The National Assembly, particularly the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been a punching bag of some Nigerians. It has been perceived by many citizens as a rubber stamp because of the way it gives speedy passage to executive bills, proposals and requests. In this interview with Senator Yemi Adaramodu, Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs and Senate Spokesperson, in his mid- term assessment of the present administration, he debunks the insinuation as misplaced, scoring the 10th Senate high in law making, representation and oversight. He speaks on the proposed National Security Summit being put in place by the National Assembly, the role of the legislature in approving the declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State, security situation in the country, etc. Excerpts:
Q: First and foremost, what is your appraisal of the 10th Senate as the spokesperson, bearing in mind the tag of a rubber stamp? How has the Senate faired?
Yes, the 10th Senate, for almost two years that we have been in the saddle, the 10th Senate has fared very well, has been very progressive, has been very representational of the people of Nigeria, has been very cooperative with the other arms of government. Though some other elements who might expect something very different, thinking that the Senate or the National Assembly should be a hotbed where we just see ourselves as fighters in the ring. When there’s noise, it’s not heard out there, then some people will just suggest that maybe they are rubber-stamp or whatever. We always ask, is it rubber-stamping when the president or an executive brings the issue of education? Like the NELFUND for students of higher institutions that can assist indigent students to get back to school. When we legislate and make sure that it is easy for the executives to do it, is it rubber-stamping? We think if that’s rubber-stamping, it’s very okay. When the minimum wage issue came, and we did the needful, and then Nigerian workers are no more on the part of N30,000, and we made it 300%, and that of judicial officers, we made it more than 300%. So I don’t think, if anybody is saying that that is rubber-stamping, then it is very good to rubber-stamp anything that is good for the populace of Nigeria. And when we talk of the economy that people will be talking about, that what have been our own side to it, I always say, the 10th Senate, previously, the Ways and Means had been jacked up to as much as we cannot even fathom anymore but the 10th Senate brought it back, and then made sure that the executive was pressurized to ensure that the N33 trillion that was a deficit through the Ways and Means were offset. And I don’t think we will now say that a National Assembly that encouraged that and could make that one happen is not a National Assembly that would say, has failed the people of Nigeria. And when we talk of security that we debate every day, it had been on, not now, not five years, not 10 years, more than a decade. We know that there was a time in Nigeria that we wanted to have an election, and the election had to be postponed because some territories had already been, overtaken by the insurgents, by the delinquents. So then this 10th Senate, by the grace of God, we legislated, we went into it, and made sure that the Armed Forces of Nigeria were brought to action through our legislation, either appropriation or intervention, and oversight functions. And today, I don’t think there’s any very substantial landmass of Nigeria that has been ceded to the insurgents anymore. Then we know that all over the world, security matter is rife, not only in Nigeria, not only in West Africa, not only in Africa, not only in the Middle East, even in the Western world, we know that one. And because there will always be the recalcitrant elements in the society, a society contains the good, the bad, the ugly. So the ugly and the bad, will always make it very difficult for the good to thrive. But what is the good doing in order to make sure that they stamp down the bad and the ugly? That is what matters.
And then what are we doing? We can just boastfully say that we have done a lot in our own support, in our own legislation, in our own oversight functions to ensure that the security architecture of Nigeria is brought to a point that we can be talking of results, positive results, instead of lamentations every time. Yes, we will say kinetic or inertial warfare, that soft target and all sorts, which will always be happening sporadically. It’s like that all over the world. At least, just about two or three days ago, when the World Football Club was celebrating their yoe man’s job of winning the Premier League, then one recalcitrant elements just drove his vehicle into the multitude and then injured several people. In Hamburg of Germany, two weeks ago, the same happened. In the US, all those things, then we will always be having them. But it is the effort that is made by the authorities, either the legislative authority or the executive authorities, in order to nip all these things in the bud or that it does not escalate. Be that as it may, the 10th National Assembly, by and large, the 10th Senate, through the greater glory of God and through the benevolence of our people of Nigeria, because like we know, that the parliament is the bastion of democracy.
When there is no parliament, there is no democracy. Any other thing that is remaining is just a kind of carcass. It’s just a shell without any substance. It means that it could be called other ‘cracy’ either autocracy, whatever ‘cracy’, but not democracy. So the Senate, for the past two years, we have taken nothing less than 600 bills. Many have scaled the first and the second readings. Many have gone through public hearing, through the third reading. Some have been signed into law and acts by the president of Nigeria. And then to the greater glory of God, through the efforts of this Senate, we have more higher institutions in Nigeria because we know that we need that education for our citizens, the young elements. We have to prepare them for tomorrow.
