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THE WELFARE AND WELLBEING OF THE PEOPLE AS THE HALLMARK OF GOVERNANCE
1. To be merely invited to be part of this special event would by itself be sufficiently gratifying and humbling. To be given this further recognition to address this Synod on the topic, “The welfare and wellbeing of the people as the hallmark of governance”, is truly extraordinary. 2. In truth, since receiving this invitation, I have continually searched myself to discover what could have recommended me for the task which I consider an honour. Up till this moment, I am yet to locate the reason. Perhaps I will learn of it from you today. In the meantime, permit me therefore to say to your lordship and the people of God in Okigwe South Diocese that this, I consider, the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in my eyes. 3. I bring you good tidings from the government and good people of Delta State, including the affections of Anglican brethrens in our state that accounts for much of the oil that lubricates the machinery of government all over Nigeria and cements the nation’s unity. The Anglican Church in Nigeria 4. I want to bless the name of the Lord for the mighty things He has done and is doing in our country. I bless the name of our Lord even in this period of national mourning for our dear departed President, Umaru Yar’Adua, an illustrious leader. I bless the name of our Lord for using him to make important contributions in building democracy and our country. For us from Niger Delta region, President Yar’Adua was a true friend. Our prayers are continually with his family, for strength and comfort, for only God can grant them this. I bless the name of our Lord for the smooth transition of power to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Our prayers for him are wisdom, courage and sound health. 5. I feel particularly proud for the exponential growth of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). This has marked the church among all the countries related to the See of Canterbury. The Nigeria Church, I understand is the second largest in all the national churches in the Anglican Communion worldwide. As a matter of fact, if you limit the poll to practical, regular church going members, the Anglican Church in Nigeria could be considered larger than the Church of England that owes its pride of place to history and it being an establishment church in that country. 6. This achievement could only have been due to the efforts of those who have been called to labour in His Vineyard in this country over the years. I proudly recall the efforts of the past three Primates of the Church- the late Most Revd. Timothy Olufosoye; his successor, the indefatigable Papa, Most Revd. Abiodun Adetiloye (May the Good Lord lengthen his days) and the recently retired Most Revd. Jasper Akinola. 7. I also want to bless the name of God for the seamless transition from the Akinola era to the Nicholas Okoh Primacy. In this, the church has shown leadership to us all. It was totally devoid of any form of rancour. This is quite different as I am sure every knows from what obtains in the political front of this country. The Anglican Church has beamed the light. We beseech you, brethren, to keep praying for our country and its leaders that, at this juncture when we are preparing for another general election, the Good Lord Himself will take control of the process and choose for us. 8. Going further, I am especially proud that the current primate of the Church is from my state. He is, if I may say so, our contribution to the development of the Anglican Church in Nigeria. As Christians, we are all bound in one fellowship as, indeed, the Lord enjoined us in the High Priestly Prayer on the eve of His departure in glory to go and prepare a place for us in His Kingdom (John 17:21). 9. This Diocese and the Diocesans deserve to be commended for this year’s synod. I want to be on record in saying big congratulations to you all. I understand the synod is the highest decision making body of an Anglican diocese. It has been described to me as “the convocation of God’s people within a diocese which meets once a year to discuss wide-ranging issues for the good of both the church and society.” Many of us here may not fully apprehend the importance of today’s event. Being here today is because you are counted worthy. Most of the delegates were elected from the individual churches. They have the mandate of their people to represent them and ensure that the decisions and policies enunciated here promote the growth and development of the Body of Christ and minister to the souls of members of the church in this diocese. 10. My Lord, distinguished delegates, the topic of my presentation: The Welfare and Wellbeing of the People as the Hallmark of Governance is intriguing and one which I am quite familiar with, and have some ideas about. In delivering it I shall not be technical; I shall discuss it as it is. Just like you (delegates) were elected to promote the spiritual and physical wellbeing of the vast majority of your members, those of us in politics were elected into offices to promote the interest and well being of the people. 11. In another two weeks, leaders of the country shall be rendering some account of their stewardship in the past three years. On May 29, the drums will roll out to celebrate democratic rule in the country and you, the good people of Nigeria will be asked to assess us. This year’s celebration is particularly striking because it is coming in the 50th year of the country’s independence. It is also eleven years since we all resolved to end military rule. Typical of the situation such as I have described above, opinion will be divided. Posers such as: How well have our leaders tended the sheep? Have we fared better in civilian rule than the military, will dominate public discourse. It will be hard to find unified or simple answers to any of these. And in the society that we live in today, there should not even be one. 12. Opinion will split around whether what we have is half filled glass or half empty one, even to completely empty one. I am not troubled by any of this. That is the beauty of democracy. At the same time I foresee some utterances and postures that might tend to suggest it were better if we threw away the baby with the bath water. I say to all: let us be circumspect. Let us show leadership in our comments. For me, in this transitional phase of building and moulding our democratic norms, the leadership skills and strong national commitments to lead our people to the next phase would be tasking. To assume otherwise is to be naïve. Mercifully, the redemptive character of democracy is its corrective ability and capacity to rebalance itself. As we move along in daily practice of democracy, guided by the rule of law, with the language of consultation and consensus building becoming the norm, the reflex for arbitrariness is alienated from our body politic, the better we are as free people. 