Former Ogun State deputy governor and erstwhile Senator for Ogun East Senatorial District, Adegbenga Kaka, in this interview with Assistant Editor (South West), MUYIWA OLALEYE, speaks on how the Muhammadu Buhari administration can refocus Nigeria on the path of good governance.
Expectations on Buhari’s administration
Nigerians should exercise patience. As they say, Rome was not built in a day. To destroy is quicker than to build. We should know that there is difference between an administration succeeding itself and an opposition party taking over. Once it is a new government from the opposition, a proper diagnosis of the problem would give 50 per cent of the correct answer. But if things are done hastily, we may be heading towards the same rot that led us to where we are. So, I will say that no matter our eagerness for the new administration to perform, no matter the agony we are going through, we should exercise further patience and let them put things in perspective. The dislocation that we have had in the system is so enormous that it will require painstaking efforts to prescribe the solution. The government is in the gestation period. People should not be too impatient as to stampede the government to commit further blunders.
We have crisis in the National Assembly. Even people are talking about non-appointment of ministers. We have some people that were part and parcel of the creation of the rot that we are talking about. Those are the civil servants. The political head that will be coming is just coming to direct them. They should re-order their conscience and keep things in perspective even before the arrival of the ministers. So, we should look inwards and see what should be done even with the civil servants because they are as guilty as, if not guiltier than, the politicians.
Agenda for Buhari
One of those critical areas is energy. Without a workable engine, the vehicle cannot move. Energy is important to our productivity, to our value addition, to employment generation and to other socio-economic variables. It touches everybody’s life. When you look at what is happening in our oil sector, it leaves much to be desired. The rot is so much that if we have to talk about it, it will take a whole day. The same thing applies to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Let us make the existing refineries work and let them account for all the turn-around maintenance (TAM) they claim they have been doing. Let us account for every kobo.
The second one is education. Without education, nothing moves. It also touches everywhere. When we talk of education, again, we have to segment it. Science and technology are the heart of education, heart of innovation, heart of modernisation. Let’s give premium to science and technology, so that those that are specially gifted could be given ample opportunity to make discoveries and innovations that would be beneficial to all of us. Education is important and we should go back to the basics. First, we should discourage the federal government from primary and secondary education. They cannot over-centralise those levels of education and expect them to move. A situation where some people would sit in Abuja and want to control a primary school in Ogun is wrong. So, it should leave those levels of education to states and local governments. We cannot afford to lose our indigenous languages and cultures also. A situation where our educational system relegates our cultures and languages to the background is also not permissible. So, the federal government should be concerned about policy formulation and moderation of the implementation by all tiers of government. At best, let it be a partaker in tertiary education, so that the state and local governments would share responsibility for primary and secondary education. That is the right way to go.
The third area is agriculture. The federal government selling fertiliser, selling inputs is unheard of. Agriculture is supposed to be a business, and when you go into business, you make profit. So, it is where we have some hiccups that government will have to subsidise. Subsidisation must not be to the political farmers who corner whatever subsidy that is coming. So, value addition to whatever we produce will generate employment opportunities, develop the rural areas and make life more conducive for them in terms of healthcare, water, electricity and roads. Those are the things that are needed for the farming communities to attract young graduates who run after non-existing jobs in the urban centres.
The fourth one is on the Niger Delta. Explorations are done, oil spillages are going on both onshore and offshore, making people in the Niger Delta to be worse off. God that situated oil in that region has a purpose for that, just as we have in the Arabian Peninsula and all that. We must not be callous as to refuse to develop the Niger Delta. From whom much is expected, much is given. So, the Niger Delta must be given respite and peace, for things to go on there and, by extension, the entire country.
The fifth one that I will add is security. Insecurity was partly in existence in the country before, but not as aggravated as what we are having now. The security situation is so bad that when you look at the North East, the economy has been ruined and life has become worthless. The effect is that those in the north-eastern region are prone to hypertension, stroke and untimely death from the terrorist group. Now, we – the local, state and federal government as well as the international community – have been spending a lot of money to curb the menace of the terrorists. That is a drainpipe on its own. Insecurity is as a result of unemployment and poverty. It is the idle hand that the devil uses as its workshop. When you look at the ages of those detonating bombs, they are between 13 and 35. They are the youth who are supposed to be leaders of tomorrow, (but) because they are idle, the godfathers of terrorism are using them against the system. What have we been doing to win back those youngsters from the clutches of the terrorists?
