Chief Ralph Obioha is the Chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Caretaker Committee and chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in the aborted Third Republic. In this interview, he urges the new government to revisit the privatisation of the power sector and stop appropriating money for oil subsidy
There have been complaints of faulty electoral process in Nigeria. As a stakeholder, what would you advise the new government to do on the issue of electoral reforms?
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that goes by the nomenclature ‘independent’ must be truly independent. When an independent electoral body attaches its string to the executive, it ceases to be independent. So, there should be an ombudsman committee of at least 12 people, which would be supervising the activities of the electoral body because of the peculiarities of the situation in Nigeria. The reform has to go into that because the truth of the matter is that whether we want to admit it or not, there were complaints over the conduct of the last elections in many parts of the country. We still have a long way to go to assert a true free and fair election; the independence of the electoral body and also ensure the sanctity of one-man-one-vote that count. We need to seriously look into that because the electoral body is a very key sector in the entire process of democracy.
How would you want the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to address the issue of corruption?
No matter what anybody says, the issue of corruption must be tackled head-on. If the government of Buhari for any reason failed on the issue of corruption, it would be one of the fastest erosion of goodwill, hope, trust and confidence Nigerians have reposed in his leadership. So, it is an issue that must be tackled strictly because it would be morally insensible for people to acquire wealth fraudulently and keep it, especially when there is so much poverty in Nigeria today.
A lot of people have not come to the reality that Nigeria as a nation is broke. It is no longer any rumour that about 18 out of the 36 states in the federation are unable to pay salaries. When a state government is unable to pay salaries, it means other vital socioservices for a smooth running of a society is also suffering. And the worst about most of this thing is the rampant corruption that is in the system. It is clear that there is massive corruption in the oil sector in the name of subsidy. I had earlier recommended the scraping of the subsidy.
While I was travelling to Abuja a few days ago, I saw people queuing to buy fuel at N145 per litre. We cannot continue to encourage areas that have proven to be serious leakages in the finance profile of the country. Subsidy has become a massive corruption tool and my recommendation is that it should be scraped. I expected the Federal Government since May 30 to stop appropriating any kobo in the name of subsidy. I believe Nigerians should adjust to the reality of the new prices of fuel so that the unimaginable money allocated for oil subsidy can be diverted into social sectors that impact on the critical mass of this country.
What is your take on cost of governance?
The cost of governance in Nigeria is the highest compared to anywhere in the world and it is becoming obvious that it is not sustainable. If we cannot pay salary, I don’t see how anybody could encourage a local government chairman having about six Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) because running the six SUVs will require about six drivers, fuelling and maintaining them. This is just the tip of the iceberg of unnecessary cost of running government in the country. Some public office holder have about eight to 12 aides and assistants who are just doing nothing. I believe that Nigerians should look into what makes us wealthy many years ago, which is the agricultural sector; groundnut pyramid in Kano, palm oil produce from the East and export of cocoa from the West.
Those were cash crops that actually sustained government in the past to meet the social needs of the citizens before the discovery of oil in the country. The cost of governance in Nigeria presently is too much. It must be articulated, overhauled and quickly addressed so that we can bring it to manageable length. If we go on the path we are going now, the situation may not be sustainable and coming out of it may become a very hard exercise for the critical mass of this country.
How about the challenges in the power sector considering that past governments failed to provide stable electricity in Nigeria?
The first thing witnessed by Nigerians after the so-called privatisation of the distribution of the power sector was accomplished in the country is that power delivery has become more epileptic. Second, the cost of power became more prohibitive and third it became obvious that even most of the people that were given the concession, didn’t meet the requirements. The patrimony of the entire nation accumulated over the years has been allotted to people who actually are undeserving of having it on the basis of political favouritism. I believe the privatisation of the power sector should be revisited and transparent process should be put in place to ensure that those who get it whether Nigerians or foreigners provide qualitative services to the people. The incoming administration should also ensure that proper taxes are paid to the government. The principle of giving the concession of privatising the power sector is good but its implementation needs to be look into and transparently respected for the purpose of running it efficiently and delivering services to people at the cheapest possible prices.
How do you think the Buhari administration can tackle infrastructural problems?
To be honest with you, the issue of infrastructure is always a recurrent thing. It does not make any sense to Nigerians to put up a big expenditure on building roads in the first instance and allowing it to deteriorate. Before we discovered oil in Nigeria, the few roads we had then were maintained by a department of Ministry of Works called Public Work Department (PWD). I think that idea should be reintroduced once again to prevent building a road and leaving it to deteriorate because there is a life span for any road constructed.
There should also be an effective mechanism for constant maintenance of those roads. It would be cheaper than to rehabilitate and it would ensure that the roads are always in good condition. The new Minister of Works must be made to understand that air travelling except on overseas trips is totally prohibited. He must travel on the roads so that he will know what the condition of the roads he is supervising is like. Also on the issue of infrastructures, everybody has accepted that infrastructure in South-East was totally neglected and I will advise the new government to ensure that there is allocation specially created to tackle infrastructural problem in the South-East because they are also part of Nigeria.
What would you expect the new administration to do with the National Conference report?
The conference caused Nigeria a lot of money and to say that another conference should be put together is not a great advice. What I will advise is let the conference report be revisited. The one that are not contentious of political Niphilosophy and manifesto can now be put before a kind of committee to look at it again. I am for the conference to be look into. What is your advice on the security challenges? It seems that our army and air force are now up to the challenge that was thrown up by the Boko Haram menace. I think the army has woken up to their responsibilities. I am also very sad that the past government saw the need to go out of Nigeria to South Africa to recruit mercenaries to fight an insurgency that is localised. It is really a blemish on the Nigeria’s reputation and it is regrettable that such a policy was contemplated in the first instance. Nigerian Army must draw a lot of lessons from what happened and never allow a repeat of what was created in Nigeria by the activities of Boko Haram.
What should the President do on the issue of rule of law?
Rule of law is the pillar on which a society exists. Whatever the President is doing must be guided by the rule of law. I anticipated that our judiciary, which is actually the custodian of the rule of law, is sick and that sickness must be cure. As a nation, we must make concerted effort to reform where there are lapses. I believe there are major lapses in our judiciary that has made it a sick institution, which requires to be cured. You cannot throw the baby with the bath water; you must try and get the baby out before you throw out the bath water.
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