Debo Adeniran is the Executive Chairman of Centre for Anti-corruption
and Open Leadership (CACOL , in this exclusive interview with Prestige
International Magazine, the human rights crusader bares his mind on the
expectations of Nigerians in the year 2017, the assessment of the past year
2016. He also x-rayed the performance of various sectors. According to him some
members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet are not performing. Enjoy.
Overview of 2016
To a very large extent 2016 has
been a trying period for Nigeria as a country and individuals as citizens. It
is not unexpected because it is part of transitional period. Since the current
party in government and the former party are not from the same background we
knew that we are going to go through a trying period. We are still in the
transitory period; we should expect what is going on. However, we expect that
it won’t take too long to recover the lost ground of 2016; so much ground was lost
in 2016. In the fight against corruption it is evident that it is in the firm
grip of the regime. In 2016, the current regime examined various ministries and
opened the investigation of alleged misappropriation of arms funds by former
NSA, Sambo Dasuki. The regime also confronted insurgency with necessary gusto.
To a very large extent people believe that Boko-Haram has been defeated. The
arms deals probe were on and so many hitherto untouchables were touched. The
president also brought law officers and judiciary together that they should
help in the fight against corruption. But it was discovered that the appeal did
not yield desired results which might be the reason behind the midnight raid of
some alleged corrupt judges. That is a good step in the right direction.
Performance of various sectors
When you look at the financial sector you
discover that there is nothing to write home about. Also when we look at
infrastructural development, we realize that there is nothing to write home
about. In the same vein when you look at healthcare delivery, everybody has
become his own doctor. In education, people look for alternative means to
educate their wards. Public primary and secondary schools are nothing but like
glorified home study centres. They are not training children for future
engagement and tertiary institutions. The judiciary is not helping in the fight
against corruption. In the communication sector, the fine against MTN by NCC
was cut down even when we are not enjoying the services. That is also a minus
for the regime.
Appraisal of the executive
Some of the ministers don’t have
business being there, some of them are not performing up to the expectation of
Nigerians. Can you imagine our Agriculture Minister saying that he is going to
import grasses instead of them to develop River Basin Authority to provide
irrigation services that is needed. This development brought to citizenry
hunger and starvation. This doesn’t speak well of the regime. The ministers are
not performing. For instance the minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr.
Babatunde Raji Fashola has not been able to deceive Nigerians the way he
deceived Lagosians. The roads are not good, Fashola has not been able to do
anything about it, and the power sector is nose diving. We already are paying
more for electricity that is not there.
On infrastructure
There are no government houses to live in. The
ones available are beyond the reach of common man. On the tolls on our roads,
people are not complaining about payment but fix the roads first before you
collect tolls. People have been losing money and their loved ones because of
bad roads. But if you fix roads people will succumb to that oppressive policy
of toll payments. Industry are folding up there is no jobs for people. On the
economy sector, import duties are hitting the roof. People cannot easily import
raw materials and various needs. Importers are no longer in business. Things are
generally bleak because of the inefficiency of members of the cabinet.
Advice for President Muhammadu Buhari
What we want Mr. President to do
is to throw away most of the people that are working with him. Deliberately,
they are sabotaging his efforts. He should change those who do not want him to
succeed as an administrator; he should change those who do not want his fight
against corruption to succeed.
On the Legislature
The legislature is an albatross; the
legislature is peopled by those who are not interested in the success the
president is rooting for. Most of the corrupt past governors have found their
way into the national assembly. First, the wife of the senate president was
accused by EFCC for corruption; number of senators followed the wife of their
president to intimidate the EFCC. But the acting chairman of EFCC refused to be
intimidated he moved ahead for prosecution. The same thing played out when the
Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) invited Senate President Bukola Saraki, the
senators left their jobs and they were following the senate president to the
CCT. Their trick is to stop the CCT but the CCT refused to be stopped. The past
regime did not show any interest in fighting corruption. The present regime has
a lot to do, they need to strengthen the court, and they need to strengthen the
anticorruption agencies and law enforcement agencies. If they are strengthened,
economy will be buoyant because more money will be recovered from those who
have looted them. In the same vein more people will be afraid to commit
corruption crime.
On the whistle blower protection act
It is good thing that this
government has started to implement whistle blower protection act. It is a good
thing to compensate anybody that makes a disclosure to the recovery of looted
funds. They would be given 5%; we are asking that apart from monetary
compensation there should be protection. We are also calling for national
ideology that will be arrived at national sovereign conference. We are also
calling for proper punishment for those who carry out electoral malpractices.
If we put all these in place, we will sanitize and Nigeria of our dream will be
realizable.
Economy recession
I am not an economist; recession
comes as a result of wrong implementation of policies. If we encourage our
farmers so that they can export farm produce like cocoa and so on, recession
will be over. There will be more foreign exchange and more money in the system.
In the same vein, if the arable farmers too are encouraged things will be cheap
and available for consumption. That means that people will be happy for it. For
instance, lake rice from Lagos and kebbi states will help in saving foreign
exchange in importing rice. Though, lake rice price is still high by our
expectation. Recession is not mystical it has to do with right implementation
of economic policies. With good economic policies it can change overnight. We
do not need to import many things. We can decide that whatever we cannot
produce we don’t need.
2017 Expectations
In 20017, I want President
Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to ensure that governance benefits the
people. I believe that he would have done all the ground work by now. We expect
economy to be more buoyant, we expect that corruption will be reduced because
people will be afraid to engage in corruption. Proceeds of corruption will be
recovered, our markets will be developed, and production of goods and services
will be developed. In the same vein monetary policies will be re-engineered. We
expect employment for graduates and job seekers nationwide. There will be more
peace and tranquility in the country, Boko Haram will be totally defeated. Also
militancy in the Niger Delta will go down. Military too will be strengthened to
combat any challenges. With these in place people will feel more secured to do
their honest businesses. We also expect improvement in educational sector and
health delivery sector. We also expect power sector to be improved with total
repairs of our roads. All of these will make life secured for people and there
will be tenure security for the regime.
No comments:
Post a Comment