Interview
If Youths Are Idle, Nigeria Is In Trouble – Bagare
Alhaji Aliyu Saleh Bagare, the Turakin Tikau, is the former Deputy Governor, under the Bukar Abba Ibrahim Administration in Yobe state. In this interview with National Trail newspaper, he spoke to Our Correspondent, YAHAYA WAKILI on his view of the Buhari administration, and how APC fares in Yobe State under Governor Ibrahim Gaidam. Excerpt:
The Change long expected by Nigerians is finally here with the APC. What is your assessment of the Buhari administration so far? Well, the change of government from PDP to APC I think is a very welcome development. We cannot say that the change has so far satisfied our desires all but we know that this change is taking us to the promise land. We have so far seen changes in a number of issues, I mean, and I am particularly speaking on security. In the past years to move from one town to another is a big problem more especially in the north East zone, but with the coming of Buhari government, now people can sleep with their eyes closed, one can travel without fear of being attacked, killed or harassed by small boys carrying guns. You see before the coming of APC government, security issues have deteriorated beyond any our imaginations. Our people have been running from pillar to post to save their lives from being sniff out by young stars that were abandoned due to recklessness of the past administrations. People have to change towns and villages in search of peace, but now in Yobe state I can say we are almost free now. We can go or move from one area to another for our business without fear or molesting from somebody or groups. We can go about or move around without any fear that we might killed or wounded from flying bullets or direct attack. For just this one, for me, the change of government from PDP to APC is a welcome development. Secondly, if you look at the economy of the country you can see that many culprits who hitherto have taken the wealth of this country to private pockets were exposed. Those that were being arrested, we know are one time powerful Nigerians who are seen as untouchables. The looters as well as the greedy are being exposed by the day. I believe a time will come when we would appreciate what is going on now. But do you agree that the fight against corruption as championed by the Buhari administration is a kind of political witch- hunt as some sections of the country view it? Well, fighting of corruption by the Muhammadu Buhari administration is not a new thing, even the time he was a military head of State, he fought corruption and also in the right direction. I think now what he is doing is not a witch-hunt but something similar to what he did years back. We are in a political era, it is normal for some people to think otherwise but I think he fight against corruption now like before is in the right direction. I think if he allowed people to continue looting our treasuries, we can never develop, we can never be economically free and when we as a nation cannot stand economically, then we are no longer free citizens, especially if we cannot produce what we consumed. Everybody knows that the prices of foods stuff are rising up beyond the rich of the common man, but this is a global happening that Nigeria cannot be an exception. As bad as it may be felt, I think it has also help our people to go back to farm. In Yobe state, people have gone to the farm even those who abundant the farm for many years. Now they return back to farm. Now what we want from Mr. President to do is to assist our farmers with fertilizers. If fertilizer can be made available people are now ready to embark on agriculture and by the Grace of God, this price escalation and shortage of food stuff will be things of the past. God helping us, this year there would be a good harvest. How about the removals of fuel subsidy, what can you say about it? This is a very difficult question to answer, but I will try. You see, ok now, after the removal, you can see the commodity everywhere, any filling stations you go in this country you will get fuel no scarcity. But before the removal of the subsidy, people sold the commodity above the government price, the commodity become scarcity, they monopolize the market. Still the common man was at the receiving end but now the subsidy was remove the masses can get the commodity available I think that is better for the nation. If the subsidy is on, the hardship might be worse than what people are facing now, because the fuel might have been on sell for more than N300 now. So, for me, the removal is a welcome development but most people will not understand this, but definitely the removal have yield the needed result because anytime now you drive to any filling station you can get the fuel as you want but before to get the commodity is another problem. You have been speaking on the positive side for the Buhari administration, what areas do you think Mr. President needs to improve on? He should continue fighting the corruption. He also needs to keep the spirit going and not allow people to divert his attention. Let him continue as he started with security situation of this country because the principal responsibility of any government is to provide the security of lives and properties of its citizens. I want Mr. President to re-double his effort on security matters because if there is no security in the country, no development, nothings can move at all, because before about 24 out of the 27 local government areas of Borno state and 2 local government areas in Yobe state are under the control of Boko Haram but now all of them are free. This is something good, so he should keep the good work. Nigerians are suffering, some people hardly eat, the gap is widening between the rich and the poor, and this was significant to Buhari administration like in 1984. What is your take on this? You see, as I told you
