From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The spokesperson of the Senate and Chairman of the Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, has said that the Senate has not recommended or approved any requests for the creation of states across the country.
Adaramodu, who revealed that, though, the Senate has so far received 61 requests for state creation, stressed that the Senate cannot independently create states, noting that the Red Chamber will adhere strictly to all the processes required before any requests will be considered.
Adaramodu, representing Ekiti South Senatorial District at the 10th Senate, made this known when he was fielding questions from newsmen in his country home, Ilawe-Ekiti, at the weekend.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1718806029429-0’); });
“The Senate cannot just unilaterally create states. There will be requests, especially when there is going to be a constitution review.
“And then we expect that Nigerians, and critical stakeholders for that matter, will have interests. Interests ranging from local government autonomy to state creation and so many other things. Even local government creation and then validating the LCDAs that have hitherto been created by different state governments like Lagos State, my own state here in Ekiti, then so many requests like that.
“The Senate has received about 61 requests for state creation. And during our interactions with our constituents, from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, they submitted all these demands, all these requests. And like we said earlier, all these will still be reviewed, will still be looked into.
“We will collate them, then after collation, the committee that is in charge of constitution review, which is headed by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, in the 10th Senate will now look at all these things, aggregate them, sieve them, then bring a report to the Senate.
“After bringing the report to the Senate, in conjunction with the House of Representatives, we will now do a very comprehensive public hearing whereby all stakeholders, everybody, those who have brought requests, those who are against requests, will now come there. So, we will now talk, we will now debate, we will now argue for, we will argue against. After that, the two chambers will sit down together in concurrence to pick which one is genuine out of the requests, not only state creation because state creation goes a long way. You have to look at, you have to audit the demography, the geography, the history. So, you have to go to all these.
“And then there are some states whereby some elements within those states which requests have been submitted are not even in sync with them. So, we consider all these things. It is until then that the National Assembly, not only the Senate, can now say that, okay, so-and-so states can be recommended. So, as it is now, no state has been recommended for creation. No number of states have been suggested for creation.
“And then we are not yet very certain of what the reports and the results and then the aggregated views of Nigerians will be after the general public hearing that will come very soon when we resume.”
He explained that constitution review is timeless and it is not incumbent on the 10th National Assembly to carry out.
“Constitution review is timeless. It’s not about timeline. Constitution review is not tied to the term of the 10th Senate or the 10th House of Representatives. It is not a termed thing. It’s timeless.
“Constitution review can start any time of the legislative year of an Assembly. So, there is no time that we say that it might be too short. Short to where? Short to when? And moreover, review constitution when all hands are on deck and then by the time we resume, I don’t think it will take so long to do any amendment if Nigerians desire that there should be amendments.”
Reacting to news making the rounds that the presidency has allocated some funds to Senators and members of the House of Representatives for constituency projects, Adaramodu dismissed the report, saying there is no iota of truth in it.
“There’s nothing like that. Money is never given to any Senator or House of Representatives member for any project. Either constituency, either geopolitical, either regional, either unit, either local, either state, none. No money is allocated to any legislator to carry out any contract or any job. The only thing we can do, and we always do, is that we will be given the opportunity of nominating projects to different communities of our constituencies.
“Like in the Senate, it is just within the range of about N225 million project that you can nominate. And it will not be given to you. You will only nominate. You will only suggest. They will give us a form to fill, to select areas. Like I have 38 towns and so many villages in my senatorial district. So, the N225 million will be divided, and you know what it can do. In that case, you can choose to say maybe you want to do renovation of hospital or renovation of school or whatever.
“But the other things that Senators and House of Representatives members do is that you go to all MDAs, you write letters to them, to urge them, to ask them, to even beg them, to site programmes and projects in your constituencies. And so when they bring this to your constituency, you don’t know who is going to be the contractor. It’s not your business. The only thing there for you is just to facilitate it, so your constituency will know that you are really not sleeping over there, that you are bothered about them. Because those people who make federal budgets, they don’t know where Ilawe-Ekiti is. They don’t know Ogotun-Ekiti. They don’t know Eda Ile-Ekiti. They neither know Omuo-Oke Ekiti nor Obadore.
“So all they know is stay in Abuja. And so it is our own business to now start fighting for our constituency, writing letters to them, visiting them, urging them, and pleading with them. At times, even fighting them to ensure that, yes, they bring boreholes to my constituency, do some roads in my constituency, do some clinical innovation in my constituency, bring maybe empowerment for the youth in my constituency. These are some of the things that we do.
