House of Representatives member representing Akure South/Akure North Federal Constituency on the APC platform, Afe Olowookere, speaks with Special Correspondent, JULIUS ALABI, on 2014 national conference recommendations, fight against corruption and controversies surrounding NASS members’ pay.
2014 National Conference report and speedy attention by the eighth National Assembly
If the conference report that was presented to the seventh National Assembly (NASS) will be addressed by the eighth NASS, it will need to be re-presented. I think the report should have been part of what former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari. I do not see how the seventh NASS could consider the report, few days to its dissolution. The new administration still needs to re-present the report to the eighth assembly for consideration, if it deems it fit. The constitution requires that what was done at the conference does not automatically become law until it is given that force of law by NASS.
Agenda in the House of Reps
I am not going to castigate anyone, but my observation is that previous representatives did not establish what we can call community relationship. I must say what the earlier representation was before I tell you how mine is going to be different. They did not give account of their representation to the people. There was no synergy between them and the people, which was not good enough. If you are representing a group of people, you need to create an opportunity of rubbing minds with them, so that you will know what they need and what they want, which you will now present to the House of Representatives. They did not give us the best representation both in words and actions.
By the special grace of God, I am going to give our people very robust and good representation. How? I am going to establish community relationship. And we are going to use different platforms for this. We are going to take advantage of the traditional institution that is already in place. I am going to leverage on that and the youth platform to reach our people.
I am going to use community elite platform and the women platform, the market women and women in politics to establish community relationship. From there, one will be able to get information and input to what we need to do in Abuja. After all, I am going to represent them, and representing them means to speak on their behalf and to express their minds because all of us cannot be there. Again, I will give account of my stewardship through these platforms. This will give the people opportunity to assess me and to be able to point to us the areas we have not done enough or areas we need to improve. Through this, what we call true democracy would be in action.
Agitation for the reduction of NASS members’ emoluments
It is unfortunate that it is only the activities of the NASS that are done in the open. I think that is what democracy entails. The press and the public know everything about the legislature which is not the same in respect of the executive. I want to tell you that what a minister earns as salary is more than what a senator earns. The allowances accruing to a minister are more than what accrues to a senator. Can you see the area of unfairness?
For you to become a senator or a House of Representatives member, you have to spend money and go out to campaign. Somebody who has not spent a kobo for our party during the electioneering may be appointed a minister tomorrow. That person may still be in his private establishment. Maybe because of his relationship with the president, he is appointed a minister. What he earns, the number of aides he will have in his ministry, will be more than those of a senator. How many people know how much they collect as salary? But they know that of the legislators, simply because it is this legislators they saw during the campaigns. The minister may not even be called or approached to come and fix their roads, transformers and the rest.
I think those managing the image of NASS are not doing enough. That is why senators and Reps members are exposed to this ridicule. Activities of the legislators do not end at the chambers. So, what is called jumbo pay is not really jumbo. The problem is that the legislators have not taken pains to explain to Nigerians.
Buhari and the battle against corruption
To really fight corruption this time around, he must get support of NASS. That will assist him more because he cannot fight it alone. The legislature will assist him in bringing about laws or reactivating some of our existing laws that address the issue of corruption and corrupt practices. For example, there is this Public Procurement Act which tries to deal with the issue of corruption. But there are still some aspects of this Act that need to be addressed to really tackle the scourge. From my own experience, I know that, as at today, most of government businesses like contracts, supply of equipment are being done secretly by top civil servants. Almost all of them have their own private companies that they award these contracts to. If this is to be addressed, there are certain areas in the Public Procurement Act that need to be given more flesh. So, he needs cooperation of NASS.
Also, he must lead by example. He had done that in the past. I know that if he brings that to governance, that will tell people that this man really means business. He has to block all the areas of waste and leakages.
There are institutions that were put in place to fight corruption. Previous administrations only used them to fight perceived political enemies or opponents. These institutions were not allowed to function independently. Institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) were not allowed to be independent in their operations. It was only persons that the president wanted them to investigate that they would investigate. It was only those he wanted them to prosecute that were really prosecuted. If Buhari will still retain these institutions, he must allow them to perform their functions independent of his government. He should make people of impeccable character the heads of these institutions. Our court system must be overhauled and allowed to operate without interference from any quarter. Once the government can live up to the level of being impartial, not telling the court that we have interest in this case or that case, to fight corruption will be very easy for him.
The integrity of Buhari is already creating fear in the minds of a lot of people. I can tell you that the civil servants are already adjusting because they believe that this man may not allow business to continue as usual. If he does what Nigerians want and NASS wants to create any problem for him, the opinion of Nigerians will be against them. There are certain things that Nigerians expect from him. If he decides to go that direction, whoever wants to obstruct him would not enjoy the support of Nigerians.
APC not prepared for governance
We are prepared, but what has got us nervous a bit is the debt profile that the PDP government left behind. It will slow down the speed with which we would have moved to bring that change we promised Nigerians. The new government will have to find ways of reducing the effect of the debt profile and fulfil certain obligations to Nigerians. How many people will want to understand and accept that we inherited a huge debt burden? There are so many high expectations. So, if anybody says we took over at the wrong time, that does not mean APC is not well-prepared for governance. Rather, he is trying to reconcile the high expectations and the available resources.
The economy is in a shambles. But that is not to say that the party did not prepare for governance. Already, the government knows that the megawatts of electricity we are generating are not enough and it has a plan to improve on this. It knows that the high rate of youth unemployment in the country must be addressed urgently. The programmes of the party address some of these issues, meaning that the party is well-prepared for governance.