By Our Correspondents
Hon Victor Abang, a gentleman politician and proactive leader, is the lawmaker representing Boki/Ikom Federal Constituency of Cross River State in the House of Representatives. Abang, a former Special Adviser to ex-Governor Ben Ayade on National Assembly matters, worked as an aide in different capacity in the Office of the Senate President between 2005 and 2016. He was Chief of Staff to ex- Chairman of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, from 2016 to 2019. He is believed to be one of the parliamentarians in the Green Chamber that have made meaningful impact on the lives of their constituents since the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly on June 13, 2023. In this interview, Hon Abang spoke on his two years in office, assuring that he would continue to give his constituents the best of quality representation. Excerpts:
Having spent two years in office as the legislator representing Boki/Ikom Federal Constituency in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly, how would you say the journey has been so far?
It has been eventful. We have learnt a lot. And we have tried to impact on our people. A lot of im-pactful and life-changing motions and bills have been processed. Mo-tions have been moved. Bills have been sponsored. The two years have been quite eventful, but not enough to do all that our people are yearning for. But we will keep pushing every day as it comes.
What have you achieved for the peo-ple of your constituency in the last two years? In what ways would you say you have impacted their lives?
Several ways. In our boundary in Cameroon, we have halted the incursion of the Cameroonians through the National Bound-ary Commission. We intervened with a motion to address the Ni-geria-Cameroon border crisis af-fecting Danare and Biajua in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State. We insisted via the motion that Nigeria cannot afford to risk losing another part of its territory in Cross River State to Cameroun, after the earlier loss of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. So, we were steadfast in our pur-suit for a just resolution of the boundary dispute. The motion led to a key resolution to prevent the ceding of Danare and Biajua Communities to the Republic of Cameroon. Through NEMA, we have supported our people a cou-ple of times that we have been affected by natural disasters. Re-lief materials worth millions of naira were distributed to victims of fire outbreak, windstorm and elephant attacks in my constit-uency. We have facilitated quite a number of employments and projects. We are advocating for the establishment of one or two tertiary institutions. And also, ad-vocating for the establishment of healthcare institutions – a federal medical centre and the completion of a Specialist Hospital in Ikom. Those are some of the things we are doing. The motions and bills we have initiated in the last two years were designed to boost ed-ucation, healthcare, agriculture and so on, for the benefit of my constituents. We have drawn government attention to the con-struction of certain roads in the interest of our people. We facili-tated the installations of street-lights and telecom equipment in various communities across my constituency. We lobbied for the construction of blocks of class-rooms in some schools. We pushed for construction of boreholes to provide water for our people and the distribution of palliatives to cushion the effect of economic hardship. We have carried out medical outreaches, offering free medical care to some of our peo-ple. We have equally embarked on various training and empower-ment programmes geared towards human capacity building within my constituency.
How are you constituents taking your representation with all these things that you have done?
Well, the thing is that you can-not satisfy everybody. However, I think majority of the people are happy with me. Our party mem-bers are also happy with me be-cause I have tried to give them ef-fective representation. My people are very much satisfied with what we are doing and their support has been quite unflinching. Majority of my people are delighted and they are giving me the necessary support.
Lawmakers are said to always get much pressure from their constit-uents. How do you cope with such pressures?
Well, I applied for the job. And so, I will have to live with every-thing that comes with it. I can-not complain because it’s a job I applied for. So, it behoves on me to manage every situation I find myself in while doing the job and representing the good people of my constituency. Yes, there are a lot of pressures on us. But what can you do? Since you are the one who asked for the job, you have to endeavour to endure the pressures and manage the situation. That is it! You don’t have to be seen com-plaining. You should rather do all you can to bear the pressures and tolerate everyone. That is what makes you a leader.
Are you worried that lawmakers are being disturbed for the execution of projects which constitutionally should be the responsibility of the executive?
