Why and how I set up FCMB - Otunba Sumbumi Balogun

By Omoh Gabriel, Business Editor
ON Friday, August 30, 2013 Otunba Michael Subomi Balogun had a media chat with select journalists in his porch house at 1, Milverton Road, Ikoyi. The chat was centered on “FCMB at 30: a reflection from the founder.” Otunba Subomi, in a very relaxed form said “I am not a pharisee of real life experience, my journey to what you now see had been divinely guided.

And if you care to know, I’m happy and thankful. If any of you go to PrimroseTower, the headquarters of the organisation, this block prim-rose-tower is dedicated to the glory of God as an embodiment of a young man’s faith in the unfailing support of the Almighty God and in his own destiny, in spite of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

It is also a monument of a young Nigerian’s determination to succeed and prove that given the opportunity, Nigerians have the capacity to attain a commanding height in the management of financial institutions. Lastly, it serves as a lesson to all and mankind that in all things, men may have their say but in the final analysis, the Almighty God will have His way”.

Excerpts

HOW the journey stared

I had a dream, I had a vision. I was cheated, I was an employee in another institution created by Nigerians and Americans, as well an expertise I would say, but I was the brain behind the whole thing. I went on a course in the US and I came back with ideas with which we should set up a merchant bank.

[caption id="attachment_411975" align="alignnone" width="412"] Otunba Michael Subomi Balogun, FCMB founder....had a dream[/caption]

The whole of the company was aware that I was behind it. But when it came to selecting the Chief Executive, I was told that in spite of all entreaties, that I could not be the Chief Executive because I happened to have a basic training in law. I was 42 and they brought a young man with little or no experience, from America, at 32, to come and replace me.

One of the gifts God gave me is courage and tenacity of purpose. I decided to pray to my God in addition to my decision to fight it out, so that was what happened to the dream and the vision which was clear. By nature God gave me what we call courage, tenacity of purpose, discipline, I knew where I was going but the vista was as misty and unbelievable. I was surprised that one Nigerian would say that if he didn’t get the position in a bank; he would go out to set up a bank. I wasn’t interested just in money but as this encapsulated, I was trying to prove that given the opportunity and with the support of the Almighty God, I had a meteor to attain the commanding heights in the management of the financial institution.

I was trying to prove a point, that I wasn’t arrogant or envious, but with the support I had and with the grace of the Almighty God so when I felt cheated by not being allowed to head an institution created by foreign institutions and then former employers. I had a courage to desire and without anything in my pocket except my God, I decided to start a on a journey of self actualization.

It wasn’t a proud journey, it was a journey of faith, a journey on the handbill of my God. My confidence in myself and my trust in the Lord God our Savior. All these I started with and they are up till today. In the course of the whole journey, it has been turbulent and for many people to see me still I am after about 40 years of doing what no other Nigerian had done, I wish they learnt something from what happened to me. I had a focus, I had courage, I had an unstated faith that the good Lord will carry me through, come rain come sunshine, that mortals may have their say, but in the final analysis, the Almighty God will have His way.

By the time I started my journey, the whole thing had been punctuated by my faith in my God. Maybe that was one of the reasons why I was made the Asiwaju of the Ijebu Christian association, but that faith was very strong.

So 35 years ago without thinking of what to do, I threw in my letter of resignation. One of the things we have come to learn in this country, is that in the first process of having a vision or a dream, only an individual does dream, other people would join later on. And in this country in those days, it was an anathema for an individual to  set up an institution; one man show; one man show, as if when you’re dreaming, more than one man can dream.

Looking at the Nigerian environment 35 years ago, and what we have today, would you say 35 years ago had offered more opportunities to Nigerians than what we have today?

To a large extent am happy you said opportunities. Definitely, the opportunities are growing by lips and mouth. But whether the opportunities have been taken advantage of, I will not want to comment.

Tapping the opportunities

Listen to me, there are opportunities but people have not tapped those opportunities enough.

What you had in mind, I mean your dreams and vision was a merchant bank but now the environment has changed all of that. Would you say you are comfortable with what you have in the First City Monument Bank (FCMB)?

I thank my God for what we have but my mind is stretched because of the environment, to something much bigger than what we have now. That was why I led FCMB to be quoted on the market, that was why I left FCMB to become a universal bank and taking the proceeds, that was why I disabuse the minds of people who thought those beautiful buildings I built was only meant for a lips, some people will say, that bank is only for rich people but go into FCMB we are very much involved in retail banking because in those days, it was ACB, from this corner, you will find it from that corner, you will find It. That is why FCMB has grown from five branches to nearly three hundred and we are still growing.

So its more or less a function of the environment that were going the way we are going. We are just about half way where we are going, and I thank God that I am associated with the present chief executive, his dreams are much wider than what I ever thought.

[caption id="attachment_411977" align="alignleft" width="250"] Otunba Michael Subomi Balogun, FCMB founder..[/caption]

He took it from me its just about one hundred and something branches its about three hundred and we are still growing whether organically or anything of that such.

So the environment have prompted us, it means that FCMB is a dynamic institution, FCMB has not become complacent, we have not reached the halfway of our journey. The chief executive says within a particular time, he wants to make us among the first five, I pray for him and am in full support of him as long as the good Lord gives me the breath and order definitely environment and management is the key.

Sir, can you be specific, at what point in time when your mind was so high that you think or you said you have to go and achieve what becomes an industry bench mark?

Let me tell you, I myself have set a stage that at a particular time, I must allow the old order to change. Yielding place to new.

Success without successor

Success without a successor is not success. so at a point, I was already thinking at what stage would I retire and I actually said to myself the age of 70, but between 60, 65 and 68, hell was let lose. People wanted to fight me though I knew confidentially I hadn’t done anything but my God was with me so it was on the eve of my seventy that I retire.

I’ve always had it in mind that like any human being, I would get to a stage where I could no longer cope with the zeal, with the sort of energy require for growth. Growth is something that is continually and so I had it in mind so I was making arrangement for the succession but about the age of sixty seven, sixty eight, there was a rumor and people thought oh! It’s high time you got rid of this man but God said no.

Human imagination

So about the age of 70 before I left, it was God, it wasn’t human imagination some one even said he has stayed too long why shouldn’t he go. But my God said no. When even will propose somebody to be the Managing Director, they said no hah hah hah, he wants to perpetrate himself

So many people right now especially young professionals are looking up to you as a role model they want to take up the attribute that you engaged in but it looks like the environment is really harsh what would be your words of advice for this people, so that they can still take up what we call corporate government and others?

They should not despair; they should rather persevere and be saying that through the guidance of the almighty God all will be well. They should not give way to the symbol of doubting Thomases, they should be saying I cannot fail; I cannot fail because of Jesus, because of Allah. I cannot fail. So they should be determined, focused. If you read through my autobiography, and the other book, the financial monument billed by God, there was a time in this country that some one said, that man is finished. When I showed up at a party in my flowing white agbada, they say this man? laughs who knows? But let me tell you I am a human being even if I was worried that people were fighting with me, I dint show it. I have courage I put my chest forward, I have faith, I have confidence in what God has done for me.

Having express confidence in the present management of the group and having observe equally too that if you have gone just half way and haven seen the hand of God in your life, where would you want to see the group in the net decay?

Not because Lade is my son and I’ve said something which is embarrassing to him even my family.

He is my third son but God choose him and his brothers don’t envy him rather they are very supportive. He has two elder brothers and one younger brother, the sky is the limit and I want him to continue to exploit very soon, the London branch would be expanded his uprising is being widened but in Nigeria, there is a prime need to bring back banking facility to your computer, to your mobile telephone. For you to stay in your bedroom and say transfer a hundred thousand to the anonymous account and it would happen cashless, you see, the best of the state of the act practices in the banking.

I want FCMB to be bigger.  I want FCMB to be among the first five banks. But its not just in sight, but in service, in the ordinary person regarding FCMB as a bank, the ordinary person, accepting the FCMB slogan “My Bank and I” that when they consider banking, FCMB will be their first port of call to do that, you need the best use of sophistication to do that, not just electronics state of act services.

Mobile telephone

Like I said, if for instance you take FCMB card either credit or debit as soon as you sling it into the machine, I bet you in two minutes you hear khan! in your mobile telephone they will say the sum of two hundred thousand has just been taken from your account if you don’t agree please let us know.  In London, I did something, I did it deliberately to be proud. I went into a shop bought something and they wanted me to pay. I said you shouldn’t mind, let me give you a card, my credit card. They saw my picture there at least that shows that I am the owner of the card they said how much. He did not ask me to give him my number he just looked at me and ask me to sign?

No regrets?

Yes, no regrets at all in fact, when I look back I smile and raise up my hands and say thank God! A few weeks ago, my classmate in the secondary school, we gather there we were celebrating our 61 years of leaving school (1952), and we look round everybody was saying this and that I said God I thank you that is what am doing.

What could be the good advice that you will give to young CEOs of banks who people view as flashy in their conduct what would be your advice to them?

OK, professionalism, being ethical a culture of excellence, a faith in your God and anchoring everything you are doing on the Supreme Being you should notice that I’ve been emphasizing God that much as what has happen to me has been God dream. There has been a lot of turbulence but I said they should be professional. People talk of corporate governance the broader thing is to be professional in what you are doing.

I have learnt considerable lessons in life, and I have gone through the cruishable of the chastising experience with the support of providence I have renewed my strength like an eagle and I am now in a position to soar to whatever level my God will take me.

I will testify that I have discovered by God the almighty, the only one who can make and unmake,the only wise God although I was thoroughly shaking I was not uprooted and my head about but not crushed in -spite of all these, the almighty God gave us the grace to reorganize the book in order to forge ahead. I thank my God that neither my health nor my personal composure within the system and the public, suffered any devices.