“So it is a fallacy, a timeless falsehood, and a kind of ludicrous and unscrupulous lie that Senators or House of Representatives members are allocated a certain amount of money. How? Where? When? Because budget belongs to the Executive. It is not we that make budgets. We only look at budgets and compare it with the previous budget and then pass law. Because appropriation bill is not brought, it is not a legislative bill. It is brought by the Executive. And so there is no way the Executive will bring their budget and then even if it is tampered with and the same Executive will sign it into law. No, it’s not so. It is not even our bill. It is Executive bill. So that is the only area where Senators come in.”
Addressing calls for a new constitution by some eminent Nigerians, the federal lawmaker said, “We appreciate that Nigerians are very concerned about Nigeria, especially our constitution, so the National Assembly is already emplaced to make laws, to look into the constitution, either constitution making or amendment.
“We urge our patriotic patriots to avail themselves of the opportunity that is going to be opened to everyone to come and air their views when we are now doing the public hearing, which is going to be done in the open. And then when they come there, if it behoves on Nigerians that, okay, from chapter one to the final chapter, that we are going to make changes, then definitely all of us will see it because we have so many groups in Nigeria.
“That is a group of elders that are asking for that. Then we have other groups, professional groups, legal groups, political groups, traditional groups, as well as youth groups, women groups, CSOs, and so on. Even diaspora groups, that are bringing in their inputs in the constitution, either making or review. So, definitely we will not take wholesale the thinking of only one sector to just generalise. So that’s why there is going to be an open debate through the public hearing whereby Nigerians will air their views.
“We will talk about youth, talk about women, talk about diaspora, talk about whichever and whatever. And then all Nigerians will be on the same page after all the crucibles, when we are now putting the newly amended constitution together.”
Commenting on the issue around the delay in the implementation of the 2025 budget, he said, “The 2024 budget is still ongoing and why we agreed to extend the timeline for 2024 budget is that we don’t want abandoned projects. Because when budgets are done, many of those projects, especially capital projects, wouldn’t have been finished or done with before the next budget comes in. So, we now elongated it so that there won’t be any abandoned projects. Because if the year lapses with that budget, especially capital projects, then it means that funding will cease from being released on that budget because it cannot be retroactive. So that’s why we elongated it.
“It is not because of maybe there is a hitch in the budget implementation. So as it is now, all the budgets of 2024, we allow them to be ongoing and they are ongoing. So, all the ones that have been finished, the contractors are assessing their funds.
“And now we have enveloped budgeting in Nigeria whereby a certain amount of money is now budgeted to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of government vis-à-vis their programmes and projects. So within that limit, that’s where you can work. And so, we know that if we do not deal with budgeting realistically, and we now just say that 2024 must end December 2024, then definitely it means that when a project dovetails into January, February of the following year, which is 2025, and we do not pass any law that can elongate it, so it abruptly stops it and that is the end of that project. And then that is the end of funding for that project. It means that it will now take another year, overlapping year, before it can be brought up again as an ongoing project. So in order not to do that one, that is why we have done what we have done.”
On the deplorable condition of federal roads in the state, the Spokesperson said most of the federal roads in Ekiti and other parts of the country have been awarded and some contractors are already on site working. He noted that due to the rainy season, construction work is minimal, but assured that significant progress is expected during the dry season.
“Now, this time that we are in, it is raining. Almost all the federal roads in Ekiti State have been contracted. Even the ones that link Kogi with my own constituency of Omuo have been contracted, the one that comes from Ikare down to Imesi, Aisegba, Ilumoba, Ado-Ekiti has been contracted. The one that links us to Ikere-Ekiti has been contracted. So some contractors are working on them.
“And then during the rainy season, it’s always very difficult and tough to do any serious job on road construction. So since these have been contracted, and the majority of these roads’ contractors have moved in. When you look at that of Ikare to Ado-Ekiti, contractors have already moved in, when you look at that of Ikere to Akure, contractors are there. But what they can do will be minimal because of the rain. So there is no cause for alarm about federal roads in Ekiti State.
“And then the Governor is always in Abuja pressurising. But we cannot pressurise nature, like weather. We can’t pressurise rain from falling. So definitely, if art work is done today, and then heavy rain comes tomorrow, then you have to start again. So that one is slowing down the jobs. By and large, by the time the dry season sets in, we are going to see a tremendous improvement in the construction and reconstruction of federal roads in Ekiti State, likewise, all other states in the federation. And even when you look at Lokoja, Abuja, down to Kabba, contractors are there. But like I said, the job that they can do now will be minimal because of the weather, and these are roads that have never been touched, at least in the past 20 years. When you even go to the East, the same thing. When you look at Okigwe, Enugu road, Ikot-Ekpene, Aba road, so all contractors are there.
“But because of this time, because of the weather that is prevailing now, so the jobs there will slow down. And like I said earlier, by the time the dry season sets in, there will be tremendous construction works.”
The post Senate can’t approve state creation alone – Adaramodu appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
