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| Hon. Timbau |
BASSA LG: MINE IS TO
RENDER PURE AND SINCERE SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE -TIMBAU.
Hon Samuel Timbau is the
Chairmanship candidate Bassa Local Government, Plateau State on the platform of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forth- coming Local Government Elections
scheduled for 17th February, 2018. In this interview with African Drum,
he re-iterates the need for Local Government autonomy and further promises to
serve the people faithfully if he is given the mandate. Here are the
Excerpts.
Sir, as a politician,
what will be your general assessment of democracy in Nigeria in the last 18
years?
Well, we have recorded
visible progress in some areas, while in other areas we have not made any
progress. First and foremost the areas we’ve made progress are in the
participation of the electorates in the political process. If you look back
from 1999 when new democratic dispensation was ushered in to date, you will
discover that there is an increase in the number of people coming out to vote.
Besides that, as a result of representation of various constituencies at the
state and National Assemblies, we’ve recorded visible progress in almost even
provision of projects and other basic amenities to the populace unlike during
the military era when projects were executed according to the wish of the
military. We’ve also recoded visible progress in the election of our
representative. Prior to 1999 when the military were in power our leaders were
not elected but this time around with the democracy, we have elected representatives
spanning from the local to national levels. Lastly, I want to say that
democracy has progressed in the area of voting technology. Initially, voting
used to be done manually where you queue up, obtain a paper and you cast your
vote. But now with the introduction of the card reader, it has shown that we
are making progress. The introduction of the card reader has reduced
drastically the problem of multiple voting.
The ugly side of
democracy is the serious problems accompanying it. The first problem has been
the issue of mismanagement of our little or meager resources. This
mismanagement stem from the fact that democracy is very costly in the sense
that we have representations all over the place and instead of resources to be
channeled to reproductive areas where the people will benefit from, it is used
in the payment of elected representatives and political appointees who go home
with huge or bogus allowances. Besides that, we’ve seen cases of corruption in
high places. This corruption has been in the areas of the use of resources,
employment opportunities and establishment of industries among others. Those in
power tend to direct available projects and resources to their areas at the
detriment of other communities. I want to equally say that the democracy we are
running has also promoted favourtism and tribalism in the sense that if you
have a relation in position of authority, you will automatically be given an
appointment or elected into certain positions. This does not say well of our
democracy and a developing economy aspiring for greater heights. The democracy
we are running has also created some problems for the local government. We have
this issue of lack of autonomy at the local government level but if we are
talking of democracy of the people by the people and for the people, it should
be seen to be so at all levels. You will discover that in 1999, the
constitution has been amended and it has given state governors the power to
dictate the pace and activities of the local governments to the extent that the
hands of the local governments are tied down. They don’t have initiatives of
themselves to deliver proper dividends of democracy to the populace at the
grass root.
Within the same period,
we’ve also witnessed certain developments like the issue of politicians jumping
from one party to the other. Do you think this has help in deepening of our
democracy thus far?
The 1999 constitution as
amended came out with the provision that a representative elected by the
electorates has the right to switch to another party and this right is based on
a condition that only when the party is in crisis. However, what we have
witnessed over the years is that people don’t switch because there is a crisis
in a party, rather, they only switch to the party in power because they want to
shield themselves from the crimes they have committed. Besides that, cross
carpeting has a negative connotation in the sense that it shows that you are a
betrayal. Bear in mind that your people elected you on a platform based on
trust. You wasted their resources and the moment you cross carpet, you are
trying to tell them that all their efforts are in vain; that you no longer
value them; that you can do and undo when you are given a position. I want to
say that the idea of cross carpeting is an aberration and a bad omen for the
growth of our democracy.
Sir, what really
informed your decision to contest for the position of chairmanship of Bassa
local government?
First and foremost, I am
an indigene of Bassa and I have the right to partake in the sharing of anything
that comes to our local government. As you are aware, the chairmanship position
of Bassa local government is usually rotated among the three chiefdoms namely;
Pengena, Irigwe and Rukuba. This time, it is the turn of Pengena, where we
equally have three districts namely; Amo, Buji and Jere and the position was
further zoned to Amo district. Why it has been zoned to Amo is because the
district has never been given an elective chairmanship position. From time
past, our first elected chairman came from Buji followed by Jere and now it is
the turn of Amo. Since it is the turn of Amo and I am a bonified indigene
of Amo district, therefore, I am eligible.
Also, my experience is a
motivating factor. I have worked in the civil service, precisely in the
Polytechnic for years where I held several positions at various times. In the
political arena, I was once the secretary of Bassa local government Council.
