Barrister Charity Iguodala Aiguobarueghian, the assistant legal adviser to the All Progressives Congress Edo state chapter in an exclusive interview with Naij.com bares his mind on the political happenings in Nigeria. The Benin based legal adviser who is also a grassroot politician lauded the sterling performance of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and talked about the future of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo state, amongst other national issues.
It was reported that Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state recently revealed that the state is the least borrowed in Nigeria, sir do you think it is economically wise for the governor to have taken the $75 million World Bank loan?
Well I will tell you as a matter of fact that ordinarily as an individual when we hear loan, we look at it in the general parlance ‘borrow borrow,’ but in government, certain facilities are a necessity.
What about the state’s internally generated revenue, federal allocation?
You see the Comrade governor told you that the reason we are forced to take these loans is because the PDP failed to perform in the years past, so there is a lacuna; if the PDP had done the needful while they were there, there would have been no need for this, because what we are actually doing now is to put our hand in the future, to fix the present that would take care of the future. What they are making people to believe is that we are borrowing the money to put in our pocket, no! If queen Ede road is not fixed today it would be fixed tomorrow anyway, if it is not fixed this year; it will be fixed next year, so why don’t you just do it now and enjoy it now, and enjoy it into tomorrow. So it is not like an individual taking a loan to eat, it is a government sourcing credit facilities at less than one percent interest rate to develop the state, the development is perpetual, it does not go with the present government, if the present government leaves office today, the developmental strides for which the money was used will remain. It is not like borrowing so that tomorrow people will now come and inherit the debt. And like I told you earlier, this loan is already being returned by way of the performing agreement. If we want to wait for our monthly allocation; I can tell you we can barely pay salaries. There are some states that can’t even pay salaries but Edo state does not owe anybody.
During a visit to some local governments in Edo state, it was observed that most of the roads in the interior are impassible despite the allocation given to various local government councils for internal development, do you think the local government should be scraped?
Barrister Charity Iguodala Aiguobarueghian, assistant legal adviser to All Progressive Congress Edo state chapter
No I don’t think so; local government is a very functional part of governance. The problem we have had over the years and that is still lingering is the issue of autonomy. I happen to be very functional at that level, as a grassroot politician, and as a lawyer, I know that the local government have not have their fair deal in this projection called Nigeria. The fact is that ordinarily, the local government been autonomous by virtue of the resource schedule of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, has some very silent areas that is exclusive to them that they can explore to make them to be strong on their feet but unfortunately the states have not been fair, not only Edo state, I mean the states in Nigeria have not been fair to the local government, so as we speak they are not actually given the free hand to perform; that is on one part. On the other hand, the level of thievery and banditry that was meted against the Nigeria nation in the past six years, made it exceptionally impossible for any arm of government to perform, and unfortunately this was a period in Nigeria that we ordinarily had recorded the peak of harvest in the mono-economy that we hitherto operate; that is the oil petrochemical industry. It was a period we sold crude oil above the three digit in dollars; then the question that then come to mind is; how come that the money that is been shared when we were selling oil at $120 per barrel is now less than what was been shared when oil was sold for $30 – 32 per barrel. That is the question that Nigerians should be asking, they brought a fraud called Excess Crude Oil Funds, and because of that the amount of money that is been sold in Nigeria, nobody can ascertain, the amount of oil that is been taken away nobody can ascertain, the amount of money that is been given back to the country by a way of NNPC remittance, nobody can be sure of, the amount of money that is been spent on oil by a way of subsidy, nobody can ascertain, you see figures flying in trillions, mindboggling figures concerning money and you begin to wonder, how do we come thus far. So I think the major problem we had over the years was not actually a problem of the kind of government that is been operated, but how it was been operated. The revenue allocation policy in Nigeria is archaic; barbaric; it is not based on any known principle, a situation where the federal government takes 66% of the total resources of the country whereas the federal government is so far from the people, is unacceptable; it should be condemned by well-meaning Nigerians and there should be a revisit to the revenue allocation policy of Nigeria.
