Hon. Ken Anayo Chikere is one of the new members in the House of Representatives, representing Port Harcourt Federal Constituency. In this interview with PEMBI STEPHEN- DAVID, he bares his mind on the Electricity Reform Act and the fuel subsidy crisis, among other national issues.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SINCE YOUR ELECTION TO ENSURE THAT YOUR PEOPLE REAP THE DIVIDENDS OF DEMOCRACY?
Today, even though the second reading of the Bill was stalled, I made contributions on the floor of the House in respect of a bill to amend the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2004 to the effect that the law governing the electricity sector should be such that state governments, individuals and corporations which have the wherewithal to invest in that sector, should be allowed to do so. And take over local network, collect revenue and distribute power for local consumption. The reason I supported the amendment is that once you have steady electric supply, what we see today as unemployment will disappear because a lot of people will be self employed and have a means of livelihood. Because, part of my agenda as a legislator is to ensure that the welfare of my people is improved, not through killing fish everyday to give them to eat, but giving them the opportunity to go and catch their own fish. If they have employment, it will be good for everybody. We need electricity, we need potable drinking water, we need good roads, good hospitals, good schools, etc and I will contribute to any debate that will further us on that. I feel ashamed when you take off from beautiful airports abroad and then you come back home to something else. The airport in Dubai is a whole industry; Heathrow Airport is a whole industry that can sustain a country, and the businesses that are there including duty free shops, cargo, and aviation are very big businesses. Why can’t we have that kind of thing in Nigeria? Therefore I am committed to the development of Nigeria in terms of airports, roads, schools and hospitals. I have spoken about employment because the energy and vitality of our youths need to be harnessed and properly channeled. For instance in Niger State, protesting youths burnt the INEC office, properties and cars; that is only a tip of the iceberg. Boko Haram will be a child’s play if we don’t find employment for our youths. Because by then you will not know who is who, you cannot call it Niger Delta crisis or Boko Haram crisis because hundreds of thousands of youths will be involved and it will be a free for all. So my agenda is to see how we can move our country forward on all fronts.
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WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD IN RESOLVING THE FUEL SUBSIDY CRISIS?
My response to the crisis is that for us to move forward as a country, it starts from the family, even from you, from the community and the country as a whole, is for us to be honest to ourselves. The truth about the matter is that fuel subsidy by whatever name it is called, was a fraud from the beginning and it has to go; that is the truth. And I believe that everybody believes that is the true position, which is it has to go. Subsidy has to be withdrawn. The problem is that the manner of its removal, the modality of removal was objectionable.
That was why the the House of Representatives passed a motion stating that the federal government should suspend the withdrawal and that labour should suspend the strike and they should go to the negotiating table.
?I expected labour, realising that fuel subsidy has to go eventually, to have used that motion as a way forward. As a matter of fact, as one of the sponsors of that motion, I did not sponsor it on the understanding that fuel subsidy will stay. I sponsored it having in mind that Nigerians needed to be sensitized before the subsidy is removed. So I don’t support the position labour is now taking, because I think that the labour leaders with all due respect are part of the elite, and I don’t know how they are in touch with the ordinary masses. Because if they are in touch; they will be telling the federal government, not to put the price at N141, but advising it to reduce it to N100 while we look forward to the future. It is not to insist that it must be N65 and to expect the federal government to reduce the price unilaterally as the fuel does not come from the federal government pumps but from privately owned pumps. Rather labour should urge the federal government to make arrangements predicated on the discussions so that pump owners can bring their price down to N100 per litre. So, I think the way forward is for labour to enter negotiations with the federal government as to what Nigerians will now pay as the first leg to the eventual removal of the fuel subsidy.
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WITH THE IMPASSE GENERATED BY THE REMOVAL OF FUEL SUBSIDY AND NATIONWIDE STRIKE, SOME NIGERIANS CALLED FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION.
I hear that some people are calling for military intervention; I think such people are blind and dumb. The military are the people that have put the country where it is now. If you have crossed the border, to Ghana, I am not talking about London, I am not talking about New York, I am talking about Ghana citizens that we used to bring here for employment, even the lawyers, doctors, engineers among them in the recent past. Ghana has achieved rapid economic progress, more than even Nigeria. Then you ask yourself, who has put Nigeria where it is now? It is nothing more than the military, so anybody calling for military intervention is not only blind, but deaf and dumb.
So military intervention will not help us, at this stage, the only thing that will help us is to suffer, struggle and grow in this democracy till we get there. There is corruption, it has to go, there are religious crises, they have to go; there is tribalism, and even what is happing now has tribal and ethnic undertones. All these problems will gradually become a thing of the past but it will take time. If the soldiers had not come in 1966, Nigeria would have been better than it is now. So anybody calling for a repeat of 1966 is sending us 45 years back.