JUST IN: Why Kano-Maradi Rail Project controversy is unwarranted — Amaechi

Former Minister of Transportation and Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, shocked the world on Saturday when he bagged a second class upper law degree from Baze University Abuja.

In this interview with Joseph Erunke and Gbemiga Olamikan, Amaechi speaks on why he went to school to get a law degree at 57 and why the controversy over the Kano-Maradi Railway Project, which was executed during his tenure as transportation minister, is unwarranted. Excerpts.

YOU were among the excited students who graduated from Baze University last Saturday. How do you feel about graduating with a law degree at this age?

At this age, 57?  Well, it is normal. I should have graduated a long time ago. When I hear people say I bought a degree, I just laugh. I laugh because until I started campaigning for the presidency, I never missed a class. So, for three years and six months, I never missed a class. And I appeared before all the lecturers and all the students. The school even gave me an award for being very diligent and punctual. I never failed any course work. But that’s not important.

What is important is that I did all my course work in person, and nobody can say the lecturers passed me. And in Baze University, we don’t write our matriculation number or our names; instead, a barcode is placed on the answer sheet.

So when the teachers mark, they do what is called ‘blind marking’ and they can’t take it home. They mark it there in the school, and if they can’t finish, they leave it there and come back the next day. When they come the next day, they continue. And as they are marking, they mark with a barcode, so they don’t know the name of the person or the matriculation number, and I don’t think they are handwriting experts.

Let me give you an instance. I scored 69 in Jurisprudence, which was a B grade. The person who taught me Jurisprudence was my supervisor in my long essay; I’m sure if he had known that it was me, he would have added one mark to make it 70 to give me an A. The whole faculty was like, “Oh, no; he should have added you just one mark to make it 70 percent.” But overall, it was fun having to attend classes with children as young as 16 and 17 years of age and a few other adults.

But what was the motivation for going to study law at that age and after being a governor, speaker, and serving minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for that matter?

First and foremost, it was to fulfil my father’s wish that I read law. At least, I have satisfied his wish, and he would have been happy if he were alive.

What was his reason for asking to read the law?

He was in love with the work of Chief Rotimi Williams, who was one of the best lawyers then, and felt I should be like him.

How were you able to combine schooling with the rigours of the office of Minister of Transportation?

 When I got the admission, I started asking myself how I would cope with my work. I would go to school as early as 8 a.m. and report to work by 6pm. I worked from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., and sometimes until 11:30 p.m., then went home. I did that on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Wednesdays were reserved for Federal Executive Council meetings. I worked on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Do you intend to go a step further by going to law school?

Yes, I think so. I may go to law school. I’m already doing a Master’s degree in corporate and company law at Kings College, London. I hope to combine it with law school.

So what comes next after law school, sir? Do you intend to practise law and represent clients in court?

Never.

So is it just the sake of having a law degree that took you to the school?

 No, it is not just the certificates but to also have the knowledge of law and to be able to lead and manage better with sound knowledge. The knowledge will help me not make some mistakes. There is no excuse under the law. So they are some things one cannot know except they read Law.

Would you want your children to read the law, as your father did for you?

 It’s their choice, whatever they want to read is for them to choose.

Why would you not practise law and represent clients in court?

 Why do I need to practice? I have a lawyer, and my lawyer is one of the best lawyers in Nigeria. Lateef Fagbemi, who is more exposed, more experienced. So why do I need to practise again? Besides, I may be such a bad lawyer that they may send me to jail.

Why do I need to be a lawyer to defend myself when I know my lawyer can defend me? It’s just the benefit of the fact that my father wanted me to be a lawyer. That is all. And unfortunately, he is dead. Since we have this local belief that our dead parents watch over us, I’m sure he would have been happy when I walked to obtain my certificate during the convocation.

Would you advise others to emulate you?

There is no knowledge that is a waste. You can only stop acquiring knowledge when you die. Consider how few men are aware that engaging a girl under the age of 18 constitutes rape. Even if the girl agrees to sexual intercourse with you, it is still rape.

The fact that she’s 18 puts you in jail whether she agrees to it or not, but how many men know that? But if you read the law, you would know that it’s part of the criminal code. There are quite a lot of things you learn when you are studying law.

So you just make sure that you act properly and do not put yourself in trouble and go to jail for nothing. For those who have money, I would advise that they go to Baze University because of the quality of the infrastructure and the quality of the faculty. I advise the federal government to improve the quality of infrastructure in public universities. I advise people to acquire more knowledge.

There are claims out there that you rejected the establishment of a campus of the Law School in Rivers State when you were the governor. Why did you kick against it?

 Yes, it’s true. When they brought the proposal, I asked who would be funding the school since it is a federal government project, and they said the federal government would not be paying for it, and I said no. I would rather use what we had at the time to establish more primary and secondary schools to provide functional education for Rivers’ children. I’m not Father Christmas. I said primary and secondary schools in Rivers State were not functioning at that time and that it would be unwise to leave them in that sordid state and establish a campus of the Nigerian Law School, which is in the responsibility of the Federal Government.

