NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATES
FOURTH ASSEMBLY
FIRST SESSION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OFFICIAL REPORT
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Wednesday, 16th June, 1999
The House met at 10.10 a. m.
PRAYERS
(Mr. Speaker in the Chair)
OATHS
Mr. Speaker: Good morning, Hon. Members. If there is any Member that has not taken his Oath, please, come forward so that the Clerk will administer the Oath. (No Response)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Meeting of all PDP Members
Mr. Speaker: Here is an announcement. There will be a meeting of all PDP Members immediately after this Session. The Venue is the Committee Room beside this Chamber. The announcer is the PDP Chief Whip.
Meeting of all APP Members
There will be a brief meeting of all APP Members of the House at the usual Committee Room immediately after this Session.
Meeting of all Members of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Nigerian Union of Teachers.
All Members of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Nigerian Union of Teachers are to meet at the Lobby behind this Hall at 10.30 this morning. They will be having a meeting with the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education at 11.00 this morning.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS
Mr. Speaker: I have examined and approved the Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 15th June, 1999.
NOTICE OF MOTION
Warri crisis
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, there is only one motion on Notice on the Order Paper. It will be listed for debate upon maturity and that is the Motion on Warri Crisis.
MATTER OF URGENT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Protection of lives and Property in the North-East and North-West Zones of Nigeria
Hon. (Dr.) Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan (Bade/ Jakusko): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Colleagues, I stand here to present a matter of urgent public importance. Sequel to the debates on the protection of lives and property in the North-East and NorthWest Zones of Nigeria, yesterday, I received urgent telephone calls from my Constituency that the situation there and indeed in the two zones has deteriorated.
The armed bandits and herdsmen known as Tlubuwa or Uduwa are still threatening to strike as they did before. Already, Jawur Lamba and Jawur Kaya villages, both in Jakusko Local Government Area of Yobe State, have been burnt to ashes. The story is the same in Gombe State where the village of Laushi Daji and the village of Gujba all in Akko Local Government Area were burnt.
In Jigawa State, the village head of Zugo in Guri Local Government was brutally murdered and Malinta village was also burnt. In Katsina State, the villages of Sheme and Ruwan Godiya, all in Faskari Local Government Area, were similarly burnt. Mr. Speaker, Sir, distinguished honourable Colleagues, in view of these widespread destruction of lives and property, I humbly implore this honourable House to passionately consider and accept the following:
i. That the situation be declared as a National Emergency;
Ii. Well-equipped security forces should be deployed to the affected areas to restore and maintain peace and security;
Ill. Relief materials should be provided immediately to the victims; and
Iv. An Ad-Hoc Committee be set up to investigate and recommend further measures to be taken and report same to this honourable House.
Thank you very much for your attention. (Applause)
Mr. Speaker: Is there any comment on this?
Hon. (Dr.) Jerry Sonny Ugbokwe (Idemili North/Idemili South): Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Members, I agree with most of the issues that are presented by my honourable Colleagues. However, I think this House should try and get away from this issue of Ad-Hoc, Ad-Hoc Committee. I think we are having too many of them. It is time for this House to properly constitute Committees and get away from short-gun approach to issues.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Its Enang (Ita/Ibiono Ibon): Mr. Speaker, Sir, only yesterday this honourable House passed a resolution and I am not aware that the resolution has been communicated to the appropriate quarters for action. Mr. Speaker, I am of the view that it Is only after that has been communicated and , a response. heard that this House can revisit the issue. I am of the opinion that this House having taken that resolution as a Legislative body has the functus officio and the matter now passes to the jurisdiction of the Executive. It is only when they fail or not done anything or the action taken is not sufficient to redress the situation that we can revisit that matter.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, before a matter can be listed or can be heard as a matter of urgent public importance, there ought to be a provislon in the Order Paper that that matter would be heard and addressed as a matter of urgent public importance of which the Rules and Business Committee or the Speaker of the House ought to have been given notice of it. It will not be fair and it is not in the interest of the Legislative Procedure of this House that when Mr. Speaker calls for an item on the Order Paper to be addressed and calls an hon. Member whom he wants to move the motion, then another Member stands up and interject - I am not saying this to underplay the importance of the Issue raised but, Mr. Speaker, this may amount to an abuse of the Legislative process.
This is my contribution. Thank you, Sir.
Hon. (Barr.) Tonny Anyanwu (Ahiazu/Ezhdhite): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will like to direct this honourable House to paragraph 21 of the approved Standing Rules (1993). I will like to read it for the avoidance of doubt. Page 21 sub-paragraph 1:
The matter for discussion shall, if possible, be
referred to the Speaker before the commencement
of the day's sitting, and the Speaker shall refuse to
allow the claim unless he is satisfied that the matter
is definite and urgent.
Let me go to paragraph 2, 1 think there Is a mixup with respect to the Motion before the House:
If the claim is allowed by the Speaker and the leave
of one -fifth of all the Members of the House, the
matter should then be discussed.
I believe that the Motion before this House, is for your permission and for the leave of at least, onefifth of the quorum of all Members before this matter can then be discussed. I am directing this House to this Order. Let us, at least, see if we can grant this permission to discuss this matter. Win only then that the argument of my hon. Colleague from Idemill NorthAdemill South (Hon. (Dr). Jerry Sonny Ugbokwe) and that of my hon. Colleague from Its/Ibiono Ibom (Hon. Its Solomon Enang) will now come into play. This is my point of Order, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker: I want to make comment on this matter. Hon. Member from Bagwai/Shanono (Hon. Farouk Mohammed Lawan) met me in the Chamber before I came. Actually, he gave me his brief and unfortunately, I did not get my copy he gave me until I got to the House. He has my consent. I was duly informed of this matter of urgent public importance. If I have not been Informed, I would not have allowed this. At the same time, I will take up comments on this issue. If you have comment on this matter of urgent Public importance as presented by hon. Member from Bagwai/Shanono (Hon. Farouk Mohammed Lawan), please, we shall hear you briefly.
Hon. (AIhaji) Adams Unman Degri (Balange/Billiri): Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Colleagues, I stand before this honourable House to concur with the mover of this Motion because, having come from North-Eastern part of this country, we have had a terrible experience with regard to armed robbery, banditry and herdsmen. I will like In support of this to cite some examples of what happened before this
time.
Hon. Nwajiuba Chukwuemeka (Ehime Mbano/ Ihiteuboma/Obowo): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have a point of Order.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Chukwuemeka, what Order, please?
Hon Chukwuemeka: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am tempted to remind this honourable House that pursuant to Order 21 sub-section 2:
A Motion will not be moved. The attempt by the current speaker from Balanga/Billiri
(Hon Alhaji Adamu Usman) to try to second the Motion which has not reached the moving stage is out of Order. At the stage we are in, Mr. hon. Speaker, I actually think that, if you go through to request this hon. House to grant you one-fifth permission to move a Motion of this discourse, and then not to move this Motion, but to discuss it, it is wrong. This is because these are the wordings of the Rules that we are to comply with.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. (Dr.) Degri, please, have your seat. I will put the question.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved: That the situation be declared as a National Emergency;
ii. Well-equipped security forces should be deployed to the affected areas to restore and maintain peace and security;
iii. Relief materials should be provided immediately to the victims; and
iv. An Ad-Hoc Committee be set up to investigate and recommend further measures to be taken and report same to this honourable House.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Usman Degri, you can proceed.
Hon. (Alhaji) Adamu Usman Degri: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was on course before the hon. Member from Ehime Mbano/Ibiteuboma/Obowo
(Hon. Nwajiuba Chukwuemeka) raised a point of Order. I will like to tell this honourable house my personal experience. In the Billiri Local Government Area, we had a situation where three villages were completely burnt to ashes and where also
the men in these villages were slaughtered. The women and children ran to the Local Government headquarters in Billiri and occupied the market stalls as their homes. The Chairman and his Councillors went to Gombe to report this issue that Government did not give them adequate attention. Two days later, the women decided on their own and blocked the Federal Highways, there is a portion there called Gada Uku for three days - nobody dared cross the road. I remembered, I made an attempt to go to Billiri but it was impossible. The administrator of Taraba State came, wanted to pass but he was turned back by those women.
In addition to that, eight Policemen were killed from the fracas with those bandits and herdsmen in Billiri including the Divisional Police Officer (DPO). Similarly in Yamaltu/Deba, six policemen were killed with their DPO. Then, the government did not ask what the people wanted; maybe, they are not fully armed. These people are having sophisticated arms.
