Senator Osita Izunaso (All Progressives Congress, APC, Imo West), who hails from Ohakpu in Oru East LGA of Imo State, is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market.
In this interview, Izunaso speaks on the need for the creation of additional state in the South-East, urgent need to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, need to increase the number of Supreme Court Justices to 30, the planned unveiling of the Investment and Securities Act, and his contributions on the floor of the Senate and to his senatorial district, among
On the creation of additional state for the South-East
I am advocating for the creation of additional state for the South-East to increase the number of states in the zone to six to form equilibrium with other zones in the country that have six as against the present five states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo in the South-East. I have sponsored a bill to this effect that has scaled second reading in the Senate and now before the Constitution Review Committee chaired by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, APC, Kano North. It is State Creation Bill (SB. 580) which proposes the creation of ANIM State — covering all 12 LGAs in Imo West and parts of Anambra.
If each of the other five regions in the country has six states, the South-East should be given a state to balance it up. Forget about North-West, they have seven. That’s not what we’re saying. What we’re saying is, give us one more state that we deserve. ANIM State derives its name from A-N from Anambra and I-M from Imo and it is basically my territorial district plus some areas in Anambra which have agreed to join. You know, it’s not something you do by fiat. It is something you do by referendum. People will agree to join.
On the release of Nnamdi Kanu
I am calling on the Federal Government to look into the issue of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, by adopting a political solution to release him in order to reduce the level of criminality in the South-East. It should be given political consideration. As much as it is in court, it is something that I believe should be given political consideration.
I also believe that if he is freed, insecurity in the South-East will reduce substantially. It may not stop 100 percent, but it will almost stop because some people who are criminals claim they are fighting for Nnamdi Kanu and have taken over the struggle. So if he is freed, those criminals will have nothing to say again. And once they are caught, they are criminals.
On Supreme Court Justices from 21 to 30
I’m also sponsoring a bill that calls for increasing the number of Supreme Court Justices. The Constitution says that the Supreme Court should have 21 Justices. This is the first time we’re actually having a full complement of the Supreme Court, because we cleared 11 Justices to make them 21. But I’m saying that they should be 30.
You know they sit in panels of five on regular matters, but on constitutional matters they sit seven. So if you have 30, five panels can sit simultaneously.
And there are so many cases lying in the Supreme Court, such that the Supreme Court is now giving dates in 2027, 2028.
I am also of the opinion that there are certain things that should not go to the Supreme Court. There are certain things that should end either at the High Court or at the Court of Appeal. For example, why should a land matter in my village, Ohio, end at the Supreme Court? Some people are saying we can have Supreme Court at the regional level as is done in America and other places. I’m not part of that. Why will marriage cases end at the Supreme Court? Only serious matters like murder and terrorism should terminate at the Supreme Court. That is why you see cases staying in the Supreme Court for years. The last time I went to the Supreme Court as a lawyer was in 2023. The case we went for, the parties had already died before we finished.
On the Investment and Securities Act
My most notable achievement is sponsoring the Investment and Securities Bill 2024 (SB.128) — a comprehensive reform aimed at boosting investor confidence, tightening regulation, and increasing foreign investment. Mr. President has assented to the bill, and that Act is now the omnibus law governing everything about the capital market and investment. Courtesy of the law now, if you are caught doing Ponzi, you will be jailed for 20 years. It is the law that also legalizes cryptocurrency and SEC can now regulate crypto.
In fact, digital assets have now become part of the instrument in our country. It wasn’t there before. The Act has been able to address at least four of Tinubu’s eight-point agenda. You can’t talk about $1 trillion economy without a vibrant capital market. Where are you going to get the money from? It can only come through capital market.
That is a novel law. In fact, it has brought a new SEC. It’s not the SEC that you know before. So we are planning to unveil the Act to the public because there are so many aspects of the law that people don’t know about. Even when the CBN tried to do the e-Naira, it didn’t work because that is part of the attributes of capital market.
You know, initially, CBN said they would not recognize crypto. How can you not recognize something that is already on its own? Nigeria is number two in the whole world on crypto.
Our young men and women are feeding fat on it. And the money was not coming to us. But if you regulate it, the money will start coming here.
But if you don’t, you know, it’s blockchain technology. They don’t even need you to do it. But if we now say we are regulating what they are doing, they must pay certain amount of money. But if you say you don’t want them, they will be doing their thing.
On Senate activities and senatorial district
Now, in terms of delivering at the constituency level, we’ve taken our time to choose some of the things that our people need. We are building international conference centers in virtually every local government in my senatorial district. I have the largest senatorial district in southern Nigeria.
I have 12 local governments. In fact, in my state, the next senatorial district has six local governments. Now we are doing that conference center so that people will have places to meet. It’s not that you want to have a town hall meeting in a particular local government and there is no hall and you are trying to move to the senatorial headquarters or to the state capital, which is a long distance.
And we are doing some roads project. We are also embarking massively on agricultural projects. We are encouraging our people to have something to do. I don’t believe that somebody will come and say he doesn’t have a job.
We have done a lot of training on cassava production. We have trained them in piggery. We have trained them in pottery. We have done so many trainings in the last one year.
This year now, we are concentrating on setting up. And I have an awarded scholarship. I believe that it is better for one to be unemployed than to be unemployable. Last year, I awarded 200 tertiary scholarships. This year, I awarded 100, it is from year one. We’re not awarding scholarships to somebody in 300-level or 200-level. We’re awarding scholarships to year one so that we can take you to 500 or 600, depending on the course.
And we believe that God will see us through because what I would want to be remembered for is maybe if I’m going somewhere, somebody will tap me and say ‘I was one of the people that enjoyed your scholarship’. That will make me happy than somebody who won 100 million Naira lottery. The point I’m making is that education makes me happy.
We are partnering one company in Lagos, ALS, to train our people in AI. We’re training about 1,000 persons in AI because AI is the future. And you don’t need to go to formal school to do AI. And those are the first batch of people I was told have already gotten jobs. You know now that people can stay in Nigeria and work for a company in America.
Yes and you are paid in dollars and nobody actually knows where you are. There are some people working in Canada and live here, this is what internet and AI can do these days. We are also building cottage hospitals. And when we finish, we will hand them over to government or missionaries or whatever to run. And we are also building school blocks. We are actually thinking outside of the box on how to help our people.
On posthumous award of CON on Prof. Humphrey Nwosu
Now, we have been vindicated on this issue of Professor Humphrey Nwosu. You know I was one of the sponsors of that motion. And I spoke vehemently against those who think that Humphrey Nwosu should not be honored. But, today, we have vindicated that Mr. President has taken the path of honor and I want to commend him, and also commend all the people who fought for democracy. I also fought for democracy at that time when I was young; we were part of the struggle. If I were a little bit older, maybe today I would have been given national honour.
I also think that someone like Humphrey Nwosu, a monument should be named after him. The INEC headquarters should be named after him. And I believe that Mr. President will do that. Mr. President could have refused to honour him under the guise that the Senate said he should not be honoured. You know that’s the only way for him to escape.
But he did not escape because you know the motions we move in the Senate do not have the force of law. He said, “Look, much as the Senate moved a motion that the man should not be honoured, I believe he should be honoured. I honour him”. So he should be congratulated.
