Why passage of 2017 Budget was delayed – Hon. Ndukwe

Hon. Ukole Ndukwe, member representing Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives has called on Nigerians to understand with the Legislature in the late passage of the 2017 Budget. He informed a team of journalists in Abuja that the reason for the delay in the passage of the Budget was due to the non approval of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework submitted by the Presidency due to unanswered questions by the Executive arm. He spoke on this and many other issues. EMMANUEL IRIOGBE was there.

What do you have to say concerning President Muhammadu Buhari’s health, do you think he should step down?
Concerning the health of the President, I can clearly tell you that we are in a constitutional democracy, It is stated clearly that another can represent him, so I don’t quite agree that there is a lacuna in the development of the economy, because the Vice President has been carrying on well.

The President has not appeared on three consecutive occasions at the Federal Executive Council meetings, there may be other reasons as to why he did not show up, so I think he has his own right as a human being.

Our President as we all know stands for anti corruption in the country and that is very clear and if his health is affecting him, as a President, he knows what to do, we should also be aware that age is a factor, we don’t expect him to perform like he would have done in his youth, so I believe Nigerians should be patient with him, he is a mortal and a human being like any of us, anything can happen to anyone, whether as a President or not, so I don’t believe that the country is drifting.

The vice President has been performing well on behalf of the President, that is why both of them were elected at the same time and that is why one person is suppose to stand in for the other when the need arises. It is a constitutional matter.

We are in a democracy, people are expected to voice out their opinion and I don’t think people’s opinion is the position of the President, he can decide to come out and say what he knows, so I urge Nigerians to wait for him to make whatever pronouncement he wants to make, we should not put words in his mouth because we are in a constitutional democracy and our constitution must be respected and upheld.

Would you agree with those that proclaim that we are out of recession in the country?
By what I get from the Federal Government’s statement, oil prices have increased, people keep mixing these issues up.

We have observed that the production of oil has gone up to 2 million barrels per day and oil price is not what we met in 2015 and 2016, if that is what they mean by saying we are out of recession, I don’t think so, because the indices are still the same, the exchange rate has not improved, government itself devalued naira to N305, the prices of things are going up and money has not translated to the spending power, so the economy too has not been stimulated, so I don’t really agree with the term that we are out of recession, the economy we have now is not strong enough, our naira is not always stable and it affects our productivity and our spending power have not increased.

Look at the agitation of labour, minimum wage has not improved so it’s something I don’t agree with, that we are out of recession.

How do you view the chances of your party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2019 general elections especially with the crisis facing it?
Without fear of any contradiction, PDP is stronger than APC and even APC knows that. The politically active politicians in APC today are mostly PDP, most of the governors were once PDP, it is only President Buhari that has no PDP blood in his vain so that is why I say that PDP is still a very strong and vibrant party.

The opposition we see in PDP today is by the government itself, the government is sponsoring the crisis in PDP because we have seen that when a court of competent jurisdiction gives a verdict, the government chooses which one to obey, the Inspector General (IG) of Police is even a strong opposition to the PDP, they choose the law to obey.

The government itself is afraid of PDP because the party is still a strong and formidable party.

Take a look at the issue of Sheriff and Makarfi, the owners of the party took a decision and brought you in, the same people said we don’t want to extend your tenure then you decide to fight the party, is an individual greater than constituted authority of the party? These are issues we should consider. Somebody somewhere is fighting the party and I know PDP will bounce back.

The judiciary will do the right thing I believe because Nigeria is headed for a one party system, which is not good for any democracy.

Other political parties are also there, they are the minority in the minority, while PDP is the majority in a minority situation.

We are not retarded as a political party by anybody as a party, no matter the referees.

We are talking about whistle blowing in corruption, look at the killings in Southern Kaduna, why can’t they even bring lines men that can raise flags.

I was so disappointed when listening to the commissioner of police who said these attackers comes at night, that means all of us are at a very high risk, which means police go to sleep at night so then what is the job of a security personnel, so government should have that will power to bring lines men to raise flag for the police when these attackers come at night.

These are issues when looked at is beyond imagination, governance should be about politics, after elections, the next thing should be governance.

We should settle down and govern the people well; APC is still trying to find its feet in terms of governance. Whoever can deliver must belong to a political party, but APC should look for good hands that can assist them out of our challenges.