Furthermore, by October, they will send in their cattle to go and eat all cotton fields in big farms. Their cattle will eat everything before they are harvested. After harvesting guinea corn and millets, they will simply send their cattle to eat them up and if the farmers dare talk to them, they will kill them. Also, these
herdsmen on their way to whatsoever destination they are going to, of course, they are armed, will kill our local Fulani herdsmen and then join the cattle and continue moving.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, this issue is really pathetic. I believe, here, we are representing the interest of all the people in our Local Government Areas. I believe that the Federal Government will do something urgently by way of beefing up the security there as well as giving humanitarian assistance and supply of foodstuff.
I thank you.
Deputy Speaker: I wish to support the mover of this Motion. I think we should be fair. Yesterday, we nominated an Ad-Hoc Committee.
The Committee should, in essence, be able to put up and implement our resolutions. The matter Involves the loss of lives and properties. I am pleased to inform you that the Presidency
is concerned about the matter, and has welcomed our yesterday's resolution. We should, therefore, move quickly to set up an Ad-Hoc Committee to look into the matter. I also wish to announce that we do not have more than two other Ad-Hoc Committees. I do not think they are too many, and we shall fail in our duties if we do not respond to National Emergencies. I wish to call that we go ahead quickly and set up a small Ad-Hoc Committee. It
is not too much to set and I will appeal to the House to please listen to the call of our brothers from the North-East Zone quickly and adopt the issue.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Adamu Abdu Panda (A (Ajingi/Albasu/Gaya): Mr. Speaker, Sir, bon. Members, I want to comment on what one of our colleagues has said, that we have passed the Motion yesterday. The Motion that was passed yesterday is talking essentially of the problems that occurred in the North-East. We are now having problems in Jigawa, Katsina and Sokoto States. These States belong to the North-West zone of the Federation. So, in essence, it is a problem that confronts both the North-East and North-West parts of this country, and it is a very serious problem that has to be tackled now, because ninety-nine percent, of the, people that live in these areas are peasant farmers. This is the bginning of raining season and it is the only time that they can be able to plant their crops. If they do not have the security to plant now, it equally means that we are going to have a very serious food crisis in this country.
(Applause).
Thank you, very much.
Hon. Sulaiman Ishiyaku (Fika/Fune): Mr. Speaker, Sir, bon. Members, I want to apply some seriousness and urgency into this matter. People in my area are having a sense of hopefulness in government, but it seems the government Is doing nothing for them. One of the main functions of the government is to protect the citizens and their properties.
I have in mind the case of my own constituency where my home was attacked, men were killed and
some sustained Furies. Up till now, there is no sign of the government doing something about It. I want honourable Members to imagine If your sister or daughter is taken away. Do you know where she was taken to? You may think that she has been raped and might have gone through psychological torture by the armed bandits. So, I want to point out to the bon. Members of this house that this situation is -very grievious and as a matter of urgency, something has to be done.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Mike Ogar (Obonliku): Mr. Speaker, Sir, bon. Members, I feel' ashamed about the accounts again. Since yesterday we have been having discussions on this matter. This gives me the Impression that we Nigerians are so weak that anybody can step into our territories and do what they like. I will not like to associate myself with that.
Secondly, it does appear that all the countries surrounding Nigeria are aware that our armed forces have spent the last fifteen years concerning themselves more with governance than protecting our territorial integrity. I think this honourable House should draw the attention of the President to ensure that this situation is checked forthwith. We cannot allow ourselves to be carried away by emotions that can cause disharmony. It is shameful, as far as I am concerned, and we must, as a country, do something about it very soon. I
realized that this situation is obtained in Bakasi, North-West, South-East and the North-East zones, so it is the same situation on all the corners of this country.
I submit, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Matesun Olaribigbe (Amuwo-Odofin): Mr. Speaker, Sir, bon. members, like the last speaker
(hon. Mike Ogar) has said, every Nigerian should be ashamed. I do not know exactly what the Police Force are doing. If we have any report of disturbances in the Universities, they will bring arms, guns and everything. Now that we have an invasion of our territory, I am sure that whatever we are saying here is being heard everywhere in Nigeria. We have not heard any evidence here that the police has mobilised themselves and go to those troubled areas. I am waiting to hook them when
their bill comes to this House, (laughter). We shall do justice to it because anybody who invests must reap the profit thereafter. We do not know exactly what our police force' are doing.
Secondly, I will want this House to appeal to the President' now that the: armies are in the barracks, but have 'their -formations living in the urban areas, in the five-star hotels be moved to our borders because part of their duties is to protect the country and the territorial Integrity of this country. What the, hell are
we doing: in Sierra-Leone when our house is on fire. (Applause)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker: Now that we have discussed the matter of urgent, public importance, I want to put the question.
Question put and agreed to
Resolved: That this House agrees that hon. Dr. Mohammed Lawan formally moves this matter of urgent public Importance as a Motion to this honourable House.
I will now call on hon. Dr. Ibrahim Lawan to formally present this matter as a Motion to this House:
Hon. Dr. lbrahim Lawan (Bade Jagusko): I stand before you to
appeal to all of us here, to support this Motion. (Interruptions).
I have already briefed some Members sufficiently about the problems in the North East and the North West. I would, therefore, humbly move the Motion that this House
agrees with what I have submitted earlier.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker: I will direct the Deputy Clerk to meet you now -so that you will draw up the Motion in a better way. Meanwhile, we will go on with other items on the Agenda. Do not forget, hon. Members, that I said' we are all in the process of learning.
Hon. Augustine U. Obozuwa (Etsako East/Etsako West/Etsako Central): I. have a Point of Information.
Mr. Speaker: What is the point of information?
Hon. Augustine U. Obozuwa: The point of information before the motion is properly dressed up, we must take cognisance of section 305 of the Constitution on the procedure for declaration of state of emergency because the mover spoke of declaration of emergency in the States. Declaration of a state of emergency involves a lot and we must think twice before we ask the President to declare a state of emergency. These issues can be tackled by the police, the security agencies of the Government without asking the President to declare a state of emergency, because the state of emergency can involve the non- performance - of the executive Governor of that State. It could involve nonfunctioning of the Legislature, because it takes the prerogative of the President to declare what form the state of emergency would take and communicate same to the Speaker and Senate President for ratification by the two Houses. So we should be very careful about asking the President to declare a state of emergency. It has a meaning in the constitution. That is the point of information.
Mr. Speaker: I will draw the attention of this honourable House that this is a notice of urgent public importance which
is different from the actual Motion that he is going to present. If he states that as part of his Motion, it means that we will discuss the Motion before we pass it, then we can discuss the Motion. But this is just for information sake. These are recommendations on, his Information, and that is why I said he should liaise with the Deputy Clerk for them to fashion out a Motion. If it does appear as the Motion then we will
debate it.
Thank you, very much.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Meeting of Members of the Ad-hoc committee on Teachers Strike.
Mr. Speaker: Members of the Ad-hoc Committee on Teachers Strike have a meeting with the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education. You are excused. You can meet at the lobby and go from there.
MOTION
Congratulatory Message
Hon. Members the Motion on the Order Paper is standing in the name of Hon. Olusegun Damiro who I now call to move his Motion:
Hon. Olusegun Damiro (Mushin Il): Mr. Speaker Sir, Deputy Speaker, distinguish Member of this House; I want to move this Motion of a Congratulatory Message in the Order Paper.
In view of the successful conduct of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections resulting in the emergence of Mr. Thabo Mbeki as the
President-elect of the Republic of South Africa; this House do send a congratulatory message to the President-elect and the
entire people of South. Africa on the successful conduct of that election.
I beg to move.
Hon.Olabode Mustapha (Abeokuta North/Odeda/Obafemi Owode): I rise to second.the Motion by hon.Olusegun Damiro that a Congratulatory Message be sent by this House to President Thabo Mbeki.
Hon. Olusegun Damiro: Mr. Speaker, Sir I stand to discuss the Motion that I have just read. I would say that during the apartheid regime' period, our country stood by the ANC very much. We supported them and they too appreciated our efforts. During our own trouble in the past couple of years they in turn supported us. They made all necessary efforts to ensure that we ate where we are today and as such, I thought it wise that we should congratulate that same country. This is the second time that they will hold a democratic election successfully and install a democratic government. I would, therefore, say that this honourable House do congratulate the people of south Africa.
