NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATES
FOURTH ASSEMBLY
First Session
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OFFICIAL REPORT
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Thursday, 10th June, 1999
The House met at 10.20 a.m.
PRAYERS
(Mr. Speaker in the Chair)
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS
Mr. Speaker: I have examined the Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 9th June, 1999, and have approved same.
OATHS
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE
AND
OATH OF MEMBERSHIP
Mr. Speaker: I will like to call on Hon. Members that have not taken their Oaths to please come forward and do so. (Thereupon the following Members-Elect took and subscribed the Oaths required by Law)
Hon. Umara Tanko
Hon. Olugbenga Onigbogi
Hon. Danlami Hamza
Hon. Salusi Sadiq A.
Hon. Abdullahi Musa
Hon. Aminu Bello M.
Hon. Daniel Sunday Dung
Hon. Yakubu Salihu
Hon. Naziru Abduwa Gabasawa
Hon. Alexander Ikechukwu Ezen
Hon. Nnamdi Njoku
Mr. Speaker: Before we go to the next item on the Order Paper, I will like to request Hon. Members to please stand put and observe one minute silence for our people that lost their lives in Warri and Kafanchan crises.
(A Minute's Silence Observed according).
May their soul rest in perfect peace.
Hon. Members: Amen.
Announcements
Missing Bag
Mr. Speaker: One of our Colleagues, Hon. Taiwo Oluwasegun has lost his bag and he is asking that any Member who comes across it should please forward it to the Clerk of the House.
Meeting of APP Hon. Members
There will be a meeting of hon. Members of the APP at the usual Committee Room immediately after today's sitting.
Leadership of the APP in the House
I am happy to announce that I have received a letter from APP in which they presented their leaders that will help to pilot the business of this honourable House. The APP Leader in this House is honourable M. Umara Kumalia representing Maiduguri Metro while the Whip is Honourable Fidel Ayogu. (Applause).
Membership of the Select Committee
I am unable today to read out the list of Members that will serve on the Select Committee. This is primarily due to the inability of the Parties to hold their meetings. At the moment, we have the Leadership of the AD constituted and also that of the APP which I have just announced.
We are still waiting for the leadership of the PDP and at this juncture, I would like to appeal that the list of those that will lead the affairs of the PDP in this House should be submitted. We will need Members on Party basis to participate in this Committee. Important decisions cannot be taken without the participation of the leaders. I hope by tomorrow we would have received the list.
MATTER OF URGENT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, my attention has been drawn to an item of urgent public importance and I would like to call on Hon. Babatunde Musibau Olokun to tell this House why this matter is of urgent public importance.
(Prolonged Strike of National Union of Teachers)
Hon. (Dr) Babatunde Musibau Olokun (Ikene/ Remo-North/Sagamu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members, I beg to move that his honourable House do now discuss and decide on what must be done to put an end to the prolonged National Union of Teacher' Strike as it is now affecting the Nigerian Primary and Secondary Schools' students adversely. We are all aware that these students have been out of school for two months while the strike action of teachers has been off and on four the past six months to-date. At the time the students stopped receiving lectures from their teachers, they were yet to complete the first term. The second term is now over and they are expected to be in the third term save for the NUT strike. The past Military Administration was well informed of the demands of the teachers but failed to resolve the issues.
However, now that this honourable House is in a position to look into the matter, I believe, Sir, that we should take an urgent step and as this matter affects the whole nation, we must, as of urgency, put it on our priority list. The question, therefore, arises, what are the demands of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, and what is the stand of the government on those demands? If the answer to these questions are not known, I shall strongly recommend, Mr. Speaker, Sir, that an ad-hoc Committee be set up as a matter or urgency to look into the demands of the Nigerian Union of Teachers and to liaise with the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Education and make recommendations to this honourable House as to how best to resolve the prolonged strike.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is in the interest of the populace of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the citizens of this country that we owe the duty to advert our minds urgently to this strike. I believe strongly that Members of this honourable House, feel the need, just like I feel too, focus to address this issue.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker for the opportunity.
Mr. Speaker: is there any comment?
Hon. Alli Lateef Adebola (Akinyele/Lagelu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I Just want to make an observation and that is that anything worth doing at all in this honourable House is worth doing well. You cannot bring a Motion to this House when it is not in the Order Paper. If it is an announcement, that should come from the Speaker. But where you move a Motion on the floor of this House when it is not in the Order Paper, it is completely irregular.
Mr. Speaker: My Hon. Member, this is not a Motion. It is only a matter of urgent public importance and what we are saying is that he should tell this honourable House why it is of urgent public importance. It is not a Motion.
Is there any comment am what the Hon. Member for Ikenne/Reno North Sagamu Hon. Babatunde Olokun has said?
Hon. Adebola Ogunmefun (Agege): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members, we all know the reason why teachers are on strike for the past six months and there is no reason for us to keep on delaying action on this. If I may add to this, we should call on the State Governments to do something as soon as possible so that our children can go back to school. Thank you.
Hon. S. Dika Nggadda (Askira Uba/Hawul): Mr. Speaker, Sir, it touches me a lot when a matter of our children is raised in such a mood. All of us have
benefited from education and all of us know the benefit of education. I must confess that the teachers and the parents have been waiting for this august House to convene for their problems to be resolved. Now, this is an issue that is before us that requires immediate attention. If you give me one or two minutes, I should be able to proffer some solutions, that the House may likely adopt. Most of the Local and State governments are not financially viable to maintain the institutions of learning. I believe the Federal Government must be urged to make some allocations that can be transferred to the State and invariably to the Local Governments. Now, my short term solution is for us to encourage the Federal Government to send its widow's might to the State and Local Governments. Two, the medium term is that allocation can be from the federation
account, within this period of time. That could be subsequently decided by this House as to how Federal Allocation Account could be made to finance basic education in this country. And of course, the long term range is where money meant for education of our children can be deducted at source at the Federal level. These are the brief solutions that I can suggest.
Thank you, Sir.
Hon. Ojo Olusegun (Ekiti North I): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members, we as Nigerians, when you look at our intention, especially towards the Youths concerning this nation, particularly, where you just hold through to all, it shows our interest in the area we need to develop, and we cannot develop this youth except we look cleverly into their educational development. In view of this, I want to say, apart from setting up of a committee, as suggested by the
Hon. member for Ikenne/Remo North Sagamu, (Hon. R. Olokun); I want us to strongly appeal to .the teachers that they should go back to classes and give them a promise that we members of the House feel that the N3,000 minimum wage will not be anything too much for anybody in this country to pay, looking at the value of Naira but the problem might be that they will not pay this money immediately. Whether now or in future, we are going to pay for all the times they have been staying at home and the one they are still going to work for. So, we can appeal to them to go to the classes, while we liaise with the Senate and the Executive arms of government that this money should be paid to them. As their representatives, we want them to go back to classes.
Thank you.
Hon. Ibrahim Abdullahi (Sabo Gari): Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a saying in the Military that a soldier works for his stomach. The bone of contention of these teachers is the issue of minimum wage. We are fortunate to have listened to the former Head of State when he was giving us the state of the Nation's address at the International Conference Centre. You might recall he told us that he has some money reserved for allocation to the States and the Local Governments out of the recouped money. Education of our children is very important to each and everyone of us. It is for the benefit of that
education that we are sitting down here today, discussing the issues that affect our country.