13. While I endorse democracy in all its ramification, I am the first to concede that we could have performed better. Better roads, better schools, better hospitals, better security etc. Yes, our people desire things to be better and this should not be lost on anyone. Even in advanced societies, there is constant striving to make things better. Yet, I offer no complete condemnation of the situation we are in. My optimism is drawn from the green shoots that I see everywhere that should inspire us to believe. From Imo state to Delta state, from Delta state to Sokoto state, I see green shoots of hope. Indeed, across Nigeria there are green shoots of hope of a better tomorrow. 14. There is hope for better roads, better schools, better hospitals, more jobs and better security. As a Governor I speak for myself as I speak for my colleagues—we are toiling day and night for you, the people. The result in some instances may not begin to show right away, tarry a while, it will in due course. If you do not believe me show us the door at the next election, which is why you are the sovereigns. 15. In the past, I am sure you would sneer at this comment, but with electoral reform on the cards, confidence in the expectation of change is being restored. Electoral Reform is perhaps the single most important piece of legislation before the country today; if we make progress with it, as I am sure we will, we would have put democracy on irreversible course of growth. There is a strong desire, a hunger for clean election. Everybody from the President to the Governors, the opposition and to you the people clamour for one thing—let the votes count! 16. I need to remind us that things we clamour in some instances are not always the making of the operators. Institution building is a delicate process and is fraught with confusion. The expectation that fresh from military rule in 1999, we would be blessed with a perfect democracy is superficial. Democracy in developing country is a hard undertaking; the alternative if there is one, is far more traumatic as our recent experience as a nation has shown. The constitution bequeathed to us by the military has so many flaws. It promoted contradictions and tension. It pitched people, institutions and governments against themselves. It over centralized power at Abuja. Thankfully, some work is being done. The National Assembly has almost fine-tuned some aspects relating to electoral reform as well as issues of general governance of the country. The state assemblies will make their input and we would have moved one step forward in taking corrective steps to consolidate democratic rule. What we need is not condemnation. The Bible itself teaches us to pray for our leaders at all times. 17. Often times in a democracy, the most important thing is not what we see; it is actually what we do not. I speak in no philosophical terms, only drawing your attention to something we enjoy—Freedom! The sweet taste of freedom. Nothing for me can substitute for the price of freedom. Freedom to choose. Freedom to support. Freedom to disagree. And these rights under a democracy is without punitive sanction on the individual. Think about it. Not too long ago, many people died, were jailed, or exiled in exercise of their right to freedom. 18. I need to also stress this point about followership. It has been said many times that the bane of the development of the Nigerian state is poor leadership. This is true. But, it is not the full story. The followership also has to share in the blame. It is the duty of the followers to hold their leaders accountable. When politicians choose to change the will of the people as expressed at the polls, they use the people. We must resist this tendency. 19. The task of reforming Nigeria and ensuring there is good governance rests on all of us. My advice to all is: The people must stop being docile and acquiescent to the manipulations of politicians. Now is the time to ask the right questions, not to be seduced and bribed with bags of rice, salt and wrappers. Nor be converted into militant groups or thugs to perpetuate violence and fear. When they come to you asking for your votes and not explaining properly what they want to do with it if they win, reject them. If they offer you material things take, but show the sophistication by refusing them, if they do not have the vision and commitment to translate their words into actions. 20. To my fellow politicians, I say, stop taking the people for granted. We cannot seek power for power sake. Power comes from God and it is for a purpose: to serve and bring succor to the people. Anybody who does not understand this is on a foolish mission and is courting the wrath of God upon himself. Good governance 21. That leads me to one of the main aspects of this address: Good Governance. What does it mean within our context in Africa? Fortunately, I do not have to labour hard in considering this. In 1999, just as we in Nigeria were restoring democratic rule, the African Development Bank came up with a Good Governance Policy and Implementation Guidelines. The document showed clearly that there is indeed a relationship between good governance and development. 