Hon. Olabode Mustapha: Mr. Speaker, Sir, as the seconder of the Motion on the Floor, I believe that it is pertinent like the mover has said, to recognise the role that the immediate past President of South Africa, President Mandela, played in the attempt at enthroning democracy and resolving the crisis in Nigeria during the last but , one military regime. Also, the President-elect who will be sworn-in in
South Africa; used to represent the ANC in Nigeria as an ambassador in those years. He worked very closely at that time; some 25 odd years ago with our President General Olusegun, Obasanjo. In view of the contributions of these two gentlemen
vis-à-vis Nigeria in what happened in South Africa and In view of the role they played during our crisis period, I do believe that it
behooves this honourable House to share in their time of Joy with them.
Hon. Enwerenzor Eze. A. (Aba North/Aba South): Mr. Speaker, Sir, the historical facts being tabled here are well-known and nobody is in doubt. But my confusion is that when the President of Nigeria sends a message on behalf of himself, the government and the people of Nigeria, do we as Members of parliament send our own separate message? Is that not contradicting or a kind of anomaly between what the President has done on our behalf?
Hon. Itaka Ineke Frank (Idah/Igalamela/ Odolu/Ilaji/Ofu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I believe strongly that the time of friendship has no limitation. The fact that we have been friendly with the Republic of South Africa for quite sometime now shows that, whenever they have the cause to rejoice, we should also share the same joy with them. I know very well just as Hon. Member said that the President of South Africa visited us here some few weeks back and it is a show of love, particularly when the two great countries are referred to as the big brothers of Africa. So, I want to agree totally that this Hon. House can also reach out to our counterparts, even if it Is not to the President of the Republic of South Africa but to the National Assembly of South Africa, expressing our happiness for their survival in the process of democracy. This is the second time they are having such experience. I also pray and believe that they, in their own desire, will pray for us to continue In that manner. So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I believe that it is proper that we send the congratulatory message to the newly elected President of South Africa, Mr. Thabo Mbeki.
Thank you.
Hon. Salihu Abdulkareem (Adavi/Okehi): I want to disagree with the last speaker that It is time for us to send congratulatory message to the Parliament of
the Republic of South Africa. The parliament has not been constituted and I do not think we have an appropriate body to communicate with. So, I feel that since the President is there to honour the inauguration of the new President, that is quite enough. I think this House has got more serious business to do than to go into politics. I, therefore, want to say that there is no point for us to decide that we send a message of congratulations to the President of South Africa.
Thank you.
Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba (Ehire Mbano/Ihitenboma/Obomo): Mr. Speaker, my hon. Colleagues, the last speaker has just told us that the Parliament has not been constituted. The Parliament in South Africa has actually been inaugurated. The procedure in South Africa is such that the President-elect is also a Member of their Parliament. Also, I wish to point to the Motion here which said something of the President-elect. As at today, that is anomalous because the President would have been sworn in by this time. Then, it will be out of place for anybody to say if president Olusegun Obasanjo sends congratulatory message to president Thabo Mbeki, the Parliament of Nigeria should send to their Parliament and the Nigerian Police should send to their Police, the Judiciary should send to their Judiciary.
(Applause)
Mr. Speaker, hon. Members, it will do us a lot of good to heed the advice that we were given yesterday by Hon. Ayu, that we, in respect to your views yesterday, should have a stage here to express our views that concern us. We must not turn ourselves into frivolous-seeking item makers. We must have a national discourse.
Mr. Speaker: Please, mind your language.
Hon. Nwajiuba: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, please, let us be more serious in what we discuss. I think we should follow what the President has done. If we want to send message of congratulations and the President has already done that, I-. think we should follow what he has done.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker: Thank you for your information.
Hon. N.C. Ughanze (Oyi/Ayamelu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, my contribution to this Motion is very simple. I seem to be. inclined to the opinion that what this Motion seeks to achieve has been overtaken by events. By that, I mean that the President of this country in the person of President Olusegun Obasanjo, is now in South Africa on behalf of the people of Nigeria, to be part of the swearing in of the President of that country and he is there on behalf of Nigeria to congratulate them. I do not see, as a matter of fact, any need for us to come to this House and agree or resolve to send another message. I think that will be superfluous. Mr. Speaker, may I urge this hon. House that the President of this country has already done what this Motion seeks to achieve?
Thank you.
Hon. Nduka Irabor (Ika North/South): Mr. Speaker, I will not be helping matters if I keep arguing against this Motion. We do know that we have an urgent task before us. The President came here about few days ago and presented what we can call state of the nation address. We do not have up to 30 Members who have expressed their views on that address. We have a ten day target and I think there is just about five days left. Let us leave those matters that are too remote to our immediate needs in this country. The President has taken care of the diplomatic relations we have with South Africa. It is not of no urgent consequence to us. I, therefore, urge Mr. Speaker, to call for a voice vote so that we can dismiss this matter.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker: Any more comments?
Hon. Bashiru Adamu (Kazaure/Roni/Gwiwa/Yankwashi): Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Members of the House, I am in support of the motion that a letter be written to the President and people of South Africa on the just concluded election victory. Hon. Members are arguing that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has already sent his congratulatory message and he is already there, but it is just like you celebrating your birthday and somebody else's father as the head of the family sends you a present on behalf of himself and family and then the eldest son of the family also decides to send you a present, would you reject it? I believe the two messages are different and they are complementing each other. So, I am in support of the fact that a congratulatory message be sent to the people of South Africa.
Mr. Speaker: I now put the question.
Question put and negatived.
Mr. Speaker: My honourable Colleagues, we now go on to the Order of the day.
Hon. Solomon Agidani (Apa/Agatu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will take you back a little bit. I have an observation on the Votes and Proceedings of yesterday as approved by your humble self. Going through the Votes and Proceedings I see that one Hon Temi Harriman, representing Ward North/Warri South/Warri South-East, was sworn in only yesterday and going through the Order paper of 10th June, 1999 she was a sponsor of a motion. I find this at variance with the approved 1993 Standing Rules of this honourable House. Section 3 of the Rules that has to do with the Oath of Allegiance and Membership says:
Every Member shall before taking his seat
present his Certificate of election to the
Speaker, declare his assets and liabilities and
subsequently take and subscribe to the Oath
of Allegiance and Membership as required in
the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, everybody has to take his Oath before that person is duly admitted as a member of this honourable House. So, I want to imagine that it is out of procedure to have somebody participate in the proceedings of this House without being a Member.
Mr. Speaker: Thank you, very much. We now go on to the debate on the address of the President, Commander-in-Chief.
Hon. (Engr.) Agu Nnaji (Afikpo South/Afikpo North): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have an observation. Mr. Speaker: What observation is that?
Hon. (Engr) Agu Nnaji: I want to draw, our attention to what I consider very fundamental towards the success of this honourable House and that is the issue of our attitude to time. According to the 1993 Rules of the House, Section 12, SubSection (i), says that:
The Speaker shall take the Chair on a
legislative day precisely at the hour to which
the House shall have adjourned at the last
sitting and immediately call the Members to
order.
My emphasis here is:
The Speaker shall take the Chair and on a
legislative day precisely at the hour to which
the House shall have adjourned.
Also in Section 9, paragraph 7 of the Public Officers handbook of the Code of Conduct Bureau, it says:
Public Officers should endeavour to be punctual in the Office.
Punctuality they say is the soul of business and. that all responsible public officers shall ensure that they come to the office at the approved time.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the 4th of June, that was on a Friday, the House adjourned to the 9th, Wednesday at 9.00 a.m. But I observed here that the House did not sit until 11.45 a.m., so we lost two hours forty-five minutes. On that Wednesday, the 9th, we adjourned to Thursday, 10th June at 10.00 a.m. but the House resumed at 10.20 a.m. We lost twenty minutes. On the 10th we adjourned to 11th, Friday at 10.00 a.m., the House also resumed at 10.20 a.m. We lost twenty minutes. It has been like that all along. On that Friday, the 11th, Hon. Members will agree with me that when sitting was suspended, Mr. Speaker asked for just ten minutes to confer with Party Leaders which this honourable House granted. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker took fifty minutes instead of just ten minutes.