First and foremost, this honourable House should urge the President, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to make available that money immediately to the States and Local Government to solve these teacher' problems because education is the bedrock of any Nation.
Second, my colleague who brought this issue said that this House should constitute an Ad-Hoc Committee to see the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and discuss on how we come up with a solution. I am positive that if something concrete like what has been suggested is done, we can then call on the teachers to return to school in the interest of our children and this country.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Chief Nnanyelugo Chukwuemeka Chikelu (Aniocha/Njikoka/DuniUkofia): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members of the House, I think I agree with the Hon. Member from Lagos State (Hon. Adebola Ogunmefun) on the importance of Educational Sector for the development of our Nation. And I am sure that most of us would agree that if we are going to make much progress in the new dispensation, one of the sectors we need to give urgent attention to is the educational sector. However, as we proceed, I will urge the House to be mindful of the fact that the mood of the moment and the mood of this Republic has been to shed from the concentration of responsibilities at the center and empower the States and the Local Governments. In this light, one of the things that has been proposed is to take away Education from the exclusive Legislative list and move it on to the States. As a matter of fact, the proposals that are currently on would ultimately move Universities and other such Institutions away from the Central Government. Therefore, I am not sure what the utility of an ad-hoc Committee will be enough. Primarily, this is a labour dispute and unfortunately, there are no Ministers yet. The proper course I would have suggested, would have been to invite the Minister of Education to inform the Hon. House on steps being taken to resolve the dispute and probably make some input in that regard. I just thought that I should call the attention of the House to this. (Applause)
Mr. Speaker: My Hon. Members, we do not have enough time, so I think I will now put the question.
Question proposed:
Hon. Oladipo Olaitan (Alimosho): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think it is the consensus of this Hon. House that this matter is more urgent and important that it must be discussed. Although, Mr. Speaker has not ruled, the question is, Mr. Speaker, is it now or not now? That is the question. Mr Speaker, my proposal which I want this honourable House to consider is this, that this matter can best be approached and solved, if we have an ad-hoc Committee that will first look into this matter, so as to have the facts in our hands, and then be in a better position to discuss this matter. Mr. Speaker, my proposal is that Mr. Speaker should set up an ad-hoc Committee that will look into this matter, let us have the facts to enable this Hon. House to be in a better position to discuss it.
Mr. Speaker: My Hon. Members, we will have to agree that this Hon. House discuss the matter and after that, we can then set up an ad-hoc Committee.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved: That this Hon. House will discuss the matter tomorrow, Friday, 11th June, 1999.
Hon. Jaafaru M. Damulak (Shedam/Mikang Quaan-Pan): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members of this House, I have a point of information. There is an information available which I think I will have to agree with the Hon. Member from Alimosho (Hon. Oladipo Olaitan) that we should first set up a Committee, because I am privy to information that money has been released for that purpose.
Mr. Speaker: Maybe, my Hon. Colleagues did not hear me well when I was speaking. We cannot set up an ad-hoc Committee on this issue until the House decides to discuss the matter. Now the house has decided to discuss the matter tomorrow. After that, a formal motion will be moved and the idea of creating an ad-hoc Committee will be included in his Motion. If the House adopts that, then that is when we can create the ad-hoc Committee.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. (Barr.) Ita Enang (Itu/Ibiono Ibom): Mr. Speaker, Sir, the matter has been overruled by you, and as such, we should not discuss it any further.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Mobile Telephone Interference
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, there is an announcement. I am appealing to Hon. Members to please switch off their mobile telephones when they are coming into the Chamber. I understand that these phones disturb radio transmitters and some other electronic gadgets that we have here.
Thank you.
MOTION
Restoration of peace, Law and Order in Warri and its Environs
Mr. Speaker: We will go on to the next item on the Order Paper of the day which is a Motion on the Restoration of Peace, Law and Order in Warri and its Environs; and I will call on the sponsors of this Motion to present it to this Hon. House, please.
Hon. Temi Harriman (Warri North/Warri South/Warri South East): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name and other Hon. Members on the Order Paper:
That in view of the fact that the crisis in Warri and its environs has led to immense loss of lives and property, total breakdown of law and order, economic and social instability in those areas, this House:
(a) Do urge the Federal Government to:
(i) dispatch law enforcement agents to restore law and order in Warri and its environs as a matter of urgency;
(ii) provide humanitarian aid to victims of the crisis;
(b) do constitute in ad-hoc committee to seek immediate and peaceful solution to the crisis.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.
Hon. Emmanuel A. Aguariavwodo (Ughelli North/ Ughelli South/Udu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Colleagues, I second the this Motion and in doing so, there was this poem by a poet and I seek the permission of Mr. Speaker to quote it:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre;
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart,
The centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, 1 stand here to tell you that anarchy is in Warri today. Anarchy has been loosed on Ward by the people who inhabit Ward. Today, there is lawlessness, there is no order. People have taken up arms. Nigerians have taken up arms against themselves, killing each other for reasons which can be discussed and an amicable solution found but because of the testy nature of the issues involved, people have taken up arms and decided to take laws into their hands.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support this Motion that the Federal Government should take whatever action it can to restore law and order, peace and stability to the Warri environment. I will give the reasons.
Warri and its immediate environs are home to a variety of oil companies that are operating in this country like Shell, Chevron, Elf, Agip, and so on. Various service companies, are situated in Ward and they are involved in the production of crude oil which sustains this country. Because of the breakdown of law and order in Warri today, these companies closed down yesterday. In fact, nobody could go to work and that has a direct impact on the revenue that this country earns to sustain her citizens.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker: Is there any other Hon. Member that sponsored this Motion that wants to comment on it?
Hon. Anthony Efekodha (Isoko North/Isoko South): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members, this issue is a very serious one. My other colleagues have spoken at length on the importance of resolving this crisis very quickly. I stand to add to their voice. Number one, the area now in question constitutes the bloc that produce over 50 per cent of the oil and like my colleague has said life is now meaningless in Ward. As a matter of fact, some Hon. Members who
traveled home over the weekend could not get to their houses. It is on record that over 300 lives have been lost. It is also on record that over 200 houses have been set ablaze. It is on record that very monumental places in Warri have been ravaged and not only that, if the situation is not brought under urgent control now, the likelihood is that further spread will become so catastrophic that even pumping the only crude oil we are producing at Esravos will be difficult.
I want to draw the attention of this Hon. House to the incidence that happened some time in the past which led to a lot of Commissions that were set up and they ended up arriving at no result. I think there is the need to address some of these issues very quickly and of course, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. I want to call on this House to give speedy attention to this matter because it is the lifewire of this country. Apart from Ward itself, it is spreading its tentacles to many other oil-producing areas of Delta State and in fact, the entire Niger Delta. We are only seeing a chapter; there are
like hoods of further deterioration of the crises all over the oil-producing communities of the Niger Delta. So, a quick solution to this matter will also bring about the solution to all other attendant problems surrounding this issue.