Personal composure

My boss my managing director says he will want to take up within the first five in the years not just the size not just in profitability but in acknowledgment that all of you that you will leave here and go and take the form to become customer.

If you are made the CBN governor, what will you do to contribute to the system?

I am an old man and I am 80. I don’t involve myself in controversies if anything I pray for I never get in controversy

How big is FCMB, can it finance multinational OIL companies and businesses?

We are already doing that in a big way not only finance, but even facilitating other people joining to finance one of the big project. FCMB may not for now be medium size bank and it has to do with the way we started we started as a merchant bank.

If we have started as a checking bank, maybe by now we would blotted but gradual by gradual but the way we were doing to finance the largest of businesses and if we cannot do it alone we have an investment banking now to bring others to move.

Boko haram: We took sect leader Abubakar Shekau for granted – Senator Ndume

By Bilesanmi Olalekan

Senator Muhammed Ndume - Borno South - was the Minority Leader in the House of  Reps as an ANPP lawmaker before he moved to the PDP and then became a senator.  His political career took a twist when he was accused of sponsoring the Boko Haram Islamist group.

In this interview, he hails the onslaught against Boko Haram by the military forces but says the insurgency by the sect festered after government took it for granted that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau died during a raid on his hideout in 2012.

Ndume warns that same mistake should not be made in the wake of the current claim that the sect leader has been killed. The senator also speaks on some other national issues.

Where were you and what was your reaction when you heard that the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, was dead?

First of all, I was not very sure since his body was not shown and there was no categorical statement from the military that he was dead, like the American military told the world about the late Osama bin Laden, they were categorical.  I was not around when the announcement concerning Shekau’s death was made. However it is not the death of Shekau that concerns me, it is the problems that relate to the insurgency that concern me.

I hope the death of Shekau means the death of Boko Haram insurgency and the security challenges that we are facing in the North- east. But the death of a sect leader like this does not usually bring  insurgency to an end. Government must take action in order to make sure that the Boko Haram insurgency comes to a total end. Mind you, we  in the North-east are in the fore front of the whole crisis.

We are in the centre of the crisis. We know how it feels. I was home last week, I went round my constituency, saw the two most affected communities, Dambua and Dangoza. It was a pathetic sight to behold. Towns that were very vibrant and lively have suddenly become ghost towns. It is either the people have run away or have been killed. What you see are children here and there. You can hardly get somebody above 30 living around. Though I think it is getting better now especially with the emergency rule because normalcy is beginning to set in.

You were part of the Presidential Committee raised to dialogue with Boko Haram at a time and, suddenly, you found yourself in the web of the sect-government crisis, leading to your arrest and arraignment in court.  Any regret that you wanted to assist the government in the first place?

No, I didn’t regret it at all. Though I feel bad about the whole thing and that is why I said before the interview that I would not want to talk about it and I will appreciate if we don’t go beyond that because security issues are not something you politicise, trivialise, tribalise. It is a calamity and I have always said instances of this nature should be looked into collectively, not looking for scapegoats, but solutions to the problems.

But when government sees problems and they begin to look for scapegoats, then you are not finding solution to the problems. And you know for now it will be subjudice talking much about it because it is still in court. As a leader and someone who is from the affected area, I think when you have serious issues like the one we are having now, you don’t trivialise, tribalise or give it a religious colouration.

It is like cancer, it will just keep on spreading and, before you know it, it is  beyond control. Initially, government was trivialising the matter until they saw that it was going beyond them, so I was happy that they brought in the military. And that is why results are coming out now. People, I mean civilians, are themselves volunteering information because they have seen that government has shown seriousness.

[caption id="attachment_214934" align="alignnone" width="412"] Sen. Ndume[/caption]

Youths are now arresting Boko Haram members. I know some boys, all the way from Borno, went to Lagos to arrest a suspected Boko Haram member. In those days, nobody talked about it. But they have all seen that government is damn serious about fighting the insurgency, and that is why they also are showing support for the the government action and we are all seeing results.

But it is not time to relent on what they are doing until they finally get to the end of the problem. In 2009, when Boko Haram was crushed, everybody thought it was over, saying Shekau was dead even though some had contrary views, only for him to resurface in 2011 and unleashed very serious damage on government. All of us must support government because it is a national issue, it is not a religious issue because it has never been. When they now go about attacking mosques, would you now say that is religious?

Talking about government showing seriousness, some have said the emergency rule was late in coming?

That is true. The emergency rule had been in some local government areas in the states affected prior to the main emergency. Government was not as serious as it is now in tackling the issue. It has even gone further in creating a garrison in that area in order to effectively tackle the issue. This is something that would have been done long time ago.

If it were done then, we would have gone very far. But as the saying goes, it is better late than never. And I think we have paid the price for it. Of course, the action is effective. But it is not perfect as we all know. I am more concerned about the civilian JTF, that is, the youths who are giving out information leading to the arrest of the sect members, I think they (government) should use this opportunity to organise them because, at the moment, they are just there, there is no structure; government should take advantage of this opportunity and organise these youths. There is no support whatsoever aside the cover the JTF gives them. After the menace of the Boko Haram, what do you do with them? The soldiers would go back to their barracks, where would the youths go ?

The child marriage controversy

That is not true. There was nothing of such.

How about your colleagues that….

You had better talk to my colleagues then. You are talking to me. You want to hear from me? So, listen. I Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume didn’t vote on marriageable age. And nobody in the chamber that day did. On the  issue of marriageable age, nobody did. What happened was that Section 29, Subsection 4 or thereabouts of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, says that if you want to renounce your citizenship, you must be 18 years of age or you must be of marriageable age.

The committee was saying that the clause should be removed and those that are in support of the clause to be expunged should vote yes while those against it should vote no. That was what happened. The issue of age and marriage didn’t arise at all. We all voted according to our conscience. Then Senator Yerima raised an issue that expunging it would affect Islamic legal system which didn’t specify age bracket in marriage.

So, where the issue of marriage came in, I don’t know. That was why the Senate president was even saying no, we had taken a decision on that already but, for me, I am really surprised that we are wasting  energy on this when we should be talking about lack of electricity, unemployment. I have a daughter that is 25 years old now, she will marry at the time she is ready to .

I married my first wife at the age of 19 when she was in the university. When I was to marry my second wife, she was about graduating from the university at the age of 22. I don’t think we should waste much energy discussing this. After all, do you marry without consent? If you have a daughter that you brought up, would anybody marry her out for you? Or are you going to marry out your daughter when she is not ready for marriage?

There is no light, there is security challenge, the schools are shut and here we are talking about marriage. This is one of my concerns for this country. I am even worried now talking about it with you because I know very soon, they will start abusing Ndume on the pages of newspapers and in the social media. I saw my name and picture on the pages of newspapers on the day we voted on the citizenship issue as if we killed somebody.

But it is proven that early marriage brings about diseases like vesico vagina fistula, VVF.

That is a lie. That is happening because we don’t have a good health care system; otherwise when you see pregnancy that may be injurious to the child and mother, you perform CS on the woman. Why don’t we insist that we should have good health care system? Why don’t we insist that parents should be more responsible?  I will not marry out my daughter under 18.Please let us talk about serious issues.

The jumbo package members of the National Assembly collect is said to be adding to the high cost of governance in this country and as explained by Obi Ezekwezili, a former minister, recently, that about N1trillion has been spent on you people in the last 10 years.

Let me say that the cost of governance in Nigeria is prohibitive. Out of the national budget, you spend about 75% on recurrent expenditure. Is that not too much? However, you don’t isolate the National Assembly. It was only in the last three years that the budget of the National Assembly shot up. So, since the last three to four years now, the budget has always been N150b which includes the running cost, salaries of members of the National Assembly, legislative aides, National Assembly Commission, National Assembly staff, National Assembly capital and recurrent.

Take N150billion in this year’s budget as against the budget of N4.9trillion, what percentage does that give you? And out of that, go and check the salaries, allowances and emoluments that go the members of the National Assembly, not National Assembly as a whole and check out the figures. Go to the Presidency, each of the ministries, look at their spending, then you can now talk, but you don’t just want to make news for news sake.

If you take the N3.2
trillion which is the recurrent expenditure of this year’s budget and take N150 billion and divide it, you now say it is the National Assembly that is responsible for the high cost of governance in this country? Let me tell you, even the budget loopholes or leakages  are more than what the National Assembly is taking. Agreed that the cost of governance is high, it is not because of what the National Assembly is being paid.

If National Assembly members are taking jumbo pay and milking the country as they are saying, go and see former members of the assembly, are they not supposed to be rich Nigerians?  When have they taken the money to? Are they not supposed to be building structures that would make them richer even after leaving the assembly?

Go and look at them especially those that didn’t return, go and see the type of life they are living; that is when you will know whether they are taking jumbo pay or not. And then go and look at a retired director and see the life he is living after retirement. Go and see even this minister that is talking, she was minister just a few years back and see her standard of living now and compare it with our former senate presidents.

Go and take the statistics of the office of minister for education while she was there, the personal emoluments she was spending in the office as a minister and compare it to what was being paid to a senator that period. I don’t want to join issues with anybody but this issue of looking for scapegoat syndrome that is common with us should be stopped. The President said that they are going to sacrifice 30% of their salaries, did it work?

Have they implemented it? We in the assembly, out of the allowances, we said we are going to cut off 30% across board and we did. But that has not been done in the executive arm. The budget quagmire we found ourselves in was because members of the appropriation cut off personnel cost of some of the ministries which nearly turned this country upside down. You people are talking about those who just for traveling expenses, they are spending billions of naira, no one is talking about that.

The matter came up as a result of petition. A member of the executive spent about N2billion on travels only. If you give me N2billion today, I will not play politics again, if you say you are giving me and not that I should give my people, that it is mine, I am done. It is just that we are the most endangered species in all of this but we are ready to take the bashing. We are the symbol of democracy. But truly the cost of governance in this country should be looked into so that about 75% should go into capital while the balance can go to personnel and recurrent.

