'I am a hard boiled product of the civil service' -
INAH
- Chief
Wilfred Inah,
is a former Head of Service, an Ex Commissioner in the Federal Character
Commission and one time governorship aspirant of the defunct National Republic
Convention in Cross River State.
Simplicity, sincerity and steadfastness, succinctly, characterize
the personality
of Chief. Wilfred Oden Inah. At 78, the elder statesman is not only physically strong but also mentally sound.
Chief. Wilfred Inah is a former Head of service
in Cross River State, One time gubernatorial
aspirant in the defunct National Republican
Convention
(NRC), former Commissioner
in the Federal Character Commission. The noble statesman has played pioneering
roles
in the formation of several
structures in
the present Cross River State. Some of those roles he played are captured in his book: “CROSS RIVER STATE: 1ST 45 YEARS.” The septuagenarian
who played host to Global
Achievers
Online Magazine [https://globalachieversmedia.
GA: Can we meet you, sir?
INAH: My name is Wilfred Oden Inah. I come from the second
largest town, in Cross River State, precisely,, Ugep in Yakurr local government
area of Cross River State. My father was Inah Ofem Okoi and my mother was Mrs. Isu Inah Ofem (nee Isu Eteng) both of blessed
memory.
I am married. I have eight children, four boys, four girls and nine grand children. I had my primary education at Church of Scotland Mission and St. Theresa's Ugep
from 1946-1953. I spent all my five years of secondary education in Mary Knoll Secondary
School
located in Ogoja, Cross River State. I am a graduate of History, from the University
of Ibadan, Nigeria's premier University, in Oyo state.
GA: Can you take us through
your
career
in
the Civil
Service?
INAH: Shortly after graduation
from the university, I went back to my alma mater Mary Knoll Secondary School, Ogoja
where I taught only for a year before I was recruited into the Federal Civil Service. In August 1967, Chief Michael Ani (Sole Administrator), U.B. Ugot, Chief R. I. Ettarh, Michael Monn and myself came and started the administration
of the present Cross River State, while one person, Emmanuel Monjok, stayed back with U.J. Esuene in Lagos. Our designations
then were District officers. I started off as an Assistant District Officer in Ogoja. I worked with R. I. Ettarh, later, Ugot. When Calabar was finally liberated, U. J. Esuene came back and took over the administration
of the state.
In September 1969, I was brought out from Ikom as District Officer to Calabar to become the Secretary to Akilu Commission which was saddled with the responsibility of reviewing the number of Local Government
Areas in Cross River State. After a brief spell with the Akilu Commission, I was posted to Governor's Office as Principal Secretary
to the Military Governor (PSMG). Due to shortage of staff at that time, I was compelled to hold three (3) positions at the same time, namely;
- Principal Secretary to the Governor.
- Deputy Secretary to the State Executive Council, and
- Chief of Protocol for the state.
GA: Your story suggests that you seem to have enjoyed lots of privileges
in
the
course
of
service. Did you ever encounter
any challenge that shook you?
INAH: Yes! I did encounter several challenges. There was one that happened when I was
serving as
the Secretary of the State Public Commission. There was a certain Permanent
Secretary who
paid creditors of government
cash which was against government policy. The said permanent secretary, whose name I would not mention here, had a close relationship
with the then Governor, U. J. Esuene. When Esuene went on leave, General Yakubu Gowon, then military Head of State, appointed an acting Governor, Olu Bajowa. The attention of the acting governor was called to the misdemeanour
of the permanent secretary. Olu Bajowa sacked him as permanent secretary. It did not end there. The Civil Service Commission
removed him as a civil servant. When the news got to Esuene, he cut short his leave and quickly returned to the state.
On his return, he
inquired about
those the acting Governor, Olu Bajowa, consulted before he sacked the defaulting
permanent
secretary.
