Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), is the representative of the Cross River Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly. Recently, he conducted journalists on a tour of the constituency projects he has attracted to his constituency and the southern and northern senatorial districts of the state. In this concluding part of the interview with correspondent Bassey Inyang, he reveals some of his plans towards providing more socio-economic infrastructure for the people. Excerpts…
We saw the dam under construction in Boki. Can you explain the import of the project to your constituency and to the state?
Victor Ndoma Egba
The dam has three components; it will provide water for irrigation. You know Boki community is largely agrarian and they do their agriculture based on rain feeds. It is rain fed agriculture, which means that when the rain stops their farming is also affected. But, with that dam project, it means that they will have water every year round and it will improve the agricultural capacity and agricultural yield. The second aspect is the potable water supply. It is also going to provide water for drinking to the catchment communities and we are looking at the substantial part of Boki, if not all of Boki. So, it is going to be a source of potable water for the catchment areas. And you know where you have a good source of water, over fifty percent of health threats are sorted out. You know in that way you would also have sorted out a lot of water-borne diseases and it would also impact on their health status.
The third component is the hydroelectric potential. You know because of the volume of water and its velocity, there is a potential for hydroelectric power. Again it is for the relevant MDA, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, to tap into that to see if they can benefit from that hydroelectric potential.
Is there any arrangement to get the benefiting communities to protect these constituency projects in their localities from vandalism?
The projects benefit the communities directly. All of them benefit the communities directly. So, I want to believe that ordinarily the communities should see themselves as stakeholders in the project. For example, if you take the water project in Akarabong for instance, which is my home community; we don’t have any special arrangement for security. But the community has taken it upon itself to ensure that the facilities are safe.
And then in designing the project, we also took security issues into consideration. And that is why, if you recall, I explained that the water project in Akparabong is shared between two communities. Now, if you fed only one community and not the other, the community that is not fed is likely to compromise the intake. But, now that both communities are benefiting from the project, they are all stakeholders in the security of the project.
While on the tour, some people marvelled at the number of projects you attracted from the federal level and wondered why it took you so long to inspect these constituency projects so as to get people to know exactly what you have been doing for your people. What do you have to say to this?
It is because it was time to separate propaganda, fiction from facts.
While inspecting the projects in some communities, you promised that more projects would be attracted to their communities. Can you tell us some of the projects to expect?
Let me start with the ones we have on ground. What we have seen constitute about 60 – 65 percent of the projects that we already have on ground. And those projects are not limited to Cross River Central. I have attracted quite a number of projects to the south. There is an erosion control work going on in the Marina; I brought it. There is a rural development project in Ikun in Biase; I facilitated it. We have quite a number of projects. The major one is the Calabar-Oban-Nsan- Okoroba-Ajaso road. Eighty percent of that project is in the South.
So, we have quite a number of projects that we were unable to see. Yes, many more will come, but the ultimate that I am praying for, is a federal tertiary institution for Cross River Central and I am working hard on that; it is my life. For me that will be the ultimate, the moment I secure that I can say that I am fulfilled.
What criteria did you apply in picking the benefiting communities?
The first is spread. You try to be equitable. If you notice we don’t take two projects to one community. And them the second; we try to find out those projects that already have a study, a design, and a cost because, if you were to start from the beginning to do a study, a design and a costing, four, five years will lapse before you can start. So, we go to the Ministries Departments and Agencies and look for projects that they have already studied, designed and costed. Then we select from there and that now constitute the pool from which we begin to distribute.
Is it possible to get the total cost of the projects?
It is difficult. But if you took away the African Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank sponsored Enugu-Abakiliki Ikom Nfum Road; if you removed the Calabar-Oban-Nsan Ajasao Road, the rest would be between N6 billion and N7 billion.
What electricity projects have you attracted to your constituency?
I can only remember a few off hand. I remember the Ikun electricity project in Biase, there is another one in Ayubasa in Nde in Ikom, and we have a few in Boki. We have quite a number of them. We have a major one in southern Etung that requires the crossing of cables across the Cross River. It was a very challenging project, but it was done.
One of you press people, Emmanuel I believe, talked about the enthusiasm as we went along on this project. That is why in answer to Bassey Inyang’s question, I talk about the separation of propaganda, fiction, and facts. You have seen what is on ground. It is different from the propaganda that is being carried. For me I challenge any other person who has a project to take you round and show his or her projects.
It appears there is clash of interest between the contractors handling the Edor Water Project, which is your project, and the contractors handling the RAM road which is a state government project. Are we expecting a reconciliation of the differences soon so the water project can be completed on schedule?
Well, we have heard the arguments on one side; from the consultants handling the water project. We haven’t heard the argument from the Cross River State government. Therefore, before I can take a position, I will have to hear the other side because we have heard only one side. But I will like to say that I have been commissioner for works and transport before in the old Cross River State. And those issues you find every now and then, in the course of constructing major facilities. One comes ahead of the other. Like in this case, the water project. And the argument of the consultant is the pipe alignment has nothing to do with the road alignment; but apparently in constructing the road that doesn’t appear to be so. We need to hear both sides because both projects are going to be beneficial to the communities. I believe that both sides will be able to resolve the issue, one way or the other.
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