Objectively, is your party, the PDP, in crises?

Yes, but that does not mean there are no gains. However, democracy, not PDP, has not given the much desired dividends we deserve. Blame is not only on the doorsteps of the PDP. It is a collective responsibility. Just because the PDP is on the driver’s seat does not mean the passengers are less guilty. Yes, the PDP government has been running this country for the past 13 years, but not independently, it runs the country interdependently. The opposition is there. Nigerians are there. It is supposed to be a collective thing.

So, on the assessment of our democracy in the last 13 years ,I will say we are yet to get to where we are supposed to be. But we can’t put the blame squarely on the door steps of the PDP because you can’t have a bad leader if you don’t have a bad followership. Leadership is supposed to be for the people, by the people; if it is not working well, you don’t just look at the head, you look at the whole body.

There is controversy as to which region should be elected in 2015. The North insists it is their turn while the South-south is saying the President must be given a second term. You are a northerner. What is your take?

Let me be honest with you. I feel bad when we begin to tribalise an important issue like this. We are in democracy which is about elections. We are copying the presidential system and, in the presidential system like the American that we are copying, in America today, are they talking about north or east? south or west? There was a Nigerian mayor in Ohio or Columbus. There was one again in Russia. But here, is it possible for you, Ola, to leave Lagos and go to Borno to win election? But let me tell you, in 1979 to1983, the Secretary to the State Government in Borno State was a Yoruba man.

The Chief Judge in Borno in 1979 to 1983 was Justice Kalu Anya. He is from South-east. But, today, all that is gone. This is how this country is supposed to be, it does not matter where you come from. The important thing is to have a good President. The region he comes from, to me , does not matter. It is a President that can deliver, not where he or she comes from.

Has this president delivered?

I told you that I don’t want to talk about personalities but issues or ideas. It is weak minds that discuss personalities. As I said, you can’t have a bad President until you have a bad followership. Is Jonathan running this country alone? So please let us refrain from discussing personalities, let us talk about issues that will move our country forward. If Obama dies today, America will be up and running.

I have said it several times, government should be like a rail track and, once the train is on the track, unless something happens, you cannot suddenly stop. But Nigeria is being run like a bicycle now. You know bicycle depends on the person riding it. If you ride it fast, it will be fast and if you choose to be slow, slow shall it move, if you stop, it will stop too. That is how we are running it. We should build strong institutions not personalities. Once the policies are right which of course will determine the speed of the train, that is all we need, not personalities.

At the time you defected to the PDP, it was barely three months to the general elections of 2011.  How did you win the election on a different platform and even to a higher level-Senate?

It was just the work of God. I am a very lucky person. I am from a poor background. My father didn’t go to school and my late mother was barely educated before she was married to my father. I don’t have anybody that is rich in my family. I went into politics without any godfather. My god father presently and all along from the beginning is God. If I have a political god father, I would not be going through the travails I am going through now. But I believe that God allowed it to be so because of a purpose which I don’t know and I pray it is positive.

There is no magic. My guiding principle in life is, ‘Don’t  ever forget where you are coming from if you want to know where you are going’. I know that I am from, so I always relate with the poor and up till now the poor identify with me. And incidentally, the poor are the majority and the poor are the ones that decide one’s fate and the voice of the people, they say, is the voice of God.

That was how I emerged. An individual in our politics that time, that was our sitting governor, thought he could play God, but the same God came out to say no. Although we cannot see Him but He is always there and it was through Him that I emerged victorious. I went to PDP, even my being in PDP is God’s choice. I won the election decisively. There was no election petition against me. As a matter of fact, I have never gone to court in my life until they said I sponsored Boko Haram. I have never gone to court even on a civil issue. But God must have put me through all these for a purpose and I hope it is a positive one.

Jonathan is disgracing Nigerians - Oyegun

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the first civilian governor of Edo State, is one man who craved, long ago, for an alternative national political party that can check the seeming arrogance of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the federal level.

Today, he is one of the Action Congress of Nigeria, CAN, leaders working for the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC). In this interview, he discloses how the leaders of the opposition have been able to bury their personal interests to ensure that the APC merger becomes a reality.

He describes the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP as a failure, just as he notes that the activities of the First Lady of the nation, Dame Patience Jonathan, are making the President more unpopular. He speaks on other national issues including Edo State politics.
Excerpts:

Some of the leaders of the opposition have been busy trying to register the APC. What impact do you think the party will make if eventually registered?

I think that the day after we get the official letter, registering the APC, the political dynamics of this nation will totally change, because it will be a move nearest to a two- party system. Secondly, we will be creating, from day one, a credible national party which will have root in every state, every geo- political zone of the country. We will be offering, from that very day, a choice between the PDP and the credible alternative, the APC.

We will be offering the people a choice between two proven entities, the record of the PDP is there and I think it is one great endless list of mismanagement, bad governance and extreme level of corruption, as against an APC which also has a record; fortunately, when you think of the record set by the South-west governors, when you think of the record set by the only APC government in the South-south, which is Edo, when you think of the Nassarawa governor who knows that he has an Assembly that is controlled by his opponent but he has been able to make a landmark achievement in the short time he has been there, you know we have an edge over the PDP. And, of course, you must think of the ANPP contribution in terms of its strength in the North-east.

Also coming into the fold very strongly is Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, and you have to count Anambra where we control one senatorial area, and, but for electoral manipulations, we would have won the governorship there.

[caption id="attachment_406212" align="alignnone" width="412"] Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the first civilian governor of Edo State[/caption]

So we have a party that is evenly spread all over the country. The one component of the party in the North, the CPC, their candidate in the last elections garnered about ten-eleven million votes; by the time we add to that the massive votes that are to be harvested in the South-west, in the South-south, South-east, I think the voting public will now see that, truly, they have an alternative with performance that can be the ruling party at the center.

So it is going to be interesting, it is going to be challenging and i think the course of political events in this country will dramatically alter. I don’t want to go into the endless crises and the threat of implosion within the PDP which, of course, can only rebound to the advantage of the APC.

Several governors of the PDP will be lining- up, knocking at the gates of the APC in the not too distant future; so the future is absolutely bright for the APC.

Many people think that the same crisis you spoke about in the PDP may tear the APC apart due to personal interests of the leaders?

 It does not worry me. I have seen miracles happen since the negotiation for the merger of this party started. I have seen politicians accept what I never thought politicians will accept. I have seen politicians making sacrifices that I never thought politicians were capable of making.

I have seen the hand of God in what is happening now; we have already set up an interim executive to meet up with the requirements of INEC. We have three major parties each of which has an executive already, almost the same number of positions.

There were three, four chairmen, but we now have only one; so there are chairmen today who are just playing the role of ordinary members and they have accepted the situation. Nobody has had to make extraordinary promises of anything whatsoever.

In a political circle, I think that is nothing short of a miracle. God loves this country. I have no doubt about it and what is happening now is God’s way of saying, ‘look, I wish you people well, I want to give you another chance,’ and, thank God, the various leaders of the parties, have been modest enough, sacrificing to make what has happened possible.

Yes, there will be disagreements here and there, but the pattern is already set on how to spread the offices between the various interest groups and the minute the APC is recognized, all the barriers of  ‘I am CAN’, ‘I am CPC’, ‘I am ANPP’, will be totally broken down; we will now have one single national party.

But how optimistic are you that APC will take over the Federal Government come 2015?

I am not a gambler but, on this particular issue, I am ready to wager anything. The discontent in the country is palpable, you can see it, you can feel it, even touch it.

The hopelessness in the country is very high and you can see that the people are waiting for a way out. What they have been doing in the past is based on the fact that they did not perceive that they had a credible alternative so that they can punish a non- performing Federal Government. Now that the alternative is here, I have no doubt that the long suffering Nigerians will know where to dismount and back the party that will restore hope to their lives.

 What do you think about Rivers political crisis/ factionalization of NGF?

 I don’t know if there are words harsh enough to describe the developing situation in Rivers State . It is disgraceful, it is shameful. Not only before Nigerians, we are also dancing naked before the international community. 35 responsible leaders, the second layer of governance in this country could have such arguments over an election in which only 35 actors, leaders, executives governing millions of people participated.

The situation is also very alarming because it is a precursor to what is happening,  it has now degenerated to such an extent that the consequences are going to be enormous if it continues. The whole nation cannot be behaving as if this is kindergarten politics, as if this is student union politics. Minister, Honourable members, police commissioner, the Presidency, behave as if there is a cult war in a university. Five people trying to impeach a Speaker and a governor; if it were a fairy tale, it would still have been very outlandish, but to think it is disgraceful that supposedly responsible people are fighting for something the end of which they may not live to see, and the nation is tense.

They don’t even think of the consequences, they are so myopic and so blinded by events which are yet to come, two years from now. Everybody keeps saying power belongs to God, so why have they decided to play God at this very early stage of the process? The issue today is nomination, the election is not even an issue, but when people are pontificating and talking, they bang the table, ‘if this one does not become this, Nigeria will cease to exist, we heard that from the South-south and from the North’.

What kind of rubbish is that? Let them talk within their parties, concentrate on making sure that those they favor get nominated, we have not come yet to voting and we have to trust the Nigerian people, put their case before them, and stop beating war drums and promising bloodshed if A or B is not returned as President, not even to be nominated as a candidate. I find it astonishing.

It is as if normally responsible people are taking leave of playing ordinary common sense. So one can only appeal that they should go step by step; everybody should shift his belt and carry the battle to his party, get nominated; when campaign time starts, we can start the game. I don’t see reason for this kindergarten type of overheating the polity and endangering the corporate existence of the nation. Let these people keep quiet and not play God, when the time comes, God will show the people what to do.