I want to say too, that the Ad-hoc Committee to be set should be urgent and pragmatic because all efforts made by the previous Governments have ended up as toothless bulldogs and that is the result of what we have now got in our hands. And now, for a quick attention, I urge this House to call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to pull its resources together to put an end to the crisis and secondly, for this House to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to look into these issues, and also look at the immediate and remote causes of the crisis and find a solution to it.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker: I think we should hear from other Members, too.
Hon. Tony Anyanwu (Ahiazu /Ezinhite): Good Morning, Mr. Speaker, Good Morning Deputy Speaker and Hon. Members of the House of Representatives. I am encouraged and indeed, I must praise my Colleagues from Delta and Edo States for the bold step they have taken this morning to bring this matter to the attention of Nigerians
sitting here, today. Part of the problems in this country and I believe the major problem in this country had to do with the distrust that Nigerians
have for each other. In a sense, I am a bit disturbed by the emphasis on oil companies in respect to this Motion. I believe that the Agenda and the thrust of this matter should be the Security of lives of Nigerians as opposed to the attempts to emphasize the interest of the oil companies. In a sense I can understand. But let us also look at the entire country. I understand that in Warri, you have a problem of Nigerians dying. In the
North-East also, we have a problem, marauders are coming in, Nigerians are also dying and I believe on the road leading to Gombe and Maiduguri, you do not find policemen there and everyday, these marauders come in an are killing Nigerians. In Anambra State also we have a problem. In Aguleri and Umuleri, people are also dying, houses are getting burnt and this situation is continuing. In some other parts of the country like Ondo State, you find unrest. My position is, while we are dealing with the issue of Warri, if we intend to set up a Committee, if we intend to investigate this matter,
although I sympathise with them, let us also not lose sight of the entire country where we have similar problems. If we intend to set up a Committee, let us have an Ad-hoc Committee that, perhaps, will visit these locations and make a lasting solution so that Nigerians, the Law Enforcement agencies in this country can take back our streets, can take back our country and ensure the sustenance of law and order and peace and harmony among all Nigerians.
Thank you.
Hon. Gideon C.A. Onya (Enugu North South): Mr. Speaker, in supporting this Motion, I want to
make a slight Amendment. But before I make the Amendment, I want to advise Members that when we have serious matters like this coming, we should not try to water it down by bringing other matters from the places. If any area or any state has a specific problem that needs the attention if this House, the Members can bring their own Motion. But when we have a Motion like this that will affect the unity of this country, like the incident in Warri, in Delta State, if allowed to go off-hand It can affect the stability of this country and therefore, we must treat it with all the seriousness that it deserves. We must not try to water it down by bringing other minor issues that will make it look very common.
Mr. Speaker, having said that, I want to say that I agree with the Motion. This is because, Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the fact that there is a meeting between Members of that Community and the Head of State and the Head of State is currently chairing that meeting. They are due to meet tomorrow Friday to show the seriousness of the issue. We have not got the equipment to empower the Committee to look at that issue. If after the Government has looked into this matter and has failed, we can do now is to encourage the President to please seriously look into that issue and ensure that within the shortest possible time, that the issue of Niger Delta will be sorted out to ensure the stability and peace in this country. So I would want the Mover of this Motion to delete 4B because when the various Committees of this House are put in place, I understand- we might have something like Niger Delta Commission and we might have a Committee on that issue that will look into that. If we continue to set up Ad-hoc Committees on every particular issue, we might not get anywhere. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to encourage the Movers of this Motion and
ask them to amend their Motion by deleting Section 4B of Motion.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Abubakar G. Shehu Matazo (Musawa/Matazo): I want to draw the attention of Hon. Members of this Hon. House to these three serious socio-economic problems facing this country and which our success in solving them or our inability to solve these problems will be the yardstick to be used by the people of Nigeria who brought us into this Hon. House at the end of our tenure. These three socio-economic problems facing this country today are:
1. The Nigeria Delta problems.
2. The Insecurity of Lives and Properties as a result of armed robbery on our roads, and
3. Religious crisis in some States of the Federation like what happened recently in Kafanchan.
I want to draw the attention of this Hon. House to the fact that these three social problems are major problems facing this country and we should do all we can within our ability to make sure that these problems are solved permanently and completely for this country to move forward.
Thank you.
Hon. Adams Jagaba (Kagarko/Kachia): The Hon. Speaker, Deputy Speaker of this Hon. House, I just want to state a point of correction. Actually the case of Kafanchan is not religious. It is a chieftaincy problem which has existed well over fifty years. Thank you, very much.
Mr. Speaker: Honourable Members, I would want to put the question as proposed that we should delete item 4(b) from the motion.
Question put and negatived Main Question put and agreed to Resolved: That in view of the fact that the crisis in Warri and its environs has led to immense loss of lives and property, total break down of law and order, economic and social instability in those areas, this House:
(a) do urge the Federal Government to:
(i) dispatch law enforcement agents to restore law and order in Warri and its environs as a matter of urgency; (ii) provide humanitarian aid to victims of the crisis;
(b) do constitute an Ad-hoc Committee to seek immediate peaceful solution to the crisis.
ORDER OF THE DAY
Debate on the Address of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (First Alloted Day)
Mr. Speaker: I want to draw the attention of the honourable Members that ten legislative days have been set aside for this debate and have decided that we will call our names in alphabetical order whereby Hon. Members that have comments to make on the address will do so. These comments are not debateable, please. Every honourable Member should express his views about the address and that will be the first part of the debate.
The second part which we will also allocate days to is when Honourable Members will propose Motions on the Address to this Honourable House which we will debate and subsequently take decisions.
I will now call on Hon. Abayomi Maiyegun to please comment on the Address of the President, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Hon. Abayomi Maiyegun (Lagos Island): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Distinguished Colleagues, the Presidential Address is a beautiful one on paper and as we all know, we have all heard many beautiful speeches in this country. What we expect from the President is to back it up with action. From all indications, we have been seeing actions which are quite commendable. We just hope and pray he will continue with these actions.
The particular area I want to comment on is in respect of the true federalism which the President has talked about. If we really want to have true federalism in this country, it is my humble view that we have to start from the fundamental document which is to bind us together in this country and that is the Constitution. A lot of issues are in this Constitution which are not in' consonance with the spirit of true federalism and that is the area where I want to urge all Members of this honourable House
and Members of the Senate if there is any way we can interact with them in this area to have a look at his document which is to rule us in this country.
The President talked about education, agriculture and so on. These are areas which I believe, if we are truly prepared to operate true federalism, the Federal Government should not have any direct involvement. These are constitutional matters which will require the amendment of the Constitution or this House passing certain legislation that will make those areas the responsibilities of the States and Local Government.
The President did tell us again in his address that he is going to put before us a Bill on corruption. It is my view that we have more than enough laws in this land today that tackle corruption if only we are serious as a people of this great nation to move it forward by aligning ourselves to the rules and be governed by the laws and orders of this country. The Criminal Code is there. The provisions contained in the Code on corruption are sufficient to try any offender except the President has any special laws he wants to present before this honourable House by way of amending the provisions of the Criminal Code.
Thank you, very much.
