The former
executive governor of Kwara State is the newly elected senator of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria from Kwara North senatorial district. In
this interview, he speaks on how he emerged victorious in the contest,
his vision for agricultural development in Nigeria and his views on the
new senate, among others.
How would you describe your emergence as a senator-elect in the just concluded general election?
My emergence was
quite interesting because for over two and half years ago, the leader
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, Olusola Saraki
had insisted that I must contest as the senator for Kwara North. And
when the time came, I went for the primaries and won and proceeded from
there to contest for the election proper and also won the race.
How comfortable are you with the “jumbo pay” received by lawmakers in Nigeria?
Actually, I don’t
know what kind of pay lawmakers receive. I have only heard about it; I
don’t know what it looks like. So for this reason, I can’t say anything
about it for now.
What would you consider priority in your contribution in the new senate?
I would like to
contribute in the areas required most importantly and most urgently.
This is because there is huge unemployment among our youth in the sense
of some having graduated for the past three to four years without jobs.
I would like to see what I can do to improve on this.
Also, in the area
of massive dumping of imported materials into the Nigerian market,
which is not a good idea. Nigeria has no reasons for importing rice
massively from Thailand as well as fruit juice. There are a lot of ways
by which we can encourage our local producers by patronising their
products and this will go a long way in providing employment
opportunities for our youth.
A lot of our
industries have also closed down or not functioning to the expected
standard. We need to work seriously on this too so as to generate more
employment for our people.
I observed that
there is a high level of poverty in this country; all we need to
contribute to make life more meaningful for our people is very easy and
small and I believe something needs to be done. I intend to put in
place small-scale businesses for the people in my senatorial district
so as to ensure that they also benefit from the dividends of democracy.
On health care
delivery, over 70 percent of our people are financially inadequate. I
would want the health care insurance to cover this and I believe it
will go a long way to assist our people.
Kwara North is
known for its backwardness particularly in the area of good roads. The
road network is terribly bad and I want to make sure I try my possible
best to address this, of course in conjunction with my colleagues in
the senate and the ministry directly responsible for it. These are
areas that need urgent attention.
How would you describe the performance of the electoral commission in the just concluded general elections?
The performance of
INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) has showed itself and
what it did was to raise the bar by demonstrating to us that this
country has people that are capable of holding public offices. Yet
there were hitches at the initial stage which is expected but they need
to go back and plan so as to ensure to correct the mistakes for the
success of the system.
The sincere and
transparent ways in which the chairman and other resident commissioners
of INEC have handled the election really deserves commendation.
Nigerians as a whole are proud of INEC with the job well done because
they have demonstrated to us that we can hope for a better Nigeria.
Of course there
were mistakes here and there but we need to learn from this ahead of
the general elections and some other states where election would be
holding in 2012.
(Attahiru) Jega and
his team have really done well and need to be commended because I have
witnessed so many elections before this recent one.
I think this
election conducted by INEC was one where people were elected based on
their electoral values and credentials and not necessarily using the
power of incumbency as a governor to seek re-election into the office.
People have been allowed to vote for candidates of their choice without
fear or favour. There is also one thing common to Nigerians: we don’t
allow a system to mature before terminating it and changing its
leadership. I want Nigerians to help in sustaining INEC so as to
improve on the mistakes learnt and give us more credible elections in
the nearest future.
With the
falling apart of some founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) and the outcome of the general elections in Kwara State, how
would you describe your relationship with Olusola Saraki?
What is mostly
important is that, whatever happens is temporary and is just for a
period of time. There is no doubt that Olusola Saraki remains our
father in Kwara State having taken Kwara to its present level and
whatever may be the outcome of any election in Kwara State, is the
outcome of the structures put in place by Saraki over the years that we
cannot deny. And also, for anybody coming up to contest and win a post,
whatever fruit you may enjoy, it is the outcome of the hard labour of
Saraki. You cannot ignore this factor, that I believe.
As an agricultural economist, is it true that Nigeria can produce rice to feed the West African sub-region?
Yes, it is
absolutely true. I have been into agriculture for a very long time. I
headed Bacita Sugar Company for eight years and this is a company with
10,000 hectares of land for sugar cane plantation. Also, with my
experience in the Agricultural Rural Development Corporation, I know
how much work was done to produce rice at the Shonga Commercial Farm.
When you look at River Benue right from its take-off point in Taraba
down to the Niger Delta, these are fertile lands suitable for producing
rice and other commodities.
When you look at
the River Niger right from its entry point into Nigeria up to the Niger
Delta, both sides of the river are also fertile and suitable land for
cultivating rice at a cheaper rate. I believe this will go a long way
in providing our people with means of livelihood, employment
opportunities, as well as promoting our economic value.
We have no reason whatsoever for importing rice into this country.
By so doing we are killing our farmers, killing our agricultural system
and killing our economic activities at large. Let us go back to our
local producers, patronise them, and look at ways by which our
agricultural system will improve.
