I wasn’t surprised because we all knew that these things were
happening, not just that administration, but right from Obasanjo’s time.
If the probe will be taken back to that time, all these head of states
should be assembled to give account. It didn’t start with Jonathan’s
administration but it is just a system that has been established which
Jonathan inherited and continued with it. So if I were the president, I
will do my best to collect money from those I can and then established a
procedure that everybody will know that, once you embezzle government
funds, you will be prosecuted, that is how to end corruption. It is only
when you want to focus on the past administration that people begin to
read meaning into it as witch-hunting and
victimization. There is
nothing that was done in the administration of Jonathan that was not
done in the administrations of Yar’Adua and Obasanjo. The fact remains
that a tradition has been established and because it is a system, you
passed it from one administration to another. We thank God that a man
has come to say no, we cannot continue that system. I also believe that
if the man had come when things were buoyant, people around him would
have been doing it even if he is honest. I believe that the president is
on track and he is trying to establish a system that will be a basis
that if anybody falls below that, would have committed an offense.
People see the monies as huge sums of money, but during the oil boom,
they saw it as small money. Small boys were making billions of dollars
in their account throughout, but this is happening at a time when the
prices of oil has crash and we are looking for money. Many people who
were involved in such acts thought Jonathan will continue and nothing
will happen. We must also be cautious because once a person’s name is
mention, people see him as being corrupt but it is wrong. People
mentioned Tanko Yakassai who collected money from Tony Anenih. Rasheed
Ladoja and the rest only collected what they were given for election,
are you expect that they should have asked where the government got the
money. It is not possible. So such people should not be asked to return
their money because it was given for them to do something with it.
N260million is nothing to Anenih that you can say he embezzled. Mr.
President cannot give him the money for election and he will asked him
where he got the money from. If government wants to curb corruption, let
them go to the ministries, which is where the real corruption is taking
place. They should not limit it to Dasuki alone because people will
read meaning to it. People like Raymond Dokpesi should not be blamed for
collecting money for advert from NSA because he cannot asked him where
he got the money.
What can be done by this National Assembly to address the perennial challenge of poor budget implementation?
It starts with the funds that will be generated. About six trillion
has been projected for the implementation of this budget, but where will
the funds come from? In most cases, you hear funny budget presentations
by federal government and even state governments. Some governors
present budgets of N150bn and if you divide that by 12, you might get
N12 million every month. These governors do not even have an average
monthly revenue allocation of up to N300million, yet they are presenting
budgets of N200bn. So the question is, where will they get the money to
implement it? The same question goes to the federal government, the six
trillion budget is on the high side. Oil has gone down again and as at
the time they presented that budget, it was projected on $38 per barrel.
Even if it was pegged at $50 per dollar, it still won’t be enough to
fund the budget. The Federal Internal Revenue Service and the Customs
which generate money cannot generate enough to fund the budget. At the
end of the day, 50% of the budget will not be implemented. Another
reason why we have poor budget implementation is that, we have a funny
economic process that, at the end of each year, the remaining money is
gathered and sent back to FG coffers. That started during the tenure of
late Yar’Adua. Meanwhile projects are going on that require funds.
During the Obasanjo era, the budget could perform till March. The same
thing during the time of Jonathan. But sometimes projects are not
awarded until around middle of the year and before they will be
executed, the year would have come to an end and funds meant for them
will be remitted to the federal government at the detriment of these
projects. That is one of the reasons we have abandoned projects
everywhere. That is the advantage of the Treasury Single Account (TSA)
so that even if the budget elapses, the funds will still be paid to the
contractors.
Since the inception of the 8th Assembly, motions have been
passed yet the executive has not implemented any. Do you think it is a
good sign?
This has always been the problem between the executive and
legislators since the inception of this democracy in 1999. Sometimes the
executive find it difficult to implement motions and resolutions passed
by the National Assembly. To me, this is wrong, we don’t have a
military administration. This is civilian regime and democracy for that
matter, yet presidents right from Olusegun Obasanjo, through Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua to Goodluck Jonathan, had the same problem. They hardly
implement the resolutions and motions of the National Assembly. I always
advice the house to passed good motions and resolutions that will be
worthy of implementation. The executive must also know those that are
implementable and implement them.
State governors have said that they don’t have funds to pay
the minimum wage, do you subscribe to the federal government bailing
them out again?
Any state that says it doesn’t have money should think twice. There
is no more oil money now for them to share. States must cut down their
expenses. Some of the governors still collect about N500m as security
votes. I am sure that if they cut down internal spending, then salaries
will not be a problem for them. That is one area the Edo State governor
has done well. Immediately he came into office, he foresaw today and
addressed the issue of tax. Today he is generating money internally to
cover up from the short fall of the federation account. The federal
government is also blocking leakages which is something we have been
fighting at the National Assembly. Government agencies generate money
and spend what they generate and still collect the ones allocated for
them in the budget. We kept bringing out resolutions on this matter yet
the executive refused to do something about it. But I am happy today
that with the current situation, the executive are looking for ways to
cut expenses. Once this loop holes are block, you will see the Hugh
revenue that will be saved.
What do you make of the Biafra agitation in the South/east ?
The agitation of Biafra has been on for a long time, we use to know
of Ralph Uwazuruike. It is just that the baton seems to have change
hands from him to Nnamdi kanu. Those of us who were growing up during
the Biafra war know what it cost the nation, that is the more reason we
will call on the federal government to see how they can scale down the
agitation before it can escalate to something else like the boko haram.
It is a mere agitation that can be addressed. It will only be a problem
when the leadership wants to use force. The president can talk to the
Igbo leaders to talk to their people.
Politicians in Edo state are warming up to contest the
gubernatorial election, and there are rumors that you will contest the
governorship too?
I cannot give you a definite answer now. We hear funny names of
people, who ordinarily cannot win councilorship election, saying they
want to be governor. Majority of those indicating interest don’t have
political structures, they are just fortunate to have little money.
Apart from one or two of them, none of them has ever held a serious
position in government. If I don’t contest, I will work with the person
who is going to be governor to ensure that he wins. I know who is going
to be the next governor and I will deploy all my political arsenal to
ensure that he wins.
There seems to be no love lost between you and your governor, how will you assess his tenure so far?
Immediately the governor conceived the idea of contesting, I stood
with him. But since he won, he has been on a war path with me. He came
with a vision and I can say that to a reasonable extent, he has tried
his best with the reasonable resources available. But I will advise him
to relate well with people. What will crown his success is his ability
to midwife a process that will produce the best to take over from him.
If he doesn’t produce a successor that will continue his vision, then he
has not done well. Please like and follow!