He spoke extensively on a wide range of issues, using his life story of 19 years into politics and the journey so far that makes a good reading as a food for thought, he spoke with the Golden Pen in an interview in the Bayelsa State capital Yenagoa.
Excerpts:
G.Pen: I am Otonye Evans Tubonah, Publisher Golden Pen Newspaper Online and print. Want to have an interview with you, not that you are strange to me but for the purposes of this interview, will you personally tell the reading public who you are?
Ans: Thank you very much for having me.
My name is Hon. Uroh Omiekumo Kiani Esq., by God's grace I am the Acting Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission Bayelsa State,
I was appointed August.2012 into the Commission under the Restoration Goverment. Our tenure is four years and when the four years lapsed, in 2016, the Governor graciously
re-appointed me and I was sworn-in on the 18th of January 2017.
I came into this tenure as Commissioner (2) of the Local Government Service Commission under the Chairmanship of Hon. (Chief). Adolphus Ebimodei Ofongo. Incidentally, 26th of February, the Chairman was suspended and I was made the Acting Chairman.
Ques: Our medium, Golden Pen is interested in the activities and affairs of this Commission, now as the Acting Chairman, how have you been grappling with the challenges ahead?
Ans: The responsibilities are enormous, but we met a situation where there were agitations for re-enstatement based on previous exercises conducted under my predecessor and we have looked at it and those we found having no problems were cleared, and those whose conditions were bad and due retirement were retired.
Though it wasn't easy but we have come this far and the system is a bit stable and we are happy for what we have done. We are going together with all the Commissioners in the spirit of Corporate governance, and everything done here is being done in conference, along with the Permanent Secretary and the Directors.
Ques: What can you tell the public about promotion, how long since you conducted Local Government staff promotion?
Ans: Yes! we did our promotion in 2019 January last year. promotion for Local Government staff is done twice in a year, first in January and in July every year. So, some of the staff due promotion last year July 2019, January 2020 and July 2020..
So, we are going to embark on those three classes and stages of promotion and also include upgrading and convertion side by side with them.
Cut - in: When are you going to start the processes?
Ans: From our timetable, we have a well detailed working plan on how to conduct this exercise since from July. We planned from June/July and we have made the necessary consultations and made our timetable to commence first week of October, 2020, and we forwarded our request for the Deputy Governor's approval.
Just a week or two ago, the Deputy Governor had graciously approved, that yes, it is the right of the staff to be promoted, but the promotion is not to immediately have implementation of the new grade. And that is a condition the Commission and the Union agreed. That is what all the stakeholders agreed and we are working on that direction.
Ques: Mr. Chairman, some persons have said you a learned man, are you a Lawyer?
Ans: Yes, I was called to the Bar some years ago, I am a Barrister, I graduated from the Nigerian Law School and I was called to the Bar, that makes me a Barrister and Solicitor.
Ques: Hon. Uroh Kiani, it is a common knowledge that you came from Brass Local Government Area, can you share with the public how you started your political journey to the position you are today?
Ans: Indeed it's quite a long one. It is a trajectory if we go into details we cannot go over it almost immediately. But in a jiffy I just want to inform you that I started active politics when I was 19 years far back 1992.
I was appointed into the NRC Local Government Caretaker Committee during the period of Ada George and Zebulon Abule in Old Rivers State. And I was in that four man committee of Brass LGA to conduct election to usher in delegates for the party at all levels; Wards and Local Government to the State.
I was there and in the course of my sojourn, I was kidnapped by a faction of who wanted me also to endorse their delegates list, to authenticate their delicates list in Nembe, being the headquarters of the present Senatorial District, when Ogbia, Nembe and Brass were together as one Local Government Area.
I was kidnapped and that led to a fracture of the then untity bridge of Ogbolomabiri and Bassambiri. It was indeed a terrible experience, but thank God am alive. So many of my contemporaries have died, as I speak.
We were under the leadership of Barrister Lionel Jonathan, who later became Chief Lionel Jonathan-Omo, at the top we had, Chief Rufus Ada George the Peripelebo1 of Okrika, as our direct leader who became the Governor of Rivers State, and his tenure was short-lived because of military incursion.
