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DR Kunle Olajide, an astute politician and medical practitioner, is a former general secretary of the Yoruba Council Elders (YUF). In this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, he talks about the state of the nation vis-à-vis economic challenges, insecurity, constitution amendment, calls for state creation, ethnic agitation, and the administration of President Bola Tinubu, among others. Excerpts:
What are your views or opinions on the ongoing controversy and debate over the tax reform bills before the National Assembly? It is planning to hold public hearings on the matter in light of certain objections by some Nigerians.
Let me first make it abundantly clear that I’m very comfortable and happy with democracy. The reason is that those who are going to debate the tax reform bills were all elected by all Nigerians in elections believed to have been free, fair and credible elections. They were not just imposed by the military as it used to be.
So, whatever position that they eventually come up with, all over the world would be regarded as the position of the Nigerian people because there were our representative, but unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about that; it is about the level of our development and the level of poverty we have in the country, an unenlightened, uneducated and unexposed people who had access to all sorts of money from various areas, credible and incredible, buy votes and get elected and they become our representatives. May God forgive all of us. Their goal is essentially their personal pockets. In fact, some of them, the moment they are elected you would hardly see them in their constituencies excerpt during festive seasons and they just come and go. So, it is a level of our development but I’m sure we are making progress. So, let’s hear what they are going to come up with those tax reform bills.
Some people are against the contents of the bill; they argue that it is bound to shortchange their own section of the country, particularly the north, where the governors, senators and other critical stakeholders are opposed to the bills.
Let me confess to you, really. This resort to the North-South dichotomy makes me terribly sick. I thought we had gone past that. The moment you have the north to say so and so, I would have expected them to do one key thing and take one major step. They are part of this government and there are northerners who are very close advisers of Mr President; who are with him. One would have expected such close advisers of Mr. President, who are northerners and so on, to have in fact, communicated with their people to let them know this is not supposed to be against any part of this country and these are the intentions and ideas of the wishes and objectives of the bills. And if the majority say no as in a democracy, that is final. It is the law, as far as I am concerned. So, it is a shame that we still have this dichotomy, divisions, North-South whatever. I want to believe we ought to have gone past that now.
But part of the argument of the elite from the North is that the proposals could have devastating effects on the poverty level in the North.These are issues they ought to have discussed before allowing the Nigerian public, including you and I to know about the bills. This because there are northerners who are insiders in this government, who are very close to the government; you have them as members of the Federal Executive Council; and other major strategic organs of government. Such top functionaries include elected executives and appointed top government functionaries, among others, including governors. Before allowing the bills to come to the public, they should not allow us to continue to hear them in these privileged positions still dividing this country into the North-South, East-West, and so on. They should be giving us ideas and taking steps to get the country properly united.
Yes, our differences are there; we cannot deny the fact and the level of development is obviously not the same. But I’m not against what they are saying but I’m saying we should not continue to encourage any form division or dichotomy, otherwise, when do we want to become one and we keep saying one Nigeria; one destiny. I think President Bola Tinubu, in my humble opinion and assessment of him, is not sectional at all. That notwithstanding, he is a human being; he is going to work on the limited pieces of advice he has access to.
Those who are part of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) ought to have seen the President, even if the bills are already in the public domain and they have access to the documents, most of the things they are telling the Nigerian public are things they ought to discuss in camera among their own governors; among governors from the South, and brief the President. They can achieve all this within 72 to 96 hours. I’m not happy hearing governors from whatever part of the country, be it in the South, the East and so on, still dividing the country, instead of cooperating with Mr. President to ensure we have a united country.
That is not to say that they should not let us know how they feel about certain things. They have access to Mr. President; they have access to the Chief of Staff to the President; they have access to other top functionaries of the government. That’s how to reach him. A major issue in contention is the dispensation of the Valued Added Tax (VAT) that if the existing status changes, the North will be disadvantaged.
If we want to make progress in this country, there is hardly any decision the government takes that a particular part of the country will not be disadvantaged. There is no section of the country that is insulated against such unintended impact. No! We have hinterland in the West as well. The West that I know very well is, in spite of the fact that we can be regarded as having close contact with civilisation and not too far from the Atlantic Ocean, where things come in and go out, from my own part of the country (Ekiti), we are not as exposed in the hinterland like somebody in Abeokuta in Ogun State or in Ikorodu in Lagos State. Honestly, our leaders, from all parts of the country, should not exaggerate and continue to mouth our differences. They should be the ones leading us to unite. That’s my personal opinion.
There is the age-long clamour for restructuring of the country so that Nigeria can attain nationhood, where equity, justice and fairness subsist. A school of thought believes we need fiscal restructuring to guarantee those ideals. Perhaps, you have a contrary view? I have been an advocate of restructuring in the real sense of the term because we know that levels of development from different parts of this country vary. Their culture and the beliefs and so on, differ. It is not encouraging that we should be different but the point is, a group of people, the way they reason, their cultural beliefs, their ideological beliefs, their historical beliefs, are issues that have to be related to the type of government and the system of government they have. You can’t suddenly divorce them and want to behave like the British or the Americans, even the Egyptians in North Africa.
I don’t want us to pretend that we don’t have differences. There are but they are not differences that we cannot work together. We should not deepen them, particularly our leaders. Just like I said earlier, they have access to Mr. President; they have to the Chief of Staff; they have ministers who are members of the federal cabinet and I know that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meets regularly. So, instead of bring this matter to the public glare and using it to heat the polity, and aggravate tension, they should please use systems and mechanisms that we have and exist to resolve these matters underground. Our neighbouring countries are envious of us; there are parts of Africa that would want Nigeria to go into crisis but God forbid, we would not. But through the media, let our leaders know that they have ministers, members of the FEC, governors, among others, who have access to Mr. President, who are part of decision-making.
