Investigate $10b Expended On Electricity By Obasanjo - Gen. Adebayo

Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo

The President of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (retd), in this interview with ADEWALE AJAYI spoke on a number of national issues, including the over N10 billion spent by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in revamping the power sector. Excerpts:

The decision of the governors of the South-West to sell the properties of Oodua Investment has generated lots of reactions from prominent Yoruba people, but the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), which is supposed to give direction to Yoruba people, has not said anything about it. Why?
What is making the governors to sell the properties is that government business is not well run. My attitude is that the selling off should be to the states that own them. People in Ogun State can buy some. It should be sold to individuals not for a state to buy up everything.

Don’t you think the properties are some of those things that bind the Yoruba race together and they were created for the interest of the Yoruba?
These are investments which are meant to generate money for the people of the states. Whether they bind the Yoruba together is out of it. It is the governance by the governors that can ensure that there is unity.

In the statement you issued, you said former President Olusegun Obasanjo need not react to the allegation made by his son, Gbenga, that he (Obasanjo) was having an affair with Moji (Gbenga’s wife). But do you not think that if the former president refuses to say anything about it, people could conclude the allegation is true?
As far as I am concerned, it is a family matter. If the ex-president wants to make statement that is left to him. But as far as I am concerned, it is their family problem, which should be solved among them. But if he feels the statement of his son will affect him, it is another thing entirely.

You did say Gbenga should be subjected to medical check up. What do you think this will achieve?
As far as I am concerned, I can’t see my son saying such a thing to me. If a son like that, a well trained son, says something to his father to that extent, I think he should go for psychiatric test and  possibly they should test the blood of the father and son to see if they are the same. A DNA test is necessary, because I can’t see my son saying such a thing to me.

Recently, President Umaru Yar’Adua said $10 billion was spent on the improvement of electricity supply by the last administration headed by Obasanjo. Yet, electricity supply has not improved. Do you not think that there is the need to probe what the money was expended on?
Don’t let us use the word probe. The money expended should be investigated. This is what affects the country. It should be investigated.

Many have suggested that Nigeria should return to the parliamentary system of government. Do you subscribe to that?
Left to me, the parliamentary system of government is the best. It is better than presidential system of government. It is less expensive, it is not cumbersome and members of the parliament do not need all the year-round work. The parliament may meet four or six times a year. But to stay there permanently is a waste of money. The money wasted can be spent on provision of infrastructure or social services for the people.

This year, Nigeria will celebrate 48 years of independence. Has the country made any progress?
I think if we are fair to ourselves, it is true we got our independence 48 years ago, what we lacked and still lack is oneness, trust-worthiness and loyalty among ourselves. And the only way we can make progress is by going back to the parliamentary system of government.

In a parliamentary system, each state will be able to develop on its own and the federal government should play supervisory role. It will be the state and local government that will do the work because they are closer to the people. If states are allowed to develop on their own, they can learn from one another. There will be more interaction among the states; they will be able to trust one another, and by so doing, they can meet the needs of the people. Expecting the federal government to take care of the states and local government does not bring us together because of the structure. People play up ethnicity when seeking positions.

Some have argued that there was development in all sectors during the period Nigeria was governed based on regions, and that there should be a return to the system. Do you think this is advisable?
During that time, we had four regions and it would be difficult to go back from states to region. We should have the states as regional organisations, which will enable them to develop on their own, as the four regions were doing before. If that is agreed to, then there will be development as recorded immediately after independence.

What about the clamour that states should control their mineral resources, particularly as advocated by the people of the Niger Delta?
I think the Niger Delta people have a case. They are producing the oil and they are only getting 13 per cent as derivation. In the West then, we concentrated on production of cocoa. In the North, it was groundnut. In the East, it was palm oil. Nobody is making efforts to revive the production of these cash crops because of the oil.

Unfortunately, the oil-producing states are not getting a fair share of their product, because reports we read about the area shows no development is taking place in the area. No good road, no pipe-borne water. If the proceed of the oil is to be shared equitably, the oil-producing states should get more than what they are getting now. If that is done, it will enable them to enjoy substantial part of the proceeds of their resources.

Many have expressed concern about overdependence on oil. Their argument, like yours, is that other sectors should be developed. Can we achieve this in the light of the focus by government on the oil sector?
I have just said that we have cocoa and palm kernel in the past. We should go back and revive those cash products so that we don’t depend solely on oil. Suppose the oil stops flowing, what do we do? We need to go back to the other sectors we have neglected.

