Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
Senator Utazi Godfrey Chukwuka who represents Enugu North zone was first elected on June 9, 2015. The 2nd term lawmaker and Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, believes that in 2023, Nigerians should support the emergence of a Nigerian President from the South East extraction for the sake of equity and justice.
From your vantage position, what is your assessment of the Office of the National Security Adviser(ONSA), Department of State Security and the Nigerian Intelligence Agency(NIA)?
The Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence (NSI) supervises the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA), Department of State Security (DSS) and also oversees the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA). Basically, these main agencies have to do with the security of the country. We have had interface with them; the first meeting had to do with their budget evaluation. The second meeting was all about their budget defense, which had the attendance of the permanent secretaries from each agency, and DSS Director. The other agency heads, traveled with the President but they were duly represented by their office personnel.
As the deputy chairman of the committee (NSI), I am working in tandem with my chairman, Senator Gobir and we listened to their requests regarding the security challenges facing the country. We are committed to working transparently together to ensure that we provide enough resources in the budget, for them to do their job.
Security is very paramount in every nation because once security is in place, every other sector of the economy would function effectively but when there are security challenges as it is presently especially in the North East and parts of North West and all over, the nation can’t make any meaningful progress. The rate of herdsmen/farmers clashes, killings, kidnapping has been elevated to another level and these are major challenges to the country.
As a parliament, we will rise to the occasion of meeting up with their (security agencies) demands in terms of their required resources. Though things seem to be hard but the National Assembly exists to work for the people. However, we must work with Mr. President because at the end of the day, you can approve anything; the Senate can decrease or increase their budget allocation but if the president doesn’t have the political will to grant those resources, it would still end up on the papers. The Presidency directs the release with respect with those here working with him. Mr. President has more insight than we do because he is the Chief Security Officer of the country, so he has all the information.The agencies are working directly with the president, so they brief him directly on the state of the nation’s security. So, it is our duty as a committee to make sure that their demands as duly represented in the budget are met by making sure that they get the money for the needed resources, in order for them to deliver on their security mandate to the country.
How will you rate the budget performance of the agencies in 2019?
To be honest, like we all know, the budget performance of 2019 is the same across all agencies. The 2019 budget is more characterised by personnel releases such as salary payment. As for capital projects, nothing has been released to the security agencies and not just only them. However, we expect that as the government said that they were going to release 40 percent from the budget, the remaining 60 percent for the 2019 will be rolled over to 2020. They are supposed to have had such resources; so basically, budget performance across the board is the same so that’s the issue. We as a committee feel that because of the nature of their job, such releases, they shouldn’t wait like every other agency because they are different from other government agencies; they are a different set of people, they are people who are managing our security. The security architecture of this country is in their hands, so it’s not ideal to want them to wait for ministries like works, Agriculture and Education. We are of the opinion that they should not be subjected to all these rigours they are going through presently. We expect that if the committee works very well, they (security agencies) should be on the Ist line charge and that demands a constitutional amendment but we expect that the minister for finance and budget office should treat them differently. They should make sure that they have timely releases of their budgetary allocations unlike other agencies or ministries, because security is something you cannot just phantom anytime of the day. Insecurity is a challenge that cannot be easily forecast; it can occur anytime and if you are not well prepared and these people don’t have the resources to handle things the way they come, then it means we are distress which is not ideal for us all.
Yes things are hard; all of us are working in a different terrain now financially but security is paramount. Being paramount also means that we also have to be proactive. You said you are releasing 40 per cent, then their 40 per cent should come Ist before others. Give them their resources Ist so that they can focus on their duties and carry it out effectively and efficiently for the people of our country so that every other sector of the economy can work. If security is in place, business men will go about their businesses with confidence and get their business activities done properly. So, everything is dependent on the stability of the security architecture in the country. Few weeks from now, it will be released but our own committee will make sure they get it on time so that it will not affect their work.They ought to be treated differently because their work is very paramount to the nation. If security challenges are present in a country, it will definetly affect every other aspect of the economy.
As the deputy chairman of the committee (NSI), what is your advice to the agency in the aspect of budget utilization?
