I am in the House of Reps to add value to legislations
Honorable Chike John Okafor represents Ehime-Mbano, Ihitte Uboma and Obowo federal constituency of Imo State on the platform of the APC. He seconded a motion nominating Yakubu Dogora foe election as the speaker of House of Representatives. He is one of the new members in the green chambers, a great voice speaking for change, which is in line with the present Buhari/Osibanjo Administration. In this interview with Chika Onuorah, Ude Ebere and Augustine Osayande, he speaks on his election, current economic situation, porous borders with neighbouring countries and his role in the election of the Speaker.
Que: We have seen you to be a man of the people. Can you briefly tell us the history behind your election as a House of Representatives member, now well positioned to speak for your people at the national level?
Well, I don’t know what you mean but let me put it this way; I am a trained banker. I joined politics in 2011 with my appointment as commissioner for finance in the Owelle Rochas Okorocha Administration in Imo-state. That is how I found myself in politics. But prior to then, it may interest you to know that I had nothing to do with politics. My non-partisan nature was so much to the extent that I had never voted in my life. I had never been a card-carrying member of any political party not until 2011. When I say I didn’t have anything to do with politics I mean it in every sense of it. I never thought that I could venture into politics until my appointment as the commissioner for finance. My appointment came in my line of duty as a banker. Here was a man who won election, waiting for his inauguration as a governor, and there I was as a banker, a top Senior Management staff of zenith bank going for marketing, going to look for support and patronage from him and there was that interaction with him that led to my appointment as a commissioner. I did the job for three (3) years and sometime last year the Governor called me and said to me, I want you to go and represent your constituency at the national level. The party ab-initio was APGA then, and now became APC at the time I was going to run for the election. Not just my constituency but Imo-state in general was a PDP state until the last election and my constituency is still dominated by PDP people. I guess I was elected because of the goodwill gathered over the period that I was a commissioner. It was not difficult for me. I won the election and today I am a Member House of Representatives.
Que: As you were not grounded in politics or will I say you got into politics by chance, how did you feel when you were asked to contest for a position into the House of Representatives?
I have been a commissioner and as a commissioner I was exposed to governance. Like I said, I was appointed as a commissioner in 2011, immediately he was sworn in and I was in that position till early last year when he mentioned to me lead the stage towards that line and it wasn’t strange to me because I had spent three and a half years working as a commissioner for the governor. I took it as a challenge. I felt that if I didn’t say yes, he was going to remove me as a commissioner for disobeying him and again I saw that our people were yelling for qualitative representation that have been lacking in my constituency and I felt I could become that strong voice for my people, I felt I could make a difference and I hope am making a difference, and also from the experiences I gathered as a commissioner, it wasn’t difficult for me.
Que: You have been one the strong voices in the green chamber in the present 8th Assembly. What is your strategy?
No, there is no strategy; I am here to speak for my people. When you say strategy, it probably looks like one is trying to impress, to be relevant or trying to be heard but that is not the idea. I am here to represent my people and I don’t think I will feel any intimidation as a first timer, NO. One day begins a story, even the man that is a second, third or fourth timer was once a first timer, so it does not make any difference; you have the exposure and I too have the exposure, and coming from my background from an organised private sector and I didn’t jump from the bank to the green chamber, I had a period of tutelage, I served in my state as a commissioner and also a member of the executive council and within that period , I was not just the Commissioner of Finance, I was also representing my state in Federal Allocation Accounts Committee (FAAC), in Abuja, headed by the Minister of State for Finance. All state Commissioners of Finance, CBN, office of the Accountant General, Customs and all revenue yielding agencies in the federation are there. I was coming every month; I was speaking from there; so, I am not new to public life. I don’t feel any intimidation.
Que: You seconded the motion that led to Dogara being the Speaker of the House of Representatives. How did this crucial task fall on your shoulders?