Hon.(Dr.) Esio O. Udoh (Oron/Mbo/Okobo/Udung Uko/Udung Offong Oruko):
Hon. Speaker Sir, I have a point of correction. Mr. Speaker Sir, honourable Members of this House, I will urge the Speaker to please listen to this correction on the President's speech. We are very conscious of dates because posterity will not forgive us if in, a presidential speech history is distorted. If you look at page 2 of the presidential speech on
Reconciliation, it is stated in the first paragraph that: in the early 50's , the founding fathers of our nation recognised the imperatives of federalism with the Richard's Constitution.
Let us put it clear that the Cliford's Constitution was made in 1922 the Richard's Constitution was made in 1946, the Macpherson's Constitution was made in 1954 and the Independence Constitution came in 1960.
Therefore, if they are talking about the 50's they must make reference to Macpherson's Constitution and not Richard's Constitution. If they are talking about 1940's they can then make reference to Richard's Constitution
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Abayomi Sheba (Okitipupa/Irele): Mr. Speaker, as was said by the first speaker, Mr. President's speech was a very beautiful one. My comment will be on part of the measures proposed by Mr. President in breathing life to the economy of the country. As noted by Mr. President, he said he is planning to rationalise some bloated public institutions as one of the measures to be taken by his Administration to curb extra-budgetary spending. We had experiences of rationalisation of public institutions which later lead to mass unemployment of people. As peoples' representatives, I will enjoin this House to ensure that there must be a provision for alternative employment for whoever is affected by the rationalisation exercise. '
Thank you.
An Hon. Member: Mr. Speaker Sir, I know I have not been called upon I am doing a calculation of the time the earlier speakers have done, if we continue this way, there is no way we can finish this exercise in ten days. We may probably spend the whole Session discussing Mr. President's Speech. I am suggesting that you keep some time frame. Besides, I do not think it is absolutely necessary that every Member is called upon should say something. There are other matters that we have to discuss. We cannot possibly be discussing Mr. President's Speech in ten days.
Thank you, very much.
Mr. Speaker: Actually, we have two minutes for each speaker.
Hon. Salihu Abdulkareem (Adavi/Okehi): Mr. President's Speech no doubt is a good one and I am highly impressed about what he said on reconciliation. The basic component for reconciliation is good governance. So I will urge the
government in the current dispensation to encourage good governance because that will ensure proper reconciliation.
He also spoke on the measures to be taken on International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. I expect them to come up with well-thought out policy in this direction. He also spoke about the Solid minerals development, I also expect the Government to come up with a very comprehensive policy for the development of solid minerals in this country.
He also spoke on the issue of petroleum particularly as we have problems with distribution and I think that at the appropriate time, I hope we shall take measures to control this and to see what we can do to ensure proper procurement and distribution of the product in this country. What he said about the Universal free Primary Education is a welcome development and I hope this government will do something to ensure this is put into practice. Thank you.
Hon. Abiodun Samuel (Ijumu/Kabba Bunu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Presidential speech is as good as one would expect. He touched on all aspects of daily lives in this country.
My comment is on the expenditure side of the speech. Part of the problem we have today is that we are spending much more than we are earning and that brings about the deficit expenditure. I will want this honourable House to encourage Mr. President to de-emphasise this deficit spending and this can be done by reducing our expenditure at the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG).
Coming to internal spending, I will want a situation whereby Mr. President will empower the Audit Department to inculcate into their programme
a pre-audit of all government expenditure so that some of these loopholes that are being used by the officials to siphon government money are blocked. Thank you.
Hon. Abubakar Bello Moriki (Shinkafi Zurmi): The area I want to comment on is the transportation
system in Nigeria. It is a means of communication in Nigeria be it road, air or water. Whatever we decide is the pattern of the system of roads, once there is no effective supervision in the carrying our of contracts given to contractors, we are bound to fail.
Thank you.
Hon. Emenike A. Amadi (Ekwere/Emohuo): On the comment on Mr. President's Address; it is a beautiful one. My comment and suggestion is as follows. First is on the issue of unity and faith. I should say that the Nigerians must be inspired by good governance on the principle of unity and faith to practice philosophy. that is based on a common goal as one nation. Another thing on the unity and faith, is that the National Assembly should enact a law that will entrench National Orientation Agency into the Constitution whose duty shall among other things include the inculcation in Nigerians the need of corporate existence as well as a democratic awareness and courage capable of fighting bad governance and aberration in our body politic.
Mr. President talked about the reconciliation on page two. In reconciliation I should think that the imbalance that had occurred over the years in such areas should be looked into.
(1) Reconciliation. I should think that the imbalance that has occurred over the years in such areas as military appointments, political office holding, et cetera, must be re-addressed properly through a functional Federal Character Commission to give a sense of belonging to all the sections that make up the nation.
(2) Still on reconciliation. The principle of derivation should be reviewed upwards to cater for the overwhelming deterioration of the economy, social and environmental hazards that have been, suffered by the major producers of our major source of revenue. An example is the Niger Delta Area that we have been talking about which harbours the oil that contributes about 98 percent of our national revenue.
(3) Still on reconciliation. True federalism should be promoted to enhance the status of the
federating Agency units.
There is also the issue of economic recovery which Mr. President also addressed. He said that apart from reducing government expenditure through the application of such principle policies, the government should provide enabling environment for investing productivity in the economy, cottage small and medium industries should be encouraged to thrive in the rural areas so as to support the large ones.
Infrastructural development should be given urgent attention to assist them in their growth. This will encourage rural-urban growth. Any economy that is not based on productivity and services internally is bound to face the consequences of external domination.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want to talk about corruption. If we, are talking about corruption, I think its definite definitions have to be given. Corruption is the depravity and perversion by addition or alternation that is not genuine or a change for bad as well as unwholesome. Therefore, the entire national life is affected by corruption and so needs a thorough overhauling of the entire system but as a way of starting, the leadership must set a genuine example from the highest level.
Thank you, very much.
Mr. Speaker: May I appeal to Hon. Members to try as much as possible to summarise your comments on this speech. If not as one earlier Hon. Member noted, if we go up to five or six minutes, it would take ms about two months for all the Members to speak. I will now call on Hon. Adamu Abdullahi to speak. (Hon. Adamu Abdullahi not in the Chambers) May I then call on Hon. Adamu Bashiru to speak.
Hon. Bashiru Adamu (Kazaure/Roni/Gwiwa/Yankwashi): Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Deputy Speaker, Honourable Colleagues in the House, Mr. President's speech is an excellent one that touched virtually on all aspects that have been uniting or dividing us as a people since our independence. In my opinion, the bottom line is that, for this honourable House to succeed, we have to go strictly by the dictates of our new national motto which is: Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress. By this I mean, we have to be united in all aspects of our national interest and we also have to be faithful
to one another in all our transactions and understandings.
Finally, we must try to work for the peace and progress of the Nigerian nation at all times without which all indices of growth will keep on eluding this nation.
Thank you.
Hon. Adamu Musa Osuku (Lokoja/Kogi): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think Mr. President's speech is a summary of our national problem which we have to deal with in this country. Our motto is unity, faith, peace and progress, if actually it is adopted and followed religiously, I think our problem in this country will be over.