Hon. Its Enang (Itu/Ibiono lbon): Mr. Speaker, Sir, point of information! The Order of this house as directed by the Speaker is that we should go to the next item on the Order Paper. So, the Member cannot take us back to any other matter which is not listed on the Order Paper and which is against what
the Speaker has directed. The Speaker holds the order of this House. The hon. Member has not been given any leave to raise a matter which is not on the Order Paper. So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want you to overrule the matter and let us go to the Order of the Day, with respect.
Thank you, Sir.
ORDER OF THE DAY
Debate on the Address of the President Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. (Third Alloted Day). (Adjourned debate 15th June, 1999)
Mr. Speaker: I will call on Hon. Aya Florence D. to make her comments on the address of the president, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Hon. Florence D. Aya (Kaura): Mr. Speaker Sir Hon. Members, the Address of Mr. President to this Honourable House in which we sat in a combined sitting with the Senators was very inspiring and very challenging. The Address is titled, National Awakening, and what that means is that the nation has been in coma. The nation has been resting on a lot of things and we as Legislators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in the Federal House of Representatives ought to help this nation in the reawakening effort. And in re-awakening this nation, we have to take our responsibilities very seriously because if we are not going to take our responsibilities very, seriously in the re-awakening our nation, we may go back worse than yesterday.
Although I cannot comment on all the issues, I have two or three comments to make. On the economic recovery he did tell us how much we have in deficit; he did tell us what problems 'we have economically but he did not tell us how we are going to recover all our monies in foreign banks. So, he should look at that
(Applause)
My second point is on the youths of this country. I am a mother, I am a housewife and I am also a market woman. When you go out
and see the youths of this nation roaming the streets, some with Degrees, some Diplomas; it is a pity. It is really a shame that a, nation like Nigeria with so much
human resources should have its natural resources wasted. The youths are the future of our country tomorrow. This issue of youth employment was not addressed in the speech. I would like him to look at this issue.
In my constituency, I have a lot of people who go around because they have nothing to do. Some of them have two to three Degrees. Honestly, we have to look at the issue of employment of our youths. If we cannot employ all in the Civil Service, let us have cottage industries. When you talk about agriculture, it is good. It is good that we put our agriculture and things like that, but we should also look at the issue of expenses because agriculture is capital intensive. How are we going to meet up with the expenses? let us have some cottage industries, perhaps small scale companies that can employ these our youths that are roaming our streets.
You could see from some of the appointments made some people have outlived their stay, they have been Ministers, they have been Commissioners and they are still being nominated again when their children and grand children are roaming the streets.
(Applause)
He did not talk about the issue of first Lady syndrome. The First Ladies Syndrome is for the Army regimes; this is an elective government. This is a democracy and I am of the view that the issue with the First Lady; all the programmes of the First Ladies should be put back to the Ministries that will take care of them.
Finally on the issue of Agriculture, we have to wake up because we do not know what will happen tomorrow. If we are going to improve on our agriculture, the groundnut pyramids have to come back, the cotton farmers have to be encouraged so that our agriculture will be boosted and everybody will be happy. May be, the oil wells will dry. We do not know whether the wells will dry up. We pray that we can open up more new oil wells. There is an Hausa saying that, "when your brothers beard catches fire, look for water and put on your own so that your own will not catch
fire. (Applause).
I would like Mr. President to go back to agriculture which brought this nation to the limelight in the whole world.
The next issue is that of Federal Character. In my own community, I have no Permanent Secretary in this Abuja. I feel bad about that. Therefore, the issue of Federal Character should be addressed so that everybody could have a sense of belonging in this country.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker: I would like this Honourable House to permit me to call on the Hon. Member for Bichi, (Hon Mahmud Baba) who is not on the list to speak today but he has been given medical leave by the doctor because has a sprained ankle. He has requested that he will come and make his own contribution. Actually he is from the sick bay and I saw him hon. walking in. Do I have the permission of this honourable House to allow him to speak for two minutes and return back to the sick bay?
Some Honourable members: Yes.
Hon Mahmud Baba (Bichi): Mr. Speaker, Hon. Colleagues good morning. I have read the speech of the
Mr.. President, it is quite elaborate. It has given us the problems of our society, Nigeria. We have have seen the problems and approaches he intends to take. There are so many areas he had spoken about but my intention is to talk of two or three areas which are of importance and problematic to me and this nation.
First is that of the unity and faith. We have agreed to be Nigerians, to live in Nigeria as Nigerians and to live as one people. So, we have to be sincere and keep the faith that we have agreed to be one. If we agree to be one, we must not think that what we like for ourselves you must like it for your brother. So I feel we should come with sincere mind that we are here not for anything else but for Nigeria. We should be willing and ready to serve in the interest of Nigeria and not for our personal or whatever other interest. I beg this House to be serious. We are not here for party but to serve Nigeria, and therefore, let us keep our grudges away and come together as a sincere team and work together for the interest of Nigeria. Nigeria first and what you like for yourself, like it for your brother.
On the issue of reconciliation, there is a lot of bad things that happened in the past. Many of us, I
know felt offended, but let us keep them behind us. Let us forget, forgive and see that we build a future. We are the true Nigerians, some of us had served in the National youth Service Corps (NYSC) about twenty years ago and I believe we know the essence. Many of us have come to a stage; we have agreed to be together and we have a history. That is the key and we have to definitely think about our Nigeria of today. We have been groomed for this purpose and we are now here. Some of us when we were kids, we were thinking like kids, but now we are grown-ups. Some of us are grand parents. I feel we should forget about what happened in the past, reconcile and work together.
The other issue is that of the economic recovery. We can sit down here and talk, but as long as there is no food, we cannot be happy. All the people of Nigeria have the same common problem and that is the problem of food, both in the north and in the South. People cannot pay their children's school fees, and be able to afford the healthcare and take care of their homes; that is the problem, not the elites who have accumulated a lot of money. The mere mention of economic recovery means we have a fundamental issue before us. We have to make sure that the economy recovers as quickly as possible and the indicators will have to show.
Hon (Arch.) Fidel Ayogu (Igbo-Eze North Udenu): Mr. Speaker, Sir Deputy Speaker, House Leaders, my Colleagues, I just like to talk on one issue and that is education. In keeping with the debates on the address of the President, I wish to draw the attention of the honourable members to education which is one of the seven points agenda of this Administration.
First, I most humbly thank Mr. President for his genuine concern for education and in revamping, improving and updating our educational system. As it is rightly pointed out, our educational system is in state of decay and its products are shameful to our generation.
I however disagree with His Excellency, Mr. President, on his proposed policy options set out as the panacea revamping this sector of our national life. One of the major factors that has kept the educational system in this disgraceful condition is the issue of funding. Teachers are owed arrears of
salaries; research grants are grossly inadequate; facilities and other educational material required to make reading environment stable, just to mention a few, are non-existent.
The dwindling fortune of our economy occasioned by many, years of maladministration cannot in immediate future be magically turned around for the better. The financial situation of the country alluded to by Mr. President in his address in question is a strong pointer to this fact.
To stop living in delusion and wishful thinking believing that our present economy would sustain the effective funding of our primary and postprimary and the large number of tertiary institutions across the nation, I recommend the following options for a realistic approach towards educational renaissance in the country:
(1) That the Federal Government should make education free for all from primary to secondary level.
(2) That all tertiary institutions in the country be made to fund themselves by making the students to pay for the qualitative education they will then receive as obtainable in other developed nations. If we concentrate effort on primary and secondary schools, a lot of quantitative education to the secondary school graduates will definitely be more equipped than even some of the university graduates we have at present now. The last point I like to mention has just been mentioned by an honourable Member here today and it has to do with Federal Character. I am from Udenu in Igbo-Eze North Federal Constituency of Enugu State, and I do not Know if the entire Enugu State has up to two Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Ministries, if at all it has any.
(Interjection) All right, an honourable Member here has just told me we have one. So, thank you very much.
With that point, Mr. Speaker, I rest my case. Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. May I now call on Azamu Samuel to
speak.
Hon. Azamu Samuel Eja (Nassarawa): Mr. Speaker Sir, hon. Members I have gone through the address of Mr. President and I am happy seeing that
hon. Members of this House are making objective comments and I hope that the President will take the comments serious and when implementing his programmes, he should go in accordance with the contributions we are making.