 How do you view the recent war of words between the President’s wife and the Nobel laureate, Prof.Wole Soyinka?

Normally, the President’s wife should not be doing what she is doing, out of respect for her husband, the President, out of respect for the position she holds. But she is a Nigerian, she has a right to a party card, she has a right to aspire for whatever she wants to be politically in this nation but that has a price. From her exalted position, immediately she decided to be involved in political combat and political conflict, then she should be ready for the consequences. I find that very sad indeed because she was a pinnacle, but she has abandoned that pinnacle and decided to be a politician like every other person.

That is unfortunate and that is of course the reason for the comments that we observed recently. I read some of the comments and they were surprising. I even listened to a few radio programs and some people said ‘you should not talk to the First Lady that way’.

I agree, you should not even talk to the President like that, but if anybody, President or the First Lady, decides to go into the mud of politics, then he/she must expect the mud to be thrown at him/her. Even though I am in the opposition, I admire the President’s wife because she is a very strong- willed lady, but there is a lot of good she can do without descending into the murky waters of political conflict.

It is easy to make that deduction that she could be the cause of the crisis in Rivers State because she was in Rivers for ten days, the whole place was virtually locked down and days after she left, this conflagration started. Well, this is a case of putting two and two together. Wole Soyinka and Ben Nwabueze are respected Nigerians and she cannot ignore their advice and it will be very unfair for her to condescend to a level of trying to insult such great men.

But are not surprised that the President has not been able to caution the First Lady and stop this national embarrassment?

 The President probably thinks and his advisers have probably convinced him that these things serve his political interest. May be they are right, may be they are not. But like I said earlier, the fight should not be something that involves the total population of Rivers State. It should be something to be carried out within the structures of the PDP. It should not affect the House of Assembly.

If you want to induce members of the House quietly, whatever you need to do, do it, but carrying thugs there, with the police supporting them one way or the other, that is not the best way to convince anybody. This is something for persuasion, inducement, not something for breaking heads. It is unfortunate, I would have expected that the President will be more presidential both as the issue relates to the Nigeria Governors Forum that is a disgraceful show of ineptitude at too high a level of governance in Nigeria.

The NGF problem and also this Rivers angle, the President should step out as a statesman, he is the father of this nation, he is the number chief executive of this nation, the governors are chief executives of their states, they have a common interest outside politicking. He should now take whatever else he wants to do within the PDP family and not allow the kind of show of shame we are witnessing today. His position must be clear, must be firm, he must put himself at the right side of history and posterity and his own personal reputation.

What do you see ahead of 2015?

The fear I have for the country is the nomination process. Once the candidates emerge, the political battle lines will be very clear and will be decided. And that won’t be subject to structures any more, it will be subject to your ability to convince the people that you have performed in the past and you will even be able to do better in the future. And I don’t think that in this age, it will be possible to do, with INEC, the police force, the totality of the security agencies, what happened in President Obasanjo’s time.

The world has moved on including the Nigerian world. Of course the opposition has learnt very bitter lessons and, but for the courts, some of its victories could not have been achieved, only a few were snatched back from the seizure by the PDP. So it is clear that we have to be better prepared for 2015 and any other election for that matter, because the first election is coming in October, Anambra State.

And we are going to have elections in Ekiti, Osun, and the rest; we are not going to take chances. The only people who would want to fake the elections will be those who want to be self -destruct, because things won’t be like they used to be because we too will be prepared.

 How do you view the battle for the presidency between northern leaders and the South-south?

Sometimes I think I am over simplifying issues but I could go back to what I said before, it is for the Nigerian population to decide who will be their president. The day will not come when all those contesting will be northerners or where all those contesting will be southerners; there will be a mix of North, South, East and West contesting in 2015. It will be left to the good sense of the Nigerians voters to know what is in their best interest. I have got calls from strange people who say I am one of Jonathan’s supporters and I said no, that is not the issue.

The issue is that he has fundamental constitutional right to contest and you cannot take that away from him, just like it is the fundamental constitutional right of the Nigerian voter to decide who governs him. To me, the issue is simple; all the people over heating the polity and shouting it must be a northerner or a southerner; that does not arise. President Jonathan is entitled constitutionally as a Nigerian to contest the election. It is for him to convince the PDP.

Any other person is also fully entitled, it is for him to convince his party, then we meet at the political battle ground. I hate people creating arguments and difficulties where there are none. Of course they are initial drums of political excitements leading to the big event, but if they can do that without endangering the political health of the nation, the better for us. But I don’t think Nigeria will collapse for any reason.

You were one of the South-south leaders who fought for a president from the region which eventually produced Jonathan. Will you say you are satisfied with his performance today?

That is a difficult question because I am in the opposition. I am in a totally different party, but I do not think the economy is doing well in spite of all the good things that they quote. When capital flows into Shell, into Chevron, and when the banks shuffle their papers and money is being made and exchanging hands, we are said to be going at six, seven per cent.

I am an economist, my career was basically at the Ministry of Economic Development, Economic Planning, but until that word, development, reaches and touches the average Nigerian, until I see stability in power, until I see growth in employment, until I see graduates who have  hope that even after three years they will get jobs, governance have not been effective. My attitude is that it does not matter where the President comes from, those are the basic indicators of a successful government. I think it is clear that there I nothing on ground to show that this government has performed.

Coming to your state, Edo, the battle for Governor Oshiomhole’s successor is already on. Do you not think that may tear the coming APC apart in the state?

The only surprise to me is that the struggle for his successor started so early and such an intense manner, and I think it was wrong. We still have a lot of catching up to do in Edo and I mean that seriously we don’t want anything for at least two years to divert the energy both of the government and of the people. There is a lot of time for that, the advice one wants to give  in a situation like this is that those who get into the ring too early are likely to fight themselves to a state of exhaustion by the time the real fight comes and you will allow a third party to run away with the prize. It is even in the interest of all those that are involved to back down and let the proper time come. It was really threatening to destabilize the party, and, if the party is destabilized, government will also be destabilized and we don’t want such thing. I was very upset about that and I think at the appropriate levels we all made that very clear.

  Edo PDP is strategizing also ahead of 2015 and 2016. Do you think the APC will have the fire power to check the PDP since Oshiomhole’s tenure will come to an end in 2016?

I don’t see the PDP featuring in the struggle. The real struggle will be who will satisfy the people within the ACN and being capable of continuing at the same level that Governor Oshiomhole was operating; not whether the PDP will feature of whether they are re-organizing. I know human memories are short, but the last ten fifteen years is also short and people remember what they lost in twelve solid years of PDP governance in Edo State. And the excitement that the last five years has brought, the hope, the change, will always be considered, not the PDP. So the real issue is going to be who will replace Oshiomhole rather than whether or not the APC as it is will retain office. I have no doubt about that in my mind. Oshiomhole has made us proud and Edo people will always be grateful to him and reward him with their continued support.

 

Nigerian Christians are treated as second class citizens - Oritsejafor

This is a two in one  interview.

Luka Binniyat met the President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, in Abuja. Sam Eyoboka ran into the CAN leader in Lagos.

Both encounters produced this interview in which Oritsejafor bared his concerns  on what he described as the treatment  of Christians as second class citizens in their own country. He also spoke on Boko Haram, amnesty for the Islamists, their victims, and gay marriage. Excerpts:

You are now in your second term as the President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). What were the challenges you faced during your first tenure and what is your agenda  for the second?

One major challenge was to try to reposition the Church in Nigeria to make sure that it is at par with other religions in this country. This is because what I saw was a situation where Christians were like second class citizens in a country where probably more than half of its citizens are Christians, yet Christian  were like second class citizens.

[caption id="attachment_406199" align="alignnone" width="412"] Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor....Islamic banks illegal but functioning[/caption]

So it was a big challenge and it is a challenge that we must continue to tackle. It is also a major goal that I intend to work on, to ensure that Christians are treated as true citizens of this country.

Because of my efforts to address this challenge, I am probably one of the most misunderstood persons in Nigeria today. I faced it for three years and I am  hoping that in the next three years, probably many people will begin to understand me in this respect, especially when they gradually begin to discover the reality of the things that are happening in this country.

For example, the most recent one is when the Chairman of the so called Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North came out to say that they had met and struck a deal with the Boko Haram Islamic sect and I said ‘which Boko Haram?’ We have had experiences in the past where Boko Haram will come out to say they will stop the killings and the next day people were killed! When I heard what the Chairman of the committee said, I said, ‘Let us wait and see because Shekau (the leader of Boko Haram)  is going to come out to tell us what the real thing is, whether they had a deal or not’. It didn’t take time; Shekau came out and contradicted everything the Chairman of the committee said.

He said they are working in the vineyard of Allah and that they will continue (with their attacks) until they establish Islamic state in Nigeria.

My believe is that with time, they will begin to see that I have no hatred for any group of people in Nigeria. Anything I say is not coming out of hatred, it is coming out of love and love does not hate truth. Love is a foundation for truth. The Bible says “tell the truth in love”. So I believe that within a short time, a lot of those who really thought I hated some people would begin to see that I have no hatred for anybody. I will love to work with Muslims, live together and do things together but that should not negate truth.

There are few things we are doing in CAN. We are building a Jubilee Centre that will have 50 bedrooms where people can come and pay a little money to be able to spend the night while in Abuja. At the same time, it will make some money for CAN because the association needs money to run its affairs. The Centre has a conference hall and different kinds of facilities. We believe God that, this year, we would be able to dedicate the Centre. We will continue to strengthen Christian unity among us because, as Christians,  that will not stop until Jesus returns.

You spoke about Christians being treated as second class citizens in Nigeria. In what ways are Christians treated as second class citizens?

