There are many misgivings about those that
were made ministers. Two time military ad
ministrator Colonel Inuwa Bawa has appealed to
Nigerians not to be too discouraged; saying the
government may need these old hands to clear
the messof the last administration even as he
advised government to be more open for
Nigerians to appreciate what it is going through.
Excerpts-
President Buhari seems not to have met the
expectation of Nigerians with his choice of
ministers. What does this portent for the
execution of the change ideology of the
administration?
First of all, Nigerians need to be congratulated
on the 55th anniversary of the nation and from
all indications things are changing positively for
the country and there are clear indications that
there are better things to come. This goes to
show that when the right calibre of leadership is
in place, things tend to fall into shape without
even the need to tell the people what to be
done. When people look at the top and they see
the star is shinning, they equally fall into line.
Have a look at the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria (PHCN) for example. For the past two or
three months electricity supply has been steady;
staying for up to 24 and sometimes 48 hours
without a blink. It is the same workers supplying
the electricity that are still there; only the
leadership of the country has changed.
That is to tell you that something must have
been wrong in the past and that for now, the
future looks very bright for us. But then of
course, all of us have a lot of things to do
because it is not just the leadership that would
make things work or that will bring about the
positive change we crave for. The leader as it im
plies, is there to lead and guide us, but if we do
not have attitudinal change we can never
achieve anything.
There are a lot of things that need to be
changed in this country. We need to change our
attitude to work; even the way we drive on the
road, we need education to drive with caution.
While we agree things are falling in place,
sometimes and speaking from experience,
Nigerians always want to be guided with a little
bit of stiffness or iron hands before they do what
is right. Even though they know what to do, they
will want to take advantage of any situation, to
go the other way. Let us take a look at the
traffic gridlock we sometimes experience on the
road. They are mostly caused by indiscipline and
nothing more. A little bit of patience would have
prevented them. You will see that even if a sev
en year old boy stands at the junction to direct
cars, everybody will obey. That is to show that
we always want a little bit of guidiance before
we do what is right.
Back to the issue of nominees, Nigerians waited
for over three months for the ministerial list, and
this raised the expectations very high and the
president said he will surprise Nigerians and
finally the list came and Nigerians were truly
surprised, but not in the sense that they
expected. We took the words of the president
very seriously and because people expected very
radical departure from the past, people expected
brand new faces, maybe some people that were
unheard of, from all fields of life; but then when
the list came out it was not so. But let us not
take anything away from Mr. President or from
the list.
One thing I know after going through the list is
that these are experienced people. They have
that experience in their various fields of
endeavors. Even though they are not what we
expected, but we just have to say the truth that
they have the experience but for one to
comment really is a little bit premature. We
should give the president and the nominees
benefit of doubt and wait to see what they have
to offer Nigerians after they have been cleared
and given portfolios.
I quite agree that the younger generation has not
been taken care of, and maybe the women still
have not gotten all they expected. But my
postulation is that he went in for such people,
the old generation and people with experience
because of the mess he met on the ground. It
needed experience hands to really grapple with
those problems. I think once such issues have
been properly sorted out, we would see one or
two changes thereafter. Honestly Nigeria was
messed up by the last administration.
The president too would have gone through a lot
of presure to even come out with that list. There
must have been so many vested interests that
have to be taken care of. So I think at the end of
the day, we must just accept whatever we have
gotten. We should not forget that the APC is a
conglomerate of many parties and when there
are so many interests to be catered for and the
constitutional provision that a minster must
come from each state has to be put into
consideration. There is the pressure from the
governors, from the party and so on and so forth
to be catered for, one should not envy Mr.
President in bringing out a list. I think that is the
best that can come out. The second batch many
will agree has addressed some of the shortfalls
of the first list. We do not know if there will be
another list with the problems we still have with
one or two people here and there.
It seems that the attack by the Boko Haram
insurgents on Nigerians in motor parks and
markets are going on unabetted. The same
explanation we are getting is that it is the last
lap of their defeat, just as we got during
Jonathan’s regime. Does it mean the security
forces are not equipped enough to get in
telligence report on these people before they
attack?
