Honourable Albert Tanimu Sam-Tsokwa is the chairman, ad hoc committee on Business and Rules. Sam-Tsokwa represents the Donga\Takum\Ussa and Special Areas Federal Constituency of Taraba State in the National Assembly. In this interview with EDEGBE ODEMWINGIE, he highlights the plight of the three wards under the politically marginalised Special Development Areas (SDAs) of the state. Excerpts.
Part of your Constituency is an area called Special Areas, which does not belong to any Local Government area. How did it come about?
Because of Military politics, we have three Wards in Nigeria that don’t belong to any Local Government Area (LGA). We have three tiers of government: Federal; State, and Local Governments. We also have Nigerians who don’t belong to any Local Government Area. What that means is that, in the Presidential election, they will participate; in the National Assembly election, they will participate, in the gubernatorial election, they will participate, and that is where their voting stops. Even when the 2006 census exercise was conducted, the National Population Commission (NPC) counted them but their population is not credited to any local government till now. Taraba State Government has tried to make the best out of the bad situation by constituting the three Wards into a Special Development Area (SDA) and appointed a Coordinator and Councillors for them. Since it is not a Local Government, there cannot be a local government election there. So, they have no elected Chairmen or Councillors there. They are not represented in the State House of Assembly.
Are there plans for legislation to ensure the reintegration and proper representation of these politically disadvantaged people, at least as part of any of the local governments?
That is what we hope the House of Representatives will try to do for us. As it is now, they cannot say they are Nigerians like any other Nigerian because their representation is limited. We are hoping that with the constitutional amendment that the National Assembly intends to embark upon, and the cooperation of the executive along with the existing Justice Danlami Rabiu report on boundary adjustment, which recommended steps to be taken to take care of those wards and General Magashi’s report on conflict flash points just at the end of the military administration, the Federal Government will attempt to find a lasting solution to the problems in this country or definitely do something about them. My fear is that if these people continue to be in this situation for too long, you never can say what will happen. They have been patient but patience can run out. But I pray that before their patience runs out, the Federal Government would have taken steps to solve their problems.
On CBN’s proposed Cash withdrawal limits and non-interest banks
As representatives and National Assembly members, we owe Nigerians a duty to protect their interests, doing what they want us to do. So, when this issue of non-profit making banking came on board, many people started interpreting it in various ways. We needed to talk to our people; we needed to educate them on what the exercise is all about. So, by a motion, it was resolved that the CBN Governor should come and explain to the House how and why this issue is on. The people are also worried about the limit of the amount individuals and corporate bodies are allowed to withdraw from their accounts daily. Let me start first with the N150, 000 withdrawal limit.
The issue which Sanusi explained, which has not been faulted by anybody is that those who withdraw between one naira and N150,000 daily are 80 per cent of the entire bank customers; those who withdraw between one million, thirty million and above are only 10per cent and cash management is borne by the government of Nigeria. He explained that we spend billions of naira on cash management. These billions are spent to take care of the 10 per cent of people who transact bank business. He further explained that there are various ways of transferring money. Carrying cash is not the only option. I see nothing wrong with it. If you can do your transaction by electronic means, but you say no, you want a van to carry your money to the village so that they will know that a big man has come with cash, then, you pay for it.
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On the contentious tag as purely an Islamic Banking?
Well, if you want to call it Islamic Banking, it is up to you. The policy is on non-profit making banking. You are free to apply for licence from the CBN and call it Tiv banking, call it Yoruba banking, call it Ibo banking, call it Christian banking, that is mere nomenclature. I cannot put my own money there and use your name.
The man told us that he did not start this process. Soludo is a Christian; Soludo is still alive, he showed us some document approved by Soludo. If you have questions, call Soludo and ask him. He said they accused him of sacking people in the Central Bank, but on the contrary, when he came he saw that the seat of the Deputy-Governor was vacant and he brought a Christian to occupy the position. He said that the guideline stipulates that there will be no discrimination in employment; there will be no discrimination in terms of customer to the bank: people who will deposit and people who will borrow. Before you will qualify to transact business as a non-profit making bank, you will not be interested in profit-making; you will not be interested in pornography. For instance, if I want to establish a casino and ask for a loan, they will say no; if I want to brew beer, they will say no. So, these are the ethics of non-profit making bank. The word Islamic is used because of people who are promoting the concept. If there is a pagan group that wants to promote its own, it may bear pagan banking. So, there is nothing in the name. The name could be dropped. We are making a mountain out of a mole hill.
This is a bank, if you chose not to go there; will you be forced to go? You have Zenith Bank, Union Bank, UBA, do you patronize all of them. There are so many banks in the National Assembly premises. here; members go to these banks according to their choice. So, there is a bank that will charge you interest if you borrow and here is another bank that will not charge you interest; it is your choice. The issue is, if Christians are worried, why is it that we can’t establish a Christian bank? This is not our concern; our concern in this country is how we can be a country that exist in unity and the people live in harmony.
Many say Nigeria does not have the facilities to make the cash withdrawal limit policy effective?
Who are the people? If you make them the governors of the Central Bank, they will perform worse. In Nigeria, we don’t see anything good in another person. What we are saying is that very few people are benefiting at the detriment of the masses. If the people who go to the bank and withdraw between one naira and N150,000 are 80 per cent of the population, and those who withdraw between N1million and N30million are 10 per cent, and we the masses are paying for it, for how long are we going to continue like this? This fuel subsidy they are talking about, the local man does not benefit from it. In my village, we do not buy fuel at N65; we buy it as from N100 per litre. So, if you are talking about subsidy, it does not mean anything to us. You are making the rich richer and further impoverishing the poor.
While widespread unemployment persists, who do Nigerians hold responsible?
Do you know that I go to farm? I don’t go to supervise but to work. In Nigeria, how many people want to go to the farm? There is nobody that does not eat except God. Everybody eats. Jonathan eats, the Governors and their wives eat. We want to eat, but we don’t want to work. How can we say there is no employment in this country? Yes, there is no electricity but in the 1960s, was there electricity? Yet, things were better. In the 70s, things were better. Why are things so bad now? Nobody wants to work; everybody is depending on oil money.
If we want only oil money, definitely it is pure laziness. You go to school to train and you are farming, you should know that you are not farming as a blind man; you are farming with your eyes open. Everybody wants white collar jobs. The reason why people were employed in those days was that the White man was training us to carry his file; they were not training us for development. Now that we are training ourselves for development, we should have carpenters, we should have masons and other crafts workers but we say this work is dirty; this one does not fetch money, everybody wants quick money. That is why anyone who goes into leadership tries to steal as much as possible and run out.