Senator Dr. Abdulfatai Buhari, representing Oyo North Senatorial districts is the chairman Senate committee on ICT and Cybercrime, he is also a member of appropriation committee and others, in this interview with select journalists in Ibadan he talked about many issues: Excerpts
In 2017 budget about a sum of N95 Billion was voted for Agriculture while the budget for the National Assembly have a budget that is a far cry to the budget for the mainstay of Nigeria economy, so people are of the opinion that you people in the Senate are not sincere
It is said that in most cases journalists don’t do their thorough job, for the first time since I came to National Assembly I was very happy, because the National Assembly decided to published our budget, our budget is N125B, and this is how we are going to spend it, 360 house of reps members, their salary and allowance, 109 house of reps members their salary and allowances, 3 aides for each of them their salaries, Management, their salaries, NILS, National Institute of Legislative Studies their salaries and this is how it was divided. Sometimes ago it was published that we receive N35 million per mont, and its untrue by showing it now, it has given us a milliage that 125Billion out of N7TrilIon vis a vis the United state of America that we says we are copying go and look at their National Assembly budget, with their executives and compare it what we are earning, you see National Assembly is always at the batching end but the only reason is that we are united , so the attention and the focus is on us I stand to be challenged and with all sincerity I will tell you two things, on my honour we are not the one that fix our salaries, it is being fixed by National Revenue Mobilization Committee , if National Assembly members are earning N36 million no problem how much is president earning, how much are governors earning, there are certain things that people say that does not make any sense, so president Buhari will be earning N2.7Million and National Assembly members will be earning N36Million, you don’t need to ask anybody before you conclude that something is fundamentally wrong, let’s take for example, will Obasanjo as President from Ogun allow lawmaker from Ogun state to earn salary more than him or Buhari, lets be honest with each other I absolutely agree that cost of governance is expensive and that is how it is all other the world , Democracy is expensive all over the world my basic salary is less than N1Million its than N709:00 oh you ask me what about the allowances, with all the allowances its not up to N10 Million or N20 Million or N30 Million or N100 Million that that you people are talking about at times it is very painful, you see some people in the National Assembly may be living flamboyant life and that is why many people thinks everybody is like that there are some people among us that salary will not meet salary, 13 local governments where people sees you as the alpha and omega in term of their needs, I am so happy the National Assembly leadership decided to publish it and since they did nobody is talking even journalists are talking about it anymore, when you compare with budget for . don’t forget that Agriculture ,works are units unit , in a seven trillion budget, why don’t you ask about what the judiciary which is the third arm of government, the executives , what are they earning, cumulate it and do vis a vis comparism with Britain and America that we are comparing it, all over the world Democracy is expensive, the best thing for us is to be able to deliver what is expected of us and take the country to where ordinarily we ought to be , where an average person will be happy that we have democracy
Why is the crisis on who signs the budget
At times I get angry because at times we just create unnecessary problems where none exists, on our own we just created one problem or the other, what is the basis of argument, a person wrote a letter quoting a section of the constitution transmitting power to the deputy, and you are now asking should he sign the budget, if he has not sign the budget it’s the acting President that is not ready to sign the budget as far as I am concern because he is in power as I was told we have send it to him, normally they have their own team, which includes Minister of finance, Minister of Budget, Director of Finance, Director of Budget, and two other people from the president for them to look at the nitty gritty of the budget before he sign, that is just so, if he decide not to sign, that is his own, there is no any ambiguity at all, people should know that whatever the acting president does is the final, all what is has sign is a law because that is the constitution that is greater than anybody, but for somebody to now sit at a corner and said he cannot sign, is wrong we create problem where there non
In Oyo state,so many people are coming up to vie for the governorship position in the state, sir with your profile don’t you think you need to give it a shot
The truth of the matter is that with little experience I have in politics three things are very important, if you are smart, number one you need to pray very well, you go spiritual and seek divine directive, number two , you have to psyche up yourself and know if you come out the people will be able to accept you base on merit and accept that you that you have something to offer you even need to assess your own strength and weaknesses, particularly your weaknesses because when the time comes journalists, the masses, people at the upper echelon, the lower echelon will ask you questions what do you have to offer that another people has not been able to offer before, what is the new thing that you are bringing to the table and you started blabbing, everybody will know that you are not prepared but when you were able to tell them your plans and agenda and tell them what you can do , it may sound too good but the intelligence people among them know that this person have an idea of what is called governance.
The oke ogun factors is the talk in political clime in Oyo state now, despite the fact that we have many numbers of aspirant that want to be governor in Oyo state what do you think has been responsible for this and this time around could there be a departure from the usual thing.