Their names were
mentioned. They were; Secretary to Government
and Head of Service; Prof. E. U. Essien-Udom, Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice; Antigha
Ekpe Nyong and Secretary of the Civil Service Commission; Wilfred Inah. Governor Esuene was very angry. He called for a meeting and the three of us and six other officers were all present. He asked why
we
allowed Olu Bajowa, who acted in his absence, to remove the permanent secretary. We gave what we considered
satisfactory
explanations
but he was not satisfied. On the 8th of February, 1975, Esuene terminated
the appointment
of Essien Udom as Secretary to Government
and Head of Service, and asked him to return to his university
job. On the 8th of March, same year, he removed me as the Secretary of the Civil Service Commission. When the Efik people saw that their son, Antigha Ekpe Nyong
might be the next to be removed from office, they moved
and stopped the Governor. For my punishment, I was posted to Uyo as a Senior District officer. While I was there, it was not too long, Esuene was overthrown
and Colonel Paul Omu succeeded him. Omu appointed me Permanent Secretary from my field posting in Uyo.
GA: Once upon a time, you were a commissioner in the federal character commission, how did you get there?
INAH: The late General Sani Abacha had introduced a constitutional conference, between 1994-1995. Every state was
represented by
twelve people. I was one of them. Some went on the basis of appointment
and others through election. I was elected and I represented
Yakurr
Local Government
Area. While there, I headed the Committee on Legislature
and
Legislative
Lists.
The
conference
ended in 1995. The Chairman of the Conference, Justice Adolphus Karibi Whyte, confided in me that I did very well in the assignment
I handled. He said he
expected that
I would be rewarded. I think my appointment
as
commissioner was
a reward for a job well done.
GA: Some people hold the opinion that
'politics is a dirty game' do you share in it?
INAH: For me, I have been in politics for a while and it has not changed my person. I am known for sincerity and honesty. I cannot say yes when the occasion
demands that
I say No. I do not know how to twist the truth. I have always spoken the truth even to those in power.
GA: Can you recall some of those instances?
INAH: When Senator Liyel Imoke was the Governor of Cross River State, several times I called his attention to the displeasure
of our people over the imposition
of a particular
individual
as the representative
of Yakurr/Abi Federal Constituency. I wrote him a two and the half page letter and sent text messages to him, at two different times. I also
advised him against the decision of some people to exclude Idomi Town from representation
in Yakurr 1 State Constituency
just as I advised him to give Abi Local Government
Area a chance to represent that L.G.A in the House of Representatives.
Now in the time of Prof. Ben Ayade, the
present Governor
of Cross River State, I had written to him concerning
the clearance of the backlog of unpaid harmonized
pension arrears of retired Permanent Secretaries
and Civil Servants. I reminded him that some of this retired public servants had died without receiving their gratuities
and pensions
arrears I pleaded that the money
involved was
earned
through hard labour by this retired officers.
Governor Imoke had paid up to the year 2013 but could not continue because he complained
of lack of funds. But for Ayade, the federal government
has several times given bailout to state governments
and Paris Club Refunds which should have been used for such purposes. How come such monies have not been utilized to pay outstanding
gratuities
and death benefits?
GA: You were a gubernatorial aspirant
of the defunct
National
Republican
Convention
(NRC), in the Third Republic; how did you miss the shot at becoming the Governor?
INAH: When I left the Civil service in 1987, the then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, decided that there
should be
a two party system. These were; the Social Democratic
Party (SDP) and the
National Republican Convention (NRC). In the course of time, some respected personalities from Cross River State came together and said that a cross section of people were of the opinion that I was well educated, well exposed and experienced and therefore saw me qualified to run for the position of the governor of the state. Some of those personalities
included Chief Anthony Ani (former Minister of Finance), Prof. Ukandi
Damachi,
Chief I. I. Murphy, Hon. Timothy Omang, Chief Victor Etta, Mr. Gabriel Ogar, Mr. Michael Monn and Ntufam Cornelius Achima. I was quite surprise, but I accepted the honour and respect they showed me. The primaries conducted to produce a candidate for the NRC featured the following contestants: Clement Ebri, Josephat Okey, Linus Bisong, John Egbe, Orok Oyo, Victor Ndoma-Egba and I. The result of the primary election showed that I scored 46,000 (forty-six Thousand) votes and all the others put together had 46,000 (forty six thousand) votes, but they was a snag. The provision in the constitution
of the party stipulated
that one must win in at least two-thirds of the number of Local Government
Areas in the state. But I won in 8 L.G.A's and therefore ran short of one Local Government
Area. When a run-off primary election was conducted,
I did quite well, but the personal
problem between
the national chairman NRC and Chief Anthony Ani turned
the tables against me. To do so well and be denied victory would hurt anyone. I was hurt. I was not happy. But I was able to control myself and continue
with my
life.
