Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

‘We Have Ears And Minds For Very Genuine And Fair Criticisms’

By BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE
23 January 2016   |   1:05 am
WHAT is your comment on the alleged N50 billion cars for lawmakers? You are not quoting Buhari correctly. What he said was that he will take a look at the issue of N4.6 billion for cars before he makes his position known. But the mistake you are making as a media person is that you…
Adamu

Adamu

WHAT is your comment on the alleged N50 billion cars for lawmakers?

You are not quoting Buhari correctly. What he said was that he will take a look at the issue of N4.6 billion for cars before he makes his position known.

But the mistake you are making as a media person is that you easily compare what happens in our country with what is happening in other countries. We easily compare a congressman in America with a legislator in Nigeria.

Fine, but what we fail to do is to realise that I, as the senator, did not create the disparity in the socio-economic development that the Nigerian senator finds himself.

America started over 200 years back and comparing them with us on where we are today as a benchmark is wrong.

The United Kingdom that was our colonial master has been practicing their mode of democracy for over 500 years ago.

I believe we have what we can copy with or learn and modify to suit our own condition. While we have a responsibility to make laws for the good governance of Nigeria, we cannot be held responsible for the sins or failure to establish appropriate socio-economic and political environment over the years.

I am not saying everything we do is correct; we are open to observations and criticisms in the interest of the country and democracy, but what I am against is indiscriminate and wholesome comparison of socio-political and economic orders that are centuries apart.

On a normal day, a Nigerian legislator’s resident or office is filled with guests from his constituency or even outside it. In the face of our tradition and culture of being one another’s keepers, coupled with complete absence of welfare scheme for the masses, you as a politician is the leader they know.

Do you drive them away? Where do you get money to take care of them? These are the basic facts. It may sound naïve, but I don’t have apologies for that.

Some armchair and so-called technocrat-politicians do not know what Nigerian politicians go through. Sometimes, Nigerian politicians have to sell their assets to take care of their constituencies. Even some of the critics are beneficiaries of the life the Nigerian legislator has to contend with.

Let the person who is criticising us on the issue of cars for legislative duties tell us one senior judicial officer who is not entitled to a car loan and still has an official car to perform his official duties.

Let them tell us of any permanent secretary or a director or officer of equivalent rank in the public sector who is not entitled to a car loan if he wishes to have one and a car for his or her official duties.

Let them tell us any military, immigration officer, Police or Custom officer who is senior enough in rank in the service that is not entitled to a car loan if he desires one over and above an official car for performing his or her official duties.

So, are legislators angels from heaven above? We should stop pretending in this matter and stop this display of disdain for the legislators.

My advice for these critics is that the best way to change order and invent the one they are dreaming of is to go and contest election and come to the National Assembly or states Houses of Assembly and they will be in a position to create the kind of atmosphere of their dream.

We are going on with every sense of responsibility and we are not requesting for anything that an average Nigerian of commiserate standing in the public service is not enjoying. Let us be judged fairly.

Some of our critics we know are some of those who contested elections at various levels and lost or friends of some and they are taking their fight to a very ridiculous height.

We have ears and minds for very genuine and fair criticisms and where they occur, we will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to correct ourselves in the interest of public service.

What is your take on the relationship between the executive and legislature?

Obviously, when we took off, it was not smooth, but if you are there, you will see that things are beginning to take shape.

But with time, we are maturing in the whole process and things are taking shape and I am happy about it. Sometimes you learn by doing things.

The President hinted of the looming economic hardship, but Nigerians seem to want to see the promised change?

There should be patience, for himself is a loving and patient person. So, we should be patient with ourselves, and the President was being honest and humble to recognise and assert that we are suffering and assured that we will be out of the wood soon.

I belong to the school of thought of patriots that believe in the President.

Do you think Nigerians believe him?

You can have a negative or positive mind, but whether it is right to have a negative or positive mind or not, I leave it for them to decide.

The President did not create the situation; he did not bring about the poverty we are suffering, he did not cause the stealing of public funds to take place.

He assumed office to discover that the treasury was virtually empty and the entire state machinery on the verge of total collapse. And because of the change mantra, Nigerians expect some kind of miracle to happen.

Government can be poor, but the common man thinks that government has unlimited resources and has no reason to cry. Those who knew the harm the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) government did to the country will appreciate what Buhari said, that he knew there was hardship, but we will soon get out of it.

What is the relationship among influential politicians from the state?

In the course of my life this far, I have the opportunity to have held some positions regarding the politics of Nasarawa State.

From the days we were in Plateau State, I was a student union leader and had a voice in the politics of Benue and Plateau states.

Today, about nine years after leaving office as governor, I can go to any town and you need to be there to see how people respond when they see me. I feel humbled by that state of affairs.

So, I think we are beginning to see traces here and there of political development, but it is the nature of things. Every society has got its own mode or change for progress, but some people tend to be more tolerant than others, just as some people tend to be more ambitious, based on what they want or what they chart as the road map to their success or their place of influence or what they perceive as obstacles to their ambition. Nasarawa State is not an exception.

About two years ago, we had cases of ethnic problems that caused us lives in some parts of the state, but by the grace of Almighty Allah, with the tact approach of the administration of Governor Tanko Al’makura, that is now history and we hope the silencing of the gun is a good manifestation of the fact that people are having a rethink and want to do what is right.

They ensure that there is peace and that development only comes when there is peace and they work for it.
So, we have our own little share of hiccups there, but it is to be expected, as societies are dynamic.

0 Comments