Amid sliding value of the Naira, mounting complaints by private sector players on the tottering state of the economy, all appears not to be well with the state of affairs of Nigeria. But, it is not time to despair, says former Abia State Governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, as President Muhammadu Buhari is making efforts to rework the economy. In an interview with journalists in Lagos, at the weekend, on arrival from the United Kingdom, Kalu said Buhari should be given enough time to deliver on his promises as he grapples with the burden of surmountinmg Nigeria’s multi faceted challenges.
By Kenneth Ehijiator
On the pro-Biafra Republic protests
Those boys are right, they have a right to demonstrate, but not violent demonstration, not killing soldiers because if I am a Commander- in -Chief, and you kill one of my soldiers, I will kill everybody. You cannot kill soldiers. You cannot kill police. You have a right to say no, we want our own Republic. The United Nations charter gives them the right to ask for self-determination. It is not a right to go and destroy people’s properties or to go and destroy Nigerian Armed Forces, whether it is Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy or Nigerian Police.
If I am president, I will set up either traditional rulers and some political leaders to go and ask the boys what they really want, what is really their problem, what can be done to stop them from asking for this? This was how Boko Haram started killing members of Catholic Church, and as a Catholic, I spoke vehemently against it. I told you airport correspondents that they will finish killing the Catholic and will go and start killing everybody and it happened.
When kidnapping started, then I was governor, they were kidnapping white people and I spoke out. I said when they finished kidnapping white people and there were no more white man to kidnap, they would start kidnapping us and that is what is happening in the country today.
So, I will advise the Federal Government: This is a federation, you need to manage the federation. Some people must ask for self-determination. It is the management of the people that matters. President Buhari, as a matter of fact, should set out traditional rulers, set out people, set out security and intelligent agencies to intervene. They should be more intelligent than policemen or military people carrying guns. They should find a way and tell the boys that what they are doing is not the right thing to do. So, it is left for the Federal Government. This is the right time to nip the agitation in the bud, but not by force. It is a wrong strategy hearing people saying that we will quench it by force. We cannot quench anything by force because it is their right to ask for self- determination.
But is it the right thing to do in a bigger country like ours? It is only a president that doesn’t know what he wants that will want a section of his country to go. I think negotiation is part of democracy.
I have seen your Enugu-Port Harcourt, Aba-Umahia express road that have not been built, I will build it in two years; I have seen your Awka-Onitsha express way that is not built, I will build it in two years; I have seen that your Umuahia-Ohafia to Aruchukuwu to Cross River express way is not built, I will do it. I have seen that your Arondizuogu-Okigwe express way is not done, I will do it.
I have seen that your Enugu to Makurdi express way is bad, people are dying there every day.
This was what I quarrelled with the government over it in 2001. I said our roads are bad. Federal roads are very bad and they are taking it for granted. Check what I have said 10 years ago, they are recurring today and the government is still playing with it, people are still doing politics with it.
What is your take on plans by some state governors to either sack workers on cut down on salaries of civil servants?
It is a truism that all is not well with the state of Nigeria’s financial economy. The current situation, if the truth must be told, is that we are in dire straits. This time calls for deep reflection and serious financial reengineering by managers of the public sector.
This requires creative, strategic and visionary leadership by leaders at all levels because the reality is that the the resources accruing from crude oil sales are dwindling by the day on account of falling oil prices in the international market.
Financial obligations
Above all, leadership is about the ability to take the right decisions at the right time by putting the people first. State governors should cut down on frivolous expenses in order to meet their financial obligations especially workers’ salaries and payment to pensioners.
If it means converting a portion of the security vote to fix serious responsibilities, it is worth it.
This is because many state governors allegedly siphon the so -called security vote. We must learn to live within our means as a way to sustain a decent life. Governors should leverage on other revenue sources to complement the federal allocation. The era of depending on a mono product economy is long over.
On the need for President Muhammadu Buhari and his team to hammer out serious economic interventions or measures to revive the economy
Orji Uzor Kalu
Put in a parable, we could situate the economic reality by seeing President Buhari as the manager of the economy as a distributor who has distributed goods to his customers, he came back to the market, all his customers closed the door, he didn’t see anybody to collect money from.
Dilemma of the president
He called somebody and said break the door, any door he broke, nothing was seen so he went back to all the shops, there was nothing inside the shops, he didn’t see the goods he supplied them and he didn’t find any money that the shop owners were supposed to pay. That is the dilemma of the president, if I can say. He didn’t tell me but this is what I feel.
I feel strongly that it will take the president the next two to three years to sort out this problem. Nigerians are always in a hurry and I am surprised. Change don’t come easy. What the president is doing is what he is supposed to do.
How do you think the president is feeling in this dismal scenario you have painted?
The president should be having hypertension now but I am sure he is confused himself because the goods he supplied are still there even if he does not have his money.
You know I am not a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, so, I don’t speak for them. What I speak is the truth and people should not be expecting President Buhari to do miracles.
I am not a member of his party but he is a very close friend of mine and you should not be expecting President Buhari to do miracles. I don’t expect him to do miracle, there is no miracle in this business, he has to take his time.
The situation is made worse because oil prices have gone down and everybody is looking if there will be any slight change in the third quarter of 2016.
Nigerians just elected their president for change and they want to see the change immediately.
It is not possible, the president has to take his time, he has to take account of what he has seen and what he has not seen. From what I am hearing, they have not even started to ask questions about where our money has gone to. So many people said that many officials still need to answer some questions. My reading is that President Buhari as our leader is very unlucky, he came into the saddle of leadership for a change during a very difficult time.
What is your take on efforts by the Buhari administration to recover looted funds by the past regime through the anti – corruption measures already in place?
I think President Buhari is on track in his efforts to recover looted funds by the past administration. The anti-corruption measure is not a drawback as some critics may want to see it. Given the malfeasance that took place in the last regime, the president is handling the situation very well. It is not a drawback at all. Buhari should know who he should call because there was massive looting, I am sure most people didn’t want to listen to some people like us, who were shouting about what happened in the last administration.
We said that there was corruption and the corruption that we saw in the last administration was very high. I told airport correspondents in one of my interview sessions when I landed at the Lagos Airport that there was corruption in the last regime.
Though, I am a friend of the former president but I speak the truth, I told you people that I came from Emirates, Dubai and I have never seen the kind of corruption I was seeing then in Nigeria; people were carrying the dollar by hand. Journalists confronted me that why couldn’t I advise the former president and I remember telling them that beyond friendship the country comes first. And you people asked me, ‘are you not a friend of Jonathan? I said, ‘yes, I am his friend and so what? Our country comes first .’
So, I am still standing here. If Buhari does a bad thing tomorrow, I will caution him. I have written letters to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, I have written to Jonathan although the one of Jonathan is not in the public and I wrote letters to Yar ‘Adua when he was president so I am sure Nigerians should be patient with President Buhari.
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