Rev. Peter Obadan is a former deputy governor of Edo State during the administration of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. In this interview, he speaks on the ascension to power by his party, the APC, and the expectations of Nigerians from the new government. Excerpts:
What do you make of happenings towards the end of the Goodluck Jonathan administration?
You know that the medical people have what they call the death throes.
When a man is about to die you find him at the tail end struggling for survival and that is what the country literarily experienced. What they don’t appreciate is the fact that the person of President Muhammadu Buhari has a tenacious grip on the minds and souls of the people who were fed up with the Jonathan administration.
If you look at it thoroughly, discounting the fictitious votes from the South-South and the South East, it is obvious that Buhari actually won this election by at least 80 per cent. But the moment he won the election, there arose this proclivity of these people for social disorder in order to destabilise the new administration, cause resentment amongst the people and ensure that when Buhari takes over, he has a tough time.
But what they forgot was that tough times don’t last because tough people do and Buhari is a tough man and he is trying to put together a tough team that will outlast these tough times. You know they went into wrong applications of resources realising that it was the tail end of the administration; wrong appointments which we are all witnesses of, unnecessary promotions in various sectors, just to compound crisis for Buhari.
Like many have actually said, which is a statement of fact, that you cannot have economic miracle in one day but Nigerians would immediately start feeling the impact of change because when the head is good, the entire body will be good and there is no doubt that the issue of corruption will be tackled because it is the cankerworm, the cancer that has actually destroyed this nation.
Thank God for the election of Buhari because the nation itself was heading for a social disorder, a revolution that the poor would have risen against the rich because the middle class had actually been wiped off. So, to me the eight years of President Jonathan was a disaster, a cataclysm for this nation. Thank God that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is obvious that having gone to level zero, Nigerians should brace up and start rebuilding from level zero and a solid foundation will definitely be laid by Buhari’s administration. I trust that men of integrity, intellect, wisdom and direction would lay their hands on the desk to build the new country because we just need a new Nigeria.
What agenda would you set for the new administration in the area of power and corruption?
The sector has had all sorts of strategic plans; they have had all sorts of money injected into it right from 1999 to date and we have not seen much changes and of course don’t forget that there is very serious competition by also the external factors. You have those who are importing generators and all that, you have those who are importing oil to this country. So, these are people who are ensuring that nothing actually works effectively in the country.
To me, Buhari’s administration should go to the drawing board, reassess what has happened in the past, why we have failed to achieve success and which calibre of people he is going to bring in because corruption has been the basis for it. We have seen the privatisation of some of these sectors and we have seen them not working and he would want to find out why they are not working. And if we are going to reengineer those areas, I am sure he would willingly do that but I am sure there is a strategic team already set up working on that.
What sort of intervention(s) are you looking at in the oil sector?
Looking at the oil sector, there is no reason why this country should be suffering. I must commend some of the statements I have read about redirecting our minds also to agriculture because all along it has been oil, but now emphasis should also be placed on agriculture. I must use this opportunity to commend the person of former Agric Minister, Akinwunmi Adesina because there is no doubt that the young man did quite some work in that area. I think the oil sector in this country is where we have lost our integrity as a nation and it requires a complete overhauling of the system and if you read the recent debate or talks in the papers about the OML40, 42, you just see that Nigerians are jokers.
So, there is a lot of work; it is going to be serious work for whoever becomes the minister in that sector because he is going to sit up and he is going to look at the mess that has been created and I hope he will be able to flow with the spirit of Buhari which is the spirit of honesty, hard work, uncompromising spirit for corruption and others.
So, I don’t want to believe that he is not going to review most of the contracts that have been awarded in the oil sector because they have to cancel contracts which are not for the benefits of Nigerians. There should be no compromise as far as that is concerned.
And all the associated agencies and bodies, I am sure would be critically examined. There is no reason, for example, why we have the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and you are not having much of the impact in the Niger Delta axis. So, to me without naming names, I don’t think Nigerians that have sat in some of those seats have been fair to this country, fair to their families and even fair to themselves because history will judge them.
What should be the focus of the new government looking at the state of insecurity in the country?
You know injustice can propel insecurity. In a nation where you have justice, where you have equity, fairness, the tendency is that security will be stable but when you don’t them, some are bound to take laws into their hands and that is what we have had in this country. I have read some people say that amnesty should be granted to Boko Haram; it is an issue that should be looked into.
Amnesty was granted to the militants in the Niger Delta. So, once there is justice, once there is equity in this country then of course you will have no problem. I want to believe that the issue of insecurity is relative and once the man is turning the other way, and people are seeing justice flowing from the throne of authority everybody will sit up.
Is the issue of unemployment not a concern to you considering the number of graduates being churned out on yearly basis without jobs for them?
Of course, unemployment will bother any father. I have children who are also unemployed and a while ago, I was talking of social revolution and when you have a man like Buhari talking of justice, speaking against corruption then of course you know he is out there to create jobs for the people and when these jobs are created our children will be employed.
When we have stable power, you have the small scale industries working; things will work in this nation and like I said the cankerworm has been corruption. Once you can root it out, other things will flow.
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