The issues raised in the address are the issues that actually if implemented will' move this country forward. In this respect, I will appeal to the President and the hon. Members of this House to come together or let us collectively and individually ensure that this particular programme is implemented. I am quite sure that most of the issues raised here are contained in the manifestoes of the three political parties and since we are here to ensure the implementation of these manifestoes, if we are able to implement these things, I think most of us who will like to come back a second time, will have our ways opened. I am quite sure of that.
I do no have much comments to make because people have made a lot of comments which we will pass on to the President. However, I just want to make a little comment on education with bias to primary education sector.
We know the condition of our primary schools in our various States and Constituencies and previously we even deliberated on that. Looking at the conditions of our primary schools, if we actually want to improve it, in my own opinion, the so-called Primary or State Primary Education Boards should give way and the Local Governments should directly take the supervision of the primary schools. I am sure if this is done, there will be a lot of improvements in our primary school sector.
The other comment I want to make is on agriculture. An hon. Member who spoke earlier mentioned it but the only thing she forgot to mention when she spoke was cocoa, rubber and bent-seed as some of the areas that we should pay attention to because these are also called cash crops, at least, to improve on them so that they can generate more revenue for the country.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. speaker: I will now call on hon. Aziebemi Anthony.
Hon. Aziegbemi Anthony (Esan North East/Esan South East): Mr. Speaker, Sir, honourable Members, having gone through the Presidential Address, for the purposes of analysis, one can conveniently divide it into three equal parts. One has to say here that the division is conventional and is for analysis purposes and these parts are I, II and III.
Part I has to deal with the fertile ground If you like, without which the country cannot move forward and it covers the Unity and Progress and the Reconciliation part of the Address.
The second part deals with the Economy and those are supposed to be the seedlings with which we are supposed to climb to the fertile ground without which too the country cannot move forward.
The third part deals with Conclusion. I would say that these three parts are interwoven. You cannot throw any part away without making the Address senseless and perhaps incomprehensive and that makes the Presidential Address a balance one.
I would want to as usual comment on two aspects of the Address. The first one is when the President said the resources available to discharge government business meagre and dwindling. I think this is a challenge to all Members of this House. The resources available to discharge government duties or government business, I think, cannot be meagre and dwindling. There is a huge untapped source of revenue In this country. What I mean here is taxes.
A few weeks ago, I carried out a survey of a thousand and five Nigerians in some cities across the country and found out that more than 80 per cent of Nigerians do not pay tax. Can you Imagine that figure: we are talking of billions and billions of Naira. Unfortunately, the foreigners in this country too do not pay their taxes. The whole thing is more pathetic when you go through and see that the Idea not to pay tax gives rise to corruption. You normally will corrupt public officers with cash money. If you do not pay your taxes, that leaves you with a lot of cash money to carry out your corrupt practices.
The idea here, Mr. Speaker and honourable Members, is that there is a need to re-write the tax codes of this country. There is a need, I guess so, to
set up a Ministry or a level of a Ministry to re-write and address the issue of taxes in this country. Without that, If we, have to depend on Petroleum, I think as honourable Member for Kaura (Hon. Florence D. Aya) did say, we will have problems in ten to fifteen years' time. Without addressing this issue of taxes,
government resources will always be meagre and dwindling.
Having said that, one cannot stop without paying attention to what the President said on the last paragraph page two which Is very important if you say you will do the things on what we have here. The last sentence states and I quote:
And yet we had to add the extra cost of democracy in terms of capital and recurrent cost of the National Assembly.
Can you imagine that the money spent on the National Assembly is an extra cost. The money spent on National Assembly cannot be extra cost. We are equal partners in running the affairs of this country. Thank you, very much. (Applause).
Hon. Akinnifesi Oladeji (Ondo East/Ondo West): Mr. Speaker, Sir, the speech of Mr. President was commendable in certain aspect. In some other aspects, it left much to be desired. His resolve to fight corruption is a welcome gesture. I would also commend his policy on financial management. The recent ban on extra-budgetary commitment is also welcome but I am not impressed by his economic recovery proposals. He cited a negotiation about retraining workers that would be retrenched or that would be
rationalized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I would not want another dealing with IMF to be introduced through the backdoor. We have been involved with this IMF recommended therapy for the past 13 years. Nigeria is worse for It. He also said that our economic recovery efforts would entail extensive and painful sacrifice from the teeming masses of this country. This shows a sort of insensitivity on the part of government to the plight of our people.
I would want to suggest that instead of embarking on rationalization as proposed In the speech, government should concern Itself with job creating
programmes, poverty alleviating projects that will create jobs, thereby increase our capacity utilization, and gross- domestic products so that by the end of the day, the economy of Nigeria will be on its way up.
On the issue of privatisation, the President made attempts to- convince us that companies that would be privatised would be carefully studied with a view of guaranteeing openness and fairness in the same. For the purpose of clarity, I would want to say that such sales should be done through the. Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President should now realise that Nigeria is a democratic country. The teeming populace of Nigeria want democracy to mean good life for all. There is mass unemployment, nothing seems to be working in Nigeria. Capacity utilization is low, interest rate is high, the private sector is finding it difficult to invest because of the high cost of funds. All these various problems would be addressed and tackled by the present administration. The masses should be able to see the difference between a democratic government and a military government.
Thank you. (Applause)
Hon. Jibrin Y. Babangida (Hadeija/ K.Hausa/Auyo): Mr. Speaker Sir, Deputy Speaker, Honourable Members, I rise to commend Mr. President for the beautiful and well-articulated speech especially on Food and Agriculture and I appeal to Mr. President to put his words into action. This is my contribution to this debate.
Thank you.
Hon. Umaru Babangida (K/Gora/Mariga/ Wushishl/Mashegu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Honourable Members, I rise to comment on the speech of the President to the Joint Session of these two honourable Houses. Togo straight to the point, I wish to address this House in the context of a National Assembly.
Within the last two years, the Federal Government withdrew completely some subsidy on fertilizer and farm inputs. With that, the procurement and distribution of fertilizer and farm input was left to
the dictates of the market forces which led to entrepreneurs procuring fertilizers, selling at a price after working out their cost and selling price margin. That entirely put our farmers in not being able to purchase fertilizer. Again, there had been a lack of guarantee prices for our farm produce. Right now, in this season, our farmers cannot sell their products to be able to procure fertilizer 'at at current price. In my State, the new Government has procured fertilizer at the current market price and they can only sell to farmers at a very minimal subsidy. Even with that, the farmers cannot still afford the price. But now, the fertilizers have been taken to all the Wards and Constituencies in the State. Yet, farmers cannot afford them because, they have a backlog of their products which they could not sell to buy the fertilizer and this is impeding production in the current season. So, I am soliciting the Hon. Members cooperation with me to raise urgent Memo from this House to the Head of State to immediately restore seventy per cent subsidy on fertilizer and set up a Committee to review prices of commodities before the onset of season so that the massive Silos we have all over the place which were built by the previous regimes but which are not being utilized could be put into use. These silos cost millions of
naira. Each size has a capacity of storing 55 tons of various sizes of agricultural commodities and yet, they are not being put into use. For the past five years, they have not been put into use. They were built in about 10 to 12 States, but somewhere along the line, as one of the problems of this country, some of us cannot differentiate policy formulation from policy implementation.
So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I urge you, as a matter of urgency, to call on Mr. President to immediately restore 70 per cent subsidy on fertilizer so as to avail our farmers and our teeming population to be able to utilize this current farming season properly.
(Applause)
Hon. Yusuf Usman Babatakwa (Abaji/Kuje/ Kwali/Gwagwalada): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Deputy Speaker, other Principal Officers, Hon. Members of the House, I am the Son of the soil and your host. Therefore, I welcome you all gentlemen to Abuja, the land of unity.
If I may comment on the President's address, every single thing he has mentioned is very genuine
and fantastic. Almost every Member here in this Honourable House has particularly expressed some concern, their willingness and probably their ability to help the President and the Legislators to make sure that the President achieves his goals. And I will, like him, appeal that that is all we need to do. This is because whatever concerns the State concerns our civil liberty and existence here in Nigeria. I will then give you all privilege and support you need so that you can actually present this issue before the citizens and actualise it in real sense.
(Applause)
I will particularly speak on corruption issue. Corruption has been one of the problems Nigeria has ever since its creation. Now, Mr. President has categorically emphasised his will to fight corruption. The issue is, where do we start this war? Do we start from the day Nigeria was created, from 1966 or from 1977? Where do we begin? There is a big question I will like to throw to every single Member of this House, including Mr. Speaker, himself. Who is not corrupt in Nigeria?
