Smoking Uba Ahmed
“The press should feel proud that it was being credited with the power to affect the nation’s mood, for in reality the Nigerian press was in need of complete overhauling.”
Cabinet. Senator Ahmed’s immediate concern was to make known his chagrin against the press in the way it had handled the efforts of the National Assembly to amend the constitution with regards to the composition of the National Economic Council (NEC). He argued intensely that the press had worked hard to misinform the public that the National Assembly was merely being vindictive in seeking the amendment, that it was merely trying to punish the president, vice-president and governors for tangling with the legislators on the question of the latter’s salaries and allowances. The senator argued that the reason for seeking the amendment had nothing to do with the urge to square off with the executives at the centre and the states. The reason, he said, was loftier than all that, and that it was to ensure that those who served on the council were economists who knew enough about economic problems of the nation. Senator Uba Ahmed believed himself, shared the sound coming out of the National Assembly that the reason for seeking the amendment to recompose the NEC was to weed out economically ignorant governors and replace them with economic experts. But the journalist disagreed that evening that the Assembly was indeed being altruistic in seeking the amendment.
The journalist maintained, and he was supported by a couple of people in Senator Ahmed’s house, that the National Assembly had to do a better work of convincing the voters that it was not being vindictive in seeking the amendment to the constitution. Senator Ahmed said that was always the attitude of the press in this kind of debates, that the press liked to see the National Assembly in bad lights. He asked rhetorically that why should anyone think that the National Assembly was seeking the amendment selfish grounds when more than eight months had elapsed between the salary issue and the proposal to amend the constitution? However, he was quickly reminded that the salary issue was still very much alive since no solution had been found to the problem. Because one was not in such a strong mood for serious discussions, Senator Ahmed wasn’t told that the amendment sought by him and colleagues would amount to a constitutional disservice in the long run. Granted that the composition of the NEC was faulty, the solution could not necessarily he found in throwing out the outfit, for reconstituting the council would amount to scrapping a constitutional provision. In that light, the question can be asked: would National Assembly then decide to throw out to seek constitutional amendment on practically every major problem confronting the nation?
The National Assembly, as far as was known, had not exhausted all avenues available to it in getting the governors to pay more attention to their economic duties as members of the NEC. Assuming that the National Assembly succeeded in amending the constitution and, therefore, recomposing the NEC, did the legislators realize that the governors would ignore any recommendation made by a toothless NEC, and as such all the amendment efforts would resort to nought? Blaming the press for the nation’s apparent disapproval of the amendment driver by most members of the National Assembly would not help the legislators in rightfully identifying what was wrong with their attitude. The press should feel proud that it was being credited with the power to affect the nation’s mood, for in reality the Nigerian press was in need for complete overhauling. The truth was that the Nigerian press was in worse trouble than the National Assembly, and that was the more reason why legislators should look elsewhere for the cause of their headache.
All this was not to suggest that the evening with Senator Uba Ahmed was taken up by nothing but the discussion of NEC, the National Assembly and the press. The Senator was equally concerned about the rice problems. Indeed, he seemed more concerned with it than the image of the National Assembly. Senator Ahmed was perplexed and at a loss for words over what he called hoarding of rice by merchants who might not even be nationals of this country. “Go to the Central Bank and the ports,” he said, his voice rising in anger, “You will find a long list of people who have imported rice. What were they doing with it?” he asked. What came out of the evening following a goodnight discussion near the journalist’s car was that the visit to Senator Ahmed Uba was more useful than one could have easily realized. One, the journalist found that some legislators take their work seriously and were dedicated to the National Assembly; two, that senators like Ahmed were familiar with the problems of the country and that they would like to find answers to them. And, of course, Senator Uba Ahmed probably ended up understanding the press a little better, that some people in the press were not the dumb-bells they were written up to be. All in all, an evening well spent.
©Sunday Concord, October 26, 1980
(Pp.88-90)
