LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY, A WIN FOR NIGERIA DEMOCRACY – REP ETABA
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The House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Public Petitions, Hon Mike Etaba, has said the Supreme Court judgement, granting autonomy to local government is a win for democracy in Nigeria.
This is also as he commended the Supreme Court for granting local government autonomy after several years.
Speaking in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja, Etaba who represents Obubra/Etung Federal Constituency of Cross River State and also a third-term member said that the Supreme Court judgement was a win for Nigeria’s democracy.
According to him, democracy begins at the local level therefore the local government should be given a chance to perform and serve Nigerians at the grassroots.
He said “For me, it’s a clapping hand for Mr. President. Because the local government is where the whole governance should be happening. When we talk about local government, that is where the whole hope of governance should be happening. I’m happy that even the governors, you know, are even part of what is happening today. Because no governor will tell me that he is not happy about this local government autonomy.
“They should be happy because the local government we are talking about are the people that voted, you know, myself, the governors, the state house of assembly, and the senators to power. So who would not be happy that a local government has been given autonomy for people to operate in their various local governments and control their funds? For me, it’s a double win for Nigeria’s democracy.
Speaking also on the bills to return Nigeria to a parliamentary system and extend of President and governor tenure to six years single tenure which has passed first reading in the House, Etaba said he do not subscribe to the intentions of the bill.
According to Etaba, six years is not enough for a president or governor to perform effectively by delivering a dividend of democracy, he however said 8years would be more appreciated to be given to any president or governor.
“Single tenor for president for six years. I don’t subscribe to it. If you say it’s eight years, if you say it’s eight years for, you know, each president to come on board, you know, to do what he needs to do, because you need to give each, every political zone to do at least eight years to be able to create an impact.
“Let Nigerians also know that, if you are from the south, the south also have people that are intelligent, that can deliver dividends to democracy to Nigerians. If you are from the north, they should know. If you are from the southeast, they should know. South, they should know. So, it’s not about six years. Six years is not enough for you to deliver, you know, the dividends that you expect to deliver. That is my take.
Speaking on the bill to return Nigeria to a parliamentary system, the federal lawmaker further explained that Nigerian is a diversified country and will not function effectively with the parliamentary system, adding that the challenge of the presidential system is not about the cost of governance but about human nature, adding that there are better ways the government can reduce costs of governance.
“For the parliamentary system of government, I don’t subscribe to it. We are not a one-language speaking country that you expect that, what happens in Dubai should happen in Nigeria. It doesn’t work like that.
“We are diversified, our tribes are different. We have Igbo, we have Yoruba, we have Hausa and many more. Where I come from, we have about 80 languages, 80 languages. So, my language is different from the next, five minutes drive, from the next person. So, how do you marry that to say that you want to do a parliamentary, it can’t work.
“It’s not about the cost. It’s about our human nature. Where once we put some indices right, all those costs will be behind us. There is, there are better ways we can reduce costs. It’s just the notion of governance that we have within our system. If you say, okay, you are reducing cost, there should be a way you can reduce cost. Parliamentary system will not come to solve the problem and it can’t fly.
Reacting to the fuel scarcity in some part of the country, economic challenges and insecurity, Etaba also noted that there is a need for the Federal government to be proactive it its service delivery.
He further noted that in the past eight years, the security situation of the country has been greatly improved.
“First I will take you on the issue of fuel scarcity. You said there was fuel scarcity. Yes. That fuel scarcity is not actually fuel scarcity. It was logistics. You remember it’s just the way we should be operating.
“We should be proactive in our service delivery in this country. Why do I say so? There is no year we don’t have flooding in Kogi, Abuja road. And if you watch, each time there is flooding in that area, there is always fuel scarcity in this place. Most especially in Abuja. It affects Abuja and also the northern part of Nigeria. So that I don’t think is an issue. And this is an issue that has to do with logistics and that has to be solved.
“Talking of security, in the past eight years or seven years, you’ll understand that the security situation has come a little. It doesn’t used to be like this. So for me, the first is to give Mr. President kudos and also to the security agencies for them to improve on their tactical styles to make sure that we wipe out this criminality.
“When we are talking about hunger, we are talking about hunger because most of our Nigerians that even have farms don’t want to go to farm. They believe that politicians should give them money. I will acknowledge it in some parts of Nigeria. But in some parts where there are no insecurity, some of them believe that there has to be free money. They don’t want to go to farm. Politicians have to give them money.
“This one has to give them money. This one has to send money. They don’t want to go to farm. We come from an area where some of the areas we come from, there are no insecurity, but people don’t want to go to farm. So that really attributed to Mr. President not giving people food and when there is time for harvest, you that you don’t go to farm, you expect to harvest. You can harvest and you expect to have food. You will not have food. So every Nigerian, apart from the ones that are really facing the real insecurity, we have our quota to contribute to the food sufficiency in this country. Including with the legislators, we have farms. We will pay farms because we need food to be sufficient in this country. But when there is food, this stealing and insecurity will reduce.
“While we have all this insecurity, sometimes hunger, stealing, sometimes hunger, but most of them that are stealing are not ready to work. That is a challenge. So we really attribute that to Mr. President has done well in that regard.
“Talk about the increment of food all that. We also push that to our Nigerians too. You can imagine you are in the market today. You want to buy rice, a bag of rice. You are pricing a bag of rice. In the course of pricing that bag of rice, the person selling you that rice now got a call from Lagos. He say, what? He say, the rice now is 100,000. That rice we are supposed to buy for 55.He say it’s 100,000. Is that a Tinubu? He immediately tells you, please, this rice I’m not selling it to. That is the rice he bought for 40,000.And he say he wants to sell it for 65,000 and now somebody has called, he say it’s 100,000. So that one is caused by who? Is it Tinubu? So these are the issues before. All of us have to agree that this country, we have to build it together and that is the best way we can go.
Speaking on the minimum wage and cutting down costs of governance , he said “cutting down costs, most especially the minimum wage. Let me tell you the challenge that Nigerians have not come to realize. It’s not about the government. It’s about the private sectors.
If you have a house help, if government is paying 200,000 to any civil servant, private sector, construction company, they are supposed to pay that money. Your driver, you are supposed to pay that driver that money. So when government is trying to negotiate these things to be able to carry everybody along, people are seeing government to be wicked. It’s not about government alone. I am part of the government. Private sectors majorly need to be considered in this picture.
” How many persons are working in government? Think about private sector. So would they push the wage bill to those who are making the economy stand? They will suffocate the country. They won’t be able to survive it.Businesses will shut down. So that is why you see government being careful in these negotiations.
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