GA: What has been your most terrifying
experience?
INAH: On
our maiden journey from Lagos to assume
duties in
Ogoja during the civil war, I was held at gun point in Ilorin for about 30 minutes by Nigerian soldiers until information
from Lagos confirmed that we were undertaking
a journey for the
Federal Government. I had a repeat experience
in Kaduna during the same journey, these and more harrowing incidents are narrated elaborately in my book “Cross River State: 1st 45 years"
GA: How have you impacted positively
on
your people and your state?
INAH: I had a policy of always leaving something behind wherever I was posted during my career as a civil servant. During my time at the Ministry of Information and Social Development, as it was called then, we commission a French company, Thompson CSF, to build the present site of Nigerian Television Authority Station in Calabar. General Murtala Muhammed who was in power then had instructed that states should not own television stations. Consequently, the Federal Government took it over. That is how it became a Federal Television Station. It was the second coloured television system in Nigeria. The first was in Jos. In exchange for the TV Station, the Federal Ceded its radio Station to us.
It was in my time that the four buildings at the Cross River State Liaison Office in Lagos were built. The project was executed at my instance due
to my pressure on the then Military Governor, Tunde Elegbede. On complexion
it was commissioned
by Governor Clement Isong in a big ceremony attended by members of his State Executive Council. My further major contribution was the initiation of a policy to lift the ceiling of universities graduate teachers from grade level 15 to 16 when I was Permanent Secretary, Teaching Service Commission. To ensure discipline in the Civil Service, I banned the consumption of alcoholic drinks in offices during official hours. I did it as the Head of Service. That ban is effective up till today. While I was the Permanent Secretary, Rural Development
and Co-operatives, I obtained licence for the establishment
of Co-operative Development
Bank in Uyo. That Bank flourished
until it was merged with another bank to form the present First City Monument Bank (FCMB). It might also interest you to know that when I was the
Permanent Secretary
in the Ministry of Health, I cleared all lunatics from Calabar streets, and had a tax force to check the influx of lunatics from other
states.
To give lasting effect to that policy, we constructed
two new buildings to accommodate
inpatients in
the Psychiatric
Hospital in Calabar. It is gratifying
to note that I remain a hard boiled product of the civil service. I also gave back to the
society that made
me.
GA: How do you relax?
INAH: I relax by reading. In addition to reading biographies, which is my greatest interest, I read subjects that
people might
think would not
interest me.
I had one friend, Dr. Francis Eteng, who was the first
Medical Doctor
Ugep produced. He had a fair knowledge of virtually every subject because he read a lot. He influenced
me to read widely.
GA: Can you tell us about your religious
life?
INAH: I am a Catholic. I got baptized into the faith on 26th of August, 1951 and since then, I have not had any reason to leave the faith. I was initiated into the knighthood
of Saint Mulumba Nigeria on the 4th of September, 1982. I have been a knight of the Holy Roman Catholic Church for 36 years now.
GA: Have
you
had
any
regret?
INAH: If it is in the sense of wrong decision making, I do not think I have any regrets. On the other hand, if it is about experiencing
tragic events, yes. I lost my first wife by death, and later my son, who was only twenty-one years as at the time he died. I have since re-married, and I have a peaceful and happy home.
GA: What is the secret of your longevity?
INAH: Apart from my wife cooking good food for me and taking care of me, I do not harbour hate, bitter feelings or anger. If someone offends me, no matter how grievous it might be, I would call the person and we settle it amicably.
GA: What will you want to be remembered
for?
INAH: I want to be remembered
for honesty
and integrity.
GA: Thank you for granting us this interview.
INAH: I am happy to have you in my residence.
