Before the House suspended plenary to allow committees deal with the 2016 budget, you raised several issues on the budget proposal. Now it is clear there are issues with the budget, how do you feel?
I was able to air my thoughts that day. I considered the budget as one that did not tally, and that it did not address so many issues like the mineral resources. I faulted the agricultural sector and a host of other issues. But I took solace in the fact that the National Assembly, in line with the provisions of Section 80 (44) that says, “No funds shall be withdrawn from the consolidated account or any public account, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly,” is now saddled with the responsibility of salvaging the budget. Because, first, by the provision of Section 81 of the constitution, what the president presented was a proposal. But the proposal was not in tandem with the realities of the day, which is why we decided, with the involvement of even a lot of APC members, to criticise the document.
But what is the solution?
The solution is now to sit with the heads of various agencies, like I proposed from the first day, to look at where to dot the ‘I’s and cross the ’T’s, and where those bloated figures are. It is our core responsibility to reduce them to match present day realities. For example, the presidency proposed almost N4 billion for the renovation of the State House Clinic. That is a huge amount of resources. It is left to the committees to now ask what N4 billion would be used renovate, it is the core responsibility of the committees to reduce such huge amount of resources to the realities of the day. That is why there is need for them to go for some oversight functions, to see and assess what is on ground.
Look at the oil benchmark of $38, but today, it is between $33 and $34. We should also look at the dwindling effects on the economy at this time. There is need for some diversification of funds towards the solid minerals and the agricultural sectors.
All hope is not lost. It, therefore, means the National Assembly must wake up to its responsibility, and make sure that we give to the Nigerian people a budget that would address the challenges that we have today, particularly, the economic situation that we have found ourselves in.
Are you worried that the budget seems to fall short of the expectations of transparency and accountability, which the current administration predicated its campaign on?
Yes, it is very sad. We expected a level of transparency promised to be reflected in this budget. First, they told us it would be more of zero based budget, but what happened clearly was that they took the template of the 2015 budget, and just started throwing in figures without even taking cognisance of the challenges that are on ground.
Let me state with all emphasis that as far as I am concerned, the budget itself is not a budget, but because there is a clear principle of the separation of powers, and it is not just for us to criticise, but to be objective in criticising, the clear responsibility now is that the National Assembly must come in as a saving grace. The executive may say what it has presented to us are purely proposals, so it is left for us to correct them. But the fact remains that this budget is more like the worst budget that has been presented to the National Assembly since 1999.
Also there are a host of other agencies’ budgets that are not included because by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we expected the budgets of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the NNPC, NCC, NPA, and a host of others, to be included.
Again, the budget before us is N6.07 trillion, but after tallying the figures, it is a lot more than that. These are all issues we must address.
I know that a lot of the blunders have been made in the budget, but we would not adopt those blunders. So I would not waste energy criticising those blunders, my energy would be steered towards making sure we correct those blunders themselves. If the budget goes out the way it is today, it would not serve any purpose, it would be a waste of funds and at the end of the day, we would just go and borrow almost N2 trillion without having any important effect for that money.
So however the budget is, it is our responsibility to correct it, bring it into tune with the present day reality and make sure that such blunders do not happen tomorrow. The time has come for the executive to wake up to its responsibilities, especially, now that we do not have the capacity owing to the dwindling oil price, which is our major source of revenue.
What is your opinion on the current foreign exchange policy of the federal government?
This is a very serious issue, and we all need to accept the reality of the day. The government can insist it would not devalue, but indirectly the Naira has already been devalued. Anyone who insists we would not devalue does not appreciate the realities on ground. What would you use in measuring your currency? Definitely, it is the parallel market price that would measure the currency. So where the black market sells for almost N400, and you are pegging the dollar at N199, you are simply deceiving yourself. What this situation encourages is black marketeering, where people source dollars through the back door and sell on the back market. If you have access to $1 million, automatically you make a profit of at least N150 million. Let nobody be deceived, there is a need to look at this policy again. There may be a need for an economic summit, call the Minister of Finance, call the Central Bank, call these important agencies to tell us what is actually going wrong. This is the first time we are in such an embarrassing situation; where we cannot even pay children school fees abroad, where we cannot go on a medical trip abroad. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, but the economic policy of the government should be able to take us out of these woes.
I agree that the oil price has been dwindling for a while, but we should also be able to prepare for such. There is a need for the government itself to clarify its economic policy; where is this whole exercise taking us? Are we heading towards a scenario where we would be buying dollar at such an exorbitant rate? If care is not taken, we may end up exchanging at N500, which is a very dangerous situation. Whether we like it or not, as it stands today, the Naira has already been devalued; we can hardly fund our health trips, foreign studies, we cannot even fund letters of credit.
