A professional navigator and underwater diver, Rear Admiral Festus Bikepre Igbeyinadun Porbeni, mni, CFR, who currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, has served the nation in various capacities including being the Pioneer Defense Advisor and later Resident Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea from 1982-1988 with accreditation to Cameroun, Gabon and Sao Tome & Principe. As Ambassador, he worked assiduously to promote and sustain the relationship between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.

His military career, which began with his graduation from the Nigerian National Defense Academy, Kaduna in 1967, where he was the best Cadet in service subject in the 3rd Regular Course, saw him commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant in 1969, and later Commandant of the Nigerian Naval College, Onura, and Director of Research and Analytical Studies (DARAS) at the Nigerian War College (NWC). He served in the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) as the Flight Officer Command (FOC), Eastern Naval Command (ENC). He was previously the Commanding Officer (CO), Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Argungu, which he sailed from Bremen, Germany to Lagos, Nigeria, and later Commanding Officer (CO), NNS Aradu, the Nigerian Navy Flagship. He was the Minister of Transport between 1998 and 1999.

Admiral Porbeni is fluent in many languages and has received many military honors both locally and internationally. He is a Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) and the current Romanian Consul General in the Niger Delta Region. He also serves on the board of many other companies. He is Member of the Governance and Personnel Committee of the Company.

Kristina Reports’ Fashion Correspondent, Blessing Aseminaso, was among a group of media practitioners who engaged the revered Admiral at his Port Harcourt residence on salient issues affecting the Nigerian polity even as the nation celebrates its 60 years of independence from Great Britain. He sure makes a journalist’s delight as he took on the various issues thrown at him in an analytical and statesmanlike style, shedding light on critical issues, proffering solutions on the way forward and offering needed advice for the youths. Enjoy the entertaining interview:    

Nigeria will be celebrating its 60 years Independence on October 1, 2020 and Bayelsa State will be celebrating 24 years since its creation, the same way as Nigeria. When you look back at Nigeria at 60 and Bayelsa State, how would you describe our nationhood and statehood?

I think Nigeria as a nation has improved from what I know before the independence. There were times to travel to Lagos to Port Harcourt, you’ll first have to travel to Sapele and sleep there. Then from Sapele you’ll take a ferry to get to Onitsha and wait again before taking another ferry. So practically, you’ll have to take two days to travel from Lagos to Port Harcourt by road. But today, bridges are built which is of cause an improvement. Yes, we’ve not gotten to what we think we should be, but we’ve improved as compared to years past, and as such, as a nation, I’m happy.

As a State, Bayelsa State which I assisted in one way or the other to create, I look at it that we should have gone further than what we have now but the leadership is not being very cooperative. I remember when we were in service, government used to receive just a little amount of money as state fund. Then by Providence we fought and fought, we had not less than 13% but since this less than 13% got more work than improvement, the money was spent differently on issues of state fund. Therefore, we’ve not benefited from the huge amount of money coming to the state. Thus, I’ll say we’ve not done very well. We can do better in the state.

Some people are in a ship sailing smoothly in fair weather. People onboard are complaining about air-conditioning, not enough salt in their dinner and so on. Somewhere, there’s a shipwreck, everyone is just concerned with staying alive- Admiral FBI Porbeni.

In Nigeria today, there are too much agitations; people asking for secession like the Oduduwa, the Igbo and Niger Deltans are asking that they should be allowed to have their own countries. What can we do to maintain unity amongst us? Nigeria being an entity, what do we do to avoid disintegration?

My advice is for us to maintain unity because it is better than division. We fought a civil war that prompted us to come together, so let’s maintain that unity. Basically, I believe there should be restructuring but the government is no helping alot. We should restructure and have every federation being independent just the way we were before the civil war. Every region was strong on its own. They fought and competed healthily amongst themselves. I believe we should go back to the true federalism to get our economy together.

As Bayelsa will be 24 come October 1st, are you satisfied as a founding father of the state?

I’m not very satisfied. I remember I recommended the first Military Governor of Bayelsa State, Navy Captain Philip Oladipo Ayeni (deceased), because he was very active as a navigating officer then. I even funded some initial take-offs and did some fund raising for the state with the help of my team, even though something happened and things didn’t go as planned. But when I look at it now, I realize that I was used. The state would have gotten much more glory than what it is now. There was a time I brought Julius Berger to work on the main road that leads to Yenagoa leaving no building behind in order to ensure that it looks like a city road, but this was not properly done as it still looks like a village road. So definitely, I am not impressed. I deliberately haven’t been to the state for the past 4-5 years because I am not happy with the outcome.

First Military Governor of Bayelsa State, Navy Capt. Philip Oladipo Ayeni

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Looking at the present state of Bayelsa, what kind of developmental framework would you want the Governor, Douye Diri and his administration to put in place, in moving forward?

There is a blueprint for Bayelsa State, that blueprint should be followed. We would need to open up the roads and even creeks to make them useable instead of just roads alone. Besides the House of Assembly, a body of advisers should be enacted just like in the days of His Excellency, President Goodluck Jonathan, where a body was setup outside the normal political setting to give advice on security. But today there is nothing like that. We only patronize things and politicizing things isn’t doing us good. I believe there are other avenues to improve. Compared with Bayelsa State, which has more resources than other states like Ebonyi, Ekiti, and so on that were created with Bayelsa State with lesser resources in place, are doing even better. It is therefore necessary that we improve more.

Comparing the present day educational system and that of before, do you think the knowledge we are gathering now is equivalent to the technology we have in this our dispensation?

Of course, we were analogue as of that time, but today, everything is done digitally. What we used then was four figure table to solve mathematical equations but today we have calculators and computers. So, of course, you’ll have a faster tempo and assimilation. Our technology was crude back then. There was what was called mental arithmetic where you have to calculate only with your brain without help from any device but today, learning has been made easy and the present generation has more opportunity than we did. I believe that every generation knows how to solve a problem and that is what this generation has done.