In the speech, Mr. President defined Unity to mean recognising our obligation to a common destiny and working together along the best route to that destiny. He defines Faith to imply hope and confidence in ourselves and in our future. He went on to define Peace to mean understanding and agreeing to a need for a common solution. While Progress means using what we have to look for the common good of all.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I said, the speech touches on the Unity and Faith that we have in this nation and the Peace and Progress expected. As elected Members to the National Assembly, if we adhere strictly and religiously to the motto, that is to say, if we adhere to the unity of this country, the Faith we have in this country, the Peace we needed and Progress, I think all our problems will be surmounted.
Thank you, Sir.
Hon. Adebola Lateef Alli (Akinyele/Lagelu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the motion debating Mr. President's address and while doing so, I will like to thank Mr. President for making an on-thesport assessment of the situation in Nigeria. I wish him the very best of luck and God's guidance in the big task ahead on his shoulders. Mr. President can achieve his goals if he adhere strictly to the principle of true federalism as it is entrenched in our constitution; section 14, sub-section 3 says:
The composition of the government
of the federation or any of its
agencies and the conduct of its
affairs shall be carried out in such a
manner as to reflect the federal
character of Nigeria and the need to
promote national unity and also
command national loyalty thereby
ensuring that there shall be no
predominance of persons by a few
states or from a few ethnic or other
sectional groups in that government
or any of its agencies.
If the President adheres to this Address, he will observe that the problem of Niger Delta, the problem in our parts of the country will be solved in terms of marginalisation. Because if true federalism had been adhered to, we would not have fallen to these kinds of problem.
The President also touched on food and agriculture and I will at this point call on the President to remove the Ministry of Agriculture off his cabinet and all the Ministry of Agricultural Affairs to be in the hands of States and Local Governments. This will ensure that no particular state non particular section depend on another for food. (Laughter).
If any State wants fertilizer or anything that will enhance food production, the State can handle the issue, in such a way to avoid the experience of the past whereby the government of the federation was mismanaging the affairs of agricultural
products to promote food production in some section of the States.
On the issue of Solid Minerals, the development of Solid Minerals in Nigeria can be done if only urgent steps are taken. Some foreigners who come to this country are actually carting away millions and millions of naira from the proceeds of this Solid Minerals unchecked. The government should do something urgently about it so that we can develop the Solid Minerals and more revenue can come to the government for the use of the citizenry.
Hon. Adedeji Amusa (Ijebu Ode/Odogbolu/Ijebu North-East): Mr. Speaker, Sir, my own contribution towards the debate on the President's Address is that I would like to talk on the issue of Economic Recovery
I would like to direct our attention to page 3 of Mr. President's Address. He gave us an insight on the foreign reserve as at January 1st 1999 and that what is left in the Account as at the end of May 1999 stood at 3.75 billion dollars. He made mention that as at the beginning of this year our foreign reserve was 7.1 billion dollars.
I want to advise the present government to call upon the past government so that they will be made to give account of their spending in the previous months.
The President also said in his Address that in another two weeks he will be presenting 'to this Honourable House a Bill to Fight Corruption. Again, I want to also pass across to the President that in his method of fighting corruption, I would suggest that he should start to punish the previous governments as from 1979 to the last government. They should be tried and any government that is found to have been on the corruption line should be punished.
On the issue of Education and Agriculture, previous speakers have spoken much on that and I will only add that the present government should make education and agriculture its priorities. The management of Education and Agriculture should be transferred completely to the State Government List. Thank you, Sir.
Mr. Speaker: I now call on Honourable Adedeji Suraj Inusa S. to make his contributions to the debate.
Hon. Adedeji Amusa: Mr. Speaker, Sir, that is not my name again.
Mr. Speaker: How?
Hon. Amusa: The first name I was called in the INEC Certificate was Adedeji Inusa, S. That was a mistake and I went to their office to effect the correction to Amusa. Probably they have repeated the same name.
Mr. Speaker: Does it mean that we do not have any Honourable Member with the name Adedeji Inusa, S?
(Silence)
Clerk to the House of Representatives, please sort this name out because it will count on the number of members we have in this House.
I now call on honourable Lumumba Dan Ade to speak.
Hon. Lumumba Dan Ade (Vasa Jos-North): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to comment on the issue of Transport which is on page 4 of the President's Address.
The President did say that the government is going to design and implement a New Rural Road Development Programme. My contribution is just an advise to the government that while doing that, they should take very good care that they do not have a repeat of what happened during the era we had a programme called
DIFRRI. You will recall that then a lot of money was expended and the end result was not encouraging. Most of the roads that were constructed then did not stand the test of time. In as much as I believe there is the issue of social advantage, that is the creation of employment for Nigerians, I think development of Rural Roads by direct labour is a very difficult issue. It has to be checked seriously before it is embarked on.
Another issue again on transportation is the issue of rehabilitating, modernising and expanding our Railways. In the past two or three years, we have been hearing a lot of stories about Rehabilitation of the Railways and we are quite aware that a lot of funds had been expended with no result yet. We would like to know why this has been so, because the Rehabilitation of the Railways will go a long way in saving our roads, increasing their lifespans and also improving our economy.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Adeniji T. Ademola (Iseyin/ Itesiwaju/ Kajola/ Wajowa): Mr. Speaker, Sir, having gone through the Address of Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I found that the Address is all-embracing. It is an Address that car, be regarded as a National Address. It is National in outlook because all the problems that are facing this country are well taken care of. In order not to
waste the time of this Honourable House, I would only urge us to put every machinery in motion to see that all the promises and pledges made in that Address are implemented to the letter.
I believe further that if all the promises and areas Mr. President touched in his address are implemented to the letter; the masses of this country will have every cause to give kudos to all Honourable Members of the House of Representatives.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Aderemi Ajayi (Ekiti South II): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to talk on the aspect of the President's speech on Food and Agriculture. Although, many people have spoken on this subject matter, some said, Agriculture should go to the States - I am not against this particular suggestion. But whether agriculture goes to the Federal or State Governments, we have not discussed anything about one particular issue and that is the question, of storage. What the President has said only encourages the farmers to produce more food products. But the question is, when these food products are available in excess, what do we do? In the past, when we have enough to eat, we usually throw these excess food to the bush. When we encourage our farmers to produce more food, then, something has to be done to see that the excesses are stored somewhere. This is so, because in the period of scarcity, the Federal Government should be able to release the excess food stored in the previous years to enable people have enough food to eat and sell. In this case, I am suggesting that both the Federal and State Governments should try to build storage facilities in all parts of the country so that when we have enough productions, we will be able to store them. This is what is actually happening in developed countries where excess food production is being bought by the Government and stored. Government now buys the excess products, store it so that, when we have shortage of these food stuffs, it will then release what it has previously stored. So, I am strongly suggesting that both the State and Federal Governments should be encouraged to build storage facilities all over the country.
Thank you very much.
Hon. Adedeji K. Adeshile (Ibadan NorthEast/South East): Thank you Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to say that the speech by Mr. President is quite commendable and his speech represents the thrust of this administration. I would rather want to talk about Education which I believe, Mr. President is so much concerned about. I align myself with the fears of Mr. President as to the state of Education in this country which presently is in shambles. But I must say that the measure being taken by Mr. President to address this issue, to my mind, cannot really meet the demand of the next millennium. This government, God willing, is the one that will take us into the next millennium, and there is a great expectation from the people especially in respect of education. If I may quote J. F. Kennedy, he once said that:
The problem of the world is that of ignorance and that a man may possess knowledge but he may not know.
