Senator Fatimat Raji-Rasaki represents Ekiti Central District in the Senate, where she chairs the Committee on Trade and Investment. She spoke with reporters in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on national issues, shortly after distributing empowerment materials to her constituents. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA was there.
How has the journey into the Senate been?
I thank God for His mercies that kept me standing up till today. Initially, things were very rough, in the sense that as human being, I wasn’t able to concentrate because immediately after the election, I was taken to the court. I had to face it because when you have a court case, you don’t take it with levity.
Even after winning the first court case, some people still took it as an offence and looked for ways to make me not to have a peace of the mind. They went to court for a pre-election matter that is supposed to be within the party. But in all these, I thank God for keeping me up to this stage and I believe He will continue to do it.
After that, I tried to settle down. Thank God, I was given the chairman of committee on Trade and Investment which has something to do with the growth of our nation because all the investors are under the Trade and Investment but, the current recession is greatly affecting the function of the committee.
The committee, the Senate and the executive need to work together but, you all are aware that initially the leadership crisis at the Senate drew us back.
But, in spite of all that, as we were settling down, as the chairman of the committee, I met with some investors from Taiwan, Britain and others to rob minds together and see what we can benefit from each other. I have a pending bill whcich I intend to bring to the House. It is based on my findings when I went to Taiwan. The Taiwan government are willing to help us but, due to the bureaucracy of the Chinese Embassy and our ministry, there is actually something fishy in their system.
In the committee, we have been doing oversight functions which is our primary objectives. All this free trade zones are under the Trade and Investment Committee. There are private trade zones, we have about two in Lagos and the third one is coming up in Lagos and Badagry axis. There is another one in Calabar and another one in Onne, Port Harcourt. Like I said, the recession has really affected the operational system of these trade zones because investors actually go to zones where they enjoy concessions.
I have bill that has passed through the second reading and it is that we should have all the trade zones come under a single regulatory body. We are working on that and I have four others that have already been passed for my committee to work on. We are starting the public hearing of the regulatory bill on the December 13.
How is you relationship with people of your constituency?
I have a very good relationship with the people of my consitutency. They are people of intergrity. The trust they have in me by voting for me and giving me the mandate to represent them, still remains intact and strong. Though, I have not been coming and that is because I have been very busy but, my presence is actually being felt in all the five local governments that make my senatorial district. I have my offices there and if there is any issue, they send it there and from there they send to me and I work on it.
People alleged that you are not close to the top hierarchy of government in the state, what is your reaction?
The governor and I have good relationship. It is only because I am working in Abuja and he is here. It is just that I have been very busy at the Committee. I can be called upon anytime, even there are times, I had to travel with the President but, I wasn’t able to make it because I’m away attending to other official assignment and there is no way I cannot easily rush back and join him. As for me, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Adejugbe, our monarch, and the Ewi in councils are my fathers. We started this project. They nominated me before any other person. And I’m always part of anything they are doing. We also interact on the telephone.
What have you been doing for your constituency?
I have given five buses to the five local governments’ chapters of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in my constituency. One for each of them. That was my promise before they elected me. I always like to keep to my words and I do not promise anything I cannot do. I have shared so many empowerment materials to my constituents which include motorbikes, sewing machines, refrigerators, hair dressing machines and rain boots among others, including cash gifts worth N10 million. The worth of all the empowerment materials with cash is about N100 million.
What solutions is your committee putting forward to the government on the way out of the economic recession?
While on the floor of the House recently, I did say that government has no business in doing business.
Government has put a lot of things on its head and this is not supposed to be so. We should allow private investors to do some roads for us, engage in transportation, build power, but the government is dipping its hands into all these. Unfortunately, the little ones we give concessions to are being given to wrong people. They are not giving it to the right people who knows about it. That is just one of our problem. Everyone contributed towards this observation on the floor and we have articulated all these and our resolutions and recommendations on the way forward together and forward them to the executives. They can look at them and it is now left for them to do something about it, but we have done our own bit by giving it to them.
What is your role as an intermediary between Ekiti and the Bank of Industry (BOI) on obtaining loans?
The BOI is indirectly under my committee and I approached them that my people in Ekiti have not been benefiting from the loans and I asked them to come down to Ekiti State as we are also part of Nigeria and wants to benefit also. So, they came here but, you know in Ekiti, we have no industries as we are predominantly a civil service state. What they expected was that we would have large industries but, what they found when they came was small number of people and they have to come down to their level to accommodate them and that is why it is taking a long process.
Why are you organising N100 million empowernment scheme your constituent?
I am representing my people and one of the aims and objectives is to bring dividends of democracy to the people. And I think this is one of it, because when you are elected and represent your people, they expect you to come back home and take care of them. When I turned 60 about two years ago, I still came home to celebrate it with my people by giving out some empowerment materials. I’m doing this for them so that they can stand on their own financially without relying on stipends from me. Anyone I have given these empowerment materials to is expected to set up a little business of his own and be able to keep life going.
There is rumour that you may defect to APC. What is your take?
I’m hearing such rumour for the first time. When you are in the Senate representing your constituency, you are indeed working for the generality of Nigerians. The question of party does not arise. May be any time, we just want to catch fun, that is when we talk about our party differences. But, we are usually concerned about the overall interest of our country. So, that I’m close to APC senators in the upper legislative chamber does not mean I’m about to defect to their party. I haven’t nursed any ambition of defecting to any other party, I’m a PDP member and my seat still remains in the party.
How is the current economic policies affecting the trade and investment?
The government policies started from our laws. When you have a law that is outdated, of course, it will affect certain things, that is why we are in the House as legislators, to either repeal those laws or amend them. There are certain laws that have been enacted since the 1960s and are still in operation and that is wrong. So, if a country wants to move alongside the development of the current times, our obsolete laws have to be updated. We are working on reviewing those laws and our constitution.