After the election, when we came in for our induction, which was organised by National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) in the National Assembly, I knew that there was going to be a situation when we were going to choose our presiding officers after election probably after the inauguration, and some members of the 7th Assembly showed interest to run for the position of speaker and deputy speaker as the case maybe and I needed to also profile them. So I identified Hon. Dogara as ‘’my choice’’ and I didn’t just stop at that; we started galvanizing new members across party lines. Probably you must have heard such names like Mike Gbilah, Darlignton Nwokocha, Austine Chukwukere. These are all new members; so we formed a caucus; we were leading the caucus and the idea was to identify any credible aspirant that we can give our support, because it is all about the leadership or the speaker that will lead you for the next four (4) years; so it is not something that we are going to allow or we are not going to be part of. For me, it is a process that Chike Okafor will not want to be a part of, it is not possible, not to be identified in the process that will lead to the emergence of the leadership of the house for the next four (4) years. It is not in my nature. Like I said, I took out time to profile all the aspirants that were interested in the position and I saw in Yakubu Dogara, a man that is properly fit, a man not coming from any political heavy weight; so I felt he is the man that will guarantee the independence of the legislature we all are craving for. I saw a man that will not restrict members from moving motion and passing bills. I saw a man that has legislative agenda which was going to go beyond coming to the chambers everyday moving motions and passing bills. I saw a man that has the agenda to support the government of the day over the period of four years. Then I saw the need to have such a man. The reason to hold a political office is to take development to your constituency and I saw a man that believes that the National Assembly should look at the ways developed democracies of the world got to where they are today and the need to do exchange with developed democracies and see how they were able to develop their democracy and also the need to bring it home to fashion out necessary legislation that will support the development of the country. For me that was the way to go and I didn’t have to play hide-and-seek with my involvement in the process. So, I got very well involved in his caucus and I played a very vital role to the glory of God in the process that cumulated in my having to second the motion that led him to be elected the speaker today. I am happy I played that role; I dare say that if situation changes and I find myself in that situation (again), I would do the same thing again without any regret.
Que: Do you have a personal interest in the speaker?
I didn’t know him, like I said. I thought you got me right, I hadn’t met him before, I didn’t have any personal relationship with any of the aspirants even though we are members of the same political party APC. Like I said, I took out time to profile him and I found in him the man that has the qualities to lead the 8th Assembly and I felt that if I am a member of the 8th Assembly, this is the man that will lead the house and be my speaker. I don’t have any personal interest; I don’t have any personal relationship with him. I had never met him one-on-one before. I met him for the first time when we all came for our induction; I listened to his speech; I felt this is the man. He is so intelligent, so selfless, so patriotic; I felt that is the man to go for; so, I joined his team and here we are today.
Que: Since the commencement of the 8th Assembly, you have moved two breath-taking motions that were adopted. Can you tell us more about these two motions?
I remember the first motion has to do with checking of our borders. I felt that the issues of crimes and criminality have bedevilled us so much as a people, to the point that every time we convene and re-convene in the chambers, we get motions from especially the North Eastern part of Nigeria and the outcry of the menace of Boko Haram in particular. Then I took out time to study the emergency of this insurgency. I discovered that this insurgency actually came into our country from our borders. In the early 1980s, we had a group that came into Nigeria through our border called ‘’MAITATSINE’’ that was led by Yusuf who got killed some years back. So, it can be recalled that it was that same group that culminated in this same group called BOKO HARAM. If you look at how they came about, you will agree with me that they came in from our neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger etc; through our borders. So, the question is, if the borders are properly checked, why would you allow criminals to come in? What actually prompted the motion was a newspaper publication; I can’t remember the date now, where about six (6) trailers loaded with arms and ammunition were intercepted by our security operatives, and it was confirmed that these trailers loaded with different arms and ammunition actually came in from illegal routes and they were heading to Boko Haram camps, and I have also read of different publications where Customs, Immigration did say that we have over 100 illegal routes and about 85 formal border routes leading into Nigeria. So I felt that there was a need for us as a responsible house to urge the federal government agencies, in this case the Police, the Customs, Immigration officers, and all the rest, to be called on for the need for proper checking of our borders, since it has been confirmed that these crimes and criminality are actually perpetuated by people who come in from outside our country, hit us and run away. So we would have gone a long way in checking these crimes and insurgency if we can properly police our borders. So I didn’t have any issues when I took it up to the speaker. He shouted and said, “Chike this is it, bring it up” and I did. I am happy that it received the applause it got and also got the desired approval from the National Assembly. This motion is also seeking to empower these security agencies, that if they don’t have the required personnel, let them go and hire. This motion also solves that. The prayer was approved, so maybe in the next couple of weeks you will probably see Customs, Immigration and the likes getting the directives of the National