You are on the federal government’s delegation to commiserate with people of Benue State over the recent killings in some parts of the state. Do you have any word of hope for the Benue people?
For the Benue people, I urge them to believe in Mr. President. He is not the type that we just pay lip service to issues like this. He’s very firm, very honest and sincere with Nigerian people. He’s an accomplished man by all standards. All that he needs to do now and all that he is doing is to leave a legacy for this country. We have seen how he is building the economy, how he is deepening our democracy, how he is stretching hands of fellowship to many dissidents across the country and ensuring that this country is blooming in a new economic order that will affect everyone. Over the years, people have talked about diversifying the economy of this Nigeria over and over and over and over.
But it was all lip service until he came on board. Today, you look at what the non-oil sector is doing and the economy is moving towards that direction by virtue of his policies. So he says it, he does it.
He promised Nigerians he was going to take out the fuel subsidy. Immediately, he came in, on day one, he took it out. And you see the firmness with which he stood his ground, even when they fought back, he stood his ground to this day. And we now realize that, oh, oil subsidy was no good for Nigerians. And what he did was the best thing that anybody could have done in that circumstance for the benefit of our economy. Look at the dollar. Today, the fluctuations we had in the past government is stabilizing because of policies that he took.
Nigerians are complaining that there is hunger in the land, there is this, there is poverty, there is this. But yes, all of the past failures to confront these problems frontally have all piled up to the point that what he did was like, you know, you have something stuck in your lap and somebody came to remove it. You will feel sharp pain at that point. But then, when the healing process continues, you see how everything will just die down and you have permanent healing. The only thing you see will be the scars. So Mr. President has come to remove that sharp object that was stuck in our laps. And he has done it.
All we’re feeling is just the pain and healing. So the healing process is ongoing. Nigerians should just bear with Mr. President. Four years is not enough. Not to talk of the two years that he has been in leadership so far.
If he was not going in the right direction, it’s a different thing. But he’s going in the right direction. Things are turning around. So we need to just be patient a little bit and see what will happen. So there is hope. And the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President is actually working.
So, look at the speed with which Mr President responded to this issue in Benue and obviously, you will hear from his statement, you will know that he was misbriefed. He didn’t have the proper briefing. You understand? When he spoke, Nigerians were bitter. But immediately the governor gave interview, people knew that, oh, this was a briefing Mr. President had. And this is why he said what he said. People saw where this problem was coming from.
So it’s very obvious that these are the issues and Nigerians should just be very patient with Mr. President. It won’t be long. We’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel.
What you have been doing since taking over as Executive Secretary and CEO of Nigerian Shippers Council?
Shippers Council, hopefully, we are going to transit into a new agency under the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
Like I said earlier on, Mr. President, in his wisdom, created the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to target not only the marine resources of this country, but also the blue economy, which is a global economy, multi-billion dollar global economy and Nigeria has not begun to even lay structures for that economy. Now, Mr. President, in his wisdom, has decided to focus his economic policy, one of his economic policies, to target the resources of the marine and the blue economy. He has appointed a very refined gentleman, a technocrat of the highest of them, my minister, AdegboyegaOyetola, to lead that ministry and you will recall that recently the Federal Executive Council approved the national policy on marine and blue economy, the first of its kind.
And every activity of all the agencies under the marine and blue economy, and even those that are contiguous to the marine and blue economy, will work together under that policy. So for Shipper’s Council, there is a need for the law to be strengthened, to give us the impetus to be the Port Economic Regulator of the country.
So, the Minister also guided us to come up with the law to amend, repeal, and re-enact the Nigerian Shipper’s Council Act, to the Nigerian Port Economic Regulator Agency Act. So the bill has been passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly, and is before the president for assent now. It just got to the president for assent when he was on two weeks vacation to Lagos. So, I believe that, in his usual style, the president will look into that bill and we’re very hopeful that, he will assent to it and that will give more impetus to the new agency to be the Port Economic Regulator Agency, with legal provisions to help us protect the investments that are made in the marine and blue economy sector because huge investments have been made there.
A lot of foreign direct investment have come into that sector, and we want to protect it. We want to be able to protect the investment and guarantee that those investments will yield profit in a short while. And also, the government of this country will benefit from those investments in a more systematic manner. And again, we will prevent those people who want to come into the sector just to be a problem to others. We’ll prevent them from coming because the law adequately make provisions for deterrent of such kind of persons coming into the sector.
So, we deter them, not that we do not want people to come in, but we want you to come in and be a serious player, not someone that will come in to breaking the laws of the land and creating a lot of problems. As of today, one of the major challenges is the issue of efficiency in the sector. You know, time, they say, is money. So, when the sector is clogged with inefficiencies due to lack of proper legal regime to ward off those kind of inefficiencies, then we’ll just be going around in cycles, not making any progress. So, we believe that Mr. President, being an astute businessman himself, and who is running this country as a business entity to make profit, we know that he will sign that bill and he will give us the impetus to work even harder, going forward.
