Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Honourable Ali Ahmad, who holds a Ph.D. in Jurisprudence, was a Commissioner for Justice during the administration of former Governor Bukola Saraki before becoming a member of the House of Representatives. He speaks with LAOLU HAROLDS on issues affecting the polity.

HOW would you assess the Kwara State House of Assembly under your leadership?

We have been operating as an independent arm of government even though we are all in the same political party, the party of change (APC). Serving in the party is a big burden, and if care is not taken, the House could continue like a rubber stamp; but we make sure that our oath to the constitution is upheld. So, the fact that we are all of one party does not at all affect our legislation in any way. We perform our constitutional functions to the extent that some people raise eyebrows, but it is good for the system. The government can give good governance, even though both arms belong to the same party.

You left the House of Representatives to contest as a member of the state House Assembly and you are now the Speaker. What informed this decision?

Well, what we want to do is render service to the people, irrespective of the position or the status. This is service to the people. We can go back and forth and this is not the first time it is happening in Kwara State, even at the national level. So, I don't know why people make a lot of fuss over this. It's about service and the responsibilities are similar but not the same; it's all about representing your people; it's all about legislating and it is all about oversight functions of the executive. It's something that I am really enjoying.

The Assembly under your leadership clocked one year in office recently, what exactly is your mission for the Assembly and the state in terms of legislation?

My mission, first, is to ensure that I leave the Assembly better than I met it. We want an independent arm of government. We will strive to build a stronger institution. So, I would like to leave the Assembly stronger, more independent and able to perform its constitutional functions better.

Kwara State often complains of receiving so little from monthly federal allocations. How true is this and how do you think this could be remedied?

Yes, this is very true. The allocation coming to Kwara is very minimal. This has affected the state negatively; but the governor is thinking out of the box. He is not increasing taxes but he is widening the scope of those who are paying taxes. Those who hitherto did not pay taxes are now being captured and brought inside the tax payment net. It is something that is yielding good results.

What about internally generated revenue in the state? And in what ways has the state House of Assembly contributed to increasing the IGR?

We must be very cautious. We are very reluctant to raise the rate of taxes. We don’t want to increase the burden of taxes on people. As much as we want to raise the idea, we assure Kwarans we would not increase the tax rates. We could do some other things but not to increase the rates that people pay as taxes. On the scope of generation, it is increasing. Definitely, the idea is increasing and we are looking at it strictly. Yes, generation is doubling and even tripling. Efforts are daily being made to expand the scope of people who are paying taxes. It is a good thing.

There are feelers that since the trial of a former governor of the state and now Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, began at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, activities of government have been drastically affected in Kwara State. How true is this?

I'm not aware of that. Let’s start from the local governments. As I said earlier, they don’t even have enough money to operate. The state government's activities haven’t come to a gridlock. I am not sure, because contractors are paid; everybody has moved to the site. The State Executive Council is meeting regularly, the governor is always on the ground, and the Assembly; we are not grounded. The Leader's issue is not affecting anything in the state.

Dr Saraki is displeased with the trial, saying that he was only being persecuted. As a lawyer and expert in Jurisprudence, what is your take?

Of course his trial at the CCT is politically motivated; 100 per cent. Anybody that thinks otherwise is running away from reality. If it is a crime, why wait for one, two, three, four years? Why now? The timing is suspicious. Immediately after he emerged as Senate president, his detractors swooped on him. Why handle him through the CCT? Why not the regular court? Because you know they won't comply with the truth. Why use a judge that has wrong-doings; someone that has been reportedly compromised?

The fuel importing cartel has continued to hold the nation to ransom, leading to the decision by the Federal Government to deregulate. What do you think is the permanent solution to the issues in the petroleum sector?

There has to be a fundamental restructuring of the oil industry. We need to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). We need to restructure the NNPC; otherwise, all the current efforts of government to checkmate the long queues and hardship over petroleum products might not take us long. The fuel subsidy regime, I think, they are trying to bring it back now. To me, it's unsustainable. We continue to waste trillions and trillions of naira in the world market. Oil is the cheapest thing you would get today, cheaper in some other places of the world than water. But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. We don’t know what exactly is happening. Even if we are not producing oil but importing our oil, it shouldn't be this expensive. And don’t we have capacity to import oil that we consume daily? These are the issues.

Is there a long-term solution?

The long-term solution will be to fundamentally restructure the industry, which includes enacting a new petroleum industry law. And once you enact that, it includes restructuring, breaking down NNPC and commercialising everything. We need to do that.