Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Youth Development and member representing Oron/Mbo/Okobo/Udung Uko/Urueoffong Oruko Federal Constituency, Martins Esin, speaks to PATRICK ODEY about the need to create an enabling environment for the youth, among other issues
The upward review of the National Assembly budget has generated a lot of controversies, and many are beginning to think that the federal lawmakers do not care about the economic situation in the country. What is your take on this?
I must be very honest with you; I don’t have specifics as to the figures of the budget of the National Assembly. That is the truth, but I know that there’s inflation in the country. You know that there is pressure on your income. What N10,000 could buy last year, it cannot buy again this year. To that extent, if there is an increment, I am not sure of it; so, I cannot speak on what I am not sure of. If you talk about the budget of the youth, I can speak on that. But the chairman, House Committee on Services, and the spokesman for the House of Representatives are people who are in a better position to speak about the budget of the National Assembly. By and large, it will just be a function of inflation because the budget of the National Assembly is not meant for road construction or distribution of amenities; it’s for the running of the National Assembly. So, if anything changes, it is merely responding to inflation, because even in the house, God bears me witness, this January, I increased the budget for my wife. So, it could be as a result of the inflationary trend.
SERAP has alleged that N6bn has been allocated for a car park for the Senate President and the House of Representatives. Do you think there is a justification for this allocation?
I want to disagree with you on that. Even though I don’t have details of the National Assembly budget, don’t forget that the National Assembly is a bicameral legislature—the Senate and the House of Representatives. Anything I comment on now is binding on both chambers. That is why I am a bit careful not to speak on what I don’t have facts on. Even without seeing the budget, I disagree that N3bn was earmarked for the Senate car park and N3bn for the House of Representatives car park.
Cybercrime is on the increase in Nigeria, and it is mostly perpetrated by the youth. We are aware that there are existing laws to tackle cybercrimes. What measures are being taken by the House of Representatives to strengthen those laws?
When the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, came on board, specifically on June 13, 2023, he came up with a legislative agenda. Part of that legislative agenda was to drive the effectiveness and efficiency in the House, and that left the Speaker in his wisdom to create more standing committees so we could look at these things from a microscopic level and be able to make things happen faster. So, there are more other committees in the 10th House of Representatives than there were in the 9th House, and one of the committees is the Committee on Cybersecurity, which is responsible for looking at cybercrimes. It is not in the purview of the Committee on Youth Development, even though it has to do with the youth. I know there is a committee in the House that looks after that. The Committee on Information, Technology, and Cybercrimes is headed by Stanley Adedeji from Oyo State. I know that the committee is doing quite a lot. I was able to sit with the chairman of that committee and they are trying to come up with legislation that will nip cybercrime in the bud.
Are you satisfied with the level of youth inclusivity in the All Progressives Congress-led administration of President Bola Tinubu?
Let me respond to that question by telling you that the greatest room in the world is the room for improvement; there is no perfection. We keep improving every day, but for the current administration, I will tell you that the level of youth 6
nclusivity is commendable. Starting from the House of Representatives, today, I am chairing a committee on Youth Development. It has never been like this before. Previously, even a youth committee was given to elders. We also have another committee, that is, Youth in Parliament which is also a committee that is meant to keep building capacities for young people, and all of these are geared towards helping to drive institutional memory of the National Assembly going forward. Even in the Federal Executive Council, there are a lot of young people. The current Minister of Youth Development and the Minister of State for Youth Development are agile youths. I can tell you that we are not where we are supposed to be, but we’re making progress. We will continue to push until a young person becomes the president of this country.
There are consistent calls for the NYSC scheme to be scrapped because of insecurity. What is your take on this?
I am not in support of that. I want to tell you that two bodies are crucial to the unity of Nigeria today; the National Assembly and the National Youth Service Corps. In the National Assembly, not two persons are from the same constituency, 360 members of the House of Representatives are from 360 different parts of Nigeria, with 360 different values and heritage, and we come together to sit in a room to make laws for Nigeria. That is unity. The other one is the NYSC scheme. If you go through the NYSC Act, you will see the objectives of the corps. So, rather than calling for the scrapping of the scheme, it (NYSC) should be strengthened. I just spoke about the NYSC Trust Fund; if the Bill is assented to, it will help the image of this country. NYSC is the only scheme that gives youth the platform to travel from Akwa Ibom State, to go and serve in Osun State, and then bring Nigerians from Kwara State to come and serve in a place like Imo State, and all that is supposed to promote ethnic intermarriages.