Actually, in my opinion, Christians are being treated as second class citizens in virtually every way! Let me give you some examples because if I begin to tell you everything, you will not even have space to publish it. In the education sector, Almajiri schools are being built everywhere in many states of the North.  I don’t know how many of such schools, but everybody knows that in 2012, the Federal Government spent N5 billion to construct Almajiri schools.

The Almajiri schools are exclusively for Muslim children. There are millions of Christian children who cannot go to those schools. How are we giving those Christian children the same opportunity to be educated?  So automatically they have been made second class citizens.

Don’t forget that the schools which Christians used their money to build  were  taken over by government and the same government is using public funds to build special schools for Almajiri Muslims. That shows that Christians are just second class citizens.

Government is running all those schools taken from Christians the way they want. Both Christians and Muslim go to those schools but the Almajiri schools are exclusively for Muslim children only.

When you go to the judiciary, it is the same story.

I read what a lawyer, Mr.  Olisa Agbakoba, said in the newspapers recently. He noted that the constitution is being reviewed and there are provisions for Sharia for Nigerian Muslims, there is customary court, what is the provision for Christians? The general courts are shared by both Christians and Muslims. When Christians have very knotty issues that are purely Christian in nature, where will they go to? The regular courts may not have  clear solution to such cases. So Agbakoba has come out to say he may sue the Federal Government and the National Assembly. This, to me, is a very interesting move. I just hope that our Muslim brothers will appreciate what I am trying to explain. In the Sharia courts which are funded with public funds, only Muslims are employed there.

From the cleaner to the judge, no Christian can be employed in the Sharia court. In the regular courts, there are both Muslims and Christians as well. From the lowest level of the court, to the highest level, they are there. They are the ones that head the Supreme Court and most of the courts with the Sharia court exclusively for them. What is the judicial system for Christians? It is not there, so they are second class.

Nigeria Television Authority

Go to the government owned media houses and see what is happening there, especially the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA). I don’t know now because some of them retired at a point, but, before their retirement, the seven directors out of eight were Muslims. Turn that around and see what will happen. What do you call that? Second class citizens.

A judge in Abuja came out to say Islamic banking is illegal, but he added a caveat  by saying that his hands were tight, he could not  do anything about it because it was not the right people that came to court. I am still wondering who the right people to come to court are!  But the important thing he said was that Islamic banking is illegal.

Islamic banking

It is illegal but it is functioning at its peak, established and financed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), not Central Bank of Islam. The Governor of the CBN almost seems to be working for a section of the country and nobody can say anything about it.  Yet it is something that  is supposed to be illegal.

What the CBN ought to have done was to have one unified system for non-interest banking, but, instead of doing that, what it did is to specifically come out with a set of guidelines for Islamic banking, saying they had another set of guidelines for others. And who are these others? They are the Christians. It is amazing when you see these things happening. Every area you look at, it is the same story.

Admission into tertiary schools

Go to higher institutions of higher, especially in the North, there are courses that Christians will never be offered admission to study,  that is if you even get admission at all because you are a Christian and that automatically makes you a second class person.

Ban on teaching of CRK and preaching on NTA

In some northern states, the teaching of Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) in public schools is prohibited. Why do you allow for the teaching of Islamic studies, but you cannot allow the teaching of CRK? I am puzzled.   Let me even go further, if I go to NTA Sokoto today and say here is my money, I want to preach on NTA that is funded with tax payers’ money, they will throw my money away and say you cannot preach Christianity on NTA Sokoto.

We know that in some of the northern states, there is an unwritten law that you cannot sell land or building to be used for church or a brothel. So the church and brothel are put  on the same level! How do you describe that?  In the last 20 years, there is no church in some of these northern states that has Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).

This is one Nigeria, but it is like animal farm. Some animals are more equals than others. That is what we are seeing in this wonderful country called Nigeria.

Abduction and forceful conversion of Christian girls

They can abduct your daughter and forcefully marry her. They literally kidnapped people’s daughters who are Christians and give them out for marriage but they will never allow their daughters to marry Christians. Imagine a pastor going to abduct an Imam’s daughter; do you think we will still have one Nigeria?

In some of the northern states, the government spends millions of naira to sponsor Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca without extending same gesture to Christians who are even indigenes of those states.

We are aware that in some of the far northern states, foreigners, who are Muslims from Niger  and Chad republics, are more accommodated and are accepted into the scheme of things than Nigerians who are Christians from other states of the federation.

Qualified Christian denied ABU VC Chair

You recall how a Christian was rejected for appointment as the Vice Chancellor of  Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria some years back even when he emerged as the most qualified during the interview for the position.

There are so many of these injustices against Christians, we can go on and on. That is why, in my own opinion, Boko Haram is just the latest manifestation of this same process of marginalisation and oppression that had taken place through the years. It has reached a point where it appears like we accept it.

I believe that the time has come for us to say NO!, it cannot be that way. This is not because anybody has hatred for anybody. You cannot call standing up for what is right hatred. We all have equal rights as Nigerians; I have a right to ask for my right. That does not mean that I hate somebody. I am only demanding that I should be treated equally and fairly like others.

So these are some of the few things that made me see Christians literally as second class citizens in their own country.

There is agitation for amnesty for Boko Haram  in some quarters. But some other people are suggesting that victims of Boko Haram should be given succor first. What is your thinking here?

It is very unfortunate because, in any situation, I almost used the word conflict, but it is not a conflict because what we have is genocide. I call it religious cleansing. That is what we are actually experiencing.

In any situation where lives are lost, number one and overwhelming interest should always be about the victims. Look at the so-called Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee that was set up! There are 28 people, five are Christians, so who is representing the people who are the victims or the people you are supposed to be reconciling? Who are you reconciling with whom? It is difficult to comprehend. I think the approach is very wrong.

You can’t even talk of amnesty; it is not something to be discussed at all! What we should be talking about are these wicked people who have made orphans out of so many children, widows out of so many women. They should be able to come out when they realise that what they are doing is wrong and publicly say ‘we are wrong and we are so sorry, forgive us’.

If they come from that point, then you are ready to talk of reconciliation, you are talking of forgiveness, then there can be genuine meeting of minds, we can discuss and say, ‘since you feel this way, we can now start to talk because Christianity is a religion of peace, love and forgiveness.

That is what the Bible taught us. In fact, that is why Nigeria is so peaceful because more than half of the people in this country are a group of people who believe in love, peace and forgiveness. If they come from that angle, then we can now start talking and, at that point, there could be a discussion of any other thing that will take place, but not where we are now.

Where we are today is that we are having a group who are killing innocent people and coming out to boast about it and saying ‘ you who want to give me amnesty, I am the one to give you amnesty’. So which amnesty are you giving them? I don’t think there is room for that discussion right now. I think government should strengthen the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) which  is doing its best to curb this thing and reduce it to the barest minimum. They military should be encouraged and empowered the more to address the situation. But they must be encouraged to operate within the rules of engagement.

We can see that since the state of emergency was declared in the three states, there has been tremendous improvement in so many areas, although we know that killings are still going on. So I am more concerned about the victims of the killings and I think anybody else should be, not about these criminals, these wicked people who are going out there and killing innocent people.

Look at those school children they killed in Yobe. Shekau came out excited about it and said they will do more. What he is saying basically is that, the fact that these children who are Muslims are sent by their parents to acquire western education, it automatically made them infidels. People must always remember to connect this with Christianity because when they say they are against western education, they are against Christianity.

It is Christianity that brought western education. They are against it and they are fighting it because western education has its foundation in Christianity.... That is why they are against Muslim parents that want their children to compete in the global village that we are today..... These are serious crimes that these people have committed against God and against man.

The Senate just voted to endorse child marriage in the country. What is your take?

I think it is one of the greatest shames of the century for Nigeria not just the National Assembly because the National Assembly is a reflection of Nigeria. I feel ashamed to call myself a Nigerian. I saw something in the newspapers; if it is true, where a  senator  said  he  was prepared to give out his six-year old daughter in marriage. These are child molesters that should be  put behind bars. They should not be allowed to walk on the streets of this country; but what do you do? I’m just talking because I don’t know what is the solution to this now. I think the only solution is for Nigerians to cry out. But I don’t know whether we have suffered too much that we have no voice anymore to cry out, because it’s like we are so used to wrong things that everybody just accepts it when it comes.

Children don’t know anything; they can’t fight for themselves, so we’ll fight for them. May God save us.

When you say may God save  us, that is begging the issue. Is there no way out? Is there nothing  the Church can do?

I think what we can do and I believe we should do is to mobilize ourselves to protest. I don’t want to go further than that until I have consulted with my people, but I don’t think this is something we should sit down and accept. Nigerians, across religious lines, should mobilize against this.

One of the ministers admitted a few days ago that the international community is putting  pressure on the Nigerian government to endorse gay marriage in the country…

I can assure you it will not happen. There are many reasons  it will not and cannot happen. President Goodluck Jonathan was not voted into power by Americans, or by the British people, or by  any other person except Nigerians. The only people that can put that kind of pressure on him are Nigerians.

Even as the British prime minister threatened to stop aid to the nation?

They can keep their aid. Nigeria does not need it. The aid that is going to be tied to changing the  structure of this country: our culture, our belief system and our religious thinking, it’s not worth it. They should keep it, we’ll survive without it. Like I said, I believe the National Assembly will jointly put it together and send it to the president for his assent. And when it gets there, we will make sure he signs it.

The political crisis in Rivers State has degenerated to the extent where  members  of the House of Assembly resorted to fighting. How do you feel?

Again that is another shame. It’s as if we are heaping up shame upon shame in Nigeria. Obviously, there are people fueling this for political gain. They want to watch this drama play out, but they seem to forget that sometimes this kind of thing consumes everybody. It does not end with the actors, it extends to those who are watching and cheering on. At the end of the day, who’s going to remain standing? We are not talking about President Jonathan or Governor Amaechi now; we are talking about Nigeria.