Well, I must be honest with you, personal opinion, aspiring to be a governor or a president or what have you, I have been looking for a day when Nigerians will elect their leaders based on merit and not where you come from and I want a situation where I said earlier on that who can do this for us , you can come from Guyana or Madrid, what do you have to offer is the most important thing . Assessment of individual based on what they can do for this masses is the key thing, the masses does not care where you come from, all they want is that who will bring to table what will give three square meal to their people, I read lin kuan yu book entitled , the making of Singapore that power is not served a la carte, you don’t sit in your sitting room and be waiting for people to bring you power, Mao of great china look for it, Martin Luther, all of them aspire for it ,may be in the olden days leadership emerge but whether leadership emerge , you have to show that potentials before people even come to you Having said this, Oke Ogun and Ogbomoso in Oyo state 13 local government, that is where I represent, you cannot push them aside in the equation of things I will be honest with you they have great potentials , you will be shocked when you hear the names of great personalities from the zone, look at former registrar of JAMB, professor Dibu Ojerinde,he is a professor he is from Oke Ogun, former Vice Chancellor University of Abuja, he is a professor he is from Ogbooro, Professor Adeniyi is from Oke Ogun, one of the most brilliant Lawyer we have in the country today Ahmed Raji SAN, he is from Oke Ogun, so there are a of great people like that , let’s be honest with each other they’ve got the fair share of brilliant and intelligent people no doubt about that, if today you see somebody from that area that has a potential and intelligence like all the people I have mentioned earlier who is interested to be governor, they will compete favorably with anybody from other zone.
What is your take on zoning?
Zoning won’t work, they will just be deceiving us , let’s assume a particular party decides to zone to a particular area, it does not applied to other party because that is that particular party zoning arrangement, we can do what is called negotiation among the party hierarchy. it’s not an emotional thing, it’s not a sympathy things that when people see that this person despite where he comes from he has the idea of being a good leader until we reach that level and negotiate, we are not running one party system nor two party system, if you decide some other party can catch into that arrangement but the moment in which what I am praying for that in the country now we need the best man for the Job, like I said earlier, most people believe that with due respect to my colleague from the North presidency is the birthright , if it’s a coup and Yoruba man is sleeping or igbo man is sleeping no problem but when it comes to Democracy, if you remember it was more or less like a negotiation since 1999 till today each zone have has their fiar share in the presidency, Obasanjo, Yardua, Goodluck, Buhari, they emerge even for destiny and God’s intervention but the significant point that I want to mention is that in 2015 the south west was a determinant of who wins in 2015 election , this are the potentials that we didn’t know and nobody came to us to tell us that this is how we are going to do it, it just came to us naturally and we are able to get Vice president slot, that is the essence of power is not served a la carte, negotiate and come with your best, when you come with your best people see it , they thirdly if it’s a matter of zoning, Ibadan has done it, Ogbomoso has one it so we have five zones ibarapa, Oyo and Oke Ogun, their people have not done it, unfortunately based on political calculation In democracy which is called a game of number Ibadan alone have 51-52 percent of electoral vote, the remaining zone ogbomoso oke ogun ibarapa and Oyo have the remaining 48, even if they mouth is one and Ibadan too is one , you can’t still meet them when you are talking in a game of number, however when you have a very good candidate from either of the zone people assess him and he will got vote from Ibadan people who want good for the state, they will not vote base on where they come from but will support people from other zones who have potentials. And that is one of the reason why I moved that we should start having political debate for president and vice president, Governor and Deputy governor in Nigeria .
Sir there is this controversy about who did what on the issue of Ogbomos-Oyo express road, everybody is laying claim to the project, can you tell us what role you played on the project
I remember Senator Abaribe that said when there is a federal project and you are 3 in your Senate and 10 or 14 in your house of Reps, in other to excel everybody who has play a role would be laying claim to the success, by the time you sit on your own you will be able to see who and who have contributed, I am a member of appropriation, Hon Segun Dokun Odebunmi, and Ogunwuyi, they are not member of our party, they are the one who raised the motion on the floor of the House of Reps, when they raised the motion on the floor somebody informed me about their move and I told that person that I don’t want to be a copycat because motion is just a resolution, as God almighty would have it, Dino Melaye now raised a motion on Kabba-Ijumu road and I raised up my hand to contribute, in my contribution I made them realized that it is not only Kabba –Ijumu roads that need attention, the impact of Ibadan –Oyo , Ilorin – Ogbomoso where you come from Mr President is as useless as anything of the Ogbomoso-Oyo road is not completed and this is the road that started in 2003. Coincidentally I was in the house of Reps at that time, I followed the house to where it was flag off by president Obasanjo in Ibadan here and 10 years later the road is yet to be completed, that was what I said that day , when we are not doing the budget Senator Monsurat also has a very good relationship with the Senate President, the road intersect between mine own local government and her and the Senate President also gave her his consent and talked to Senator Kabiru Gaya who is one of us , she was fighting on her own,I was fighting on my own, she wrote a letter, I wrote a letter on our different letter head paper and Send it to Kabiru Gaya who assured us that his committee will put something there but the appropriation may be problem, I told him not to worry that I am a member of appropriation committee and I will rather die there than not having the project approved , Senator Monsurat was also following the development, Skimeh, Hon Akeem Adeyemi also wrote a letter to the appropriation committee in the House of Reps ,so its more or less like a joint work , my take on that is that the completion of that road is paramount and each and everybody is fighting to ensure that the road is completed, at that time the money that was put in there N5Billion is finish, this year we are asking for N3B I hope they will implement it, it cannot finish it but our target is that no matter what happened in the budget of next year we will be able to get more money so that we will get it done. I am appealing that you guys on social media should not create a problem between us , it is a team work.
