Senator Sani Ahmed Stores who represents Katsina Central senatorial zone recently barred his mind on the controversial 6-year single tenure proposal by the president. He also spoke on other burning issues in Nigeria. Chibuzo Ukaibe was there. Excerpts:
How do you assess the president’s 100 days in office?
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If you assess the president on his 100 days in office, you are not doing him a favour, because the period is too short to do an objective assessment. You have to give him at least a year before judging him. Even though he completed the term of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, he now has a new cabinet. So it is too early to assess him. Let us give him at least six months to a year. He has made a lot of appointments but they need to settle down before his policies take shape.
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The president has directed that all recommendations of various panels on the Jos crisis be brought forward and that the defence chiefs should relocate to Jos immediately, to tackle the crisis there? How do you react to that?
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The Jos crisis is pathetic in the sense that, going back to the second tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo, there were security reports that suggested that the crisis would take place three to seven months before it erupted. Even a day to the eruption there were still security reports, but the government did not act. So the previous governments are responsible for the crisis.
So this latest measure is long overdue as Nigerian citizens wherever they are, have a right to be protected by their government. You cannot take the lives of Nigerians cheaply; we have to show respect for lives. A lot of innocent lives have been wasted as a result of armed robberies and kidnappings in the country. It is no longer acceptable. The problem is not only in Jos, it is nationwide and it has to be resolved. I saw pictures on the internet where people were eating roasted human flesh that they had killed and cooked. It was shocking and the government has to take responsibility of caring for the people. Suspending the state governor and imposing state of emergency is only a tip of the iceberg.
Government has to go to the root of the crisis. The Jos area is rich in agricultural and mineral resources like tin, zinc and columbite and the government should revive the mining industries to provide employment for the teeming unemployed youths so that they will not be used to forment crisis. The government directive is welcome but it should be extended to other parts of the country like Kaduna, Bauchi, Borno etc.
At the national level, the government should utilise our abundant natural resources to create employment so that poverty will be eradicated nationwide. We need leaders who are progressive, result oriented, visionary, patriotic and with strategic thinking,who value the lives of their people.
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What is the solution to the Boko Haram Crisis?
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If you can cast your mind back, there were similar explosions during the Abacha regime in Lagos when Buba Marwa was the governor. Now it is happening in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria. Imagine a bomb blast at the Force Headquarters, in Suleja and Maiduguri associated with Boko Haram. I believe the government knows the Boko Haram leaders and with the assistance of the State Security Service (SSS), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Police and other security agencies they should fish them out.
Governments all over the world have been able to fish out terrorists with the aid of their security? and intelligence agencies and Nigeria must wake up to that reality. So the Nigerian government should act on intelligence reports and bring all perpetrators of the bomb blasts and other criminal acts to book.
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What can your party, the CPC offer the nation in terms of economic and political leadership?
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The CPC as a new party is one of the most successful parties in Nigeria and it now has over 10 million registered supporters even though it was registered about a year ago. The party would have won more seats but for a lot of hindrances which frustrated it efforts.
At the time Buhari was the head of state, I was very proud to call myself a Nigerian, how Tam David West, then Petroleum Minister came to explain the terms of trade by barter where our oil was sold in order to bring the much needed items like spare parts for Volkswagen motor parts and other industrial spare parts to the country.
At that time the Nigerian Naira was equal to two U.S. Dollars. So Buhari got it right at that time and the citizens of Nigeria had that confidence that the government was moving in the right direction. Now, when people hear about Nigeria, they associate it with 419, cocaine, drug trafficking etc. Even though only a small percentage of Nigerians are involved in those crimes, it affects the majority of Nigerians. That is why foreigners don’t want to come to Nigeria to invest. On the internet, the CIA report also indicts Nigerians for advance fee fraud and other sharp practices. As of now, Nigeria does not have good schools, potable water, industries,? and good health centres. We can only move Nigeria forward if we are all sincere.
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Do you support the 6-year single term?
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I don’t know the president’s agenda for proposing it. If you look at the American system of government which we borrowed from, they operate a 4-year two term structure. So I don’t see where the president got his proposal from. It is all a PDP affair and is not in the Nigerian constitution. I don’t think the tenure elongation proposal is the best thing for Nigeria at this time.
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What legislative agenda have you mapped out for your people?
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Katsina State is in the extreme northern part of Nigeria and the condition there is harsh;? the desert encroachment has to be tackled. Due to lack of factories and industries, there is almost total dependence on government for assistance and patronage. We need to encourage economic activities among the people, we need to encourage people to go back to farming, we need government to subsidise the use of gas in our homes or even make it free. This is because in order to stop desert encroachment, we need people to use gas more often. Making gas free or subsidized will stop desert encroachment which is affecting not only northern Nigeria but other parts of the country.
We have to look at the problem of desert encroachment holistically because it has attendant effects on? other parts of the country. There are a lot of resources in Nigeria and if well harnessed, would create jobs for everybody and boost their economic power and? welfare that they can sustain themselves and their families.