My prayer is that the principal actors will look beyond themselves and think of the overall picture of Nigeria. We don’t need this type of thing in this nation. I plead with politicians to stop for a moment, put their politics aside and look at Nigeria. What do we want for this country?

What is our idea about the tomorrow of this nation? Or we don’t want Nigeria to exist? If we don’t want, why not gather those who are Nigerians to discuss it so that we agree that we don’t want Nigeria or we agree that we want Nigeria. To me, it’s taking us to that point. These two actors are from the same region. I plead with them to forget themselves and think of the region where they come from and then  think of Nigeria as a nation. Nobody is bigger than Nigeria.

 

 

ASUU STRIKE: Nigerian varsities may remain shut for a long time to come — Prof Iyayi

They went to laboratories where they found people using kerosene stoves instead of  Bunsen burners to conduct experiments; they found specimens being kept in pure water bottles instead of the appropriate places where such specimens should be kept

PROF. FESTUS IYAYI is a former National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). In this interview, he explains why university teachers nationwide are on  strike; saying the action is to compel the Federal Government to implement the agreement it reached with ASUU on funding of universities. Iyayi, currently Head of Dept, Business Administration, University of Benin, insists that  the union members are prepared to stay at home for the next three to five years until the right thing is done.  Excerpts:

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE, BENIN

ASUU has gone back to the trenches with the Federal Government. Why are you on strike?

The short answer is this: Government believes that Nigeria should continue to be not just a second rate country but a third rate country because the quality of  development, the kind of society you have depend on the kind of education that the people have and the quality of education that exists in the country. In 2009, ASUU reached an agreement with government on how to rehabilitate and revitalize the universities. That agreement was a product of three years of negotiation, from 2006 to 2009, and government agreed that it will provide funding for universities to bring them to a level that we can begin to produce graduates that will be recognized worldwide, and our universities can also be classified and rated among the best in the world. People keep talking about universities rating, but no Nigerian university features among the first 1,000 in the world because of the issue of lack of facilities.

So, from 2009 to 2012, ASUU waited for the Federal Government to implement that agreement and what government did was to believe and present the argument that what ASUU was looking for was money, and so, they implemented part of the salary component; they did not implement the agreement on funding. As academics, if you pay us N10million a month and we do not have the tools to work with, that money is worthless because we want to be able to conduct research, teach students the latest that is available in the world of knowledge. Those tools were not available and are still not available.

So, in 2011, precisely in December, ASUU went on strike to force government to implement the funding part of that agreement. What did the government do? They apprehended the strike in January 2012 and the Secretary to the Federal Government invited the leadership of ASUU for a meeting in his office. We went there, discussed with them on the basis of which on 24 January, 2012, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government under the title, “MEETING OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GOVERNEMNT OF THE FEDERATION WITH THE ACADEMIC STAFF UNION OF UNIVERSITIES “and signed by Prof. Nicholas A. Damachi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education on behalf of the Federal Government. The most important of the items signed was 3.0, that is, “FUNDING REQUIREMENTS FOR UNIVERSITIES”. And this is what the Federal Government said it would do: “Government reaffirms its commitment to the revitalization of Nigerian universities through budgetary and non- budgetary sources of funds; government will immediately stimulate the process with the sum of N100billion and will beef it up to a yearly sum of N400billion in the next three years”.

As we speak now, not a Kobo, not an iota of intervention has taken place in the universities. Yet, government itself, in the various studies it has done, said  it recognizes the pathetic state of the universities. In order to implement this agreement, government first gave a reason saying, ‘oh, for us to apply the funds, let us first of all identify the areas of priorities to which the funds will be applied’. Government also said, ‘we are not going to give the money to the universities, what we are going to do is to identify the projects, we will them call on government agencies such as the CBN, PTDF, ETF to deliver the projects to the universities that would then be estimated’. So the money is not coming to the universities, government will do the costing and get people to come and do all those things such as the rehabilitation of the laboratories, classrooms and a variety of other things.

[caption id="attachment_404994" align="alignnone" width="412"] Prof. Fetus Iyayi[/caption]

Needs assessment committee
Now what should be those things: Government set up a committee called the NEEDS ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE and it went round the universities and what it found was shocking. First, it found that the students – teachers ratio was 1-400 on the average instead of being 1-40. It found out that the classrooms were grossly inadequate and could accommodate only about 30 percent of the number of students that needed to enter those classrooms; they went round and found students standing in their lecture theatres with other students writing on their backs; they found lectures going on under trees in some of the universities; they went to laboratories where they found people using kerosene stoves instead of Bunsen burners to conduct experiments; they found specimens being kept in pure water bottles instead of the appropriate places where such specimens should be kept. They found chemistry labs without water; they found people doing examinations called theory of practicals and not the practicals and you will imagine what the practical ought to be. And when the report was eventually presented to President Goodluck Jonathan at the Federal Executive Council, we understand that Jonathan said that he was embarrassed and did not know that things were all that bad.

No intervention
It was on that basis that they said that this money should be spent. As we speak, the money has not been provided, no intervention has taken place and the academics are tired. We negotiated for three years, 2006-2009, we went on strike in December, 2011 and government apprehended that strike; we signed an MoU in January 2012, between then and now, nothing happened. That is why we are on strike. We are saying, ‘look, rehabilitate the universities’. As a reporter, you can go round our classrooms and you will see what our classrooms are like. In this era, it is the quality of knowledge that you acquire that will determine the position you occupy in any part of the world. We did this and government did not do anything.

A professor came from Bayelsa State recently to the University of Benin, looking for journals. We went to the library because we have an e-library and he could not do anything there because there was no light for two days in the library. If you go round here now, lecturers  have generators in their offices to be able to work, every department has two or three generators to be able to do their work. Is that what a university should be like? If you go to the students’ hostels, they in a sorry state, they live 12 in a room; they are like piggery; they now have what they called short puts, they excrete in polythene bags and throw them through the windows into the fields because there are no toilets. If you come into this building (faculty building), there are no toilets and, if walk round, you will find faeces sometimes in the classrooms because students have no place to use. And it is like that in all other universities.

Enough is enough
Academic staff has said enough is enough, we cannot continue to work under these conditions, especially when government gave commitment in 2012 that this matter would be addressed but up till now nothing had happened. We had several meetings between 2012 and now and they will say ‘next week this one will happen; in two weeks time that one will happen, give us one month, this one will happen’, nothing has  happened.

And when students leave here, they apply for progammes in the United Kingdom, United States and other countries for their master degrees, PhD or other postgraduate programmes and they are told that they cannot be admitted because their degrees are suspect. Shell here in Nigeria spent millions of dollars re-training graduates, people who made First Class and, when they test them, they found out that they have problems. How can you take an engineer who has not conducted an experiment, all he did is the theory of practical? He does not know how the equipment works? If you want a properly educated student population, you have to provide the facilities.

That is why ASUU is on strike. What government has done in the past is to say that we are on strike because of money, now they don’t have that excuse. It is true that part of the agreement we have with the government also talked about academic allowances, but academics are saying that we are not interested in that; we are saying that government should rehabilitate facilities and once they are rehabilitated and they are up to standard, we will come back to work. If you go to our classrooms, we use chalk boards, the situation of  the 1960s but people are using multi-media facilities, mark boards where you can download information.

That is not available here and government is not interested in that. No country developed without a sound educational system and the foundation is not the primary school incidentally, it is at the university level because it is the university that trains other levels. For instance, if you want to teach in primary school, you need people who attended the Colleges of Education; if you want to be teacher at the Colleges of Education, you must have a degree from the university; so, the university provides the manpower for other levels of education and that is why you must concentrate efforts on the university education. If you don’t do that, other levels of education will suffer and that is what has been happening in Nigeria.

Against this backdrop, of your complaints more private universities are being approved by government. Will this help to solve the problem?
Even the National Universities Commission (NUC), which is licensing private universities, has now drawn attention to the crisis of quality in many of these private universities. You know what government does: We have refineries in Port-Harcourt and Warri; I was just talking with some people recently and they said, oh, Port-Harcourt refinery is in a state where it can refine whatever amount of crude oil sent to it; its plants are all now working,’ but, as at today, government has not send crude oil to it and they cannot process anything because they want to import. Nigeria is the only OPEC member country that sells crude oil to its refineries at the international price? Does that work? It doesn’t work, but they use international price to sell crude oil to refineries, to make it impossible for the refineries to process crude and then they go to Spain and other countries to import refined products.

So, what is happening is that government wants to kill the public universities just as it has killed its own enterprises so that it can invite people to come and buy over the public universities? Unfortunately, it will not work because universities are not like enterprises. In the UK, most of the universities there are public owned; in the US, most of the universities are state owned; the one you hear about, HARVARD, is a private one, but most of the universities in the world are owned by government because education is a social service; the revenue and tax collected by government comes from the people, the commonwealth, that is the fund that is used in funding education.

And what the government is doing is to under-fund public universities, give them a bad name and provide an excuse to license private universities many of which borrow lecturers from public sector universities, many of which do not have the equipment which public universities ought to have. And many of the private universities focus on the social sciences, law and arts; they do not go into engineering, medicine or sciences because you need a lot of capital outlay, you need to spend a lot of money building laboratories. I went to Oxford University last year and they showed me a laboratory that was built last year, a huge building where people from different parts of the world went there to conduct experiments. It cost billions of pounds and no private sector person will like to invest such money because the returns on  investment cannot be recouped. So, private sector universities are gimmicks by government to say that they are better than the public sector universities, but then, how many people are there how much fees do they pay and how many people in Nigeria can pay the sum of N350,000 and above paid in private universities? Those universities are not meant for the children of ordinary  Nigerians and development has to be about the ordinary people, it cannot be about the rich. So, there is no way, not in this century, not the next or in a life time that private universities will become more important than public universities.

