Barrister James Kwubiri Okpara is one of the most trusted aides of Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefula Orji. A good man and a loyal fellow, he was recently appointed a Commissioner. In his first interview since his elevation, he shared some of his plans with YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine Publisher/Editor-In-Chief, AZUH ARINZE. The Abia State Commissioner in the Office of the Governor for Special Services/Legal Matters and Due Process also opened up on his love for his boss, his legacies and more. Enjoy…
Congratulations on your appointment.
Thank you very much.
What would you say led to your being appointed a Commissioner in Abia State?
It’s the grace of God; it’s the special grace of God. For me, this appointment is both a privilege and an honour. In Abia State, I believe our population is above 3 million; we have 24 Commissioners. So, for the Governor to deem you fit to be appointed a Commissioner, it gives me an overwhelming sense of pride and I’m very grateful. I don’t have words enough to thank him. Appointments are made at the discretion of the Governor, so God used him to make me a Commissioner. I believe it’s the Governor that knows the reasons why he made me a Commissioner and I’m really very grateful. So, I cannot tell you I have this special quality that other people do not have. I don’t have monopoly of intelligence – no human being, no Commissioner has monopoly of intelligence. You can’t say you are the most hard working. It is just the grace of God; God using the Governor to change somebody’s life. For that, I’m grateful.
What plans have you got for the three ministries you are combining?
It’s really a new creation; it’s an innovation in governance. The portfolio is Special Services/Legal Matters and Due Process in the Office of the Executive Governor. I do believe that in life, you must evolve. You must fine tune and be flexible. So, apparently, there is a need for this type of office to come into existence and don’t forget that the Governor, all through his life, moved from being a civil servant to being a Governor. So, he must have seen that there is a need for this type of position, which I believe we don’t have in any other state in the federation. Even at the federal level! Let me start with Due Process. My understanding of what that work means is that you are doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way. That is a culture that we need to imbibe, that we need to learn. Now, that is the simplest meaning I can give Due Process. And it’s going to involve seminars, talking to civil servants, politicians about a new way of doing the business of governance. It’s no longer business as usual. Anyway, in Abia, we have never had it as business as usual. It has always been business unusual. And then for the Governor to sit down and develop this concept of governance and now entrust me with the responsibility of carrying it out for the first time anywhere in Nigeria, it’s an honour and by the grace of God, I’m determined to succeed. Now, when you come to the other one – the Legal Matter’s issue. You see, the business of governance these days has moved also at the speed of private businessmen. Almost every government now engages in Public Private Sector Partnership Agreements and you have a lot of interactions with the private sector because some people say government has no business being in business. So, when you want to have a relationship with them, you cannot work with them the way normal government bureaucracy goes. It has to be something they are comfortable with. You have to work with them at their speed. So, what we do really is to deal with them; issues relating to their contracts, agreements, MOUs; to make sure that whatever delay that they used to experience doesn’t happen again. I also see government as a human being. At least, somebody has to be there to make sure that the interest of government is protected; the interest of the investor is protected; you will be fair to both government and the investor. It’s only when you have fairness in a relationship that, that relationship can be sustained. So, essentially, it’s to quicken the pace of government matters, especially as per our relationship with contractors, investors, private businessmen; by whatever name called. Because right now in Abia State, you have a very conducive atmosphere for investors to come and we have a lot of them there. Then, Special Services, as the name implies, means whatever, assignment His Excellency directs you to do. That is basically what you do.
You have a fantastic relationship with His Excellency, Chief Theodore Ahamefula Orji, how did you even meet him?
(Laughs) – Let me say he’s my mentor. And when I use the word mentor, I’m not using it lightly, I’m not using it in the ordinary sense people use it. His Excellency is my mentor. For somebody of my age; I’m not yet 50, but I’ve practiced Law for 27 years. So, for me to say somebody is my mentor, it means a lot. He’s one man that his approach to life, to governance, to relationship with human beings makes me wonder. So, his humility, his sense of purpose, that dedication to make Abia better is what really attracted him to me. Yes! That’s why I now took a lot of interest. It started a long time ago when they were using EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) to pursue Abia State government officials. I got to know him then. I was privileged to get to know him. My first appointment was Senior Special Assistant, Legal/Lagos; then the second one was Special Adviser, Public Relations and now this. So, he’s my very big oga. Very big oga! He’s not just close, he’s my boss. So, that is it. It’s more or less a mentor and mentee relationship.
As a close confidant, what kind of person is Governor Theodore Ahamefula Orji?
