BY CHINWEOKE AKOMA

Honorable  Yau Gwajo-Gwajo is serving his second term as Speaker, Katsina State House of Assembly. In this interview, he says the parliament is not a rubber stamp to the executive even as he speaks on how the lawmakers are collaborating  with the Ibrahim Shehu Shema  administration to move the state forward.

It could not have been easy being the head of the House for the past six years?

This is my second term as Speaker as you rightly mentioned. I think most importantly it is the will of God. Whatever you get or become, it is the will of the Almighty Allah. I think it also boils down to the relationship one has with one’s colleagues. My colleagues knew me even before coming to the House, they knew my antecedent as a former local government chairman, they probably thought I would direct them well more so when the speakership was zoned to my area,so it was easy to lead my colleagues eventually. Having said that, I must also add that I have been in politics since 1991 during the two-party era of the General Ibrahim Babangida military administration where I was elected as councillor. I was teaching before then.

 What is the relationship of the executive with the legislature?
It has been very cordial. I can say more than 100% cordial. Our relationship has been excellent. But the reason for this peaceful relationship is simple: Our governor has only one vision which is how he can contribute his quota to the development of the state which fortunately he has been doing even before he became the governor, and since we are also here for the development of the state, it makes our job easier. You see, there is need to have focused  and prudent leadership in anything we do, whether in the states or the federation. Once the leadership is focused, it makes transformation of the state easy to do. This state is presently the way it is because we have a leader who knows that governance is not a tea party affair; who knows that it is about destiny of the people; it is about the commonwealth of the people. If you are not prudent and focused, one cannot have the kind of development we are witnessing in the state presently. Do you know that education from primary to tertiary education is free here? Do you know that healthcare too is free particularly for infants and people above 60? Do you know that accident victims are treated free even to the point of surgery   There are over 200 new schools built and more and still being built? Do you know that more than 400 students are outside the shores of this country on scholarship reading all kinds of courses?. It is only in this state we don’t differentiate which tribe you are. We are all Nigerians.  Also we are one of the few states that its legislative arm enjoys full financial autonomy just like the judiciary. And when you have financial autonomy, it makes you independent.

And that is why we don’t need to inform the executive when we are going on sight. On agriculture, this government has done well in terms enriching the farmers and their produce.  The government has improved  irrigation in the state. For example, the Jibia Dam, in order to improve the economy of the state nay the North, the governor  inaugurated a special committee headed by Professor Kala, which assessed the potentials of irrigation in the state, at end of it,27 irrigation sites were rehabilitated and improved upon, thereby, from 100 hectares, 3,500 hectares are being  cultivated now.  Now, the dam is beneficial to everybody inclusion neighbouring states and Chad. Now wé are cultivating 15,000 hectares per year.  The government also supplied  more than 10 irrigation pumps distributed to farmers in order to boost production.

Concerning the oversight function, some people believe that you merely  rubber stamp or endorse what the executive is doing.
Let me say this, our own oversight function is real. We make resolutions and send to the executive. I want to thank the governor at this point because there is really no resolution that we have sent to him that he didn’t give clear understanding and acceptance. When it comes to the budget, most of our resolutions are designed within the budget. 75% of the budget goes to capital projects and this 75% is within the resolutions of the Assembly. So when he is preparing the next budget, we are always represented. Also we go on oversight every quarter ,item by item  sub head by sub head, according to their releases so that we cross check what is in the paper with what is on the ground. Beyond that, each and every one of us return to the House to give account of what the executive has done in his constituency.

We thank God that Ibrahim Shehu Shema that is governor because there is really no state, may be one or two  governors  implementing  the way we are doing here. And this is because majority of the budget estimates are things that are implementable and that is why it is easier here to implement the budget as the items originated from the people themselves. Nobody toys with that. There is something we called CDC initiated by the governor  which has represention from the entire state. It is a  combination of the local governments, traditional rulers, commissioners, youths and the rest. The essence is to generate theiir needs  and present them to the state government because we discovered that, sometimes, the state may be constructing roads for the locality but what is  most important to them at that time was water. The state may be preparing borehole to discover that their most pressing need is electricity. This is why the state government led by the governor says let the budget originate from the people.   Let them design their projects according to their needs. Again, it is only in this state that a contractor would not borrow before executing a job. Once you have the contract papers, it is as good as cheque because immediately you are paid your 40% mobilization and, on completion of the job, without knowing the governor, commissioner and, without them seeing you, once it is been certified, you collect your cheque. These are verifiable facts. This is probably the only state whose treasury is very sound. That is why the cooperation we are giving the executive is under must because we are here for the good of the people and the governor is executing projects that are beneficial to the people, we don’t have any option than to support him in order to give his best to the people.