Behind the façade of his quiet mien and
heavily framed figure lies a well informed personality who’s no doubt one of
the nation’s firebrand politicians, that’s Hon. Solomon Olamilekan Adeola
popularly known as Yayi. The unassuming lawmaker who’s the Chairman, House of
Representatives Committee on Public Accounts & Internal Audit was recently
a host of honour at the chit chat session organized by the League of Soft-Sell
Publishers where he fielded questions on sundry issues of national importance. Hon.
Adeola, known and widely addressed as YAYI is also the All Progressives
Congress candidate contending for the oval seat of the nation’s largest
senatorial district, Lagos West that boasts of 10 local governments in the
forthcoming March 28th, 2015 elections. In this no-hold-barred chat
session, the handsome and intelligent lawmaker takes a critical look at the
nation’s nascent democracy as well as its deceptive gains and losses. You would
enjoy the interesting session monitored by the duo of National Enquirer’s News
Editor, Faith Irabor and Reporter Researcher, Bose Bamidele.
Incursion Into Politics
As we are all aware that Nigeria democratic rule
started in the year 1999 when everyone was skeptical and pessimistic asking if
it would be or not. I was a victim of the 1993 struggle; I lost my younger
brother to a stray bullet during the bonfire exercise when we had the cancellation
of the most free and fair election that was held in this nation through the
process of electioneering. And we believed that since the military had succeeded
in cancelling this electioneering process, then there is no hope, we shall
continue with the military rule, so everybody was like “return to your tents O’Israel”…
until 1998 when the adjudged winner of the June 1993 12 polls, Chief Moshood Kashimawo
Olawale Abiola died. There were lots of issues in the country, the idea that
Nigeria would break up, the fear that the existence of the country would come
to an end. Virtually a month later, General Sanni Abacha followed and at that
period, everyone believed firmly that these two were the cause of the uproar we
were having in Nigeria. Then General Abdulsalam Abubakar came into power. He
promised that he would be handing over to a democratic rule by 1999 and I am of
the firm belief that none of us here believed it would happen. We felt another
joker had been sent to us. Lo and behold in1999, a democratically elected
president was sworn in as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, in
person of Chief Olusegun Mathew Okikiola Obasanjo. Despite that fact, we were
still skeptical; but Obasanjo came on board and a democratic government began.
In 1999 we were full of hope because there is the saying that the worst
democratic rule is better than the best military rule. From my own
interpretation then, I believed it was because of the decrees involved with military rules, once the
military decrees, you have no choice…know it too that the judiciary is under
the mercy of the military government, they have no independence like in a
democratic set up. In the democratic process, we are governed by the
constitution of the federal republic which was even passed to us by the
military, yet we make do with what we have and we began the process. After 1999,
there was the need for another four years and Obasanjo re-contested and the
issue went on without any military intervention. Then, pressure started
mounting on me to contest for a public office. Mind you, I was doing very well
in my private business and I was of the belief then that if I left certainty
for uncertainty, what would become of me? My personal business even as at that
time was enough for me and I will say that if given another chance to choose, I
would stay with that business. You would have known me on a different platform
if I had stuck to my business. But I chose the service to humanity at the
expense of my personal interest. I contested to represent my people of Alimosho
constituency 02 as honorable member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, that
I did and God crowned my effort, by the grace of God we won and I was elected
into office to represent the good people of Alimosho constituency 02.
Dividends Of The Nascent Democracy
Now how has Nigeria democracy fared in my own perspective from
1999 till date? My dear brothers, publishers of soft sell magazine, I will say
Nigeria democracy has not been fair to the Nigerians as a whole, if you look at
the following indices and data which I will be reeling out, it would be clear
that those of us who have the opportunity of serving in government at different
levels, we will know that today Nigeria deserves better than what it is
getting. But due to insincerity on the part of our leaders and due to lack of
focus by those who should have changed this nation for good, what we have today
is a mere nascent democracy and not the democracy we craved for while there was
military rule. Let us ask ourselves, from 1999 till date how much we have
accrued through the federal government, from the one and only source of revenue
where we rely solely…that is from oil. Outside the oil industry, I for one do
not know of any other source that the nation relies on for revenue. Let us look
at the corresponding expenditure and marry it to see how we have been able to
fair under a democratic process. Ordinarily, democracy by its definition ought
to be a government of the people by the people, and for the people. But this
time around what we have is different. A lot of us are not even interested in the
system, we always say “don’t mind them, let them do their thing, they know how
they do it” and that is what has led us to where we are and I think now that we
have a lot of awareness in town, everybody is interested for the future of this
country to be secured, for its wellbeing to be guaranteed and for us to change
this country for good. Everybody is interested in the process; and we see it as
a welcomed development because until we start electing good leaders and sending
out bad leaders, Nigeria will not change. Let’s assume 1999 till date the
resolution was we want to fix the power sector. If ordinarily, power is fixed,
60% of Nigeria’s challenges will disappear. It is a statement of fact…but
because we have an insincere government, a government that is not interested in
the general welfare of its people. During the tenure of Olusegun Obasanjo,
there was a claim that they expended $8.7 billion (US) into the power sector,
it’s no longer news that the Jonathan administration has equally released its
own figure about $8 billion (US) too, added together we have close to 17billion
US dollars expended into the power sector and as we speak, the total megawatts generated
by our dear nation of about 180million citizens, over 251 ethnic groups and
over 251 languages, the biggest country in Africa is still under 4,000megawatts.