At least Western region was developed with the proceeds from cocoa. I see no reason why we can’t go back to those cash crops and increase their production. The problem of high rate of unemployment experienced now can also be curbed if we should develop the agricultural sector. It is because we neglected such areas that the rate of unemployment is increasing. There is no sufficient industry yet in the country. There should be industries to accommodate school leavers.

I believe your dream when you were growing up and when you were military governor of the Western Region was to have a great country. With the situation now, will you say your dream has been actualised?
My personal dream is quite different from majority dream. My personal dream was to have better developed country than what we had then. We are still hoping that with what is going on now, unemployment would be tackled. Hopefully, people will talk about industrialisation. It is only when the social amenities and infrastructures are there that people can set up industries. We still have the time to do this. But it is a pity that we have lost some time.

The Idea of Vision 2020, that is, building Nigeria to a country that can compete favourably with other developed countries. Can it be realised? Can you answer this based on the fact that some of these things have been proposed in the past and the fact that Nigeria would need about $5 billion annually to achieve this as said by President Umaru Yar’Adua?
It is not the annual income or money spent that will make us realise what is projected, though money is essential. The view of individual groups on the vision equally matters. People can have money and keep it somewhere and fail to invest it in projects. As the President has proposed, let’s see what he can achieve in four years or even within a year.

Then we will be able to assess if we are moving towards the realisation of the vision. I believe to actualise this vision, the President needs the collective participation of Nigerians. He can’t work alone. We must all work together to achieve that aim. He can’t propose such vision and many Nigerians will stand aloof.

A lot of people have complained that a lot of those in public offices are people of questionable character. Do you not think the manner in which public office holders are chosen or elected is wrong?
There must be rules and regulations before choosing people. You can’t just choose people without knowing their background, their educational attainment. You cannot choose people who cannot work with others or people who are pretending they are working for the people. That is part of the duty of those screening aspirants for public offices.

They must make sure that those who are interested in holding political offices should be scrutinised properly before even being nominated.

The local government is the closest to the people; but in the last four years, most of the councils have been doing nothing despite the allocation made available to them. Is this not a disservice to those that elected them?
The problem is that most people aspiring for positions in the local government are people who have not identified with the community and do not know their problems. If I don’t live in my area in Ekiti State, probably I won’t know the requirements of the people and won’t be able to prioritise the needs of the people.

Therefore, those seeking public offices must be near to the people. They should know the problems in their area and work on them. They should know the requirements of the people. And that is where the traditional rulers come in. They know the people, they are closer to them and they are part of the people. More so, experienced people should be considered; people who know the needs of the people. I don’t believe in the idea of electing local government officials. The money spent  in conducting the election could be used in taking care of the needs of the people.

But your position that council officials should be chosen contradicts the constitutional provision, which says there must be an election. Is that not so?
That is one of the reasons why we need to amend the constitution; because something is wrong with the present constitution, and we should put things right. The National Assembly can’t do the amendment alone. There is the need to select people to make recommendations as Obasanjo did in 2005. Unfortunately, the report of the Political Reform and Constitutional Amendment Committee was not put into use up till today.

But the report was put aside because of the third term agenda. Was that not a wise decision?
Experienced people were chosen for the constitution amendment. I was one of them. I knew the effort I put in. But unfortunately, the then president  was not happy with one of those recommendations. And because of the third term agenda, everything was thrown away. I believe they should have used parts of it that were good. I think the new arrangement made by the current President is to make use of part of those reports and that of the Pro-National Conference Organisations (PRONACO) and recommendations from individuals should be collated to give us a proper constitution. With due respect to members of the National Assembly, some of them have no experience, so they should seek experience from the public so as to give us a good constitution.

The Election Petitions Tribunals have sacked six governors so far, while some are yet to rule on the petitions before them. Do you not think this is taking longer than necessary?
One of those things we should look at is that the tribunal petitions should be concluded before forming a government or the whole thing done within three months of forming a new government. If that is done, there is no question of prolonging tribunal rulings. Like that of Peter Obi of Anambra State, the tribunal was prolonged before he was declared winner of the election and sworn in as governor then later he was brought back to continue his term in office.

If we really want something good for the country, the tribunal should take place before people are sworn in or its work completed within three months.