In its recent edition, A Metropolitan Ideas’ Copy, had a chat with the Peoples Honourable, Hon. Shina Peller, representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola federal constituency, where he bore his mind on some government policies, some proposed bills at the National Assembly and how the APC can unite in Oyo state ahead of 2023.
By ‘Segun M. Sholeye
As a member of the majority party in the ninth assembly, what’s your take on the hate speech bill and the anti-social media bill?
If you follow me on social media, you will know that I stand firmly against this, and it is basically for two reasons. One, I believe that Nigeria has more critical problems affecting it as a country than fighting hate-speech or social-media. Secondly, if you look at the constitution of Nigeria, you would see that it has already made provisions for people to have the freedom of speech and for people to be able to make their wish or whatever they want to be known about something. There is nothing that says that you cannot express yourself. And then, even the same constitution has already provided for some other act that is attending to the hate speech. I think the cybercrime act has made provision for the punishment of the people that give hate speeches or that carry fake news. For me, I believe that even as a country we have other troubling issues that are affecting us as a nation. If you are killing people because of hate speech, then what would you do to the people embezzling government money? We have people that the government has already awarded contracts to, for the construction of good roads, and yet they do not even carry out the project. People die on that road every day, and you are not killing them. There are people that were asked to build and provide medical equipment for hospitals and they have not done that too. This has also cost us so many lives. There are people that expected to buy good weapons for our military in order to protect us, but we hear of cases where planes are crashing and people are dying. What are you doing to them? If you are not killing those ones by hanging, then why should you kill the general public who believe that the only power they have to defend themselves is their freedom of speech? For me, I stand firmly against it. As a country, I understand that social media needs some sort of regulation, but the regulation we need on social media is simple. It’s just proper verification. I am even working on something with a group of young men which I might be bringing up very soon. It works in a way that every social media account can be linked to your BVN, so that, at least when someone that has a social media page is saying something, you know the person. This includes their name; you can also have access to the address of the person. Therefore, such people would not be able to disseminate information that they don’t know to be true. This is just a normal thing to do. However, in Nigeria, we are fond of cutting the heads of people to resolve the problem of headaches. So, for me, I stand firmly against it and I’m sure it’s not something that would fly. Like I say, it is a motion or bill that is dead on arrival because it is stated even in our constitution that we have freedom of speech. It also says that no other law can challenge the law already in place, and that is in section 1, subsection 3. It gives supremacy to what the constitution says. The constitution is there to guide us as Nigerians, so you have no reason to challenge the freedom of speech of the people of Nigeria.
How about the ‘Six years single tenure’ bill?
I was in the house when that session came up, and we all agreed that that motion should be thrown out. Yorubas would say, ‘ori bibe ko loogun ori fifo’ (Cutting off the head is not the antidote to headache) Our main problem in Nigeria is electoral reform, and that is what we should focus on as a country. There is nothing that says that we should not have an election that is free of corruption, vote-buying, and violence. If a governor is going to be in office for just 6 years, and he cannot run for a second term, then he can just take that opportunity and yet do nothing because he is not coming back to it. So everything has its advantage and disadvantages. For me, I believe that in this country, it is time for us to start looking at things critically before we make decisions. I believe it’s something that has already been thrown out by the majority, and I also believe that the disadvantages are higher than the advantages.
Do you sincerely believe that the composition of this ninth assembly of which you are a part, will give room for objectivity and quality representation to the benefit of the people?
I doubt you have looked critically at the calibre of people that we have in the national assembly now. If you look at it, you will see that Nigeria should expect a lot. The national assembly has also proven that the kind of thing that has never happened in a while in the country can happened. We have been able to return our budget cycle to January-December. This is the first time it’s happening, and this shows that the ninth assembly is going to be very objective and that we work in the interest of the people.
Some parts of the country are not comfortable with the camaraderie between the legislative and the executive arms of government.
The part of the country that will not be happy with that will be the opposition party, I can tell you the fact. If you do your fact-finding, those parts of the country would be the states that are being controlled by the opposition party. We all know that if there is a sort of symbiotic relationship between the executive and legislature, processes will work faster. In an assembly like the ninth assembly, we have a lot on our agenda which we want to get done. If you look at the leadership of right honorable Femi Gbajabiamila, he is someone who is very experienced, I think it’s his fifth time, and he is very eloquent, very intelligent and has the interest and commitment to take Nigeria to the next level. People should learn to use what is happening to judge, and not think or imagine what might happen. You can see a ninth assembly that is already returning your budget cycle to a January-December one which is something that has never happened before, that is enough for you to judge, other than you insinuating, or having to think or imagine that they might work against the interest of the people. We are already working in the interest of the people.
Are you saying there are no issues the house is not comfortable with about the executive?
