"Restructuring Has Been On-going In Nigeria".....Hassan Hyet Says
As state chairman of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP in Kaduna, Chief Hyet is described as a "round peg in a round hole".
In a chat with NAIJ NEWS ALERT, says "the developments in the country has not matched with the expectations of nigerians".
The former Honourable Minister of State (Aviation) Transport spoke on the heels of the nation's 57 Independence Anniversary and the need for restructuring of the country.
Excerpts:
Sir, Nigeria at 57 and the ideals of the founding fathers of our democratic state.
Will the heroes of our independence; were they to be alive today, be pleased with the present state of the nation considering their efforts and sacrifices?
One definitely, wouldn’t say that they would have been very pleased because, I know that the expectations of the founding fathers and the generality of Nigerians have not been met.
But, that is not to say that the nation has not made moved forward; the country has certainly moved forward in many areas. It is only that with the resources; human and capital that God blessed us with, we are supposed to have gone beyond our present level. And, that is why people are clamouring today that, if under the earlier arrangement, of regionalism, there was real competition in terms of development; let’s go back to that era so that people will develop at their pace.
Well, to me, it is just a lame excuse. Why I say so is because, states have been created; why will the states not compete in development of their states? Is there competition in between the states in the Southwest? Is there competition in states in other geographical zones?
So, I don’t think it is necessarily a reason but I believe that, people are talking and clamouring for restructuring. Restructuring has been taking place and has been going on; from the three regions to four and then, 12 states, 19 states and today, we have 36 states. Also, from Lagos being the Federal capital, some years ago, to Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory.
Again, from three airports in the entire country; Lagos, Kano and Port-Harcourt, presently, we have nearly every state having its own airport today. So, with all these things, we cannot say that, there are no developments. There are but, everybody feels that we are supposed to have gone beyond this.
I tell people that since I was opportune to be older that Nigeria, I know that, in the whole of Kaduna state, as you look at it, Government day Secondary School Kachia, founded in 1967 became the first secondary school south of the River Kaduna. So, at that time, from Makera here, from Barnawa down to Sanga, down to Tafa, down to Zango, Kauru, there were no secondary schools; government secondary schools but today, the schools are there both private and missionary. It was only missionary schools at that time but government took over later on and all these schools are now in multiplication that today, we are even having three (3) higher institutions; post secondary institutions in that zone.
So, can we now say that these are no development? Certainly, the development has not matched with the expectations of the people and I agree with that.
But, let us say that we have moved but we can still call it a slow movement and then, we start asking; what have we done to improve the speed at which we are currently going through?
Sir, you talked about restructuring. What exactly is the real definition of this restructuring that Nigerians are clamouring for?
Now, this is the whole thing about it. Everybody is asking; what is that restructuring? The whole thing is that people are speaking differently.
There are some people who feel so marginalized that, for you to talk of restructuring, go back to regionalism. Some people while talking of restructuring will tell you to go create more states.
Like if you come to the southern part of Kaduna state to where I belong to, all they know about restructuring is that, they want their own state of Gurara. And, that is their pains.
But, the whole idea is that, until we sit down together as a people; you bring your own idea and I bring up my own too. You bring your own pains and suggestions and we bring our own then we sit down and work out what to do.
Let us not say that there is no need for it because everybody is calling for it. But let it take place under dialogue and I believe that, if people, rather government accepts to do it, there would have been no restructuring that would have been effective if you take up the Report of the 2014 national confab whereby, a lot of work had gone in with many people commending the outcome of that and they are not saying everything 100% should go but, if, some state governments have started implementing some of the recommendations, certainly, the clamour for outright or, full blown restructuring would not have come up.
The 2014 Confab has come under a lot of criticisms from certain persons here in the North.
Sir, do you think these criticisms can be sustainable?
Nigeria does not belong to the North and the North cannot go it alone.
The North will have to sit and listen to other parts of the country. It is in its own interest to sit down and listen to other people. If the other people will sit and listen to the North, the North should also sit down and listen to others.
So, it is not an issue of North; it is an issue of Nigeria and I believe that should be the right thing to do.
Sir, the northerners in this case, the core northerners, believe that democracy is all about numbers and that since they have numerical strength, that they can be the deciding factor in many of these decision making processes.
Democracy cannot flourish without peaceful co-existence. So, even if you are of the majority and the minority doesn’t feel happy and they are marginalized; how long will that your democracy last.
Sir, talking about peace itself, do you think that we have sustainable peace to enable the country move forward? If your answer is no, what are the solutions that can be proffered?
The solution is to listen to people; allow people sit together and make their contributions. I do not have a problem with that.
If government comes out today and says, okay, table all the discussions with the National Assembly where it affects the states and let us find a way out, we cannot just say; forget about them. It is not going to work.