You came with the President and went around the camps, the IDP camps and the area that was badly torched in Yelewata where over 200 people were killed. How do you feel about or what’s your impression of what has taken place?
It’s actually very sad that gradually we are losing our humanity. How people can attack a whole community unprovoked, and kill and maim young and old people, women and children. It’s so disgusting how we have come to this stage. And it’s only God that knows, but it’s not something to wish even your enemy.
Well, first of all, I must say that this is a clear departure from the immediate past. This has been going on, not from this government, but it has been going on from the past administration. This would be the first time that a President would be so concerned about this issue to the extent that he decides to come to see things for himself.
We’ve gone through this for over a decade now, but this will be the first time that a sitting President will come to Benue State to commiserate with our people and to also see things for himself. So my expectation is that knowing who this president is, he will not just come and play lip service to it. He will see what is going on for himself and he will take drastic actions as he has taken in terms of the fight against terrorism generally.
This is not something that he cannot be able to tackle because he has tackled Boko Haram. I believe that he can tackle this issue within record time. My expectation is so high, I am quite confident that after his visit, this monster will be tackled head on. So that’s my expectation.
The state government has been accused of failing on its part, that this crisis has been brewing and they have not been too serious about it until it got to this level. What’s your take on that?
Yeah, as of yesterday, we were looking at the social media platforms, different news platforms, and a lot of people began to laugh at us as citizens of this state. People feel that Governor Alia has not done enough. You can see that they are not far from the truth.
In the last 48 hours alone, he has countered everybody, countered himself. He has said things and moved from there again to say other things over and over and over.
So you begin to wonder, what is the problem? He is the governor of the state, and under our constitutional democracy, the governor of the state is the chief security officer of the state. So, he alone understands the security briefings of the state. He receives security briefings from his own chief security advisor or whatever that is. So we don’t know whether he has set up a tight security network that is giving him on the spot assessment of security situation in the state because today, technology is helping a lot.
If you can deploy the use of technology, and this technology, you don’t even need to build it. You can even partner with some other existing architecture that has been set up by someone or some other persons, even outside the state, to give you on the spot intelligence report of what is happening in our bushes. So you should be able to mobilize. Elsewhere, we know that state governors are working closely with security agencies, even providing additional infrastructure to support what the federal government is doing. Because that’s the essence for which federal government gives security votes to state governments.
The security vote in cases of states that have this nature of security crisis, even is higher. And this is the reason the federal government deems it fit to partner with the state governments to see how they can tackle insecurity issues. So we have a peculiar case in Benue State here. And all eyes are on the governor of the state.
We heard that some people have even been accusing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation of not also saying something about it. At the level of the SGF, he cannot be condemning attacks, not only on Benue communities, maybe because he’s from Benue, but elsewhere in Nigeria. He cannot go condemning. He takes action. And his actions may not be seen physically because he’s not a governor of the state. So he cannot physically come into the state and begin to take action regarding the security. Even the president, who is the president of the country, he can relate with the confederating members through the governors in terms of fighting insecurity in their respective states. He cannot go into a state and begin to act as if he’s the governor of the state. No. But when things get out of hand, the president can wield the big stick. And that is what we are seeing happening now. Because actually, things have gotten out of hand in this state. Things that should not have happened have happened.
The governor is the one in charge here. When it comes to the security of these people, he is the one in charge. All of us federal appointees, yes, because we come from this state and because we’re Nigerians, when we see things like this happen, the empathize that is within us will tell us that we should condemn these things. But the apparatus of state power to fight against this nature of waste of human lives is in the hands of the governor who has taken the oath to defend and protect the people and their properties.
Yesterday, the president directed, and you saw that the SGF came into the state, going around to see the situation for himself.
So, now because the president has directed him, he will now have the opportunity of assessing the situation on ground. He could have done so in any state, not necessarily in Benue alone. If the president so directs him, he can go to anywhere and assess the situation and report back to the president.
So, his assessment of things in Benue today, and even after the visit of Mr. President, he will put all of that together and report back to Mr. President for further action.
You went around yesterday, you saw the level of destruction, and you were also at the IDPs camp. Are you making any plans to alleviate their suffering or reaching out to them personally?
Yes, definitely. Even as of yesterday, under the auspices of the SGF, we reached out to them.If you were there, you see that we were able to put some money together for them. And the relief materials that are coming from the federal government, they are also coming. But as individuals and appointees of Mr. President, we also have a duty to do whatever we can do to assist these people because their plight is quite disheartening. When you go there and you see what is going on there, you see the level of inhumanity that has been meted at very innocent people. It’s quite disturbing and we have to do whatever we can do to support and assist.
The President, in one of his directives, asked stakeholders including the governor, to find a way to solve their face off. Right now, they are not united. And most of the fault has been traced to the governor of the state.
