Senator Ajayi Boroffice, the pioneer Director-General of the nation's space agency, is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology. In this interview with Regional Editor (News), Olawale Rasheed, he offers insight into contentious national issues.HOW will you rate thedevelopment of democraticgovernance so far in the country'Well, I think we have made very tremendous progress, judging from the conduct of the last election. At least, we can say with confidence that the election was the freest and finest election that was ever conducted in this country. That again is very important as it provides a strong foundation for those newly elected. The elected are sure that they have the mandate of the people to represent them at all levels of governance. I think there is a great hope that we will be able to sustain this democratic governance. This does not mean that we have reached the goal; we still have a long way to go. Both the executive and legislature would have to work together, responding to the observations andaspirations of the public that put us is this position.Can you relate your optimism to the high level of complaints and cynicism among the citizens' I think we all have to be patient, as the present administration only inherited the rot it is working to clear. We cannot blame the incumbent administration. Governance in the past had not been entirely satisfactory. So, the developmental challenges piled up. Look at the power, health and education sectors. We did not reinvest in the infrastructure built decades ago until recently. The population is increasing; we were not expanding the electricity generating and distribution capacity of the states. It is the same in the education and health sectors. But we all can see that efforts are now being made to reform and transform the nation for the better.Is the present federal structure hindering or facilitating the development of the nation'I will say it is hindering rather than facilitating it. Nigeria's greatness will be accelerated when we indeed restructure, to practice true federalism.The constitution of Nigeria provides that we have a federation, but what we have does not conform to all known theories of federalism. If we look back at the First Republic, federalism was at play, with the regions competing for developmental strides and derivation formula applied in national finance. Other regions were competing with the Western Region. There was open evidence of the dividends of democracy then. But the coming of the military led to the introductionof a unitary system. Even when the civilian administration came in, the old system of unitarism was retained. The best route for Nigeria's rapid growth and development is a true federal system with fiscal federalism and true devolution of powers and responsibilities.We all know how other federations are operating. The models are there for all to see and adopt. Look at the problem of insecurity which we are all worried about. You need state police; Nigeria is too big to be policed by a centrally controlled police force. In the United States, you have FBI serving as federal, national police, but each state has its own police while the counties have sherrifs. How do you have a state governor as a chief security officer without any law-enforcing outfit'You just talked about state police. How do we handle challenges such as possible harassment and intimidation of political opponents'The issue is, those practising it, how have they tackled such challenges' I will tell you how. Each state has an Attorney-General, who should also be popularly elected like the state governor. The police are directly under his command as to who to arrest and how to maintain law and order in the state. If the governor himself commits any crime, the Attorney-General can order the police to arrest him. The question of opposition members being arrested or intimidated is not there. There will be a comprehensive law setting up such outfits and regulating their areas of jurisdictions. It works in the USA and other parts of the world.The law setting up the state police will curb possible excesses. We cannot properly ensure an orderly society if we continue with our subsisting law enforcement mechanism. The fear of governors using state police against political opponents can be resolved and eliminated if we follow the American variant.You talked of a federation with more money for the states and local governments. How do we address the issue of corruption'As I said before, we need to reform the law enforcement arrangement. Any allegation of corruption, you bring it to the notice of the state Attorney. Immediately, the office will swing into action. But then again, as the democratic system advances further, citizens will become more interested in knowing how those they elected are governing them. They will demand their rights and, of course, with a very active and dynamic press, the issue of corruption will be drastically reduced, if not eliminated.For example, I don't believe in the immunity clause; immunity should operate only at the level of the president and vice-president. Any other person who commits a criminal offence while in office should be prosecuted and not shielded under the immunity clause. So, I support removal of immunity, creation of state police and the introduction of an elected Attorney- General system to fight corruption and maintain law and order.The reforms you are proposing can only be successfully handled through the national and state House of Assembly. Based on your experience so far as a member of the upper chamber, do you think, that the National Assembly has the resources, the determination and the competence to do the job'Yes, we have the competence to do the job. As to the resources, yes, but whether we have the resolve to do the job, is what I don't know. But I believe that anybody that is interested in the future of this country, anybody that is patriotic and believes in this country, will see this proposal as critical to the sustenance of democracy and the future of this country. This is not party politics; this is what is good for Nigeria.That fact was emphasised in the speech of the Senate President, Senator David Mark. He enumerated some of these goals. These reforms are issues that he wants us to look into. He mentioned the creation of states, the issue of state police, the joint account between the state and local government and so many topical issues. So I believe that we have the resources, we have the competence. But the political will, is what I cannot boast of now.In that case, what is the role of the opposition parties in an assembly where you are not sure of the political will to push ahead with far-reaching reforms'Well, I believe in making attempts. As time goes on, I believe all of us in the National Assembly will begin to see beyond our individual political parties. We will begin to see ourselves first and foremost, as Nigerians, not just as representative of different political parties. And at that point, we have to face realities on a numbers of issues. Then the opposition and the ruling party will have no choice but to work together. The issue of security now confronting us does not discriminate between the ruling party and the opposition party. The issue of fuel subsidy, when it finally comes to us, will not discriminate between the ruling party and the opposition party. We will get to a time when issues will be debated without sentiments and we will go beyond political bickering to focussing on issues of nation interest.I believe that there is a good chance that both the ruling party and opposition parties will tackle some of these problems of federal reforms. If we look at the composition of committees, there is a mixed bag; there are opposition members in committee leadership. I am the chairman of Science and Technology Committee. Opposition members are given the opportunity to contribute to debates and decisions. In any case, the Senate President is quite an experienced presiding officer, going by the way he conducts the affairs of the Senate. His style gives me hope that there is a future for this country.take care of many people whocannot gain admission to the conventional university. Standardisation will not be a problem as the open university is only one system.Nigerian Tribune-And on the nation's space programme, are we on course with the launching of the second satellite recently'Borrofice-Yes we are moving though not at the speed we designed the master plan. Let me say we are behind schedule. This is not due to competency but funding. The technical details are complex. The reality is that funding is an issue. Overall I will say we are moving ahead. The only thing we all must realise as a nation is that funding of science is not a luxury but a necessity as an engine of growth and development. The amount of money a nation devotes to science and technology has a link to the speed of its development. That is the case all over the world.Nigerian Tribune-Assuming you are in charge of science and technology, what will be your immediate priority'Borrofice-First, I will look at the national policy and realign it to the realities of the cardinal programmes of the administration. Then I will ensure that the agencies and parastatals which are more or less are task force agency do not take up too many mandate because when you do you tend to spread yourself aimlessly. Take one or two mandate and the returns given to you will be put to use effectively. Then there will be ways of accessing progress and you must have goals and evaluation process. I will drop some research projects that are no longer relevant and channel energy towards applicable technologies in line with the administration's agenda.
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