Honourable Ganama Titsi Kwaga represents Madagali/Michika Federal Constituency of Adamawa State on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview with RUTH CHOJI, the lawmaker calls for the complete autonomy for local governments. He also tasks the Border Development Community Agency to take care of villages ceded to Nigeria from Cameroun
What motions or bills have you sponsored since you started representing Madagali/Michika Federal Constituency of Adamawa State?
I sponsored two motions. My first was on the neglect of border villages as a result of the 2003 International Court verdict that ceded some villages to my constituency from Cameron. Since then, these villages have been abandoned. And they established an agency that is supposed to tackle this issue which is the ‘Border Development Community Agency.’
I can tell you that, in 2011, their budget was about six hundred million naira. We expected that since these villages were in Cameron before, we would have put something on ground to convince them that they are now part of Nigeria and that we care; else their allegiance will remain with Cameroun.
You also know that we will have challenges if they continue to be ignored. I also have a motion on the indiscreet sighting of GSM base stations. They are littered all over the place, making the environment look dirty apart from the health hazards. In developed countries people obtain license before theysite a base station.
Are you in support of the calls for the review of the revenue sharing formula by northern governors?
I am a very loyal party man and there is a clear instruction from the party(ACN) that we should not engage in such matters.
But would you support the calls for the scrapping of local governments in Nigeria
Anybody who talks about scrapping local government is not being fair to the common man, because this is the government that is closestto the common man. A lot of people in the villages don’t know anything apart from the local government chairman and the secretariat.
My take is that, rather than talking of scrapping it, we should make them autonomous in terms of funding. They should get their funding direct from federal allocation because this thing they call joint account with state government is the problem of the local governments.
We know a lot of things that are happening with this joint account and so if they become autonomous, we will be able to hold them accountable. At the state level, the government will enter into a sort of contractual agreement with the local government; sometimes they order or execute? projects that? might not be a? priority to the local government and the governors will force them to do it at an exorbitant? cost.
They also deduct the local government money at source.? The moment it comes from the federation account, they remove it and give them left over. That is what has been responsible for the poor performance of these local government chairmen.
Would you support the creation of more states which will lead to additional local governments?
It is not a question of if we want more states. We have to find out if these states are viable and we must be conscious of good governance. When we had 12 states, the whole of the north/east region was one state under the then leadership of Brigadier Usman and the effect of governance was felt to the village level.
So the issue of good governance should be our priority not the number of states we have. We need to have people who are dedicated and transparent in their dealings. So I don’t think the craving for more states should be the issue now. We need to develop the ones we have first.
As the member of the Reps Committee on Diaspora, what is your take on the recent face-off between Nigeria and South Africa and what is the impact on the nation?
Naturally, when something happens to our citizens outside Nigeria, we take interest and in this case we looked at it as a challenge.I believe that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handled the situation well. Their reaction made the South Africans quickly retrace its steps and started making overtures for peace.
It has shown the world that Nigeria will no longer tolerate its citizens being maltreated by other nations. People must accord us the respect we give their people when they come here. We are a peace loving people and we accommodate other nationals.
But we won’t allow others to continue humiliating and maltreating us, so I must commend the Foreign Affairs Minister for taking decisive steps that quickly doused the situation.
It’s been reported that there are 17million Nigerians in Diaspora; what is the committee doing in terms of getting them to come back home?
We have talked about having a data bank that will get the number of Nigerians outside and get what they are doing; even going into classifying their professions. The committee is doing a lot of things in that regard. But everything depends on the government of the day; people will be willing to come back if there is an enabling environment.
They must create opportunities for them to come and practice their profession. If basic infrastructure is not in place, nobody will want to come and invest here. We need to have those basic amenities in place and also create a secure environment for them.
If you go to America, UK and other nations; you will see Nigerians that have excelled in different fields. My take has been that if these people in Diaspora do not want to come and stay, they can partner or come on sabbatical and teach our students in the universities, hospitals and other ways.
We can tap from their experience and resources. But I think the Diaspora committee is doing a lot concerning this.Our able chairman, Hon. Abike is doing a lot in that aspect.
How about Nigerians that are wallowing in prisons in other nations?
You know that is an issue that you must handle with care. If for instance, a Nigerian goes to a foreign land and breaks the law, it becomes difficult for somebody to help you out because you have broken the law of that land. So we are being careful, trying to differentiate those that committed crime and those being abused by other people.
Money laundering and financial crimes have become the bane of this nation. As a member of that committee, what is being done to check these?
I personally believe that we need to go back to the grassroots in tacking corruption. We need to start enlightenment on the dangers of corruption from the basic which is the classroom. Corruption is endemic and the society must be educated on the need to shun it at all cost.
Until we begin to see somebody who has stolen money and treat him as a bad person, this thing will never end. But today, nobody cares how you make money as long as you give it round, they will start giving you chieftaincy titles; you will now become the lord of the community, all with corrupt money.
The anti-graft agencies must invest a lot in public enlightenment; it makes it easier for them. It is just like community medicine, when you are able to educate the public on the need to live in good clean environment, it saves a lot of money from treatment.
Going back to Adamawa State now, most people thought that the ACN will carry the day at the recent gubernatorial elections, what happened?
You know how elections are done in this country. If you had gone to Adamawa in the week of the elections or after the elections and you make a survey at random and asked, you would have known that something went wrong in that elections.
What are the chances of ACN, ever taking over that seat?
Well, we are at the tribunal and our take is that we hope justice will be done. The people of Adamawa are also optimistic that justice will be served.
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