And Many of our young elements are even getting out of Nigeria, even to West African universities because of that of good educational institutions whereby they can pursue their careers. But today, we now have educational institutions that are based on technical expertise, technology, architecture, health sciences, artificial intelligence, ICT, and so on and so forth. And so, if there is a Senate that has assisted, in Nigeria, to get to that kind of level, I don’t think it is very, very apposite to say that that Senate has done a yoe man’s job. Then not only that, we have moved so many motions. At least, by our last calculation, we have moved about 1,103 motions. And these motions, the resolutions have been passed on to the executive and the judiciary. And then we have done oversight, and we have called several agencies of government to question.
As we are talking the petroleum sector is still under probe in the senate, that we have ad-hoc committee talking about adulterated petroleum products, talking about even the regime of fuel subsidy that the government has already jettisoned. So, what happened then, everything is still under probe. Then the security, that is the reason why the Senate deemed it fit that for the first time let everybody in Nigeria come and sit down and talk about this security matter because when we talk of security matter it’s not only with the Armed Forces alone. We have seen occasions whereby the state governors have even suspended or dismissed so many traditional rulers that were aiding kidnapping. There have been chiefs who had been accessories to kidnappers, maybe supplying them food materials, ammunition. So, it is not only just those people that are in power, that are in government, that are the leaders that are concerned. So, that’s why we said, let us have a summit whereby everybody will now come and talk, everybody will now suggest because like politics, security is local.
As security is local, the way we deal with security in our society will be different from the way the other society deals with their own security issues. So, let us come together so that we don’t use one drug to cure so many symptoms of diseases. Then if we want to get to the root of it, we should not be treating only the effects, we should be treating the causes. That’s why we said we are putting together a security summit whereby all critical stakeholders and even stakeholders that are not critical, we make it very open. Then let them come, let all of us first come so that we can aggregate it. If it is legislation that is lacking, let us do it. If it is oversight that is lacking, let us sharpen it. If it is the executive that needs to buckle up, let us say it. If it is the security forces that need to up their own game, let us say it. If it is the citizens, because we know the citizens have so many roles to play, the area that we want the citizens to come in, let us just open everything and then have an overview, general decision, and then know what to do. So those are the areas. By and large, I personally, don’t normally like to mark my own script. But when you do well, you will know.
Your conscience will tell you that you have done well. But if you are not doing well, well, two years. Just mid-term, and then we have two years extra to go. I know that the next two years is going to witness more, startling from reforms, which is going to be electoral reforms, getting to constitutional reforms, getting to regional reforms, getting to economic reforms, getting to the issue of security reforms. That is, we are going to start off with the report that will come out of the security summit when we are resuming. So definitely, we are going to have a great back up, which is going to be progressive, that will be of advantage to the Nigerian populace.
The major issue when you talk about rubber stamp, where people took glaring notice recently is the issue of emergency rule. Nigerians are still yet to come to terms with how the Senate handled it. Many feel that is really a constitutional issue, that the Senate would have looked into before allowing it to stay.
A: Let me pick the issue of emergency rule, maybe from there we can now analyze and extrapolate whether there is rubber stamping phenomenon or process in it. Now, we know that Section 305 of the Constitution of Nigeria permits the president to maybe declare an emergency rule in any part of Nigeria where there is a considerable evidence that the security of lives and that of property of that place is being threatened. We know the build up to the issue and the debacle in the South-South, especially the Rivers State had already tended to that kind of anomalous, anarchical situation whereby any reasonable government must take a stand. If the drafters and the promoters of the 1999 constitution, which we are operating did not know and did not think and did not perceive and were not convinced that there could be occasions whereby there could be a situation whereby a part of the country, which is Nigeria would be very ungovernable, they wouldn’t have put that section in the constitution. Now, since that section is in the constitution, this was not the first time that the president of Nigeria will be invoking that section of the constitution. When you look at the subsections there, it gives why and how emergency rule can be invoked on the part of Nigeria, be it local government, region or state; in this case, Rivers state. It was there. And now, coming to the National Assembly, the procedures were there. The constitution gives the National Assembly a procedural order of organizing ourselves and of carrying out our own legislative business. It gives it to us. And when you look at that procedural order, that procedures, 1,3,4, sub-(1,2,3,4,5), when you look at it, it will say that if there is going to be an emergency rule, and especially when it is declared, that it is going to be discussed at a closed-door session. And when you look at the Senate rule, anything that has been agreed upon at a closed-door session cannot come to the open session for further debate. So, if there had been a disagreement, or argument, for or against, it would have come up under the closed-door session.
