New Telegraph

It won’t be business as usual in 2023 –Sen. Akinyelure

Senator Ayo Akinyelure is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a cognate member of the Senate, representing Ondo Central Senatorial District. In this interview with CHUKWU DAVID, he speaks on recent developments in the polity

 

 

The National Assembly Joint Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), on Thursday, rejected the presidential nominee for the position of the Executive Director, project. What was the reason for the rejection?

 

Well, as the leader of the South-West PDP Caucus, I can tell you that I am not a member of the Committee on NDDC but as a stakeholder in Ondo State, and as a democratically elected representative of the people in the Legislature.

As a ranking Senator representing Ondo State in the National Assembly, on the platform of the PDP because we are two Senators representing Ondo in the PDP, and we have the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Ajayi Borofice, representing the Ondo North Senatorial District of Ondo State; when the nomination of Engr. Ogunmola was read on the floor of the Senate, three of us converged because this nominee is not from the oil producing area of Ondo State.

It is important for us to put the Senate on notice that the provision of the NDDC Act is very clear and unambiguous. Section 12(1) of the NDDC Act is very clear, which is a law passed by the National Assembly. And we are elected here to make laws for the good governance of this country. Nigeria is not a banana republic.

 

And we jealously guard any Act of the National Assembly for the Executive arm of Government to implement it. Section 12(1) of the NDDC Act stipulates that there shall be for the Commission, a managing director and two executive directors, who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas, starting with the member of the State of the Commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate among the member states in the order of production.

 

The Act allows the posts of Managing Director, the executive director, project and executive director, finance to be appointed from the oil producing area, not oil producing State. In Ondo State, we have the Northern Senatorial District, the Central Senatorial District and the Southern Senatorial District.

Even in the Southern Senatorial District where oil is produced, any nominee that is not from the oil producing area is not qualified. So, the nomination of Engr. Charles Ogunmola as Executive Director, Project was rejected by the law of National Assembly. But I believe that Mr. President has been misinformed and misguided; and that is why he forwarded the name of somebody who is from Ondo State but not from the oil producing area. He is from the Northern Senatorial District, where Professor Ajayi Borofice is representing.

But you can see that Ajayi Borofice is a man of integrity. He believes in the laws made by the National Assembly. Otherwise, he would have said, ‘colleagues please support this guy, he is from my District,’ contrary to the position of the law. So, we jointly resolved and we wrote a letter to the Senate President, pointing out clearly that Charles Ogunmola is not from the oil producing area of the State as stipulated by Section 12(1) of the Constitution.

So, the three of us signed the unanimous decision. Therefore, we are appealing to Mr. President to replace the nomination of Charles Ogunmola with another person who is qualified and comes from the oil producing area of the State. Some people say that Mr. President will not do anything because he has only five months to go but I tell them that the President Muhammadu Buhari I know is a man of honour and that he will do it.

 

He is a man who listens to the plight of his people. The prayer of Ondo people is that Mr. President should quickly replace Charles Ogunmola with another qualified candidate, and we have many qualified candidates from that part of the State. He should do it in consultation with the leadership of the Ondo Southern Senatorial District. The forefathers there like the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom, he is the paramount ruler of Ugbo Kingdom and one time Chairman of Ondo Council of Traditional Rulers. He is the custodian of the oil producing areas of Ondo State. We the Senators in the National Assembly support the agenda of Mr. President. I myself, I support his agenda.

So, the three of us: I, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, representing the Ondo Central Senatorial District, Professor Ajayi Borofice and Senator Nicholas Tofowomo, representing the Ondo South Senatorial District, will all support the candidate that will be suggested by our traditional rulers from the Ondo South for the NDDC job.

 

The information available to the media is that nominations for appointment are usually done by the State Governor. Don’t you think that Governor Rotimi Akerodolu was responsible for the nomination of Engr. Charles Ogunmola?

In this case, it is not the Governor of the State that did the nomination. The Governor is a legal luminary and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He will not do anything contrary to the law, to go and nominate somebody from his place. I know him, he is my friend. This gentleman may have used his connection to get the appointment without even reading the provisions of the law.

He may be from the constituency of Akerodolu but Akerodolu is not the one that nominated him. From my own personal investigation, it was not the Governor who nominated him. The Governor will never nominate anybody in contravention of the laws of the National Assembly.

Even if he was the one that did it, we in the National Assembly are saying that we passed this law and we cannot contravene the law we passed. We don’t have anything against Mr. Charles Ogunmola but we must protect the law of the country.

Our appeal to Mr. President is, within the next one week, when the name new person is forwarded to him, after due consultation with the people of the Ondo South Senatorial District, under the leadership of His Royal Highness, the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom, Mr. President will accord him the respect to get him appointed.

In the last meeting of your Committee on the boundary dispute between two communities in Edo and Kogi States, you summoned the head of the National Boundary Commission.  What is the update on that matter?

Yes, the Director-General of the National Boundary Commission presented himself before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions today (last Thursday). He made a clear submission and upheld the law – the statute that demarcated the boundary between Opela Community in Edo State and the Igbira Community in Kogi State.

The boundary had been demarcated over the years and the National Boundary Commission has also resolved to hold consultations with all the stakeholders. And they came out with a conclusion that the original boundary in accordance with the statute remains unaltered; and the Senate Committee ruled today that that remains the position.