Now that the President is asking that the stakeholders should come together and find a peaceful way, and because they have also traced the crises to disunity, What do you anticipate may take place?
First of all, I want to clarify that this is happening not necessarily because there are crises between the political actors in the state. No, this is a systematic thing that has been going on for over a decade, like I said. And if you go to some social media platforms, you will see that it is planned and is being carried out.
Now, that being said, let me come to your question. And I want to let you know that these attacks are purely unrelated to the issues that are happening in the state.
We believed that we needed someone that would be a rallying point, that would bring everybody together, so that we can work together as one team under our leader, the SGF, to resolve issues of insecurity and other issues within the state, even issues bordering on development of the state. And this was the reason we all supported him against all odds. We supported him, and he got to the seat. But rather than concentrate on governance, he is fighting everybody, forgetting that nobody is an Island. You can’t work it alone. You cannot govern a whole state all by yourself. You need people, people that can guide you. Not to lead you, but to guide you.Yes, as governor, you are in charge of the security, in charge of development plan of the state but then, you must have people who are also ahead of you. One, you are not the oldest person. You are not the first person to have been governor. There are other people who have been governor before you.
So, all of these things you need to take into consideration while you are governor, and allow other people to work closely with you. But when you’ve decided that you are a lord unto yourself, then everybody steps back. And this is someone who is ready to accuse anybody. Don’t be surprised that after I grant this interview, you will hear him saying that I have done this or done that. Because he doesn’t like to be criticized. But leaders are criticized. Even Mr. President is criticized. When you criticize Mr. President, he looks at the criticism in a positive way. And if it is something to correct, it’s corrected. But here is a governor who does not want to be criticized. Here is a man who has been a Reverend Father for over 30 years. So, maybe he is feeling like the whole of this state is a church. Recently, you heard how he called religious bandits, referring to religious leaders in the state. It’s quite unfortunate that even your constituency from where you came, you cannot spare.
And let me tell you that Mr. President is the most powerful man in this country. But he doesn’t rule us with power. No. He’s quite a very humble man. And this is a man that his antecedents have shown that over the years, he has been a master in business, in politics, in governance.Yet he goes about his presidency with humility. Look at his appointments. For the first time, service chiefs in this country reflect all the zones of this country. He’s not an ethnic bigot.
He’s somebody whose appointments are scattered around the country in a very balanced and fair manner.
You live in this state, You know what goes on in this state. At this moment, even as appointees of president, we are almost declared persona non grata in this state.
Our state, a party that we built and we brought so many. Even Governor Alia himself should know that he can never sit in a meeting and look at himself as a leader to Senator Akume. How? How can you say you are a leader to Senator Akume? So these are the issues. And Mr. President’s directive is very clear. You know, if you read the letter, you will see that it behooves strictly on the governor to make peace with political stakeholders in the state. It’s his duty. Because he’s the man in charge here.
We cannot jump into this state and begin to make peace with whom we are not fighting. Since this crisis, have you ever heard the SGF say a word other than say, pray for, father? You were in Jato-Aka with us. You saw what happened in Jato-Aka. No protocol was observed. A man of SGF’s standing in this state and in this country, his personal relationship and political relationship with Paul Unongu, and the Kwande people.
As a former governor of as a former minister and a serving SGF, and a representative of the president, the governor did not allow him to speak at that burial. If not for intervention of the youth, the angry youth. They almost mobbed him, he didn’t allow the SGF to speak. So you will see that this is a man that has no regard for protocols. But Mr. President himself understands protocols and has regards for protocols. So these are the issues. And a lot of people go about thinking that there is a crisis between the reverend father and his political godfather. No. You were there in Jato-Aka and you heard what the SGF said. Yes. He said, come back. Let us start where we stopped and continue. This was a great opportunity that was offered to him to turn around. And you know that SGF has forgiveness in his hands. He offers to anybody. All you need to do is come back to him. When you have offended him, he forgives you. Just like that.
So what are the reasons for the level of antagonism?
Nobody knows what’s the reason. But from all the body language and all every indication, it is a man that believes that to wield political power, you have to be a powerful man. That is not how to wield political power. The more political power you have, the more humble you should be. Because it’s a position of trust. People have come together to give you that mandate to lead them. And after that, you come back and somebody else will lead you. Nobody is going to lead us forever. Nobody. So you first of all have to know that at some point, this political power you hold will end. We have three former governors in this state. They’re all alive. One of them being the SGF.
You have Senator Gabriel Suswam. You have Samuel Ortom. All of them at one point or the other occupied that seat. Today, they are out of that seat and they are just normal people in the society. So one day, even Governor Alia will come down from his high horse and be a member of the society, an ordinary member of the society like us. So let him know that this political power does not last forever. It’s transient. If anything at all, two years have gone in this era. It’s gone. Remaining two years now. And after him, others will come. They will still go. Others will still come. So this is my little message and my simple message this morning.
THISDAYLIVE.
