Jonathan lucky to have sympathy of Legislature –Lanlehin

Senator Olufemi Lanlehin cur­rently represents Oyo South Senatorial District in the National Assembly. In this interview with AKEEB ALARAPE and OLUSEYE OJO, he explains many rows between the legislature and the executive over budget presentations as well as what informed his defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Accord Party.
Excerpts:
Can you assess the current National Assembly?

The National Assembly, particularly the Senate, has done its level best in the sense that it has tried to approach the art of governance with maturity and objectivity. Many at times, the Senate has been the vehicle for stabilising the polity when destabilisation is staring the country in the face.
To that extent, the Senate has done well and the National Assembly has done well. It has attempted to amend the constitution, which is a feat that has not been either embarked on or succeeded at. But this National Assembly has cautiously and very doggedly approached the need to amend the constitution and it has come up with a lot of suggestions to amending the constitution, which will now be put before the state Houses of Assembly and before it goes for the assent of the president.
In any event, one of the amendments is that the president should not assent to a consti­tutional amendment. In the old constitution, there was an ambiguity as to whether the president’s assent is needed in the amendment of the constitution. But for the purpose of clar­ity, it has been decided by the two chambers that the assent of the president is not necessary in the amendment of the constitution. To this extent, a lot has been done.
In terms of the constitutional plane and law-making, a lot of laws have been passed by the Senate, such as the Cyber Crime Bill. It approached extensively the new electronic age that we live in. We do a lot of things now by electronic transfer, electronic communication and so on.
Our laws, either the way of law of evidence or criminal law, are inadequate in dealing with this. So, the Cyber Crime Bill has been so very studiously looked into and passed by the Senate.
Why did you sponsor the Border Community Development Agency Bill?
I sponsored a bill: Border Community De­velopment Agency Bill, which is in respect of border communities to ensure that we improve the lives of people who live in our border com­munities. One of the main problems we are having now is the Boko Haram challenge. One of the things that fuelled the power of these in­surgents is the way and manner by which they come into the country as a result of porous borders and the lackadaisical attitude of some of the people at the border towns. They too are struggling with existence, battling with abject poverty and we are not concerned with what goes on around them; whereas they should be the first line of resistance, intelligence reports, bulwark against these insurgents. But because they themselves could not take care of them­selves, they don’t feel committed to the ideals of Project Nigeria.
I felt that we should kill so many birds with a stone by introducing the Border Community Development Agency Bill, which will now strengthen the legal framework for this agency that will tackle the problems and then find the means to adequately fund the agency in order to tackle these problems.
We have 21 states that are on the borders of our country. Most times, when we went round the place, we discovered that the dif­ference between the border towns of Nigeria and the border towns of adjoining countries is so much, despite the fact that they are poorer than we are. They still provide much more for their people. Even, our people cross over to these other places for health facilities, water and so. This boggles the mind and it is so shameful that we found ourselves in this path. I introduced that bill and it has passed the first reading.
What should be the role of legisla­ture in budget preparation?
On the economic plane, there has been a major problem in this country – the issue of the economy, budget appropriation. But one basic thing that we in the National As­sembly all the time refer to and agree with is the budget-making method. Most times, the executive just goes around, compiles a budget, cost and analysis and come up with a budget that comprises recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure and overhead.
Most times, we that are at all times in sync with our constituents are left out majorly in the budget-making process. There is hardly a week that I don’t come home (Ibadan) from Abuja. Once we finished sittings on Thursday, by Friday morning, I am on my way to Ibadan; I attend wedding ceremonies, burials, house­warming, naming and attend to sick people. In the cause of this, I get to know what is going on and what the people need and what their problems are.
But when the budget is being made, civil servants, of course, it is their job to do the nitty-gritty of putting the budget together. But the real identification and decision-making process should involve the legislature more. The civil servant is in his office; he would probably commission one or two consultants to give him an idea of one or two things about the people. But we that relate with our constituencies and constituents on a daily basis know where the shoe pinches. We know what they want, when they want it, how they want it and how much of it they want.
So, the executive now brings us the ap­propriation bill, expecting us to pass it into an Act and just give us some projects with figures. One thing that I disagree with basically is the lopsidedness of the proportion of the capital project and salaries and allowances. I believe that the capital project, as we are used to, should be much more. In my own opinion, it should take about 75 or 85 per cent of the budget.
But because of the unemployment situation in the country, it is the unemployment prob­lems that straddle the whole of this country, the civil service, the public service and the MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies) are so very many and so very over-bloated that the amount of money they gulp outweighs what it should be.
I believe, basically, we should sit down and determine to have a change whereby we would have capital expenditure being much more than the recurrent expenditure. The government is essentially to provide enabling environment. Most performing economies have a large of small and medium scale enter­prises and a sprinkle of large scale manufactur­ing or service-oriented companies, driving the economy.
But here in Nigeria, the bulk of the work­force is in the civil and public service. The whole of the public service and civil service in the whole of Nigeria, in my own estimation is less than five per cent of the total population of the country. But we consume 75 per cent of the resources. Does that make sense? So, we must find a way of going back to the basics when obviously capital expenditure must outweigh recurrent expenditure.
