BusinessDay 22 Oct 2017

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C002D5556 16 BD SUNDAY Sunday 22 October 2017 Politics Every section of Nigeria should develop at its pace - Nkem-Abonta Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) representing Ukwa East and West Federal Constituency of Abia State in the House of Representatives, in this interview with KEHINDE AKINTOLA, speaks on the current Nigeria’s socio-economic and political situation; devolution of power and agricultural development, among other issues of national importance. Excerpts: Many Nigerians are agitating for restructuring, self-determination or outright secession. How would you describe the state of the nation at the moment, particularly the economic and security situation? If you start from the economy of the state, there is no doubt that we are hard hit by the recession and I have said earlier that the lessons and blessings coming out of recession that made us to look inwardly and we are being told that Nigeria is out of recession, so we are waiting to see the effects, the impact, though they may not be in the immediate. But I think that Nigerians are yearning for more, Nigerians are demanding for more, Nigerians are expecting more, Nigerians are looking for a brighter future. Economically, we are suffering; we can no longer do the things we used to do at ease because of no faults of ours, no fault of the masses. You can see that demands are now higher than supply and if you look at the economic theory that would also bring scarcity; we are now in scarcity and in want. So it is bringing a lot of issues. Anything that would make people not to have three square meals then we will know that there is problem. So if you look at the state of Nigeria in terms of economy, our economy is not growing as it should. We used to say before that we have the largest and fastest growing economy in Africa; I don’t know whether we can as a matter of fact say so emphatically and with any proof. We are not because we are suffering from decline, because largely, before recession we based absolutely on oil supply for our earners and when oil declined and when there was crisis, a lot of factors affected oil. And we paid less attention to other things that will diversify our earners which is largely agriculture. If you check the total budget and look at what we have assigned to agriculture, power and other critical areas, then you see whether we are paying lip services to diversifying the economy. What I tell the youths now is, go into farming, and they are reluctant but it shouldn’t be so. They can train in the act of brokerage in commodities, they can be trained in the act of warehousing of agricultural produce, and they can be trained in act of invoicing where traders can now begin to invoice produce. If I have 20tons of maize that are invoiced, I can discount that with a bank, where they can also learn what I call futuristic trading. These are all what a young person can sit down and figure out. How would you describe the security situation of the country? Security is ever bugging us; it is a big challenge. If you look at the security of Nigeria, the primary assignment of government is to secure lives and Uzoma Nkem-Abonta property. Today, we have security challenges here and there. We are just dealing with Boko Haram, the IPOB, the people of Biafra have just come up and the Niger Delta is still there, it is not resolved. What I would want government to do is to look at what is the primary issue, what is the root cause of these agitations? Nigeria’s strength will lie in our unity but because of what I may call mismanagement and inconsistency, agitations are coming from here and there. Why must we suffer this, we just had Boko Haram that hit the country very hard, if you can count the economic lose of that, particularly in foreign investors, you will begin to understand why we should not have such. If you look at the Niger Delta crisis, it short down our oil production; if you look at the IPOB now what they are doing, it is also affecting the eastern region now. So government should address the security issues by trying to nip in the bud the causes of these agitations. When I argued the Bill on South East, I spelt out things that are now very decimal and current. You must nip that in the bud, you must stop what is causing the agitations because a hungry man is an angry man. If you feel cheated you also ask for equity. If you say you see a short man who is 2-feet tall, is he a tall man who is 1metre tall, and you see another one and you put the same level of broom for them to stand. So you must adjust the man with 2-feet, you give him a higher pedestal to stand so that all of them would be able to see across the wall. But are we having equity and justice the way Nigeria is constituted? The answer is no. There is crack on the wall. Talking about imbalance- South East has five states, South-South six