"Why senate insists on buying cars"- Ndume.

Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) is the
Senate Leader. In this interview, he speaks on the
relationship between the National Assembly and
President Muhammadu Buhari, concluding that
the president is not a dictator. He also spoke on
their plan to buy cars, the Treasury Single
Account (TSA) and why the legislative arm of
government would not embrace it. Excerpt:
Since last week’s presidential media chat, the
comportment of the National Assembly,
especially the Senate towards President Buhari
has changed with the harsh reaction issued on
the N47bn cars. Is the battle line drawn?
No, no what do you mean by that? We are on the
same page with the President and as such there
is no battle between us. So far, there is no
president that has received wholehearted support
like Buhari since the return of democracy from the
National Assembly. He is the first president that
brought ministerial nominees and none of them
was dropped. There is nothing that the president
brought before the National Assembly that was
not treated expeditiously.
During President Olusegun Obasanjo, we refused
to confirm his nominees and during Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan, we slugged it out with him on
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, and we did not
approve his nominations for the FIRS (Federal
Inland Revenue Service). But since assumption of
office, President Buhari’s nominees have been
getting our approvals. Anything he brings before
us, we treat it expeditiously, meaning we are on
the same page with Buhari. This is not to say
that we are going to compromise our rights or
privileges as enshrined in the country’s
constitution.
How many cars are you people buying and at
what cost?
We are buying 110 land cruiser jeeps or so and I
think each of the cars will cost about N20 million.
We have since decided to buy the cars.
Where are the cars that were purchased by the
7th Senate?
You are talking about cars that were purchased
four years ago. The cars have since been sold in
line with the tradition. At the time, the cars were
valued, those that were interested in buying them,
bought theirs and those that were not returned
theirs. I think the cars were sold for about N3
million or there abouts. Between you and God, a
Prado jeep that was used for four years, will it
cost more than N3 million? Are you expecting a
Senator or Rep to use a car that is four years
old?
Two, is it fair while a minister is using a minimum
of four cars and a Senator or Rep would be
driving one old car? How many cars are
permanent secretaries using or even heads of
agencies? You people should be fair to us. What I
assure you is that we will always follow due
process in whatever we are doing and we will be
guided by the constitution.
You were given car loans and now you are buying
cars for yourselves from the government coffers.
Why are you people not considering the economic
situation of the country?
Yes, it is true that we were given car loans but do
you expect us to use our personal cars to do
official duties? The car loans are meant for us to
purchase our personal cars and not official car.
The cars we are buying now are the officials cars.
As members of the National Assembly, we are
entitled to official cars.
Sir, why are you people refusing to embrace the
TSA which was conceived to reduce corruption in
governance?
We are not a revenue generating agency and
because of this, it will not be useful to us. It will
not be possible that all our transactions are
through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It
can’t be at all. The commercial banks are created
to survive through businesses. The TSA is for the
executives, and it is meant to block the loopholes
in governance, especially in revenue generating
agencies. The expenditures of agencies of
government can be streamlined but you cannot
streamline the expenditure of other arms of
government, especially the legislative arm and
even the judiciary. You can’t compel or force us
to be part of TSA; we don’t fit into it because we
don’t generate revenue.
Do you subscribe to the claim that President
Buhari is exhibiting characters of a dictator in
piloting the affairs of the country as being
peddled by the opposition?
Under democratic dispensation, the president can
never be a dictator. The only thing that Nigerians
are trying to get used to is that unlike past
presidents that we had in recent times, Buhari is
a very serious president. Nigerians need a very
serious president at this critical time of our
existence.
He is just very serious and this is the kind of
person we need to move forward at this particular
time. We have had a lazy president, an unserious
president and even a weak president but now we
have a serious president. Frankly speaking, Buhari
cannot be a dictator under democratic
government; in fact, there is no room for
dictatorship.
Under this government, he cannot be because
there is legislative arm of government and we are
alive to our responsibilities as stipulated in the
country’s constitution.
Reports are filtering around that the Presidency
has withdrawn the 2016 Appropriation Bill. Is
that true?
It is impossible to withdraw the budget; it is not
a document that you can just write and say you
are withdrawing it. The budget proposal that has
been laid at a joint session of the National
Assembly cannot just be withdrawn like that.
Budget proposal is not a document that is
sacrosanct, you can adjust it and this is why it is
before us. During the budget defence, it can be
adjusted if need be.
How soon would the budget be passed?
What I can tell you is that we will start working
on it immediately we resume next week and we
will treat it with all seriousness because we know
its importance to governance. We will begin
budget defence as soon as we resume and it is
then that you can add or do whatever you want
to do on the budget but it cannot be withdrawn
like that.
How many bills have you people passed so far
since the inauguration of the 8th Senate on June
9th last year?
We have passed three bills and many others are
at first and second reading. It is the chairman of
rules and business committee that is in charge. I
have lost track of the number of motions and bills
we have considered so far.