Ita Enang is the chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business. In this interview with Special Correspondent Idongesit Ashameri in Uyo, Enang who represents Akwa Ibom North-East in the Senate, commends infrastructure build up in Akwa Ibom, especially on roads but wants the federal government to fast-track efforts to meet its obligations.
Excerpts:
Sometime ago, you sponsored a bill for an amendment of the CBN Act. What were the necessary ingredients of that act?
Ita Enang
My bill for the amendment of the Central Bank Act was because the CBN said that it is not under the control of anybody, that it is autonomous and that it can spend money as it likes and on what it likes. Now I brought that amendment to the field, the Central Bank Act, to remove that provision which says that the board can approve its own budget and spend it. The CBN Act was passed, I think, in March 2007 and then the fiscal responsibility act was passed in May 2007, and then the fiscal responsibility act, Central Bank and NNPC. The provision of the fiscal responsibility act says that notwithstanding the provision in any enactment of the institution listed in the fiscal responsibility act, the provision of the fiscal responsibility act relating to the appropriation and spending of their funds and corporate governance shall apply and shall take precedence.
Are you implying that the Act overrides whatever provisions they might have?
I mean despite the provision of the CBN Act, NNPC Act, NCC Act, NPA Act, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Act and all those other institutions established by law of the National Assembly, any other provision giving them autonomy is null and void. So the fiscal responsibility act takes precedence. And this act says that every of these institutions – there were 31 of those agencies, I think they are now 41 or 42 – that all of them shall lay their budgets before the National Assembly. That the National Assembly shall budget for them. They can only do things within the budget approved by the National Assembly. Now the Fiscal Responsibility Act also says that in the budget of each of the institutions, they shall have operational surplus and of the operational surplus, the agency shall retain 20 percent of its operation surplus and shall pay 80 percent to the consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government. The Central Bank has not been paying its operational surplus and had not been subject to the budget of the National Assembly. So my bill was to make sure that I remove that section that granted it power to approve its budget and spend and to see that the Fiscal Responsibility act applies. Now I have drafted another bill which is on amending the Central Bank Act again. It is on section five, and is about making the governor of the Central Bank not the chairman.
Why so?
This is because the provision as it is now is that the CBN Governor shall be the Chairman. If you are the chairman, you are the chief executive officer, meaning that you are everything. Thus you can afford to behave in a manner that is not in consonance with good corporate governance. So I want that section to be removed. That the CBN Governor shall be like any normal chief executive officer in charge of the day-to-day management and implementation of the policies of the bank. But the policies of the bank, except monetary policy, shall be as approved by the board of the CBN. So, if my proposal for the amendment scales through, it would be handled by the board whose chairman would be appointed by the President among experienced hands. That means, you would not continue to be a judge in your own cause.
What significance would this have on the autonomy of the Central Bank?
I think the question of autonomy of the Central Bank has been taken too far. The Central Bank is not a government in a country, it is not a state in a country, the Central Bank is not the president of a country. It is an institution established by the National Assembly of the country and assented to by Mr President; it is under the authority of the president – the chief executive of the country. You are only an appointee, the only thing we did in the law is to make sure that you are not likely to be removed from office by a president who does not like you. So we created option of safety for the Governor, that his appointment can only be as approved by the senate and can only be removed by way of a resolution of the senate supported by a two-third majority.
Akwa Ibom State government has spent so much on federal roads; what hope for any refund?
On refunds, the problem we have, and I think the country has some. I wouldn’t want to use the word resentment or envy, I wouldn’t also want to sound as if we Akwa Ibom people are being treated as too rich when we need something. In the Appropriation Committee, I raised issue of under-representation in the provision of Akwa Ibom. And they said look, not much can be done because you have done so much. These are federal roads fixed by the state government, which we ought to have received refunds for. We spent money on the Itu-Itam junction and Ikot Oku Ikono road, the Uyo – Oron road, Uyo, Abak- Ikot Ekpene road, then the Uyo, Abak, Essien Udim to Aba road dualisation. The money the state has spent and is spending on Uyo, Ikono to Ikot Ekpene road, could have been used to fix the Calabar- Itu road.
Many have commended what the state has been able to do in the area of infrastructure; are you unhappy about these?
No, but they shouldn’t clamour that we are doing so much with our personal funds; we are using the ingenuity of the state governor and the resources of the people to do all these projects.
Now they say there is money in the capital supplementation and I have seen there is money there, which is why I have called on the Works Commissioner and I am relating with the governor for us to ask for money in the capital supplementation and money from other sources, to settle some of the funds we had spent.
You recall that the Akwa Ibom State governor had worked with his Cross River counterpart and both agreed with the President that they would take over the construction of Abak-Ikot Ekpene- Itu and Calabar highway. That they would award it, and it was approved for them. They expected they would have a refund, which they would reinvest, but that is yet to be realized. That is why the state cannot take such a risk again. The state needs its refund; we are not even asking for extra money. So at my level I am not resting till we get this, and you can see that I am mentioning names, dates and venues to show you how serious we are.
‘Akwa Ibom people are unhappy over inadequate federal projects’
The federal government has not provided infrastructure proportionate to the status of Akwa Ibom as a major oil-producing state and people are worried that those of you at the National Assembly appear not to be doing much about this. What has been your effort in this direction?
