By Ben Agande

Deputy Leader of House of Representatives, Mr. Leo  Ogor, speaks on the proposed constitutional amendment by President Goodluck Jonathan and how the House will handle it when it is eventually presented.
He also speaks on the call by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to step down after two years in office.
Excerpts:

What is your agenda for the seventh session of the House of Representatives? What are your priorities?

Our agenda is to ensure that we run a very transparent government based on the rule of law. We are mindful of a lot of challenges confronting us and we are also mindful of the leakages in the system, especially as it borders on revenue generation. We have taken it as a responsibility by the provisions of the constitution that empowers us to make laws for the good governance of the country, to do all within our legislative powers to block all these leakages and ensure that every money generated comes into the consolidation account of the federation in line with Section 80 of the constitution or to go directly into the federation account in line with Section 162 of the constitution, any one that is applicable.

There are also challenges of policies that we intend to work with the executive to address. We are mindful of the energy challenge that is confronting us as a nation. We cannot address this without proper appropriation and ensure proper oversight functions. The basic challenges are there but the important thing is to have a transparent and focused government that at the end of the day will take Nigeria beyond the level it is now.

The agencies that are being accused of not bringing revenues generated into the consolidated account of government are also empowered by the laws setting them up to spend the revenues they generate. How do you reconcile this?

I agree with you to a very large extent that we have made some laws that are totally inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution either through omission or commission but I am consoled by the provisions of the constitution that stipulates that any law that is inconsistent with the constitution is to the extent of that inconsistency null and void. We created a lot of problems and the Seventh Assembly has stated clearly that it will no longer be business as usual.

We are confronted with a major budget deficit and we need to do everything possible to block every loophole. This can only be done through proper appropriation. It therefore means that these laws that are inconsistent with the constitution must be repealed. As soon as these laws are passed, it, therefore, means that every naira generated by any agency must go into the consolidated revenue account and you will be so amazed that billions of naira would come into the consolidated account from most of these agencies that have been spending the money they have been generating without appropriation. Most of these agencies spend their funds without the assent of the President. We intend to correct these challenges.

We have stated clearly that it is no more business as usual. Money that is supposed to be spent must go through appropriation. That has been a major loophole and these are the loopholes that we intend to block. Every agency must go through appropriation and at the end of the day; the resources available will be fairly distributed among the various agencies of government.

Every agency of government is carrying out a specific responsibility. The Nigeria Police carry out a major responsibility and the same thing with the Army, Navy and a host of other agencies. It, therefore, means that an agency that generates revenue should not see itself as doing something greater than the other agencies and by no means spend money they generate. The constitution clearly defines that everybody is equal before the law. We are mindful of these things and we intend correcting them. Every agency must go through appropriation. If every agency that generates revenue starts spending it, we will have no funds to run the  government.

The emergence of the presiding officers of the House of Representatives was not very smooth due to the opposition of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. To what extent do you think this will affect the smooth running of the House?

I do not think it will pose any major problem because the principles of democracy took place on the floor of the House of Representatives. Members decided to select who becomes their presiding officers and overwhelmingly elected  Mr. Aminu Tambuwal as speaker and Mr. Emeka Ihedioha as  deputy speaker. It is members of this parliament that they are going to work with, so I believe it will have positive effect on the House because they know that they are products of the House.

How do you reconcile this with the call by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, that they should resign after two years to allow for the certification of the zoning principles of Peoples Democratic Party?

My opinion is, we should not make a major issue out of it. The parliament is an independent institution. Members of parliament say this is what they want and I am mindful of the provisions of the constitution which defines the modalities for the election of the speaker. The provision of the constitution did not say the speaker must come from the majority party or the minority party.

If the people decided that who they want is Tambuwal, and bearing in mind that the speaker has not negated or violated the provisions of the constitution, then, there is no issue out of the statement from the former president. The Parliamentarians are the ones to decide on who they want to be their speaker so it is against the principles and tenets of democracy for somebody to say they should resign. That is discriminatory. The constitution guarantees members of the parliament freedom of opinion and that freedom is a right and not a privilege and I think that opinion must be highly respected because it is guaranteed by the constitution.

How prepared is the House for the reception of the President’s proposal for a single tenure of six years?

My appeal to Nigerians is that we should not make an issue out of this proposal. It is important that we see what the proposal is all about before condemning it. Let us look at the mischief that the amendment intends correcting. It is only after that that we can go into debate over it. When the bill comes, we will weigh the advantages and the disadvantages and whichever is greater will prevail. As representatives of the Nigerian people, the wish of the people of Nigeria will prevail.

What is your reaction to the nationalisation of some banks by Central Bank of Nigeria?

I am a bit concerned essentially as it borders on the level of panic that this action will create. It has the tendency of scaring away foreign investors. But the question to ask is, how come the Central Bank did not carry out its supervisory role well?

I am aware that there is a department in CBN in charge of banking supervision, has this department fail in carrying out its responsibilities? Why did CBN allow the situation to get to this stage? I do not want to draw conclusions yet, but I must say that I have serious reservations and I have not seen the reasons for the panic being created. We have been assured that depositors’ funds are safe, what of shareholders’ funds? It is CBN that had been running these banks.

It is the CBN that appointed the managing directors of these banks, what went wrong? These are issues that we have to ask ourselves, where is the governor of the Central Bank taking us to? If we have injected government funds into these banks and there are no external investors coming to invest, what are we trying to achieve? This problem should have been managed without creating the panic that the action has engendered. I will appeal to the CBN governor to be a bit cautious because the challenges are becoming overwhelming.