Nigerians’ll vote out Buhari if he doesn’t perform – Akaaka

Chief Joseph Akaaka is the Managing Director of Henritton Group, an oil and gas firm based in Abuja. In this interview, he speaks on why President Muhammadu Buhari must strengthen the electoral system, revamp the refineries and deliver on his promise on fighting corruption

How do you see the new government strengthening the nation’s electoral reform?

President Muhammadu Buhari is actually the first president elected in Nigeria that is prepared to take over and do the job of a democratically elected leader. He has been waiting and looking forward to this in the last 30 years since he was ousted just two years into his military administration.

This is the fourth time he has made attempt and in these four trials, he has learnt a lot of lessons. President Buhari knows very well that he was elected by the people therefore, electoral reform that we are expecting from him is to go forward.

We should be going into electronic voting in the next elections and I believe that he knows this. The new president also knows that it is the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) that brought him into office. He needs to understand too that if he doesn’t work to deliver on the mandate, the same PVC will vote him out in 2019 if he decides to run again.

What should the new government do to tackle corruption?

One thing we should understand is that our values have been eroded completely and I believe that corruption has to do with national orientation. The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has to be properly reorganised to propagate the new message of addressing corruption and positive change in our core values.

After the offence has been committed, what next? In looking at this, the new president must go back to his War Against Indiscipline (WAI) using NOA as an instrument to spread the new message. So, we must have to re-orientate our people and since it is not a military regime, he will be doing this democratically, but systematically too to achieve positive results so that the country can be better for it.

Are you expecting so much in the power sector?

Some Nigerians believe that any government that comes into power whether at the national or state level should look within to know what the people want. We should not put industrialisation first. If you do that, we will forget that the infrastructure is not there. You cannot embark on industrialisation without the needed infrastructure; power is the basic.

Now that most of the power assets have been sold to private firms, I believe that the focus must be to ensure that these infrastructure whether in private or in government hands work. That is the only way any meaningful progress can be made regarding improvement in electricity availability to Nigerians.

How should the new government address the challenge of petroleum products availability?

Buhari was the one that established the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), he was also Minister of Petroleum for about four years and within those years; we know what he did. The new president still has that blueprint in his kitty. I am very sure that the entire industry will change for good. Let us give a chance because I know that the oil sector is one first area that we would see a revolution.

Many have also called on the president to look at the problem of high cost of governance. Do you agree with this?

I believe that the president knows the structure of this country so well. He must have seen the problem of this country from the outside too and from different dimensions. I know he is also a prudent leader who is coming in with a lot of experience. He knows too that the executive and the legislature are the areas where he really needs to tackle.

These are really the arms of government that we have problem with. The judiciary is the oldest arm of government, the legislature just came in and most of us have watched them. We believe that the legislature must be looked into regarding the issue of high cost of governance.

At the end of the day, we expect that legislative assignments should be part-time and not full-time as it is presently. In the executive, I am sure that the president knows also that government is too large, there are too many largesse that have been created for the boys. We should take a second look at the budget of the country and lay it bare to ensure that only critical projects and programmes are coming in this important financial document.

What do you expect in the area of security, particularly the insurgency in the North-East?

Buhari is one of the finest officers produced by the Nigerian military. He fought in the civil war and remains very jealous about the country. I am sure the president is not happy about the pride of our armed forces. Some of us were there when the civil was fought, the role the military played during and after the war.

The condition of the armed forces of Nigeria as at today is worrisome in terms of what they have done. Buhari needs to restore back the pride of our armed forces. Most Nigerians believe that his election has solved 50 per cent of Nigeria’s problems.