•Ex OYO NORTH Senator, GBENGA BABALOLA Explains
Senator Gbenga Babalola, the former Federal Lawmaker who represented Oyo North Senatorial District at the Country’s Upper Chamber, last week, spoke exclusively on his experience at the Senate 13 years after.
According to Babalola, being a first timer at the Senate then wasn’t a barrier for him having served and retired from the Ministry of Finance as an Assistant Director.
For him, his times at the Senate was also a memorable one as a member of the 6th Assembly from Oyo State under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Babalola, an NBA holder from the United Kingdom and a Doctor of Business Administration from USA, also shared his thoughts on the state of the nation, especially why all arms of government seems incapacitated as regards the present situation of things in the country. Babalola is also a member of the Oyo State Advisory Council.
The businessman cum politician bared his mind, last week, during a popular magazine radio show, Parrot Xtra Hour on Splash 105.5FM radio, anchored by Olayinka Agboola.
The interview session, monitored and transcribed by City People’s DARE ADENIRAN (08057639079), was very interesting and quite enlightening.
Below is the excerpts of the interview. Enjoy it…
Apart from being a member of the Oyo State Advisory Council, what have you been doing as far as the state’s politics is concerned?
I’m a businessman. I have my businesses both here and overseas. I have businesses in Abuja, Ibadan, Lagos, Atlanta Georgia and UK. So I have been busy running my businesses aside from politics.
What is a typical day like for Senator Gbenga Babalola?
My typical day starts around 7:00 or 7:30 in the morning. Then I do my daily walking. I try to take about 7,000 steps everyday. After that I take my bath, depend on how I feel whether to have breakfast or not. Sometimes I do half day break kind of. Most of the time when I’m in Ibadan it’s because of the governor’s agenda. Because as a member of the Advisory Council, there are so many meetings we need to attend. To try as much as possible to give the governor advice on so many areas of activities that are going on in Oyo State. So to keep him abrest of what is happening in the state.
You represented Oyo North Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011, what was your very first day at the Senate like?
When I look back it was a very memorable day. I would say I was a very vibrant young man and full of energy then. I started early anyway. I left the Senate before I was 50. I had a dream that we could change this nation from the Upper Chamber. I remember my first week on the floor of the Senate, especially the first three comments. The day I made the third comment, there was a very prominent person, I don’t want to mention the name on radio, sitting behind me. She is the daughter of a very big man in Nigeria, a former President. She tapped me and said, “we didn’t come here to do Gani Fawehinmi. That is to show you how vibrant I was. Don’t also forget that before I went to the Senate, I retired from the Federal Ministry of Finance as Assistant Director. So I was in the civil service of Nigeria for about 15 years. So when I got to the Senate whatever they are bringing in was not new to me. I had the privilege of making contributions that even surprised the then Senate President, David Mark. Many times he called me to say “you are doing well”. As a first timer they were surprised. But I wasn’t surprised because I know my onions.
Do you have any regret as a senator then, probably about something you feel you should have done that you didn’t do?
I have no regret. I did all I was supposed to do.
You had a vision of what you wanted to when you went to the Senate. Did you achieve the dream? Tell us about your most memorable experience as a senator?
Of course, I went there with a vision. But let me tell you that it was there I discovered the true meaning of the Yoruba adage that says ‘igi kan o le dagbo se’ (a tree doesn’t make a forest). There are very few people who have the interest of this nation at heart. I just told you what someone told me. They felt I was becoming too confrontational. There was a day somebody brought a bill to the floor, and I said look, we can’t continue this way. He said that is how they normally do it. I called the Senate President to say if we were to continue with the way they normally do it then we should all go back home. We don’t have business here. I mean we knew the situation of the country as at then and why we were elected, which was to make a change.
There is also the issue of budget padding, especially at the National Assembly. Is there anything like that really?
There could be. It’s a new phenomenon in the National Assembly that actually started a while ago. As so powerful as budget is, let’s be realistic, especially the principal officers. They can easily put something in the budget without anybody knowing it. Because they have the authority to manage the house. And it all started with the idea of having constituency projects, which you can’t write off.
