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The claim that elected governors should not champion the issues of restructuring by the Senate President has further exposed the huge knowledge gap among some lawmakers on their legislative duties. However, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who was a former Senator, advised that with such views from Sen. Lawan, he has no business occupying that seat.
By Goddy Ikeh
BEFORE the meeting of the Southern Governors in Asaba on May 11, 2021, many Nigerians had been lamenting the worsening state of insecurity in the country and some Nigerians have gone as far as warning that the country was on the brink of another civil war and called on the federal government to stop the current drift of the nation to anarchy.
In April 2021 alone, more than 600 civilians were killed across the country and more than 400 abducted by armed groups. According to local media reports, President Muhammadu Buhari has come under mounting pressure from critics and allies alike as the country reels from multiple security crises that appear to have overwhelmed the Nigerian authorities.
For instance, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Army, Abdulrazak Namdas, lamented the deteriorating state of insecurity in the country, saying that things were getting worse.
Namdas told Channels Television during an interview on April 28, that inadequate personnel of the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies some of the challenges in tackling insecurity across the country.
“I agree that things are getting from bad to worse, but let us sit together and re-strategize and see how we can solve the problem,” he said.
He disclosed that the lower chamber of the National Assembly had on March 17, 2021, set up a special committee to come up with solutions to the security challenges in the country.
According to him, the 40-man committee is being chaired by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, and would comprise all the principal officers of the House and 30 other members.
He assured that the National Assembly was ready to cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari in solving the myriads of security issues in Nigeria.
On the issue of political will to execute the war against insurgency and banditry, the lawmaker said: “This political will is not just coming from the Presidency or one arm of government. The Speaker is the Number four person in Nigeria and he has realized that there is a problem and that is why we want to sit down and holistically look at where the problems are.”
He said unemployment and poverty were fueling insecurity in the country and urged the federal government to provide jobs at the local, state, and federal levels.
In the same vein, Sen. Smart Adeyemi, APC, lamented recently on the floor of the Senate that “The security infrastructure that we have today cannot cope with what we are facing. From the north to the south nobody is safe, nobody can travel 50km in our nation.”
In addition, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, caucus in the National Assembly had warned that the lawmakers would not hesitate to take lawful legislative measures in tackling the worsening insecurity in the country if the federal government fails to act and rescue the country from the current drift to anarchy. The group frowned against the inability of President Buhari’s government to effectively address the rising insecurity in the country and its drift to anarchy.
Speaking on behalf of the Caucus, the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said they were concerned about the ineptitude and the inability of the All Progressives Congress-led government to arrest the country’s drift to anarchy.
The Caucus lamented that despite the promises made by the APC before and after it was elected to tackle the problem of insecurity in the country, the nation’s security situation had rather deteriorated under its watch.
“This APC-led government, at inception and during campaigns prior to 2015 elections, made promises to the Nigerian public, the first of which was that they were going to deal with security challenges within their tenure.
“Sadly and most, unfortunately, from 2015 to date, rather than resolving the security situation, the APC-led federal government had rather broaden the security challenges. So, from the problems of the northeast, it has spread to other parts of the country. Virtually all parts of Nigeria is now beset with one security challenge or the other.
“We, therefore, as a caucus, suggest that immediate steps should be taken by governments at all levels to set up proper security infrastructure whether in the mode of state police and other constitutional reforms to arrest the drift of the nation, ” local media reports quoted the caucus as saying in the resolution issued after its meeting recently in Abuja.
Recently, the minister of defense, Major-Gen. Bashir Magashi, retd, lamented that Nigeria was currently bleeding as a result of insecurity in the country. The minister, whose remarks captured the spate of daily killings in the country, disclosed in Abuja that the government was compiling a comprehensive list of identified enemies of the country. While noting that the incidents of domestic terrorism have reduced due to measures put in place by the government, other problems arising from intolerance have heightened. Citing the emergence of herders/farmers clashes, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB issues, banditry, among others, the minister explained that such violence was a legitimate alternative.
He disclosed that some individuals, who fund Boko Haram had been arrested, particularly in Kano state and that some of them had contacted him for his intervention, but he turned down their request, insisting that due process had to be followed. Magashi said the military would not be deterred but would focus on eliminating all perceived threats and expressed the hope that this objective could be achieved with the deployment of new military assets that would soon arrive.
These bipartisan discussions and reactions to the worsening insecurity in the country took place before the meeting of the Southern Governors in Asaba and the resolutions were merely echoing the wishes and lamentations of not only the people of Southern Nigeria but the entire nation.
The 12-point communique of the Southern Governors read by the chairman of the group and governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, demanded among others the convocation of a national dialogue to tackle security issues, placed a ban on the movement of cattle by foot into and within the South of the country to check the conflict between migrating herders and local populations in the South.
The governors also recommended that in view of widespread agitations among various peoples for greater inclusiveness in existing governance arrangements, the federal government should convoke a national dialogue.
The Federal Government should convoke a national dialogue as a matter of urgency; recommended that in deference to the sensitivities of our various peoples, there is a need to review appointments into federal government agencies (including Security Agencies) to reflect the federal character as Nigeria’s overall population is heterogenous; resolved to foster cooperation among the Southern States and the nation at large; expressed concern on the continued gridlock on the Oshodi – Apapa Expressway and the chokehold it has exerted on the nation’s economy being the sole outlet from Apapa Wharf.