earlier, this is not about Nigeria alone, this is global and Buhari is not President in other countries that are facing the same price and food crises. Some countries are even worse than Nigeria, we should be patient and not to heap blame. Nigeria cannot be on exception and also I says people should embarked massively in farming and farmers should be assisted in getting farm inputs more especially fertilizers, if farmers get fertilizer enough and on time I assure you we will get good harvest and the price of food stuff will come down drastically! So people should be exercise patient and even Mr. President has come out and begs Nigerian to be patient because gradually everything will be normal. In sha Allah, so let us exercise patient, in Islam patient is the number one requirement for any success to be achieved, if you want to achieve some things you have to be patient. We need to give Mr. President the needed time to correct all abnormalities he met in office, and then we can begin to appreciate his concern for this country. People are attributing these hard times to closing of our borders by the Federal government, what do you say about this? The closing of border has to do with the situation of security we have and this is done at the right time in the right direction because if you live your border open you don’t know the type of hazard that would come through those border, therefore, in order to have enough severance we need to closed the border. If we leave the border open we cannot control it, definitely I think closure of the border has come at the right time because it is only then that we can have the control over the influence of foreigners coming to our country. It has nothing to do with the hardship or prices of food as some people would want to say. You have talked about assisting farmer with fertilizer, but you are aware that, the Yobe state government in 2015 did not purchase fertilizer to the farmers, so also this year. What do you have to say about this? Well, fertilizer in Yobe state is one of the requirements, but when there are economy crises, government itself is struggling. Struggling on many front, salaries of worker, pensions, development, education, healthcare and what have you I do not think not purchasing fertilizer was intentional; the governor did not refuse to purchase the fertilizer, but I think it was due to lack of resources. May be the government is facing financial problem that is why government was not able to purchase the fertilizer. There must to be a reason otherwise if you could recalled back in past years back, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam purchased enough fertilizer to the farmers in Yobe state and unfortunately for us also the fertilizer Blanding company we have in Gujba was burnt by the insurgents. So, this contributed the fertilizer problem in the state, I am sure when the economic situation of the government improved, he will definitely purchase the fertilizer. There was a massive retrenchment of workers in the local governments; do you believe this is all about ghost workers? The local government is unfortunately a field for corruption and embezzlement of the merger resources government put in their care. So, when there is embezzlement unless a strict measure is taking against those culprit the system cannot be corrected, in order to correct the system in the local government, there must be a strictly measure to curtail such embezzlement that is why he the governor take this strict measure, he constituted a very strong committee to verify the staff of the local government to get genuine staff and flush out the ghost workers. I am absolutely in agreement with him on this because there are names that are ghost names in the pay roll of the local governments. I heard he dissolved all the Directors of Personnel Management (DPM) and Treasuries and appoint new once because the old DPM’s and Treasurers are conniving to embezzled the local government funds so dropping them should teach a lesson to others. I believe others will learn and those who are newly posted will learn from the mistake of those that were flush out. If people were left unpunished the local government will be collapse and even the salary the local government councils would not be able to pay. In government taking of such measure has become imperative in order to allow the government to continue. What is your message to the people of Yobe state? Well, my message to the people of Yobe state, you see, always I have been saying people should work hard, people should avoid idleness. Everybody should try to have something doing, so that through this personal effort we can contribute to our national economy. People should avoid depending on government or begging, we must have a goal to achieve, we have to work hard to achieve some things. If you are a farmer by profession, take it seriously and our youth should be engaged in acquiring skills. If you look at India or China those people have gone far in development, everybody have something to do either youths or elders, and nobody is sitting idle. So, Nigeria cannot be an exception, if we work hard, we can achieve self-sufficient. I think the nation will mobilize our youths not to be involved in political thuggery. If the youth don’t have something to do then we are bringing trouble to the nation.
Honorable Bernard Mikko, a former member of the House of Representatives from Ogoni, Rivers State from 1999-2003 spoke to ourcorrespondent the merits of the Federal Governments fiscal and economic policies, especially the controversies surrounding the tax reform bills.
Excerpts:
- The Federal Government has introduced far reaching economic reforms, the latest being the four tax reform bills, which seems to be generating controversies, what is your take on the fiscal and economic policies of the Tinubu administration generally?