states, North East six states, North West seven states- are you canvassing for the creation of additional states for the South East? Strictly speaking, I am not going to canvass for state creation knowing that the existing states are not viable. But if equity demands that you balance the states so do; since wealth sharing is dependent on the states and local governments, so balance it. Let me give you an example; if you have many wives and you are sharing things to your wives based on the number of children they have, there will be tendency for others to want to have more children so that they can get more. But if you are sharing according to needs, there won’t be any rancour. So if you are sharing Nigerian money according to states then some regions will feel left out because they don’t have enough states or they don’t have enough local governments. That is why the agitation for creation of states and autonomy and whatever is very rife now. If you say states we are giving you X, Y, Z amount, if you like go and have 100 local governments. But now some states will take 44 portions for local governments, some will 12 portions or 8 portions as the case may be; so we must restructure Nigeria for greater efficiency and equity. Is Nigeria really independent? Are we seeing those fruits of Independence? I gave a lecture some time ago, ‘The project Nigeria 50 years after, how far, is it still viable?’ If after 50years and you are trying to do a thing, it is just like Ajaokuta Steel Mill, we have been doing it for several years, so we must restructure Ajaokuta for it to be functional; is that not what we have agreed to do now? So compare project Nigeria to Ajaokuta; there is Russian technology, there is US technology, let us apply Nigeria technology it will work; so we must restructure Nigeria, it is not working. So, I cannot say that we are independent in the real sense of it but we are independent that we are no longer under colonial administration. Some said we got independence too early, I don’t think so. Just that the amalgamation was done without involving the people, the union was done without making the people understand the union; can two walk together except they agree? Are you going to marry a wife you do not know? Along the line when you must have produced kids and you find out that you are not compatible, what happens next is divorce, except you restructure and understand yourself again. So, the British who joined us together did not take time to breed the people and teach them that you have to work together; otherwise if you look at the politics in the time of Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa and others, the kind of hate speeches was are hearing now weren’t there. Zik won in Lagos very clearly, until things went bad. At what point did we get it wrong? So we should retrace our steps and go back to history and forge ahead. What is the role of the National Assembly in all of this because they are the ones given the powers under the constitution to actually get most of these things done? I am surprised you are asking me the role of the National Assembly, is just as I am asking you now the role of your editor and your publisher; when you write a story they say no, we cannot publish it, are you going to float your own newspaper when they tell you that? No. The question to ask is, at the National Assembly how many bills have been rejected or not seen the light of day? Our political orientation too is affecting us at the National Assembly. That is why I am saying if we are operating from regional basis, we will look at what is our party’s interest, what our regional interest is when we are doing things rather than looking at what is the national interest. At the floor of the House, the Bill for the South East Commission died; why? Divergent interests; that it lacks national look. We also gave North East a Commission, so why won’t you give South East? And I asked if there is anything that has happened in the North East that had not happened in the South East? Tell me one. Is it the insurgency? It has come and now it is ending. So, if they need a commission, likewise any other region. You talk of IDP, most of the IDP persons from the North East are from other zones; are you going there to keep them, is it because they are their brother’s keeper. Do you know the number of people that have lost their goods and are homeless and they fled the North East. So tell me what had happened in the North East that has not happened elsewhere, I want to know. So the National Assembly is prepared and competent to restructure Nigeria and we will start doing that by also amending the constitution. The basis of Nigeria’s problem is that this constitution we use now came from the military. If you compare our various constitutional sojourns from 1954 till 1963, you will see that 1963 constitution needs a little bit brush up and it was wholesome; so we must review it.