While South Africa as at the last time we checked was 160,000
megawatts. Ordinarily, using that as a measure of development, you will know we
are not there.
The Deception About Nigeria’s Economy
Being The Biggest In Africa
Of recent there was the news in town that Nigeria’s economy was
the biggest in Africa. I know if we are sincere with ourselves, everyone was
taken aback by that submission. Using my office as the Chairman, House Committee
On Public Accounts and Internal Audit, I invited the Chief Executive officer of
the Bureau of Statistics who did that job and sold the lie to the whole world
what almost caused crisis in the nation. He was invited everywhere to come and
speak to justify how he came about that figure that gave Nigeria the status of
biggest economy in Africa we have ascribed to ourselves...because to my
understanding, we have only ascribed it to ourselves since it doesn’t really
reflect. So I called this man to my office and said to him;
“DG, you know I am an Accountant
even though I am not an Economist, but this figures you have reeled out, I need
to hear from you one on one…”
Do you know what he told me? He said; “my dear brother, all that
was put together that gave us these figures are not physical things you can see
on ground”. But ordinarily, there are some indices that when you put together,
it will give us this figure. He gave me an example that if the federal
government budgets to build a hotel for 100billion, and the contract was
awarded, probably the government mobilized the contract with 5billion, when the
report is being put together, even though only 5billion had been spent, the
government takes the whole 100billion out of the government’s purse. If at the
end of the day, the contractor refuses to do the job, the issue is 100billion
went out for the project and was invested into our economy. I asked him if all
the abandoned contracts were added and he said all even contracts awarded since
the days of Buhari, Obasanjo and Babangidas of this world which were abandoned;
everything put together formed the GDP that described Nigeria as the biggest
economy in Africa. Are you not taken
aback? Because I asked him one question that if Nigeria is indeed the country
with the biggest economy in Africa, what is the per capital income of an
average Nigerian? To which he replied that an average Nigerian lives below $3. I
told him categorically that the figures were not realistic. If care is not
taken and we are not taking the right steps in the right direction, we will
only continue to live in a deceitful world. Don’t let us forget that United
Nations in one of their reports says that 70% of Nigerians live below poverty
level, leaving only 30% in the upper and middle class and as far as I am
concerned we do not have a middle class in Nigeria anymore, we have only the
lower class and the middle class meaning we don’t even have that 30%, we have
just 10%. Therefore we have 90% living below poverty level. I know and I
believe that is not the Nigeria of our dreams. The cost of everything either in
naira or dollars or whatever currency compared to the per capital income of
salaries of an average individual, you can not relate it to being the biggest
economy in Africa. What can you say of a man who works thirty days in a month
and earns N18,000 with three children, his children have to go to school, be
clothed and fed, he has to provide all the basic things and pay his house rent,
how can that kind of man be a normal human at the end of each month? Yet he is
working so hard to earn even that meager amount. So, once we can’t relate what
we earn to what we spend, we can’t say that democracy has fared better than the
military…there is nothing to write home about. If you ask me, I will say we are
still under a military process but this time around, we wear no uniforms. That
is the way our economy is being run and that is the way we are going about
everything. I am of the strong belief that Nigeria democracy has not fared
better, has not improved. It has not affected the Nigerians in any positive
way. If we look at all the indices all the data, it is a pointer to the fact
that we still have a long way to go in trying to have our own democracy. I will
like to rest my case here. Thank you.
To be continued…
