SUVs for lawmakers: Don’t expect us to use our personal cars for oversight functions —Namdas

Abdulrazak Namdas is the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Army. He speaks with KEHINDE AKINTOLA on the security challenges ravaging the country and other national issues.

NIGERIANS are worried over the non-passage of long awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and others. Will the House revisit these bills rather than start all over again, knowing full well the public funds expended on the legislative works?

Let me tell you there are very beautiful bills that have been passed, including the Electoral Act itself because to stabilise the polity, we need stable economy. Sometimes, the instability in the political scene affects even the economy. So, if you have a stable polity as a result of the Electoral Act, there will be no much crises.

I think we have to revisit that PIB which is the backbone of the Nigerian economy. We have been having complaints that it was the National Assembly that has been taking it as a project, because in the Eighth Assembly, it wasn’t the executive that brought the bill. It was the job of the National Assembly through public hearings and private member bills.

I think this Speaker will not joke with that. That may have to be reintroduced so that we will have to discuss it and we will support it. The PIB that I know was divided into four, that is the governance bill, the administration bill, the host community bill and the fiscal bill. If we don’t take care of all these put together in the holistic bill, then, we are in a real trouble.

So, we have to look at some of these bills. Those bills that were not assented to, we will still represent them. It may not be all, but we will select the most important ones and then, we will present them, hoping that the president will be able to assent to them.

 

You are aware of the public criticism trailing the N5.5 billion for the purchase of vehicles for the Senate, aside the billions to be expended by the House. Don’t you think it’s time to yield to the demands of Nigerians for those holding elective offices to cut cost of governance?

To me, as a returning member, to be sincere, I just feel we are over-flogging the matter. Every year, since 1999, close to how many years now, 20 years, this institution has been buying vehicles for members and civil society organisations have not stopped talking about it. Journalists have not stopped reporting. To me, if anybody says National Assembly members don’t need vehicles to do oversight functions, sometimes, I look at it as being selfish or the person does not understand what oversight functions are.

What people should be worried about is the price of the vehicle. That is my own take, because each forum you go as a legislator, the argument has always been that you are not living up to expectations, that you have not been doing your oversight functions.

Before I became a member of the National Assembly, the argument has been that if the Seventh Assembly had done proper oversight functions, Dasukigate wouldn’t have come into existence. That has been the argument. Today, if they tell you that Defence and all the security agencies are not properly oversighted because their budgets are shrouded in secrecy or there are some restricted things about it, then, the National Assembly should do proper oversight function. Or on the other hand, if people tell you that members of the National Assembly are waiting for vehicles from ministries and agencies to transport them, then, we are already compromised. All of those things are there and we want to have a departure. How can we do without a vehicle?

Does having vehicle in the Ninth Assembly as a member provide luxury? There is no member in this Ninth Assembly that does not have a car. But it is wrong for us to take private vehicles for oversight functions. We can’t sacrifice that. But the main fact is that you are expected to buy them for us.

But if the prices are above the normal, then, I expect that we should cry about it. If it is within the normal range of buying vehicles, I think people should not look at it as if it is outrageous. There is no ministry that you go that they don’t have, at least, two vehicles, apart from the ones that belong to director and permanent secretaries. Ministers have convoy. They do have a pool of vehicles and how many ministries did we have in this country? Every year, as a member of the National Assembly, I see budget of ministries, agencies and parastatals for buying vehicles. In my case, I will buy it for four years. But the ministries buy it yearly. And I can prove to you that each time there is any budget, check the budget, these vehicles are not bought by the National Assembly on a yearly basis, but the ministries buy them on yearly basis. But nobody shouts about that.

I think we should outgrow these issues of vehicles for honourable members. We should look at the procurement process of those vehicles. Are they within the figure that is expected so that we don’t do bogus purchase? If you don’t want me to ride a Prado, at least, let me buy a Peugeot. If you want me to buy a Peugeot, you can say let’s buy 406, whichever one, a car is a car. But to say that we don’t deserve a car to do our oversight function, I think you’re not being fair.