Sunday 22 October 2017 From the Red Chamber With OWEDE AGBAJILEKE Will the Senate bow to pressure and abandon its investigations into the alleged corruption in the award of N9trillion contracts in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)? This is a question begging for answer, as the nation’s apex legislative chamber embarks on another probe when multibillion dollar investigations are yet to see the light of the day. There are vested interests in the Presidency and international oil companies who are piling pressure on the Aliyu Wammako-led ad-hoc committee to abandon the probe. This was why the committee’s meeting meant to adopt the modalities to conduct the investigation was called off two weeks ago, while another meeting slated for last week was BD SUNDAY 17 AssemblyWatch Sweeping N9trn NNPC probe under the carpet? postponed at the last minute at the instance of the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu. Senate President Bukola Saraki who announced the nine-man committee, was away in Russia at the time and in a bid to buy more time, Ekweremadu asked the panel to postpone the meeting. It would be recalled that in a leaked letter dated August 30th, 2017 and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of State (Petroleum Resources) and Chairman of the NNPC Board, Ibe Kachikwu, had accused the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Maikanti Baru of insubordination and illegal practices. He said he was disturbed that $25 billion (N9 trillion) contracts were awarded by Baru without his input and that of the NNPC Board. He also accused the NNPC GMD of effecting changes in personnel at the NNPC without recourse to NNPC Board or the Ministry. But following denial by the Presidency, the Senate leadership is under pressure from members of the President’s kitchen cabinet not to portray the present administration in bad light with an ‘embarrassing’ report. There are concerns that the probe may end up like the $12billion capital flight allegedly moved by a serving minister, telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria and four commercial banks. The investigation had been lingering since September 2016 after the Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions was mandated to unravel the circumstances leading to the capital flight. But the committee’s report is yet to see the light of the day, as lawmakers rejected its submission in July this year for absolving the telecommunications firm while blaming the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Since then, nothing has been heard about the committee’s report. Another investigation that has dragged for so long is the probe of 33 revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government over non-remittance, under-remittance and misuse of revenue generated between 2012 and 2016 amounting to N450 billion. Like the MTN scenario, the probe has been hanging for over a year. The Solomon Adeola-led adhoc committee has met on several occasions with the heads of the affected agencies but its report has not been presented for consideration. According to Max Weber, German sociologist and political economist, every society is a reflection of the people inhabiting it. Just the way discourse in Nigeria takes ethnic and religious leaning, the probe by the Wammako Committee has also assumed the same colouration. For instance, while Muslim senators from the Northern region in support of Baru (a Northerner) are insisting that the investigation must be halted, their colleagues from the South behind Kachikwu (Southerner) have argued that the probe must go on. This is the dilemma Senate President Bukola Saraki is currently facing, as he seeks to pacify angry senators on the matter. Nigerians are earnestly waiting to see if the matter will be swept under the carpet. In another development, immediate past Senate President David Mark spoke on the floor of the Senate for the first time since the inauguration of the Eighth National Assembly on June 9, 2015. He spoke when his only sponsored bill in two years titled: ‘A Bill for an Act to Establish the Federal University of Health Science, Utukpo and other related matters connected thereto, 2017’ passed Second Reading. Since his election in the Eighth Senate, the lawmaker has continued to occupy the back seat and has never spoken on issues during debates. Notwithstanding, many lawmakers who wanted to speak on the issue were restricted by the Deputy President of the Senate Ekweremadu who presided over the session. Mark, the most ranking senator in the country’s history, was immediately ushered into the Press Centre of the Senate Press Corps after plenary and spoke in less than one minute, expressing delight at the honour accorded him. “I am simply humbled by the respect that the Senate accorded me; the way they just took the bill. I can’t express my gratitude enough. This will be a wrong day for me to talk to the media. And whatever I can do for the unity of this country even at the expense of my own life, I will do it”. The lawmaker has, however, come under intense criticism from the social media community for being a benchwarmer. Some have wondered why a lawmaker with such institutional memory would opt to be a benchwarmer, amid myriad of challenges facing the country. The reason is simple: he contested the 2015 National Assembly elections with a mindset of returning as Senate President. Consequently, when former President Goodluck Jonathan and the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lost the general election, it became obvious that he would not be the nation’s Number Three Citizen. Consequently, he withdrew into his shell and became an ‘observer senator’. Need for thoroughness in legislative activities It is evident that the House has not been thorough in tracking its activities, especially on some of the resolutions passed before now. For instance, the resolution passed on Thursday, 19th October, 2017 on the motion which seeks to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the