It is in this regard that it is very imperative for the government to really invest in education so that the country may reap it in future. To this end,
I would want to say that, re-launching Free Universal Primary Education and making it compulsory alone cannot meet the demands of the next millennium. I would, rather wish to appeal to Mr. President to consider introducing a free Education at all levels and doing this, the country will be benefited.
Hon. Adeyemi Oluwole (Somolu): Thank you Mr. Speaker and fellow Colleagues for the opportunity given me to analyse the President's speech. The President's speech is, I think, a good one and a challenge to the 4th Republic. This is because going through the President's speech, you will find out that everything which could be regarded as the manifestos of the three parties are all there. Although, all the statements look open ended, I am sure that is why the National Assembly is constituted as a watchdog to check the Executive arm of Government.
In this regard, I will challenge my colleagues to really be on the watch-out for the way and manner everything addressed will be implemented: Again, I would like to speak on some aspects of the speech. Mr. President talked on durable foundation. And
when you want to analyse, going by the number of years we have been battling one another in different areas of this country, the Fourth Republic is challenged because we are Politicians and people from outside are watching us waiting to know the kind of legacy we will leave behind. So I challenge my colleagues to endeavour and strive such that history will not be repeated and so Politicians be seen in the light as champion of good government.
The other thing is that, on the other extreme end, we have the military. How do we keep them permanently in the barracks? I thought of an idea which I think my colleagues and Senators should address urgently and that is, entering a pact with the United Nations. For Nigeria to remain in the comity of Nations, we need a military pact wherein if the military; dares to come back, we will have assistance from the outside because of the pact we have entered with them. Another thing is restructuring the Federation. When you have the country re-structed, those things which cause conflicts and series of agitations can be reduced.
I now look at reconciliation. On reconciliation, where Mr. President is talking of true Federalism, I would really want us to familiarize ourselves with our Constitution. In that area, we have to address the issue of revenue sharing formula. There is a body which has been constituted in the time past, all we have to do as Members of National Assembly is to oversee what they are doing and make sure that it is in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Thank you.
Hon. Austin Adiele Opara (Port Harcourt II): Mr. Speaker, Sir, please I want to say that my surname is omitted there. Opara is my surname.
Mr. Speaker, honourable Members, like others have said, the President's speech is a beautiful one but I believe that there are more to it than we see on paper. By way of suggestion, I think that by the time the Standing Committees would have been set up, each Committee should please look at this Report as it affects the Committee and come up with a position. This is because, like I said, there are more to it.
I want to quickly take up one aspect which is on petroleum. All of us are living witnesses of the problems we went through last year as it affects fuel scarcity. We are enjoying the leverage now because the major marketers went into importation of fuel and recently they have been threatening to stop importation of fuel because they are losing three Naira per litre of fuel imported due to the fall in the value of Naira. Again, our refineries are not functional. Turn Around Maintenance was made for the Kaduna Refinery but the refinery is still not operational. It breaks down often because the company that installed that refinery bidded for the Turn Around Maintenance but the maintenance was given to another company that does not know the position of it and that is a problem there.
The Warri Refinery we all know is down. The Port Harcourt Refinery is operating below capacity. If the problem we had last year reoccurs this year,
I am sure that most Members would not sit here because we will be out looking for fuel. So, I think, again that the issue of Petroleum needs urgent attention.
I could hear an honourable Member saying that Warri Refinery is not down but I can say that it is not operating up to its installed capacity. So, that is the aspect I think that needs urgent attention.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Adokiye Young-Harry (Akuku-Toru/AsariToru): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members, I just want to make a brief remark on the President's speech. The address basically covers the governmental and the crude part of our body politics. In the aspect of Petroleum which I want to delve into, the President rightly said that Petroleum is the mainstay of this country and all the consequences of this exploration and exploitation of this product which is the singular revenue earner must be addressed. Whether we like it or not, even in our bedrooms, we must address this issue of petroleum. This is due to the fact that every bye product of petroleum is useful to our own environment but what the President did not make as a topical issue when he was addressing this august gathering is the environment where this petroleum products are coming from. Today, alone we have
heard what happened in Warri. Tomorrow, we are going to hear about barytes mining in the North. We have problems with management of
effluents that come out from petroleum products. We have problems with dredging, sandfilling and erosion in Niger Delta, particularly in Delta State, that destroy the eco-system. These issues are environmentally very unfriendly. If the President can mention the environmental effects of the problems of the Niger Delta in Brazil, I think it would have been proper for him to at least make in a topical issue to mention the problems of our environment in the whole federation because I know very well that the dead man does not talk. We have to live and see tomorrow before we can protect and get what we want.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, at this point I would want us to at any point in time when we are discussing issues of Petroleum, we should not forget that of our environment and especially the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report of every project that is going to be carried out in this Federation. We are going to witness the Niger/Delta dredging very soon, we do not know the implications of the EIA Report, we do not know the implications of the effects on the downstream in Rivers State. When you dredge, you have destroyed the eco-system. So, I will want us to discuss the environmental issues involved any time we are discussing Petroleum.
Thank you.
Hon. Agbeotu E. Emibra (Burutu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am an environmentalist by training. Actually, I would like to speak on just Petroleum alone for now. Like my Honourable Colleague talked on policy statements addressed by the President of the country, actually, these have been the things that have been causing the problems within the Niger Delta area. You are talking about procuring Petroleum Products, you are talking about engaging in exploration and exploitation activities, these things no doubt have serious impact on the environment. Yes, government has acknowledged the fact that the area is being neglected. Now that we know that the area is being neglected, why do we not talk of something that we need to do to this environment? I am talking of rehabilitating the environment.
There is this saying that a hungry man is an angry man. When you destroy People's environment, you destroy the means with which people live from. People get their living from the work they, undertake from the forests;: the seas and the land. Once these resources are degradated, the peopie will not have the means to live again:
What they do is to resort to what they can take to earn living.
If you look at the address critically, you will see that government is talking 'about getting the petroleum from the place but nothing is done to restore the environment that will be subsequently degraded. This somehow limits the aspect of solid minerals. When we talk of environmental degradation, it is not limited to the Niger/Delta area alone. Go to the matter of solid minerals. In the North, these things are being dug out, you end up degrading the land resources. In the North again, there is desert encroachment. Something needs to be done to rehabilitate those areas. So, precisely my speech is directed to that of restoring or rehabilitating the resources of those environment from which we get enough resources to live. That is
my submission, Sir, Thank you.
Hon. Patrick Orok Agbor (Akamkpa/Biose): Mr. President's address is a beautiful one. I pray that it is not like the messages that used to follow martial music to entice people.
This one is a well conceived message and I see it as: a challenge to this Honourable House.
Mr. President has carefully taken pains to enumerate those factors that have caused all the unrests in the country. If we assist him to implement all that he has put down, I believe that our problems will be solved. At the end of it, the people we are representing will have a reason to return us to this house.
The President talked about reconciliation. As I said, if we implement what is put down on page 2 then we should think out measures of making sure that nobody is marginalized again in this country. I do not think there will be any complaint.