The problem with Nigerians is that they can’t identify why they are electing a senator. You don’t elect a senator to come and construct roads or build schools for you. You are electing a senator to go and make law for you and represent you efficiently. But in this case, when you come back to your district and they are throwing stones at you. “He’s not giving us anything, he’s not bringing rice” are some of the things you would begin to hear. It’s as bad as people making up different stories just to get money from you. And if you don’t give them, by the time you go to Abuja and come back they are already looking for another person to replace you. So those in the Assembly would now be looking for what to do that they can point to as their achievements. That is what brought about the idea of constituency projects. It’s the constituency projects that leads to budget padding. Because when we agreed on constituency projects it means all of us are entitled to certain projects in the budget. But remember that some people have power more than the other. I mean the principal officers. Because when the House sits as a full, after that they go somewhere else and start giving themselves extras. And you are not there when they are doing this. This is where the padding thing comes in. So if somebody at the floor of the House now suddenly see what he’s not expecting to see it the budget. That is why the guy who raised the issue of budget padding raised it, and it became a big issue. But now the padding has gone beyond padding, it has become triple. I saw a senator doing empowerment program the other time with loads of buses all over the place. Where are they getting the money from? And some Nigerians are the ones that will carry drums and be dancing there. Somebody is using your resources that could have been used to build hospitals, schools etc.
Is that why people, especially the educated ones, have low opinion of the national assembly, both the Upper and the Lower chambers?
I wouldn’t blame them. Look at the 6th Assembly that I was part of. We were the ones who raised the issue of Jonathan becoming President. We know what we did.
But many thought you could have acted earlier. They felt it was a bit delayed?
But we did it.
Are you aware of the alleged inducement as regards that particular issue at that time?
I was not aware. Now people can say anything because of the prevailing issues in the society today. So if they claimed there was an inducement of sort I won’t argue it. But I Senator Andrew Abidemi Oluwagbenga Babalola wasn’t part of such. They would not have brought it to me because they know my stand.
If you were to be there during the era of the third term agenda money, the #50 million, would you have collected it?
I wasn’t part of the Assembly at that time. They wouldn’t have brought it to me. What I discovered is that, they know your stand there are certain things they won’t even bring to you. It was after I left the place I knew there were so many things that went behind my back. But I didn’t care.
Some have also accused the present Assembly of not doing their job as regards President Tinubu’s ‘subsidy is gone’ inaugural speech?
I think the President was just, maybe, overwhelmed by the victory. But to be honest, he was only saying what is on ground. That the budget for that year has no provision for subsidy.
People say the Assembly could have guided the President on the steps he should have taken before the removal of fuel subsidy. What do you think?
Then they should have done that before presenting the 2023 budget. When Tinubu wasn’t there. Don’t forget that the National Assembly in 2023 and the one that Tinubu took over are two different people.
But almost 60% of them were part of the previous Assembly and saw those things, especially the subsidy?
That should be a question for them, not for me.
What is your thought over their actions, their inability to do what was expected?
Let us be very clear with ourselves on the issue of fuel subsidy. We all knew that subsidy must go.
Don’t you think there should have been some plans before the subsidy removal?
The reason why there can’t be solid plan is that we don’t have good census This night, we don’t know the number of people sleeping in Ibadan. If you enter London tonight, the London Mayor by 12 midnight will tell you how many people are sleeping in London. But in our case, we don’t even know where our people are. So how do you provide for them? Those are the issues we should focus on now. If you know there are 2 million people sleeping in Ibadan tonight you will know how to provide for them. You know they would wake up to use water or toilet. There are so many things we need to undo before we start blaming this person or that person.
What do you think is the solution because there is a serious hardship in town?
We are all feeling the hardship. I use to fly to Abuja, at worst, three times a month. But now if I do once a month I will thank God. One of the starting points that I see is to make local government viable. To let government start from the local sources. If it starts from the local sources it will be easy for a local government to conduct census. If all the local governments have the correct census all they need to do is to add it together. But when you give it to somebody in Abuja, who doesn’t know what Saki looks like to come and count people in Saki.
What about the issue of bad leadership?
It’s not about leadership. We the followership what are we doing? Tinubu is a reflection of Nigeria. He’s one of us. We are not sincere individually as a person. If we are truly sincere Nigeria won’t be where it is today. So it’s a civic thing if we want to change. It means we should start training our children right from the beginning.
Let me give you an example on the issue of leadership. I voted for Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 despite being a PDP man. I thought it was the same Buhari of 1989. Hoping that he was going to make a big change. But I tell you something, our major problem today is the 1999 constitution. If you look at it, the people who can make the change in the constitution are the ones benefitting from it. I will continue to say it that we need a very strong leader, who can stand up to Nigeria and say, to hell with you. Somebody who can say this and this must be done whether you like it or not.