Several Hon. Members: I am not corrupt.
Hon. Yusuf Usman: All right, if that question is answered, then we need to go back and take a personal inventory of ourselves, including Mr. President himself. How clean have you been in the past? How clean are you today? How clean are you today or how clean are you going to be tomorrow to help fight corruption? If that question is not answered, then we are going to have problems fighting corruption. Corruption has been with us, It is part of us and we have to do the best we can to take care of it.
Finally, I would like to sum up beautifully what Mr. President has said. It Is at the last page - page six, where he said:
The people of Nigeria has reposed a confidence in
you. You must not fail them because, the whole world
is watching.
And actually, the whole world Is looking at us. We must do all we can to make sure that Nigeria is a better country for us to enjoy. (Applause)
Hon. Babatunde Oduyoye (Ibadan South West/ Ibadan North West): Mr. Speaker, Sir distinguished
hon. Members of the House of Representatives, I agree with what most hon. members have said that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces had presented a laudable speech to the Joint Session. I also take cognisance of the fact that he had proffered solutions to some of the problems we have. But I am not too happy neither do I feel at ease with the
title emphasis he has laid on education. In Nigeria, we have 47.9 per cent of Nigerians who are stark illiterates. By the time the President gave his speech, students of the primary and secondary schools were at home because the teachers are on strike. It was because of the vision of the hon. Members of the whole House that this issue was addressed.
Equally, we would realize that most students of Nigerian Universities are at home because some institutions like University of Ibadan introduced municipal fees. Non-resident students of the university of Ibadan now have to pay N2,000 for the air they breathe when they enter University of Ibadan. A lot of problems confront the educational sector of Nigeria. Unfortunately, in less than eight lines the President addressed the issue of education. Over 14 million students are in the primary schools. Over 4 million students are in the secondary education and there is a drop of about 75 per cent because parents cannot afford to pay the fees for their children to go to secondary schools. N727 million was recovered from the Civil Services in Nigeria.
How will this money be spent? Can this money be converted to the educational sector? Can this country afford to make education free for all students in primary and secondary education? So, I will want the president to
realize that the future of this country depends so much on education. Industrialization
depends on education. To produce skilled labour and a lot of other things depend on education. So, I want to appeal once again to this honourable House that with the vision and Initiative we took in trying to settle the NUT strike, we should at the same time address the problem of education in this country.
Thank you very much.
Hon. Alli Bala (Kumbotso): Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President had made a useful
speech. As the President has made, an indication to improve on agriculture and food production, I feel that he should consider Environmental Protection too as it goes hand In hand with agriculture. For example, we need a suitable environment in our country. Also the problem of destification or desert encroachment is one of the problems affecting my area. In addition to this is soil erosion. The President should give attention to environmental protection. Secondly, he said he intends to improve on infrastructure in this country. I hope he said he intends to improve on infrastructure in this country. I hope he will consider the building of a bridge over River Niger.
Thirdly, talking about education, teachers contribute a lot to the wealth of this country. They should recognise the role they play and also bring down the cost of education in the universities. As the President intends to achieve these objectives, actually he needs the support and cooperation of all of us in this country. To achieve that, we have to live in a peaceful environment. I would like to advice the President that all his actions must reflect the national interest of this country. (Applause)
Hon. Bashir Bala (Maiyama/Koko-Basse): Mr. Speaker, Sir, with regards to Mr. President's speech, I will only like to add two points to what my Colleague has just said. In fact, I would like to talk on corruption. With regards to this corruption issue, I can say it is difficult and it is easy. Mr. president should exercise caution in trying to wipe out corruption. Unfortunately, as at now the structure of giving bribe in Nigeria cannot be put out overnight because this bribery is very deep and I can even say it is in our blood. It is in the blood of every Nigerian. We. are in a country where people think they are rich even when they do not have a kobo in thdr pockets. People think that if you own a house In your village, you own one in Kano, Kaduna, and so on, you have made it. So, Mr. president has a very serious task to perform. I am not saying that this thing cannot be wiped out but it is very difficult.
Hon. Balina Yusuf Adetona (Ibeju Lekki): Mr. Speaker, Sir, my colleagues, I consider the President's speech to be a welcome speech In all its entirety. All we need the President to do is to try to implement what he has highlighted fir his speech. °The president has tried to highlight most of the problems we are facing in Nigeria and he has also proffered solutions to them.
My comments will be on corruption. The president has highlighted corruption as one of the major problems we are having in Nigeria and he has proffered solution. But in the President's solution, he has not highlighted how these problems, I mean the solutions he has proffered, are going to be implemented, because as an individual, he is not going to implement these decisions himself. There are some law enforcement agents, particularly the police to do it for him. The President should tell us how he is going to deal with the Police because the decadence to which these people have gone is terrible. With N20 one can go with a principal crime or major crime in this country and these are agents of the government that is responsible to implementing whatever decisions, whatever laws the country makes. So, the President has to address this issues very well.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, I am surprised that the President has not included a word of apology in his inaugural speech to this House. He has fragrantly flouted Section 64, Sub-section 3 of the provision of the Constitution of Nigeria, which require him to make proclamation immediately after his inauguration. The result of this is that we came to Abuja to witness his inauguration and brought our families here only to get stranded. We were disappointed to learn that the day we were going to be inaugurated was not proclaimed. So, we had to spend about two to three days with our families going from one hotel to the other. We even spent about two days queuing up for keys In the Sheraton Hotels. This has brought a lot of embarrassment to Members of this House and I think this was brought to the notice of the President. I feel that since it was brought to his notice, he ought to have made some words of apology in his inaugural speech.
Thank you, very much.
Hon. (Dr) Tukur Idris Nadabo (Bakori/Danja): Mr. Speaker, Sir, on point of information, the bon. Member for Ibeju-Lekki, (Hon. Adetona) said that when we came here, there was so proper arrangement. I would like to say that by that time, the President was a new man and we were also new. So, the previous government ought to have prepared for everything - every bread and butter (Applause) which we can call the National Cake. It Is, therefore, not the fault of Mr. President but that of the previous government.
Hon. F. O. Aladejebi (Ekiti South I ): Mr. Speaker, Sir, in addition to that, we have met with the President and he has apologised accordingly. When the representatives of the this House also met him, he apologised in line with with the observation.
Hon. (Chief) Ali A. Balogun (Ibadan North East/Ibadan South East):
Mr. Speaker, Sir, Deputy Speaker, respect hon. Members, in fact, the address of Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was highly impressive. It was well-intended and he means to succeed. And to succeed, it depends on all our collective responsibility to ensure that we want to move this nation forward. He has identified the
perennial problems confronting the nation and has proffered some solutions which, if we let them to work, we shall all succeed. We are talking about enduring democracy and for it to be possible, we must be ready to make sure we discharge our responsibility to the people we represent.
I will like to comment on some of the areas of the speech, ie economic recovery, financial situation of Nigeria as contained in the speech. All we need to do
is to ensure that we curb our excesses. If we try to do this, our economy will be buoyant again. You will see under the economic recovery, it was cited that about N1256 billion was expended on projected budgetary deficit. We were also told that our foreign reserves which stood at about $7.1b In June was drained to $3.75b. I mean this can give us an indication that if we are serious as a Nation, there are things we can do for people of this country. For example, when we are talking about providing infrastructure and basic amenities to our people, I think water should be one of them. It is very sad. When many of you were canvassing for votes from the electorate, you did not talk about
macro economy to them, you did not talk about economic jargons to them. All that you were telling them was that you will, provide them with their basic needs and to improve their lots. To do this, we have to conserve some money in some certain areas and put it to the necessary essentials for the benefit of our people.
In fact, when I was going about my campaign in my Local Government, I discovered that there were rural areas within cities, that is, cities where people are buying water. I enjoin every Member of this House to make sure that we provide basic amenities for the people of this country.
On education, I will be very emphatic by saying that providing education only at the primary level is a waste of revenue but if we try as much as we can by providing education up to secondary school level, at least, the people must have got a foundation of education upon which to build. They do not all have to go to the university. Many of us here probably did nor go to the university and we are very intelligent. So, I enjoin all the members of this honourable House to make sure that we make education a national Agenda so as to build up a virile Nigeria.
