Senator Smart Adeyemi, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character, in this interview with DESMOND UTOMWEN, speaks about allegations of lopsidedness in the appointments made by President Umar Yar’Adua and issues of marginalisation. Excerpts:Q: As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character, what have been your findings so far about adherence to federal character principle by different states and agencies as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution?
A: Many state governments and agencies have not adhered to the constitutional provision of federal character as stated in Section 14 subsection 3 of the Constitution. And the dilemma of the National Assembly is that there is no constitutional provision on how to deal with those who violate that section.
Q: At the federal level, there have been accusations that all recent appointments have been going to a certain section of the country in violation of the federal character principle?
A: I think it’s premature to say that the President has erred. It will be premature to say that because this is a new government that has not completed the change of leadership of most of the parastatals and agencies in the country.
Q: What about the recent criticism by the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere about lack of proper ethnic mix in recent appointments made by the President?
A: I think they are just jumping to conclusion and that’s very unfair. It is too early to say that. I am convinced that the President is going to work with the National Assembly on this issue. The National Assembly is going to make it known to him that there are some imbalances in the appointments that he inherited.
Q: In favour of which areas?
A: There are areas in which the Southern part of the country is marginalising the North and vice versa. But this is not supposed to be, because it will not give room for the unity of the nation. What we have also discovered from our findings is that there are quite a number of agencies and parastatals that were headed by people from certain parts of the country and once these people are appointed they will continue to bring people from that part of the country to fill available vacancies in the organisation, to the detriment of the other part of the nation. So, we are all guilty of the offence and that will polarise the nation if it’s not checked.
Q: Apart from the national level, there have also been complaints across different states of domination of minorities by the major groups. For instance, there have been complaints of marginalisation from your people, the Okun Yoruba in Kogi State. How can this be finally addressed in Nigeria?
A: Well, I believe that one of the issues that will be addressed in the review of the 1999 Constitution is the rotation of occupants of elective offices at all levels. This will address the issue of power agitation in Kogi State and other parts of the country. So, basically, I am sure that by the time we amend the constitution, it will actually address all these shortcomings. The problem of Niger Delta is also that of marginalisation. The people have been marginalised for too long, and the agitation you see today, the militancy in the Niger Delta region, is a result of this neglect. Billions of dollars have been realised from oil exploration and exploitation in the Niger Delta region over the years but the people have been marginalised. There is virtually no social amenities and or facilities in that region. But the federal character provision in the 1999 Constitution was meant to address this kind of situation. The unfortunate thing is that this provision of the constitution has not really been respected. Now, in any nation where there is no justice, fairness and equity, you of course have to cope with terrorism, militancy, killing, instability and that is what we are witnessing in Niger Delta. Just last week, I had cause to address officials of some state that visited the National Assembly and explained to them that I have a petition emanating from the state about a particular tribe dominating the others. And I told them that if that continues, the implication is that we are going to have internal terrorism in Nigeria. Internal terrorism is inevitable when you don’t respect the Federal Character provision in any state; where you have one tribe oppressing the others. The implication will be that the youths of that tribe that has been oppressed and who perceive that they are helpless will embark on destruction of government property and that is the beginning of terrorism. Let the state governors appreciate the fact that the provision of Federal Character in the 1999 Constitution is not just for the federal ministries or Federal Government agencies to respect, it is equally applicable to states where you have diversity in terms of the tribal composition. And such situation abounds in quite a number of states of the federation, where people deliberately neglect other tribes because they are in power. The unfortunate thing in our country today is that we have governors who are tribal governors, who are governors of their Senatorial Districts.
Did you Enjoy this story? you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Random Post
- April 6, 2009 -- Quotes; 13 April, 2009 (0)
- January 19, 2009 -- Jang And Co. Don’t Care About Hausas (0)
- December 9, 2009 -- Hello world! (1)
- July 6, 2009 -- Towards Solid Structures (0)
- August 18, 2008 -- Facing Justice (17)
- April 6, 2009 -- Tracked To Her Death (1)
- March 31, 2008 -- ST: A Peculiar Ritualist (0)
- March 31, 2008 -- Back Stage 7th April, 2008 (0)
- February 16, 2009 -- Yar’Adua Glorifies Corruption (5)
- May 26, 2008 -- Another Military Tragedy (0)
No tags for this post.
Related posts
REMI FRED
14 June 2008 18:20Brother Smart, please try to preserve your honour first as a seasoned and respected journalist and a distingushed Senator who has been proving his meatles in the Senate. I think you should be able to call a spade a spade. If all the appointments have not been made, should the ones already made come from the same axis of the Nation. This is a puzzle for you sir.
