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Withdraw governors� immunity � Bako
Former Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Alhaji Danladi Bako, now a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, spoke with DOTUN OLADIPO on the state of the nation. Excerpts:
There have been lots of complaints about the way the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government is running the country, especially by the opposition. The way things are, are you not swayed by their arguments?
I think, whether you like it or not, President Olusegun Obasanjo is doing a lot of work. And when I say a lot of work, I mean a lot of work. I am privileged to know how much long-term economic reforms have taken place; I am privileged to know how much Mr. President is committed to this country; I�m privileged to know how much the international community respects Obasanjo; I�m privileged to know at so many conferences and places I�ve been to when foreigners ask, �how can you have a President Obasanjo and you are still complaining? Can you loan him to us for one year?� They�ll rather have a president that can check excess spending, that can check wasteful spending, that can check corruption, at least have the intentions to do so and create the laws to do so. Somehow, the sum total of his performance does not get back to the public for consumption well. Remi Oyo is doing her best. The Minister for Information is doing his best. They just need to do a little more. There have to be more concerted efforts. Not because he�s not performing, but the opposition is not as weak in terms of media strategy as you imagine. They might be weak in terms of public appeal but in terms of media negativity and propagation of such negativity, the opposition have a hold and they are using it. So, continually, they will make every effort to discredit Obasanjo. So, he needs double effort to paint himself and look clean because we all know for God�s sake that corruption has reduced but it hasn�t stopped. I know that the reduction in corruption has kept a lot of money in government coffers that would have been spent anyhow. The fear of Justice Mustapha Akanbi has reduced the tendency, at least, relatively. But, as I said, despite all of these good things, Nigerians are not feeling so much of the impact of his policies. But I know quite a few of us who have had the privilege of speaking with him directly and today, I feel really good that when I drive from Abuja to Sokoto, 80 per cent of the road had been mended and patched. So, the Federal Road Maintenance Agency is doing a very good job. These are the kind of tangible things that I had been advocating all these while. You can do all the policies about shoring up the value of the naira, bringing down inflation, macro economic and micro economic issues, if you don�t repair roads, repair schools, you don�t have better health facilities, water facilities, you are wasting time. Those are the things that impact. If by the time Obasanjo leaves in 2007 he has repaired the 500 roads, he has given us light, 90 percent light output, I think he would have tried.
Some have said the PDP itself is the problem of the country owing to the in-fighting at all levels within the party. Isn�t there some level of truth in this? More so, there is this belief that the best way to feel the impact of governance is when the third tier of government is properly run. How can the country go about resolving this problem associated with the joint state and local government accounts?
That law on the state and local government joint account has to be reviewed. The facilities for the release and movement of funds to the third tier of government must be reviewed. It was in the light of this that government set up a committee to look into this. But the bottom line is that some governors are taking undue advantage of that joint account. First of all, immunity to prosecute governors must be taken away. They should be liable. How will you say that you cannot prosecute a governor? Nobody says you have to come to court everyday, nobody says the governor has to be distracted, but they must be liable to prosecution. I tell you that there are states where N15 million is taken from a local government every month. And when you multiply that by say 20 local governments over four years, then it comes to something. That�s the kind of money they use to campaign, they use to build foreign accounts. They have incredible accounts abroad and I think except you make them liable, there�s no way you can check this. I�m totally in support of the removal of the immunity. There must also be due process. The local government fund must also be given directly to the local government chairmen. The powers of the governors over the local government have to be redefined in the constitution. Otherwise, the local government chairman becomes a tool in the hands of the governor. They�ve always done that and that�s what obtains till now. So, the local government does not have the kind of autonomy it�s expected to have and that�s why they are not growing. On the matter of the PDP, I happen to be one of those that know that there were so many pressure groups that formed the PDP. An aggregate of those pressure groups was the G-34. There was a known significant body, the Peoples Democratic Movement, that is the 1990s evolution of the Peoples Front, late Major General Shehu Musa Yar�Adua�s machinery. The PDM along with so many factions from ANC that broke into two, factions from the Alliance for Democracy, factions from all of those parties formed the PDP. For you to have a strong party, you need upward of 15 to 20 years of development. I know that the main structural problem of the PDP will over time be resolved. People have to be patient. It will take another five, 10 years. We can only appeal that people who have a hangover of authoritarian rule should have a rethink. I do not see the PDP crumbling, I only see it getting stronger. And mind you, the leaders always know when to back down. Mark my word, the 2007 presidential primary, a candidate will emerge and there will be no crisis. And the candidate will run and PDP will win. PDP will win even in Sokoto. Forget about what the All Nigeria Peoples Party thinks today, PDP will win in Sokoto.
The PUNCH, Friday, July 2, 2004
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