So, those are areas that the president should look into. If the foreign donors are coming with their money, they should not use it on the military. I am not saying the military is not performing, but the president should assess the financial commitment of all the affected local governments and states of the federation to this particular cause. Where has the money been going? Why are we not getting results? Those are the things, rather than cosmetic statements here and there. The issue involved is so sensitive. We should go back to the drawing board and get solutions to some of the problems that I have mentioned.
Solution to crisis in the National Assembly
The nation is larger than any political party. So, it is within that context that I will want to look at things and then say that once they get to the floor, they should pursue national interest.
The security situation is getting worse with Boko Haram bombing everywhere and we are recording deaths of Nigerians in numbers.
Exchanging Chibok Girls for detained Boko Haram members
We thank the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners for their sustained efforts and also thank the previous and current administrations for the efforts they have made to bring back those girls. Hopefully, these girls are still alive. Thousands have died since the inception of Boko Haram. Those ones cannot be brought back. Their families are in agony. Nobody is talking about reparation for them. There are communities that have been devastated. We are not talking about them. But those that are alive, yes, we must find a way of bringing them back at all costs. I am not a lawyer, but in the legal parlance, they say that it is better for a thousand criminals to evade justice than for the innocent to be punished. If it is true, for God’s sake, bring back those who are still alive at whatever cost, so that we don’t add to the irreparable losses we have recorded. I don’t want to talk too much because I am not a security expert.
Whatever the grievances of those behind Boko Haram are, we must unravel. Let us get to the root of their grievances, their motives and see whether we can change their attitude. When we look at it, we are losing from all sides. Probably those behind Boko Haram are just in tens or so, but those they are recruiting and brainwashing are in multitudes. The recruits are too young to comprehend what life is all about or what Boko Haram is. How do we rescue the people from their clutches? Those are issues we must address if the country must enjoy the much desired peace that can engender growth and development.
Corruption and inability of states to pay salaries
This is a disease that we are all suffering from. I have said many times that there is corruption everywhere, even in our respective homes. We have situations where a public servant of known income has up to four children in American universities, paying about $50,000 per session. We should ask ourselves where the money is coming from. So, pointing fingers is not enough.
You have governors that want to take over the country from all of us. They are becoming an octopus, controlling the local governments from their seats of power. They want to determine the chairman of the local government, the councillors from the wards, the supervisors and the chairman’s advisers or personal assistants. They want to unilaterally impose the chairman on the people. They would bring about local government/state joint account that is supposed to be used positively, but they use it negatively. They dip their hands in that joint account to the detriment of the local government chairmen who dare not utter a word because they are selected and imposed on the people. Even civil servants are disorganised and used for nefarious activities. They will now say they want to determine the president of the Federal Republic. Immediately that one emerges, they ring round him and want to dictate his ministers, special advisers and members of parastatals. The constitution does not give them such power, but they are exercising it inadvertently. They have to be called to order. They overvalue themselves. In the face of poverty and unemployment, you see some of them buying jets and building bunkers as houses as if they are going to remain in this world forever. They forget that they are going to leave after four years or, at most, eight years. It wasn’t like this in the First Republic. Although we started seeing the traces in the Second Republic, impunity was not as entrenched as this. There must be solution to all these if the nation must move forward.
Ogun’s path to development
Is Ogun State an island in Nigeria? I have talked about national issues. You can extrapolate and look at the ones that affect the state and then talk to the people on the streets. I only knew that recently, I had to repair my car with several thousands of naira. I don’t want to go into the details, but the people on the streets will be able to tell you about their experiences.
Social Democratic Party and the next line of action in Ogun politics
Well, personally, I don’t shy away from a fight and I believe in peace and justice. So, as a person, if I had an option, the best thing would be to quit politics and say, yes, I have had enough. But I don’t have control over that. God has a purpose for creating me the way I am. He has a purpose for me being born in Ogun State, in Ijebu-Igbo. I believe that God has a purpose for putting me here. So, I will allow God to determine my next line of action.
In the last 28 years, there have been people who have been very supportive of me and the cause that I stand for. So, this will not be the appropriate time, except it is the will of God, to say I am calling it quits. Even if I am not going to be personally involved, I should continue to support those who have been very supportive of me over the years. So, within that context, let me say that I remain in politics.