activities of NER- FUND and its current status with a view to justifying the planned closure and also the high profile debtors to the Fund, the condition of the projects that benefitted from the loans and the roles played by intermediary banks, was unnecessary and should be reversed. I’m aware that there’s an Ad-hoc Committee set up by the Speaker to investigate the activities of the Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) including NERFUND, SMEDAN, Infrastructure Bank, among others. The activities of that committee is still ongoing, so why the duplication? Aside the fact that there’s a standing and relevant committee which should prosecute such investigation, assigning such responsibility to another committee to which millions of naira will be allocated to amount to waste of scarce financial resources that require prudent management. Rather, such information as reflected in the body of the motion should be transferred to the already constituted Ad-hoc Committee to enhance its work, at most. Of course, there’s need for that same committee to know that its track are being put under surveillance by the anti-graft agencies, to say the least. I recall that there was a press briefing held by one of the lawmakers in the same committee which suggests unwholesome practice! On this, I will not overstretched the issue. The House leadership should also be wary of setting up fresh Ad-hoc Committee for obvious reason, of dousing tension among the standing committees. I recall that the House vexed its anger over the performance of some of the committees constituted over the past two years without turning in any reports on the bills and investigative public hearings assigned to them. However, the work done by the House during Thursday plenary, on certain motions such as the proposed investigations into the ‘loss of over $14 billion due to non-payment of gas flared penalties by International Oil Companies (IOCs)’, N895 billion payment approved by Federal Executive Council (FEC) for ‘emergency and long term power sector recovery plan and gas supply’ as well as the need for governments intervention towards curbing deaths arising from the scourge of sickle cell disease are really commendable. The House also took a giant steps by passing a resolution on the need to embark on public enlightenment against tobacco smoking and upward review of tax regime though commendable but beyond that, something drastic must be done to reduce the scourge of cancer in the country. Since its been established that tobacco smoking is a major cause of this dreaded disease called cancer, why looking for money through same killerbusiness? Imagine few minutes after passing the above resolution, the same House considered another motion which vividly show the level of unpreparedness of Nigeria towards tackling the menace. According to the motion co-sponsored by Zubairu Bungudu and James Faleke, calling on Federal Government to provide subsidies for palliative care drugs, chemotherapy and radiotherapy machines for cancer patients estimated at two million. According to them, countries with lower population and human and resource endowed such as South Africa has 92 machines, Algeria has 20 machines, Moroccohas 28 machines, Tunisiahas 16 machines, Egypthas 76 machines, while Nigeria with overbearing rating as the largest economy and most populated African nation on planet earth, has about seven radiotherapy machine out of which only one is working. This simply shows the level of failure of the system and governance. The only expectation that will clear the House of compromise is by including in the 2018 budget, mandatory procurement of at least 37 Radiotherapy machines for the year and ensure that the project is awarded and cash-backed in the first quarter of the year, installed and commissioned immediately. This will not reduce capital flight on medical tourism but increase life expectancy, reduce mortality rate and survival of bread-winners and put Nigeria among comity of nations who put value of human lives. A friend who saw the level of my frustration on this subject matter while putting this report together simply described the scenario as “Penny wise, pound foolish’! During the legislative week also, the Ad-hoc Committee investigating the ‘abuse of pioneer status’ chaired by Jonathan Gaza (APC-Nasarawa) continues its work. The 15 companies enlisted for interrogation by the committee are: Rockview conference & seminar; Pure Flour Mills Ltd; BUA Sugar Refinery Ltd; CR Service Ltd; Me Cure Health Services; Paints & Coating Manufacturing Ltd; Nutricima Ltd; Maths Metals Recycling Ltd; Coronation Power & Gas Ltd; Arm and a International Ltd; GVE Projects Ltd; VConnect Global Services Ltd; PZ Tower Ltd; GZ Industries Ltd and Rainbownet Ltd. Others include: Radiant Agro Allied Ventures Ltd; Monarch Steels Ltd; Universal Malting Company Ltd; Metec Wes Africa Ltd; Novo Gas Ltd; Assur Property Development Ltd; Hingxing Steel Company Ltd; Rasa Industries Ltd; Bagad Nigeria Ltd; Hypo Hygiene Products Ltd; Super Flux International Ltd; Ibad Oil Palm Estate From the Green House With KEHINDE AKINTOLA Ltd; Ibom Dockyard Ltd; Bankers Warehouse Ltd and Bayswater Industries Ltd. Penultimate week, similar exercise was carried out by the Committee. Without doubts, the committee is making progress and is expected to come out with a damning report of compromise and connivance with public officials responsible for the granting of the pioneer status. According to the reports coming from the committee so far, Nigeria has lost hundreds of billions worth of revenue to this unguided policy. To the extent that Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other regulatory agencies are at loss over the efficiency of the policy. Comprehensive report on the outcome of the investigation will be reeled out as soon as I get details on the exercise.
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BusinessDay 22 Oct 2017

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