Only few people in Buhari’s govt believe in his anti-corruption war —Senator Gaya

Former governor of Kano State, Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, represents Kano South Senatorial District in the Senate and is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Works. Gaya, who was recently elected Vice-President of Inter-Parliamentary Union, African Group, tells AYODELE ADESANMI that the discovery of oil was a curse to Nigeria and that critics of President Muhammadu Buhari are mischievous people, among others.

THE North-East Development Commission Bill was recently passed into law; how soon do you think the commission would be able to resettle the people of the area who have been weighed down by the Boko Haram insurgency?

I sponsored the bill and what encouraged me was a simple concern to alleviate the sufferings of the people in that area, as they have gone through war. Hundreds and thousands of lives were lost. Children, young and old men and women were not left out.  Schools and hospitals, among other properties, were destroyed. At the end of the day, people of the area became Internally Displaced People (IDP). l looked at them and shared in the problem they were facing. Though I might not be directly affected, l am a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing Kano South, so looking at it, I represent the entire country. Interestingly, when I raised the bill, all senators from the zone applauded and gave it all the necessary support.

Essentially, the commission would be able to handle reconstruction, rehabilitation and reorientation of the people of the area. With the efforts of the commission and others, a lot of the people from the zone could go back to their original homes and start a new life. This could also afford the youths of the area to be assisted by the commission just like the Niger Delta youths who were trained both home and abroad in different vocational jobs, as it happened during the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.  I am happy that the bill was accepted by all and today, it has become a reality. The commission can now attract assistance through donor agencies and other good-spirited people. The commission can bring back to life the people of the area through building of schools, hospitals, houses and essentially resettle the displaced people. l want to thank the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and my colleagues for supporting the bill.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been criticised for his anti-corruption war and his recent perceived anti-women comment, following his comment about his wife belonging to his kitchen. What is your take on this situation?

President Buhari is determined to rid the country of corruption but l sympathise with him, because only a few people within the government believe in the war against corruption. None of them is assisting him, I pity him. He is at war but as a good general, he would succeed. He, however, needs to be supported and encouraged. However, at the National Assembly, we are ready to give him all the necessary assistance to make him win the corruption war.  Towards assisting him in this war, l sponsored a bill that would set up a special court to handle anti-corruption and money laundering cases. It would be like an industrial court, which deals with industrial disputes. The bill comes because of the urgency and the need to teach corrupt people lessons and especially those who engage in money laundering. In most of the corruption cases, the offenders normally approach the courts to slow down the cases and investigations. Most of the cases ran for over three to six years before judgments were delivered. The present government has made some arrests and recovered some money from these corrupt people; unfortunately, government could not make use of the money because of the legal issues involved. And there are so many developmental areas begging for funds. These cases can drag on for years even till after the present administration, if care is not taken. To me, corrupt cases should be dispensed with on time, because if we don’t fight corruption, it would turn back to fight us. The bill would create the enabling environment to dispense with corruption cases within three months and the funds recovered would be returned to the treasury where the citizens of the country could benefit in the area of infrastructural development.

As for those criticising the government of President Buhari, some of them have never been to the corridors of power.  You can see that the man is trying his best, but he cannot do it alone. He needs people to support him and not to criticise him. You can criticise if you give the way forward but most critics are mischievous. Buhari is trying to do his best for the country, as the problems of Nigeria are enormous, and nobody can solve them alone in one day. But with the cooperation of all Nigerians, he can do it. Everybody should support him in order for him to give his best for the country.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently stated that the National Assembly is corrupt. How then can you boast of creating an enabling environment to help the fight against corruption?

I respect President Olusegun Obasanjo; he is a former president and he is an old man. But, sometimes, he has to mind his words. There is corruption everywhere, so the former president should not single out the National Assembly. There is even corruption under his government. Look at even people that sell potatoes in the market, they put the big ones on top and put the smaller ones at the bottom of the basket. To me, that is cheating. Therefore, corruption is everywhere.

You were recently elected as the vice-president of the Inter Parliamentary Union African Group. What does Nigeria stand to gain from the group?

In our last visit to Geneva (Switzerland), l got nominated to be in the committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the organisation is made up of 47 countries. During the meeting, we realised that there was a vacancy for the position of the vice-president in charge of the African Group, which had not been filled.  We went for it but at the point of voting, other interested countries stepped down and Nigeria was returned unopposed. Fortunately, l was elected to be in that position, which would be for a period of four years. This is the first time that any Nigerian would be in such a position. The IPU was established in 1889. We are there to enhance the unity of the senators and other parliamentarians. Nigeria has many things to benefit, as the position is not ceremonial.

As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, what is the committee doing on the state of roads across the country?

The committee has made some efforts not only in terms of roads construction, but also in infrastructural development. In the 2016 budget, President Buhari allocated N248bn for construction and repairs of Nigerian roads; such amount has never been allocated to roads before. Buhari has made a lot of efforts to ensure that Nigerian roads are in good shape. What we did at our committee level at the National Assembly was to link point A to B from North to South and other parts of the country. We are trying to ensure that over 305 roads in the country are in good shape, especially the critical ones. The Federal Government has made provisions for most of these critical roads in the 2016 budget and we have already paid liability to the contractors on those roads. We have also put extra money for the contractors to work. You can equally see that most of the contractors have mobilised back to sites.