I will agree to a certain extent that given our contributions to this government, we have not benefited enough from the investments of the Federal Government as compared to some states and I want to assure all Nigerians and in particular Akwa Ibom people that the President, the governor, myself and all of us in the National Assembly are not relenting, nor are we complacent about it, even if we are taking it in brotherly fashion. We have taken it to the highest authority and it is being addressed.
But I must say that most of the investments the Federal Government has on infrastructure is in the transportation sector; they are intervening, using the SURE-P. As at today, the Federal Government is involved in rehabilitating existing rail lines and I had raised a memo to Mr President, which I made known to the Akwa Ibom State governor, that we are not benefiting as much as we should from the SURE-P projects. The answer was that the Federal Government is rehabilitating most roads and funding some projects, to which I told them that SURE-P funds is money from savings of all the states of the federation from the subsidy on petroleum products. So it is every state that contributes that money.
What point are you trying to make?
Now the state governments take their own, the federal government too, as does the local government also. So, everybody have plans for their own projects when they take their own share.
The Federal Government has no area designated federal government; it is all part of Nigeria. So they are assuring me that they are going to apply it in the transportation project on this other states including Akwa Ibom, Abia, Cross River and Bayelsa states. I had to raise a memo to the Minister of Transport and to other appropriate authorities on the need to create a rail line from Aba to Ikot Ekpene, to Ibiono to Itu, to Uyo to Calabar to Tinapa and then another one to link Port Harcourt to Yenagoa. They have awarded the design of that road to a consultant, it will involve demolishing some houses and using a long stretch of bush where people are not living. That was at my instance, my only fear is that the subsidy fund would not last for long.
What was the result of your parley with the Transport minister?
When I met with Senator Umah, the Minister of Transport recently, we discussed this transportation issue, and he assured me the project has been procured and that consultants would soon begin the design. On road projects in the state he admitted that they were not doing well, but considered that what is being funded in the road project is the East-West road of the South-East, South-South and then the Lagos, the Abuja Maiduguri roads, the Lokoja-Benin road. These are projects initiated as presidential intervention projects and when the Ministry of Niger Delta was created, those projects were transferred to the Ministry of Niger Delta. So they are funding the East-West road which goes through Warri, Benin, Port Harcourt, Ikot Abasi, Eket to Oron and now there is another stretch which is being designed and proposed at N155 billion to link Oron with Calabar.
Apart from federal roads reconstructed by Governor Akpabio, others especially the Calabar-Itu road have become death-traps. What, if any, case have you made for these?
On the Calabar-Itu road, we have raised the issue with the President and the Ministry of Works. Some people suggested that we should do Public Private Partnership but that after that, the road would be tolled. I said I would not agree to that because the Lagos-Ibadan expressway project which we are providing N24 billion to revamp this year, is not done on PPP, neither is the second Niger Bridge done on PPP. The Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri projects are not done on PPP, ditto the Lokoja, Benin, for them to be tolled. Mind you, the Calabar-Itu- Ikot Ekpene-Aba road project is not my road, but neither should it be done on the condition of PPP.
So recently we had a meeting, Victor Ndoma Egba and I. We have written a joint letter to the appropriation committee, which I serve, and a letter to the committee on SURE-P and the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives, requesting that at least N10 billion be slated for the Calabar-Itu road. We have also proposed water project in the Ministry of Niger Delta in the budget of NDDC.
But it is budgeted for, or isn’t it?
There is a provision in the Ministry of Works but it is for rehabilitation. However, Senators Ndoma Egba, Bassey Otu and I have joined forces, that the roads not be rehabilitated, reconstructed but dualized. We are taking money from those three subheads, and collapsing the money that was provided for rehabilitation, we don’t want it, and then adding money from the Ministry of Works. So the Ministry of Works or Niger Delta Development Commission can either award it. When awarded, then the co-funding we had written for from SURE-P would be added. Mind you, SURE-P is counterpart funding for all the other projects like the East-West road and others. So in Akwa Ibom State we are not very happy, though I believe Mr President is intervening. We have raised issues. Honestly, the governor of Akwa Ibom State has not really rested on this matter; I am aware that he has taken steps. However, one thing that lies with the people – which I raised after the swearing-in of the Minister of Lands and Housing from Akwa Ibom State – is that we are having low allocation in budget because we do not have sufficient Akwa Ibom people in the federal ministries.
What has been the effort towards righting this?
There was a time under Attah we even sought to elevate people to the federal Ministry, but because there was so much money in the state, so much to do, they felt so comfortable to be at home. And under Attah and Godswill Akpabio, most people in Akwa Ibom State, the public servants, who would have gone to be directors in the federal Ministries are so happy controlling the home front with inter-ministerial projects, being oga here. So, part of the reasons we are suffering is that we don’t have people there. People who joined civil service recently are at the lower rank and budgets are conceived and made by the civil servants, from deputy director, assistant director and directors up. Those are the people who receive the envelopes, the Minister will minute it down to the lower hierarchy; they work with the permanent secretary. Each department would propose a budget and bring it up to the Minister, sometimes the Minister does not even have time to look at it. So it is not just politicians who have the problem now, what the politicians are trying to do is to make sure that more people climb higher, move to the Federal Government, stay there and be active in influencing budgetary provision.
We have Engr Effiong in the Ministry of Niger Delta, while with the Ministry of Works, he was very instrumental to the second Itu bridge and other roads I attracted, so civil servant are very relevant to development. People should not only be clamouring for how they’ll become a senator or Minister, they should also think of how to rise in civil service.
To be continued tomorrow
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