Renewed Hope agenda: One year down the line: There is light at the end of the tunnel—Umenzekwe

Honourable (Chief) Modestus Umenzekwe, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is an ardent believer in the ability of President Tinubu to transform Nigeria into an Eldorado. In this interview, he tells Nigerians that no matter the challenges now, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Excerpt:

We want to find out as a Chieftain of APC, in your opinion, do you think the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration is achieving its set goals bearing in mind the administration is now one year on the saddle?

Thank you so much, I must tell you that the country is getting interesting, in many ways, whether there is hardship or not; and our political space is also getting interesting. And I want to congratulate Nigerians for embracing democracy, unbroken democracy for that matter since 1999 till date, where there is freedom of speech and expression.

You see, this is the first time a true democrat is handling the affairs of the country, in the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a man who put in all his efforts and resources to make sure we have democracy, a man that fought tooth and nail to make sure that we are liberated from the military shackles, and a businessman for that matter.

We were to have such administration in 1993, in the Hope Agenda of Chief MKO Abiola, one of the freest elections we have had in this country, still the military truncated it. We went back to square one, and Asiwaju played a very big role that time. That means, he has not lost the sight of the manifesto then where the politics or the political actors of that time wanted to take us, but you see, along the line the whole thing got messed up. Now he has come in with those ideologies, he is trying to implement, but you see, it is difficult because things have gone so bad, and that makes him to be taken hard decisions which the past leaders hadn’t the courage to take, and that is why we are where we are now, and people are saying all sorts of things.

So for you to have the benefits of that Renewed Hope Agenda, which is his manifesto, you have to go through all these things. Some people talking now were not born then, so they may not know what is going on. What we need now is proper education, to that extent I will tell you that the objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda are being met, and this is just one year, by the time we finish this interview you will see the achievements, in as much as there are problems, I can’t deny that, he is not God, he is not a magician, but I think he is doing well.

Certain decisions he is taking, or this administration is taking, the benefits will not come immediately under one year, by the time we are getting to one year, six months to two years, you will see it. By the time we are completing eight years, Nigeria will be completely out of the woods, I believe so.

Now let’s examine some of his achievements within one year. President Tinubu secured a financial partner from EDIB Hong Kong to develop the $27.29bn Escravos Seaport Industrial Complex. This project is located in Escravos (Gbaramatu Island/ Omadino

President Tinubu has provided a written confirmation of a new era Free Trade Zone, with a workable financial model 99years concession, Build, own, operate, and transfer Delta State to provide 31,000 hectares of land.

President Tinubu approved the EISC deep seaport; this port will service all inland ports along River Niger. It’s called “River Niger Canal Project,” in partnership with Suez Canal Authority. This Canal/International Marine highway project is a 600kms ESIC seaport that runs to Baro Port. This project will open up the canal to a depth of 10m to enable it to take vessels up to 100,000 metric tons.
President Tinubu has approved Kano – Lagos narrow rail express service. It will help farmers to move their goods and aid quick products export from the hinterland

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has just switched payment for Crude Oil sales to CBN, away from the NNPC.

PBAT has equally launched the Student loan Scheme which will commence soonest because all measures have been put in place to ensure it gets to Nigerians who are yearning for University Education. PBAT has been able to pay back some of the loans owed to China, India, America among others. He has entered into bilateral agreements and signed MOU on ways to improve the economy and power generation, he is working.

President Tinubu have also signed a bill passed by the National Assembly to start paying the vulnerable, aged and unemployed graduates a certain amount of money on monthly basis which will definitely kick start soon. PBAT as we are all aware has been able to recover Trillions of monies stolen by both civil servants and politicians of the past Administration.

His anti-graft posture is unarguably outstanding and cannot be faulted. He suspended his minister for alleged corruption. He doesn’t want anything to stain his administration. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway has taken off, so what else? I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

There is something I wanted to find out, all these hard decisions, past administrations wanted to take them, but the people that formed this present government withstood them and occupied Ojota and other locations in Nigeria to protest those hard decisions, they kicked against those decisions, now they are taking them, what has changed? Is it not contrary to what they stood for then?

You see, I don’t know the decision, but I believe that you take decisions in line with what you see on ground subject to how you want to implement them. So, if what you said is anything to go by, there must be reason for them to criticize it then, but until I know the fact of those decisions, I will not be able to interrogate some of those things. But even if they made mistake then while criticizing those things, now they have realized their mistake, is there any problem if they correct themselves? Anyway until I get the facts I won’t be able to interrogate what you are saying to be able to come up with very firm opinion on that.