They are even getting what they are getting because we have the leadership of the legisla­ture in place, which is the same party with the executive. To that extent, of course, they have the party’s sympathy. They are lucky. If they don’t have the control of both the legislature and the executive, it wouldn’t be that smooth.
Can you explain reasons for your defection from APC to Accord?
I like to believe and I know because I am in government to serve our people. I grew up in an average environment and average family. I know that the most important thing in the fam­ily is the happiness of the family members.
It is not the gigantic mansion that you live in or the number of cars that the family has that brings happiness to the family. But the little things that put the family together is to look out for one another’s welfare; exchange of ideas and affections that keep the family together and keep them going.
But in a situation where you have a gover­nor that believes he knows it all and he’s so very ambitious and so very suspicious of all other activities around him; that he believes anything that he does not control is obviously against him. He believes he must – I am talking of Senator Isiaka Ajimobi, determine alone what happens? Who does what? Who gets what? What gets done?
At the beginning, we were trying to tell him to let us all sit down. The party was rendered comatose. The party should have been the sounding bird of the government. The party is the one that goes into the nooks and crannies and superintends upon the wards, local gov­ernments and state membership of the party and the executives. So, they get feedbacks. But for one reason or another the governor has been able to put them in a state of comatose.
It is good to plant flowers. It is good to have a beautiful environment but should that be at the expense of people having drinking water? When you are wetting flowers and people are not getting water to drink, how do you think they will feel? Is it right to take people on the street for being disoriented or for having some little problems and you keep them out of cir­culation because you want to keep a beautiful environment?
When you whip or cane people out of the little place they sell goods beside the road and put them in Black Maria and tell them to pay N10, 000 for a man or woman, whose ware is less than N5, 000. Before he gets that N10, 000, everybody contributes N100, N200 and so on. Anybody that contributed obviously will turn against you.
We told him that Rome was not built in a day. At the centre of any governmental activity should be the people and their welfare is the central goal of government. But when you believe you have a vision to accomplish irrespective of whose ox is gored, the people will be angry. We, who were closer to them, though there is a limit to where we can go, but we get feedback; at times, we clandestinely go to some of these places to get the feel. I would tell him this is what they are saying but he didn’t care, he didn’t try to make amends. You cannot but distance yourself from such a person.
On a personal plane, somebody who believes that anybody, who he cannot control, obviously must be angling for his position, despite all assurance that we gave him. When we were in the party, we would tell him, this is a party that we all belong to and it is his con­stitutional right to seek a second term. It’s God that crowns. He, having being so crowned, we have no option but to support him in the interest of our party, community, our state and general interest.
Everything said and spoken was not believed by him. He decided to just surround himself with the people he has been coming with on his political journey up till date. That is why a lot of people, even those who are still in his party now -APC, are just there because they want to be there till the end to get what they think they can get. This coming elec­tion will show who is popular and who is not popular.
Preference for Accord
Every politics is local. If somebody builds a beautiful environment and the persons therein are not taken care of, as far as they are concerned, that environment or that mansion is nothing. I, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, despite the fact that I gave the governor my word and my support and tried to demonstrate that sup­port, the governor decided to disbelieve me, mistrust me and shut me out of everything that is Oyo State Government; despite all entreaties and all attempts to make him see otherwise.
So, in a situation like that, where you are not wanted, of course, you know the enor­mous power of a governor, he was able to whip the party into a position, either in truth or whatever. He was able to pocket the party. But some of us who felt we have a duty to our people, conscience and country, felt we must still tell him what it takes and we did tell him.
So, leaving one party that is big to a party that is small is not the issue. What matters is what your people want you to be. If a party is very big and you are just nothing else in it, it does not affect you. Everybody is concerned with his own little hamlet.
So, I told Governor Ajimobi before I left the party that I would support him to do his eight years if he carries everybody along, takes care of people of Oyo State by listening to their wishes and, of course, take care of people in the party because that is the platform by which he came into power. But lo and behold, he didn’t do any of these.
I am not contesting for governorship in the Accord Party and I am not contesting anything with him. All I want is that I want my people with whom we share the same political ten­dencies and I want the people in my constitu­encies to feel the impact of the government.
I can tell you without any fear of contradic­tion that the most popular party in Oyo State today is Accord Party. If my people are okay and are happy within the collective, won’t I be happy? Should my people be very unhappy within a happy collective, I won’t be happy. So, it is not about bigness or smallness, but about the happiness of my constituents.
It is not only me. Ayo Adeseun is a senator of the Federal Republic, who feels the same way I feel (Adeseun left APC for PDP). Many others have left the party like that too.
I was never a member of APC anyway because I contested on the platform of ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) and then, the constitution says if your party is merging with another party, or it is split into two divisions, you can decide to either stay in that division or merger or go to any other place. So, I am within my constitutional rights because ACN merged with two and a half other legacy parties. I decided not to go along with them. I decided to exercise my constitutional rights of joining another party. What my constituents wanted is Accord Party. So, I had no choice but to bow to their wishes.

CREDIT: THE SUN