Nasidi A. Yahaya
28 October 2009
interview
Abuja — Rep Umar Bature (PDP, Sokoto State) is chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Foreign Affairs. In this interview with Nasidi A. Yahaya, he bares his mind on the suspension of the Niger Republic from the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS), execution of Nigerians abroad and lot more.
Excerpts:
What is your stand on the suspension of Niger republic from ECOWAS and the recent admission of Nigeria into the UN Security Council?
Well, our stand on Niger's issue is very clear: we support it because it is the best way to tackle the problem in the country and also ensure democracy. The President, Tandja Mammoudu was warned not to hold parliamentary elections yet he went ahead in defiance of the ECOWAS directives. Therefore he had to be punished. We have to ensure the country does not deviate from democratic practices .So I think Niger deserved more than what she got.
Also, our stand on Nigeria's win of the UN Security Council seat is total support. We have been emphasizing that Nigeria gets a permanent seat for the role our country has played in the continent and the ones we are still playing as a regional and continental power.
Nigerians are being executed in some countries and humiliated yet your committee is silent. Can you tell us what you have been doing to protect Nigerians around the world?
I think there is a need for education in this aspect. There are basically two issues here people need to understand. Most Nigerians travel abroad for business, fortunately or unfortunately they run into trouble and as a committee we have to look at all the various issues relating to these incidents, be it theft or jail.
But one thing we have realized is that most people that travel out of Nigeria for whatever reason don't seem to realize we have embassies in those countries. So when they go there, they don't register, which is why when they fall into distress it take ages for anybody to know what exactly happened.
But every country tells it citizens, when you go to a foreign country where you have a mission or embassy or High Commission go there and register as a citizen of the country, that is why we have the foreign desk where you introduce yourself and the purpose of your visit there. Unfortunately we have a serious problem because many of our citizens travel out without having the requisite documents. The motion that came on the floor on weather Nigerians should be cremated in China clearly shows that most of our citizens that live there don't even have legitimate records of being there. I was made to understand that today if you want to get a Chinese visa you have to be there in person which was not the case in the past. They had to employ this measure because we have abused the process.
And we are saying if you want to be respected you must obey the laws of the land you are living in, nobody can come here and disobey our laws and be allowed to go scot-free. So the same thing applies to those countries: if you go there and commit an offence you must be responsible for your action. But unfortunately they have started generalizing it and they now believe all Nigerians are crooks even though there are legitimate people who are really doing their business. I don't think one or two cases affect Nigeria.
Recently your committees summoned the minister for Foreign Affair over the sale of some embassy offices in the US. May we have an update on this issue because I leant your committee had submitted its report to the House.
Yes, we summoned him to answer some questions in regard to the process (sale of some houses in our embassy). We are actually having problems with the process of the sale. He was not the minister when the action took place but democracy demands that the office of the minister of Foreign Affairs answers some of these questions. He knows it is the right thing to do, and has agreed to return with answers to some of the questions posed. But we are going to come up with the report on the floor of the House before the end of the year.
But are there any specific charges or punishment for the minister or anybody that is responsible for the sales?
We are not in a position to determine whether somebody is guilty or not. What we are doing is to assess whether due process was followed or not in conducting the sale of the houses. We want to establish whether there was violation of law and order in the process and make recommendations on the way to tackle the problem.
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Ecowas s decision on Niger is a great error only Ghana can give democratic lesson to Niger Tanja wants realy to reform democratie and make it more suitable that s why people approved the new constitution of the sixth republic and support his policy