Budget padding: Corruption thrives everywhere in Nigeria–Reps member
Honourable Odeneye Kehinde (Ok is Okay) is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and House of Representatives member, representing Ijebu Central Federal Constituency which comprises of Ijebu Ode, Odogbolu & Ijebu North East. In this interview with OLAJIDE FABAMISE, he speaks on the corruption allegations against the National Assembly especially the budget padding currently rocking the House among other issues.
As a member of the House of Representatives, so many revelations concerning budget padding and corruption are coming out of the House and Senate, how do you feel?
Stealing is not the only means of corruption contrary to what many people think. We have corruption of intelligence. Some people are intellectually corrupt. However, government is trying in its efforts to fight corruption because nobody ever believed we could find ourselves as a country in a situation we are finding ourselves now.
No one would have imagined that some people will be burying money in the farm. As a country, we are just being foolish in the sense that the same white people that are preaching against corruption are so corrupt than we do.
I believe if you have stolen public fund but used the money to create a manufacturing or servicing company, there will be employment opportunity for our people. The money will still circulate within the economy. But where the money is kept in another country for that country to use it for its own economy, it is a big problem. Corruption has been in our system.
We cannot eradicate corruption because there is no perfect system, but we must try to reduce the level of corruption. We are all involved in it as a nation. The corruption in Nigeria has become an epidemic that cannot be totally cured in a hurry. The present government is trying but I hope it will not lose focus. Government should ensure those who have stolen public funds return them before thinking of prosecuting them. Putting them in jail will confound our problem because government will still need to feed them in jail.
Government should let us know the amount they have collected from the looters and their names. Mentioning their names will serve as barrier for others to steal. In the entire budget at the House that I have participated in, there has not been any mention of any recovered loot starting from President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime. Obasanjo is still living and he has not told us the amount he recovered and where those monies are now or used for. If those monies were not recognized in the budget, we should know how they were spent.
But do you agree that the National Assembly is corrupt as Obasanjo has said?
Corruption is everywhere. It is in the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. It is everywhere in Nigeria. What Obasanjo is saying is not new. He is also corrupt because he was once a President that ran a corrupt Nigeria. So I will tell him that we are all corrupt because he also has not told Nigerians about the Abacha loot he recovered. Where are those loots? What did he use them for? How many bridges, schools and roads did he construct with those loots? How many things did he do when he was President? As a retired army General, he should tell us where he got the money with which he built The Bells University. Nigeria is corrupt so solving it is a collective responsibility.
You have worked with many companies so what attracted you to politics?
Before I joined politics, I hated it (politics) with passion. It is the same feelings a lot of people have that I had then. Many people see politicians as hooligans, thieves and arrogant. That was the same hatred I had. Before now, I had no business in politics. I was comfortable with many of the places I had worked. I was comfortable and build my first house before I joined politics. I bought cars before I joined politics. However, the motivation was the fact that I realized that the people that have been representing us in politics are not better than me. I also asked myself that for how long people like me will continue to be an armchair critic. I asked myself if I was also better if I believe I could do better than them but fail to do it.
Also, if I keep saying politicians are rogues and allowed them to continue to rule, it means we subjects will become rogues one day and there is no way something that is not good can become better. So, if we are to have a future, we cannot continue to believe we are comfortable. What about those that is not comfortable? How do we impact on their lives? Can we continue to leave politics in the hands of those we call hooligans?
So when the opportunity came to go into politics, I made the choice. At the time I joined, I was not known politically and didn’t know how they were doing it. I didn’t believe I was going to win but it beats everybody’s imagination how I got the ticket. They were all saying that as an accountant, I was not going to spend money for campaign. But when the election came I defeated the incumbent. After I finished my first tenure, I went for the second time and won again which has never happened in the history of the senatorial district. No political party or national assembly member has ever won twice in the whole of the senatorial district. The Ogun East senatorial district has never returned a Senator or House of Representative members. I am the only person that has done it for the second time.
Being a law maker, what benefit has it brought to your constituency?
I have not been able to ensure that every individual in my constituency got what they deserved. I will not be satisfied if every employable youth in my constituency has not been employed, if every youth, women and men that can be engaged in one vocation or the other is not employed.
You mentioned something about unemployment, what do you think government can do to create jobs and stem cases of kidnappings and other crimes?
What we should know is that government alone cannot employ everybody. Unfortunately, fortunes of private companies are not okay for now for them to be able to help government. However, one way jobs can be created is that government must be involved in massive infrastructure development. If government does this, there will be so much employment opportunities. Government must also bring back vocational trainings through our curriculum. They tried it during 6-3-3-4 but we always try so many foreign policies that don’t work here. Even when you are educated and still have vocational trainings, we should let our children know that government cannot employ everybody so they should start thinking of being an employer.
After creating vocational trainings, the people that have been trained must be empowered. It’s like someone who has learnt computer and after the training does not have a computer, within few period of time, he will lose memories of what he has learnt. So, they should be empowered through microfinance support and should be in such a way that those expected to get it are the ones getting it.
I will support the scraping of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and replace it with Graduate Internship Scheme. NYSC has lost its focus. It was meant to serve the nation and also provide a platform for those graduates that have come out of school to be on their own as employer. But, you found out that when they are posted, some of them have gone to become teachers. Somebody that studied Banking and Finance will be posted to teach in the class. We should let graduates practice what they have learnt. Banking graduates should do internship in the banks and accounting graduates should do internship in accounting firms. Let someone that has read Political Science be engaged in political offices so that the one year internship will be mentorship for them. The youths should also be ready to work not wanting to get rich quick.
You have a Foundation, in what ways has the constituency befitted from it?
We have consistently organized life changing empowerment programmes that have changed the lives of over 1,000 youths in the constituency. We have trained people in various vocational skills and after their graduation, we empowered them. Some of them were well trained for over 18 months in tailoring, barbing and hairdressing. Also, as a result of our passion for grassroots’ education, we have distributed over 200,000 exercise books to all pupils in Ijebu central federal constituency and many other philanthropic gestures.
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