Senator Adeyemi Adaramodu represents Ekiti South in the Senate. In this interview, the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker talks about the performance of the 10th National Assembly, insecurity, corruption and the relationship between the National Assembly and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Senate Committee Chairman on Media and Public Affairs spoke with SANNI ONOGU.
What is your assessment of the performance of the 10th Senate so far?
The legislature has performed well in its three core duties of making laws, oversight and representing the people. For instance, on the issue of lawmaking, the 10th National Assembly, especially the Senate, has done well because we have passed a lot of life-changing motions. We have passed motions on the economy, infrastructure, and security. On the issue of oversight, we’ve also done well. The first budget that the 10th Assembly passed was the 2024 budget. We have been carrying out oversight on electoral matters, labour, security and the economy, particularly with the current inflation in the country. So those are areas that we have been having oversight. As we speak, the committee on power is sitting, calling the public and other critical stakeholders to deliberate on the tariff hike, especially the issue of Band A, B, C, D and so on. On security, we have had closed-door meetings with service chiefs, FCT management and leadership, when kidnapping was at its crescendo some time ago. About two weeks ago, the Committee on Petroleum and Gas (Upstream and Downstream) went to the refineries, especially the Port Harcourt refinery, to find out what was happening there. Why are we not having the local production to ameliorate the problem of supply of premium motor spirit (PMS), which Nigerians use frequently?
Some committee chairmen have cited insecurity as the reason they can’t go on oversight. What’s your reaction?
I don’t think that is the case. For instance, we have witnessed kidnappings along some major roads recently. Incidentally, the Senate Committee on Works, headed by Senator Barinada Mpigi, was on the scene with the Federal Ministry of Works’ staff. They inspected various road projects along that axis. So, the committee on the road projects could go out there to perform their duty, I don’t see why the aviation committee should give that excuse. I am a member of the committee on youth development and we visited the orientation camps of NYSC corps members all over Nigeria. We have been to the East, the West and the North and we were able to perform our duties. If those two critical committees could go out there to perform their oversight functions, then the excuse that the road is dangerous is not tenable.
Two senators have supported the opinion of the Minister of Education that the minimum age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions should be pegged at 18 years. Is that the position of the Senate?
That is a comment. It is not a law. By the time the Senate resumes, whoever wants to bring that one out as a bill should do so and it will follow the lawmaking process, which would include a public hearing. All the stakeholders will sit down and talk about it; parents, teachers, legislators, civil society organizations and even foreign organisations.
What is the National Assembly doing differently to keep the executive arm of government on its toes?
It depends on the way we look at it. When you are in government or politics, there must be challenges. That is why we have three arms of government. The legislature is there to act as a check on the executive. We are elected representatives of the people; without us, there can never be a democracy. It is the parliament that the people themselves put there, who are not appointed. In the executive, only the president and the governors are elected by the people. But in the legislature, everyone was elected by the people. All the 109 senators in the Senate are there, courtesy of the public. So, we represent the public; that is why we have to be the noses, ears, and eyes of the public. That is why it is very pertinent for us to be politically mobile and agile and be more responsive to issues that concern Nigerians than any other arm of government. And that is why when the only elected person in the executive, especially at the federal level, the president when he puts up his team through appointments, he cannot be everywhere. He cannot see everything.
But we, in the legislature, 360 House of Representatives members. 109 senators, then, we have the constituents to inform us about what is happening there, what they have seen. So we are the ones who can now take it back to the executive and ask questions from them about what is happening. And then we now go to the books, what has been provided, especially if it is about appropriation or the rules and regulations. So, we will tell them this is how it should be done before the judiciary comes in if there is any disagreement. So that’s where the judiciary comes in to do the interpretation. They will tell the executive and the legislature that this is how it should be. So, that is where we come in. It is not a case of breathing down on their neck. So far like I said, we have just done the appropriation because that is where the real governance is. That is what makes a government tick. That is what makes a country tick because that is where the development comes in. When you build roads, when you do hospitals, when you give education and all sorts and then revenue generation, how we generate the revenue that it is not at the risk of the lives of the people, the revenue so generated that it’s used for the benefit of the people, which is where the biggest oversight function comes in. That is why I said that so far, the 2024 budget will start running and we have to be on our feet from the legislature and ensure that what is provided for in the appropriation law is followed to the letter and that whatever a naira is supposed to go for, that naira goes to it accordingly. Not only that, we have to be looking forward to that one, we have to ensure that the revenue that the executive told us that it is going to generate is generated and that loopholes are seriously blocked through legislation.
What is the National Assembly doing about food security?
Yes, from the National Assembly, the first thing we did to ameliorate the problems posed by food insecurity is that when we looked at the appropriation law, agriculture takes a very high portion. Outside, Defence took the elephant’s share, which means that we are very conscious that we must boost food production at the national, sub-national and local. Then the state government, as we could see, the president has spoken like we have done at the national level through the 2024 appropriation. So, and I’m sure that by the time…you know when you put in anything, any input in agriculture, it is not the day you plant that you start harvesting.
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So, I’m sure that by the time the harvest period comes, sequel to what had been provided for in the 2024 appropriation; the impact and the effect of what the government would have done with the fight against food insecurity would show. Again, it’s another Clarion call on all of us, Nigerians that, one, from the local area, I’m a local person, at times, when you want to bring your vegetable to the market, you talk about dollar, and I don’t know whether we take the vegetable or the tomato for foreign exchange to be talking about dollar. When we want to sell garri, we talk about dollars. We Nigerians have to be our brothers’ keepers; we have to love ourselves. We must not see Nigeria as a platform. Let us see Nigeria as our home, the only home that we have. The government and the governed have different roles to play. One of the roles that each of us has to play is that even when the government does everything to assist the citizenry, we as Nigerians must help ourselves for the result to be desirable.
Besides, we have realised that in Nigeria today, all of us —legislators, teachers, civil servants and any other profession — do not take agriculture seriously. It’s a very primary duty that we can have a vegetable garden here, a little garden there and then by the time we do that it will help to boost the food supply. But, with what the Senate or the National Assembly has done with the 2024 appropriation law by giving a lion share to agriculture, it will result in a bumper harvest, which would help bring succour to Nigerians. But we Nigerians too must take a cue and ensure that as market men or women, we must not shortchange Nigerians. Don’t let us shortchange Nigerians.
At a recent session with the lawmakers, President Bola Tinubu asked them to reduce their frequent summons to his appointees. What impact would it have on your oversight functions?
The president was once a senator and he understands how the system works. The National Assembly does not summon any minister, head of ministries, departments or agencies (MDAs) for no reason. Even during our inauguration, the president gave a directive to ministers and heads of the MDAs to act promptly to any question or summons from the National Assembly.
So, I said then that it was not a negative comment from Mr. President. He was saying that when any MDA head is summoned, it will be based on substantial and substantive reasons. It is just a standing rule in the National Assembly that you cannot call an MDA head without prior notice and without stating the reasons.
It must be on matters of policy. It must be on delivery matter. It must not be about the internal affairs of that ministry or that agency. If it is going to be an internal matter of that ministry or that agency, whoever has any complaint against them must bring it in the form of a public complaint and through a petition. And then that one will be read by the concerned legislator in the open chamber for all senators to hear and then for it to be referred to the necessary committee to sit on it. So with this, Mr. President is only trying to tell the two, that is, the MDAs and the legislature to find a coordinated nexus of meetings when and where necessary to enhance governance and development. So it’s not an indictment on the legislature.