22. The document states: “Good governance is recognised as an integral part of sustainable development, and key to poverty reduction and development effectiveness. The ADB is committed to playing a key role in enhancing the quality of governance in individual Regional Member Countries, while also elevating governance matters to the top of the region’s development agenda.” 23. In simpler words, without good governance, development will be stunted. The people will be shut out. The cousin of ADB in the Asian continent brought out the elements of development in bolder relief when it identified Accountability, Participation, Predictability and Transparency as necessary ingredients for development. These, too, are the elements of good governance and democracy. The government in power must realize and acknowledge that sovereignty belongs to the people. It must therefore see the mandate it has as belonging to the people. These are the principles behind periodic elections and even the recall provision in the constitution. 24. Popular participation is inherent in a democracy. The principle behind the ballot box is that the people must have a say in their own governance. This is taken further with the election of the legislators or direct representatives of the people from the constituencies at different levels. There are councilors at the local level, state legislators at the level of the Houses of Assemblies and members of the House of Representatives from each federal constituency. The intention of the drafters of the constitution is that these people are known to the people at the various levels and can easily be approached to present their demands to the governments. The government belongs to the people, when it fails, therefore, the people, too, have failed. 25. Many social contract theorists have postulated on this and it has been demonstrated over the ages that where the people are fully involved in their governance; when they determine the direction of government; where their votes count, there will be peace, stability, growth and development. These therefore are the elements necessary for promotion of the welfare of the people. 26. The preamble to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria states that the people of Nigeria gave themselves the constitution “for the purpose of promoting good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of Freedom, Equality and Justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the Unity of our people.” That is a fundamental declaration. Section 14 (2) (b) and (c) further establish that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government; and the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.” 27. If all of us abide by the letters and spirit of the constitution, there will be less rancour and development will be faster. In my own state, we settled this when we took over in 2007. We entered into a pact captured in the three-point agenda of Peace and Security, Human Capital and Infrastructure Development; we sold to the people during the electioneering campaign. Since then, we have been guided by those principles. We are building new infrastructure and expanding old ones. Very soon our international airport in Asaba will be ready and many of us here will use it in our journeys within and outside the country. Very soon our 168 kilometre Asaba-Ughelli dual carriage way will be ready, such that traders and businesses using Warri port will have no difficulty reaching Onitsha and other eastern heartlands including those in Okigwe. When they use these facilities, it will reduce the cost of business, they will make savings and invest more and grow richer. 28. So you see in putting the facilities we have on the ground, we were not thinking of Deltans alone, we see opportunities beyond Delta, because ultimately we are interconnected. All of us. In Delta, we are addressing poverty of the people, such that today over sixty thousand people are beneficiaries of the state micro-credit scheme and more are on the pipeline. In Delta over one hundred and twenty thousand pregnant and nursing mothers are using our hospitals free, including children under five years old. In Delta today, about a thousand youths have either benefitted from the agriculture empowerment programme or are being trained to become farmers. In Delta over seven thousand peasant farmers are being supported with agriculture extension services and subsidies. Education in the state covering 745,012 young people is virtually free up till tertiary level. Our urbanization programme is proceeding well. 29. My lord, distinguished delegates, there is more to say, but allow me to stop here for now. 30. Once again, I want to congratulate the Rt. Revd David Onuoha who has the task of tending the Lord’s sheep in this diocese. As you have entered the sixth year of your episcopacy, I pray that God Himself will enlarge your coast. There is nothing to suggest here that this Diocese of Okigwe South was only excised out of the old Okigwe-Orlu Diocese on the sixth of January 1994 as the 44th diocese of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion.) It has grown in leaps and bounds and is set to achieve even more in the years ahead. 31. I felicitate with the other Bishops who have served in the diocese. Here, I am referring to the Rt. Rev (Dr.) B.C.I. Okoro who was the pioneer diocesan from 1994-1999 when he was translated to Orlu and the Rt. Rev. Caleb Maduoma who is now in charge of Okigwe. I remember the labour of the likes of the late Most Rev. Benjamin Nwankiti and the late Rt. Rev. Gideon Otubelu. 32. Before I round off, brethren, I want to point our attention to the words of Church Hymnal 623 and the need for us all to surrender ourselves to be used to revive the work of God in His Church today and our country. Revive Thy work, O Lord! Thy mighty Arm make bare; Speak with the Voice that wakes the dead, And make Thy people hear. Revive Thy work O Lord! Disturb this sleep of death, Quicken the smouldering embers, now, By Thine Almighty Breath. 33. Finally, I say in the words of Apostle Paul: “May the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His Will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 34. Thank you. OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR GOVERNMENT HOUSE ASABA 17th May 2010   
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