It’s not because he’s my Governor, I know for a fact that he’s the best governor in Nigeria. This is not propaganda, because when you come to Abia State; you need to come to Abia State. When you come to Abia State, you will see the rate of development. I normally tell people that Abia is a construction site and when you come you will see. And all these developments are being made without borrowing. Without borrowing! That is what people need to know. As at today, Abia State pays the highest minimum wage in Nigeria. Higher than all these oil-rich states. We pay N20,100. You hear of strikes in every state; civil servants in Abia State since T.A Orji became Governor, have never gone on strike. Then, when you talk of development, you talk of our Abia Diagnostic Centre. It’s the best in the whole of the country. The type of treatment you go to Dubai, you go to India to get, you have it here, in Abia, at minimal cost. Then, the Eye Centre is there. These are things he did. Then, you now talk of human development. I’m sure that you know that in Abia State, he has been empowering people by giving them vehicles; dashing them, it’s not on lease, it’s not hire purchase. As at now, nearly 1000 vehicles have been given out. Even Keke (tricycles), computers, generators, hair making equipment. Whereas before he became Governor, the former Governor there, through his youth empowerment, was giving people cutlasses, giving people wheel barrows…(General laughter). It’s true! Cutlass, wheelbarrow, shovel and rake. And now somebody with lesser money is giving vehicles, giving Keke. Then, you now go to back to the question of health. In Abia State, we have more than 200 health centres, built by T.A Orji. Each one is well equipped, each one has a borehole, has generating sets; well equipped hospitals with well trained officials. You go to something like government infrastructure; it may interest you to know that the biggest conference centre in Abia State presently will not sit up to 300 people. That is the Okpara Auditorium. Now, the International Conference Centre, which T.A Orji built, which will be commissioned either this November or latest in December; apart from the Abuja International Conference Centre, this is the biggest in the whole of the federation. It can accommodate up to 7000 people at the same time. These things were built without borrowing. You talk of roads, you talk of electricity. In Abia, we have light nearly 24 hours. It’s true that it’s the Federal Government that has light, but the problem is evacuating power to where it’s needed and the Governor intervened here and now in Abia State, most times we have light. At least, in my own village, Item; for the past 15 years, we didn’t have light. But in the past 2 years we’ve had light 24 hours. So, when you see such a man who is humble, hard working, caring, you have no choice than to follow him; even blind-folded, into battles.
You’ve enumerated too many nice things that Governor Orji has done…
(Cuts in) – It’s not enumerating too many things; these are facts on the ground. If you go to Abia now you will see with your eyes. It’s not enumerating. Yes!
Noted. Now, what don’t you like about Governor T.A Orji?
Nothing! (General laughter).
What do you like most about him?
His humility. He’s humble. I will tell you a story; it’s a real life story. Somebody from Abia State who had been hearing of Chief T.A. Orji; when he met him physically for some engagements, this same man was asking me: Are you sure that is the Governor of Abia State? I said yes; I also said but that is his picture, even on the wall. You are also meeting him in his Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. That’s the Governor. I said why are you asking? He said he doesn’t believe it; that he has never seen such a humble human being. And that tells you a lot. The carriages of power are not there. This is somebody whom power has not changed. He has time for everybody; he assists as much as he can.
And there is nothing like when people know that you take their welfare seriously; you are not interested in cheating somebody and the things you can do you say, the ones that will pose a challenge you say. There is nothing like being honest to people. Plus that humility and hard work.
Let’s now talk about the man, Barrister James Kwubiri Okpara. Tell us about yourself.
I think you should be able to talk about me. You’ve known me for a little time now (General laughter). I’m a lawyer; very proud son of Abia State. I’m married (to Mary), I have three kids (Nneoma, Joshua and Kechi) and you know them. I have a passion for public service, to make sure that my people are better. I mean, the essence of public service is to help your people and whatever we will do to help my people, we will do it. And then, when you are talking about Governor Orji, when you see somebody like me becoming a Commissioner, there are lots of people like me in Abia State government, where appointments are based on competence, integrity, hard work. Not on sycophancy. There is nobody that Governor Orji subjected to taking oath, going to shrine, sleeping in a coffin, sleeping in a cemetery before giving political appointments. They just announce your name on radio or write you that you’ve been appointed. You see, when you have somebody like that in governance, people are encouraged. It’s people that make governance bad; it’s not that politics is bad. It’s the way that people operate it. But you see, the biggest thing that Ochendo has done in Abia is that it is no longer possible, it will no longer be possible, for one man or one family to hold the whole state to ransom, because Ochendo has shown that as long as you have the ability and you are willing to work, the sky is your limit in Abia State. And for me, that political liberation is the biggest thing he has done for Abia. True! Abia is now the most secured state in the federation and that is a fact. But this political liberation…because first of all, you have to be liberated in mind, in spirit, in politics, in body, before you start noticing you have to fix roads, you have to fix water, you have to fix light, you need people. Somebody who is not liberated, somebody who is in jail does not think of those things. So, it’s only when you have your personal liberty, like Abians have now, that all these things come. Hope you know we are going to have our own airport soon? You ask yourself where will the money come from? The money is coming from the leakages that the Governor has blocked. Our money is no longer going into the pockets of some people (Laughs).
At the expiration of your tenure as a Commissioner, what would you want Abia people to remember you for?
No, it will not be me now; it is Governor T.A Orji, because he brought us to work…
We know that, but we are talking about you, Barrister James Okpara.
Okay, that with the help, support and inspiration of the Governor, we made things better in Abia. That we, that is the Governor’s team; that the changes that we have brought now in Abia are irreversible. That is the basic thing because if you put so many beautiful buildings, so many beautiful infrastructure, and people are not there to even maintain it; not to even make it bigger, then something bad has happened. So, the changes we’ve made, the changes that Chief T.A. Orji has made with his team, are such that Abia State can no longer go back to the dark days.
You started out as a lawyer but got entangled with politics along the way. At the end of Governor T.A. Orji’s tenure, are you going to continue with politics or return to legal practice?
This question, the answer is in two parts. If you noticed, the three appointments the Governor has graciously given me, two out of the three, they have to do with Law. Is that not so? (Yes!) That is No. 1. I’m a lawyer and I’m not a professional politician. Then, most importantly, if I’m a politician now, it’s because somebody, Chief T.A Orji, found me worthy to be brought into governance and politics. And the way I was trained, it is your oga, your master that will determine what you will be. So, anybody who starts speculating that he or she will do this or that in future, for me, it’s disrespectful. It’s a sign of disloyalty. So, the man that found me worthy to be a made a commissioner is my oga; he’s the person that will determine whether you will be this or you will not be that. Because the truth is, there are many ways you can serve your state without being in political office. Whatever I will be today or tomorrow, it’s my oga who brought me in that will determine it.
NB: First Published November 2013