One of the things we are trying to do more is pay immediate attention to areas where there is serious potholes. Such jobs are for Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and funds have been released to the agency. Over N10bn has been released and in the next three weeks, FERMA contractors would be all over the identified areas working across the country. However, money would be allocated again in the 2017 budget that the president is presenting this week, which means more money would be put to FERMA and Ministry of Works to cater for more road networks.

The intention of the committee is to make all the major roads motorable in the next three years and make others very smooth. We have 34,000 kilometres of roads across the country and we are putting aside N240bn. What we are equally doing is to balance the road constructions in the six geopolitical zones of the country, we are not leaving one for the other, we are moving at the same time.

But often times, newly constructed roads do not last more than two years before they become dilapidated. Is your committee doing anything to ensure quality control?

Recently, we invited the contractor who constructed the Ibadan-Oyo highway; that road became bad just only three years after the completion. The contractor told us that the design was wrong but we put it to him by asking why he took up the job when he knew the design was wrong. Sadly, government spent N20bn on that road and presently, it is in very poor condition, which means we have wasted N20bn of taxpayers’ money. We asked the contractor to go back and repair the failed areas. However, there are two ways one has to look into the matter; we have to blame the contractor and the engineer in the ministry of works. The engineer certified the road and approved the evaluation for the contractor to receive the contract sum for doing a bad job. The other thing is that we don’t have control on our roads, because of heavy-duty vehicles that are not really meant for the roads but make use of them. These types of vehicles destroy our roads and in view of this, we are privatising our roads. Interestingly, people are interested in taking them on concession. Government would give them the roads and they can now put their restrictions. Towards achieving this, government would encourage the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to enforce the rules, and even establish a mobile court to handle the lawbreakers.

Where would the funds for the maintenance of the roads come from?

l sponsored some bills recently, which would take care of that; the Roads Fund Bill, Federal Road Authority Bill and the Public Private Partnership Regulatory Commission Bill. However, all these bills are to enhance road sector reform. We earnestly need funds to maintain the roads. We made an amendment on the FERMA Act (2007). The amendment was that five per cent of the pump prices of petroleum products should specifically be deducted and given to FERMA for the maintenance of Nigerian roads. Sadly, the money was not remitted from 2007 when the law was enacted till date. The amount is now about N720bn. It was Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPRA) that was supposed to give the money but the agency refused to remit the money. If the money is released, more roads would be reconstructed and maintained both at states and federal levels.  However, on the Federal Road Authority Bill, every stakeholder in the road sector would benefit. Also, the Public Private Partnership Regulatory Commission Bill would help to enact the law and help investors to come and invest in our road sector.

The country has been facing serious economic challenges as a result of the instability of crude oil prices, with some experts even noting that Nigeria’s crude oil deposit is waning. What, in your view, do you think is the way out for the country?

We are not serious when it comes to the issue of our priority. l have to thank our first set of leaders who fought for Nigeria’s independence, may their souls rest in perfect peace. Leaders like the late Sardauna, Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikwe and Obafemi Awolowo, among others. They have a good vision for the country, as they made agriculture the mainstay of the economy. Unfortunately, during the 1966 coup, some of these leaders were killed by the military. The military came and believed so much that the country so rich and that its problem was how to spend the money. That belief destroyed the vision of Nigeria. Before that time, Nigerians used to go to farms; we produced cotton, palm oil, cocoa and groundnuts, among other products. Each region then had its own comparative advantage when it comes to agriculture and they made good use of it.  There was a time Nigeria was the largest producer of palm oil, we were even exporting it. But Malaysia came and got the seeds here and later took over the first position from us and we started buying from them.

There was then groundnut pyramid in Kano but today we are now importing groundnut oil. We have cotton in the North-West and many textiles industry sprang up then, but unfortunately today, we are importing textile materials. There was cocoa in abundance in the South-West; today we now import chocolate and cocoa drinks, among other cocoa products. What we did when there was abundance was to buy exotic cars and expensive goods. We threw away money and even destroyed, as we became a big country.  General Obasanjo came, though the arrangement was there before him, and hosted Festival of Black Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977. Foods were thrown all over Lagos and the country wasted a lot of money. This money would have been used to expand our agriculture potentials. The oil we depended on has now become a curse, as brothers are fighting each other because of oil and some people thought some of us are parasites because we don’t have oil. They have forgotten completely that revenue generated from cocoa, groundnut and palm oil were used to build the refineries. That is why l am happy that president Muhamadu Buhari has seen the light at the end of the tunnel and is going into agriculture. Government at all levels must assist farmers in order for agriculture to grow.

Recently, talks about restructuring and regionalism resonated in the polity. What is your stance on these?

We have practised regionalism before in this country, but has that really helped us? It is better for Nigeria to remain united. Some areas are advocating for regions because of their belief that they have the money. The South-West believes they have the ports and they are making money from them. The South-South equally believes that they have oil and in the North there is nothing, because the groundnut pyramid is no more. But the North is coming soon to the limelight, because we have discovered oil too. The best thing for the country is to remain united and work together as a team, because a time would come when we would no longer think about our tribal differences and religious differences. However, l don’t understand this issue of restructuring. Is it to restructure the country into regions or what? To me, we need to remain together, because it will not be of any benefit to us if we split. It is better to work for the interest of the country as a team and not to be too greedy. The belief of some people advocating for restructuring is that some areas are richer than others and they don’t want to share. That is why they are calling for restructuring. They should realise that others that are not rich, through determination and strong will, can later be richer.