During the closed-door session, if there had been disagreement or argument for or against, it would have come up under the close door session where senators debated, disagreed, agreed and it was the conclusion that can only be read on the floor when we now resume plenary normally. That was all what we did. But very, very unfortunately, here in our own clime, everybody is a legislator, everybody is a lawyer, everybody is a footballer, everybody is a referee, everybody is an engineer, everybody is an economist. So, here in Nigeria, we are always where the majority of the elites are emotional. So, we now use our own emotional constitutional provision to replace the real kind of legal constitution that Nigeria has. That is the problem that we faced. That was why the issue of our constitutional action, legislative action, on the emergency rule in Rivers State came up as saying that, oh, maybe because they are rubber stamp. And let me tell you something, when you say rubber stamp, I was voted for on the platform of APC. My name and my picture, did not appear on the ballot box, or the ballot paper. It’s only my party. And my party had manifesto and programmes and projects that they wanted to pursue while campaigning. And I campaigned with them, and based on that our programmes and manifestos, the electorate voted for us. And now, I will get to the National Assembly, because I want some people to hail me and clap for me, I will now oppose the programmes that I’ve already campaigned for, that I’m going to give to the people, together with my own presidential candidate and my own gubernatorial candidate.
So, because I want a human rights activist to clap for me, I want a political irredentist to clap for me, I want somebody who’s playing ordinary, odiferous politics to now clap for me, I will oppose that programme and that project. I don’t see any clime where that one is happening. Today in America, which we call father of democracy, we knew the time that Democrats were controlling the Senate and the Republicans were controlling the House of Representatives. Any bill or any issue taken to the National Assembly of America by the then president who was a Democrat, the Senate will approve, but there will be very hot debate at the House of Representatives until there will be a lobby. So why was there disparity? Were you calling the American Senate rubber stamp Senate then? It is the same thing today that Trump is there. Now in UK, which have been our colonial master before now, the labour will go to, and in fact it’s even more difficult because the members of parliament of labour, they are the executive of the state. So definitely, members of the parliament who are labour parliamentarians who constitute the executive arm are the ones who will be saying they are going to tear the government of that labour apart. Are we calling them rubber stamp? Now, nobody has ever told me, has ever submitted one kind of programme that people can show that yes, these shouldn’t have gone, it’s because this Senate or this Rep is rubber stamp. Like I’ve already said, if Mr. President comes around and says that they want to increase the salaries of workers because we don’t want to be called rubber stamp, we oppose it. If Mr. President comes and says that they want to shorten the traveling distance between the west and the east and the south-south and now they are doing a coastal road; because we don’t want to be called rubber stamp assembly; we oppose it? If Mr. President comes and says that between Badagry and Sokoto, they want to have an expressway which is going to give us a great lifeline in transportation, because we know that even marauders will always stay at where roads are not good to perpetrate evil. But if the federal government is saying they want to do very fine, trunk A road, so because we don’t want to be called rubber stamp, we now say no. So if Mr. President says that now sub-regions, which are states and local governments, that they want to devolve more funds to those areas, whereby the local economy can grow, the infrastructure can be put in place, we now oppose that government because we don’t want to be called rubber stamp. So, that is what we are saying.
Moreover, to digress a bit, like some people would say, oh, the National Assembly, they are padding budget; I said, which budget? Mr. President came with a budget of N54.9 trillion. Did the budget exceed that when it was submitted back? Because we are running an envelope budget, whereby there would have been an overall estimate per sector and then generally. When a budget of that amount was brought to the National Assembly, did we go out of that budget three figure? We did not, but we had the prerogative. That’s why it’s the National Assembly that makes appropriation law. We have the prerogative to call MDAs to question as to the propriety or impropriety of whatever figure they are putting on their programmes and projects. And when we now query that, the only thing we can do is to advise them. Yes, if you want to renovate schools, why can’t you build new ones and renovate to a kind of considerable level, the existing ones.