There is a lot, and I tell you, it is normal. For every party that is in government, there is always room for a challenge. It is possible that you are not happy with something or think something is not right. However, we are trying as much as possible to call the attention of the government to all these things. What I want Nigerians to know is that Rome was not built in a day. We have to take it slowly, one step after the other. It can’t happen overnight, especially in a country like Nigeria, a country that has over 200 million people. Moreover, we already have fundamental issues affecting us as a nation that are not the problems that originated during this present administration. For example, when was the last time we had our census? The last time we had a population census was in 2006 as a country. If as a business-man you do not know the number of staff that you have, how do you want to cater for them? How do you want to drive the business? These are problems that accumulated from past administrations. The last time Nigeria had a population census was in 2006, so as at now, that is 14 years ago. So, it means that we have no record of any citizen that is 14 years and below. So, if you have no plans for those who are below 14 years of age, how do you want to have productive people in the system? There are a lot of problems. What we are trying to do in the national assembly now is that we have raised the issue on the importance of carrying out an immediate population census so that we can know the number of people that we have in the country and we can be able to help them by putting the right policies in place. It will also help a lot around every sector of the government. Even the sector of the government that handles tax will be able to know the people that are taxable and the people that are not taxable. The people that are providing infrastructures will know where to put schools because we have a better knowledge of the number of people we are catering for. As a country, we are facing a lot of problems. If you follow me on social media, you will see that towards the end of 2019, I went to the National Orientation Agency. I went to talk to the Director-General of NOA. I was there, and the only reason I went there was that I realized the orientation of people in Nigeria is not intact.
How do you understand the visa on arrival policy of the federal government for African immigrants?
I support it. As a country today, though we have a budget, we are already talking about the fact that we don’t have the right funding. This is a country that requires funding. Now, the government wants to borrow and a lot of people are shouting that they should not borrow. For me, from the businessman’s perspective, if I have my projection, let me use Quilox as an example, I can decide to say I want to have a night and host a Cardy B, and it’s going to cost me maybe half a million dollars to bring Cardy B. If perhaps Quilox doesn’t even make a hundred thousand in one night, as a businessman, I can invest. I can even get a loan to pay Cardy B to come. One thing I can do is that I would have sold the tables out to those who want to watch Cady B perform just to make sure that I would get back my money. So, as a government, once we set out our budget and consider our revenue, we need to strategize on how we intend to generate more revenue. If the government is charging people for a visa on arrival, it only means that they will still have to pay something. I have traveled a lot, and I see people even with American passports who travel to places visa-free. It’s only that the process of accessing the free visa should be seamless. On the contrary, the next thing you may see is the tight-bottleneck procedure that will be involved in having access to that visa. However, if you are saying that people should pay for the visa at the point of entry, it should be easy and free. The last time I went to the Dominican Republic, I didn’t even spend up to fifteen minutes at the airport. I had no visa. When you get in there, you pay some amounts and get your receipt immediately. Then I proceeded to the other counter, they collect a part of your receipt, they give you the visa and you go. If we do the same here, they may ask you to bring one thing or the other which will elongate the process, and consequently, the purpose of the whole idea will be defeated. They should just make it seamless because the country needs to generate income from every angle. Also, if the government is charging visas on arrival and people are paying, the fee for other African countries cannot be the same price with non-Africa countries. For instance, if you are charging the rest of the world a hundred dollars, you may charge African countries twenty-five dollars.
You would agree with me that the people in Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola federal constituency need more than freezers, generators, and Okada as forms of empowerment because the society is evolving. What plans do you have to impact the people in the next two years putting into consideration the changing society?
(Laughs) I like the fact that you said they need more than motorbikes, generators, and freezers; it’s not that they don’t need those. What politicians were fond of doing before is that they come and give them motorbikes and that’s all. I give such empowerment too, but what makes me different from an average politician is that the SHINAAYO empowerment program I set up is basically to bring development to my community, constituency and to make the lives of my people better. Like I usually say, this empowerment is an acronym of issues that affect my constituency, and I have set up a structure for the easy operation of the whole empowerment program. The S stands for Security, the H stands for Healthcare, the I stands for Infrastructure and development, the N stands for Natural resources, A stands for Agriculture, the other A stands for Academic development, Y stands for Youth empowerment, and O, Opportunity for women. All these are the areas that I believe I want to help the people of my constituency with. The first thing I have done with this empowerment program is to set up a structure. I have 21 people working permanently on this structure. They did a proper job application and they did a proper job interview for them. I think about 125 people applied and we were able to choose 21 who are the best of the best. I myself did not influence the interview process of any person there. 16 of them are functioning in the level of Zonal Co-Ordinators; I divided each of the local governments into four zones. Outside that, I have four other people functioning as local government coordinators. They supervise the operations of the four local governments under them. So that sums up to twenty people. Then one person supervises the whole operation of the program. The first thing they have done is to gather information, to give us data. They let us know the number of people that we want to cater for, the number of skilled people against the unskilled, old against the young and every other thing. So, when I distribute motorbikes, I am doing so to someone that really needs it, because I have met with them, and I have a list of what certain people need. I won’t give a motorbike to someone that needs to go to school or to a farmer who needs fertilizers on his farms. I have other things. I have people I am training, and between now and February, we are going to be training at least 200 people from my constituency. We would be training some people in the area of poultry, fishery, and cropping. I am taking agriculture very seriously because it is peculiar to the area I represent. Our land is agrarian, and we occupy the largest landmass area in Oyo state. Also, we are the food baskets of Oyo state. So, I see the importance of supporting the farmers, and right now I am doing a lot with them. This does not mean that I don’t give them freezers or motorbikes. I only make sure that I give these things to the people who need them, from the information I have. My empowerment program office has already met with them, done a form of registration to know what everybody needs. When I attend to their needs, I put a round peg in a round hole.