When you combine these, I feel I have an edge over others and I can contest for
the position of the chairmanship. Besides that, I equally want to say that I am
an economist by training and if you have been following closely the activities
in the local government you will agree with me that it is enmeshed in so
many of problems which include inadequate finances and
mismanagement. You will also discover that most people that contest for
the chairmanship position don’t have insight into all these and when they
assume office, they only do the bidding of their godfathers and speak at the
mercy of the chief executive of the state. So because of my training, I feel I
can contribute a lot to enhancing the economic and total wellbeing of the
people in Bassa local government.
There is one issue that
has always been a problem to local governments which is the issue of finance.
Unfortunately, leaders at this level are not looking in- ward in terms of being
creative to raise resources to run their respective local governments. How do
you intend to raise the revenue net of Bassa local government at least to
ensure self- sustainability?
Revenue is a problem all
over both at the state and local government levels. The 1999 constitution makes
clear provisions for the revenue for the local government. There are the
internal and external sources. Unfortunately, the local governments have not
been able to tap fully into the internal sources of revenue and that has made
them dependent on the federal government. When you go to almost all the
local government councils; you will discover that its only one or two sources
of revenue that are being tapped. The others are either neglected or
mismanaged. If given the opportunity to serve as the executive chairman, I will
try to make sure that first and foremost those revenue sources that are
outlined in the constitution and are not tapped will see be fully tapped.
Besides that, you need to look and think outside the box. What I mean by this
is coming up with other sources outside the constitutional provision by way of
initiating new programs that can generate revenue to the local government. This
new revenue sources would include the buying of new equipments and rendering
services or producing other things that will benefit the entire local
government as well as serving as income sources. I want to provide
portable drinking water for Bassa communities and if we have that particular
equipment for drilling boreholes, we don’t need to give out the contracts for
that purpose. If we do that for the communities, I know there are other people
that will come for the equipment for their private use. By so doing so, revenue
can be generated for the local government. I have also asked about this issue
of tractors and fertilizers for the farmers and I was made to understand that
some local government councils have the tractors quite alright but they are not
being properly managed. I felt that could also be another area where attention
could be turn to. I have also discovered that there are committees that are set
up in local governments to generate revenue but the management of these
committees is done by political loyalists to the extent that the political
loyalists do whatever they feel like doing at the determent of the local
government. The chairman may not be having the capacity to challenge such
loyalists. So I feel the committee should exist but to some extent. If it
is to be more effective, it must be given a target.
If a person is
contracted and given a target and an agreement is signed to that effect, he
would work tirelessly towards meeting that particular target and it will go a
long way in boosting the revenue of the local government. Other areas would
include the establishment of a skill acquisition center for tailoring, hair
making, soap making etc. You could be buying the inputs, use your staff
to train the trainees who may come from outside and who might have interest in
a particular trade consequently, benefiting in two ways as follows; first, the
product will be sold and income generated; two, the trainees pay some stipends
which also brings income to the Local Government.
So, among many others,
these are the few that we can tap into and improve on the revenue base of the
local government.
Talking about local
government autonomy, are you in support or against?
As I said earlier, the
1999 constitution states that the local government should be a third tier of
government and some functions are attributed to the local government such as
providing essential services to the people at the grassroots. However, the
provisions of these services have been hampered by enormous problems such as
inadequate funds in the sense that there has been mismanagement of resources,
inadequate man power to run the wheels of government. The autonomy deals with
independence, but if the tier of government is not independent, then its
ability to perform and render services to the people will be hampered greatly.
Lack of autonomy has affected the local government system in the sense that the
constitution makes provision for a state/local government’s joint account and
in that account all allocations accrued to the local governments goes to it
where the state executive or governor has access to it and therefore has the
power to tamper with the allocations. That has led to a situation whereby a
state governor will just take a certain percentage and give to a local
government chairman while the bulk of the allocation is used by the chief executive
for other purposes not even related to the local government. There have been
cases where there are political tugs here and there, where the loyalists of the
ruling party are given gratifications, where the government may rig elections
with the monies that are put into the accounts of the local government which
has made the local government chairmen mere appendages of the state governor.