If you are worried about the price and the model of the vehicle, if you think it’s too luxurious, give us the model you think in your opinion can be okay for me.

 

Let’s quickly look at one major promise made by the speaker to accelerate infrastructural development. Nigerians are groaning about the state of our power and health sectors. So how do you intend to go about fixing these challenges?

Yes, the bane of development is infrastructure, but the only good thing I can keep telling you is that this administration has recorded gains in reviving infrastructure. Four year or eight years is a small period, but if successive governments will also invest, for God sake, a poor elementary knowledge of economics is that one of the factors of production for location or localisation of industry is good roads.

You have to have access to those roads, but the roads are bad. And I know this government has pumped so much money into infrastructure and we also have bridges that are being constructed. We have railway stations that are being constructed.

You know some of the issues we have in the power sector. All these things are because over the years, people do not replace some equipment. In my place, there is a federal road from Gombe to Yola. Only last week, due to erosion, the entire road has now been washed out. Nobody can cross over. So, how can somebody be in charge of this road, realising that erosion has been washing that road gradually and he has to wait until it is cut off completely so that people cannot move.

A convoy would come, either a minister or the governor, to do inspection. They would speak grammar and then, put a temporary bridge. And if care is not taken, that temporary bridge becomes a permanent bridge.

So, if we can take care of infrastructure development, we will live long, get employment and money will exchange hands. But again, we should be able to fight corruption, so that people do not, in an attempt to provide infrastructure, defraud us. Sometimes, you would see it on paper that an amount of money has been earmarked for X and Y and at the end of the day, you would hear that the road has been commissioned. And it does not exist! And you see people doing protest. That is the problems.

So, fighting corruption is a very good thing so that we do not compromise things.

 

On the political scene, I just recall that you won at the election petition tribunal. How have you been able to manage this?

I was at the tribunal and I knocked out the petitioner. If he goes to appeal, I will still knock him out.

ALSO READ: Osinbajo, Fashola: Carrying the can for others…

You were recently appointed as chairman, House Committee on Army. And your geopolitical zone is one of the most ravaged by insecurity in the country. How do you intend to strategise in checkmating various security challenges, ranging from banditry, kidnapping to insurgency, among others?

I will like to work with Armed Forces that are fully equipped with the necessary equipment to face the challenges ahead of them. When you hear on national media stations that Boko Haram has overran military formations and carted away their equipment and they use the equipment tomorrow to kill and maim innocent Nigerians and the military personnel, one gets worried and I know it has to do with cost. But it is important that we can get resources; have the equipment and face the challenges, than to waste souls on account of ‘we don’t have the money.’

 

As a member of the Pan-African Parliament, one of the issues on the front burner in Nigeria today is the attacks on Nigerians and other Africans living in South Africa. Are we doing enough as a nation to show our disaffection?

As a member of Pan-African Parliament, we have raised issues on xenophobic attacks. We condemned the situation. I remember that on the floor of the House, some of us canvassed that if this happened again, we would seek for the relocation of the headquarters of Pan-African Parliament from South Africa to other friendly African country, because Pan-African Parliament houses parliamentarians from 54 countries all over the continent of Africa.

Now, if, as a parliamentarian from Nigeria, I will be going to South Africa to sit and then, Nigerians are being attacked and other African countries are there, there is no point having Pan-African Parliament in South Africa. It is no longer a Pan-African thing, because if it is Pan-African, it should be inclusive. But now, it’s not a Pan-African thing.

They are saying they don’t need foreigners and we are also foreigners, because if we get to South Africa, we would be treated as foreigners.

