•Speaks on Akpabio’s ‘prayer’, her 1986 model car, the NASS fall that twisted her ankle

…also on cost of running government, ministerial nominees’ screening

By Kennedy Mbele

Senator Ireti Heeba Kingibe represents the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in the Senate on the platform of Labour Party (LP).

In this interview, Kingibe, who identifies herself as the symbol of the FCT, speaks on the state of the nation, the cost of running government which many believe is huge and the screening of ministerial nominees by the Red Chamber among other issues. Excerpts:

The Senate confirmed 45 ministerial nominees while three were not confirmed. One of them is a woman. Can you give us an idea of the real reasons why they were not confirmed?

Well, we were told that they were being cleared, that their security clearance has not come through yet.  Obviously, without that we had to wait. We confirmed the other people. We had screened them all, but we did not confirm the last three.

Were senators privy to the said security report on the persons?

No, we were not privy to it. We were just told on the floor of the Senate that they have not been cleared

This security report would have emerged based on petitions sent to the National Assembly and the Senate would have transmitted such communication to the relevant security agencies. I assume so. Am I right?

I assume that that is how it is done. You must remember that I am a new senator but if I recall, we didn’t actually bring up any of the petitions on the floor of the Senate, we were told they will come up during the confirmation but at the confirmation, all the others have been cleared except the last three that we were told have not received security clearance and, therefore, we had to wait. We just confirmed those that had received because we were going on recess. If we receive the go ahead on the others, may be, we will clear them.

Talking about recess, have you gotten the prayers in your mail box as promised by the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio?

No. Actually, I didn’t receive any prayers but I will check my e-mail for the prayers.

So you are not enjoying your recess. You can check your account so that you can enjoy your recess?

Truthfully, I don’t know what he was talking about but most people assumed that may be, that allowances may be paid but they may be statutory things that we may have been paid. Anyway, I don’t think there was anything extra that was supposed to be given. I certainly haven’t seen anything extra, yet.

Coming from the Labour Party, for example, and considering the situation in the country, the National Assembly has been heavily hit as our senators are among the highest paid in the world, and people say it is alarming. Do you feel alarmed also over the cost of running the National Assembly?

Yes. That is truthfully, that is so but I know that I can’t change anything. I have a constituency office where I do things that are necessary. I also have a development office where I do development programs for the people and, hopefully, anything extra, I put in any allowances. Obviously, I am a new senator. We are paid very little but as they come in, I put them in that office for my development programs.

But as it is right now with the challenges Nigerians are facing; they are not confident of what they are going to eat or certain about the kind of roof that will be over their head alongside the increasing level of poverty.

What comes to your mind when they talk about politicians and the kind of vehicles that legislators need to do their job? Do you feel that it is morally right? Although you said you cannot really change things, your principal, Mr. Peter Obi, had said we cannot continue like this, if you have your way, would you change certain things?

Truthfully, we cannot continue like this. I was hoping that things would change with this election but it doesn’t seem to have changed much. But, we are all new, the President is new, maybe he still has other things to do. Some of the things I would do that I think would help and this is my utopian view of Nigeria are that, if I have my way, I would insist that all government vehicles must have be vehicles assembled in Nigeria. This is because, that would go a long way in improving productivity in Nigeria. For one thing, Innoson, Volkswagen and Peugeot, maybe even Toyota might decide that it is worth their while to set up assembly plants in Nigeria. Again, commodities such as tin tomatoes should not be imported. Yes, we would have a short period of some kind of inconvenience, but those are the things that would help bring down the exchange rate and help grow our economy. Personally, I use 1986 model car. I am not particular about vehicles. As long as it moves, it is fine with me. But, as you can see, whenever people talk about us, Labour Party senators, there are only eight of us and, in a democracy, the minority will have their say but at the end of the day, the majority will have their way. We will make changes we can make but we are also new in the Senate, we are trying to find our feet. They have to give us a little bit of time to see the impact we can make. Few weeks are too early to judge us in the Senate.

You must be happy over the nomination of an indigene of the FCT for a ministerial position after several years. How does that come to you?

Well, I am happy that FCT has a minister. We can start off with it being an indigenous person but, at the end of the day, lots of other people still live in the FCT and there are also several indigenous tribes. But, yes, I am thrilled for the fact that we have an FCT minister. It has never been done and as I said during his screening, we thank President Tinubu for doing that.

How would you describe the caliber of the ministerial nominees? Would you say they are employable if you were a private person in the private sector with the capacity to interview them?

Well, they must be employable because they have been employed in the past. But, I do think that from their previous jobs, they have already given their best and, if I were the President, I would have tried to bring in new people, fresh blood, not re-cycling these people. There were few people that were fresh and new. I saw that some of them have great potentials but the bulk of them were people that were constantly re-cycled. So if I had a say, I would have suggested new and fresher people.

So you are not as much impressed

Truthfully, not really but it is the prerogative of the President to pick candidates for the Federal Executive Council, though we all have our opinions.

Some people are of the opinion that you, senators, were not thorough enough in the screening exercise. What is your take?

We could have done more but we had to go by the rule of the Senate which provides for serving and former federal legislators to take a bow and go, without screening and there were a lot of them in that category.

Does that make sense?

I am one of the people who believe that taking a bow is wrong and that we should have been allowed to question them properly but, like I said, the majority will always have their way. I got e-mail from people saying “you didn’t complain” but the truth is that you can only speak on the floor of the Senate when you are given the floor to speak. So, things could be different but they were not and I think that going forward, for one thing, we should have has less ministers not more because of our weak economy. But, at the end of the day, all these things are the prerogatives of Mr. President. We should be seen to be setting example. As we urge the people to sacrifice, we also need to make certain changes.

It is said that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. Your party, Labour Party, has spoken so much about morality, justification of responsibilities imposed on public office holders, etc. Would you tighten your belt and show that you are the face of the Labour Party in the parliament?

I will tighten my belt. We started by getting offices and other things and, generally, I have my salary put in a separate account which I am going to be using for the people of FCT. I make personal sacrifices, even before getting to the Senate. But, as I said, I am only one person. I am looking forward to passing certain bills that will make a lot of difference to the FCT. As the Chairman of Women Affairs, I am also looking forward to making impact on the lives of women. Give us a few months. By the time we come back from recess, you will see the difference between the Labour Party senators and other senators.

Some of your constituents said they did not see you at the World Indigenous Day Celebration held at the Old Parade Ground, Abuja. What happened?

Yes, I fell down. It is for the same reason that you are interviewing me in the house and not in your studio. Somebody had poured something liquid on the floor at the corridors of the Senate. I marched it, fell down and twisted my ankle. Presently, I am in a brace and can barely walk.

That was why they couldn’t see me. I want to add something to this discussion. I am not defending the Senate President. In truth, one of our colleagues brought a motion asking that as a Senate, we should tell the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, that they must not carry out their proposed 40% increase on electricity tariff because, according to him, Nigerians have been inundated with a lot of things and, as such, should be allowed to breath. The Senate President just re-iterated what the senator said by saying that Nigerians need to breath. So, in truth, he was not making fun of Nigerians. 

He was only repeating what that senator said in asking that we must not allow the increase in electricity tariff. I know we do a lot of things in a manner that they shouldn’t have been done but, believe it or not, when I am off camera I am extremely critical. But, as they tell me when I bring up something “Madam, you are opposition”, that is true but in this respect, truly, he was not making fun of the people. He was only repeating what the senator was asking for.