Prof. Bola Akinterinwa is a former Director General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). In this interview, he bares his mind on President Muhammadu Buhari’s trips abroad which critics say are too many, among other issues
. Excerpts
: How do you describe the state of Nigeria under President Buhari?
We are in a transition period, transition from uncertainty to certainty. As it is now, the situation of the nation requires every hand to be on deck. We are in a situation where media professionals need to ask themselves if they are truly monitoring political governance, because the media, as the fourth estate of the realm, is supposed to monitor political governance to make government accountable to the people. But to what extent are media practitioners doing this? It is also a moment for the academia to come up with analysis on the challenges confronting the country. If I may use the words of Prof. Jerry Gana, he said, “When you are a director, you ought to direct well; if you are a chairman, chair well.
So whatever position you find yourself, you man it well”. The source of our economic survival is dwindling and what are our leaders doing about that? We talk about our mono-cultural economy by being oil dependent. Presently, a dollar is exchanging for N350 in the black market. And we are import dependent. Security wise, we have the new threat from the Niger Delta militants who said if the head of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, is not released, they will make the country ungovernable, this making the situation worse. Boko Harram is still there. While the government is trying to deal decisively with corruption, other problems are emerging. Even with the corruption battle that the government is fighting, new cases are emerging daily! This means that corruption is deeply rooted in the system. The state of the nation is that we are engaged in the process of war on corruption. And, it is just a battle. In other words, the battle is the physical dimension where we take arms to fight and criticise ourselves. But the war is more encompassing than that. And the war has to be total and will include new policies, new philosophies as well as new attitudinal dispositions. In this case, the battle cannot have a selective enemy, the enemy must be total in scope and the battle must be fought with all available means. But analysts say the war against corruption is targeting former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration alone? Akinterinwa The government must start the battle from somewhere. And government has started with the cases it has chosen. The cases are multi-directional. As they are making inquiries, they unearth more issues and they are tackling them. Nobody can say it is selective or not. But the issue is that it has to be selective in order to begin somewhere. So, if they decided to deal with what they now tagged; “Dasukigate”, it cannot be said to be selective. Because what prompted it was the issue of Boko Haram. They wanted insurgency in the North-East to come to an end within a time frame, before they discovered that it wouldn’t have come to an end because there were no sophisticated arms. Soldiers refused to fight with poor equipment because the insurgents were better equipped. The military disciplinary committee looked into it, they were tried and were sentenced to death. It was the soldiers complaint that brought about the investigation of the arms deal. So, there is no selective approach to it. The issue that led to Dasukigate is a purely security matter and Boko Haram-related. It was in the course of investigation that they discovered that money was approved, withdrawn and then wondered why was it not used to acquire the arms. It is not scientifically tenable for anyone to talk about being selective on security inquiry on arms deal. At the end of the day, the questions will be asked on why insurgency started. Do you see President Buhari as some source of inspiration? I am yet to convince myself that he means well. He has declared and has been working along that line, but I am not sure that the people he is working with will make him succeed. So the way forward is the fight against corruption should be fought simultaneously at all levels. And then put emphasis on follower-ship. Let there be a special commission that will involve youth corps members, civil defenders with a mix of scholars to lead them, to monitor anybody who will act against societal values. It should not take up to 12 months to build the foundation for a new Nigeria.
Will you say the agenda has been effective so far?
