By Mary Okpalaume
Pastor Blessing Adima is the one of the directors of Forum for Setting the Nigerian Agenda. In this interview with Mary Okpalaume, among other issues, he discusses issues bordering present day Nigeria and proffers change of heart, from the leadership and citizenry, for a better Nigeria.Excerpts:
It’s been eleven months since Mohammadu Buhari assumed office as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So far, would you say it has been so good or so bad for Nigeria; how would you assess his administration?
For me, it has not been so good. What is good about it? Is it the economic situation or the security situation that has gotten worse than it used to be? We are getting the blow by blow details every day. Governance is not about rhetoric or coming on air with a statement. Statements should be matched with actions. Agriculture is the biggest industry in any country. The next farming season is coming but the North East is still burning. The government said they have technically defeated Boko Haram. I don’t see where technicality comes into achieving victory in war. The people that have been displaced from their homes cannot go back home to go and cultivate their lands. Don’t you think the next year will be worse than this 2016? Because there is food shortage and poverty is increasing every day.
Everyday investments are folding up and investors are leaving for other countries where economic policies are favourable and the security climate is also favourable. Over a million people have lost their jobs. And in all of these, the president has not sat down to look at the problems facing his country.
Look at the fuel scarcity biting harder today. This is not what he met. The Nigerian currency is like the grass you cut from the bush. It has so lost value that the U.S. dollar is exchanging for over N300. What is really good in these eleven months? There is certainly nothing good. Power has dropped. And to worsen situation, the power generating plant the common man acquires cannot even be fueled because of fuel scarcity. So far no infrastructural development has taken place. The roads are getting worse. See the Warri/Benin express road; a drive of 15 minutes now takes up to an hour.
You seem to be condemning the administration of President Buhari. Is there no good thing that you can bring out of this administration?
If I have seen a good thing I would point it out.
What about his fight on corruption?
Are we really fighting corruption? For all I know Buhari is not fighting corruption. He is rather witch hunting his political enemies to silence. He is just taking advantage of the ignorance of Nigerians who go with the crowd. Former President Goodluck Jonathan tackled corruption in the best practice that corruption can be tackled in the face of the globe and money was recovered from the pension aspect. He tackled the subsidy cabals and money was recovered yet he did not make a whole lot of noise. Some of them went into exile and some of their cases are still in court. We are not hearing about those cases today. The Pensions cabals who ate the money of innocent Nigerians who served their country and have laboured hard with their strength. You saw somebody stealing N23b and said: “I only stole N23b” because there is another bigger thief he knows who steals more than him. Their properties were confiscated and that helped to recover the money. Tackling the pensions cabal helped that government to regain over N5trillion pensions fund.
How do you want me to praise this government? You are talking about S2.1b arms deal scandal but there are no evidences against the people he has arrested.
So as far as I am concerned he is not fighting corruption, he is only trying to put his strong opponents to silence. If he is fighting corruption, he should tell us how much he has recovered. He said that some people refunded money but as far as we know we don’t know anyone who refunded money. Let him publish their names and how much they refunded if it is true.
Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media, in an interview with pressmen mentioned that Nigerians are impatient people who want magic from President Buhari. He said they ought to be patient with him and let him work out things gradually since corruption has been since over sixteen years. What is your take on that statement?
It amazes me when you journalists keep talking about sixteen years. Corruption gave birth to Nigeria. And Nigeria has been wallowing in corruption. Successive administrations have been doing their best to fight corruption but we cannot use corrupt elements to fight corruption.
I have responded to Femi Adesina’s comments online and sometimes I feel he does not know anything or he has been bewitched. Did Nigerians have patience with the previous administration despite all that it achieved? When Fashola was on the other side of the campaign, he said a serious government will provide steady power within six months. He is over six months in office and we are still demanding steady power from him. When he came on board, he acknowledged that what he met on ground was satisfactory but where are we today? What patience did Femi Adesina want us to have? Does he want us to give Buhari twelve years? Is it not a four year tenure he is holding? If Femi Adesina does not know what Nigerians are going through he should resign his position. He is not in position to tell Nigerians to be patient. That is not even his duty. Nigeria is no longer a banana republic where we swallow anything they tell us.
Looking at the progress in the fight against corruption, it is not enough to criticize the efforts of this administration. In your opinion what is the best way to handle corruption in Nigeria?
There is no society that is free of corruption. Let me give you a revelation. There are Nigerians that are being arrested in the United Kingdom today for fraud. They were arrested not because they defrauded the Nigerian government, but UK government as sophisticated and forensic as their corruption fight. Corruption has to be fought forensically and not just through lip service. EFCC has been chasing people. Has that stopped corruption? No. Ibori was charged for N4bn fraud but a man in the pension’s office stole N23bn and called it “only.” Who is the bigger thief? EFCC is going after governors and political enemies since the days of Obasanjo.
