Hon Bitrus Kaze is the House of Representatives member, representing Jos South/East Federal Constituency of Plateau State. In this interview with Ruth Choji, the lawmaker set records straight on the rumours that he had withdrawn the accusation he made against the House:

What is your take on deregulation?

Deregulation is a necessary evil, it is something that people find hard to accept, but the only thing that does not change is change itself. Deregulation means inviting everyone into the market, to source for a product and sell it. The market forces will now determine the prices; the price will not be determined by the government. As you buy, so you will sell. The common example is the GSM; we all know the revolution that took place. The truth of the matter is, Nigeria is not alone, we are part of the global village and what happens in the world affects Nigeria.

This deregulation has been postponed severally, if it doesn’t come up now, it would have to come up one day. If not, we would continue to suffer from the cartel, marketers and all the forces that were causing us hardship. For now, we would suffer, but as private refineries come up, the prices will go down. As we are talking, the masses are already suffering, so, we must be able to face the reality. I can’t remember the last time I bought fuel for that N65 per liter, even as a member, I have bought for N75, N110 and so on. So we are already suffering. Who takes the difference between that N65 and N110,one minister once said that, a bottle of swan water cost N65 and fuel was N25 then, which one is more difficult to obtain, which one is difficult to refine? But oil is cheaper than water. We used water and fuel at almost the same rate.

The 2009 budget is regarded as a complete failure, who do you think should be blamed for the failure?

On the part of the National Assembly, to an extent, I blame us, the fault is not entirely on the National Assembly, because the national assembly is just ten years old and this is a job you learn as you continue. It is not the qualification that teachers the job but I can assure that we have improved more than 1999, and  I can assure you that we will continue to improve. It is clear that we have our short comings but implementing cannot rest on the National Assembly, this is the worst budget in the history of this country, as a member of the national assembly, I know that huge releases have been made. I know that projects of 2008 have not been implemented at the fourth quarter of 2009. I do not really blame the House but the Executive because I am not aware that anybody has been sacked for not implementing the budget. If nobody takes consequences of their actions, nobody will sit up, that is the truth. that is where I blame the Executive.

Can you advise government on measures to take to avoid a repeat performance now that another one has been presented?

If I were Mr. president like the CBN governor said, I will focus on key points like the issue of energy and infrastructure. Energy will propel the economy. If I were Mr. president, I will focus on this and make sure that whoever is in the line and fails his duty will be relieved. So somebody somewhere must be sleeping on his duty, it is Mr. President’s duty to hire and fire, one or two ministers have to go, if that is done, the others will sit up. That is why I appreciate the former president, he knows how to obtain results even though sometimes he goes beyond bounds. This current government must find a way of acquiring results.

Now that you mention energy, what other alternatives will you suggest for Nigeria?

In the South, there are adequate rivers that you can construct Dams to the North, in our area, we have high mountains that you can make wind mills, just mount a wind mill that can supply electricity. In Plateau State, there is an independent power producer called NESCO, alternative power supply is not limited to Nigeria alone, it is a world issue, people are  now talking about coal, biofuel, windmill and anything that will not emit gaseous matter that will affect the well being of our environment.

How far has the House gone on the constitution review now that elections are close by?

The issue of constitution review has amounted to issues between the Senate and House of Representatives. There is nothing under our law that says, the Senate and the House must live together. But in my opinion, I believe that if we can work together, it will tell a lot about our unity and desire to forge this country together. It gives a beter impression of this country when we work together. To my mind, I will not rank myself, with a Senator because I represent only two local governments, I know some of my colleagues that represent only one local government, I do not know of any Senator that represents more than five, there is nothing under the law that says he is my senior, I will not equate myself with a Senator. In any case, both the Senate and House of Representatives have gone far in the issue of constitution review. Honestly, this issue to my mind, has come close to electioneering period, I do not know if we can deal with all the issues presented over the time left. I am a strong advocate of doing it peace meal, taking the issues that really border on the electoral reforms which affect every nook and cranny of this country. If you talk of resource control, we know what we are talking about, state creation , I am not aware that any section of Plateau State has come to the  National Assembly for state creation. If we are able to achieve that, in the future, we would be able to achieve more, this bandwagon ,this ombudmans attempt, to my mind, it is a weight that is so strong and could affect the entire polity. Remember, the review weights on the national  and state assemblies too, and by this time next year, virtually everyone is scamping around for votes.

Don’t you think Nigeria is heading towards a one party state, with the way the opposition have become silent?