Abidemi Festus
18 June 2008 10:33Dear Sen Smart, I allign myself with the counsel above, some of your action as a Senator is becoming embarrassing, especially clearance and your defence of Prof Abdulkarim Oba appointment as Chairman Federal Character Commission, for you to be part of the committee that rewarded a man that caused the longest crisis in the Nigerian Universities (as a VC in Unilorin) with a sensitive federal appointment is totally unacceptable.
With the said case still at the Supreme court, you would have known better not to facilitate and even defend that appointment, WHAT HAPPENS IF THE LECTURERS WINS AT THE SUPREME COURT? I hope you will be courageous enough to call for the resignation of the erstwhile VC.
Please Senator, i have known you since 80’s, don’t destroy the good name you have carved out for yourself and people.
Best wishes.
Coker Olaotan
20 June 2008 09:59It’s unfortunate the kind of volte farce people -who were often very vocal ,critical and objective of government policies before tasting power-display.That’s why we aren’t moving forward in this country.Shame on you ,Smart Adeyemi.You’ve sold your integrity on the alter of politics.
Out of Naija
20 June 2008 10:52I think the above is food for thought for not only the Senator,but for members of the national assembly,i just watch Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello on TV last night performing as the CHAIR of the Senate Commitee on Health.With the level of allegations against her,is it not worthy on Her part to step down and first settle her case with the EFCC?(It is like been a Judge in your own case)
Also,i will really like to comment on issues like this in the National Assembly where individuals in the House are been aledge of one case or the other are still been left to preside in the capacity that they are accussed on,will this attitude not tamper with justice and fairness?.
The house ethics and moral committee should take a closer look at this snears on the psyche of the Nigerian public as this examples are not proper and if allowed to be enshrined like in the case above,is laying bad precedence on the corrective and disciplinary objectives.
Steve
20 June 2008 16:40What do yyou expect Smart Adeyemi to say? You want him to say the contrary and lose his job? I have told you before and I am still telling you that about 99.99% of people in politics in Nigeria are there for their selfish reasons and to enrich their pockets. 4get about whether somebody is vocal or not, whether a professor or no professor. All of them in power are the same. Just understand that YOUR SENATORS ARE NOT THERE TO REPRESENT YOU BUT THEIR OWN POCKETSS.
Dr Patrick Kolawole Boboye
23 June 2008 16:33From the world go,i had suspected that this unknown Obasanjo candidate and choice would develop some K-leg along the path of transparency and fairness.Because,this man was the Gov of Katsina for eight years without any tangible achievement or development in that state except travelling all the time to Germany.And that was Obasanjo’s choice amongst all former governors in Nigeria.Yar’dua is bird of same feather with Obasanjo hence,his choice by Obasanjo.The question that Nigerians should be asking is that:Can anything good,progressive and pleasing ever came out of Satan-incanate?Umar Yar’dua appointed almost fifty ministers with portfolios-duplicating ministerial posts in order to please the criminal gangsters and looters of our commonwealths.Nigeria is exporting oil daily worths over S100million-dollars but the Niger-Deltans and other Nigerians including Ondo state indigines that are naturally the owners of the oil products are dying and suffering og hunger while some unproductive ministers from the Northern part of Nigeria and ZObj hangers-on are feeding fat under Yar’dua’s regime.Yar’dua was a former teacher still teachers in higher institutions in Nigeria are all suffering in poverty like other Nigerians.Yar’dua wont adhere to their demands untill they go full scale on national strike.In Nigeria under Yar’dua after one years in office as president either imposition or not Umaru Yar’dua has done nothing to alleviate poverty and suffering in the midst of Nigeria.I have sent series of memoirs advising presdient Umaru Yar’dua to reduce the bloating numbers of his ministers to about 28-ministers.Then use the gains saved in addition to excess crude oil dollars account to launch national infrastructural shceem-projects whereby public works by direct labour would be launched to construct roads,bridges and building all over Nigeria.Roads like Lagos-Ibadan-Benin could be rebuild through this scheem-project that there would jobs for all caders of unemployed Nigerians nationwide.But Umaru Yar’dua like Obasanjo never listen.Also the power project could be built by Nigerian engineers with other Nigerians gainfully employed under direct labour scheem-project nationwide.Nigerian leaders are slumbering and visionless as well as unknowledgible.Untill Nigeria has a brilliant,highly-visionable and knowledgible leader as president,the nation shall remain in comatose. Dr Patrick Kolawole Boboye,Canada.
Jimi
26 June 2008 15:31The (Un)distinguished senator Adeyemi should know that he who is in a glass house should not throw stone it is very evident that the man is in politics not because of anything but his pocket he suddenly become Segun Adeniyi’s assistant in Aso Rock ,he should resign from the senate and be appointed as Government spokesperson period . As for the President i’ve totally lost faith in him he seems totally unprepared for the task of governance, for a president to tell his people that they will be in in darkness till year 2011 left a lot to desire.