Running on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Olugbenga Onaolapo Obadara defeated Senator Iyabo Obasanjo Bello of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to represent Ogun Central Senatorial District. Obadara who is chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation and member of many other committees spoke with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND’s OSBY ISIBOR on several national issues. Excerpts:
Two weeks ago the former governor of Lagos State and leader of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was honoured by LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group as Person of the Year 2010. Do you think he deserves the award?
Who would have deserved it better if not Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu? This is a man who was able to give responsible leadership to the South-west. He was able to wrestle with his former colleagues who were governors; he was able to wrestle PDP from taking us into political oblivion. Now we thank God that through the purposeful leadership of Tinubu and other ex-governors like my leader; Olusegun Osoba, they were able to work together to take back Osun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ogun. I use this opportunity to congratulate him and the Almighty God will give him the strength and energy to lead us right and bless him more in wisdom and knowledge to lead this nation to a great height.
I can say one thing for sure, as a leader of opposition in this country; it is not an easy task. There have been attempts and there will be attempts at rubbishing us, rubbishing ACN, through the rubbishing of our leaders. But we will not sit down and lie low for them to trample on us. This is democracy; we shall work with the last blood in our body to defend the rights of our people. And they will not in any way be trampled upon by anybody, because it is obvious that evil people really want to perpetrate problem in this country. But we encourage them to tow the line of peace and honour. And we appeal to them to let us work together to move this nation forward.
We in the South West are ready to work with other five geo-political regions in this country at making a strong and viable nation and we will remain one indivisible nation. And I am sure that people in their right thinking will work at ensuring we get a good destination.
How will you describe the recent trial of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Code of Conduct Tribunal?
Yes, as a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, any case in court you know definitely I will not want to cast aspersion at the judiciary. Am a legislator; I respect the rule of law and I want to really encourage the judge concerned to be conscious and not be used. And I know he has the duty of protecting his integrity and the integrity of the judiciary.
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As a new member of the 7th National Assembly in the Senate, what is your legislative agenda?
My legislative agenda is to ensure true federalism for this country. We have been paying lip services to all these over the years. True federalism as you are aware of is for the due recognition of the state as a very good partner in progress with the federal government.
We want the real devolution of power to states and local governments. What number of workers does the federal government take care of? But by the time you look at the 36 states and the federal capital, Abuja and the local governments, if you add up the number of staff in the employment of the states in comparison with the meagre revenue being allocated to them, there can never be any development. With the devolution of power you will see states being able to do a lot for the people. There are many duties in the concurrent list that are supposed to be taken back to the states. We want to see the federal government being an umpire and not just to coagulate the states into improperly functioning units.
The dividends of democracy will go to the people in the state better if the states and local governments are well funded. You will be able to take them more responsible for their actions because they are well funded. In this circumstance, my party; Action Congress of Nigeria, we stand for a total federalism. We stand for total devolution of power and the total restructuring of the country. Our focal point is a fiscal responsibility. We want to make sure we work in tandem with the wishes of our people. We want to make sure we collaborate with other senators from other areas of the country. We want a constitutional amendment; the one we are using now is a conditional constitution. There was no place in the constitution where the representatives of the people sat down to really give us a constitution. The constitution is more military because the military bequeathed this one on us.
That is why you can see that in the agenda of the 7th Assembly, constitutional review is taken seriously.
The Senate has just inaugurated committees and with the committees in place, it gives us the opportunity to affect our states positively. The constitution amendment committees both in the House and in the Senate have also been constituted. So, we want to look at situation where the constitution we are giving to the country is a constitution made by the representatives of the people.
It is then that we will be able to beat our chests that truly we have an inclusive constitution with contributions from every sector of the economy and from the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
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There are high expectations from the committee on privatisation. As the chairman of the committee what difference will you make?
Yes, like I said in my inaugural speech, I want to keep an open mind with the privatisation hullabaloo. I want to open my mind into believing that those companies that are moribund can be revived; those sick ones are given enough medication to revive them and those ones that are doing well, we want to pat them on the back and ensure they do more. We really want to look succinctly into every one of them and make sure that companies deliver according to agreements signed.
I will use the opportunity as well to liaise with all the relevant agencies with regards to full privatisation or in part. And also on the concessioned enterprises, we want to make sure that we rub minds with ourselves. This is not a witch-hunting committee, it is a committee where we want to make sure that where we see infractions, we will be able to look at it together and see a better way forward. A lot of people have called expressing the expectations of Nigerians. I want to use the opportunity to allay their fears. We shall be diligent, thorough and work in the best interest of this country and all citizens.
Like I said earlier, I want to have an open mind to all issues we? have been hearing about and focus on the purposes of why we went into privatisation or concessioning. That will be my driving force at making sure their objectives and purposes are achieved. We want to make sure that we work with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and every ministry/parastatal where the enterprises under them are privatised and be able to interface directly with people that bought those companies. We want to know their problems, we want to share part of the problems and sit with them to know how best to revive these companies. It is a very demanding job, but we know God will see us through. We know it is going to be challenging, but you can be sure we will work as a nation to make sure we get to the right destination.
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Please appraise the security situation in the country.
?My position on the security in the country today, put succinctly, is very worrisome. How many people want to invest in an economy where their returns are not secured? Talking about the bombing in Eagle Square, Police headquarters and the UN buildings, these are prominent places. It sends the wrong signals to investors and I am sure this has taken us more than ten years backward. My only advice to the security agencies is for them to be more responsive and be awake to their responsibility. A lot of resources are going there, a lot of appropriation has been made to them, and we expected them to nip the situation in the bud.
?It is a dangerous thing because innocent lives have been lost and properties destroyed. Many people lost their bread winners and where do we go from here? A nation that really wants to develop, a nation that attracts development will not want to do it through this way. And my appeal to those involved in any of these evil activities is to please sheath their swords.
Let us work together, bring your complaints let us look at the situation where we can address it and move forward. We as senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, across party lines, have resolved to work with the security agencies at curtailing all these nuisances.
The country will continue to remain one indivisible nation and will get stronger and stronger. But we must be able to encourage ourselves with purposeful leadership. We must be able to encourage our people by giving them opportunity of good employment. We want to give them the opportunities of three square meals on their tables; we want to give them opportunity of good road, healthcare, electricity. We want to see that agriculture is developed and education taken more seriously. It is only in this that we can say we have a united and developed Nigeria.
Let’s take a message from you to the people of Ogun Central Senatorial District.
?When I was contesting this election I put it on my front burner that I will diligently serve my senatorial district and defend the interest of my people. I will give good representation and work towards the total development of my state. Everything due to my state I will fight for it, solicit it and I will beg if necessary for it. These are part of politics. I can assure you of one thing, Ogun Central Senatorial District that I represent, we are known for many firsts in this country. We were first to embrace Christianity and even education in the whole of Nigeria. We were also the first to have the first Nobel Laureate in Africa. I know that with the cooperation and understanding of the good people of Ogun Central I will succeed on this mission.