President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Shettima Yerima, has always been vocal on issues concerning the country. In this chat with Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, he talks on the Muhammadu Buhari administration, economy and other issues of national importance.
How would you assess President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration so far?
In fairness to President Muhammadu Buhari, I know he has a good mindset, trying to ensure we have a good country. He wants to ensure that certain things are done rightly. He has the zeal and determination to fight corruption. It is obvious he is determined to ensure that things work well in the land which has been his tall dream. But it is one thing for a person to have determination and another thing for the person to achieve that.
I say so because if you look at the fight against corruption, you will realise that the President means well for the country and he is willing to fight corruption to a standstill. But if you have a wrong team that you work with and this team does not show strong faith in your crusade against corruption for reasons best known to its members, then there will be problem.
Of course, most members of his team are not clean. They lack the moral fibre and justification to join in the fight because they are themselves products of corruption. So you can see there will be problem because they will not have the passion of Mr. President to drive the corruption battle.
For a country like Nigeria that has over 160 million population, it is difficult for an individual without adequate support from his team to execute the corruption fight. And this probably will have great impact on governance. This is the challenge before Buhari. It is quite unfortunate he wants to fight corruption with the team he has as well as with his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It is obvious his party is not in any way encouraging or supporting him in the fight because some of them will be swallowed in a genuine and full blast corruption crusade. You could see the body language, from the National Assembly, to the party, down to their governors.
Buhari, without fear of contradiction, is the only one in this fight. Now, even with his determination to fight corruption, the level of corruption is becoming higher because we only see what is happening at the lower level but we do not see what is happening at the executive level which is where the rot is heavier. Now, you begin to ask the question: is it only this that the President promised Nigerians? What we are seeing shows that the President does not have a tact team that will assist him in arriving at the point he wants. A team to help him realise his promises to the electorate is not there yet. If you ask me, I will tell you that Nigerians are facing a lot of difficulties. If you ask me again, I will tell you this is not what Nigerians expected from Buhari or bargained for, with Buhari as their President. Again, I will tell you that the issue of governance does not only lie in fighting corruption. The issue of governance does not lie in witch-hunting perceived enemies of the government. As you fight corruption, you must put other machineries in place where things will also be happening in other sectors where Nigerians will begin to feel the positive impact of governance. Even the government has admitted that things are harsh and hard, but that is not the excuse Nigerians want to hear. Nigerians voted for Buhari because they thought he had the capacity and solution. So you should not expect Nigerians to feed on excuses, some very flimsy excuses.
You can’t be telling Nigerians to be patient while those in position of power are feeding fat. Are they patient themselves? If you say a poor man should be patient that things will be fine, and that everything will soon be alright, what of those people in power? What sacrifices are they making for the common people? Are they not collecting their huge salaries and allowances? They should also sacrifice their own for the ordinary Nigerians to survive. It’s getting close to one year and you are telling Nigerians to be patient and of course you know that in the Nigerian system, if we get to the second year, election issues, politicking etc. will begin to take the centre stage.
You sound quite disappointed on the President’s team.
As a journalist, are you happy with what we have on the ground today? Are they presenting anything superior to give hope to our patience? It’s a slap in our faces if after taking over five months these are the best people he could find worthy as his team. Some of them have corruption cases, indictments here and there. Look, without sounding immodest, some of them smell corruption all over.
It is a shame on the nation, Nigeria, that what we have is our first eleven in the view of Mr. President. He really needs to look inwards and give red card to some before they finally pollute his integrity and government. Some of them are not characters that will elevate governance and bring the change Nigerians want. Some of them ran aground their various states and funded the party, and their sins were forgiven. Most of the states they raped cannot afford to pay their workers’ salaries etc. No matter how we pretend, one day this error will bounce (back) on our faces.
Even if they were not indicted, with the way Nigeria is now, we don’t need these characters because you can still agree with me that since they mounted the stage, they are doing nothing. I am one of those who strongly believe that the President must drop some of the characters in his team. My fear is that I hope we will not ask for replacement and it will then take him one year for another list. There are some of the ministers that act as clowns. We cannot afford to begin to have clowns as leaders we expect to move the country to the next level.
How many of them will look Buhari eyeball to eyeball and tell him the naked truth? They will rather tell him what he wants to hear for fear of losing their portfolios.
What is your take on the economy?
You can see that the economy is going down each day. I have never seen this kind of terrible situation before. The economy is harsh and Nigerians are suffering under this government. This is the truth that must be conveyed to the President because it does not seem that he knows the quantum of hardship in the land. Look at the naira and its exchange rate with the United States dollar.
There is no money and yet things are costly in the market. The truth is that I do not know how many economists we have in Mr. President’s team. An accountant or banker is not an economist, I hope you know. Unless we get these things right, we will continue to work in circles. I am worried because once the economy has a problem, everything about the government will be affected or perhaps will be dysfunctional. You can’t attract foreign investors when they cannot trust your monetary policies or financial stability, when they are afraid that you may devalue your currency or are unsure of economic trends, they will not be willing to come. And how will they also come when the President is mouthing it everywhere he goes during that there is so much corruption in the land?
The body language of this government does not in any way tell where they are heading to. There is no confidence so far in where our destination point is. The person in charge of Finance Ministry should be made to offer explanations on the situation so far. Some would tell you it’s a global problem, but other countries are steadily and genuinely solving theirs. Ours is on propaganda. We play crude politics with virtually everything. Ours has to do more with incompetence. Incidentally, competent Nigerians abound in all parts of the world to deliver service to Nigeria. Nigerians should buckle up to begin to checkmate the excesses of our so-called leaders.
Most Nigerians saw APC as a serious opposition that gave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a run for its money. Now it is in power, are you satisfied with its performance?
To be candid, APC government has failed Nigerians. And it does not seem, so far, they (powers-that-be) will spring any surprise in terms of fixing the country. It is as if they were not ready for the position they found themselves as now the ruling party. They still behave as if they are still in opposition, even when they are in control of power. They still have the carry-over mentality of opposition. The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, still talks as he was doing when he was the spokesperson for the party. He still has not differentiated what it takes to be a party spokesman and a Minister of Information for the federation. Nigerians thought the APC, which claimed to be peopled by progressives, could put smiles in their faces if voted in, but what they are witnessing today is, to say the least, saddening.