I don’t see what is wrong with what is happening. Whether you like it or not, human beings do not agree on issues all the time. Even in your biological family, you will have people with different views. If the parties are tilting towards PDP, the PDP have their own internal crises, like the case in Plateau and Anambra states. Recently, in Katsina State, somebody died in the police station because they were trying to settle  a rift in the PDP. That will be the beginning of thorough democracy in Nigeria, because not everybody within PDP will agree among themselves, they will disagree and another movement could emerge out of the PDP. You see, you learn it more by experience because in the history of this nation, we have never practiced democracy for ten years straight. In the course of the experiences we are having, just allow things take shape themselves, I see people rushing into the PDP, to be identified with it, it will be such that, the PDP will be saturated, people with ideas, and whether they like it or not, the issue of consensus candidate will give way to real elections, it will give way to real political ideology, I am not saying what is happening is good, as our country is drifting towards a one party state, it is not nice. It wasn’t nice in Iraq, it wasn’t nice in Somalia, in the process of our growth as a country, we will have to go through these things and we will overcome it and things will stabilise.

Now that you mention stability, we have had several issues, and the dismal performance of the government has led to the belief that, Nigeria has failed, do you think we are a failed nation?

I  do not agree that Nigeria is a failed state because there is a structure in place, a failed state to me is like Somalia. I don’t think Nigeria has reached that state, and we would never reach that state. Nigeria is grappling with its own internal problems, this is normal in a democracy. For God’s sake, we still have one president, one national assembly, one police, one judiciary and those organisations that are being run, so this cannot be a failed state.

Plateau has been in the news, what is happening to the PDP?

As the member of the National Assembly, I am on the exco of Plateau State PDP, that is in the constitution of the party. Some people came out to say they contributed in baking the cake, and that they don’t know how the cake is being shared. I was there when the secretary said it in the national secretariat. In any case, I don’t believe that, the cake is being shared without them, the governor has brought people who never worked for his elections, people who were known opposition leaders, they have been appointed as commissioners, ambassadors and even people that go out of their way to show that the governor is not really good. But in the last eight years, Plateau State has more to do with money politics. Take it or not, it is a fact. Some people used to sit in their house and call government house for finance. Until this government said, we are not going to continue with this bad norm. This is the A and Z of the crises in Plateau State, it is about cake sharing.

There are allegations that the governor is running a Berom agenda, how true is this allegation?

I am not a Berom man, but I represent the Jos South/Jos East, the ambassador who represents Nigeria in Ukraine is not a Berom man, he is from Jos East. I know that, the Berom man has never had the opportunity to be an ambassador but it was the Berom man that gave out that appointment. The roads, electricity, water supply and other laudable programs he is doing are not enjoyed by the Berom alone, everybody is benefitting. I do not understand what people mean by Berom agenda. Jang is the most fair governor Plateau State has ever had. During Dariye’s tenure, fifty two percent of federal appointments came from the Central zone. At a point in time, the Central zone had two ambassadors, this is a lazy conclusion, it is a lousy judgment.

You are seen as the advocate of the governor; some people refer to you as the Bin Laden of Plateau State, what led to that?

It is always easy to find fault in another person. It suits his purpose to do so, I am passionate about Plateau State because it has not been treated fairly by the authorities that be, particularly at the federal level. On the floor of the House, people came and were demanding for a state of emergency again. When it happened to Dariye, we didn’t like it, he went to court and it was quashed. Now that I find myself as a representative of Jos South/Jos East, I need to use all arsenal available at my hands to ensure that I frustrate that effort, to an extent, I have succeeded. Issues that were handled were not handled fairly. The manner and way Plateau State was being treated was not right. What I did was to expose those people that were perpetrating bias to the state.

There were talks about your suspension from the House, what is really happening to it?

Yes, there was a rancour about the write up I came upon within the pages of the newspaper. I had to go to the pages of the news papers because I was frustrated on the floor of the House. I wanted to speak and air my views on different occasions and my efforts were frustrated. I came on point of order, the rule says, you must listen to me, but in fact, I was threatened. I was warned by the speaker and I quote” I warn you to sit down “I took that as a serious threat, so if you deny me the power to speak on the floor, I went back to my constitutional right, freedom of speech to speak as a citizen of this country, so I resorted to the newspapers and exposed what I believe were steps Mr. Speaker in particular and some members of the House of Representatives have taken that were clearly out of order, I lifted the issues clearly for everyone to read and people read of course.