The difference between the operation of Boko
Haram now and during Jonathan’s regime is that
now it is in its last lap. They are about to be deci
mated. I once said it that we should expect this
kind of attacks because they will be going for
soft targets here and there. The simple reason is
because they want to make a bold statement.
They want to tell the followers that they are still
around and are still a formidable force and want
to embarrass the new administration because of
the way the president came and is determined to
bring their activities to an end.
The Sambisa forest and most of the North-east
have been successfully over-run by the federal
troop and they are now scattered and the only
thing for them and unfortunately for us is to
attack these soft targets and kill as many
innocent souls as they can, just to make a
statement. It is not as if the government is not
gathering enough intelligence around. It is not
just the Armed Forces that should be involved in
intelligence gathering. All of us must put our
hands together in order to bring an end to these
senseless bombing. Without the cooperation of
all, the situation would not be helped. The
intelligence service have their own limitations,
they are all human beings. I worked in the
intelligence unit for over 20 years.
We mostly rely on people for information though
we have been trained to interpret reports. The
military and the police should now intensify neigh
bourhood watch and make sure people take their
security in their hands and then get the leaders
of the communities and the youths to identify
any suspicious persons coming into their
communities. Even in markets within
communities’ people should be able to identify
strangers. At the motor parks, there must be
entry restrictions. People should be screened far
away from the entrance. You do not allow people
to enter the parks before being screened. That
could be dangerous and that is what these
terrorists want. It could be very difficult situation
when talking about market places or motor parks,
but people must be vigilant. These people are
very callous and just want to kill anybody at will.
The past administrations, not just that of
Jonathan, failed to control them before they had
become enormous because of certain
considerations. Now it is affecting everybody.
But can Boko Haram be fought to a stand still by
the present administration with the existence of
other international terrorist groups like Al
Queida ISIS still making waves in other parts of
the world and could always provide the Boko
Haram with support?
The activities of Boko Haram can be totally put
under control given where they operate.The
steps so far taken by the president is a pointer
to this. He has visited all the neighbouring
states. The collective efforts of the governments
can bring an end to their activities. This is unlike
what we had in the past where everybody was
doing things independently. All the neighbouring
states including Chad and Cameroon and Niger
are also affected by their activities. We need the
international support which Mr. President has
gone after, and prominent countries like America
had promised to help out. This we need because
they have the super intelligence collecting
agencies.
They have the drones which they can deploy for
us here, but the nitty gritty is that you and I have
to take our security seriously because the armed
forces and security agencies are not magicians.
They need our input to be able to get rid of the
mad people.
But is it too expensive for government to put up
security gadgets in some cities to forestall these
bombings?
No, it is not too expensive to put on security
gadgets like the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
to monitor vehicles and persons entering some
towns and cities in this country. I believe that
will be part of the programmes of this
administration. The Federal Capital Territory had
them all over before now but they were
enmeshed in controversies. I think the federal
and state governments must consider putting up
these security apparatus in the cities and towns
so that they can control all these unwanted
bombings etc. We can learn from America, It
was able to use the footage of the , (CCTV) to
bring out the marathon race bomber. I do not
know why the last government never thought of
it and now that we have a more responsible
government in power; a government which will
not tolerate corruption, if such step is taken it
would be taken positively and things would work
out smoothly.
The recovery of public fund seems to be slow.
The impression we had before was that people
have started retuning stolen funds but it seems
that apart from the arrest of the former minister
of petroleum abroad and money recovered from
her no other person seems to be returning
anything. What can be done to get money off
these looters for the funds to be channeled to
other usage?
With what is happening with Mrs. Diezani
Maduake, former minister of petroleum, all those
with soiled hands will start shivering because
they know the government is serious about
recovering of public fund. Also Mr. president has
solicited the support of international bodies for
the recovery but there is the legal aspect of the
recovery which must be considered. It cannot be
immediate. Even in the Allison Madueke case,
the physical cash that was gotten from her
cannot be sent to Nigeria just like that. Some
legal aspects have to be sorted out. It is the
issue of time. The processes have started and it
would continue. Many would go in for it. Forget
about ethnic sentiments being expressed by
Nigerians, it is typical of us. Government must
shut its ear and continue to do what is right to
recover the loots and use it for our good. So
many roads are bad. We need the money for
such purpose. We have to grapple with the
problems of the IDPs.