On page 4, he talked about Food and Agriculture. Our goal is with food security. I hear Hon. Members talking about Petroleum
as our main mineral. Prior to independence there was no petrol. Our problem is monetization. Everything that will bring quick money is what we go for. Prior to independence, everybody depended on Agriculture. The University of Nsukka, I can say was built out of agricultural proceeds and we have the Cocoa House in the West. So this House should in a space of four years make sure that we follow what Mr. President has put down as means of solving our Food problems or Agricultural problems. We should make sure that Agriculture takes its first place again in this country as our source of
revenue.
Hon. Agidani Solomon (Apa/Agatu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have read through the President's address and I am quite impressed with all that it contains. However, I want to make one or two remarks. First is the fact that I have a strong feeling that the rural population of this country has been overexploited. One,
because all of us seated here today have had to go and canvass for votes from the rural areas for us to be here and not many of us are rural settlers.
Number two, is that, we have had to derive most of our proceeds from the rural areas without much returns to the people. To that
extent, I want to commend the President's address on page 4 which touches on Food and Agriculture and he mentioned specifically, Food Security, and directly
linked, to Food Security is Price Security. The farmer who raises all the efforts on his own to produce food, does not have to expose himself to demand and supply antics of the economy. I think the farmer is entitled to some protection from Government. So, I would want to suggest two
levels of subsidy on agriculture. That is subsidy on inputs and subsidy on pricing.
Then number two is Rural Infrastructure. I think an Hon. Member mentioned DFRRI and all other projects that have taken place by previous governments. We have two basic classes of roads. We have the Federal Road that uses bitumen asphalt surfacing and then we have the
Rural Roads that uses laterite. I imagine that for the Rural Roads, for them to be able to stay for one or two seasons, they will need to
return the Public Works Department because there is no Rural Road that you can use laterite
to fill that would last more than one rainy season without adequate maintenance. So, I want to suggest that while we want to encourage linking up on Rural Roads, we' should also attempt to back the Public Works Department.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Emmanuel Aguariavwodo (Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want us to take the speech that the President came to make here very seriously. He has told us what he wants to do and I want to appeal to my Hon. Colleagues to support the President in his efforts at reshaping and revamping the country as a whole. The first thing we must take seriously is the statement that as much as we have rejoiced together in times of triumph, let us reconcile our misunderstanding in times of, disappointment. This is very 'important. For instance in the Delta area where I come from, this statement is very apt. Let us come together, we are one and the same people. I want this statement by the President to be taken as one of our cardinal points that must be remembered at all times when we are dealing with each other in everything that we do.
I move to the second part of my comment. This relates to the figures he gave to us, as deficits and foreign exchange reserve situation. We just see these huge and big figures, there are no explanation and breakdown as to how these figures were come about. He has talked about transparency in everything that this Government is going to do. So I would expect that when these figures are mentioned, let the Executive branch tell us how these figures came about. We want to be able to know what happened and at what point in time this money was expended and on what so that we can form an opinion which will be of help to Nigerians.
Thirdly, some of my colleagues have talked about Petroleum, and this is very important. Whether we like it or not, Petroleum will continue to be the mainstay of this country for sometime to come and in any aspect of industry we must make progress. The President has talked about enhancing serious private ventures and efforts towards encouraging investments to expand exploration activities and development of new oil fields. I want to say that
this should be taken seriously by the Government so that private individuals who want to invest in the oil industry will have the opportunity to do so within the shortest possible time because this industry today in Nigeria is going down. There is a need for new injection of capital, particularly in the upstream sector where there are opportunities for Nigerians to invest in marginal fields which are held by these oil companies at this point in time. So, if there are laws that we need to make or the President wants us to make, he can send it to us so that Nigerians can invest in this sector. We appeal to him to do so within the shortest possible time.
The President has spoken on joint ventures. I want to appeal that Government should not spend too much money on new joint ventures at this point in time as money needs to he free and to be spent on education and other sectors of the economy that need attention.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Abdul Ahmed Ningi (Ningi/Warri): Mr. Speaker of the House, distinguished Hon. Members, the President's address is a well articulated theory and we must commend the President for giving us his views in theory.
Honourable Members, this country is not in shortage of seeing this beautiful vision in theory, they have seen a lot of. them but the country has not moved forward. The issue before us is
practicalizing and actualizing these visionary theories and we would wait and see how Mr. President and Members of the National Assembly will tackle these problems with particular reference to the much talked-about corruption and true federalism.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Maiwada Ahmed (Birnin Gwari/Jiwa): Mr. Speaker, Sir, having gone through the President's speech, I really find it to be very beautiful and it is really going to be good for Nigerians but as past leaders have been giving us speeches, you would see that a good leader would prepare a very nice and sweet speech that sooner or later, not even half of it has been implemented. However, we hope with this present administration, all what has been said would
be implemented. If all that was said in the speech are implemented, it is, really going to be good for Nigerians:
So, we pray to Allah for God's guidance in order to bring about peace and stability in Nigeria. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Hon. (Engr) Yinusa Yahaya Ahmed (Edu Moro/Paiegi): Mr. Speaker Sir, honourable Members of the House, I will like to join my Honourable colleagues in congratulating the President for his beautiful and comprehensive address presented to this Honourable House, and I will also appeal to Honourable Members to please support the President in achieving his objectives. In addition, I will like to call on Mr. President, to please look into the issue of unstable power supply in this country which has contributed negatively to our economy:
Secondly, other public utilities should also be looked into. For instance, as we are here now, no toilet is functioning. When you go round to find out the cause, all they are telling us is that since about three days ago there has been no water here. For how long are we going to continue in this type of situation? So, I will like to call on the President to please look into the problem of our public utilities as a matter of urgency.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Eno Sampson Akpan (Ukananfun/Urukana): Mr. Speaker and honourable Members, my comment on the address of the President will begin with the issue of corruption'.. I do not know how the President can achieve his drive on corruption if he starts with us. I remember vividly the so-called Environmental Sanitation Agency. Since they started making it compulsory by restricting movements of people between 7.00 and 9.00 a.m., the thing has ended up making people to stay in their houses and sleep. But if the leadership of this country is ready to demonstrate the will-power and lead by example,' it should take such steps by adequately compensating good works done. For example, when I was a Local Government Chairman, my basic salary was N 3,000.00 (three
Thousand naira) a month which is not sufficient. You now, have a Minister earning N10,000.00
(ten thousand naira) a month, It is not sufficient. People should be adequately, :compensated.
Are you talking about giving inputs, to farmers? These inputs will be contracted out here in Abuja and supplied at the Local Government level, whereas Co-operative Societies at Local Government levels know the needs of their specific areas and they can best do it. This way, the issue of corruption can be reduced.
No amount of tender Committees, because members of these tender committees are made
up of Nigerians, can satisfy this issue of fighting corruption unless the practitioners are ready to take positive steps of turning around our parastatals. On education, I want to announce to Members of the House that up till this moment, it is only the Local Government that finances primary education in this country. States and Federal Governments have since abdicated that responsibility. I want to call on the Federal Government to dissolve with immediate effect if I may borrow the military language, that institution called National Primary Education Commission (NPEC). That institution will be a disturbance to this Administration. If Local Governments should run Primary Education, the Federal Government should assist them in capacity building, development and allocating adequate funds to assist them.