I offered them a large parcel of land for the project, but they rejected it. So, I don’t know why that is an achievement for a man whose primary and secondary schools are not functioning and teachers are not paid. By the time I conducted the education audit in Rivers State, we had employed 90,000 teachers, and I hired another 13,200, significantly improving the state’s teaching quality. So that money that he used to build the law school would have been used to employ more teachers.

Are you saying that it’s a misplaced priority?

Exactly. It’s a federal government responsibility. I told them I was not interested but I would give them the land. So the money spent there could have been used in building more schools, employing more teachers, and training them. Out of the 13,200 teachers, only 3000 plus were teachers, the other 10,000 were people who were just looking for jobs, and we employed them and took them to the Rivers State University of Education to train them for six months.

So, instead of investing in a large federal government project, you should have used the funds to hire more teachers, build more schools, and create more jobs for our people. Rivers State has the highest rate of unemployment.

Looking back now, do you have anything you feel you should have done as a minister but could not do by the time you left?

No. Go back to my history. I was a speaker, and during my time as a speaker, I was known as one of the best speakers in Nigeria. At 42, I was the youngest governor in Nigeria.

Do you have any regrets when you look back?

 I have no regrets.

 Are you a happy man?

Yes, I am very happy.

 What would you say you failed to do as minister?

Just go back to my history. I know Nigerians forget so soon. I was speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly at 34, and I was known to be one of the best speakers in Nigeria. At 42, I was the youngest governor in Nigeria. I served and left, and nobody can deny my achievements. The houses they are living in here in Abuja, I built them. When I came, there was no house befitting of the governor, so I built it. I built and equipped primary schools with computers that made them the envy of all the states. And Indians were brought in to teach people computer knowledge.

I built world class secondary schools that the present government is converting into universities. We had two students per room. We hired teachers, and the state was paying N800 million a year for all the children, or 1000 children in school with free education. So, instead of building a law school, we diverted N800 million to schools. Now, all those schools are closed.

That is why I said don’t worry and that you would hear us speak when campaigns start. We have not started campaigning. And I have said that when we start campaigning, if the governor abuses me, I will abuse him back. The reason he does what he does is that nobody is able to challenge him. And people don’t challenge him because they want to stay clean; they don’t want to be seen to be in the same mud. When the time comes, all of us will be in the same mud.

 I was going to ask you: Why the silence from you?

 The silence is simply because there is nothing new to say. What have I not said before? I have talked about corruption, poverty, and education. When we go for campaigns in Rivers State, you will hear from us, we have not started campaigning yet.

Some Nigerians suggest that the rail project you undertook as Minister of Transport for the Niger Republic is a misplaced priority given the numerous problems in the country. How do you respond to that?

 It is their choice, but don’t forget that we belong to many international organisations as a country. One of the international organisations we belong to is called the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS. That is an ECOWAS project that was signed under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. We just met it at the table.

We met the design and had to follow it up by implementing it. So what is the misplaced priority here when we have an agreement with ECOWAS and they expect Nigeria as a country to do the railroad up to the Niger Republic. How can it be misplaced? It’s just 45 kilometres into the Niger Republic. Even if we cut off the 45 kilometres, are they saying that we shouldn’t do rail projects in other parts of Nigeria? Assume the route is no longer Kano-Maradi but Kano-Jibia because Jibia is in Nigeria; is it wrong to build rail from Kano to Jibia? It is only from Jibia to Maradi that there are 45 kilometres.

I don’t want to say they are wrong, but I don’t know why everybody should be shouting because the other parts of Nigeria that are on that rail are entitled to amenities like other parts of Nigeria. The second reason is that you can’t forget the fact that trade facilitation is a big issue on this continent. What those Nigerians who feel the rail project to Niger is a waste should ask themselves is why all the other neighbouring landlocked countries use Togo, Benin Republic, Ghana, and Ivory Coast and not Nigeria?

This is because there are many customs and police checkpoints, as well as criminal checkpoints and other setbacks that they carefully avoid. And so the cost of doing business has become very high, and our ports are not able to compete with those of the ordinary Benin Republic. However, in order to get our seaports to a competitive advantage, we have to ensure that we are able to provide the critical infrastructure that will enable those landlocked states to use our seaports, and the only infrastructure that can enable the use of our seaports is to build a rail line. That is what we did.

How do you feel about losing the presidential primary of your party?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We are Christians. If it had been God’s will for me to be president, I would have won my party’s primary. I didn’t campaign to be second. So when people hailed me for coming second in the primary, I asked them what that was. It’s like your child telling you, “Dad, I came second.” What about the first person? Is he God?