So, Indeed we have come a long way, I also contested as a Councillor and won in 1979 and served as a Supervisory Councillor of Health and Social Welfare on the platform of UNCP under my Chairman Hon. (Mrs) Marie Amiebi Enenimiete Ebikarke (aka) mumsy and Abacha who was the Head of State died with our mandate, so our tenure short-lived.So, we were like that, until the new political dispensation of PDP came onboard in 1999, we joined and are in it to date.
Ques: Let's talk About your call to the Bar, you mean while you were in active politics, you were still pursuing education, especially the Law School?
Ans: I was a Technical student, I finished my prevocational school at GTC Ekowe in 1983, and I was sent to GTC Tombia to complete my vocational Technical school.
After the vocational school, I wrote City and Guilde of London Institute and from there, it was almost all along self sponsored... and because of social life developed some families and are battling with it until I had to go and write my JAMB in 2011 at Abua Central Secondary School. I made my JAMB scores and I was admitted into the present day Rivers State University of Science and Technology Mkpolu Oruworukwo.
By God's grace I graduated 2016 and November 2016, I gained admission into the Nigerian Law School straight away and here we are. I would have rounded up my LLM, but because of the COVID19, that is still hanging.
So, am in love with education and would love to go through the educational stratas.
Ques: I am seeing you in pictures with Lawyers what can you say about that?
Ans: They are my call to Bar photos. Family members and the man who inaugurated our call to Bar, the ousted former Chief Judge, Justice Walter Oneghen is also in the pictures who had a warm handshake with me. Those are just historic, is nostalgic because when you see pictures like this, it takes your memory back.
My call to Bar was at the International Conference center Abuja.
Ques; Do you have a Senior Lawyer that is a mentor to you in Bayelsa State?
Ans: During my Law School I had to pass through the tutelage of Barrister Fedude Zimughan Chambers. The Nigerian Law School sent me to a Chamber for my Chamber attachment, but I applied to Chief Zimughan's Chambers because I was in love with that personality and the flavor he has for the Law profession, so I opted to be under his tutelage.
When I applied, the Law School granted me to change and I went there. And I thank God that Law School exams being what they are, because of the tutelage I had from Zimughan's Chambers I was able to go through; so the Chambers attachment was solly contributory towards my success in the Law School exams.
Ques: You are a young man as can see, how many years if I may ask?
Ans: Am not a young man am 50 years, so am not a young man.
Cut - in: There is a saying, life begins at 50, so are you not a young man?
Ans: I an not a young man, I have a lot of experience.
Cut - in again: One can say that you are a young man because you have a lot of prospects ahead of you, yes or no?
Ans: Yes! we all have the potentials but God in his infinite mercies direct the steps of the human race.
But talking about that, I had contested against Mrs Kuku, now member of the B.O.T. of the PDP as at that time NRC treasurership, so, I had contested a Senatorial election before. I have my popularity cutting across the Senatorial District, so whenever the opportunity comes for it, of course we go in for it.
Ques: Hon. Uroh Kiani, you started politics at the tender age of 19 years, what advice do you have for the Youths of the present generation in politics, especially of your Senatorial District and Bayelsa State, is violence the answer?
Ans: Violence is not the answer, because God's ways are not man's ways, we as human beings will always be agitating, expecting but blindly, because God who is the author and finisher of our faith knows the end from the beginning.
So, even if you are agitating, you must do so constructively, because you don't know tomorrow.
People should have some restraints in their actions, yes, dynamism is the order of the day, changes have brought about what we are seeing today, but at a time we are into political gerimandeering: you lobby people, you go to the people sell your ideas, convince them to understand the reason you want to be where you want to be and not by force....
These days elections are terrible. where you see military men carrying election materials to favour who they like.
My advice is that the Youths should be careful, shun violence, so that they may live to be the leaders of tomorrow.
G.Pen: On that note we want to thank you for having this moment with our medium.
Hon Kiani.:
Thank you very much!
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