You cannot talk about effectiveness now because they are still making efforts to change. The change is not yet in place. Nigeria for over 50 years has been enmeshed in corruption. Just take a look at the Political Bureau Report, by GS Cookie, submitted in 1967. It stated that, the bane of the Nigerian society is corruption and indiscipline. Compare 1967 to the present day Nigeria. 1967 marked the beginning of the civil war. From 1967 to 2016, why has the problem not been addressed and resolved? Now, President Buhari cannot come in within one month or even under one year to put an end to it. Buhari wants to put an end to corruption, and the 2016 Budget was taken to the National Assembly. Who padded the Budget? These are the new messengers that want the change. How do you hold Buhari responsible in this case? The Minister of Finance complained that, that was not what she submitted. Many other ministers also said the same thing. Who changed it? Now, those who want to change for the better, are now involved in what they are complaining about. Is it the House of Reps or the Senate? We don’t know! That is why it is difficult for Buhari to have the change he is looking for. The people with whom he is working with must have a pure heart like himself for it to work. The Vice-President also said there were many pressures on government to discontinue the war against corruption and also the arms deal. So when you look at it, while you want good for the nation, others are benefiting from corruption, how can this work? That is where the French proverb is relevant which says: Order and counter-order amount to disorder. The order is to put an end to corruption, the counter order is ‘don’t accept, let corruption continue nothing will happen’. Disorder is the fight and that is where the battle line is drawn. What ways can the government engage to win the war against corruption? First of all, if government can reintroduce the policy of war against indiscipline, we will succeed faster and better than using the current approach. The current approach emphasises legality, the jurisprudential approach. Trials and court cases take time. And because it takes a lot of time, bribery and corruption set in. If people begin to queue up, if the road safety can deal with commercial drivers like Danfo and Molue, we can now begin to see that there is seriousness of purpose. Because the problem also lies at the level of follower-ship, not leadership alone. Those who are to enforce the law, are not in the mood to do so. This is the first time that efforts are being made to try allegedly corrupt people. We know governors who were tried in Nigeria law courts, and were not found guilty. They travelled to the United Kingdom, were tried there and found guilty of the same offense. The problem now is not at the level of the executive, how did they find such people in Nigeria not guilty? Corruption adjudged to be the bane of Nigeria as far back 1967 is still thriving. What are the dynamics? I can boldly tell you that to be honest in Nigeria is a sin! It is an offense! I made the statement in line with my experience as a Director General. I learnt that to be patriotic and do what is right is most unfortunate.
What in your view is the relevance of the continuous traveling of President Buhari in a sensitive time in the nation?
First of all, we should recognise that the President is the Chief Diplomat of Nigeria. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is his first representative and his first Ambassador. The Foreign Affairs Minister will also designate other ambassadors who are generally referred to as principal representative to a particular country. You know ambassador is a title. When you start in a foreign service in the Anglo-Saxon world, you start as Third Secretary, you are promoted into Second Secretary, then First Secretary, then Counselor, then Senior Counselor, Minister, Minister Captain and then Deputy Chief of Nation, then you become an Ambassador. In this case, when there are critical issues, it means it is the President that must go. But the Foreign Affairs Minister will always be in attendance to guide. When the Minister of Foreign Affairs travels with the President, the principal representative of the country would be there to welcome and brief them on current developments in the country. Even before the President would travel, the principal representative would have been giving reports, preparing ahead, and they can advice whether the President should even come or not. In 1982, when former President Shehu Shagari was to go to France, every arrangement had been made, but at the last minute, our embassy informed him not to come simply because France intended to send a junior Minister of Women and Fisheries to come and receive him. Because of that Shagari redirected his trip to Germany. When Germany learn about what happened, they turned the reception into a red-carpet honour. In this regard, it is the primary responsibility of every President to assume full responsibility for the international image of the country, being the Chief Diplomat. Considering President Buhari’s countless trips at a time like this,the major reason for his many travels are: first, Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy, which is crude oil. Member countries engaging in the production of crude oil, particularly in OPEC, are meeting on what to do, either to reduce production to engender scarcity and give room for increase or agree on a common price. The production level should be the direction. With this, the President is required to consult other countries. Second, due to the insecurity in the country, the international community describes Boko Haram as the deadliest terror group around here. And Nigeria is playing host to different threats on security and there are foreign, direct investment for Nigeria. No country can fight insurgency alone. Boko Haram has links with Al-Shabaab in Somalia, also with Al-Qaeda, it has been described as an affiliate of the ISIS. Any normal President should consult with other heads of state to see how there could be coordination of containment of international terrorism.
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