The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday continued with the screening of more nominees for President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet with former governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, Chris Ngige, a former Senator and Mr. Ibe Kachukwu, who currently heads the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) answering questions from the senators.
BABATUNDE FASHOLA
Fashola, who was the first to be screened, was commended by all the senators who asked him questions and was made to say how he hoped to repeat the same feat he achieved in Lagos at the national level.
While answering questions, the former governor, who also enjoyed the support of the three senators from Lagos, said the country’s citizens must decide to make the country work.
He noted that with the election that brought in President Buhari, the citizens have sent a message that they have their choices.
He told the senators that he believed in team work and that this enabled his success as governor of Lagos State. He also revealed that he never signed any cheque as governor of Lagos.
Fashola suggested the décentralisation of the Nigeria Police Force as one of the ways to ensure better security in the country. To decentralize the police, he said, is to introduce state policing
He said apart from ensuring security, it would help boost employment generation. This opportunity would further trickle down as those in various vocations would have jobs to do.
Fashola said he did everything he could to rid Lagos State of criminals during his time as governor.
The nominee said Nigeria had more money outside than it has within because of its citizens who had stashed away huge sums and even invested in foreign lands. He said the time has come for a strategy to get the monies back to the country.
He also said borrowing was not a bad idea and that Nigeria must keep borrowing for now because it needed to meet its short-term goals which include infrastructural development.
He lamented that previous borrowings by the country had been nothing to write about.
“We need a debt that grows our productivity and nation. You can’t borrow to pay salaries or borrow to fuel generators. I would rather borrow to install a power plant,” he told the senators.
Asked about his loyalty, Fashola said he did not pray for anyone’s loyalty to be tested. He used the illustration of a kidney failure patient his government wanted to help and that the kidneys that matched that of the woman were those of her daughters. However, none of the daughters agreed to donate to their mother.
He told the senators that he had never been found wanting in relation to his loyalty.
Fashola also called for a periodical review of the Abuja master plan to be also to manage the country’s capital. He also told the senators how he was able to fix the once notorious Oshodi area of Lagos as governor.
He also suggested that liaising with the country’s elders would assist because of their experiences.
Asked about the controversial N78 million he reportedly spent on building a website and the over N130 million he allegedly spent on two boreholes, he said he never signed a cheque as a governor.
“My commissioners never signed cheques. It’s an institutional thing. Nobody can award a contract outside benchmark price,” he said.
He added that there was a procurement process followed by his government and that he had never been accused of corruption.
“The only training I have is that of a lawyer, but in order to execute works on a project we need the input of architect, quantity surveyors, structural engineer and we have consulting ministries.
“For civil works it is the Ministry of Works, for science, it is the Ministry of Science and Technology among others.
“Now periodically, they do market surveys with the Ministry of Economic Planning , the Statisticians are there to fix prices from biro to iron rod to cement and it is approved and becomes the benchmark price of government procurement, nobody can award any other contract over that benchmark,” he added.
He was asked to take a bow and go after satisfying the senators.
IBE KACHIKWU
Ibe Kachiukwu, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, told the senators that he had over 30 years experience in the oil industry, adding that he had started changing the face of the oil sector since becoming the GMD of NNPC.
He also said he had begun reforms that would ensure transparency and accountability in the sector.
He said his plan is to increase the capacity of our refineries in the country and by December, any refinery that does not meet the standard would be shut for total rehabilitation.
He said he met the NNPC in a state of the good, the bad and the ugly. On the good, he said the NNPC has a lot of dedicated staff ready to work and passionate. On the bad, he said the NNPC was riddled with corruption and that this was being perpetrated by a very few individuals in the corporation.
He said he would also support the unbundling of government structures for efficiency
On the issue of refineries, he said the Port Harcourt refinery was currently working at between 60 and 65 percent capacity while the one in Warri has also picked up. The Kaduna refinery, he said, would begin to get crude from Thursday.
To get the refineries in the current capacities, he said he met with the management of the refineries and warned that their jobs were dependent on how far they made the refineries work.
He said he would not rest until the refineries performed at international standard.
For him, subsidy should not remain, but if it must be taken away, there must be palliative. He said he was currently assessing the situation with the President with a view to coming up with palliatives that could meet the challenges should subsidy be removed from petroleum products adding that this was currently yielding results.
He agreed with Senator Stella Oduah that absence of policies and a master plan was responsible for gasflaring.
“We need to create the right incentives. We need to focus on gas. They are a long term market and if the country is not prepared now, the world would leave it behind,” he said.
He also promised that he would always make himself available if summoned by the National Assembly.
He said his administration would work on eradicating policy inconsistency which has cost the country a lot of money.
He urged that the Petroleum Industry Bill should be reviewed and adjusted to fit the present and future needs of the petroleum sector and meet the current trends, adding that the absence of the PIB costs Nigeria $15 billion yearly.
He said in sanitising the NNPC, he had to call off contracts that did not follow due process and that he did not do this because he hated any contractor.
He also said he had to embark on reducing departmental heads and others.
He promised to continue to produce a monthly publication of all developments of NNPC.
He noted that it would not be easy for the country to start building new pipelines except with the help of private investors but that soldiers and police officers were helping to monitor pipelines now.
Satisfied, the senators asked him to take a bow and go.
AISHA AL-HASSAN
Al-Hassan, who contested for the governorship election in Taraba state, was not asked questions. She simply used the opportunity to state that she was still pursuing her case at the tribunal and denied that she was nominated by President Buhari to stop her from continuing with the case. She also spoke on how to tackle corruption in the judiciary after which she was asked to take a bow and go.
CHRIS NGIGE
The former governor of Anambra State was simply asked to say any other thing he needed to say that was not in his curriculum vitae. He told his colleagues that he was part of the formation of the PDP and the APC and that he was happy that any of the parties he worked for often won. He constantly made his colleagues laugh while he spoke. He was not asked any question but was asked to take a bow and go.
ABUBAKAR MALAMI
Abubakar Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria from Kebbi State, said he was legal adviser to the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He also said he once contested for governor of Kebbi State. He called for a review of the judicial system adding that he believed in financial autonomy to ensure quick delivery of justice. He also suggested that the administration of Justice should not take more than 180 days.
SOLOMON DALONG
He spoke on prison congestion in Nigeria and how to resolve the problems associated with it.
Being a former Prisons officer, the indigene of Plateau state was commended by some of the senators who said they were sure he would be a success as a minister. He also spoke on judicial reforms
KEMI ADEOSUN
The former Commissioner for Finance in Ogun state told the senators that the country needed to pursue a cashless economy. She said this would help solve problems of leakages in government and other spheres of the country’s existence.
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She also talked on developing the infrastructure to create more jobs and wealth in the country.