The meeting, therefore, recommended the activation and establishment of ports in other states of the federation to create new jobs and promote socio-economic activities in the country; the meeting expressed concern on the economic implications of another lockdown on the country, and therefore suggested greater coordination and cooperation between Federal and State Governments in evolving strategies for dealing with the pandemic; expressed very grave concern on the security challenges currently plaguing the nation and strongly urged that Mr. President should address Nigerians on the challenges of insecurity and restore the confidence of our people.
Soon after the release of the 12-point communique, the lawmakers from southern Nigeria in both Houses of the National Assembly met and applauded the resolutions of the Southern Governors, while various socio-cultural groups from the South hailed the meeting of the governors and their patriotic resolutions.
Unfortunately, the resolutions of the governors did not go down well with some senators from the North. For instance, Senate President Ahmed Lawan on Thursday, May 13 said that security challenges in the country could be attributed to the absence of a functional local government system. Speaking after the Eid-Mubarak prayers in Aso Rock, Lawan told State House correspondents the lack of autonomy potentially inhibits solutions as well as efforts by the Federal and state governments towards addressing the nation’s security challenge.
“We are all leaders and we are in this together, the solutions must come from us regardless of what levels of leadership we are – whether at the Federal Level, State Level, or even at the Local Government level. I also want to take this opportunity to say that we have diminished the local government system. I think we can attribute the security issues to the absence of a Functional Local Government System.
“I think the time has come for us to take up the challenge and ensure that the Local Government system functions. This is as we look for ways to curb the security challenge. We must never neglect the local government system. We must go back to our local government system to ensure they are autonomous and functional,” local media reports quoted Lawan as saying.
According to Lawan, those who have championed the call for succession might be misguided and do not mean well for the country. On the call for restructuring, Lawan said that there might be genuine agitations, but that elected leaders and state governors should particularly not champion the movement for restructuring without first replicating the idea at the state level.
This outburst from the Senate President has once again reinforced the perception of many Nigerians that the performance of the Ninth National Assembly, especially the principal officers is a far cry from the expectations of Nigerians despite the huge annual budget allocated to that arm of government. Most Nigerians have been campaigning for a part-time legislative system.
Another senator who added his voice of descent is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, who faulted the declaration of the ban on open grazing in the South by governors in the region.
According to Ndume, making a public proscription of the movement of cattle by foot in the southern part of the country by the governors cannot be as effective as meeting with the President to address the issues of concern.
“I am not concerned about what they (the governors) said … I was thinking that they would come out with an immediate solution, mid-term solution, and long-term solution to open grazing,” he noted,” local media reports quoted Ndume as saying on Thursday, May 13.
“We have serious security challenges in this country that are different in all the geopolitical zones and I was expecting that the governors will come together and address these issues, come up with the solutions that they have mentioned and discuss with the President in a closed-session as we call it in the Senate, not to come out to the media and issue a blanket statement,” he said.
But before this development, many Nigerians have been wondering if the lawmakers are indifferent to the daily killings by armed herders and bandits and worsening insecurity in the country when all they hear on the floor of the two chambers are issues not expected from a country so overwhelmed by insurgency and widespread killings, kidnapping for ransom, poverty, high unemployment among others.
Often what you read is that the bill to transform Yaba College of Technology to a university has passed second reading and another bill for the federal government to establish a university of technology in one state or the other.
In April, members of the House of Representatives stepped up efforts to ensure more women represent their constituents at legislative houses at both Federal and State levels. Reports from the House said that a bill for an act to alter the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to create additional special seats for women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly scaled the second reading. Unfortunately, these issues should not be the concern of the lawmakers at this critical period that the nation is literally at war.
And in his usual leadership style, President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, May 13, pledged that his administration was working hard to tackle insecurity confronting the nation and expressed the hope that Nigerians would understand.
Buhari told journalists at the State House shortly after observing the Eid prayer, that the menace of bandits and kidnappers would be addressed to ensure that the nation’s food security was not threatened.
“With the resources and manpower available to us, we are working very hard. We are hoping Nigerians will understand the problem. Nigerians know at what stage we came in in 2015, what state we are today both on security and the economy and we are doing our best.
“The law enforcement agencies are working hard to regain confidence against the bandits so that we can go back to the land. This is very important. This is what the agencies are busy doing right now. We want people to go back to the land so that we can get enough food for the country and even export,” local media reports quoted Buhari as saying.
He also appealed to Nigerians for more understanding of the current situation in the country.
Explaining the ongoing efforts to tackle the security situation in the country by the administration, President Buhari drew attention to the series of long meetings held in recent weeks, chaired by him, saying that a part of resolutions had been made public by the National Security Adviser and the others kept secret.
But most Nigerians, who have heard these pledges from the presidency since 2015, when this administration came to office would rather prefer more actions than mere promises that have not been kept, thus leading to the high level of distrust between the government and the people. Perhaps this latest appeal to the Nigerian elite by President Buhari “to show a better appreciation of the problems facing the country” may resonate with them is yet to be seen.
– May 17, 2021 @ 18:05 GMT
A.I
Tags: Abdulrazak Namdas Ahmed Lawan Discordant tunes trail resolutions of Southern Governors President Muhammadu Buhari