Assembly to go into action and that will also create jobs for our teeming unemployed youths to have an opportunity to earn a living through this process. Like I said, majorly, if these illegal routes are checked, we would have successfully curbed these crimes, criminality and insurgency by some good percentage. Believe you me, I came back and I felt so happy and so excited that I beat my chest and said Chike, now you are in the green chambers. I am an economist by training and a banker by profession. I have been training in the economy in the last 15 years, and I happen to understand our economy very well. I identified two major ways by which the government can stimulate our economy, considering that we are a 3rd world country, developing country. Alright, government is the biggest spender. What this means is that the government doesn’t consciously release money into the system and you will see that the will of the commoners will be brought to a halt. There are two major ways by which government can send money into the system. Government is the biggest employer of labour; if our government pays salaries and allowances to civil servants and public servants; money is injected into the system. The second is if our government engages our local contractors, gives them jobs to do, supplies to make and then pays them, that’s another way to inject money into the system and stimulate our economy. So if any of these two parameters or one of them is lacking, we will experience a lull in economic activities. You can recall in recent times that it has been difficult for our governments across the three tiers not just the federal government to pay salaries to its workers and again we have issues of contractors being owed billions of Naira. So how will our economy be stimulated? If this situation is not checked, in the next six (6) months, this economy will be dragged to a halt. So I thought that there is a need as a House of Representatives, as a responsive and responsible House to intervene and how do we do that intervention? By compelling the federal government, not just moral solution but to ask the federal government to look at these contractors that have worked and earned job completion certificates to formally appeal and again, we all saw and heard in the last couple of weeks, where CBN mandated commercial banks to publish the names of their debtors and when you go deep, you discover that most of them are contractors who did jobs for federal government and its agencies and most of them had to borrow money from these commercial banks to execute these jobs. So we wouldn’t have gotten to where we are if government had been paying and as well meeting up with its maturing financial obligations. So, I felt the need as somebody who has been involved in financial management in the last couple of years from the banking industry, and my past position as the finance commissioner of Imo-state, I felt that this could be a contribution from me, looking at my background and drawing from my wealth of experience from my exposure to take it as my contribution to rescue our economy out of the state that it is currently which is near comatose. So, every effort, every opportunity, or policy to remedy this situation should be grabbed with two hands. Like you see CBN now consciously trying to do something like shoring-up the value of the Naira by refusing dollar deposit is a short-term measure; so now we are in a critical situation that all hands must be on deck; it should not be left for only those who are directly involved to intervene. No! We are part of the system; we are part of the economy, and since I have that understanding, the knowledge, the background, I felt I could push it as a motion. Like I said I felt so proud as it got responses and reactions that it got, even the deputy speaker rose. What more can you ask as a first time member that your motion was tabled and the number two person in the chamber rose and turned, looked at me and said this is coming at a good time? The minority leader, Hon. Leo Ogor stood up and applauded it and there was a high contribution here and there. Even the majority leader, Femi Gbajamiamila, came to me and said “I am not happy that the speaker didn’t allow me to speak due to time, Chike this is it.” So you have had the situation whereby a first timer, a green horn in the green chamber, a voice to the voiceless, came up with a motion that got reactions from members. Even the deputy speaker reacted; the majority and minority leaders also reacted. Nobody said anything negative about it because I also appealed to their conscience. I said to them that I will not be surprised that one or two or three of us here are directly or indirectly involved in private businesses, because this is a matter that every Nigerian is directly or indirectly involved. When I said that, some of them bent their heads, some smiled, some thumbed up. I said I won’t be surprised that some of us here are also victims, because businesses are about to close down. In the last couple of months, many Nigerians had lost their jobs, because businesses and companies were no longer able to generate their over head cost, let alone to pay salaries. Some are now homeless because some had to use their houses as collateral to get these loans from these commercial banks. This is one motion that if it is followed to the letter, it will help to stimulate our economy. The minority leader got up twice to speak in favour of a way to fine tune the prayers so that we can get it right. It generated so much excitement in the chamber and I felt proud I moved that motion. I still have to say that is why we are here in the green chambers; I am not in the House of Representatives to make up their numbers, 360. So, if Chike is not there, 359 that is not the idea. The idea is am here to bring value to legislation, to bring value to politics, to bring value to national discourse, to national development, to patriotism, to leadership. I am here to make a difference. I told my people back home that I will be a strong voice, and so far I can beat my chest and say that the voice is ringing. I may not have become such a loud voice. I know that there are some members in the chamber that I look up to. When you hear the like of Femi Gbajamiamila, Leo Ogor, Abonta, stand up to talk, you must listen. Well, they are where they are today. They are not first timers, some are there for their second, third or fourth time in the green chambers. They all started one day; so Chike has started.
