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Obasanjo's Govt is a disaster - Hon Asuquo By
"Taking a critical assessment of Obasanjo's government would you say he has performed excellently well?" -President Olusegun Obasanjo's government from all intents and purposes is a complete disaster because he has no blueprint to any programme. He has lost focus. He has lost vision and he is just wandering, experimenting one programme to another. Take a look at the much-talked about poverty alleviation. All of us know that this programme means sharing money among certain people in some states. It is an ad-hoc arrangement which increases poverty. The House of Representatives told him if he wants to carry poverty alleviation, let us have the blue print. Alternatively, let us use this money to train people in handicraft including artisans, hair-plaiting and cutting, soap-making, dress-making, etc. use part of the money to pay them stipends after training, buy equipment and tools to make them live a better life after. He gave deaf ears to that. Again, on the wage increase, we told him to hold on and see the outcome of a private-member bill proposing about N15,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers, as it had passed through first, second and now at third reading, he refused. Rather, he went to the rally ground on May Day and announced the recent wage increase without consultations with governors, National Assembly and Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission. That was totally wrong, because you have to debate it, know how much that is coming into the country as revenue; how much you can spend as salaries. Now most states say they cannot pay because they don't have the money. Furthermore, we know that he has been itching to jerk up the prices of petroleum products. As usual, we told him once you do that it will erode away all the gains of democracy. In fact, the House of Representatives passed a motion that the price of fuel should not be increased for the next one year. As a result of that the National Assembly gave him N104 billion in this year's budget to use in paying NNPC's subsidy for fuel to forestall any future increment. Yet, he went ahead to announce it without consulting anybody, in his usual style. Besides that, the president has sent three Bills to the National Assembly, we have passed two and sent to him for his assent. As characteristic of him, he refused to assent to it until the National Assembly overruled him with veto by passing the NNDC Bill by 2/3 majority. Due to his intransigience, we have not been able to implement anything especially the budget 2000. Rather, Mr. President has been busy pushing irrelevant things like wanting to impeach the Speaker of House of Representatives and Senate President. All these are anti-democratic precedents, for the past one year. "By implications, it means that there is no cause for us to jubilate so far?" -To be sincere, there is nothing really to jubilate about. The only thing to jubilate about is the unfettered freedom we now have after 15 years of military rule. But in terms of actual benefit of democracy filtering down to the generality of the masses, it is lacking. There are so many lapses ranging from the terrible level of infrastructural and societal decay in the system to political rift between the executive and legislature. What Nigerians are getting now is not what they bargained for in the last one year. Obasanjo's actions and utterances have depicted him as not the messiah we needed. He has done virtually nothing to cushion the excruciating hardship faced by the masses. The executive arm has not been articulate in policy formulation. Rather, it has been using more of a fire brigade approach to issues of development.
RT. Hon (Dr) Eyoma N. Asuquo deputy head All People's Party (APP) in the House of Representatives represents Calabar/Odukpam federal constituency.
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