For peace to reign, every people must be listened to. Sometimes, we have wrong opinions of issues but, when we sit down together, such grey areas are eliminated and they are being addressed and the fears of the people are being addressed.
But, as long as you do not sit, it seems as if you have something that you are hiding and that is where the issues of continuous agitations come from.
Sir, talking about peace and continuous agitation; the IPOB issue that is presently on ground and the decision of the Federal Government’s proscription of the group.
Do you think that the proscription order will bring about sustainable peace in the Southeast?
As far as I am concerned, the way I look at it, the IPOB as a group went beyond its bounds by bringing up flags, talking about its own flag, its own currency.
Certainly, they went beyond bounds. I thought that will be treated as people tried under “treasonable felony” instead of saying that the whole group is a “terrorist group” and it becomes a laughable matter.
So, we are not surprised to start hearing the other countries of the world especially the Western countries saying that, by their laws, that IPOB is not a terrorist group. That means we didn’t do a lot of work.
There was no diligence duly done. That is not to say that, people were supporting IPOB, no. That is not the issue. The issue is that we are supposed to have a lot of diligence.
The government handled this very issue wrongly. When they picked up Kanu and took him to court, the court gave an order for him to be released on bail. Government has all the resources to ensure that, even though he is released on bail, he does not jump bail. But, the government refused to respect the court orders.
How then do you tell the world that you are running a government based on the constitution of the country when the law of the land has already guaranteed that people can be given bail and even by the competent court of law?
Government should have respected that but because they do not respect it, which is why the guy just suddenly became a hero; for no reason, breaking the laws of the land and becoming a hero to people.
So, it is just the problem of government in not doing what it is supposed to be doing right.
Sir, talking about the constitution and the rule of law; the Nigerian Constitution is, most times flagrantly flouted and the laws of the land disobeyed by government and its agencies itself.
Do you see this auguring well for our judiciary and the Justice system?
You see, why the government does that successfully is because, the National Assembly is not alive to its responsibilities. Just like the state assemblies, they are supposed to “call a spade, a spade” and since they represent the people, they are supposed to stand on behalf of the people.
But, then, they are constrained. Why are they constrained? It is because you see a Minister today, how many people go to their houses? But you can see them flamboyant if not more than Senators.
Today, somebody is raising dust, making senators to be the only thieves in the country. Nobody is asking the executives what is happening in terms of the resources. These are all public resources; whether they are senate, state assemblies, Govt House or, in the Presidency. They are all the resources of the people.
The people are only interested in reducing the legislature in general, into a rubber stamp. And, because the resources are in the hands of the executive, they can wake up and say; “this man should go back to his seat. If you are in the state assembly and you don’t dance to the tune of the governor, you cannot go back to your seat”.
So, these are the things and because of that, everybody is struggling to be a good person to the governor and then, they compromise; whether they lie it or not.
Again, because they compromise, they cannot check the executives and because they cannot check the executives, you cannot check democracy.
Therefore, a lot of things go wrong and I keep on saying that, “the day Nigeria will ridicule the legislature, there will be no democracy again”.
What then is the way out, sir?
The way out is for the legislature to stand its ground and be in tune with the thinking and the will of the public because, if there is anybody who is standing against development in the country, it is not the legislature but rather, the executive.
And, I don’t agree with people like Obasanjo who will condemn constituency projects and say it is an avenue of stealing. We see them and we see the projects and it is not a lie. We see the projects and every state has a Minister representing it in the federal executive council but, there are Ministers who do not even know a whole part of a senatorial zone in their states.
How can they present the interest of such a zone in the budget of the federation and, these people are entitled to government projects?
So, they only fall back to their national assembly members to get a bore-hole here, to get a classroom built here and to get a bridge there. We have been witnessing it and that is the only thing that has been making the ordinary people in the rural areas to feel that there is a federal government.
Let us come back to your political party, PDP. Just recently, the Ekiti state Governor, Peter Ayodele Fayose declared his presidential ambition. When some questions were raised as to why he is coming out to contest, or signify his intentions, knowing full well that the party’s presidential ticket had been zoned to the north, from what we gathered, he said; “nobody has come out from the north itself to signify his intentions”.
What is the party doing?
Well, his case is with the national headquarters of the party but I don’t think he is correct to say that. Political campaigns have not started in the country and the party is yet to get its national officers in place. So, who is in a hurry to declare of his intention?
Two: If he says nobody in the north has come out, he is telling a lie because, he knows that there are people who have consulted him and they have been going round and they have consulted him; not one or two who have consulted him one on one.
So, why would he say that there are no people? I think he is just relying on the fact that the constitution of the country guarantees him the right and nobody can take it away.
I remember when we did it the last time; it was zoned to the south. Late Abubakar Rimi of Kano state came out to contest against the zoning principle. But, the question is; where did he end up?
