The Honourable Member of the
House of Representative, Mercy Alumona-Isei represents the Ndokwa – South
Constituency, Delta State, Nigeria. She speaks with Chikelu Chinelo on the
political foundation of Nigeria, needs-based rather than ideology. She further
sheds light and proffers solution on the deplorable environmental ailments of
the country.
Is there any differing ideology
between the APC and the PDP?
There is the ‘Change’ ideology of
the current government (APC). The government is seriously looking into
expunging corruption from the system. The president is all out to achieve this
by word and action. Unfortunately, the government has to tackle issues of
terrorism, oil and gas, so much of which corruption exists within. Its policies
will be achieved much faster when corruption isn’t an obstacle. It is no more
business as usual. It may take a while because you do not fight corruption
within a corrupt system in a short time. It has to address the psyche of
Nigerians. Most people think of corruption as existing just in the civil
service or in the public offices. It exists in the most local of our society.
When people are asked to observe simple laws, they ask to be energised (paid),
even if it comes to cleaning their environs. Apart from the public living, a
lot has to be done to clean out the political system. The amount of money
politicians spend vying for political offices is ridiculous. It is vulgar, the
way they spend money. Politicians offload money off their trunks and dump them
wherever to buy votes. We need to rid ourselves of that mentality. Therefore,
the mantra of change is going to give rise to an ideology that will free
Nigeria of its many ailments. I believe that the APC has kicked-off a
trajectory that will give Nigeria a new breath of life.
So, we have established that with
the PDP, it was developmental politics and with the APC, it is change ideology,
albeit from different eras?
Developmental politics, yes.
Although in view, of the first question, there is a very thin line, of
difference between the two parties. With developmental politics, the
politicians tell the people what they need to hear. And that is government
providing their basic needs to make their lives better. After providing basic
needs what next? We have not fared well when it comes to a question of our
integrity. Without integrity things will not improve. We need integrity such
that when budgets are passed into laws, ministries can be able to implement
policies and be accountable. We need change. That change is here. Everybody
must key into it. It is a good ideology that we must imbibe.
So the change can get parties
thinking along the lines of permanent ideologies and principles?
Yes. It will.
The APC is the ruling party. How
do legislators arrive at important decisions without sparring unnecessarily
over their differing ideologies?
Nothing stops opposition parties
from spars. In fact, that is the normal. One states a position, the other
presents a better reason why its own position should be adopted. Presently, APC
holds the rein of power. The PDP and a few other smaller parties are the
opposition. The APC is coming to right those wrongs that PDP could not right.
Therefore, from any perspective there is need for the parties to disagree on
many points. Speaking specifically of the legislature, it is dominated by the
APC in both chambers of the National Assembly and in most of the states
government. It means it will be easier to roll out ideologies of the party.
Based on the principles of democracy, the opposition and minorities can have
their say, but the majority will have its way. At this point, the APC has come
to address some systemic failures we suffer. We need good governance, which
means zero corruption, and all plans of the government to develop the nation
must prove effective. It should also be achieved in such manner that at the end
of the government‘s tenure, the people re-vote them into power.
If it is in the interest of both
parties to key into change, why the recent struggle by legislators to head
committees at the National Assembly? Whose duty is – the selection of
legislators to head the National Assembly’s various committees?
Usually, a selection committee is
set-up at the inauguration of any new legislature. The committee is empowered
to allocate or allot committee positions to legislators. The positions are –
the speaker, the deputy speaker, some principal officers and some other members
selected into that committee. Usually, the party in government gets more
membership, headship of more committees. It stands to reason that the majority
gets more positions. To discuss the jostle for chairmanship or head positions,
there are some parties that have been onerously tagged as ‘juicy’ or ‘juicier’.
However, it is what you make of your committee that makes it stand out. When
people call some committees ‘juicy’, they are looking at governance from a
corrupt perspective. If you are not thinking of getting the upper hand, I don’t
see why you can’t function in any committee. Nonetheless, it depends on how the
committees are shared, the geo-political positions and so many others issues
that factor into the selection. I believe that whatever committee a legislator
is drafted into, he/she should make the best out of it. You represent people
who voted you into power. Give a good account of your representation and get
the trust of the people when you return for their vote.
Is that similar to your case, as passionate
as you were about the environment in the Niger Delta, and as a member of the
environment committee?
Yes. That was also the first time
that the national assembly committee of environment was introduced. In my first
time, I was made the chairman of the committee. Then, the executive arm of
government did not have the Ministry of Environment until the time. It was a
call-to-duty that I took up seriously. I always tackled every responsibility
with passion. It has always appealed to me, to make the environment as safe and
clean as possible for the promotion of sustainable development.
When I got to the National
Assembly and got conferred to that committee, I had focus. There is so much to
do in the protection of Nigeria’s environment. There are so many issues to
resolve and look into. There are erosions ravaging the lands; in the
Niger-Delta, the oil and gas induced pains the people suffer, whereby floral
and fauna no longer flourish for livelihood; the gas flaring, which affected my
LGA; desertification, flooding, which as yet has no system in place to prevent
it, and many others. We needed to address all these, and we did our best. We
drafted and (I proposed) the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency
Bill. Just before its second reading, the executive arm expressed interest in
so-sponsoring the bill. Both consolidated to push the bill. The agency operates
today. However, it isn’t doing exactly what was proposed. Within my proposal, I
came up with the notion that there are capacities for the main companies, who
fall within the first tier resolution; and there are provisions whereby the
companies responsible for spills cannot resolve them on their own, which
belongs to the second tier. There is a way to manage the spill.
Credit: Leadership Newspapers
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