Hon Umar Buba Jibril represents Lokoja/Kogi /KK federal constituency of Kogi state. In this interview he spoke to Ruth Choji and stated that decentralizing the economic potential of the economy will reduce agitationHow concerned are you with the state of the economyEvery right thinking human being should be worried. But I think with the recent developments, by the grace of God, things are looking up.Do you think this government has the capacity to revive the economy'Yes the government has the capacity to take care of the situation. The problems had been building up for a long time and I think where we lost it was that we didnt give the problems long thoughts before tackling them. It is like we didnt prepare for the economy before we started making policies. The problems just came like a thief in the night who takes you by surprised. We need to join hands and reverse the situation.Some have suggested that the president should reshuffle his cabinet or remove some of the ministers that are not performing. What do you think'Is it really the performance of individual cabinet members' To me, it is the driving force that makes one does better or not. We think the cabinet members should be able to live up to expectation because they were carefully selectedGiven an opportunity to advice the government on how to revive the economy, what will be your take'Various measures are being taken to stabilise the economy, like the issue of our exchange rate, the issue of our consumption pattern, the issue of stabilizing and improving our power generation so that the industries can strive very well and creating an enabling environment for them to perform very well. We need to work on our interest rates in this country too because as it is now, it is not something that any serious business man can cope with. It is not friendly to investors. I think the government of the day is doing everything possible to address these issues.The agitation for restructuring is gaining momentum. Are you in support of it'Yes. We are a federating unit. We are a country with 36 states plus the FCT. I think every unit of this country has something going for it. We should think of giving more to the federating unit so that they can run more efficiently(Cuts on) Are you advocating for more allocation'It is the economic independence that is the issue because they have political independence. It is the units that should have more allocation not the center so that they can function properly. The center has no business doing some of the things they do; they are the functions of the state. Smaller African countries that are not more than some states in Nigeria do survive on their own. Somebody was giving me an analysis yesterday and he said, the only state in Nigeria that is smaller than the Gambian is Bayelsa. Going by the size of the Gambian, it means we have 35 nations within Nigeria. I even reminded him that it is not just the Gambian; there are other smaller countries, like Mauritius. They have a population of not more than 1.2 million people; their currency is ten times stronger than Nigerian currency. They are running that island successfully. They dont have cotton but they export textile to Europe. So why cant our states perform' That is why I believe we need to restructure. The model we have been using since the colonial era has failed woefully. We need to look at our laws and do something urgently.Some have suggested a return to regionalism; will you subscribe to that'Not really. If we go to regionalism, it is because of an advantage of coming together but not in terms of the economy. We should begin to run our states like economic units. We must look at our states as economic enterprise that must succeed at all cost. Take my state for instance. We have everything for Kogi State to work if we have serious people managing it. Kogi can run without the federal allocation if we are serious, but until we begin to have a change of mind, the right frame of mind to drive our economy, we will not succeed.Should Nigeria remain as one'Yes, I believe we should remain as one. These crises are because everybody is looking up to the center. Lets decentralize the economic potential of the economy and all these agitation will disappear. Lets make the center less attractive and these agitation will go over night.Coming back to the house of Representatives, how will you describe this years budget'Every budget is unique in the sense that it chronicles the direction of the government and what it intends to achieve at the end of the year. But what will make every budget to succeed is implementation. No matter how well packaged the budget is, if it is not backed by releases, that budget will fail. So, I believe that we should pray that the economy improve so that the government can fund the budget squarely. The capital component of the budget can be financed 100%. Of course we know that the recurrent is not the issue; what is important is implementation. If you are talking about scandals, I dont think there will be any this time.The life span of the 2016 budget will elapse by end of March. How would you rate the implementation level so far'It may end by March but legally, it is supposed to end by May 2017. We are hoping that by the time we pass this current budget, the life span of 2016 will end and this one will continue from there because two budgets cannot run concurrently. Looking at the performance, as at the last time, they were able to achieve 50 per cent of capital implementation which is quite commendableThe bill you sponsored on civil society and NGOs drew mixed reactions from Nigerians, were you surprised'When you look at the NGOs and civil society, everybody knows their role. We have our own fair share of the NGOs and civil society. Looking at the recent development in this country like the Boko Haram for instance; what baffles me is where do they get their funding from' A friend from Adamawa came to see me recently and he gave me some insights into how things happen. He said young men in Adamawa State, long before the Boko Haram came to light, were being funded by some organsiontions. They were given money to start business and you wonder how they came about the money. So, Boko Haram started way long before they came into limelight. This is why some of us feel that something must be done to regulate the activities of these civil societies and NGOs. Those kicking against that bill think we want to stifle the performance of the NGOs. No, we are not. We are only talking about a commission that you must report back to justify their existence through laws. They were quoting laws that they are being regulating from and so on. I think we must have a single body that regulates their activities. Some countries have passed similar laws. I didnt even know until I introduce the law. The latest as at last year was Israel. A law should be there to regulate the activities of these NGOs and civil society. A lot of money comes into their hands. We should know what they do with the money.Are you not worried about the way herdsmen are creating havoc in many communities'Of course one should be worried. I always believe that herdsmen have links with Boko Haram. Even the cattle rustlers, I believe they are branches of the Boko Haram trying to raise funds for the Boko Haram.But are you contented with the way the federal government is handling the situation' Nobody has been prosecuted over the attacks.That is why we are talking about a bill that will be able to regulate these things. These monies dont come in the open; they are moved through difficult channels that you can never fathom. So, it is not easy to say you are attacking an individual. I think the government is doing its best but these things are difficult. I am sure some people have been arrested, but we may not know.
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