Corruption is not what you fight on the pages of newspapers. It is not a product to be advertised. Plug the loopholes where these corrupt acts are emanating from. Take for instance, the fight of fishing out ghost workers. In the bid of fighting corruption, the Due Process office came up and Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD) too. There are still many idle government agencies where corruption is being perpetrated. Billions of naira go into those offices and end up in few people’s account. That I not supposed not supposed to be. I expect the president to look into such places and curb corruption from there. It is not enough to arrest one popular politician for corruption while there is somebody in some office stealing money. They said stealing is not corruption but it is killing Nigeria. There are too many holes. The Nigerian system should be computerized. The biometric information of every establishment should be taken. Imagine in one establishment where there are over twenty directors with only one functioning director. There are some offices, agencies and parastastals that does not even mean well for the Nigerian public. Such offices should be killed. There are many people in the petroleum sector, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nigerian Port Authorities, in the Central Bank of Nigeria, the finance sector, the agricultural sector, and so on who need to be investigated. The fertilizer cabals have come again and they are having filled day.
At a time we were in the same level with India, Malaysia, Ghana and a few other developing countries in terms of economic policies. It appears however that they have overtaken us. Where did you think Nigeria got it wrong and what solution would you proffer for a way forward?
Before now, the foreign direct investment into Nigeria was low. But the previous administration liberalized the economy for the sake of the people because government is about the people. If any government is not people oriented, then its policy is negative. If the policy is to favour a few individuals then the people will feel the bite. About twenty three years ago, the Newswatch magazine published an article where an economist advised that for us to develope our economy, we need to bring the engineering base to Nigeria instead of bringing the engineering product. There is a policy that encourages investors to build their factories here instead of making Nigeria an import based economy. We have made in Nigeria vehicles today but some persons are fighting hard to scuttle it because it is a product of the previous administration. For God’s sake, is it not Nigerian? Is it the previous administration that owns it? No. Did you know how many jobs that vehicle production company has created directly or indirectly? The government put an auto policy in place that will favour manufacturers in Nigeria than the importers who import vehicles. The government must device a policy that will change Nigeria from an import based economy to an export based economy. It is not a thing that can be done within four years.
Malasya overtook us today because they decided to look inward but there are cabals who are looking outward. They want the poor man to remain poor and wretched. Nobody is even looking at our farm produce. Our cocoa exporters even go outside the shores of Nigeria to buy and then export. How many cocoa do we still grow? We are talking about cassava and all of that. See our cassavas wasting away. Who come to buy the cassavas from the local farmers? So government should design a policy that will favour local production. That was how Malasyia and India grew. This government should take up that initiative to encourage home production. But first of all, security is paramount.
Bad economic policy and security factors like terrorism have chased a lot of foreign investors out of the country. We Nigerians are not also safe from these problems. When the Buhari administration came to be, Nigerians were hopeful that Boko Haram and other vices will be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, terrorism is having more tentacles and even spreading to southern Nigeria.
Recently one of Boko Haram most wanted was arrested in Sapele. Do you think our military are doing enough or should we seek western help?
We don’t need western help. What we need is unity of purpose. They know very well that we are divided; that an Igbo man can be used against an Urhobo man and a Fulani man can be used against a Yoruba man. Terrorism was one instrument which they used to bring the former government down. These people want to colonize Nigeria again. They have been colonizing us indirectly and it has come to their knowledge that Nigerians are becoming too aware so they try to enslave us. Is it not the same America that says they want to help Mohammadu Buhari that are now telling us that the Boko Haram are still holding territories in Nigeria?
If we come together we will defeat Boko Haram. The people destroying Nigeria are not Nigerians. No son of the soil would want to destroy his own unless he is a bastard. If you apprehend these Boko haram people, you will find that a larger number of them are not Nigerians except for the child soldiers they are recruiting. What is the result of it and how did they succeed in recruiting the child soldiers? It is hunger. This was experienced in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Within the political fold there are people who are using Boko Haram to scuttle government activities so that they can bring it down to make the government look weak. And they are aided by international force. Believe me if we have unity of purpose we can defeat Boko Haram even with their sophisticated weapons.
So it is not about inferior arms?
It is not about inferior arms. It is the black foot in our midst – in the government and in the armed forces including the community people. Until they realize that they are on the losing side, we cannot defeat Boko Haram.
The Fulani herdsmen having been causing havoc in indigent communities in the middle belt, South-East and South-South. The cases of Benue, Rivers and Enugu States made headlines lately. Unfortunately it appears the federal government is outrageously silent about it even though Buhari is said to be working on it. What do you think should be the permanent solution ?