Where do you see Bayelsa in five years’ time?

If we go with a better speed than what we have now, we can improve. Although the present government just came on board, so let’s see how his administration handles the state. But in the past, things didn’t go well at all.

Is it possible to lend your voice to the leader of Bayelsa, advising them on the do’s and don’ts that will enable then hit the mark?

Frankly, if they seek my advice I will give, but if they don’t, I don’t bother. Those who sought my advice then didn’t put them into practice because they had a different agenda all together. I have done my best and as such, I try to keep things low, but only speak when I’m needed to lend my voice. It’s selfishness in that over the years I’ve done what I should do; from a very young officer, I’ve played roles in administration and government. I’ve done my role and so let others do theirs.

Nigeria is almost being taken over by insecurity in terms of killings, kidnapping, etc. People are clamouring for state policing as the only panacea to peace. As a security expert, what do you think is the best way to handle this insecurity challenge in the country?

My opinion is true federalism, where there is just one police that runs the affairs of security. In developed countries like the America, true federalism is practiced and so far it has been effective. Although, I also subscribe to state policing if possible.

Would you attribute the level of underdevelopment in Bayelsa to leadership failure?

I’ll attribute it to leadership and followership. First, the youths have been agitating for kidnapping and violence. I have an NGO which goes around sensitizing the youths about the ills of kidnapping, but has it profited much? Take for instance, I have a boat here that cannot be planted on the water due to the several happenings on the sea, but in Lagos, I sail and even go all over the place. These are the things that kill our economy. Our properties here are not being rented. People have left their high buildings and all. We, therefore, need to do see reflection on ourselves, and Bayelsa would have to make sure we get things back to normal. The leadership is not alone, followership also needs to be put to check to be strong enough.

One area of discipline you love alot is Sports, and that’s why you are the President of Rowing, Sailing and Canoeing Federation of Nigeria. In relation to the 60th Nigeria’s Independence Anniversary and the 24th Anniversary of the creation of Bayelsa State, would you say Sports in Nigeria has really gotten achievements, infrastructure wise?

In terms of Sports, we have the infrastructures but the problem is that we lack maintenance. Look at National Stadium in Lagos, I was one of those who did the opening ceremony and was the flag officer in the second All African Games as a young lieutenant. So, I know these infrastructures are there, but the question is how long does it last? I could also remember seeing coloured television in the stadium but how is it now? We start up fantastically but we don’t maintain, which purely is a major problem in the country.

What is your advice to the administrators; those piloting the affairs in Bayelsa and Nigeria as a country especially regarding our 60th independence anniversary? What should they do differently from other years?

Just like humans, the age isn’t as important as one’s achievements in a lifetime. For instance, I make sure that October 2 of every year in Bayelsa, they play a football tournament to celebrate the State’s anniversary.

What is your advice to the Nigerian government?

As a nation, the government should make sure they decentralize. Let’s restructure and decentralize in terms of developing each State’s resources.

There was a time the issue of lazy youths arose. Today, coronavirus is on a high level and people are beginning to hide under the umbrella of corona being the reason for lack of jobs.  What advice would you give to the youths as we approach 60?

Nigerian youths are not that lazy but are rather not enterprising. Just the way we have music, fame, the same way the youths can do something. They really don’t need to depend on the government to have something doing. If one is going into e-computer, one should focus on the positive aspect of it and not the negative aspect like yahoo.

Will Porbeni Cup be revived again?

Honestly, I want to do it because it’s like celebrating your child’s birthday that’s how I feel about the tournament and I don’t care what I spend to do it because I’m happy when I see the youths jumping about winning a goal and so on. I’m ready if the government is ready.

What are your plans for your federation come 2021?

Well, for the first time I produced three home groomed athletes for the Olympics besides my foreign athletes because canoeing was not very developed in Nigeria then at that. But when I came on board, international bodies gave us canoes but we couldn’t clear them. I was in Tunisia for a competition and my boys and girls were coming last position. Why was it so? Because their trainings were mostly theoretical and not practical because of lack of canoes. You can imagine playing football by theory. Can you play it when you are given the ball? When I came back I asked for those who had boats and international bodies gave us some, but they lay in the Lagos ports for 11 years. After which I brought money from my pocket, cleared them from custom duties, shipping and all. When I got the boats, I wrote to the state governors of the Niger Delta asking if I can launch the boats in their state but nobody replied me except that of Cross River. You can imagine why my own State wouldn’t recognize me in Bayelsa. They didn’t bother. So, I launched the boat in Cross River and camped them for the All African Games in Morocco. That was where we won our first silver medal, won by Lilian Josephat and that’s how we started growing. Today we’ve grown to the extent that we have boat and now produce boats in my garden in Lagos, in collaboration with NELO which are makers of boats. Not just that, we also have an Olympic-size lane in Jabi Lake, Abuja and Lagos, which is made by those who make for real Olympic in Portuguese company. Therefore we’ve developed so far, so fast, and so well. We now have three athletes who are qualified for canoeing, crawling, and rowing. Before now, to get a single athlete was a thug of war. I had to do foreign based, but these ones are produced locally, made in Nigeria. I also have three more athletes looking forward to qualifying and I look forward to bringing home medals. The colour? I don’t know.

Sir, you’re retired but not tired because you’re still into a whole lot of activities, and a alot of us see you as a role model. Do you want to let us know how you live your life to the hilt even as you age gracefully? Is there any advice for young aspiring people that aspires to be like you?

My prayer for the youths is not to be like me, but above me. Basically, keep your mind open and be positive even in negative situations and in everything you do, strive to be the best.