Senator Ita Enang, from Akwa Ibom State, was a two-time member of the House of Representatives. He was the chairman, Committee onRules and Business. He spoke recently with some National Assembly correspondents on some national issues. Ayodele Adesanmi was there.The call for state police is on the increase,especially with the recent developments in the country. Do you think the nation is ready for this'You can only create state police by amending the constitution. You cannot use a bill to create a state police. Therefore, any bill to create state police can only come when the constitution is amended.The constitution presently recognises one Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police for each state, who are responsible to their respective state governors, but take final instruction from the IGP. And of course, the Nigeria's political state today, in my opinion, cannot handle state police because the way politics is being practised in the states would not allow this to work.Take, for instance, the Bayelsa State situation. If there were state police in Bayelsa, there would have been bloodshed as it would have been the federal police versus the state police; the state police will act as counter militia. With state police, it would be difficult to control the proliferation of arms. Therefore, I have my reservations when it come to supporting state police for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This would not allow free party democracy to thrive and, again, its creation could endanger national unity.When you were in the House of Representatives, some of your colleagues felt you went too far in the defence of some of the actions of the lower chamber'I do not think that I went too far in defending the action of the House of Representatives because when you are a part of an institution, you must defend and preserve that institution. I do not believe in ostriching. I do not believe that when somebody is in trouble, you have to abandon such a person. Also, I do not believe that you should only be a friend or relation of somebody when things are going well. Likewise, I do not believe that you should only be faithful to the institution when things are good.But if that institution has problems, you have to stand up and defend that institution.I worked with and defended Honourable Patricia Etteh,the former Speaker, and I stood by her to the end. I even took part in the drafting of her resignation letter.Many people thought that I should have been killed by the incoming administration.I do not believe that you benefit or are protected by how much you live off somebody you meet on the way. You must stand by somebody, if it is good or bad, to the end.And, of course, when Dimeji Bankole came in, they agreed that if Ita Enang could stand that way with Etteh when everybody else left, except for Dino Melaiye and two other persons, it must have been about the institution and abouthis principles.The Rules and Business Committee, which I was the chairman, is like the soul of the leadership. I, therefore, owe no apology for standing by and defend former Speaker Bankole his deputy, Usman Nafada, and the entire leadership of the House of Representatives to the end. After all, it is not how much that I let them down that has lifted me up here, it is the grace of God.Those who have abandoned them on the way may not have won nominations and may not have even returned to the lower chamber, or the Senate. Even God expects you to stand by the leaders, when they are in trouble. I still visit Bankole; I usually exchanged calls with him and I also exchange calls with Nafada and visit him in his house. They still remain my friends and they would continue to be. They are said to be in trouble today, agreed, butthe question they are answering today is for the leadership. And I stand again to say, none of the decision they took, none of the things they did, was personal, it was a collective decision of theHouse of Representatives. Therefore, I owe it a duty to defend that decision, even if I have to go in for it.What actually informed the bill for the merger of the two anti-corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).All Iwanted to achieve was to create one anti-corruption body in order to have a coordinated institution that would fight corruption. The Senate took a wise decision to drop the bill as I cannot question the decision of the Senate in the plenary and, besides, it is above certain kind of lobby. That is why we are distinguished. We are above board, I have affirmed and can affirmed again. I think the bill was dropped to reflect the mood of the Senate on that day. And, of course, I felt very honoured that, in the course of doing the bill, not a single person talked to me, for or against, except the senators who spoke. And it made me happy that, indeed, Nigerians will allow some things to take its natural course.What do you think would be the effects of thecrisis in some Arab countries on Nigeria, especially proliferation of arms'The security agencies in Nigeria should be alert because the arms that have been fully spent and are no more needed in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia and other countries, used by the rebels forces, are now being recycled and are finding their ways into the Nigeria market. Those arms could endanger the security of the country the more. Therefore, we should be very alert and take proactive measures to prevent those arms from coming into the country. That notwithstanding,I would urgedthe president of Nigeria to please work with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) to ensure that the treaty on the prevention of the proliferation of small arms is still in force and specifically work with the succeeding governments of these countries to mop up those arms; it should not be allowed to float. The president should take the initiative because if they allow the arms to float, Nigeria may be the worst hit.As a senator who represents one of the oil-producing states in the country, are you not worried that we still export crude oil for refining'I want to say that Nigeria has the capacity to refine all the products it requires in this country. We have the capacity, even without the Eleme, Kaduna and Warri refineries. What I heard in the Niger Delta and in the creeks is that there so many refineries that refine petroleum products that are capable of meeting 50 per cent of our local consumption. I understand that those bringing in bunkering ships from the high seas sometimes do not pay cash for the oil they steal. I am not saying that the stealing of oil is legal, but some of these people bring in miniature refinery packages to exchange for this oil.I want the security agencies and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to find out the details. I want the government to come and legalise what they now call illegal refineries, as what we call illegal refineries in Nigeria are the same used in those countries where we import oil from. Also, I want the Joint Task Force (JTF) not to go again and destroy this illegal refineries. I want the government of this country to hold peace talks and grant amnesty to those operating illegal refineries. Let them go in and examine the integrity, the quality and give them license to refine the quantity they can produce, officially assign crude to them and monitor the process to see what they are producing.I understand they produce engine oil, kerosene, petrol and diesel. So if we bring them into the mainstream, we would have created employment and we would have ameliorated the issue of fuel subsidy. In fact, if you do that, nobody would worry about fuel subsidy because what causes subsidy is the cost of taking the crude from here to the ship and sending it abroad. Then, you pay export duty. When it arrives the country, you pay import duty, transport to the refineries, finish and bring it back. You pay export duty, loading then when it is shipped to the port in Lagos or wherever, you pay import duty and clear it. And the cost of all these is what the Nigerian government is subsidising.Therefore, if we refine locally, all those cost elements will be no more there. Nigeria should solve its own problem locally. We should not depend only on importation.
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