The DG made it clear that he is not a party to any attempt to move the boundary to a new place to cause chaos. But he has a fundamental problem, and that is fund with which to carry out the demarcation in accordance with the statute. And that decision was embraced by all the communities.

So, the Senate Committee has appealed to the stakeholders, traditional rulers in the boundary of Opela to Okene sector, to call the youths to order.

And the Senate has directed, in line with the resolution of the National Boundary Commission, charged with the responsibility to settle disputes that arise from such boundaries all over Nigeria. The Senate has ruled that on this issue of funding problem, the DG, should make request to the Appropriations Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, to provide enough funds for the demarcation of the boundaries in question.

We also ruled that the operators in that particular dispute area, that is the Dangote Cement Limited and Bua Cement factory, who are operators in this disputed area, should please use their corporate support in form of corporate social responsibility, to assist the National Boundary Commission with any amount they believe can quickly allow them to erect signs or pillars of demarcations within the shortest possible time before the end of this year.

It will be on record that this Ninth Assembly mediated and achieved results, so that it won’t give room for our youths to be killed any longer because we value life in the Senate and we believe that anything that can cause loss of lives of our youths who will become leaders of tomorrow should stop henceforth. That was the decision of the Committee and it was embraced by all and sundry, and all of them are happy.

On this note, we want to thank all the leaders of the communities for embracing peace in the area in the interest of justice and fair play, and in the interest of keeping the lives of our youths safe and secured. This land is given to us by God; and limestone, diamond, gold silver and any mineral deposit in this particular area is given by God free of charge.

Therefore, it should not be a source of mourning our youths who are destined to be leaders of tomorrow. That was the position of my Committee and we are also going to report to the Senate in plenary, for consideration and approval of the Committee’s recommendations.

You were part of the Senate debate on Wednesday on the cashless policy of the Federal Government. As an Accountant I believe that you are knowledgeable in the workings of the economy. Do you think that reducing the volume of money in circulation can strengthen the Naira even when the country is not productive?

Nigerians are a very obedient set of people. In theory, cashless policy will reduce corruption. There are money bags all over the place; they keep money in billions in their houses all over Nigeria. This cashless policy will make them bring the money to the system and the Naira can be strengthened. It can bring a little suffering to our people but in the final analysis, it will bring goodies.

If you want to build a 10-storey building in a land where you have dilapidated bungalow before with big grass, you will first of all destroy that dilapidated bungalow, and set up a new plan to build a high rising structure with modern facilities, with air conditioner that will now be conducive for people to live. That is exactly what is happening now, and that is why the Senate embraced the policy. And I am only one person out of 109; if others say they are in support of the policy, I have to follow them.

But in economic policies, if the money in circulation is too much, that’s why our Naira is devalued. The sweat we use to make one Naira in Nigeria, that’s the same sweat they put in to make one Dollar because their system is very consistent. You cannot buy something worth $50,000 in America, they will arrest you and ask you how you made the money. If you make your money through genuine means, it should pass through the banking system.

Our people at the grassroots may complain about the policy for a few months; after that, they will get used to it. Then the level of literacy will increase. Many of our aged parents are now using phones and they know how to send WhatsApp messages. So, this cashless policy is a good policy in the good direction  to strengthen our Naira.

Many Nigerians including civil servants are so rich but they cannot justify the source of their wealth. There are some civil servants who have more than 50 houses in Abuja, and the salary is still less than N50,000 a month. Where will he say he got the money? This cashless policy will make this money to come back to the system directly or indirectly. And any money you bring to the bank you must be able to justify the source. So, this policy will significantly reduce corruption.

There is fear that the policy will make people begin to keep money in their houses, which will in turn attract criminals to start terrorising people’s homes. What is your take on this?

Let them keep their money in their homes. But I know that when the system doesn’t allow you to withdraw as you used to withdraw before, you will be forced to go with the system.

Nigeria is not a productive nation, what magic can the policy make to strengthen the Naira and sustain it in the long run?

A new regime is coming up now. There are two parties in Nigeria: APC and PDP, that have structures all over Nigeria. One of them will emerge as Mr. President. I am a PDP Senator; I will love my presidential candidate to be the next President. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is another vibrant accountant. If he is the one that wins, he will restructure this country. Any of them will restructure this economy in line with the duties of the National Assembly.

How do we encourage production in the system because the currency will be stronger if the country is producing for export?

Production will come, depending on the policy of the government on how to revamp the economy. Brilliant people will be made to head different parts of the economic team. Nigeria is rich; we are blessed with abundant resources but we only need managers. The problem we have is how to manage the resources. And I believe that the administration that will come on board will do better in terms of managing the economy.

Like our PDP presidential candidate said that he is going to run an all-inclusive government, to bring every technocrat together, to deliver. Ahmed Bola Tinubu also said that he is going to do so, if elected. So, anyone that enters as President, I believe our economy will be better off. With this agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, to lay a foundation for a cashless economy, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, I believe that it is no longer going to be business as usual.

Read Previous

Christmas: A season redefined by insecurity, economic hardship

Read Next

NASENI boss, Haruna’s National Honour at FEC

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *