A LIVELY POLITICAL DISCUSSION WITH F.O.J. ABOUT POLITICS IN AMUWO-ODOFIN AND BEYOND. In a relaxed environment, the commoner met with Hon. fadairo Olawunmi Jamiu. A well known figure in Amuwo-Odofin politics. This meeting spurned a very lively discourse spanning local and national issues. He does not hold back his opinion, even with the most controversial issues. Read on. Introduction: Foj: my names are Fadairo Olawunmi Jamiu. aka F.O.J. I happened to be the former Special Adviser to the Local Government Chairman on Social Services between 1999 and 2002. Since then I have been appointed at different levels. I was a member of the Census Committee and I was also the Chairman, Task force on Revenue, Amuwo-Odofin LGA during the reign of Prince Adeshina Otolorin. I have been a political juggernaut. I have been everywhere politically and have been a part of my party (Action Congress of Nigeria)'s movement from inception and that is the state now. I think I have a long-lasting Political experience. Q: Since you have a strong background in the Local Government, what do you perceive as the strong point of Governance at that level and what could be done to make it stronger. FOJ: now I think the most important part, the first part is the build up of where your political ideals are coming from. I happen to be one of those people who strongly believe in 'Awoism' which is a theory that strongly believe in the welfare of the people and that is why I feel strongly that our leader, the leader of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)in person of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose philosophy we also call 'Tinubuism' I.e. the theory of 'Developmental Politicking' where development is centred around the people's welfare. Some of us strongly feel that if you truly want to make progress, you must have passion for the people and if I want to analyse the extent by which we have gone in the Local Government I can not separate it from where my political foundation is coming from; the progressive ideology. I am a progressive, I strongly believe in the progressive ideology in contemporary politicking and the political space. On the issue of the Local Government, I think the cardinal of our developmental projects in the ideal is to develop the mindset of the average electorate or the masses and that is why the foremost part of our ideal is to educate the people. This is because this ideology is based on the premise that people can not be developed if they do not have sound education that can compete favourably in any part of Nigeria and probably with any part of the world. As at today, we see that the free education introduced in the early 60's and the 50's by the Western Region has really achieved a lot for the Yoruba race in particular and to Nigeria at large because as at today, the Yoruba people are a major part of the driving force of our economy and they are able to do this because they had sound education during the reign of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Q: Considering the Local Government as a form of government, what could be done to strengthen the independence and autonomy of that government in order for better service-delivery. FOJ: Fundamentally, I strongly believe that we must start from the basic question "what is democracy?" Democracy is the government of the people, for the people and by the people. We have three-tiers of government and the Local Government is the closest, others are the Federal and State Governments. There is no electorate that does not belong to a Local Government and most often the Local Governments are at trekable distance so you do not really need to stress yourself before you get to them. I strongly believe that the Military Government is an aberration and has affected and destroyed a lot of the structure we have in Nigeria. Look at the state of our constitution, the 1999 constitution was the brainchild of the Military because Nigerians did not sit down and agree on the constitution and that is why I have attended several interviews, even with your paper and spoke on the Sovereign National Conference, that the people must be allowed to form the kind of government they desire and the only way they can do it, since the people have chosen a particular type of government which is the democratic government, is to be propelled and controlled by the 'rule of law'. If you have a deformed constitution, how do you talk about the 'rule of law'? So the first thing we talk about is the foundation of this constitution and agree on certain terms because in the beginning of the 1999 constitution, there are clear indications that there shall be a constitution which is in-line with the people's thinking and aspiration and vision of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The issue now with this constitution is, was it written by the masses? No. Some of us are advocating that all the component nationalities, in-line with their population should come out and in a round table agree on a constitution that will pursue the aspiration and vision of the Nigerian state. We must come to agree that this is how we want Nigeria to be governed. That will lead us to where the Local Government structure should be. In the 1999 constitution, it said that there shall be a Local Government administration which should be in-line with the edict of each of the states which will now be the one to legislate on how the Local Government runs. I strongly believe that the Local Government is a tier of government, that there should also be some measure of autonomy, probably being supervised by the State Government. I also really stand by my opinion that the political autonomy is also important. Q: Is it not an invitation to anarchy that the Sovereign National Congress be constituted when the National Assembly is still in effect. Does the word 'Sovereign' make a difference? FOJ: I think the issue of the sovereignty is just a matter of thematics and use of words. What matters is that the will of the people should be sovereign. It has nothing to do with the sovereign state. The essence of the sovereignty in our agitation is to make sure the peoples' will should not be subverted by the government. Another negative impression that is being created is that the SNC will usurp the powers of the present government. That is not true. What it means is, for instance, with sincere apologies I make an example with the Military government because, to make it clear, I do not believe in the Military Junta and I strongly condemn any any affiliation to the military era because the foundation of the decay that Nigeria is in was as a result of the 1966 coup. This is because if we had been allowed to develop our democracy till date, we will not have this much problem as Democracy has an in-built mechanism to correct and recorrect, to re-build and build to perfection. Now going back, let us draw a quick example from the constitutional confab instituted by General Sani Abacha. The General was a Head of State yet we had a constitutional conference and so many of the outcome are being implemented today by the past and present government. Look at the issue of derivative, the issue of derivative came on board was during that CONFAB. The thirteen percent derivative was agreed upon when all nationalities agreed that the producers of any resource should have a percentage before it is shared. As at today, that instrument is still working but that did not subvert The sovereign will of General Sani Abacha as at that time. So what we are saying is this, the will of the people can not be subjected to any other will but an agreement has to be made by all constituent nations before it comes into effect. If they are afraid of the word 'sovereign', maybe they can call it the 'Conference of National Unity'. Q: What about the moves by the National Assembly to do piece-meal amendments to the constitution. What effects does it have to the SNC. fOJ: I think that is a testimony that they also agree with us that there is a deformity in the 1999 constitution. That is an agreement with our position that that agreement need to be doctored to cross the T's and dot the I's. This is a plus to some of us who have been advocating for a constitutional review and change in the last twelve years. What form of system of Government will maximise the financial state of the regions of the Nigerian state. Considering the fact that some states are only there to collect allocation. FOJ: my personal take on that is that in a multi-nationality country like ours what we need for all sectors to grow is true federalism. It helps all the federating units to develop at their pace. Now that is where I think we have a problem in Nigeria. We have chosen a model that is the best for us but we have badly implemented the model. That is why resource control has become a big issue. For instance, the bulk of VAT should remain in Lagos because anything you remove from any part of the country has an effect on the populace. It should be used to balance the region's social and infrastructural deficits. Hence, the government we should run should entail a weaker centre and a stronger federating unit. Q: What are your thoughts on immunity clause? FOJ: We must not get it wrong from the onset, the presence of immunity clause is not a problem since there is a system of check and balances. This instrument that must be exercised includes the legislature checking the executive. The legislature is also checked by the people using the recall clause. As a student of power-play and politics, I strongly believe that the immunity clause is very essential for the progress of the country. Q: With the influx of people into Lagos due to security situations in some parts of the country, what can be done to prevent an importation of the national security crisis. FOJ: while security is still within the purview of the Federal Government, I still believe the government should still concentrate more on employment because the idle mind is the devil's workshop. So the government at all level should focus on job creation and capacity development. Any final words? FOJ: I say long live the Jagaban of Gongo, the leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) The Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all other leaders working tirelessly to ensure that the Nigerian people get the dividend of democracy because in Lagos state. The Local Governments and State Governments have been generally introducing developments as well as other states controlled by the ACN. Thank you.