So they shouldn’t begin to shout our differences on rooftops to people who are uneducated and who can just go haywire, begin to kill people and send Nigerians back to where they come from. We must not get back to that level again.
Taking a critical look at the existing revenue allocation formally vis-a-vis the issues of equity, fairness and justice remains contentious. How do you think it should be tackled?
That’s why we have a parliament; we have the Senate and the House of Representatives; a bicameral legislature. Yes, one can have one opinion and the other but we have elected our representatives and the media should assist us in putting pressure on them to relate with us. It is not the moment they are elected; they go away and just bring bags of rice during seasonal festivities, and other celebrations. They should relate with us and some of these issues, they should discuss them with us and hear our views as well so that they can get everything together and take them to the parliament for discussion. It’s not like the current practice that once the election is over, they will come at the occasion of festivities to distribute bags of rice and so on.
Is the existing revenue allocation formula: is it fair and just?
I think we are making progress towards being a united country and people like my humble self, this not the position now to start pinpointing and blowing whatever as not just. Of course, I think where derivation should matter more than as it is now, especially when you think of the oil-rich zones, where their ecosystem has been destroyed due to oil exploration. Their water and the entire environment are polluted. Derivation should matter but it should be a decision to be taken by the parliament, where we have the representatives of parts of Nigeria. We may not have something that you consider as of immense economic potentials in your part of the country today, but you do not know tomorrow. Something could be discovered in the nearest future as mineral deposit, which makes to benefit more from the system based on the derivation principle.
The call for restructuring of the country persists, just as the agitation for additional states subsists. Do we need more states, particularly given the weakness and lack of capacity by most of the current 36?
It depends on the way you want to look at the issue. If we keep on agitating for more states, there will never be an end to it. I think we should remain where we are for now until we have succeeded in consolidating the present position that we are. I’m aware there are agitations for states here and there. Some parts of the country have six and some say they have five; others say there should be new states should be created in the Middle Belt, et cetera. We should leave that for now; let the country be stable.
What are those core areas you would want the stakeholders, especially, the National Assembly to give priority to in further amending the 1999 Constitution?
Frankly speaking, I don’t think I want to comment on the issues. But nevertheless, they should look at areas of derivation in the first instance; areas of population should be considered, otherwise, for me, what is more important for us at this moment is to ensure that Nigerians have food to eat at affordable prices. In other words, we should encourage agriculture. It is very important; let people go back to the farm. Nonetheless, we still important things that unit us. That is what we should continue to mouth. It is also important that our representatives should also do a little bit of self-examination and consider their allowances and the amount they earn and see whether the present state of Nigeria’s economic situation defends that. They need to make such sacrifice.
Is the government doing enough to combat insecurity? There is a terror group called Lakurawa wreaking havoc in the North-West.
Nigeria is very vast geographical territory. I think the government is working hard to check the rate of crime and criminality across the country. We have very expansive borders. Look at the North that you mentioned, how do you intend to police that sufficiently with the limited number of police personnel we have or the military men we have? I know we are not in a military regime, so the training of the military, to a large extent, is not conducive to a democratic dispensation that we are in. So, you can’t spread the military all over the place. But in my opinion, the traditional rulers should liaise with their parliamentarians on the problem of security of lives and property. They should do that frequently as the problems we have identified are their duty to find a way to manage them. That is why I insist that we should not disrespect our traditional institution. We should continue to give priority to the institution by allowing the traditional rulers play the role they are known for. Though they are not in government, they are nearest to the people. There is hardly any community I know in the country that does not have a traditional ruler, chiefs that are close to him and the traditional council meets regularly. The first people run to when they have problem is the traditional ruler, including the South-West as civilized as we are! It is an institution we cannot ignore; it an institution we should continue to encourage and let the people have access to them. There has to be a synergy between the government along with its agencies and the traditional institution.
How should the authorities resolve the sustained agitation for secession in the light of the unwarranted killings by the supposed gunmen in the South-East?
It still has to do with the fact that some parts of the country believe that other parts are having much more than they should get. Most unfortunately, the seed of this crisis has been sown, especially coming after the Biafran war. Each of the six geopolitical zones has six states except the South-East. If there is a way that we can balance it up, perhaps that will lessen the tension there.
The government has given the South-East a development commission? Ditto the other zones in the country.
Let’s see what they come up with and how they function. That’s a good development. I was happy when I had it. But we must appreciate the fact that human beings especially because of the level of education and exposure of most Nigerians now, we will forever keep agitating. I thank God for President Tinubu, who has a very good listening ear and he is doing his best to ensure that every part of this country gets whatever is given to them.
What is your view on the existing political parties, which some critics claim are huge disappointments due to the reign of impunity, contempt for party discipline, unbridled infighting and disregard for the rule of law?
Our political parties are just evolving. The people have contested elections on the basis of the parties. That is why they keep making new laws in the parliament and looking at some other things. The wish of most of those within the circle is that they are just going out there to make huge sums of money. But, it cannot go on like that. The political parties, with time too, will begin to realize that they are representatives of the people; the aggregation of people with a common ideology, common interest to the benefit of the people and the collective benefit of the country. We will get there, as we can see new parties springing up and the old ones getting factionalised.
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