But can Nigerians voluntarily give in their loots?
If the looters do not voluntarily give in what they
have stolen, government has the local instrument
to collect them. People are now saying anti graft
bodies like the Economic and Financial Crime
Commission (EFCC) have suddenly woken up
forgetting that the political will of the govern
ment to go after the looters must be there. When
Jonathan said stealing is not corruption what do
we expect the anti graft agencies to do. But now
the agencies know that the man at the helm of
affairs is a serious-minded person and full of
integrity. They now have the legal and political
backing to do whatever they want to do and they
are doing it. The case of the anti graft agency
being accused of looting too is mere allegation
and the president has promised to investigate it
to know whether it is true or not.
That reminds me about the issue of arraignment
of the Senate President before the Code of
Conduct Bureau. It is also a positive signs that
the government is serious about tackling
corruption but unfortunately, I am not happy with
the way it was handled by the senate president
and other senators handling the issue.
Dr. Saraki missed a very golden opportunity to
come out as a hero of democracy and rule of
law. He is number three citizen of this country
by nomenclature and by protocol. Even though
he was invited not as the senate president but
as a former governor of Kwara state but if when
he was invited, he had quietly gone to the bureau
without any rancor to prove his innocence and
not brought in any sentiment, people would have
hailed him as a defender of democracy and the
rule of law. But he missed that opportunity
because of unnecessary coloration given to the
whole incident. He should have gone there
quietly and submitted all that was required to
clear his name without making any insinuation
about it.
Some even tried to bring in the President as one
of those responsible for the travail of Senate
president, The House of Representative members
passed a resolution that their Speaker should go
and speak to Mr. President on his arraignment
forgetting that if Mr. President intervenes even if
he can, it is going to set a dangerous pre
cedence.
The issue of stepping down by the senate
president because of the allegations is not
necessary but it would have been good. But I do
not support it because this is Nigeria, we have
never had a precedent. In his own case, his
ascendency was contoversial and his stepping
down would give people who thought that his
travail was to do with his emerging as the
senate president. He should keep his seat but
answer all the allegations with his lawyers and
see what happens. We should not give the
impression that some citizens are above the law.
The government has been silent about its
policies on the economy and agriculture and
Nigerians are going through very harsh times
with the dwindling resources from crude oil
I think government is tryng to harness the
finances available to it right now before it knows
w5at to do. The past government left a lot of
mess and if Jonathan government had continued,
Nigeria would have collapsed by this year, 2015.
This was the postulation by America that this
nation would collapse this year, not because of
the polical environment but because of the
economy. Without economic base, the country is
gone. Now that the ministers are coming in. it
would help him to come up with programmes
that have to do with agriculture. We pray one of
the nominees who is an expert in agriculture
would be given the work to do. The main
problem I think is that Nigerians do not know
much about what the government is doing
because there is no much publicity given to that
effect. If the government can take Nigerians into
confidence, all the speculations people are
making about the fact that the government has
no economic policy to move the country forward
would be taken care of.
Some of us know that the last administration left
much problem with no money in the government
kitty etc, but not everybody knows this. But the
government should start talking to the people,
Let them be telling the people the real situation
on ground and what they intend ot do about it.
The president has very competent team of ad
visers including the former Managing Director of
the Sun Newpapers, Femi Adeshina, for whom I
have much respect and Garba Shehu. Let these
peple start explaining things to Nigerians and not
wait until when Nigerians are asking questions.
People appreciate the difficulties this
government is grappling with; but let them be
explaining to Nigerians before the sunny days
come up. If you campaign that you want to form
the government you must have your programmes
and if you are now finding it fidiffult to pursue
those programmes, you should tell the people the
reason rather than allow speculations as we
have going on now. The government should be
more open and be assuring the people that the
change promised the people would surely come.
I would advise Nigerians to be a little bit patient
with the government. It is said that patience is a
weapon that does not fight but at the end of the
day, it conquers all the territories. As earlier said
the government should also take the citizens into
confidence. They should be addressing the
nation about what is on ground and what they in
tend to do. This would bring synergy between
the government and the governed. For now the
government has 96 percent support from the
citizens. They should build on this and even have
110 percent by taking the citizens into
confidence.