So, the party recognizes zoning and rotation, therefore, you fall out of it as it tells you that you are in the minority and in this case, I just look at it from that angle.
Sir, looking at Kaduna state, we have been experiencing a lot of insecurity especially kidnapping/abductions on the Kaduna-Abuja road which leads people from the southern parts of the country, through the FCT to the northern states.
As a stakeholder, what do you think can be done to checkmate or, reduce this menace particularly, kidnapping?
We are in a state where one is really at a loss. We keep on hearing from the media; electronic, print and government aides boasting that it has succeeded in handling the issue of insecurity, yet people are being kidnapped on a daily basis. Armed robbery is going on every day.
Look at the recent incident that happened few days ago where an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP was kidnapped successfully alongside his wife.
That is an embarrassment. And today, we are hearing of people in the radio “praising the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security” of performing wonders, that Kaduna is now safe”. You start asking; what are we reducing the act of governance to? Are these people not even listening to the radio to know that something of that nature is going on a daily basis along the streets? And, they will sit down in their wards or in their local government and start saying; Oh! We are hailing this person because he has done well. I don’t think the act of governance has become so so low that people can say things knowing out rightly that it is falsehood and then still boast that they are saying the right thing.
So, as far as I am concerned, the situation is very unfortunate. It is very unfortunate and, the security agencies; I want to believe that they are competent. Where the missing link is, that is what I don’t know. Is it the political will or what?
Because, government talks of giving them logistics and the government has not come out to say that it can no longer fund security agencies.
So, where is the problem? Is it the leadership of the security agencies at the top that cannot tackle the issue or is it the perennial issue of manpower?
But, when you draft people along Kaduna-Abuja highway to handle security, you know that the people will migrate to another location. So, do you wait until they migrate to start causing havoc and then you start pursuing them?
We thought that there will be a real road map of handling security in the state. By the time Kaduna makes its territory unpalatable for criminals, Niger state does not need to wait; it should also put its own in place. Sam as Katsina, Zamfara, Plateau and even the FCT, that all share a common boundary with Kaduna state.
This is something that should be holistic because, when they leave here, they are going somewhere so, that somewhere must be prepared. By that time, there will be no resting place for them. That way, they will be forced to abandon what they are doing and look for an alternative but legal means of livelihood.
But, they do it successfully and today, they even send telephone calls to would-be victims and tell them they are coming. And, they come successfully; even when such calls are relayed to security agencies, the crime is still being carried out successfully.
So, we are a loss as to what is really doing on in the state.
Still on Kaduna state; there is said to a lot of infrastructural issues being raised in terms of roads repairs/rehabilitation across the entire state itself.
Sir, what is really wrong as your party, being the opposition party, is said to be very silent on some of these matters. Many people say the opposition is not forthcoming in challenging the government in terms of its programmes.
My dear brother! Look, if the people are benefiting from a government that is doing well, let them praise the government. If they are not benefiting, let them tell the government.
It is not an issue of opposition. These are not policies against the opposition but policies against the people. The people know it.
By the time we started talking, ab-nitio, they said we are talking because we lost the election. Now, we kept quiet, they are asking why we have kept quiet. So, what do you do? This is the issue.
However, we are not keeping quiet but we don’t have to make noise on a daily basis. We pick issues that we disagree with.
We have disagreed with the issue of school feeding before the programme collapsed. We disagreed with the issue of creating artificial rivers in the state in the name of gutters, drainages and culverts in Kaduna and we were proved right.
We have also disagreed of the issue of selling government houses. We also disagreed on the issue of demolitions however wrong the houses were, you should give people enough time to relocate their families and get alternative accommodation for their families before you demolish. We disagreed with the method that was adopted. We also disagreed with the issue of traditional institutions being molested and embarrassed. We have also disagreed with the lack of payment of teachers salaries even though, what do you call their exercise; screening and re-screening of teachers.
Those who had succeeded in the screening are still not being paid. Those who had retired; I was told that last week, they started paying some people. How many have they paid since they came into office? It is proper that the people know some of these things. How many have they retired?
Now, we are being told that even if you have just one to go in your retirement, from this month, take yourself as a retiree. What have you planned to give to them? Have you planned the one year salary that they are still entitled to? Have you planned their gratuity?
So, we have been talking. The roads that are said to being worked upon, I am yet to see any road project being concluded. Look at the road where the Neuropsychiatric Hospital is located; see the pains and embarrassment it is causing to residents and users alike. The culverts have not been concluded since over a year when the project was commenced.
Are you talking of the street lights? I called them “Chinese torch lights” and they have all packed up. At the end of the day when a motorist runs into any of these poles, you hear them say that people are destroying government properties. Are they even functional? These are some of the things that we have to contend with.
So, let the people come out to say that they disagree with all these failings of the government as it is not just an issue of the opposition party. No! It is not for the opposition alone.
Thank you.
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