Despite recession in Nigeria, in this interview with Correspondent Auwal Mohammed in Gombe last weekend, Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Suleiman Hassan Zarma, has expressed optimism that things are getting better in the country, and that they are going to get a lot better.
Sir now that people are celebrating sallah in the northeast of the country without fears what you are saying about fight against insurgency.
The successes of the fight against insurgency is such that you can see that people have now celebrated the Eid-El-Fitir and Eid-El-Kabir with pump and pageantry in all the states in the states in the North-East.
We also do know that the markets, even within Borno, the Baga Fish Market is back to life, activities in the Lake Chad are being conducted, the Mubi Market is now bubbling with activities, much more than ever before. There are more people coming into Mubi, coming into Maiduguri, coming into Gombe transacting business, day in day out.
A lot of activities rebuilding the North-East are taking place with a lot of economic activities, constructions are going on, people are being employed, lives are earning money, economy is bubbling and so it’s a lot, lot success that we can see.
If you take the military that are participating in the activity, you will see their renewed vigour, they are being trained, they are being kitted, day in day out.
So that tells you that a lot of successes have been recorded, the insurgents have been degraded, even though yes, there are pockets of activities by the so-called insurgents, but these are all fits of deaths and they will surely go out of extinction and then we can take our lives back.
Sir how can the peace be sustained?
Peace can be sustained by us trusting each other, giving out information as it’s required by the military. If you see anything suspicious, no information is too small in security circles. So, if you notice anything that is going to contribute to the improvement of that peace for peaceful co-existence, I mean, you and I, for example go to the farm, if we see any activity, persons or movements around our farm area, we can talk about it.
If we see anything new in our community, we can talk about it. If you go to the market and see some movements, you can talk about it.
So, you and I are going to be a part of that peaceful co-existence, confidence building in our security, amongst ourselves and so on and so forth.
Sir recently, we see that the economy is picking up and things are getting better
Things are getting better and they are going to get a lot better. It is as a result of that peace, that you and I can go to the farm that means more food on the table, for both the farmer and he can take some to the market and can sell. More again for the farmer, because the alternative funding, instead of fuel, we are now looking at alternative funding to our national budget, this will contribute in no small measure. And I can tell you, we are building roads, we are hydro-dams for power.
These are all engagements that will engage one or two persons. And if you employ one person who earns a salary, he feeds his wife, he feeds his children and the effect will go down to the family and it will permeate the economy. Sometimes I use to argue, people say they do not see any activity, but I say there are activities, because we are constructing roads. If you are constructing a road, it’s not something that you can start on a Monday and finish on a Friday. It is project that takes two years to deliver. So, activities are going on, more people are employed. The person supplying sand to the contractor is there, the person supplying tar will also anchor on that value chain and a lot of other activities.
But the people see the road and think of what they see on the road alone. No, there are a lot of activities. Tipper is involved, gravel is involved and cement seller, and everyone is involved. So is you are building houses. Mass houses all over the country, people are not talking about it. But again, any small contractor will have at least mason, a brick layer, somebody taking sand, somebody mixing concrete, people buying diesel to power the tipper and so on and so forth. So, money is being distributed in this small activity but people that are not talking about it are people that have gotten a lot of dollars stashed away, but you and feel this economy trickling down to our own people.
Sir is housing an agenda for this government?
It is an agenda for “Housing for All”. We are talking of delivering houses that are adaptable, that are affordable, it will take our culture into consideration it will take our climate into consideration and I tell you, we have just done a workshop last week, that is saying we should do housing that are energy efficient. What do I mean by energy efficient? A house that will use less power consumption, better ventilation, so that you needn’t have to use so many ACs [air conditioners] in your house, you don’t have to use so many bulbs in your house, but minimum energy, maximum comfort. So, these are the concepts and it is going to be delivered in every state and possibly, every local government area of the country, because even the local government tier of government is going to anchor on this programme.
How accessible is this policy going to be to the average Nigerian?
That is what we are trying to see. We are trying to make it as accessible to everybody, as it is possible. We are looking at a model, where the cost of the building will come less. So, what constitute the cost of the building, we will look at it. If it is the land, we will see how easy it will be to access land to make housing better for the people. Is it the structure that is being built? We will look at that one and look at the person that is going to occupy that building and say ok, build to this man’s capacity without compromising quality. That is what we intend to do, even if it means, if you build three-bedroom houses for everybody, then my need may not be three-bedroom. It may be two-bedrooms. Then again for another person, it may be five or seven bedrooms. So, we’ll look at your needs first, we look at the needs of the persons we are building the houses for, and say this is what this people need and then we can build houses for them. Because again, you are the one who will contribute into the fund, anyway. So, as you are contributing, we will ask for your need and then factor you into it before we deliver the project.
We don’t want to deliver houses that will not be occupied. Because it is not what we intend. There are so many houses all over the place, but people are not talking because it is not their need.
What is the Buhari administration policy direction?
You know the Buhari Administration came in and promised security and economic revival. These are the two principal issues, but most of all, the war against corruption. Now, the war against corruption can stand for the all and two. If you fight corruption, the economy will thrive. If you fight corruption, security will thrive, because all of them are anchored on the same thing. And we can see that corruption is now at the minimum. At least people are not brazen about it. Before now, people celebrate corrupt persons, and I am not sure someone can come and flaunt a wealth that is illegally gotten now, but before, people flaunt it. But you can’t do it now, we have so many policies. There is a TSA for government workers and then there is the whistle blowers’ programme, if you stash it in your house and somebody sees it, he will tell people. So, you see that, if you tackle corruption, you are now tackling the economy to prosper.