Our people are yearning for de-velopment. So, however it comes, they don’t care. All they want to see is development. Yes, our main responsibility as parliamentarians is to make laws for the good of the Nigerian people. In doing that we are equally expected to advocate for them. You are their voice in the parliament. We don’t do projects. It is the executive that executes projects. We represent the people by making laws. But we can lob-by for projects. We can lobby the executive to get projects that are beneficial to our people sited in our constituencies. That is what we do. So, all those projects that are done in our constituencies are products of the lobby we do. If you lobby well, you get projects sited in your constituency for the benefit of your people. That doesn’t mean that those projects are done by you. They are done by the executive. And the main credit must go to the executive because they are do-ing those projects. All a lawmaker does is to facilitate the siting of the projects in his or her constituency.
The impression some have is that money is being given to lawmakers to carry out these projects. Isn’t it so?
No! No money is being given to lawmakers. You just advocate, and lobby the executive to site the proj-ects in your constituency if they can. And if the budgetary provi-sions permit them, they will site the projects for you in your place. It is a very wrong impression for some people to think that we are being given money. The lawmak-ers have nothing to do with money as far as project execution is con-cerned. It is the executive that han-dles the projects after you have suc-ceeded in lobbying for the projects to be sited in your constituency.
How would you describe the leader-ship of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Taju-deen, who presides over the affairs of the Green Chamber?
The Speaker has been doing very well. He carries members along. It is not easy to administer 360 people of equal status by vir-tue of their election as lawmakers from different political parties. The Speaker has been trying. He manages members and the affairs of the House very well, and contri-butions to debates. His leadership to me has been quite okay. The 10th Assembly under the current Speaker has been smooth. He has exhibited exemplary leadership, promoting a culture of inclusivity and democratic principles within the House.
How has the general performance of the 10th Assembly been in terms of proper lawmaking?
We have sponsored a lot of bills. I don’t have the statistics. But a lot of bills have been sponsored and a lot of motions have been moved. There is hardly any day that you don’t get a bill or motion that seeks to intervene in the polity, and is-sues affecting Nigerians. So, the House has done creditably well. As a parliament we have shown much concern about the plight of Nigerians. We have ensured the en-actment of laws that are meant to transform the economy and make life better for the Nigerian citizens.
You worked in the National Assembly as an aide in the Office of the Senate President for over 10 years. Would you say such experience gave you an ample opportunity of a quick and better understanding of the process of lawmaking and the workings of the legislature now that you occupy a seat as a lawmaker in the Green Chamber?
There is always a difference be-ing an aide and a legislator. Upon becoming a lawmaker, I realised that there were so many things I didn’t know as a legislative aide which I am knowing now. But the difference is that I had an idea, a broad idea of how things are being done in the National Assembly. But times have changed. The things that used to happen 10 years ago in the National Assembly which were taken for granted, the insti-tution has become more mature. There is more understanding of the work of the institution now. And the Institute of Legislative Studies has really made a signif-icant impact, raising the capacity of the legislators.
What would be your honest assess-ment of the governor of Cross River State, Senator Bassey Otu after he has spent two years in office to pilot the affairs of your state?
The governor has done wonder-fully well. In two years, he has tried to reposition state institutions for better service delivery to the good and loving citizens of Cross Riv-er State. He is a compassionate leader. In the last two years, he has done a lot of interventions in different areas to transform Cross River State and put smiles on the faces of our people. The governor has so far demonstrated the capac-ity to perform and deliver. In just two years, his footprint of devel-opment is seen everywhere in the areas of infrastructure, building and repairing of roads, agricul-ture, education, healthcare, elec-tricity, security and tourism. His leadership style and people-first approach to governance have been quite unique. Under his watch, there has been peace in our state. The governor is carrying every-body along. And Cross Riverians are generally feeling the impact of good governance under his leadership.
What about the President? How would you assess his two years?
The president has done well. He made the very hard decisions first. He started by taking the very tough decisions – the remov-al of fuel subsidy and the unifi-cation of exchange rates. Many politicians will first of all start with the easier things. By the time they want to take the most difficult decisions, oftentimes they don’t have the courage to do so. But this president started with the most difficult things. And from the statistics we get ev-ery day, the economy is improving gradually. I strongly believe that in due course we will definitely be better for it.