‘We Will Run a Committee That Addresses National Challenges – Ibarapakan Assures Nigerians
The House of Representatives Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Federal Character, Hon. (Dr.) Anthony Adebayo Adepoju, has assured Nigerians of a formidable committee that solves myriads of Nigerian problems, particularly in the area of equitable distribution of Nigerian resources.
The lawmaker said this while engaging correspondents of the National Television Authority (NTA) during the week in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The interview session, which was held at the office of the lawmaker at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, was part of the efforts of the national television to interrogate the leadership of the standing committees of the House of Representatives on the mandate of their respective offices.
Answering questions on the mandate of the House of Representatives Committee on Federal Character, Hon. (Dr.) Adepoju said the body is committed to ensuring that there is a fair, just and equitable distribution of not only jobs but also the wealth of the Nigerian state.
“When people talk about the federal character, people look at it and talk about jobs, but I can tell you, job is definitely a part of it, but not what it is all about in its entirety; it is also about the fair, just and equitable distribution of economic resources of this country—on how we can ensure that when you have forty things coming to this country, we don’t have thirty of it going to one part of the nation while you have ten going to another side? If you look at that distribution, there is definitely something wrong.
“We want to make sure that as the North is developing, the South is developing as well, and the various six geopolitical zones of this nation are equally developing at the same time, so we are more into making sure the stability of this nation is held and the cohesion of this country as a whole is sustained.
“It is more about holding the nation as one and bringing everybody together so we can always find that point where we can all believe in the project Nigeria and forge this nation forward,” he said.
Highlighting the engagements of the committee’s so far, the federal lawmaker said that the committee is ready to do its jobs decisively and that part of the engagement is the invitation of MD’s of various agencies of government, noting that the committee had already mapped out a schedule of the agencies to be addressed and whose nominal rolls are to be looked into.
“The interaction will enable us to know what is going on and how fair those agencies have been to Nigerians because we represent Nigeria and we have been elected to make the right decisions for Nigerians.
“We are happy about where we are right now, and we hope to definitely ensure that the resources of this nation that we all have collectively are equitably distributed.
“I can definitely assure Nigerians that we are not here to compromise on our integrity, we are not here to compromise on what we believe is most important to this nation, and we are not here to compromise on justice.
“So, if we find any agency doing the wrong thing, we are going to make sure that it is corrected.
“It is very important because these are the kinds of things that threaten the stability of this country, and if you sit down and think about it, we already have a lot of divisive things that kind of separate us as a nation, so if we can hold our side and make sure that divisive things like religion that separates us that we try to make sure brings us together, things like the part of the country we are from, I mean ethnicity, we can have a nation where everybody feels they are part of that project, and that is where we come in,” the lawmaker said.
The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Federal Character, however, assured Nigerians of a committee that addresses the yearning of the citizens of Nigeria in the area of equitable distribution of the country’s resources.
