Honourable Moshood Mustapha represents Ilorin West/Asa Federal Constituency of Kwara State in the House of Representatives. He is also the vice chairman, House Committee on oil Sector (Upstream). The lawmaker spoke with some journalists in Ilorin on some national issues. Biola Azeez was there. Excerpts:

Do you think the level of insecurity in the country may lead to national disintegration?

Basically, Nigeria as a nation is going through a serious and trying time in relation to security, poitical and economic matters. We have a lot of things to contend with on security. I believe government has prepared for it based on the Appropriation Bill of 2012. If you look at how much money was appropriated for security, it means government envisaged that there could be problems within the particular financial year. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the sum of about N1 trillion was appropriated and approved for maintenance of peace and security.

In the course of all this, security chiefs were changed, the Minister of Defence was removed and the appointment of the Inspector General of Police was confirmed. It shows all is not well with reports of kidnapping, bombing, armed robbery. We need to find out the cause, and how to solve it because the fundamental responsibility of any government is maintenance of peace and security. In a situation where it cannot do this, this calls for questions. The National Assembly believes it is a domestic problem that must be handled domestically. Hence, there is need to know the people behind the menace of insecurity. What are their grievances and how do we sit down to discuss with them. And that's why we say dialogue is the only way out. If not, we might end up breaking up, but is it good for this country? We all came together based on the design of Almighty God. Why should we work towards breaking it?

Despite tribal diversity, we have one thing or the other in common, that binds us together. This shows configuration of God. We should all work towards the unity of this country. I believe government, executive, security agencies and individuals should do more. We should be vigilant in our communities and also help police with pieces of useful information on any suspected movements. The situation is not peculiar to Nigeria, but this is our own country and we should ensure we live in peace. The situation is foreign to us here.

We are fun-loving people who do not want to die, unlike what we now have in suicide bombers. We pray that Nigeria will not break up. The president has taken some steps with the appointment of the IGP and the new National Security Adviser is going round to work things out. We should all pray for divine intervention to the problem.

Many people believe the face off between the National Assembly and the executive on budget implementation may lead to an impeachment move. What is actually the motive?

We are not planning impeachment. We only pointed out that "there is a particular clause that can be used if this is not done." We have looked at the budget, and it becomes a law the moment it is assented to by the president. We all must abide it, be it president or anyone else and it is binding. But for one to start selective implementation of the budget is against the law. If the president decides to keep quiet and allow his ministers to run foul of the law, then the president has run foul of the law. It'is like when you act against the parliament, it is an act of illegality. We say the budget bill must be respected.

So, if this is not done within this period, there is another provision of the law that says this can be done if you are not ready to comply. It's just a pointer to the fact that there is another provision of the law that says something can be done if you do not respect the law. The president must be guided and that is what we are doing. Nobody can claim to love Nigeria more than anyone else because we have no other place outside Nigeria and that's the difference between democracy and autocracy.

Will you go ahead to impeach the president if he fails to meet up with the budget implementation within the given period, as some people say that PDP members in the National Assembly may not have the will to do?

It is one thing when we see ourselves as party people, and it's another thing entirely when we see ourselves as legislators in charge of legislative activities of the country. You can have a link on the platform that brought a legislator, but I think what is important to everybody is Nigeria as a project. The issue of politicising it is infinitesimal compared to the zeal to ensure Nigeria excels.

We need to be serious to get there among the comity of developed nations. We are not saying get it 100 per cent implemented. Nobody wants to rock the boat, but we want to legislate for the good governance of the country and checkmate the executive so that people can have value for their votes. It is not about party politics, but Nigeria's survival. We are not on the same page with the executive on the level of budget implementation. What is the level of recurrent and the capital budget? They should come out and tell us. We just came back on oversight visits and found out that agencies and parastatals had not touched the capital projects at all. They either say they have not had release, or that the release is not enough or that they are processing the papers. Why do we always have motion and no movement in almost all our doings?

As the vice chairman of downstream sector in the National Assembly, are you satisfied with the trial of the suspected oil thieves?

We have not yet concluded on the issue of illegal bunkering as we do call it in the oil sector. It's a big menace. Nigeria loses about 150, 000 barrels per day to oil theft.The country should be more serious about it. If you go by oil rigs, you see the activities of these people. And the unfortunate aspect of it is that it is not just stealing of the oil alone that is causing problem for Nigeria, but there are so many problems associated with the oil theft.

We have problem of oil wastage as the criminals burst the pipelines. Whenever they take what they want from the ruptured oil pipelines, they leave the oil running and you find out that we waste huge sums of oil money until the system of the particular oil company shows there is a drop in the pressure of oil; that is when they get to know that is happening. Nigeria must have lost a lot before they plug the leakages and then go into repairs. And we have a quota of 248 million barrels per day as approved by OPEC. So, if we are unable to meet up, it means we would have a shortfall that will affect revenue that goes into federation account.

Also, the issue of the environment is another one. When the oil drips into the environment, it kills the aquatic life in the area and people, as a result, have health problem and the water becomes hazardous to them. It is in Nigeria that we don't attach seriousness to environmental issues. Now, we have asked the players in the sector, who the thieves are. They say they don't know. Who are the buyers, because somebody must be the buyer of illegal oil, blood oil? But we know some countries are behind this. I don't want to mention names. If we can identify these buyers, we would be able to trace our stashed money. Number two, there are outlets.

Our security agencies should block the waterway outlets, which they use to steal. We have challenged NIMASA and oil companies on the need for synergy. The Nigerian Air Force too should be brought in. The ships they use to steal oil cannot come to our shores; they stay on the high seas. They use barges to steal. They can view the entire Nigerian territorial waters from their office with the latest technology. So, when we see a particular movement on the high seas, we should be able to go after such movement. Normally, it takes approximately two days to load a ship.

So, to use barges to fill a ship will take a week or there about. So, we should be able to detect oil thieves movement by upgrading our own system to track and arrest them as they were recently caught by NIMASA. And by the time we come up with the report of our findings on the public hearing on illegal oil bunkering, we will not only have the report, but we would be able to have a solution to the problem.