There have been several complaints from political opponents and some of the citizenry that most of governor Adams Oshiomhole’s reforms are draconian in nature, especially the taxation system, is there a better way to make the people understand these reforms and have a change of perception about the taxation system in the state?
Well, I will start by referring to Niccolo Machiavelli in his book; the prince, he said that: am paraphrasing though; people will always revolt over the coming of a new order because either they are beneficiaries of that old order or they are now at the receiving end of the new order. The fact is that the tax system was actually a problem when it was introduced. The governor didn’t mix words in telling the Edo people that if we have to develop this state, we should fold our sleeves and get down to work, because when he assumed office as the governor, he made it clear that he met frustration; he was disappointed at the state of the canals, at the state of infrastructural decadence, at the level of corruption that was in the system, especially in the area of internally generated revenue, and the fact that the issue of payment of tax was alien to them. You know that in the developed world today in fact everywhere around the world, countries are developed on taxes paid by citizens; many countries are not oil producing like ours, where at the end of the month we go for jamboree to share money, many countries are not so bless, most of these countries depend on taxes from their citizenry for their development, so that was why it was quite alien to our people to now tell them to come and pay tax, but Edo people have adapted to the system of taxation, nobody is complaining about taxation now because the taxes paid are fixing roads; they are building hospitals; they are building schools; they are doing water storm around Edo state. They are doing several other projects that are beneficial to the people, so I will say that as at today, the Edo state people are happily paying their taxes because they are getting value for their money.
Considering the complaints and criticism accompanying the APC-led government in Edo state, do you think your party still stands a chance in 2016?
There is no complaint at all about the government of Adams Oshiomhole. The little complaint that we have is from a very minority voice; a very few ruminant of the tsunami that swept through the Nigerian nation. At this time the Edo state government is very confident, there is no fear at all about retaining Edo state in 2016 for APC, because APC has shown over the years to be a dependable party, to be a party that is forth right, a party that is transparent, a party that have the people at heart, a people oriented party that meet the needs of the people. There is no fear at all about winning the next election.
Considering the economic realities on ground following the crash in crude oil market, do you think the APC can still deliver on its campaign promises?
When APC brought this contract of change to the Nigerian people, which Nigerians actually bought into, oil was already on the crash and our position even during campaign was that we need to build a Nigeria without oil, because even at the flourishing part of oil sales in Nigeria, the ordinary Nigerians did not benefit from it. The money was been eaten, the money accrued from oil was not channeled properly into development. Yes it will be challenging to do some of these projects without the boom in the oil sector, but that faith we have accepted and the party has taken a stride towards ensuring that the Nigerian voters that gave their trust for this government are not disappointed at all. Their expectations will not be cut off.
Do you think these promises were made in accordance with the economic realities on ground or they were just mouth-watering promises that Nigerians would love to hear at that time?
Those promises made during election were not hinged on sale of oil. What the APC promised the Nigerian people is good governance. The promise that was made by this present government during campaign is not to give Nigerians handouts. The promises that was made substantially is to establish a government that is responsive to the people, that is discipline, that is responsible, a government that will manage the resources available prudently in a way that all Nigerians will have a sense of belonging. The APC government led by President Muhammadu Buhari never promised for example that at the end of the month we will be buying cars and sharing to the people based on oil price, no! What the Buhari government has told you is that if 10 naira is accruing to the Nigerian state, you will see the 10 naira been used for your good. And part of how to make this happen is to block the leakage, and I can assure you that since the goat has been driven out of the ban our yams are now safe. The Buhari-led government is assuring you that every money that comes in will be used effectively and that is what he has started doing by ensuring that all the revenues to the federal government is paid into a single account so that money can be traced and how it is used can be determined. Corruption is our bane nothing much, not even the crash in the oil market.
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