I must add that even our lives were at stake when I used to be a very strong member of Pan-African Parliament in the Eighth Assembly. I recall we had to tell the authorities that anytime we came to South Africa, right from the airport, we were given policemen to escort us to our hotels. You can see how serious the matter is now? I remember a time when our colleagues were trying to check into their hotel, as they came out with their bags, they were about to pay money, gunmen shot randomly and took away their belongings. A lady, whose country I can’t remember, whether Malawi or so, was hospitalised in the process.

So, it’s really a very dangerous thing and I think the African Union (AU) should seek for the relocation of Pan-African Parliament, because that should serve as a part of deterrence to deal with the South African situation.

 

If you take it from South Africa, which country is friendly that you think will agree to take the secretariat of Pan-African Parliament?

I think when it is open to the Pan-African Parliament as an arm of

the AU, at that level, the AU can discuss which other country is interested in hosting the parliament. If you are to host the Pan-African Parliament, you will give them the structure. There are some staff that are also non-actors. So, the country will bear the burden of these. I think that also has a financial implication. So, you cannot say this country should just take it. The country should be willing to do that, because it comes with a cost.

But again, I think it will help that particular country, because parliamentarians all over Africa will be in your country and you can imagine the benefits that will accrue to the country that is hosting. I think that is subject to the decision of the AU.

Having realised that some African governments have pulled out from some certain diplomatic engagements, I think they should take such drastic step.

 

What, in your opinion, will bring about lasting solutions to this menace?

First, I think apart from the decision of the Pan-African Parliament, individual countries should take drastic steps. I think, for us particularly, if I should be given the opportunity, here at the National Assembly, we should stop issuing statements that after two weeks would no longer be on the pages of the newspapers; even commentators would have forgotten about them. We should take drastic decisions that the South Africans will know that we are serious. You recall the ambassador, fine. What about other economic issues; we have bilateral ties with them. We have their investments based in Nigeria because of the population of Nigeria alone. We have MTN. We have glo that is an indigenous company, but we patronise MTN more than glo, at the expense of our countryman. And they don’t see all of that. They have markets for MTN, Shoprite, DSTV, StanbicIBTC Bank and others. By the time we sever our relationship with them, then, we will be seen to be taking actions. We should review our relationship with them. To me, we need to take those actions and we can do the diplomatic things later.

But let them know that we are a serious people, not just issuing a statement and at the end of the day, we say okay, relocate stranded Nigerians. Let us send aircraft to take them back home. It’s just like you are still doing something like somebody in Libya. You relocate him and bring him back to Nigeria and he’s now left to fend for himself. What happened to the billions of investment that have been burnt down by those mobs? The South African government must be made to pay. We should do proper census of people that have been attacked. Video evidences must be presented. Then, we should give that to the South African government to refund the money, because it’s only government that can do that kind of payment. You cannot tie down anybody to that particular criminal act.

You can listen to government officials justifying the actions, saying that there is a particular city occupied by Nigerians by over 80 per cent, a government official and police officer saying that! Therefore, investigation should be conducted.

I am particularly not happy that Nigerians are carrying out reprisal attacks, burning down South African investments in Nigeria. That is not enough. What you see is not the issue, until government takes a particular decision on South African businesses. That will pain them more than just looting their shops.

 

Don’t you think it’s high time for the Pan-African Parliament to call an emergency meeting to address this issue?

These are things that only the leadership of the Pan-African Parliament can do. It is not just for us to wake up and say we should reconvene. At the Pan-African level, the president of the parliament, who is also from Cameroon and has been there for a long time, should have seen that he should call an emergency meeting. It is very true, because even for parliamentarian to reconvene for that meeting in South Africa is fearful. If I go and present a Nigerian passport in South African airport and I get out of the place and somebody leaked it to them that this is a Nigerian legislator and I get mobbed, what do I do?

So, there is need for them to reconvene the Pan-African Parliament and issue a statement, take action and then go to the AU and place our decision before it.

As I said, relocate the Pan-African Parliament from South Africa, because we are suffering.