In order to get information, every security outfit should be dependent on ICT, you must be ICT-driven to get information. The time when you use guns to chase criminals all over the place is getting stale and no longer effective. Intelligence is very costly to acquire, and then the hardware like drones are also included; you must have the funds to acquire all the gadgets they need. They need to also be ahead of the terrorists/criminals that are tormenting the country. The security agencies must be a step or two ahead of all those bad people and it’s about technology. We don’t have the technology gadgets here in Nigeria but we can purchase them from any other place in the world. The world is a global village now so, we as a committee feel that these people need enough resources to invest and get those equipment. One major reason for this is to reduce endangering the lives of people including those of the security personnel. They need all the money to procure technological security gadgets but if you continue the manual approach, you put the security agencies on harms way. They need to be provided with all the resources and when they have the hardware to do all those things, you preserve their lives and limit their exposure to danger that might be life threatening.
Both the executive, the security agencies and the committee are on the same page. But the most important things are the political will of Mr. President and it must be there and also the people who are working closely with the President most especially the minister for finance, the accountant general of the federation, the DG budget and planning. These people must understand the situation that although they needed to ensure that agencies of government are attended to but they must also understand that there are some that are 1st among equals which is security.
More so, it’s our duty because we have discovered that part of the reasons they have not been able to function well is because they are treated like every other agency; that is why we may be thinking of making a constitutional amendment to put them on 1st line charge. Once that is in place, then it means they have to be given attention before others. By that, nobody will stop them from doing their job so that when uncertainties arise as demands arise, anytime they would be in a better position to confront such uncertainties and then preserve the peace and security of the country. Because it requires some sophisticated technological gadget in order to carry out their works diligently and accurately, when the financial resources are available. They should not be treated like other agencies in the economic sectors, because their importance in the economy should come first.
What is your take on capital punishment(Death Sentence) for kidnapping, judging by the increase in the rate in the country?
Capital punishment is a serious issue and the world today frowns at such; it’s only in Asian countries that capital punishments like death sentence still in exists. There are other ways in dealing with offenders other than shedding their blood. As a christian, I do not support such punishment because blood is sacred. It is only God who gives life that should be allowed to take it . If person commits a crime of such nature, life sentence punishment should be given to such a person and put him away for life; he will remain and die in the prison. But as a Christian, I don’t believe in taking life.
I don’t believe in discussing the effects of an action. I would rather look for the root cause of the effect so as to discover what propelled the action. The truth is most Nigerians today, are either unemployed, searching for job, or being underpaid; such situation can lead to negative thoughts, which will definitely lead to the execution of negative vices. Like the popular saying, “the idle mind is the Devils workshop, so many people are out of job doing nothing and people who are not strong-willed, may be easily swayed to engage in crime.
Today, we can’t differentiate between the set of citizens who are hardened criminals by choice and the ones that were led into crime as a result of circumstances. That is why I have always been of the opinion that jobs should be provided so that people can be meaningfully engaged. That was the reason towards the end of the last Senate I introduced a motion to the Senate, titled bridging the gap between the HAVES and HAVE NOT, and by so doing, we will be able to reduce the tendency of revolution happening in the country. I brought that agenda to set an agenda for this administration so that the Presidency will realise that times are hard and different and people are not finding it easy and the only way out is thinking positively which is job creation. I raised this issue during the budget defense of the interior minister; I told him “look if you say the civil defense want to employ 10,000 personnel, don’t cut it down to 5000; you might be asking for trouble, employ 10 people, police should also employ over 10,000 because the police personnel ration to citizens is very low in the country. Soon you need to employ and by so doing, you are solving problems, so let us know those who are into crime willingly as a means of livelihood and those who were pushed into crime due to circumstances such as not being engaged meaningfully. Every society has habitual criminals no matter what you do to engage them meaningfully; they would still slide into crime. Let us separate them and by so doing we can identify the habitual criminals. When you have a teeming population of able bodied unemployed men and women moving around, its terrible. Job creation is the core of the security of any nation because if you don’t create jobs, the same people can also become a threat to you. The 1st thing is to provide jobs and you will even discover that the budget allocation for security will be reduced because there would be less criminals left in the society to deal with and then you would be contending only with habitual criminals which would be easy to tackle.