(1)The Federal Government is an APC government that succeeded itself. From President Muhammadu Buhari to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu. They both campaigned on the change mantra, and the president vowed to continue from where his predecessor stopped. After sixteen years of the PDP administration, Nigerians were desperately in the mood for change. Including the change of economic, social, and political well-being of the people. The APC touted itself as that agent of change. Politics and political leadership set economic renewals and growth, even as the former dwindles, while the latter will still be subsisting. Change, they say, is inevitable in an active society. The tax reform bill is a major policy instrument for socio-economic change. It defines the essence of commitment to our unity, political development, and economic growth. As you know change anywhere in the world comes with innitial pains, apprehension and fear, it creates anxiety and generates controversies, sometimes founded on primordial identities and filial pieties and cleavages, particularly in diverse and multi racial societies like Nigeria. Interestingly, controversy is the nature of politics, and expectedly so in Nigeria, with the introduction of the four tax reform bills as a measure of the fiscal policy of the new administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu
- Let us talk about the tax reform bills in particular. Would you say they are timely, given the socio- economic realities of the country?
(2) Nigeria inherited a colonial administration based imperial adventure and exploitation. Economic development and social welfare weren’t on the agenda of the colonial regime. Since 1933, there hasn’t been any major tax reform or fiscal policy that will put Nigeria on the path of economic growth and development. So, the reform isn’t only timely but long overdue. With hindsight, there could be no other time than now as time waits for no one. Anytime is God’s time. - But some sections of the country expressed reservations about the bills, alleging that they were targeted to estrange them. Taking a critical look at the bills, is it possible that any one of them may tend to target a particular section of the country?
(3) The so-called reservations expressed by some sections of the country are generally a symptom of the geopolitical nature of our country. Anytime the political leadership of the country is from one section, the opposite section appears to be nervous, sometimes in mischief. Looking at the gradients of the bills, I would say that the economy and the general well-being of the people are the target. But looking critically at the data from NBS provided by the Chairman of the Tax reform committee, Lagos and Rivers states appear to be on losing side, falling from over 80% threshold in the current tax regime to less than 15% in the envisaged fiscal policy administration. This is one of the sacrifices we have to make as a nation going forward, to be our brothers’ keeper in time of need and support. - The Senate had earlier passed the bills for second reading, only to suddenly turn around and set up a committee that will study the bills’ advice on their desirablility or not. As a former lawmaker, would you say the manner with which the bills are being handled are procedurally correct?
(4) The suspension of legislative action on bills by the Senate is strange, authoritarian, and undemocratic. In civilised parliamentary debates, critical stakeholders will be encouraged to present their views , which would enable parliamentary committees to reach a near consensus or cause a vote on clause by clause basis. The Senate presiding officer acted in error by suspending further legislative action and abdicating her constitutional responsibility to the executive arm that formulated the bills and sent them to the National Assembly. In proper parliamentary procedures, once a bill is introduced and read for the second time, it can’t be suspended based on speculations or sentiments expressed outside the chambers but can be withdrawn by the president in consultation with the leadership of the National Assembly. As a politician with cognate parliamentary experience, if the Senate in particular or the National Assembly in general is unable to carry out their functions of law making and representation, let the bills be withdrawn for the executive to conduct a referendum on the desirability of taxation as a major policy item on exclusive list in our Constitution. In this context, states, principalities, and regional governments would be a position to determine their fiscal priorities based on their culture and socio-economic understanding.
- Given the contro easy the bills seem to be generating, what would you suggest as the best approach to solving this serming quagmire?
(5) Political debates in most times ignite tensions and controversy. Stakeholders should engage in healthy debate with empirical data to support their claims. Without data and facts, it’ll amount to speculation and mischief. My suggestions are:
(a) allow full parliamentary debates without hindrance in the National Assembly.
(b) If the National Assembly is unwilling to continue deliberation on the bills timeously( as in the case of the Petroleum Industry Bill that lasted over 20 years in the the National Assembly), the bills should be withdrawn, and the issue of taxation presented directly to the Nigerian people through a referendum, not through our representatives in the National Assembly.
- Some analysts feel that the general mood of the country could make President Bola Ahmed Tinibus re- election in 2027 suffer as a result of these bills in particular. Do you think that could be the case?
(6) The bait of possible scenarios in the next general election is highly speculative and apparently mischievous. It takes a committed and courageous leader to move a nation out of economic quagmire, and such decisions are unpopular and painful. Patriotic leaders make painful decisions and not smear campaigns that would be appreciated decades later. Our heritage and prosperity provide the foundation of our power, not docile followship, weak leadership, or a fragmented population.
The Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Honourable Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has vowed to implement a zero-tolerance policy against corruption in the judiciary. She emphasized her commitment to integrity and strict adherence to judicial ethics as fundamental aspects of her judicial philosophy.
During her screening before the Senate, Kekere-Ekun assured lawmakers that, if confirmed, she would prioritize the swift adjudication of cases, particularly election petitions. She promised to shield the judiciary from external influences and advocated for enhanced welfare and infrastructure for judicial officers.
Justice Kekere-Ekun also stressed the importance of strengthening national institutions and promoting responsible behavior during elections. She highlighted that these improvements could help reduce the tendency to challenge election results in court.
The Senate commenced the screening process for Honourable Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun for the position of Chief Justice of Nigeria on Wednesday. Prior to the screening, Senate Leader Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) moved a motion to reorder the day’s agenda to prioritize her screening. The motion was seconded by Deputy Minority Leader Senator Oyewumi Olalere (PDP, Osun West).
Justice Kekere-Ekun, accompanied by justices from the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, arrived at the Senate Chamber at 12:30 PM. Senator Basheer Lado, Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, led her into the chamber following the invocation of Order 12 of the Senate’s Standing Orders by Senator Bamidele, which was seconded by Senator Olalere.
On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu submitted a letter to the Senate, seeking the confirmation of Honourable Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. The letter, read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, highlighted the President’s nomination in accordance with Section 231(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which mandates the President to appoint the CJN on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and subject to Senate confirmation.
The letter stated: “Pursuant to Section 231(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which gives the President the power to appoint the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and subject to confirmation by the Nigerian Senate, I have the honour to forward the nomination of Honourable Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, CON, for confirmation as CJN. I hope that this request will receive the expeditious consideration of the Senate.”
Justice Kekere-Ekun was sworn in as the 23rd Chief Justice of Nigeria on August 23, 2024, by President Tinubu at the State House, Abuja. She is the second female to hold the position, following Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar (CJN from July 2012 to November 2014). Born on May 7, 1958, in London, United Kingdom, Justice Kekere-Ekun began her legal career at the University of Lagos, where she earned her law degree in 1980, and was called to the Nigerian Bar on July 10, 1981.
Ambassador Charles Crawford, an Oxford and Harvard-trained British Diplomat and former British Ambassador to Bosnia and Poland, is renowned for inspiring leaders worldwide to navigate the complexities of geopolitics and volatility. His insights will be shared at the upcoming TEXEM UK Programme, “Strategic Agility and Inspiring Change: Fuelling Sustainable Success,” from August 26 to 29 at Hilton Liverpool.
Lessons from Diplomatic Experience
Drawing on his experience in post-communist Europe and post-conflict reconciliation, Crawford emphasizes that leaders must be adaptable in rapidly changing environments. Reflecting on the challenges faced during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he advises against complacency, reminding business leaders that favorable market conditions may not last forever. His key lesson: optimism must be balanced with realism.
Leadership Strategies in Volatile Regions
Crawford highlights the importance of understanding both the opportunities and risks of leading in turbulent times. Leaders must be ambitious yet cautious, acknowledging that change initiatives often create winners and losers. He shares a poignant example from Serbia, where underestimating opposition led to tragic consequences. This lesson underscores the need for careful consideration of both allies and adversaries when leading change.
Strategic Agility in Business and Diplomacy
While diplomacy often emphasizes patience and method over agility, Crawford notes that taking smart risks is crucial in both fields. He challenges leaders to balance agility with caution, ensuring that quick decisions do not lead to unforeseen pitfalls. The TEXEM programme will delve into actionable strategies for embracing strategic agility in business, drawing parallels with diplomatic agility.
Communication and Leadership
Effective communication is central to inspiring change. Crawford, with his experience as a speechwriter for world leaders, underscores the importance of motivating followers through words. Leaders should focus not just on sharing information but also on challenging assumptions and encouraging new ways of thinking. Engaging speeches that provoke thought can be more impactful than those offering simple answers.
Learning from Historical Transitions
Crawford’s experiences during the fall of communism and apartheid offer valuable lessons for today’s leaders. He emphasizes the importance of trust and making hard choices in times of chaos. Through the TEXEM programme, participants will gain insights into how historical leaders navigated such challenges and how these lessons can be applied to modern corporate settings.
The programme promises to equip leaders with practical tools and fresh perspectives to navigate change and drive sustainable success.
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