Member, National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), George Muoghalu, who recently visited his Anambra home state, speaks with Special Correspondent, OKEY MADUFORO, on the economic challenges in the country, restiveness among some ethnic-based groups and difficulties of having state police in the country now.
Harsh economic climate in the country
Make no mistake about it; I also share in the pains of Nigerians today. Nobody in this country can deny that the situation in the country is not comfortable for us. I also feel the same way. It was understandable for Nigerians to expect automatic change at the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. You do not blame them because our people had for a long time clamoured for that change. That explained why they voted for him en masse during the last elections.
The situation was so bad that our people demanded immediate change. But Mr. President discovered a system that is totally comatose and he is taking his time to put things right. Buhari does not believe in quick fixes that have no long term solution. He is making extra efforts in putting things in their correct perspectives and setting for us an enduring agenda that would have multiplier effect in the long run.
Nigeria is like a house that has cracks as a result of bad foundation. You cannot just clear the building and put up another one on top of the bad foundation. After some time the building would still witness new cracks on its walls and all efforts made so far would come to nothing at the end of the day. A house with a bad foundation and cracks at its structure needs a complete replacement. So you excavate the bad structure and put up a new one before embarking on building the house. That is exactly what Mr. President is doing at this time. What that ultimately means is that on his exit or if he is no longer at the helm of affairs, any other occupant of that position would have no choice but to continue to build on solid foundation and structure without problems; that means that the superstructure is intact and forms the template for good governance that is responsive to the demands of the people.
I hear people say that Buhari is taking too much time in actualising the promised change, and I say to them, “it is not a question of how fast it goes, but how well the job has been done”. Besides, Buhari has four-year tenure and he has barely spent one year and people are already assessing him and his administration. We should at least allow Mr. President to spend 50 per cent of his four-year tenure before we assess his tenure.
To really show us that he is in control of the process, he had to put in place palliatives in this year’s budget to cushion the effect of the change. He made provision for palliatives such as employment schemes, education with much interest on school children, providing funds for low-income earners. All these are aimed at alleviating the problems Nigerians are facing. I must add here that anybody who is desirous of this change and goes to bed, that it would be rosy, is making a mistake. Change is not easy and we are bound to feel those pains for a while before change is actualised.
You are aware that our manifesto during the elections was hinged on security, corruption and the economy. This is a methodology that he has resolved to adhere to, and no amount of distraction can stop him. Most of the challenges the APC government is facing are the consequences of corruption by the past administration which it inherited.
Activities of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Fulani herdsmen and Niger Delta Avengers (NDA)
If you can recall what Buhari said in the beginning, you would agree with me that all these things are products of corruption. Mr. President made it clear that if you choose to fight corruption, corruption would fight back and that is what we see today in NDA, IPOB and MASSOB.
For instance, what has Niger Delta got to do with releasing Sambo Dasuki and de-freezing the bank accounts of Tompolo (Government Ekpemupolo)? We embarked on probe and people are becoming uncomfortable. This is corruption fighting back. All these demands by these bodies have to do with dialogue and roundtable discussion. I have never seen any crisis, conflict or war that does not end up on a roundtable. Those of IPOB, Niger Delta and MASSOB cannot be different.
So, I advise the average thinking Nigerians to look at the implications of what they are doing and go for dialogue. I indeed find it so embarrassing when people embark on destroying facilities of government, facilities that belong to all of us and you call it protest. These oil installations do not belong to Buhari and they are not facilities of APC, but facilities that belong to all of us; every Nigerian. We must not forget that our country is still under what I call a mono-product economy. Despite that we are putting up structure and laying foundation in the area of agriculture, solid minerals, sciences and technology, at the moment this is a mono-product economy, and that is the crude oil. When you destroy oil installations and you feel that you have achieved something, you are merely cutting off your nose to spite your face. When you try to cripple the economy, you have only succeeded in worsening the situation, and the worst victims are Nigerians. You are not just getting back at Mr. President. The situation or issue that you are protesting against was there before the President came and he has resolved to correct those anomalies.
When you talk about IPOB or MASSOB, I wish to make it clear that I am an Igbo man. I have no apologies for that. I do not even owe any apology to anyone at all. I must do whatever I can to protect my people at all times. However, I will not be party to every madness when we have other ways of resolving this matter to our own advantage. We have channels of ventilating our anger or unhappiness about any situation.
Look at the last census. Our people disrupted it in the name of Biafran struggle and they forgot that these are the parameters to measure what we get from the centre. There are lots of Igbo people in APC that IPOB or MASSOB can reach out to and the matter would be looked into. At the Federal Executive Council (FEC), we have Ogbonnaya Onu, Chris Ngige, and others. You go to the National Assembly, you see our people there and you can talk to them. At the NWC of APC, I am there with two other people from Igbo land.
What happened in Onitsha last time was unfortunate and it would have been averted. Those that died were our brothers and sisters. If they were not related to you, they were, at least, Igbo people. They might not even know why they took to the streets unless what they were told and those people leading them might also have their own reasons for what they were doing than what they told their supporters.
Even if I did not take part in the Nigerian civil war, I have read enough books about war to know clearly that war is not good. Those calling for war never saw nor took part in the last civil war.
On the people we call the Fulani herdsmen, let us separate armed bandits from the herdsmen. I am very worried because there is the need to distinguish between the armed bandits and herdsmen. How do you classify a man that blocks the highway, wielding sophisticated guns, and robbing people and even raping their victims, with the herdsmen that carry their cattle about for grazing? The herdsmen should be separated from those bandits.
Some people feel that Mr. President is doing nothing about the matter because they are Fulani like him. But I must tell you here and now that Buhari’s body language is for security of lives and property of Nigerians and not Fulani agenda. Shortly after the Enugu incident, he issued a statement to that effect, stressing that he would not tolerate any form of brigandage. Later, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) visited the place and actions have been taken. I learnt that some people were arrested as suspected perpetrators of that dastardly act. So you can see that the President has no Fulani agenda at all. We must separate postulations or projections from reality. That the President is of Fulani background does not mean that he has an agenda. After all, it is not the Fulani alone that voted for him.
Demand for state police
You cannot talk about state police in the current situation that we find ourselves. We do not have such an enabling environment with the type of police that we have today where there is no motivation enough for the police to function. The police must be well organised. The police must have enough job security and made to, at least, appreciate why they are there in the first place.
So if you have a state police that is not equipped, not well-trained and that has no motivation, how do you expect it to perform well?
At the moment, most state governments cannot pay salaries of workers and you are talking of state police. The police must be made to be responsive to the populace and better equipped, then you can talk about state police. You are aware that recruitment into the police is on and the federal government is poised to improve the standard of policing in Nigeria.
But it is important to note that when it has to do with the state police, Nigeria is not there yet. And until then, we have to grapple with the challenges of improving the state and condition of the Nigeria Police Force which I know is paramount in the mind of the President.
