Hon. Ibrahim El-Sudi represents Kurmi/Sardauna/Gashaka Federal Constituency of Taraba State in the House of Representatives. In this interview with Chibuzo Ukaibe, he reflects on the state of the nation.
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Nigeria recently clocked 51. Some persons believe that the country is not moving forward. What is your view?
To some extent I agree with them especially if you compare Nigeria with other countries that got independence with or after Nigeria got her independence. We have made a lot of progress in so many ways like the practice of democracy and observance of human rights and the likes compared to the military era. However, when we come to the issue of infrastructure and other segment of development like education, agriculture, health, commerce and other developmental areas, to be very honest with you, we have stagnated for a long time and we have even deteriorated. Our institutions are collapsing. Some have even collapsed.
Go to power, there is a big problem there. Go to the health sector and you will see that there is no health facility that we can boast of that can serve the interest of the common man. Go to education, the system has collapsed.
This is because of the utter neglect of our institutions. People are more concerned about how to amass wealth. They are not concerned about the yearnings and aspirations of the common man in this country.
The society too has its own blame because people hail and eulogise those who loot the treasury when corrupt people give them peanuts. These are the people that are respected by the society. Talents and patriots are not respected. Honesty is not being respected and eulogised. When your pocket is lined up, communities give you chieftaincy titles and awards for looting their resources. This is a disaster. We ought not to be in the position we are. We are supposed to have moved so far. Our public institutions are supposed to functional. If the system is functional, the ordinary man will not be looking up to government for employment. Once there is infrastructure, Nigerians will not even wait for government to provide jobs. They will on their own establish businesses that will bring money to them.
There is a school of thought that argues that since the nation is not moving forward, the union should split. Do you agree with that??
I do not subscribe to that thinking. I do not support that this country should be balkanised or segmented and that people should go their own ways and form their own country. No. If you look at the entity called Nigeria, you will discover that even in those places where there are clamours for self determination you will find out that within those enclaves there are complaints of marginalisation by one group or the other. So if you divide Nigeria into three hundred states, there will still be agitations for self determination. Other countries which had similar history like United States of America passed through it. America is not a homogeneous society. It is heterogeneous. People come from varied backgrounds yet they are united and the system is functioning.
This thing has to do with the institution and the kind of norms and values they have. There are guiding philosophies entrenched by the founding fathers and people are adhering to them for the good of all.
You may have a private live as an immoral person but once you occupy a public position, you cannot do whatever you like. If only we will have a kind of re-orientation and be patriotic and jettison self centeredness, I believe that Nigeria can be united and our public institution will be functional and things will move the way they are supposed to move.
Are you worried that at this level of our national life, we are experiencing acts of terrorism in the country?
Yes. I am really worried. This kind of? threat we watch on television happening in distant countries. Unfortunately it is here with us. We need to come together and find solution to the problem.
Do you think the current House of Representatives can come out with any solution to the problem?
The way the present House of Representatives took off, it is my hope that it will come out with solutions. If you look at the calibre of people in the House now, you will find out that we have well experienced people who have been involved in governance at various levels. Many of us are tired with the stagnation in the country and we want to make a difference.
What do you think is the best way to check corruption in this country? Many people have advocated for the imposition of death penalty for corrupt people. Do you support it?
The best method to fight corruption is to vote the right persons into political offices and Nigerians must learn to exercise their powers of recall or impeachment of any erring legislative or executive officers. Once a political office holder has a disposition towards corruption and it is glaring, he should be recalled. If it has to do with impeachment, Nigerians should mount pressure on those that have the powers to impeach to remove such individuals. Nigerians should give support to such courses. We should learn to remove sectional and religious sentiments and this is where the problem lies.
People blame the problem of corruption on the failure of the legislature to perform its oversight on the executive well.
I want to say that the National Assembly has been alive to its responsibility of oversight. We have witnessed probes which led to exposures of corrupt practices in the system. However, we are looking at a situation where we can crystallise these finding with action by ensuring that those found wanting were sanctioned.? I believe the past assemblies did their best and I want to assure that this assembly has an agenda. One of our agenda is a fight against corruption and I can assure you that we are committed to this agenda.
Taraba State has just celebrated its 20 years anniversary. Looking at the state; are you satisfied with the journey so far?
I will say, so far so good. It has not been rosy for the state. Before the coming in of the present administration, the state was not developing well. It was very backward compared to other states which are her peers. However, with the coming of Governor Danbaba Suntai, the state has witnessed a lot of developments. We now have our amenities working. There are good roads; electricity and water supply are now there. We have made tremendous progress in the areas of education, health, commerce and agriculture and the economic and social life in the state have seriously picked up. Hitherto, Jalingo, the state capital used to look like a glorified local government area, but now Jalingo is a city and other areas are fast developing.
However, there are still rooms for development. We need to develop our tourism potentials. The Mambilla Plateau is a beauty to behold. The Gashaka Gumti National Park is one of the bests in the world.
We have a lot of exotic animals and plants there. It is Gashaka that you get the highest point in Nigeria; about 2000 meters above sea level. We need to develop all these areas. We have been advertising the areas and wooing investors to come in and develop them. Mambilla has been declared by UNESCO as the ultimate tourist destination in the country but I want to say that unless the Federal Governments comes in and partners with the state to develop the area by constructing roads and airports in the area that place will not open up and the state and the nation will not harness the economic benefits from the area.
What has been your role in the effort to develop the area?
I have been doing a lot to get the matter to the attention of the relevant agencies and authorities in the Federal Government. I have been reviewing the allocation for the projects in the 2011 budget, with a view to streamline them and ensure that the projects are well captured in the 2012 budget. Some of the allocations in the 2011 budget are grossly inadequate and I will make sure they are addressed in the 2012 budget. I will follow it up to ministries to make sure that they are executed. The same goes for the Mambilla power project. I will follow the issues up and also ensure that the people who are going to be displaced by the projects are adequately compensated and resettled.