A senator’s experience with Nigeria-made dredgers

When the Nembe-born petroleum engineer and lawyer from Bayelsa State, Nimi Barigha Amange, became a senator, he shocked fellow senators by throwing in a bill asking for ban on use of power generators. His explained to his bewildered colleagues that if Nigerian could not manufacture generators, they should stay in darkness or force the then Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to meet expectations and supply adequate power. Of course, he said the lords (oppressors) in the senate stifled the radical bill, but it was enough to stir the atmosphere.

Now, instead of toning down, Amange is threatening to ban use of foreign cars in Nigeria, insisting that if Nigerians are still unable to manufacture cars, they should ride bicycles. He told BDSUNDAY in his home in Nembe on Thursday, July 20, 2017, that if he was made president today, his first executive order would outlaw use of foreign cars. “We must suffer before we can break out”.

Amange is not just blowing hot air, he seems to practice what he preaches. At that point in time while he was in the senate and at a time most Nigerian top men would not touch a locally made dredger from far, the senator commissioned a Port Harcourt based fabricator to fashion out a dredger of 16/14 capacity for his firm, Pixy Investment Limited which was to sand-fill the Ogbia-Nembe Road that connected the then president’s (Goodluck Jonathan) home, Ogbia to Nembe.

Inside sources said the experiment cuts off more than 50 per cent of costs plus the huge advantage of steady availability of local maintenance and parts in case of breakdown instead of the nightmare of waiting for weeks or months for foreign technicians to fly down for rescue. There is also the wahala of salt waters that ruin the foreign ones fast whereas good ones from reliable manufacturers are reinforced to resist corrosion and waves.

The senator told BDSUNDAY how he learnt DGO brand of dredgers made by Nwakama Dredge Nigeria Limited located at KM7 on Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway opposite Timber Market in Obigbo and procured the 16/14 (its ability to pick sand is 16 inches and pumping it is 14 inches).

The high chief said; “My experience with locally made dredgers is very pleasurable: The dredger I am using now, 18 x 16, is the second one. The first I acquired is 16 x 14. We did not encounter any problem with the first one and we decided to look for a bigger one. So far, we have no problem with them.”

On what the Nigerian-made dredgers have done in Nembe so far, the senator pointed at the first ever road from Ogbia to Nembe, which most people pass through now instead of hours in water. “You know that sand-filling is the most critical activity in any road construction in the Niger Delta. We must scoop the surface earth about 2 metres or between 1.5 and 2 metres before sand-fill it and apply asphalt. So, sand is a major commodity here. That is the work the dredgers have done for us.”

On his position on local manufacture of dredgers, he said: “You know what the situation is these days with foreign currency. Any government worth its salt should encourage not just locally made dredgers but other products. If I am made president today, I will ban foreign cars. If we cannot manufacture cars, let’s ride on bicycles to show that we are not supposed to ride cars.”

On why he seeks ban of generators, he said: “I believe that importers of Generators are sabotaging the public power system by sponsoring boys to vandalise lines and transformers. So, we need a challenge to solve our problems.”

SMEs:

Amange is a household name in Nembe and Bayelsa. In the cities people hear of his hotels but in Nembe, he is noted for a hand in most businesses such as farms, sand-filling, etc. “Many people here call me Igbo-man. They believe that it is only an Igbo person that can do what I am doing, but this attitude is helping my family. You know, politics is not regarded as full time career here. If you want to join politics in Nigeria, look for where you will get your daily bread and use the political gains as bonus (jara) in the sense that in the US, lawmakers can serve for 40 years but in Nigeria, if you manage to get to eight years, they say it’s another person’s turn. You are yanked off the scene. So, you have to look for your daily bread.”

Formula against violence

“I am into agric and this is what I have been drumming to the ears of the even the state government to encourage the local government areas to go into agriculture. Those in waterlogged areas should go into massive fishing while those with land should have at least 50 hectares each. Camp these boys that are making trouble in those farms and make them to farm. Do not sell the cassava or whatever products but install processing facilities to have many products. These youths will give you much returns, give them specialists to guide them and see our rural economies grow.”

He says Agriculture is the only thing that will rescue our economy. “I produce fish in my farm in Agbakabia. I do not sell the fish raw but I process it and export. Fortunately, local demand is huge so I do not bother much about export. The moment we finish processing of fish, they take them in cartons. I have about 200 heads of pigs and growing. We have poultry and produce about 100 creates of eggs per day still growing. I have over 5000 heads of snail. Every month, we pick the ones we want to sell. I am sending about five of my workers to Ibadan on IITA training on snailry and other things. I have 45 workers in my farm and 30 in the dredging business. If I should leave these boys alone, they would be cultists, but by being engaged and working from morning to evening, they would have no energy and time to engage in cultism and militancy. The salary is okay for most of them, compared with some government workers that do not get paid at the end of the month. Yes, most of my businesses interact with nature and the environment.”

He went on: “I came from a very humble background and so I know where the shoe pinches when you talk about poverty. So, I encourage those around me to look for how to get their daily bread. It is a spirit in me that I cannot change. Not that I have much but whatever I have, I like to give out. In the community I live, I think I should help out. I do not like primitive accumulation. As I speak with you, I have no foreign account; I change naira into Dollars and travel, if I must.

“I have told my children not to expect me to accumulate wealth for them. I use to hint them jokingly that even this house here, I have willed it out to orphanage. I have orphanage home in Nasarrawa State near Abuja, which I started when I was in the Senate.”

Ignatius Chukwu