Do you think your party APC, in Oyo state and National level to merit another term considering the perception of the people on economic hardship and others
It depends on the side of the divides you are, the truth of the matter is that I always appreciate when you look at something in an elaborate way I will start with Oyo state, it’s my immediate constituency before I go to the National level, let’s be very frank and honest either we like it or not as of today, Governor Ajimobi has raised the bar of governance in the state in term of governance, unfortunately the money that comes in has become more or less like a paper, it’s not enough to take care of the needs of the people thirdly, Oyo state compare to Ogun and Lagos where their IGR is so much enough to augment whatever they are getting from the federal government that is why they are able to do what they are doing, these are the only two state probably and arguably that are with a lot of things that you are talking about . We need to do critical evaluation and be very sincere, when you go extra mile like it is done in developed country that everybody must pay tax, in a situation where they don’t pay anything it became very difficult, in fact that is the first thing they look at you as a wicked one the culture of paying taxes is not good to an average Nigerians, they don’t appreciate it, what they don’t know is that that tax we are paying by the time we are able to put good people in government the benefit will come for all of us ,however there are other ways through which we should be able to generate some money so that we will be able to take care of other aspects Now to the National Level one of the reporter asked me that people are angry with APC because two years we have not performed, I told them I was disappointed , they look at him, because if a man on the street is saying this I will forgive them but if an elite that is suppose to know better put his eyes on the other side, we are not helping the country, we might have not perform to expectation, people forgot one thing that Democracy started 18 years ago and that time petrol was $140 even up till $150 per barrel at that time, but oil today run between $27 -$40 per barrel, the incomes is not enough to be able to face the reality of what is on ground and arguably rightly or wrongly we so much depend on oil that we are not looking inwards , that something happened to us last year that we need to kick our brain, what happened David Richard law of comparative advantage that happened between Kebbi state and Lagos state, Kebbi state rice was all over the places in December Last year in Lagos and up till today Kebbi rice, talata mafara rice are taking over, that is what I am eating because they are more nutritious than all those plastic imported rice that we flooded our market before ,look at the potentials that we have and we don’t use, talata mafara rice, alone can feed the whole of west Africa with the production which means we don’t need to import any rice, last Friday I was in a town I left there a sad man, Ikere Gorge man, ikere gorge dam can produce 6000 megawatts of electricity Lagos and Ogun tap their water from that dam, Last year alone $250 Million worth of fish was imported from Norway, Ikere gorge dam can produce more than what we imported and whatever type of fish you want, what obtains there now is unauthorized fishermen who only use the opportunity to enrich themselves , we have everything going for us in this country, ordinarily the distance between Iseyin and that place should not be more than 30 mins but it took us about 2 hours because the road is not good so what we need in this country is to utilize the potentials but the usage is very low. so its not about the nation and state alone but about ourselves , I remember when we were small in this country Nigeria a head of state once said Nigeria problem is not money but how to spend it we even went as paying Udoji, instead of using the Udoji bonus to invest in development, in rail roads, housing, you don’t doo bazaar, this are some of the thing, so the situation in the country at large will make you marvel when you have access to some information.
Of what Implication is the University of Agriculture and Technology which you are proposing for Oke Ogun be for the area and Oyo state generally
It has passed the first reading they will place it for second reading very soon, let us be honest with ourselves, it is very sad that a place like Oke Ogun that has 10 local governments that they don’t even have any federal establishment, there is no any Federal government thing there in fact that is one of the first thing they asked for when I was campaigning and I told them that before the end of my tenure I will make sure I attract at least one federal institution there so when I saw the loophole I quickly tapped into it, there is a proposal that the Federal government want to establish University of Agriculture and Technology because everybody believe that we are going for Agriculture and Technology ,so lf that is the proposal I say let me catch with this opportunity and they need a law, thank God the Senate president that day approved for me to passed the first reading that day I am only waiting for it to be slated for the second reading, when it go for the second reading, I am not the only one that is looking for my zone, Senator Ogboona is looking for it for his zone in Ebonyi, John Enoh is looking for it from his own Zone in the south South too, you can see that we have completed the three from the South South, My friend Senator Bawa Gwacha is also looking for it for his own constituency too and somebody is also seeking for it from the Northwest, you must not fold your hand akimbo when your hear things are coming, do put in your effort do your best people will see that you have tried in case God helped me and it excel, it becomes part of your credit. I have just gave you an example of Ikere gorge dam, they also have another one Okerete international border market and the land is very fertile, you know the beauty of it, they are happy to be farmer all they need is encouragement which is very lacking, when you go to this area development is zero , I will be happy seeing the federal government doing to this people what the Federal Government have been able to do for other zones.
How far have you gone in passing the cybercrime act
The truth of the matter is that is has just passed through the first reading and we are waiting for second reading bill takes a longer time before it is passed so if you want to excel you have to do a thorough job.