That’s only areas where we can come in. And then when some people would just shout to the high heavens that they have been giving them two billion naira and I said, where do you get two billion naira? Nobody in the Senate got that. We all know that the constituency project that we are talking about, which we call zonal intervention project (ZIP), because I’ve always been telling Nigerians, especially media and the elites, who are so romantic, with this kind of falsehood, that look, pick up the budget, look at ZIP, monitor it. How much is given to every state? Every state, depending on how many legislators you have; like in Lagos we have 3 senators, 24 House of Reps members making 27. The ZIP that will go to Lagos generally will be N1billion. That means all the 27 constituencies will share that N1 billion i.e each constituency in Lagos will just have projects of about N45 million. These projects, it’s not that they will send the money to your account; they will send a form, you will fill it that projects to the tune of N45 million you want them to do this in Alimosho, do this in Ejigbo, etc. Like in my own case, I have 6 LGs, 48 towns and several villages. So, I’m supposed to suggest projects to the tune of N200 million as a senator. How do I suggest this among 48 towns and villages and 6 LGs? Can N200 million build a school? Can it build a hall? Can it even buy an ambulance to be presented to a hospital? Now, when they now say that you have inserted projects, they are those projects that you have to share small, small. Because at N200 million, you have to share it. Maybe educational materials N50 million here. So, so, N12 million there. Painting of the Oba’s palace gate, N30 million. By the time you now share in small, small volumes, you make so many numbers, but what is the value of the numbers? At the end, it’s the N200 million. So, the National Assembly is always the soft target.
Like, the Boko Haram will make schools and marketplaces soft targets of sporadic attacks. So, the National Assembly is a soft target for the romantic elites who are politically maneuvering the unsuspecting public of Nigerians. That is the problem, but by and large, the 10th Senate has done well. We have given our best, but our best has not been exhausted. We have done well and we are going to improve on what we have done so far in the past two years.
And then, even for the first time, we have floated a magazine so that people can read what the National Assembly is doing, our legislative agenda; we are pushing them out there. We are following the agenda: youth development, women development, gender equity, reforms in the electoral front, consumer reforms, infrastructure support, and the judiciary i.e the rule of law and then making sure that we sharpen our own, the crucibles for making laws for Nigerians. We take everything so expeditiously, and make sure that we keep ourselves on our toes, and make sure that we are always in a hurry to ensure that the best gets to Nigerians.
On this security issue, there are people who are the opinion that the perpetrators and sponsors of these bandits, Boko Haram, etc are known. There was a time the UAE government named them to the former administration, but there was no political will, at the policy level, to deal with these sponsors…
(Cuts in) Look, my brother, don’t let us play to the gallery, don’t let us grandstand. Like the president said, when you see something, say something. If you have seen anybody that is promoting banditry or terrorism, mention, provide the evidence. It’s not just for somebody, because I want to be clapped for, I will just go and then do microphone politics; I’ll be saying that, yes some politicians are behind this, some policy makers are behind this. Who are they? Where are they? Mention them. The issue of maybe a foreign government saying that they have a list of those people who are perpetrating, who are supporting, sponsoring banditry in Nigeria; we were all alive in Nigeria then, where were this politically romantic elites then to compel those who were in government to name them to shame them, to bring them to book? Today some of those elements who are now saying that the government of Nigeria is not doing well security wise; our memories should not be short; our memories should be seriously very sustained to the extent that we can ask questions. For us in the Senate, we are not law enforcement agents. We want anybody that has any kind of evidence that an elite is sponsoring terrorism or banditry in Nigeria should approach the law enforcement. That is what we can oversight. We don’t oversight in vague because that accusation is not coming from the Senate. It’s not coming from the House of Representatives. So it is he who asserts that proves. Like Mr. President said, when you see something, say something. And when you want to say something, do something.
Sir, but how would you ensure that the Security Summit would not be another talk show like the 2014 National Conference? The 2014 conference report was never implemented.
Look, the 2014 conference that we have been talking about, the government that put the 2014 conference up then was there two years after the conference. And that government did not do anything about it. Why? How can the government put up a conference and got report of that conference and did not implement it? So, are you going to hang it on an innocent individual who are not in government then, who are now in government? Let me tell you something, today, the leadership of Senate is not the same leadership. Then, Akpabio was not the Senate President during those periods that there had been summits. Tajudden Abbas was not the Speaker of the House of Representatives when those summits had been held. And then, Yemi Adaramodu was not the spokesperson then. So, elements are now very different. And then, strategy will be different, approach will be different and result will be different.
But government is a cocontinuum.
Government is a continuum, but human chemistry is not a continuum. That is why one government will do well, the other one will do fairly, the other one will do the best because of human chemistry, which is not a continuum.
Are you assuring Nigerians now that this one will be different, that the report will be used?
A: Is there any kind of public hearing issue that this Senate has ever put out there openly to Nigeria to participate that the results that we got out of it had never been applied? There is none. Nobody can give me one. So, this one, the result and the report since it’s going to come from the critical stakeholders in Nigeria, the report will be seriously pursued to be implemented to the letter. If it is more legislation we need, then we do. If we need to push the other arms of government to do more, we will do so that we now know where the problem or the fault is. So it is better for all Nigerians. Like Yoruba would say, you don’t barb somebody’s head when the person is absent. No way. So, let all Nigerians be present now when we are barbing the head.