The Federal Government has suspended degree accreditation from Togo and Benin Republic because of certificate racketeering. What is the National Assembly doing to lift the ban considering that there might be genuine students?
The National Assembly is not going to be part of any illegality. There were cases of persons going to the university and graduating within one month. Some did not go at all, and at the end of the day, they got certificates and went to serve. The truth is that most of the schools you see outside are not better than our schools here. Most of the problem we have is that we lack patriotism. It seems that we patronise things outside. The likes of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Chukwuma Soludo studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and today, they are making the country proud and making an impact all over the world. I don’t know at what time we became interested in going to school in these places and people going to all these mushroom schools outside the country. I think they have taken advantage of our vulnerability. The Federal Government should investigate this, and when that is done, I am sure we will return to the status quo. My best solution is that Nigerians should look inward, and I don’t think the country is so bad that we cannot learn.
What is your take on the level of insecurity in the country?
We have invested so much in the armed forces and there are many sides to insecurity. We should begin to look at citizens’ engagement, let’s bring it back to the youths. We are talking about 60 per cent of Nigerians being youths whereas the budget of the Youth Development Ministry is nothing to write home about. How do you want to achieve that? The government should have targeted programmes for the youth even if it is one year and compare the results; be very intentional in developing the youth, empowering the women, and engaging the citizens. I tell you that this would help to distract them. Insecurity is tied to electricity; power powers everything, even security. We are not going to fight insecurity in isolation. We should bring power so that the youth can engage in artisan jobs. Today, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics is telling us that the unemployment rate in Nigeria is 53.3% which is too high. No country fights insecurity or develops by accident; it must be an intentional act.
What are the measures taken by the National Assembly to address the Japa syndrome in the country?
There are two legs to it; the first leg is ignorance. There is a saying that the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know. Some of these people don’t live or work in those countries and they feel the place is better and some say that they have been frustrated enough in Nigeria and they just want to leave. People should look inward because we are blessed in this country. I kept telling people that I couldn’t stay too long outside Nigeria. There are also good sides to Nigeria. Yes, everything may not be on the table, but at least there is a starting point. I want the government to create an enabling environment for the youth to also stay.
You are the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Youth Many Nigerians are calling for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission to ensure those involved in electoral offences are punished. What are the National Assembly members doing to ensure the establishment before the expiration of their tenure?
There is an Electoral Act Amendment bill currently before the National Assembly; the Electoral Act which was used in conducting the 2023 elections has a lot of loopholes. We (the National Assembly) are looking at it holistically together with the Electoral Offences Commission we are looking at it. The Committee on Electoral Matters in the House has been mandated to advise the House of Representatives on the best way to see that election matters don’t ridiculously go to court and ensure that we transform the electoral process to be cost saving and not shut down the country because we want to have an election. We want to have more voter participation and to have confidence in the process.
Many Nigerians are calling for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission to ensure those involved in electoral offences are punished. What are the National Assembly members doing to ensure the establishment before the expiration of their tenure?
There is an Electoral Act Amendment bill currently before the National Assembly; the Electoral Act which was used in conducting the 2023 elections has a lot of loopholes. We (the National Assembly) are looking at it holistically together with the Electoral Offences Commission we are looking at it. The Committee on Electoral Matters in the House has been mandated to advise the House of Representatives on the best way to see that election matters don’t ridiculously go to court and ensure that we transform the electoral process to be cost saving and not shut down the country because we want to have an election. We want to have more voter participation and to have confidence in the process.
Some Nigerians fear that the law that will establish the Electoral Offences Commission may not be promulgated. What is your view on this?
Why won’t it be promulgated? What electoral malpractice does is that it puts pressure on everybody, even the politicians. When you finish the election, you still need to go to the tribunal. This even affects members of the National Assembly, who are the people who always get their elections nullified. It is a holistic thing; we won’t make laws with the intent to shortchange Nigerians.
