Former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Rivers State, Ken Chikere, was elected into the House of Representatives last April  to represent Port Harcourt Federal Constituency. In this interview with Ben Agande in Abuja, he speaks on a wide range of issues including remuneration for members of the National Assembly whom he said are under- paid.
He also speaks on the growing unemployment in the country and the danger it portends and warns that the revolution witnessed in the Middle East could happen here.  Excerpts:

You were in the executive arm of government as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Rives State before coming into the National Assembly. What has been the experience transiting from one arm of government to the other?

It all boils down to service to the people. You will appreciate that in one you are appointed while in the other, you are elected. The tenures are different. In one you are at the pleasure of the person who appointed you while in the other one, you are at the pleasure of the electorate.  But ultimately, you are driven by the desire to serve the people.

 With your election into the National Assembly and the challenges members face, do you believe that salaries of members of the National Assembly are jumbo?

My answer will be no. If you look at the demands being made on members of the National Assembly, then you will be able to conclude  whether or not members of the legislature are paid enough. The monetary demand of the office is not commensurate with what is received. In the first instance, the money due to the National Assembly and its individual members has been reduced by 40 per cent.  What I am saying is that even at that time when they received all the money due to them, it could not have been enough. If you are in Abuja and you want to get a decent accommodation befitting of a member of the National Assembly, you will need an average of N7.5 million per annum. There are places that are as high as N15 million per annum and you are asked to pay for two years. The National Assembly pays you N3 million. How do you reconcile this?

I think the problem with the National Assembly is that the payment made to the members is not compartmentalised. The other basic problem is, there is total lack of information. Monies are given out as car loans repayable immediately. Monies are given to you for accommodation and to run your office. But in giving these monies, there is no sufficient compartmentalisation. When it is compartmentalised, you will find out that the salary of the legislator is way below that of a commensurate civil servant (i.e the commissioner, the permanent secretary or even a director in the ministry).

There should be a proper review of all the circumstances of an average legislator including the fact that in our constituency, people don’t have jobs and of necessity, every Nigerian is entitled to some basic things. To the extent that we are not ready with the provisions of these things and to that extent that we must appreciate that the man they are seeing is their representatives, some provisions should be made for such. Instead of cutting the money of members of the National Assembly by 40 per cent, it should be increased by 40 per cent.

Second, there must be allowance for constituency projects. A legislator should be able to go home with one project. He does not have to be the contractor. He may not nominate the contractor but he looks at his constituency and says, for this section of my constituency, you get this for this year. The other section gets that next year. That will remedy the situation as we find it now.

 And, talking about things that will benefit your constituency, what will be your priority?

While I was commissioner, I took part in a very substantial manner in the issues concerning electricity. I was involved in the contracts that were awarded before we came to office and those that were awarded during our government and came to the conclusion that one of our drawbacks in this country is the issue of electricity.

The Rivers State Government, for over a decade, has invested in the Independent Power Generation. We do not have the benefit as a state. I believe that if there is sufficient and affordable electricity, most of the problems concerning employment would be reduced.

I came to the National Assembly with the hope that, starting from my state that has invested so much money in power generation, I will speak of power. The Nigerian government should invest sufficiently in the power sector to generate enough power for the people so that they can be gainfully employed.

The other one is the issue of youths development and empowerment. What are we doing with the school system? Is it enough? I see unemployment as a time-bomb. If we do not begin to think and act seriously about the issues of our youth development and empowerment, we will be in trouble.

What happened in the Middle East and what is happening in the United Kingdom can happen here. Those of us in position of authority either at the state or national level must begin to ask ourselves what we are going to do to ensure that it does not happen. We are contending with the issue of Boko Haram and militancy in the Niger Delta. I believe that if we are to give proper education and we provide employment for the youths, the majority of them will not be involved in crime. Every legislator is stressed up by community problems concerning youth unemployment. They want to be empowered.

The President’s proposal for a single-term of six years for the president and governors has generated a lot of debate. Do you think that would solve the problems associated with transition in the country?

When you think over the proposal, it is like being between the devil and the deep blue sea. On the one hand, you argue that if somebody gets a one term of six or seven years and he is a mediocre, what happens? The people suffer.

It is not easy to remove him, so you are faced with that problem. On the other hand, and I believe that is where the president is coming from, the money spent on elections cannot be policed. Not even EFCC, INEC and ICPC can police the money used for elections. Such resources can be put to proper use. Part of the corruption in the country today is motivated by money to run elections. Governors who want to re-run put money aside for elections.