We have cut down so much on everything, yet we are having these challenges. The CBN needs to tell us where they are taking us. It must be collective responsibility; there is hyperinflation in the market today and it impacts on everything. So a lot of things are reflected on this foreign exchange dimension.
The president is being criticised for his frequent trips abroad, but the information minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed, defends these trips as part of efforts to market the country abroad. Do you agree with this line of argument?
When you start lying to the public on a continuous basis when campaigns are over, you must realise that the business of governance is something for which you must tell the Nigerian people the truth. I expected that today, Lai Mohammed should tell us that the body language of Mr. President should bring the dollar equal to the Naira.
My concern though is that if Mr. President’s trips abroad will improve the economy and bring us back to where we would be able to concentrate on the development of the economy, then I have no problem with that. But the business of governance must start from home, and I would appeal to him, he can delegate some of these trips so he can stay back home and tackle these major challenges that are confronting us as a people. The economy is in a big mess at this time. Look at the stock market; imagine the level of shrinking that is going on in the economy. We cannot run an economy like this. The president needs to carry all of us along, let’s see his blueprint that shows us where we are going. It is for us to collectively set targets in this blueprint, so that where we fail, we can review it together. Governance is not an individual business, it is a collective responsibility and where there are errors, we would be able to look at them and correct.
If the trip to Saudi Arabia will in anyway increase the price of oil, which is the only product that we sell, there is no way we would discourage it. But if he goes and we do not achieve anything, like the American trip, then we would criticise.
But there is a need for the National Assembly to be part and parcel of these trips so that we would know precisely what Mr. President is going for.
Do you think Nigeria is winning the war on terror?
The constitution says the security and welfare of citizens is the primary responsibility of the government. We are all part and parcel of the government, so the issue of security as it borders on the issue of insurgency, is a collective responsibility. My take on it is that whatever it takes for us to address this issue I consider it the right step. There is need for us to encourage the government to do everything possible to make sure we defeat these insurgents. But there is no need to tell anybody any story because it is like pregnancy, if a woman is pregnant initially, it may not be noticeable, but after some months, it becomes visible. These people we are dealing with, they are determined to destroy our collective existence. I would not, therefore, criticise the government in fighting insurgency, I would encourage that everything in the books be thrown at it. I said it during the Jonathan era that if we need to smuggle arms to fight this issue, I would support it. If Buhari would go the extra mile to do anything, even smuggle arms to fight them, Rt. Hon. Leo Ogor would support it.
Recently, the president removed 13 Vice Chancellors of universities appointed by his predecessor and fired the heads of about 46 agencies a few days later. How would you evaluate these decisions?
That was not a very good step. Governance is a continuous process, and it does not augur well for any government to wake up and start sacking appointees that are given some statutory responsibility in running some sectors of government. What they are indirectly saying is that come 2019, definitely if APC loses power, which I know they will, then automatically PDP will sack all their appointees. It is a very wrong approach, especially, where those people have not committed any offence and they are still supposed to be in office due to the laws that set up the various agencies.
The impression being created is that they are running a government that serves specific interests. That is not in the interest of governance.
Former Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who recently emerged national chairman of PDP, is enmeshed in allegations of involvement in the rise of the Islamic terrorist sect, Boko Haram. How do you feel that the chairman of your party is being associated with Boko Haram?
Our laws are very clear, no man or woman is guilty until he or she is proven guilty. Those are mere assertions, they are unfounded allegations, he has not been taken before any competent court of jurisdiction, neither has anybody come openly to say, “I am aware that Modu Sheriff is the one that funds Boko Haram, or I am sure he is associated with the sect.” This whole issue is one of negative campaign against our chairman.
I was there when he was elected, and as far as the body that is authorised to elect the chairman carried out that responsibility, he stands as the chairman of the party. Those people who feel aggrieved, which is normal in every democracy (but in every democracy, the majority would have their way, and the minority, their say), it would be wrong for us to start any acrimony at this time. As a party, we must stay together as one, no matter our differences. Our challenge is to make sure that we are united, that we stand united, stand firm and prepare towards the 2019 elections where the Nigerian people would have their say.
The taste of the pudding is in the eating. Before 2019, Nigerians would have seen the difference between APC and PDP. So if we are divided, it is not in our interest, if the NEC of our party has elected Modu Sheriff as our chairman, then he stands as such, we should put our differences aside and work for the interest of the party. That is my advice to every PDP member.
No comments:
Post a Comment