Ministerial screening no longer ‘bow and go’

Senator Rafiu Ibrahim is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Kwara South in the National Assembly. In this interview with OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, he spoke on Nigeria’s 55th Independence anniversary, screening of ministerial nominees by the Senate and other national issues. Excerpts:

As Nigeria clocked 55, how has the journey been so far?

For me, I can just summarise it thus: thank God for journey mercies. What I mean by that is that we are lucky to have survived the civil war. We are lucky to have been able to stabilise democratically now. But for me, I can put it that at 55, if a person has had the opportunity of having so much resources passing though his hand, and having little in my own definition to show for it. Because I will always want to compare Nigeria with other countries that started their life around the same time, that you can compare notes in different sectors.

As a Nigerian, I am not very happy that this is where we are but we thank God that we are in peace, we are together, we are one. But economically, where we are supposed to be is not where we are. Probably, it is because of leadership challenges that we have had in the past. Because so much resources have passed through our hands in Nigeria and we have nothing to show for it. And we hope, going forward, we have better things to say about Nigeria.

Have the dreams of our founding fathers been realised?

No; capital no. Because I have read about almost all of them. I have read about Sardauna; I have read about Tafawa Balewa; I have read about Awolowo; I have read about Zik. Those are the figures that represent each region and ethnic nationality. So, I don’t think this is where they think we will be. They would have been happy if we were Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE); if we were economically strong as India and Brazil; Brazil is now manufacturing air plane and India has stabilised industrially.

How has the Legislature fared since 1960?

In my opinion, the Legislature has not fared well because I don’t think there is any law that we require in Nigeria that we don’t have. But most of the time, the executors, either they don’t use the law well or they try to subdue the law. And we have been unlucky to have a long time of military coup that suppresses the laws and came up with Decrees. We were unlucky to have had military regimes that were there for so long but didn’t have so much interest of Nigerians in terms of development. So, for the Legislature, with the little time we have had, because it is only the Executive arm that has been there all through, whether military or civilian. But the Legislature has always been cut short. So, looking at the Legislature from 1960 till date, I don’t think there is any law we require that we don’t have, except some that we need to dust up and make them up-to-date. But there is no sector that doesn’t have the required law to function well, if we have a government that has the strong political will.

And we are very hopeful that with the new government, headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, we should be able to move faster.

What is the Nigeria of your dream?

I have been to Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, India and all other countries that started their life with Nigeria the same time. I want to see a country that is moving; a country that will not be having brain drain every day. Our doctors are running away. Our graduates are already thinking of running away also. There are no jobs for our graduates and our vocational graduates. Somebody is undergoing apprenticeship in tailoring. By the time he finishes, there is no job for him because the economy is shallow. He cannot even get employed by a garment company.

The Nigeria of my dream is when everything is working. But I am very grateful to God for giving us the peace that we have. And we hope that the insurgents in the North East will be curtailed to the barest minimum.

Will the military meet up with the presidential directive to clear Boko Haram within three months?

That is not for me. The deadline was given to them by the President. And they are the ones on the field. With this order, I hope they are able to meet the deadline. But in a war like that, from all I have read about insurgency and the war against insurgency, I don’t think deadline usually works in guerilla warfare. I hope they will be able to suppress it to the barest minimum; again, I don’t understand the deadline clearly.

How do you assess President Buhari’s Independence Day broadcast?

Very wonderful; very good, very apt, very subtle. It shows a clear vision. He is a man that has a very clear vision of where we should be. And it shows his appreciation of Nigeria of yesterday, today and tomorrow. We just pray that every Nigerian should come on board with our President so that we will move very fast.

Some analysts have said the speech lacks economic blueprint. How would you react to that?

Independence Day broadcast is not supposed to state out in details his economic blueprint. All of us already have his key target. And I believe by the time the economic team is put in place, we will have the economic blueprint.

Some analysts have argued that the face-off between the Executive and the Legislature may hamper the smooth screening of ministers. How true is this assertion?

It’s not possible. The Senate President was very clear when we resumed after our recess. That we are not going to screen ministers based on the tussle we have been having within the Senate. So, the ministerial nominees that have been submitted are Nigerians. So, everybody will be screened based on merit. And we will do so with due diligence. But it is not going to be business as usual. It is not going to be ‘bow and go’. But you will not see any sign of our own crisis in the Senate. I am very sure of that.

How effective was the vote of confidence passed on Saraki, considering his ordeal?

Parliament is about numbers. If you want to achieve anything in the Senate, you have to have the number on that chamber. Forget all the noise, forget the trial in the Code of Conduct Tribunal, forget the media power of anybody. When you want to remove the leadership, you want to pass a motion, you want to pass a bill, you want your ideas to flow through; you need numbers on that floor. And Saraki has the number. So what do you mean by effective again?

There is this school-of-thought that what happened to former Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo may repeat itself, where over 50 senators passed a vote of confidence on him and days later, he was impeached?

Who chose Okadigbo? Was it the senators that chose Okadigbo? He was chosen by the powers that be and they fell out. So, it’s different. Don’t you know Ken Nnamani was chosen by his colleagues, did anything happen to him upon all the tussles he had with the Executive? The same thing with David Mark. He was chosen by the senators and nothing happened to him. The same thing in the House of Representatives, Tambuwal was chosen. Upon all the storm, because he was chosen by the House of Reps, nothing happened to him. That is how parliament works. You just need the numbers. If you get to that position by some people touting you or suppressing senators to give you that position, that is when you will be shaking. But willingly, you were chosen by your peers, just to be first among equals.

Do you see President Buhari leading Nigeria to the Promised Land?

Even if he has eight years, he can redirect us properly to be focused and we start to move as fast as we should be. But I don’t think eight years is enough to take us to the Promised Land.