Que: Looking at the present economic situation worsened by the debt portfolio, in Nigeria today, from all indications, these debts were incurred by the past administration. How will this huge debt be paid? Will this new administration pay off the debt incurred by past administration?
Government is a going concern; politics, political parties, electoral process and elections are mere vehicles to put a government in place. When I look at situations, I don’t look at which government was in place. I remember when we took over in Imo-state, after the election, and I became the Commissioner for Finance in the incumbent government which we took over from Ikedi’s (past governor) government. Some cases will come up; they will shout, no deal, it was Ikedi’s administration. I told them, no, that government is a going concern. It is about the people. What I mean is that I am not looking at the fact that these debts were incurred by any other government. It is our government; the federal government of Nigeria, irrespective of who was sitting there at the time as president or as the governor. Now, look at the chambers were I am today, the leadership was all part of the last administration. If you look at who is in government today, even in our ministries, the acting ministers and permanent secretaries were all in the past administration. So, government is a going concern. We are looking at the fact that these debts were incurred by a legitimate government; owed to contractors who did legitimate jobs, so irrespective of who incurred them, these obligations must be met. Every responsible government should be responsible enough to fulfil and pay every maturing obligation, irrespective of who incurred them.
Que: Have you had any challenges so far in the House of Representatives?
The only challenge I have had is the fact that I am a first timer, and it doesn’t in any way impede me as a person. Don’t forget the fact that I was nominated to become the Deputy Chief whip of the house, and also the fact that I am not there today, just because I am a first timer. That was the only challenge. Now, I don’t see any other challenge, just for the fact that the rule of the House or the decision of the House doesn’t allow first timers to occupy principal positions even though I am from a geo-political zone that looks or is clearly out of the leadership of the House of Reps. For the first time as a ruling or majority party since this democracy, we have the situation where in the leadership circle, one geo-political zone is excluded and the reason being that those of us from the south east, are just two members and we were both first timers, no ranking member from the party, and then we have passed that stage. So, as I speak to you now, apart from the issues of leadership, I don’t have any other challenge, and I am happy that those issues have being sorted out and we have now settled down for the serious business of legislation. I don’t have any challenges.
Que: Do you have any legislative agenda for your constituency?
Well, it will not be different from the agenda that has been set up by the leadership of the House; so I will refer you to that document which has been debated and the speaker, Rt. Hon. Dogara put together, because I am not going to run a different agenda. But for my people in specific terms, my constituency, we have been able to identify a couple of needs, as it is being said that needs differ from constituency. We have discovered the inability of the people to engage in productive business; so, we will look at how we will be able to use our position and contacts here in Abuja to attract some levels of empowerment so that my people can set up and run their businesses effectively and efficiently. Que: From your religious background of being a pastor, preacher and a deacon, how do you intend to combine religion with politics? These are two different lives entirely. I worked effectively as a Commissioner of Finance in my state under a governor who is in a hurry to develop Imo State and I worked to his satisfaction and my religious bias doesn’t need to suffer. It is a challenge to me, but it’s left for me to strike a balance between the two. When it’s time to do the work of legislature, I do it. In time to come, it’s going to be a little tasking when we fully settle down to do real committee functions. It’s up to me to strike a balance between the two, knowing what to do at any particular point in time. I don’t envisage many problems.