The hullabaloo that followed the execution of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, those knocks from the oppositions, are they necessary?

My dear, in this country, everything is politicized. Go to toilet, it will be politicized, if a lady greets you on the street, it will be politicized, so the opposition will keep on coming with all manner of things. Just like when Asiwaju was contesting, all manner of things were said about him: His hands are shaking, he is urinating on his pants, his memory not there, he travelled, he is dead, he can’t stay one month, this is the way I look at these hullabaloos. The most important thing is that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal road is still beneficial to us. And I want to thank the Honourable Minister of Works, my brother, Engr. Dave Umahi who performed wonders in Ebonyi State, for the good work he is doing. They are criticizing him on Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, but they did not criticize him when he sacked contractors messing up our roads, using useless sand and whatever to do our roads, they didn’t criticize him, so where do we go from here? Let us for once keep calm, and watch certain areas, let us see whether he will do that road or not. And as I am speaking to you he is paying compensations, he is paying people for their property. There were people that did destructions in this country and they did not pay compensation, so why the hullabaloo? Let us allow him, and allow the presidency, at least the Federal Executive Council is there, all the major stakeholders are there, so why the hullabaloo? Anyway that is the work of the opposition; that is the way I look at it.

Chief we want you to do what I called agenda setting for the administration, one year is gone almost, what are the areas you will like this administration to up their game, still under this renewed hope, but I am sure there are certain things you will like them to focus on the more.

Number one is economy, we haven’t gotten to where we supposed to be; they are trying, economy, because when the economy improves and comes to where it is heading to, some of these wrangling will certainly end. Another one is security. It is when you are alive that you talk about economy; if you are not alive, nothing makes sense. Then certain agitations here and there, let the government engage most of these people because they are human beings, they are Nigerians; they are our bothers and sisters; let government engage them so that there will be peace in all parts of Nigeria.

We will always talk about your state, Anambra, how ready is APC to dislodge the incumbent at Agu-Awka Government House come 2025

This interview is centred on the Renewed Hope Agenda, at least the achievements, the failures within one year. However I will not run away because I am from Anambra State and it is a very lovely state. I am proud to have come from Anambra. Coming to issue of election, we are still picking candidates. I told you before that what we are going to do cannot be discussed on the pages of newspaper or television, or radio, but we are strategizing to make sure APC wins the election in Anambra in 2025…

But looking at what His Excellency, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is doing in Anambra State do you think it is going to be an easy fight, no matter who your flag-bearer might be?

No election is easy, call it local government election, town union election, governorship election, and national elections. But as you said, election in Anambra will be very very tough. That is much I can tell you. It is always tough in Anambra, it is going to be tough again. So Prof. Soludo must be on his toes, APC must be on their toes, PDP must be on their toes or any other party aspiring to take over Agu-Awka must be on their toes. Anambra is not where you can go and have it easy; all the political eggheads in this country are from Anambra. Remember it is the state where Nnamdi Azikiwe came from, yes, so it is not easy. It is not going to be easy, whether Soludo is doing well or not, it is not going to be easy, let people know that, Anambra is very very strategic and very very important in this country, all the political heavyweights are there, all the business magnets are there, all super intellectual human beings are there, it is not going to be an easy election, but we will sort it out.

Your advice to politicians in Anambra State, very soon primary elections of all the various parties will commence, they need to be advised for the rule of law to be observed

In Anambra and every other state, let politicians try to follow the INEC rules. There are guidelines; every aspirant should adjust him or herself to follow the INEC guidelines and with that there will be no problem. That is the much I can say.

Your advice to the people of Nigeria as they toil and cry over the hard decisions of the administration

I have addressed this issue before, even the president himself is crying, it is not easy for him, in short I pity the man, and in fact I admire his strength, his resilience, his courage in handling some of these things, so the president himself is even crying, if you don’t know, know it now, he is crying, it is not easy for him. But in all these things we have to be patient, we have to be patient and calm down. There is nothing we can do about it, because he is trying to renew our hope, trying to revitalize certain things, it is not going to be easy. When you shoot somebody, the person can fall down and die immediately, but to resuscitate such a person is always a herculean job, that is what the man is facing. I pity him.