Take for example, kidnapping started from the Niger Delta region when the militants were protesting the environmental degradation as a result of the activities of oil companies and they are seeking for government’s attention but from there, they started demanding for ransom and before you knew it, it has become a common crime across the country.
The heart of security is job creation; if we don’t do that, it means that these security agencies will be very busy and we shall continue spending so much money on them like we are proposing now but if we go and create employment, it means we are also going to make their job light.
President Trump announced the death of the ISIS leader, do you think his death will reduce the occurrence of terrorism in West africa, especially Nigeria?
Former President Obama did the same thing which President Trump has just done when he eliminated Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. Then I ask has that stopped terrorism? I won’t want to argue with Trump on his exaggeration of issues. He did the same thing that Obama did which is taking down the leader of a terrorist organization but the issue remains that only a person has been taken out. There are so many other potential ISIS leaders, so it’s a very big challenge facing the world today in terms of managing terrorism coming from the Arab nations. What needs to be done is tracing the cause, what I mean is for the Arab nations to go back and look into the disputes among Islamic sects. There are many sects in Islam and most times they are usually misunderstanding each other by claiming superiority amongst one another. Not until the leaders of Islam from all the nations go back and address those issues of multiple sects, terrorism would not end. Killing a leader of terror group is like only cutting down a tree without uprooting it; within some few months, it would still sprout.
To uproot terrorism, the Islamic leaders of these nations must come to roundtable and discard the multiple sects, not by backing one and discarding others. They must sit down and have an agreement on the right path and choose one practice which would be acceptable to others; yes it would be difficult but that is what needs to be done. If they don’t, the world is still going to be overwhelmed because people would still be propagating their faith as they want to show that theirs is more superior to the rest.
What is your message to your constituents?
I will advise them to continue being patriotic citizens as they have been doing. They should have it at the back of their minds that we are here to represent them, in order to get their demands attended to from the Federal Government. For them in our constituency as Enugu and our states in Enugu as a state, we would continue working hard for them, day and night, 24/7 making sure that we get the attention of the Federal Government.
What is your take on the South East presidential race in 2023?
I have already made my stand known on this issue. I have said it that the South Easterners should be given an opportunity to produce a President in 2023 and I remain committed to what I said. However, we cannot achieve it alone; we must solicit the support of the people from other geopolitical zones.
I believe that the South East will perform better if given the opportunity, reason being that the Igbo are located in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. The Igbo are the “rubber that binds the nation; they are the uniting factor of this country. The Igbo move and live everywhere and they engage in the legitimate activities of the indigenous people where ever they find themselves. We don’t do make shifts; anywhere an Igbo man finds himself, he makes that place a home and builds a solid housing structure and improves the economy of the region. Commerce is our second nature and also because the Igbo have much more to offer to this nation than any other. I am not trying to undermine the efforts of people from other regions but I feel that way because the Igbo man makes every part of the country home. We have witnessed the Southwest rule this country under President Obasanjo and what he was able to do, we have seen the six years Jonathan from the South South when he was in power , we have also seen President Buhari from the North almost clocking 8 years now, including the two years of late President Yar-Adua; now, the right thing to do is for Nigerians to support the emergence of a Nigerian President from the Igbo extraction. A Nigerian President of Igbo extraction would consolidate on the efforts of President Buhari when he leaves office particularly on his Anti-Corruption Agenda. I do not mean that we should give any Igboman the opportunity. Such an Igbo man must be competent, when such opportunity is given by Nigerians.
I will also appeal to the Igbo that when such opportunity arises, not every “Tom, Dick and Harry” should present him or herself. We must look for a competent hand who is widely accepted, a person who would protect the interest of every Nigerian regardless of tribe or religion. Let us play politics the way we run our successful businesses in all parts of the world. If an Igbo runs the affairs of the Nation the way we run our business, Nigeria would be better.
I believe that the South East will perform better if given the opportunity, reason being that the Igbo are located in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. The Igbo are the “rubber that binds the nation; they are the uniting factor of this country. The Igbo move and live everywhere and they engage in the legitimate activities of the indigenous people where ever they find themselves. We don’t do make shifts; anywhere an Igbo man finds himself, he makes that place a home and builds a solid housing structure and improves the economy of the region. “