[caption id="attachment_404995" align="alignnone" width="412"] Prof. Iyayi[/caption]

So what is The Way Forward?
The way forward is that the ruling elite in Nigeria must be sure of what they want. We have an example; many years ago, Ghanaians were here; they flooded our universities; when the Ghanaians rulers saw what was happening, they took a step back and said, lets us change direction’. They closed down the universities for three years or so, rehabilitated all the facilities in the universities and brought the students and the lecturers back. Now, the CBN Governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi disclosed that Nigerians spent about N62billion paying school fees for 75,000 Nigerian students in Ghanaian universities. Our people are in South Africa paying fees there, but who are those going there; they are the children of the rich. Ghanaians are in Ghana universities but they are not paying what Nigerians are paying there. So, the way forward is that government makes up its mind that Nigerians must have a place under the sun and that place under the sun can only be guaranteed with a sound university system.

It must make up its mind; is it to close down the university system for three years or so, do what should be done and then invite students and lecturers back? For instance, in the University of Benin, you don’t have a foreign student and if you go to other universities in Nigeria, I don’t think there are foreign students. When I came to the University of Benin, I was interviewed by Prof. Smith, a Briton who was the Dean at the time and many people from different parts of the world were here as teachers and students. But, right now, they are not in Nigeria; instead, Nigerians are everywhere. That shows that the system has collapsed. When we went to the National Assembly, Sen. Uche Chukwumerije and his colleagues told us that they were on their knees begging us to recall the students because they are on the streets posing dangers and problems, and we said, it is better for them to be on the streets than on the campus of universities learning ignorance. You cannot teach ignorance to people or half knowledge to the people because they will be more dangerous to the society.

‘Not asking for money for ourselves’

If you have a doctor that is not well trained, and you say ‘go and remove an appendix’, and he goes to remove your heart because he doesn’t know where the appendix is; it is better not to have doctors than the one who will go and remove your heart than the appendix. That is what the Nigerian government wants us to do and the academics in universities are saying no, for once, let us do the right thing; we are prepared to stay at home for between three and five years until these problems are resolved. We are not asking for money, facilities must be provided to make the universities truly what they ought to be.

In terms of how to solve the problems in the universities, when the financial crisis broke out in 2007 and banks declared that they were in trouble,  government brought out N3trillion to bail out the banks. First, they gave the banks N239billion, another N620billion and N1.725trillion making a total of N3trillion.

Then the aviation sector said that it was in distress, they gave the sector, N500billion and they gave even NOLLYWOOD billions of Naira. These sectors are important, but they are not as important as the fundamental which is the  education sector. If you can give the banks N3trillion and all the universities are asking for is about N1.5trillion, the same way in which they sourced the money which they gave to the banks which they are now saying that they should not pay back, they should be able to do more for education. So, nobody should come to us and say that government has no money.

If they can bail the banks with N3trillion, banks owned by the private sector, they cannot tell us they cannot fund the education sector because the World Bank told them that Africans do not need higher education, that  what Africans need is middle-level technical  education; that is what the Okonjo-Iwealas and Goodluck Jonathan are for. So, let them do what they did in the case of the banks to education and if they do that, the problems will be solved.

Ifeanyi Uba is the beautiful bride of Anambra politics - Akabueze

Chief Sunday Akabueze is a chieftain of Labour Party in Imo State. He has overtime proven himself to be a strong supporter of Chief Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, who is aspiring to be the next Governor of Anambra State come November 2013 on the platform of Labour Party (LP).

In this interview , he said Chief Ifeanyi Ubah is on course and has all it takes to boost LP’s victory in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State, should the party nominate him.

EXCERPTS

You are from Imo State, why are you championing a governorship cause in Anambra State?

Chief Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah is not for the people of Anambra State atone. He belongs to Ndigbo and Nigeria generally. Actually, I am from Imo State while he is from Anambra State but irrespective of where I  come from, God used this man from Anambra State to turn my life around positively. A lot of Ndi Anambra have also experienced and benefited from this man’s generously.

[caption id="attachment_404816" align="alignright" width="250"] Sunday Akabueze[/caption]

God has used him and is using him and will still use him to turn around the lives of many Ndigbo and Nigerians positively. He is a detribalized Nigerian. He doesn’t want to know where you are from.  He doesn’t want to know whether you are an Igbo man, Hausa man, Yoruba man etc. He believes in equity, justice and fairness and that is why many people from various states and tribes whom God has used this man to turn their lives around positively are saying he is good to govern Anambra State. If  God can use him to make people from different states and tribes as a private businessman, don’t you agree with me that same God will use him more to make more people as a governor? That is why we are championing his governorship bid in Anambra State irrespective of the fact that we are not from there. All we are saying is that he has a new face to shape the old face of Anambra politics. Frankly speaking, as an Igbo man, we have been following the politics of Anambra State and I can tell you that Ifeanyi Ubah is the only aspirant on that governorship  race with a new face and Anambra people need a man with a new face and there is no other person on the governorship race with a new face other than Ifeanyi Ubah.

What do you know about him?

I am a successful businessman and a chieftain of our great party, the Labour Party. I have known him for some time and have been following his transformation agenda right from his oil company, Capital Oil & Gas. It is the same agenda that he is promising to bring  to Anambra State in governance  if elected as governor. I have therefore seen, believed and can confirm that this man  will be totally committed to the transformation of his  State  for the best. He practised this in his companies; he is still doing it and he is hoping to translate it into governance in Anambra State. I believe him because he is a man who truly means what he says. The only thing he needs now is to get nominated by Labour Party, and his candidature will certainly boost victory for the party at the polls.

What gives you the confidence that he is the right man for the job?

Chief Ifeanyi  Ubah in an organizer, activist, a fighter for the rights of men and women, youths, and the underage in Nigeria. He is equally a strong committed and spirit filled Christian.

He has  prepared and positioned himself to save Anambra State from the ruin and maladministration of yesteryears. The good people of Anambra State do not need to search further or any longer because their messiah is here. They have found out from the tour he organized recently that Uba’s investment is huge, massive and outstanding.

There are students who attend various schools in Nigeria, courtesy of Uba’s sponsorship. He tars roads every where. His filling stations supply fuel free of charge to motorcyclists in Nnewi every Monday. He intervenes in all cases where poor people are being discriminated against or marginalized. He donates money throughout the federation in pursuant of worthy causes. This may be the reason his detractors wanted to rubbish him recently by framing him up. This apart, this man we are talking about sits at top of many great successful and blue chip companies. Apart from his Capital Oil & Gas company that is a major player in the oil and gas sector, he is the Chairman of other companies.

He has made a huge impact  in the fight against poverty and diseases.  On work against HIV/AIDS, he has done marvelously well in curtailing the epidemic especially in the South West and the South East. He has been actively engaged  in organizing and mobilizing men/women to embrace healthy etiquettes and social activities. He is deeply involved in community development and before his aspiration, he was engrossed in several community development efforts especially as it relates to women and children’s health.

Frankly speaking, the issue of aspiring to be Governor in order to have the opportunity to loot government and State treasury is far from him. He has seen it all  and  truly means to serve with sincerity of  his heart. I am urging the good people of Anambra State who are desirous of good things to support and vote for him and  Labour Party massively.

What is your take on his choice of Labour Party?

Labour Party is a party with a new face. Just like Ifeanyi Ubah, it’s members have one spirit and one mind. His supporters are supporting a man whose impact in the coming election is projected to be massive and this stems from the fact that he is not budged by the traditional infirmities that affect professional politicians. Don’t you think his backers deserve commendation for bringing this man who is without blemish or stain   into a party like Labour party?  Labour Party has potentials and these are the positive attributes many people look  out for  in our  messed political terrain. His forte as a businessman has been business and community developments which stands him out  in good stead to mobilize  those that do not share deep passion for politics and service.

His choice of Labour Party which his backers made is a catalyst, a veritable vortex that will reign in the votes to LP’s side and that is why his choice will boost Labour Party’s victory at the polls. He will be a consummate vote catcher and his clean person will be a great advantage to his party, the Labour Party. He is coming in his own individual value, his own  asset and his own self worth, one of which is his strong catholic faith. There is no doubt  he will be a big asset to the Catholics  and other denominations in Anambra State.

Why PDP has never produced a governor in Lagos - Doherty

Adedeji Doherty is a chairmanship aspirant for the Lagos State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and organising Secretary for the South-West.

A professional engineer who doubles as   Chairman of Dain Group, he recently spoke with Olasunkanmi Akoni on a number of burning national issues such as the PDP’s internal problems, its chances in Lagos ahead of 2015 and more. Excerpts:

How would  you assess the current political terrain in the country?

I think the political terrain in the country right now is something that everybody can see. Good enough, the democracy in the country is developing. It is reaching a point where the electorate have a good idea of what good governance is supposed to mean and what it is supposed to give them. I believe that if one looks at the political terrain, a lot of things have to change as democracy is evolving.

[caption id="attachment_404801" align="alignright" width="221"] Adedeji Doherty[/caption]

First, the politicians’ mindset needs to change. Whichever party one belongs to, we all know what the dividends of democracy are all about. The dividends of democracy in London, Africa, Europe and any other continent are the same.

Affordable houses and quality healthcare, good roads, quality education, youth employment, transport and others are the things that  people living in a democratised country should benefit from. I believe that what Nigerians should now learn is to vote based on what they get, what they can achieve from their various candidates rather than what comes into their pocket.

You see Governor Ameachi, Governor of Jigawa and others that are performing excellently. In contrast, we also see some that are not performing as expected. They are a disappointment to the party and the citizens of the state. The same thing in Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, APGA and others. However, when a party is in opposition, one has the propensity to make the electorate feel happy and that, I believe, is what is happening in ACN. It is something that I can conclusively say they have at least done well.

