I?ve been crying about it. This year in the 2025 budget, when the president submitted this budget, there was nothing for the Eastern Rail Line again. (Channels TV)

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