Hon. Ismaila Mohammed (Dukku/Nafada): Point of correction.
My point of correction, Mr. Speaker, Sir, is an advice to my Colleagues. Be it in the House or at the Committee level, we should always address the chair, that is the person presiding, all the other dignitaries in the House, with due respect, should not be addressed. We are supposed to do things properly because the standing Rules of the House only recognises the Chair or whoever is presiding. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker: Thank you, very much.
I now call on Hon. Mikko Bernard Barida for his comments on the address of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Hon. Mikko Bernard Barida (Khans/Gokans): Mr. Speaker, Sir, my observation is that the President's speech on key national issues is quite interesting for debate. One area I expected Mr. President to comment on is the role of Nigerld in peace-keeping in the African sub-region and also to proffer solutions to the problems in the Nigeria Delta. Mr. President, `should endeavour with due respect to return this beautiful piece, of literature into reality while giving more attention to the Niger Delta and ensuring true Federal structure.
Thank you, very much. (Applause)
Hon. Batalawa Garba Mohammed (kura/Madobi/Garun Mallam): Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Members of the House of Representative,
I came from a village and I was elected by villagers, that is the rural people. Having gone through the address of Mr. president, that is why I quickly rushed to take a glance at the topic Agriculture. Therefore, I am totally in support of those who called for inputs to be made available at the right time to the farmers. Such inputs' includes seeds, fertilizer and chemicals.
Secondly, on income-generation, I was thinking that Mr. president, will talk about the multi-billion Naira abandoned projects in Nigeria, that is, the Rolling Mills so that it will be our pride, it will be Mr. President's pride, it will be the Speaker's pride, it will be the pride of democracy, that during our tenure these Rolling Mills which was the house of corruption in Nigeria is put in order.
Again, Nigeria is naturally blessed with abundant natural resources, but we are totally depending on one item for our revenue and that is petroleum. It will be the pride of all of us if we can explore some other natural resources so that every Nigerian will enjoy the gains of democracy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker: Thank you
Hon. Sani Bawa (Argungun/Augie): Mr. Speaker Sir,. Honourable Members, the Speech of Mr. President is a remarkable one and many people have said all I wanted to say. All the same, it is a rhetoric. I am concerned with the rural roads. What bothers me in my mind when he talked about rural roads is Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) because all roads constructed by DFRRI have all been washed away. If this is going to be implemented, a designed programme has to be put in place in such a way that even if not all can be constructed at a time, there will be a limitation. It will be done phase by phase. Gwarimpa Housing Estate is a case in hand. All these gigantic projects were embarked upon at one time and that is why most of the projects are being abandoned. It is a colossal waste. Because of this, I will advise Mr. President that road rehabilitation programme should be designed and implemented in such a way that our roads could last for about ten to fifteen years with little or no maintenance.
On the issue of health, Mr. president did not say anything about it, but everybody is aware that health is wealth. Even if you acquire the whole world, without health it is nothing. On the issue of corruption; it is a cankerworm in our midst. Everybody here knows that if there will be progress, there must be sanity. No nation can ever progress without sanity. So, in this regard, I would advise Mr. president to check properly what he will do to curb corruption in our society.
Thank you.
Hon Akinyemi Beckley (Ikeja): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will first of all like to congratulate Mr. President for the first beautiful speech that touched on all aspects of our national life. It is my belief that if all the policies outlined in the speech are closely followed, then it will go a long way in moving the country forward. In his speech, he talked about reconciliation and economic recovery. These are laudable ideas if properly implemented.
However, we have had executive promises all these long years before, only to dash our hopes later when it gets down to implementation. On reconciliation, I believe this is an important topic that has been nationalised. We have all been witnesses to what happened In the past five years in battering, Human Right abuses, and all those things that went wrong most especially from the area that I come from. There is no wonder then that people are deeply aggrieved and we will want to examine why they should be part of this federation. However, I am glad that Mr. president has decided to tackle this problem and I would like to urge all of us in this House to help Mr. President to make sure that he succeed in this battle so that we can have a good government and everybody can feel that has had a sense of belonging in this country.
On the Economic recovery, I agree entirely with the policies he has outlined in his speech. In addition, however, I would like to add on the question of corruption. I believe from the information that we have been gathering from the press that a lot of money from this country has been snatched away to banks abroad. I hope that the anticorruption Bill that he will send will contain necessary measures for us not only to be able
recover all these monies that have been statched away. Because, I that if we are able to get only half of what is outside this country, then I believe it will go along way in helping our economy.
On the question of developmental issue, I believe that Mr. President has touched on the main priorities of his government but I wonder why he left out such topics as health and Foreign Affairs. I believe that they should also be among the priorities of his government. We all know that as the other member said, Health is wealth, we need to do a lot to improve the health services in this country.
I hope when Mr. President sends his budget proposal, that will contain good measure there that will help this country. On the question of Foreign Affairs
(Interruptions), the world is now a global village and we should not be cut off from the rest of the world.
I think Mr. President should have outlined the Foreign policies that he intends to carry out so that we can also relate very well with the rest of the world.
Thank you.
Hon. Bello M. Aminu (Malumfashi/Kafur): Mr. Speaker, Sir, bon. Members, having gone through the President's speech, I am very reluctant to comment on it because of our past experiences. Our Leaders have always spoken and they have never been short of words but practicalising what they say has always been very difficult. This President, too, was elected by the people. Really what we expect coming out of Aso Rock is nothing but fairness and justice. But I do not think there is fairness here. He has proposed to appoint 49 Ministers and 15 Special Advisers. If we can recall, in 1983 he condemned Shagari's government because of the number of
Ministers he was proposing then to appoint on the basis that the economy was bad. I am sure the economy is worse than what it was in 1983. So, he has not shown concern with this jumbo cabinet appointments he is proposing.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President has said that he is going to fight corruption. My understanding of corruption is not about stealing money only. Corruption is very wide. I am saying this because if you appoint people from a particular area or section of the country and neglect others, to me, that is
corruption. So, What is coming out of Aso Rock now, with the appointment of Permanent Secretaries and Directors-General and all other appointments, are not really reflecting the votes given to the President. We are very much surprised to see the price of voting. Even though the constitution has given the President power to appoint one minister from each state of the Federation, why do we go out to give somebody 11 million votes only to be sidelined when it comes to appointments? In fact, we should take care that even with the names of the ministers, we do not have their portfolios. How do we know that in that area again, they will not be short-changed?
(Applause)
The President talked about reconciliation and Justice. Being Born-again Christian, having gone through some time of torture, really, what he has learned from many years of incarceration was.to be fair, not only being fair because there is a difference between saying fair and being fair.
So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think unless the president. really changes steps, we are in for a very serious problem again in the country.
Thank you, Mr. speaker.
Hon. Josiah Binuwaig Gembu (Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. members, I want to comment on what the president said. He said:
You may have heard this before but I
will say it again that this administration will not under
any circumstances condone corruption or protect corrupt
officials of government.
I think that the president has said this time and again during the electioneering campaigns that he was going to deal with corruption in
his administration. But it bothers me to see that within the short period of such pronouncement that the economy of this nation is almost grinding to a halt by the military and their civilian collaborators.
I think that Mr. President should take necessary action to bring such people to book immediately. I know that certain Military Administrators gave out contracts some hours before the hand-over. Fortunately, they are still within reach. I will, therefore, suggest that Mr. President should use the various agencies to keep these people in check before
they disappear to unknown destinations with such money.
I should also say that the issue of corruption has bedeviled this nation for over 15 years. Therefore, I am suggesting that Mr. President should begin from 1985 when corruption became
institutionalized such that when you are not corrupt you are not a proper Nigerian. The term, The Nigerian factor became
well known at that time so that if for example, there is a certain project that was earmarked to be executed in a certain State and if you were not able to reach the pillar, automatically you could not get that project executed. We have millions of such projects all over the country. In my constituency, for example, just because we did not have somebody who was there to represent us, this project just came to a standstill. Therefore, We should ask the present Governors that such officers be brought to book.