As PDP chieftain in Lagos, are you comfortable with the running of your party and how prepared is PDP for the 2015 election in Lagos?

I do not believe that we are prepared at this particular time. I think we are just preparing. And I believe that once the leaders of the party come together, they will be able to get ready as a unified force to achieve a good outing in the 2015 elections.

Are you satisfied with governance and party administration?

Well as far as party administration is concerned, one thing we always understand is that the party is the one that wins the election and not the individual, because the party is the platform the individual uses to achieve his goals towards governing his people.

The party has a constitution and manifesto. So once one wins on the party platform, one is expected to be a representative of the party to the people by executing what is in the manifesto of the party. If construction of roads was listed in the party manifesto, it is the duty of  the candidate who has won an election with the party platform to construct roads. If good healthcare was also listed, it is his responsibility to provide such a facility to the citizens. It is the party that creates the manifesto. So when one is talking about the party as an institution in the PDP, and I am supposed to raise it in terms of the party being supreme at this time, it is about 40 percent. That, I believe, is what is being addressed now in the party.

Whether in PDP, ACN, APGA and others, the party should have a way of funding themselves to make them independent from individuals. With this, the issue of democracy can crystallise to favour the electorate whom we represent.

How do you expect parties that are not in control of any state to raise funds?

They have to be able to raise their funds somehow. Those that have created the party need to invest in businesses. If you do not do that, there is no need to float a party that cannot fund itself.

Then we are not through with godfatherism in politics?

Exactly. If you have a party and that party doesn’t know how to generate money and members have to subdue themselves to pay party dues, then the founding fathers should come together, create businesses like hotels, invest in transportation and others that can bring in funds daily to run the party. The party members have to get themselves involved in empowerment that will create jobs. That is what a viable party should be like. That is what we expect in the PDP. If we are to invest in different businesses, we should create those businesses and let our members be either the GM or the MD, and the business will yield money to fund the party so that the national chairman of the party will also be the chairman of the entire group and will not be subject to anyone, including the president.

The Lagos PDP has all the

 wherewithal to run the party but it seems the funds are not well utilised?

In Lagos State, we the PDP do not even have anything. All the ministers that were appointed from Lagos State are not from the state. At the same time they call themselves technocrats, we do not really have any funding. The Lagos State PDP has never had a governor because we do not have anyone funding the party. It is left in the hands of those leaders that have the passion for the party at heart and can donate to the party for the PDP to make any meaningful impact in the state. They play quality roles, they get affordable healthcare. Development of the rural areas is happening everyday but the people of Lagos have been subjected to multi-taxation. These aren’t what the people of Lagos bargained for. Lagos should be an industrial-friendly state, but right now, it is not. And the land mass of the state is not changing; it is constant. What are the agricultural prospects of the state? There are none. We need to be able to convey this and merge it with the ideals of governance to create a vibrant society in Lagos State.

My own mission is the delivery of good governance. It is good that the Lagos State government has built a flyover in the state. But how does that affect the life of the people in the state? The bridge from Bourdillon to Lekki is a good edifice. If you look at some newspaper publications in the country, they showed a bridge in Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA made out of wood. The majority of the people in Lagos State live in the Ayobo axis of the state. It is the rich people that will use the Cable bridge in the Lekki axis of the state. The state government has succeeded in using that bridge to increase the property value in Lekki. But what happens to the poor people in Lagos? What happens to the remaining 13 million people of the state?  Why are we getting it wrong? We need to take ourselves back and look at whether it is the choice of candidate or whatever else is making the state look the way it is now. But this is not the PDP I bargained for.

Before 2007, the PDP was controlling almost all the southwest states except Lagos. But suddenly, things changed. What actually went wrong?

Well, I cannot say. But many things went wrong. For instance, Oyo State was lost due to the disagreement between Ladoja, Akala, Adedibu and Obasanjo. Unfortunately, we lost Adedibu and that excluded the PDP immediately. In Ogun State, Obasanjo again and the then incumbent Governor, Gbenga Daniel. This created an avenue for an ACN candidate to win the governorship election, and that is Governor Ibikunle Amosun. In Ekiti State, it is almost the same thing. We had a lukewarm attitude. What happened in Ekiti was that Obasanjo succeeded in removing Fayose from Office for whatever reason and that boomeranged to a weak PDP in Ekiti State.

This led to the assumption of office of Governor Segun Oni which the court later nullified. In Ondo State, everyone knew that Olusegun Mimiko was a PDP member and he later ended up in the Labour Party. This was due to the quarrel between Obasanjo, Olusegun Agagu and Mimiko. I see, basically, that our leaders in the Yoruba land, especially in the PDP, have failed the party and our own generation in their mismanagement of things. Even in the Presidency, the management of what has been zoned to the South-West members of the party has grossly been mismanaged. And that is why we have recorded a negative position in the hierarchy of running the nation. Right from the Speaker of the House of Representatives downwards, if one looks at the position of the first five citizens of the country today, the Yoruba extraction is not represented. There is no one speaking on our behalf and the reason for this was that our leaders failed to look at handing over to their next generation. When I was in CMS Grammar School, Bariga, Obasanjo was my President. When I became a father, Obasanjo still came back to be my President. My son has gone to school and graduated, Obasanjo was still his president. At this time in the PDP in the South-West, Obasanjo still calls the shots; whereas Gowon, Danjuma, Akinrinade, Banjo and other military men including Bode George were all Heads of State, Chief of General Staff and Governors respectively, and they all ruled this country in their 30s. What has created this? I do not know why our leaders cannot hand over to the next generation.

Someone asked me  if  President Goodluck Jonathan is about 52 years old. But will anyone from the Yoruba extraction be allowed to rule this country at that age? Will any of our fathers allow a man of that age to be the president of this country? In politics, one has to develop his thinking and look at what is on ground and how it benefits your people. What is on ground now does not benefit the South-West people of this country.
How will you rate governance in the Southwest now?

Governance in the Southwest today is developing. I believe that there should be a symposium of Southwest leaders, and this symposium should cut across all parties’ affiliation in the country, where a common agenda must be adopted as the agenda of the Southwest people. The first thing on the agenda should be total integration of the various Southwestern states. A common body that must look into the development of political parties in the Southwest and what they are delivering to the people vis-a-vis what the mandate of that people is. Our agenda as a people is the integration of the entire people of the Southwestern states in terms of road network in all the states, integrating in terms of rail network so that people can live in any state and work in any Southwestern state; in agriculture through buying and selling within ourselves. There has to be a mandate on housing policy, infrastructural development for the people, health requirement for the people. There has to be leadership and vision for the Southwest region in the country between the years 2013 and 2050.

Who do you think will champion this call?

I haven’t thought about it but it has to be something that has to be created by our people.

 

What’s your take on the suspension of Amaechi and others?

Wammako has been recalled. The only person left on the suspension list is Amaechi, and this was based on obvious reasons. In the PDP, suspension can be described as ‘go home and come back.’ It isn’t as weighty as it was reported in the media. If one is suspended from the party, the person will be the one who will call for the next PDP party. It isn’t a very strong thing at this time in the party. In contrast, that doesn’t mean that if one commits  anti-party activities and one is caught, he or she will not be sanctioned. I believe that suspending Amaechi or Wammako is in the hands of NWC and they are looking at it very seriously. I am sure that there might have been miscommunication or misrepresentation in a lot of things that have created the suspension in the first place.

On the NGF election, ACN has been pointing accusing fingers at the PDP  as the cause  of the problems

Well, the creation of the NGF is to execute what I am explaining to you, which is integration, looking at different problems like security and others and proffering solutions to them. This should be the job of the NGF. Where I have a problem with the NGF was that it began to overstep its boundary when it got involved in the upcoming 2015 presidential election, an issue still in its incubation stage whereby the sitting president is being questioned whether he will be vying for the next election or not. And out of these governors, they are whipping up the electorate and bringing up new agenda as far as their own candidacy is concerned. I don’t think that it was right for the NGF to start whipping up political discourse concerning the presidency and I wouldn’t have suggested the election at that time. I don’t know if the president has veto power on the forum, but the NGF should have been disbanded. Let each political party have its own Governors’ Forum. And the reason was that all the governors didn’t contest for their post on the same platform. Definitely, their ideology is not the same. So what happened was bound to occur.

When you merge people with different views, definitely the minority will strive to woo some of the members of the majority into its own circle. And then cross-carpeting starts. That is the psychological attitude of human beings and that in itself has created a problem within the group.

For me, I will advise that the NGF should be disbanded. All the governors should go back to their states and deliver the dividends of democracy to their electorate. When each party organises their governors’ forum, we will have peace in the country and we will be able to rate the governors based on what they delivered to the people.

Will you consider any offer considering the crisis in the PDP?

I am open to the advancement and progress of our people. It doesn’t matter who calls. Once I am called upon, I will answer because it is for the benefit of the people. Definitely, there are issues that need to be addressed urgently in the Southwest; I can foresee it coming. We have to throw away party affiliations and differences and come together as a single body for the progress of the Southwest region.

How would you assess  Fashola’s  administration ?

The Lagos government has worked considerably over the years. During the time of Tinubu, we saw him in his first tenure battling with the leaders in his party. We saw in his second term, a situation whereby we had to condemn him. And I am one of those who criticised him for not doing much. Later, he handed over to the executioner, Governor Babatunde Fashola, who was then his Chief of Staff in his second term. Fashola used three years from his first term to execute projects that were already put in place by his predecessor. For instance, the expansion of the various roads-Allen Avenue, Alausa, Lekki, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Adeola Odeku, the Bar Beach and others, all these roads were funded from the taxes paid by the residents of the state. And the tax payers are paying for the road today. This will continue until the next 25 years in terms of toll. If one looks at these projects that were started by Tinubu and executed by Fashola, apart from these, which other project has been created? I mean, which new road has been built in the last 12 years in the state?