2019: APC will prove skeptics wrong – Rep Bago
Hon Umar Bago is the member representing Chanchaga federal constituency of Niger State in the House of Representatives. In this interview, the Chairman , House Committee on Maritime Education, Safety and Administration, speaks on the chances of his party,
Daily Trust: What lesson have you and your party learnt from the two congresses in your state and Nigeria at large? The congresses were an eye opener like my governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, rightly pointed out. We have realized that a lot needs to be done in the area of reconciliation between now and election period. There is no doubt that the love for President Muhammadu Buhari was overwhelming. The common man at the grassroots would work to return him but what I can tell you is that the rest of us who would want to return to our seats must work extra hard because there would not be a repeat of 2015 where the Buhari factor swept everyone into power. The awareness is very high and people would vote for persons of their choice irrespective of political parties based on existing relationship and the dividends of democracy provided.
DT: What really were the issues thrown up by the exercise from your observation that may threaten the return of some elected representatives?
One of the issues the congresses threw up was that of contact. It was obvious that some elected representatives were not in touch with the grassroots. During our visits as members of the contact and mobilization committee to some areas, we noticed this gap between the electorate and those they elected to represent them. There is therefore the need to make amends to bridge the gap not just because one wants to be returned but even if you do not make it back you can proudly go back to your constituency and sleep with your two eyes closed. People are visibly angry not with the party or our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, they are angry with representation at the local government, state and national levels. That is the councilors, state and National Assembly members and those affected have to go back to their bases to make amends.
DT: You said President Buhari is loved by the people and would be returned come 2019, how do you see the alignment and realignment going on to scuttle his ambition?
What is going on can be likened to mere drama. But then who are the characters in this drama? In my encounter with a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart recently, he claimed they were forming a mega party to defeat APC in 2019 and I told him such an alliance would be dead on arrival. In PDP there is no internal democracy and there are so many contending interests. So the supposed alliance is bound to wither away in no time. Come to think of it, who will they bring up as their presidential candidate? What is the pedigree of such candidate? If such a candidate has pedigree we can say we have a competition but right now, there is none. And let me point out something; forget all the media hype and social media hoax against the president. Those who would vote are at the grassroots and they love the president. Even during the congress this was clearly spelt out to us when the people told us that only the president would enjoy their unconditional support. Some even threatened us that they were ready to do anti-party for the president’s sake. So you can see the enthusiasm. The love for him is incredible.
DT: So you are saying that APC would have the upper hand in the general elections?
You can take my words to the bank, APC will come out stronger. We don’t have a rival, PDP will break into pieces because of their greed.
DT: But your party seems to be in crisis right now with some stakeholders threatening to leave.
Who are these people and where will there go? The only platform right now is APC and it is in their interest to remain within to fight for whatever they think is their right. When you go elsewhere you have to queue up and wait for your turn. So my candid advice to them is to think twice about their plans.
This is the imagination of mischief makers because the relationship between us and the governor is cordial. We are all working in harmony to advance the fortunes of our people. I agree that there are sometimes misunderstandings here and there but that is the human nature. Most of such are personal. But what I can tell you is that we are happy with the level of transformation going on in our state. If you look at where we are coming from and where we are now, we have every reason to be proud. Niger is among one of the few states that is up to date on salary payment. This is to show As a legislator, my primary purpose is to make laws, but by and large, the grassroots man sees you as government and wants to feel that presence. So we have to prioritize our needs. So we have prioritized what our people need ward by ward, area by area within the constituency. We discovered that there is a huge gap in the area of education. For instance, where there is supposed to be a school because of population explosion in Minna town, pupils have to trek two kilometers to be able to access education how responsible our government is. No wage is being owed and a lot is being done in terms of provision of infrastructure and other dividends of democracy to the people.
DT: Let’s talk about what you have been able to do as the lawmaker representing Chanchaga federal constituency.
As a legislator, my primary purpose is to make laws, but by and large, the grassroots man sees you as government and wants to feel that presence. So we have to prioritize our needs. So we have prioritized what our people need ward by ward, area by area within the constituency. We discovered that there is a huge gap in the area of education. For instance, where there is supposed to be a school because of population explosion in Minna town, pupils have to trek two kilometers to be able to access education. We have tried to provide schools in such places and hand over to the local authorities. Also, some settlements are cut off completely from the city and lack electricity and pipe borne water. We have been able to provide transformers and connected them to the national grid. We have also been able to sink boreholes, 300 of which are functional across communities within the constituency.
We are also intervening in the health sector by building and renovating primary healthcare centres and providing them stateof-the-art equipment. We have also made appreciable impact by donating materials to secondary and tertiary educational institutions as well as health facilities.
Like I earlier stated, we are reaching out through various projects that have direct bearing on the lives of our people. We are about to kickstart empowerment targeting 10, 000 women. We are putting finishing touches to the tools we will distribute to them. We are also doing a lot in the area of girl-child education. If you go through the streets of Minna, you will notice a drastic reduction in the number of girls hawking. If you are on the streets during school closing hour you will know that over 60 percent of them are in school.
There was a deliberate plan by the state government in collaboration with some of us targeted at enrolment and retention which has worked very well for us. Our major problems are the boys, some of who are already addicted to drugs and are into thuggery. We are collaborating with the NDLEA to rehabilitate such categories of youth.
A lot of such youths have gone through rehabilitation and come out as better citizens and well skilled. We have just empowered about 500 of such after undergoing rehabilitation and learning various trades of their choice among other interventions.