The APC in Oyo state does not seem as united as it was pre-election that is the 2019 election. How do you think the leaders can unite the party?
We just have to preach unity. We all know the saying that United we stand, divided we fall. For me, it is just normal because the APC just left the government. For every government that is in power, there is a possibility of encountering challenges. Also, you don’t point accusation fingers against one person when everybody is down. So, it is a matter of telling everyone to put ourselves together, keep working and be united. For me, I think the leaders should preach more of unity, and try as much as possible to create a leveled playing ground to party members especially in areas where party members are fighting for position or that they want tickets. One of the things that break a party is a situation where you have like five or six people aspiring for a position, and the party needs to give a ticket to just a member to serve as the candidate of the party. When one person is given the ticket, others start to feel that they did not give them a leveled playing ground. For me, I would just say that the party should maintain a leveled playing ground, then, we should forgive ourselves and we should understand that it is important for us to work together as a team.
Honorable Shina Peller, are you in any way involved in Lagos politics?
(Laughs) Yes now. I am a member of the House of Representatives. I have colleagues and we all work together. My speaker today is from Lagos, in the person of Right Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, I have a few colleagues that we belong to the South-West caucus, and I live in Lagos too. I have a lot of investments in Lagos. I was born in Lagos. So, yes, I am a part of Lagos politics.
What is your opinion on the Nigerian youth in comparison with their counterparts around the world?
There is only one thing that is peculiar to the Nigerian youth as against her counterparts and it is the entitlement mentality. We believe that what we want comes to us without us fighting for it. That is why you see that during every election or close to election periods, you see us clamoring that this is a time for the youth, “not too young to run,” and immediately after the election what we do is that everybody goes back to relax. If you look at the president of France, President Macron, he did not just become a president overnight. It is a movement. A lot of people think I got involved in politics because of the “not too young to run” bill, but no! My age would have still run for the position that I am currently running. It is fine, and we appreciate it. The “not too young to run” bill has motivated a lot of us to believe that there is a space for the youth, but now it is left for us. The idea of giving us the opportunity is not for us to become presidents overnight. You cannot become a president overnight in Nigeria. One thing we must understand is that we need to build something. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and as they say, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a footstep. That is why you see a Shina Peller leaving Lagos to go and run for the House of Representatives for Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa, and I would not say that I want to run for the office of a governor or I want to run for president. You don’t say this is what you are entitled to. I know a lot of people who came to me when I was running for the house of rep. and were like, ‘why you dey run for rep when Sowore dey run for President?’. We need to understand that we need to access that terrain strategically, and the only way to do that is through the national assembly and through the local government. I want to see youths take over all the local government councils. I want to see all the local governments in Nigeria being occupied by the youth. I want to see the national assembly being occupied, and the oldest person should not be more than 45 years of age. Then, we can prove that we are getting ready, then we will be building something fresh. What is affecting us as a nation is like cancer and if you want to treat it you have to start from the root first. This is one thing that is affecting us in Nigeria that is not affecting other youths in the world. This is why I say that our problem in Nigeria is actually that of national orientation. It affects us at every level. Consider the case of the xenophobic attack, fellow Nigerians were going out to burn down business entities owned by Nigerians, businesses that have provided employment to fellow Nigerians because they don’t have the right orientation. You and I will not go because we understand that the owners of those businesses are Nigerians. We know the people that are being employed are Nigerians. We know that the insurance company responsible for all the things destroyed are owned by Nigerians. Even in government, we still require proper orientation. An average person will still forget that the tool of the law which they have in their hands is a tool for operation; they rather want to use it as a weapon against a fellow citizen. Even the general public; when they hear the news, they don’t analyze it. You know they say fake news travels faster than good news. It affects the people in government. It affects everybody. One of the important things that Nigeria must pay attention to is the National Orientation Agency. We need to be able to sensitize the general public on how we expect them to perform. We need to understand the importance of building our people’s orientation, and this is the only way I believe the youth in Nigeria can thrive. So, for me, I think we should understand that it is not something that will happen overnight. Nigeria is a country of over 200 million people. You cannot become a president overnight; we have to build something together. I am using this opportunity to implore every youth to participate actively in politics. Don’t think everybody will run for a position, but let us be there. It is when you are not there that you say politics is dirty. If you are not ready to get your hands dirty then it will never be clean. Otherwise, you would always be subjected to the rule of a mad man, because the only people you see in a place that is dirty are mad people. So, if you are not ready to go there to clean it up, then you should be ready to be subjected to the rule and politics of mad people.
