Ajibola Basiru: Nigeria’s Security Situation Worrisome
The lawmaker representing Osun Central in the Senate and current Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Suraju Ajibola Basiru, spoke with Hammed Shittu on a wide range of national issues. Excerpts
The state of insecurity in Nigeria today is disturbing, what’s the Senate doing to address the problem?
The security situation in the country is very worrisome and has pre-occupied the Senate in the last one year. No less than 20 resolutions have been moved and considered in the last one year dealing with various manifestations of the state of insecurity and putting forward different resolutions to address the problems. One of the highpoints of the intervention of the Senate was the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Nigeria Security Challenges whose report was considered and approved in the plenary of Tuesday, 5th day of May 2020. The committee made wide-ranging recommendations that were also approved by the Senate.
As spokesman of the 9th National Assembly, will you say the current 9th Assembly has been living up to the expectations of Nigerians in terms of legislating that can add values to the people of the country?
I will modestly say that the 9th Assembly has been doing its best in delivering on its constitutional mandates which are: making law for good government and public welfare; oversight function to prevent corruption, waste and inefficiency and ensuring that only fit proper persons are confirmed to hold public offices in respect of which confirmation of the Senate is prescribed by the Constitution and other laws. In the one-year period of the life of this Senate, it has prioritised legislative interventions by enacting new laws and/or modifying existing legislations for the attainment of good governance. One of such interventions was the amendment of Finance Act 2019. Perturbed by dwindling national revenues largely due to vulnerabilities in international price of crude oil, it took steps towards improving revenues from other avenues notably Value Added Tax (VAT). Accordingly, it passed an Executive Bill which proposed an increase in VAT from 5% to 7.5% in record time by invoking its powers under Order 79(1) of the Senate Standing Rules. This was an extraordinary step to take.
Another laudable and progressive intervention was the extensive work done on the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (Amendment) Act 2019 to repeal and replace Section 16 of theAct. Astatutory mandate to review theAct was never complied with for decades and the country lost valuable revenue. Thus, the amendment passed by this Senate achieved four major milestones which are: It revised upward the regime of royalty payable on crude produced in deep waters,
It deleted Section 16 of the Act which provided for the trigger for a review of the Act, It introduced Section 16(A) which mandated the Minister of Petroleum to cause the NNPC to undergo a review of Production Sharing Contracts every 8 years, and introduced Section 16(B) which provided for offences and penalties. The cumulative effect of this amendment is that the sum of N320 billion has been unlocked according to several reputable industry experts and it goes without saying that the injection of such huge revenue into our economy will catalyse several positive outcomes. With a view to getting maximum return from the oil industry, the 9th Senate is committed to prompt consideration and passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill once same is received from the executive. Necessary training and sensitisation programmes have been organised and attended by Senators belonging to all the relevant committees of the Senate. Aside from its intervention to address economic challenges, this Senate also led the way to find a lasting solution to the perennial security crisis this country has been plagued with. It has extensively engaged leaders of our various security agencies on attacks by Boko Haram in the North-east, kidnaping and banditry in the North-east and North-central Zones, clashes between herdsmen and farmers all across the country, proliferation of light and small arms and other forms of criminality. Its Ad-hoc-Committee on Nigeria Security Challenges made up of 19 Senators and headed by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi has offered 60 recommendations to be implemented in the immediate, short and long term. It is noteworthy that the decentralisation of the command and control structure of the Nigerian Police Force recommended by this Committee has now been adopted by the President as the official policy of the federal government.
Other sectors like the Power Sector also received strong attention from this Senate over the last year. Its 20-man Ad-hoc Committee led by Senator Dr. Gabriel Suswam has issued its report and implementation will find traction in the weeks ahead. The Senate is also working on other useful Bills that will impact positively on all spheres of the Nigerian society. The Senate has also set up the Constitution Review Committee under the Chairmanship of His Excellency the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and referred to the committee several constitutional amendment Bills aimed at improving governance in the country. Similarly, this 9th Senate has consistently acted proactively when required in the last one year.
On electoral reform, much work has been done to review the Electoral Act and the work of committees will be advanced to the next stage in the days and weeks ahead. This Senate has collaborated in extraordinary manner with the executive arm of government and this has significantly accounted for the calm in the polity over the last one year and tangible gains we see in several sectors. Overall, the 9th Senate will continue to provide the necessary legislative support to the executive arm of government to drive socio-economic development and ensuring the delivery of democratic dividends to Nigerians. This support includes expeditious passage of the Appropriation Bill and other executive bills that will reposition the economic on the path of sustainable recovery, growth and development as well as confirming key appointments of the executive.