In your opinion has the APC fulfilled its promise to Nigerians on security?
It terms of security, when we see all that is happening in the country, you now talk about what is the promise , there are certain areas they have done well which I will commend them for but overall, their performance in terms of security have not really yielded much result.
They should step up because it is something they have sworn to uphold, the lives of people is our responsibility.

As a federal lawmaker, we always give to them whatever they want as far as it relates to security so that they can deliver, we are not yet there but I believe we will overcome.

What is your take on money recovered so far by security agencies?
It is left to Nigerians to decide. This is a matter that the Vice President and his high powered delegation is handling.

When you see matters like this arising, you begin to wonder where we are going.

Looking at the Lagos money that was discovered, we saw that the money was wrapped with seal of 2016 meaning while he claimed that the money was released by former President Jonathan in 2014 for a particular operation, did Jonathan ask him to park the money in a particular house three years down the line, even when you are blowing whistle it should be something that should have been looked up, but we saw the key to the safe there on the safe.

You see there are some intelligent questions, were they meant to victimise some persons?

Last week, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said there was a plot to plant monies in his house and that he wants to come and stay in Abuja, just recently too, the Senate President raised the same issue, I mean, what do they intend to do, do they want to wipe out opposition?

These are pointers to the fact that all is not well with that whistle blowing, it is targeted at some certain individuals and they should really tread with caution, whoever is doing that should tread with caution.

Like I said, let us see what comes out of the Vice Presidents investigation. But you see they are being a judge in their own case, they should have allowed independent body to come into the issue.

In the case of the judiciary, you see the doctrine of separation of power is really being undermined.

For instance, in the case of the judges, the same DSS who blew the whistle are the same people who said the EFCC boss was not fit; it appears to me that the constitution has been suspended.

It is unfortunate too that the President is not given the right perspective; otherwise, what happened in Osborne, Ikoyi wouldn’t have happened. I believe the President received that news with shock.

Why was the passage of the 2017 Budget so delayed?
Nigerians should always remember that the National Assembly would go extra mile to make sure that things are done properly.

If we can recall, the President in the synopsis of the 2016 budget made a demand of a loan running into billions to fund the capital component without any backing, we asked him to explain, that was to the best interest of Nigerians.

The Medium Term Expenditure Framework was brought without clear cut economic parameters we also said no, this is not just about passing the budget; we can’t pass the budget without the MTEF.

We should also ask questions like what is the performance of the 2016 budget that was passed. Nigerians don’t ask questions. Have we implemented it to a good point?

Section 83 of the constitution solves whatever fear Nigerians are worried about, the President knows what to do, we don’t garbage in and out in the National Assembly, and we have professionals here.

This is the common house of the masses, so we take our time to do the right thing, they should be patient. We are doing a thorough job.

There is this talk about the executive arm undermining the legislature, how true is this?
The legislative arm is being lenient and considerate with the way the executive abuse the powers of the legislative arm.

We have seen our Vice President who is a professor of law come out to say that section 171 does not require the National Assembly, Senate confirmation to appoint the EFCC chairman. This should be left with the judiciary to interpret .

This interference is not only in the National Assembly, it’s also affecting the judiciary which is an affront on separation of powers.

The same DSS that gave a report that has led to the trying of the judges is the same people who gave report that Magu is not fit for the job.
These are some certain things I have observed. Why these selective justice? That is not what the rule of law is about and I know the President is on top of the issue and justice would be done at the end of the day.

How have you impacted your constituents through constituency projects?
In terms of constituency projects, I was allowed to nominate within a threshold of 150 million into the constituency budget MDA.

I am doing a water scheme project, I renovated two health centres, two secondary schools, built six class room blocks and another one block of five class rooms on my own, I have assisted indigent students pay their registration fees for the first school leaving certificate and we have five hundred of them .

I have equally done boreholes and have over thirty projects for 2016 alone.

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The Medium Term Expenditure Framework was brought without clear cut economic parameters we also said no, this is not just about passing the budget; we can’t pass the budget without the MTEF. We should also ask questions like what is the performance of the 2016 budget that was passed. Nigerians don’t ask questions. Have we implemented it to a good point? Section 83 of the constitution solves whatever fear Nigerians are worried about, the President knows what to do, we don’t garbage in and out in the National Assembly, and we have professionals here.