Financial autonomy to state assembly, a bobby-trap – Oyo deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker of Oyo state House of Assembly, Hon Abiodun Muhammed Fadeyi, speaks on the executive Order on financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary signed by President Muhammadu Buhari recently and other issues. Bayo Agboola monitored the interview on NTA, Ibadan.

Oyo state House of Assembly recently passed a vote of confidence on Governor Seyi Makinde, what is the essence of this vote of confidence?

Like my father will say, will you pass a vote of confidence on your enemy or an opposition? Why wouldn’t we pass a vote of confidence on our governor when we see that he is doing well? We appreciate him for being in office for one year and we like his style of government.

Somebody that is paying salaries every month, does that person not deserve vote of confidence and that is the governor of Oyo state, when others are struggling to pay salaries? The governor is paying salaries every 25th of every month. So, are we not to say thank you, they say, do well, do well, so that the person can do more.

In the last one year, how many bills did the house pass into law?

We are looking at about 90 bills and motions: Motions and bills consist of executive and private members’ bills. When we came in, the first bill we worked on was sponsored by the Speaker and myself: The Anti-Open Grazing bill, which has been assented to by the governor. Another one is the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun bill.

And apart from all the appropriation, we have to review the budget, and some bills for the creation of some ministries and government parastatals, and the nomenclature of some ministries were changed. We never heard of the ministry of energy, now there is a ministry of energy, and just recently, I sponsored a bill on eradication of open defecation in Oyo state. To make it a law that if one defecates openly and is caught, the culprit pays a penalty.

I remember, I equally moved a motion on the need to curb the incursions of herdsmen that was when a professor was killed on Ife-Ibadan expressway last year. We have done pretty well, in fact close to about 100 motions and bills.

Can you tell us the activities of the state assembly in the last one year?

The activities of the legislative arm of government in Oyo state since inauguration has been hectic. T has been hectic in the sense that we have been trying to do our work as we should as lawmakers. I am sure that you are aware that the major thing we are here to do is to make laws for the good governance of the state apart from our oversight functions. That is what we have been doing in the last one year.

We have been up and doing to ensure that bills brought in by the executive or private members’ bills are treated in such a way that we can beat our chest to say that we have done a good job at the end of the day. So, to answer your question, the house has been very busy in spite of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. We have been up and doing.

Recently, the state assembly approved N22.5billon loan request from the executive, many people however queried the haste with which it was approved and accused the house of being a rubber stamp of the executive. What is your view on this?

My take on the approval was simple and very straight forward. Since the inception of democratic rule in 1999, Nigerians have been referring to the state legislature as a rubber stamp, so I am not surprised about that. But the most important thing is that when the executive sends in a letter requesting for a loan, what we usually do is to scrutinize such a letter to look at the essence of the loan.  In governance, there are two things to it, some loans are meant for consumption, some are meant for development of government policies and programmes: be it health sector or infrastructural development or energy sector, or could be in the area of agriculture.

This particular loan that you are talking about was tied to infrastructural development of the state. As a responsible house, when we went through the letter, we came together and said there is no need to delay it.

We never heard of when you put honey in somebody’s mouth and he puts it away. Have you heard of it? They are trying to build new things in my state, they are trying to build motor parks, the Iwo Road interchange bridge, are you aware that the only overhead bridge we have in Oyo state was built by Jemibewon, a military administrator, the second one was by Ajimobi at Mokola.

Are you aware that the new one is coming out in Iwo Road, the interchange bridge and other infrastructural developments that will attract investors into the state? Now, If you are coming from the North and you approached Ibadan through Iwo Road, have you ever been held in the traffic? The new government said we need to do something about it, to redesign the road to ease traffic congestion and that is what the money is meant for.

And just recently in the cause of celebration of his one year in office, the governor flagged it off, if you go there now, you will see the signboard. As a lawmaker representing my people in Ona Ara, if I hear such a thing that they want to do, do you think I will turn the executive down, insisting that I am not going to allow it? Who does that?

Even at the federal level, are they not approving loans for President Buhari? So, we should be careful of what we say about the legislative arm being a rubber stamp. They did not say that they want to use the money to build hotels for the lawmakers.

President Buhari has signed the Executive Order on financial autonomy for the state legislature and judiciary. Of what impact will that be to state assemblies?

The executive order seeking financial autonomy for state assemblies is a beauty for democracy. It is a good thing and in the right direction, especially against the argument that the legislative arm of government had been turned to as a rubber stamp.

But, truly, we are not rubber stamps. If you see what we have been doing, you will appreciate us. Back to your question, the president has done well. Whether the decision he took at this point in time to sign the executive order 10 is political or otherwise is left for him, but he has done his own as President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Now, if we want to ask, is it implementable? That is the question we need to ask, and that is why I questioned the timing, whether it is political or not. The financial autonomy for the state houses of assembly is beyond just independence. The major part of it is the financial aspect of it. So, we are saying the president has signed the autonomy for us, it is okay, we like it, but we are asking is is it implementable?

Now, you know that Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) did a press statement saying that it is not implementable. Why did the president not sign when the oil of this nation was booming when things were okay? Why is it now during this COVID-19 pandemic that the president decided to sign the executive order? We welcome it wholeheartedly as lawmakers, but, politically they know the game they are playing. It is like when you dash somebody ram, you will release the rope, if you want to give us autonomy, you will give us when the economy is okay.

Let us be realistic with ourselves since it has been signed. Don’t forget that the National Assembly had passed it into law in 2017, but the president refused to give his assent. So, why is he coming through an executive order? I have a copy of that bill that was passed by the National Assembly in 2017. There is a contradiction somewhere. Whoever advised the president to sign the financial autonomy for the assemblies is up to some mischief.

For us at the state level, we will thank the president, we appreciate him, because whether we like it or not, what is obtainable in Lagos might be different from what is obtainable in Oyo or Zamfara. So, I want us to look at ii from that angle.

How are you impacting on the lives of your constituents?

Well, what I do is to create awareness being the Deputy Speaker of the state, there is so much awareness. That is one thing that is selling Ona Ara constituency, in my own little way, I bring dividend of democracy, it is not in my claim to blow my trumpet, I would rather ask that you go to my constituency and ask the people themselves, that will help me better, became I know that the office I occupy now has a positive impact on my people.

Have you gone to your constituency to give palliatives to your constituents in this era of coronavirus?

You can’t even enter the constituency now without giving them palliatives. They would not allow you to enter. In my own little way, I have given palliatives to people. We have done that twice.

Because we understand the nature of the area, and I am from the rural area of the state we need to keep supporting them even, financially no matter how small. Within a month, we are able to distribute over 4,000 materials: food items such as noodles, rice, beans, Semovita, oil and even cash. The palliatives can help to cushion the harsh effects of the pandemic. We can’t feed them totally. That is the truth. 

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