I can remember far back in early 2000 when there was crisis between the Yorubas and the Fulanis. Mohammadu Buhari furiously attacked the government of Lam Adesina of Oyo State, accusing him of doing nothing while the Yorubas killed his Fulani brothers. Now that he is president, what kind of strategy has he adopted to work things out and save the people? Until we put religious and ethnic differences aside, see ourselves Nigerians and work together, we cannot achieve much in this country.
Somebody rightly said that the people perpetuating this evil are not Nigerians. The bulk of the Fulani cattle rearers are not Nigerians. They are migrants who left their barren ground in Mali, Niger and other central African countries. And you know the Fulanis have this habit of conquering. They go with the intention of possessing a place. These Fulanis are there waving guns and other dangerous weapons yet no police have gone to accuse them and no soldier has gone after them. But when you hear that one man committed a crime in the south east or in the South-South, six thousand soldiers will be deployed to go and look for that man.
It has even come down south. They rape our women farmers and even killing them? The other day I saw a very gory picture that I could not withstand or imagined how a human being does that to his fellow human being. They almost killed one of my community men the other day because he accused them of destroying his farm which they claimed is government land. Did the government plant the cassava? It is too bad. Buhari’s silence over the Agatu killings is an approval that Fulani has the license to kill. Imagine the former senate president going to visit the scene and the Fulani people opened fire on him. When did it become an offence for a man to go and sympathize with his people who are being slain? Yet the president has not come out with a statement.
You have to go to the Nigerian porous borders and see how these migrants are coming. The immigration officers turn blind eyes but when they see a person that is well dressed, they want to see his Nigerian passport and question him. It is high time we stop this rubbish. The dichotomy between Igbo and Hausa or Yoruba and Hausa or Hausa/Fulani Muslims being superior to Yoruba Muslims still exists.
What do you think should be the permanent solution of cattle grazing problems in Nigeria? Do you think the grazing tract is visible or do we adopt the western world’s ranching system?
If it is about the grazing line they are talking about, it will not happen. We cannot accept being trapped in our community. They should create their ranch for them not grazing tract. Every cattle rearers should have his own ranch. In Obudu there is a cattle ranch. There are Nigerians in America and Europe with their own ranches because livestock market is a booming market.
The politics for 2019 is already on top gear. Do you think it will be wise for President Mohammadu Buhari to come back for second tenure?
I don’t have the right to advise him not to come back. But I have the power to say he should not come back by my vote. And I have the same power to campaign against him for his gross failure. I don’t think he is going to succeed if he comes for second term because Nigerians are already feeling disenchanted. Even those who were his major campaigners- the Bring Back Our Girls group, and some ignorant youths who only got fed for campaigning for him are now regretting.
So what qualities should Nigerians look out for when deciding on who will be their next president?
It is high time Nigerians pick from the younger generation. Nigeria did not get independence if not for the younger generation. Nigerians should watch out for people with integrity. They should watch out for youths with vision and vigor. The youths are willing to take corrections because we can talk to them. We need a leader that knows the pain of the people; that has lived among the people. Not a multi millionaire per se. That is what we in the Forum of Setting the Nigerian Agenda we believe in. however, if we see people of age with wisdom and compassionate mind, we will accept them. We are not totally rejecting the older politicians.
On Olorogun Felix Ibru’s demise, what do you think his life and time as a former governor of Delta State and one time Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) president has taught us and should teach the present leadership of the UPU?
He was the first executive governor of Delta State. He contested for the senate in 1983 and lost under the platform of UPN and when the governorship race came in 1991 under the SDP and he was massively voted for and he became the governor. I give him credit because it was under his administration that the Delta State University came on stream even with the little resources and the short stint he had in government. You know he was a governor under a military dictator. Felix Ibru paid his due. He was a humble man despite the fact that he was from a very rich family, the richest family in Africa as at that time. He was not proud. He diligently delivered his duty as a governor.
As a UPU president, he piloted Urhobo well. He did not disappoint us. And don’t forget, he left his position as a chairman due to failing health. That is the most honourable thing to do. When it became obvious that he will be spending most of his days overseas, he handed over to his then Vice President, the late General Patrick Aziza.
But I tell you, what we have been experiencing in Urhobo today is not about the bad leadership, it is greed. Everybody wants to use UPU to make money. When you are there people think you are making money. So maybe when some kinds of government subvention are coming, one man will be so jealous and form his own UPU to un-stage you.
I think gradually we will stabilize the UPU. I can’t condemn the current leadership because the royal fathers gave their blessings. They supported it. So let’s hope that they will play their role. We are still watching. But my single advice is that UPU should be disconnected from politics. It should not and cannot decide which Urhobo son will or should contest elections. Rather the body should be thinking of how to support one of their own to become the president of this country. If they want to support a governorship candidate, it is good but they should not forget that the constitution of this country protects the rights of every individual to contest whether you are Urhobo or not.