On the basis of that, local government chairmen do not have any power to
implement meaningful projects that reflect the wishes of the people at the
grassroots and even if a chairman wants to initiate a project that will be
meaningful to his community, he must take approval from the state governor and
this has rendered the local governments ineffective and unable to meet up with
their primary objectives. The provisions of the 1999 constitution has given
state governors the power to make laws for local government councils to the
extent that in making those laws, the state government decides or determines
the tenure of the local government elected officials. They also set up
independent electoral commissions that will conduct elections for the local
government councils. So when you take into account these two factors, you will
discover that there is nothing like free and fair elections at the local
government level because it will always be the appointees of the governor into
elective positions at that tier system of government. You will them discover
that governors now power since they are to legislate for the local government
to truncate the tenure and mandate that was given by the electorate of the
local government. That has thrown the country into several problems. If you
want to be a local government chairman, contesting in an opposition party, you
have to be very up and doing, be very firm, campaign at every nuke and cranny
as opposed to when you are in the ruling party. My take finally would be; one,
local government should be autonomous.
Almost 90 percent of
local government depends on the revenue from the federations account and so you
discover that the revenue sometimes comes late and inadequate. And when it
finally comes, it is whatever the governor gives the chairman that he works
with it. So I am of the view that to break away from that, sources of revenue
must be boosted, new sources must be identified so if those new sources are
identified, you can augment for inadequacy of such funds. Second, the issue of
state governors establishing independent electoral commissions to conduct local
government elections should be transferred to the Independent National
Electoral Commission. We have witnessed cases where in a state, they will tell
you that a particular party (which in most cases), the ruling party has won all
the seats of the local government council but when it comes to INEC elections,
it is either 50/50 or something below that. It cannot be possible for a
particular party to be wining all the seats. So I support that the state
function of the Independent Electoral Commissions should be taken off the hands
of the state government if the local government should perform credibly well.
Lastly, I want to say that the joint account should be abolished. If the state
government doesn't have a joint account with the federal government, the same
thing should also apply to the local government. The monies of the local
government as a tier of government should come directly to them. I think when
this is done, the issue of autonomy will be laid to rest and then we can now be
in a position to appraise weather the local government chairmen are performing
or not.
What is your assessment
of the administrations of President Muhamadu Buhari and Governor Simon Bako
Lalong?
Buhari came into power
as a result of popular opinion. People wanted change. He promised change and
the unfortunate thing is first and foremost, the man is very slow. You would
recall that it took him six months to constitute his cabinet. People were
having high expectations, but the expectations died into thin air because the
people he came on board with were not the people we were expecting. Besides
that, there was this promise that if the fuel subsidy is taken off, we will
never have fuel scarcity or increase in fuel prices again and when that was
done, pump price of the product rose from 87 Naira to 145. However, currently
there is this agitation that fuel prices will be increased again. When you look
at his corruption crusade, it’s obvious that it is only targeted at the
opposition. The media has also been awashed with news of stolen monies
recovered from people, there this administration is complaining of lack of
money and has even gone to the extent of borrowing money to run the affairs of
the country. So to me, the anti-corruption crusade of this government has been
lopsided and it has never achieved anything because since Buhari came into
power, we have never heard of any person being prosecuted. We only hear cases
of recovery and no persecution. The inflation rate also in general has reached
the rooftops. Again, when he came into power, he banned the importation of
certain items into the country without making provision for alternative
measures to the people for the banned items. This has led People to hoarding of
products and as they hoard, it is we the consumers that suffer. For instance, a
bag of rice was sold for 7,000 Naira before the coming of the Buhari
administration now cost between 16,000 and 20,000 naira. So to me, the
ban on importation was a move in a wrong direction. I appreciate the fact that
he said everybody should go back to the farm. Last year we witnessed a
massive production of food and other items but the fact is that the factor
inputs were not subsidized. For instance, fertilizer, tractors and insecticides
were not subsidized. The effort of the farmers was borne out of shear courage
and commitment.
Coming to Plateau, I
don't have a comment to make but just to say that we are waiting for the third
anniversary of the administration in the state to see the projects that will be
commissioned.
What is your advice to
the people of Bassa?
It is my pleasure to be
in the forefront of championing the cause of my people. I will just borrow the
words used by Buhari in 2015 when he said “vote for the candidate and not for
the party”. It means it’s all about credibility; it means voting the most
credible person. So my advice to the people of Bass is that they should look at
the candidate that is credible, a candidate that has the credentials and can
deliver on their mandate. I also want to advice the people of Bassa to protect
their votes. Let your vote count. Don’t allow anybody to make nonsense of
your vote. After voting, stay at the polling unit until the result is
announced. If given the mandate, by the Grace of God, mine is service to the
people.
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vi.ai, 701066910147404, DIRECT
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vi.ai, 701066910147404, DIRECT
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