Secondly, I want to comment on the educational sector. It is surprising that all of us came through the education process. But some how, it is one of the most neglected if not the worst hit in terms of funding when it comes to civilian administration. Most often, you discover that educational sector is unrealistic and therefore, there is a lot of strikes, teachers would go for three to four months strike without anybody caring about them and the bunch of those that are affected are the common people who pay their taxes regularly without fail. Therefore, this sector most be addressed and properly taken care of. The educational sector should not be the sacrificial lamb. If it were that good, I think that every sector of the economy should equally be so treated. Therefore, I will urge that this Administration takes care of the educational sector, and take care of the masses on the rural areas, too.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker: I now call Hon. Isa Ibrahim to speak.
Hon. Isa Ibrahim Bio ( Baruten/ Karma): Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Members, I will like to commend Mr. President for his well articulated address. Mr. President covered virtually all areas of our national reintegration and development.
It is my fervent hope and prayer that God Almighty will give Mr. President good health and
the political will to do all these things during his administration.
The areas I would like to comment on the Address are as follows:
Economic Recovery
I would like this honourable House to visit the president and commend him for the courageous steps he has taken so far to suspend all the hurriedly awarded contracts, all the appointments hurriedly made and all oil licenses hurriedly issued during the twilight of the last administration. The President has made it abundantly clear that the economic situation of the country is so fragile that the economy cannot sustain all these buoyant and very
profliguous contracts.
We were also told by the former Head of state that about 30 oil wells have remained closed in the Delta Area and nothing was done to re-open them. The oil prices are dwindling and above all, our foreign reserve has depleted from $7.1 billion to $3.5 billion in six months. So, I would like to commend Mr. President for stopping all these contracts which he said will be able to save 11.1 billion US dollars and about N50 billion for taking that decision. This honourable House and indeed Nigerians would like to salute his courage for these bold steps.
I would also like to suggest through this honourable House, Mr. Speaker, Sir, that in view of present economic realities of our country, Nigeria needs to redefine her roles in Ecowas monitoring Group (ECOMOG). It is pertinent at this stage to reduce our military contingent in ECOMOG and also reduce the financial commitments in view of the present economic realities of our country.
Hon. Mohammed Wakil (Damboa/ Gwoza/Chibok): Point of Order, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. speaker: What order, Hon. Wakil?
Hon Wakil: Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Member, it is in the Rules of this honourable House that the Speaker has to draw the attention of the House when it is 12.45 pm. So may I, with due respect call on Mr. Speaker to please draw the attention of the House to this Rule.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, so be it. I think we will Just give the Member for Baruten/Kalma (Hon Issa Bio) a minute to conclude his speech.
Hon. Bio: Mr. Speaker, Hon. Members, I would also like Mr. president to engage internal and external auditors to audit and verify the real debts, not debts that we cannot verify. We are told that Nigeria is owing about $28 billion we really need to know actually how much Nigeria owes and to whom.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, Sir, Mr. President in his inaugural address stated that he is going to re-design and implement a new Roads Policy. He emphasized on direct labour. To me, Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have had so many policies designed that we have not been able to properly execute. For instance, the President was able to inaugurate the Universal Primary Education which died with his administration in 1979. 1 would therefore suggest, Mr. Speaker, Sir, that instead of re-designing a new policy on Roads, Mr. President should adopt and rename the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) to a National Agency for Rural Development and redefine their role in view of their performance which we have vividly seen all over the country.
Thank you, Sir.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Meeting of hon. Members from Borno, Yobe and Jigawa states
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, I think we will suspend debate until tomorrow but I have a few announcements to make.
There will be a meeting of hon. Members from Borno, Yobe and Jigawa states at the close of this Session at the Committee Room behind the Chamber. Signed: Hon. (Dr.) Blamed Lawan.
Hon. Lateef Alli (Legalu/ Akinyele): Observation, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker: Go ahead, hon. Alli.
Hon. Alli: I have observed that important issues of national interest come up on the Order Paper for today and in an effort to make sure that we contribute meaningfully to this Motion, it will be
proper if the Clerk of the House who prepares the Order of the Day to put the future Motion as a form of Notice that is to come in the following day so that we can prepare ourselves as against having a Motion that will just fall on our laps impromptu. That is one.
Secondly, the importance of the standing order cannot be over-emphasised and it has taken a long time that we did not do anything about this standing order. So many things are happening in this House which if we do not take urgent step to make sure that they are corrected, it will be affection us adversely. So, I will be suggesting, Mr. Speaker, . Sir, that the House be constituted to the committee of the whole House whereby we can review this standing order because when I went through the current one given to us yesterday, I discovered that it is full of mistakes and some misgivings. So, once again, I would advise that the House is constituted into the committee of the whole House whereby we can review and approved the standing order for 1999.
Thank you.
Meeting of House of Representatives South-East Caucus
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, I have another announcement to make. There will be a meeting of House of Representative, South East caucus today immediately after PDP meeting at the usual committee Room.
Meeting of all PDP Members
All PDP hon. Members are advised to stay behind after the session for a brief meeting and collection of forms. The meeting will take place in the second committee Room on the right hand side of the chamber.
Meeting of Members of the House of Representatives with the Delegation from the NUT There is a Delegation from the Natloal Union of Teachers that came from Lagos to thank this honourable House. We will meet with them in the conference Room outside the Chamber after this Session. So, interested Members could attend.
Visit of the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria
The Chinese Ambassador will visit my office at 3.00 p.m. All Principal Officers and Party leaders should please join me so that we can receive the Chinese Ambassador at 3.00 p.m.
Standing Order Committee
Hon. Members will recall that we set up a standing order Committee and I am happy to announce that they have concluded a draft copy which I think they are in the process of distributing among Members today. So, hopefully, we may take it up tomorrow, but the Committee has finished its work and copies will be distributed to Members so that we can go
through it.
At this stage, I would like to call on the house leader to please move a motion for adjournment.
Hon. Eze A. Enwereuzor (Aba North/Aba South): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am surprised that each time we want to get a vote, it is either the Ayes or the Nays but we have this gadgets all over the place -
(pointing at the electronic Board, placed at the other end of the chamber) Are they not working or
we just do not want to use them?
Then again, each time I come here, I found out that no body is taking care of this beautiful edifice. The floor is the same every morning. You look over there, the cobwebs are all over and it is less than three months we have been here, and the place is already decaying. Is it another white elephant of Nigeria?
(Applause).
Please, Mr. Speaker, I am greatly disturbed. I would like to appeal to you to find out who is responsible for taking care of this place; so that they can clean it on a daily basis. if nothing is being done now, nothing will ever be done again until we ruin this building.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker: Thank you very much for your information. The Clerk should see me in my office to discuss this issue.
Motion
Presidential Nominees.
Hon. (Barr.) Mohammed Wakil (Damboa/ Gwoza/Chibok): Mr. Speaker, Sir there is a Motion before adjournment. I doubt if Mr. Speaker is aware of this.
Mr. speaker: I am aware of it.
Hon. Wakil: Mr. Speaker, I wish to formally inform this honourable House, that this House has the honour and privilege of having one of its Member from Enugu North/Enugu south (Chief Oniya C.A Gideon) on the list of Presidential nominees. Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Person of General Olusegun Obasanjo, for this kind gesture which is the revelation of the quality and the maturity of membership of this honourable House.
Mr. Speaker Sir, Hon. Members, at this juncture, I hereby move and urge this honourable House, that a message of commendation be relayed to his excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Applause).
Mr. Speaker: Is there any Seconder?
Hon. Olaitan K. Oladipo (Alimosho): Mr. Speaker, Sir, nothing can be more eloquent, gratifying, and more pleasing than to have one amongst you being honoured. We the entire Members of this august House feel honoured at this gesture. We commend the appreciation of all Members of this House to the President, and assuring him of our cooperation and for that I second the motion.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved: That the House do send a message of Commendation to His Excellency, The President, commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for his appointment of Hon. Onyla Gideon (Enugu North/Enugu South) as Presidential Ministerial nominee.
ADJOURNMENT
Hon. (Barr.) Mohammed Wakil (Damboa/Gwoza /Chibok): Mr. Speaker, Sir, once again, distinguished Members, may I hereby move that this honourable House do stand adjourned till tomorrow, 17th June, 1999 at 10.00 a.m?
I beg to move.
Hon.Dikko Mohammed lsmaila/Alkaleri/Kicei): Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Members, I beg to second the Motion that this House do adjourn till tomorrow by 10.00 a.m.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved: That the House do stand adjourned till 17th June, 1999, at 10.00 a.m.
The House adjourned accordingly at 1.00 p.m.