So, Mr. Speaker, I believe Mr. President should also call on our foreign friends, because they know where some of these monies are. Some people might have died and and left them in the bank accounts. Let them return these monies to us.
Thank you.
Hon. Moses Akuha Tor Gbande (Kwande/Ushongo): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Deputy Speaker and fellow Members, just like my other colleagues have said, Mr. President's speech is a very good one. It is a balanced speech. It touched on all the problems that we have in this country, I believe, and some of the fundamental issues that have been plaguing this nation. I believe that the
economic recovery, which touched on, is very basic to the problems we have today because that is the root cause of all the ancillary problems we have. If he can talk on the recovery of the economy, then, that will spread and we will, therefore, be solving all other antecedent problems as well.
I was delighted that Mr. President did mention figures particularly of t, he foreign reserves that we have and how they have been depleted since January. What has been bordering, my mind and I am sure the minds of my other colleagues is, to what use have these depleted foreign reserves been put? I am in support of the point made by one of my colleagues that the present government should seek to know to what use these foreign reserves have been put just within the period of about five months.
The programmes on food and agriculture to my mind, I am particularly delightful but I will urge Mr. President to go a step further on agricultural
inputs. There is no way that we. cannot produce more rood in this country if the inputs are not subsidized by the. government. I will, therefore, strongly
appeal to Mr. President to make sure that inputs are delivered directly to farmers and that they,
are subsidized. The resent cost of a bag of fertilizer of about N1,000.00 is too
high for an ordinary farmer to purchase.
Mr. President has correctly addressed us` and that we should Join him in this
crusade in the fight to stabilize democracy: I want to throw this as a challenge to all of us that Mr. President has extended his hand and we should accept the invitation to join him to gee that we correct, all the ills in this country.
In summary, It was a very good speech and as others have already pointed out, we have to live to see to its implementation. It is actually the implementation of the programmes that have been set down that we should look forward to.
I urge all of us to join Mr. President in this crusade.
Thank you.
Hon. F. O. Aladejebi (Ekiti South I): Mr. Speaker, Hon. Members, may I join my colleagues
in congratulating Mr. President beautiful speech. I will quickly mention four areas that Mr. President spoke ahout. He talked about reconciliation and he noted, if I may quote him. The persistent
failure of Central government to meet the hopes and aspirations of the people had caused frustration and despair: In the absence of a trustworthy, transparent and just Central authority usually they are the victim as suspect, the other being the oppressor: He even asked who is the oppressor?
It is not the question of one ethnic group or the other oppressing the other. Our problem is simply that we have failed to follow the guidelines of true . federalism. Where you do not define powers that should be allocated to State, Local Government and federal Government, when a despot or a dictator takes over power, the next thing is that he collects all the power and behaves arbitrarily. I, agree that democracy is a good weapon at throwing at bay this dictatorial tendency, but even if we practice democracy and we do not define powers that should go to the State and to the Federal as it is, done, all over the world where true federalism is practiced, no amount of reconciliation can help us because we do
not know. tomorrow.
I do not pray that, we have another dictator, as we have witnessed in the past. I call on Mr,, President to please, in the name of all that is good; to bring a comprehensive hill so that we may have a Constitution that reflects true, federalism. I do not know why people are afraid of the State Police or why people are afraid that education should' go to where it belongs, and that is the State. I will quickly remind my
Hon. Members that in theyears past when Ahmed Belle. University was founded by the then Northern Region Government and the Obafemi Awolowo University
(then University of Ife) was by the Western Region and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka was by the Eastern Region these three
University, were competitiog in a way we all loved. All of a sudden, the central, government came around and took over all the institutions.
What did we see then? Everything collapsed. So; there is joy in competition. (Applause)
Thank you.
All of a sudden the central government came around and started taking over all the cities; what we saw then was that everything collapsed: So, there is joy in competition and this
is a reflection of true federalism.
The President also talked about transportation whereby he said that an inefficient transport system leads to stagnation. What I want to say on this is that there is no equity as regards construction of federal roads.
We must bring equity so that all sections of our society will have very good road network. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker: Honourable Members, I think we should suspend the debate here till tomorrow morning. Before the adjournment, I have the following announcements to make.
Constitution of Ad-hoc Committee on Niger Delta Crisis
Mr. Speaker: With reference to the resolution passed by this honourable House, an ad-hoc Committee on the Niger Delta situation has been constituted and its membership include:
Hon. (Engr) A. Efekodha
Hon. (Barr.) Temi Hariman
Hon. Gabriel M. Dumi
Hon. Emibra E. Agbeotu
Hon. Ojo Samuel Abiodun
Hon. Hassan Kiryo Yabo
Hon. Awwal D. Tukur
Hon. Oladipo K. Olaitan
Hon. Abdulkadir Usman
Hon. Emmanuel A. Aguariavwodo, and
Hon. Andy Clement.
The Clerk of the House of Representatives will provide a Secretary for this Committee and it shall be chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Hon Chibudom Nwuche.
We will just take two more comments and then, we go.
Observations
Standing Orders for Hon. Members
Hon. (Dr) Jerry Sonny Ugokwe (Idemili North/ Idemili South): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I just want to make very quick observations. The first; I want to observe that yesterday the Clerk of the House said he was going to issue us with the 1993 Standing Orders which will help its In running this House. We have trot received it yet; so we do not know what rules we are using.
Need for Decorum in the House
The second observation; if appears to me that there is a lot of disrespect far the office of the Speaker of this House. Whichever rules you took at,
it will tell you that there are some decorum that have to he observed in the House. One of such is that when a Member is crossing where the mace is in front of the Speaker, that Member should pay obeisance to the Chair.
Sitting Arrangement in the House
Third; I also wish to observe that the kind of sitting arrangement we have here in this House is not what it should be. What we have is a kind of theatre sitting arrangement which does not give most of us the opportunity to even find a place to keep our papers or to even properly write. This is the first House I see that has this type of sitting arrangement. We are not here to watch cinema. We are here to do some serious work and I would like this issue to be taken up and this sitting arrangement be corrected so that we have table-tops where we can properly place our hands and do some writing.
Proper Timing of Debates
Finally; Mr. Speaker, Sir, it appears to me that in the discussions we have been having on the President's speech, the Clerk of the House is not properly timing Members and so, you find some Members speaking for five to six minutes. In that case, I do not think that if we continue like that, we would finish this in ten days.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Bello Mohammed (Akko): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Honourable Members, I think the motion has to do with Ward Crisis and not Niger Delta. Please take note.
Mr. Speaker: Actually, the Clerk of the House has just drawn my attention to it. Thank you. May I call on the Deputy Speaker to move the motion for adjournment.
ADJOURNMENT
The Deputy Speaker: Mr. Speaker, Sir, Honourable Members, I wish to move that this Honourable House do stand adjourned till l0. a.m. tomorrow morning.
Hon. Olabode Mustapha (Abeokuta North/ Odeda/ Obafemi Owode): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I hereby second the motion for adjournment till 10 o'clock tomorrow morning:
Question put and agreed to
Resolved. That the House do stand adjourned till 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.
The House adjourned accordingly at 1.00 p.m.