#EndBadGovernance Protest: Govt Should Know Nigerians Are No Longer Comfortable – Idimogu

Hon. Jude Idimogu is a former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He speaks on the recent #EndBadGovernanceprotest, saying it’s a wake-up call to leaders to address hunger in the country, why Nigeriansshould support the government to fight insecurity, suggests that National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members be engaged in farming during their service years, among other issues. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:

What lessons would you say Nigeria has learnt from the recent hunger protest that lasted 10 days in Nigeria?

There’s a lesson there, as the people in government now know that they should be on their toes and jealously guard what we have. We should avoid anything that would bring any form of anti-government protest. The fact is that it is the right of the people to protest, but they shouldnot overdo it or infringe on the rights of others. But it’s a fact that the economy is not good enough as this is not what we expected. However, President Bola Tinubu has said that his policies would be very hard. It’s like a woman in labour that feels pains, but will enjoy later. But if she dies in the process, what would happen. So, sometimes we need balancing. The protest is a wake-up call for the government that all is not well with the nation. My challenge is that we should not go the way of Kenya.

You cannot compare the two because the woman there had spent almost 15 years in office, how long is our own, barely a year and three months. Apart from that, their own became like a family issue. I am looking at the African setting. In Kenya, they destroyed almost everything that they have during protests and what did they achieve at the end of the day, their country is in ruins and the government would still go and borrow money because they don’t have resources to repair those things. We shouldthink twice before we take certain actions. Even all our leaders today used to be followers before they got there. When you arenot in a place, you think it would be easy, but when you get there you would see that it’s not the way you think. That’s why we politicians must be careful when we make promises because we don’t know the situation of the place we aregoing. If you want to take a position as a governor or a lawmaker and you get there and you see that the treasury is empty, what happens? Can you reverse what you have said? If you do that they would say you’re not serious. But you still have to make promises, when you arecampaigning, it’s just like when you want to woo a woman, you have to make promises to her until the reality dawns on both of you. So, the governmentshould know that Nigerians have woken up now, we’re nolonger docile like before. The youths have the zeal, they arerestless and when you look at the unemployment situation and high cost of living you’ll understand why they did the protests. But this is our country, what do we do? The two major policies that are causing problem is the removal of fuel subsidy, and the convergence of the exchange rates. It’s not easy even for the leaders, how many leaders have tried to remove subsidy and they failed. Remember that the President had been in the system even when he was not in office. He has studied the system and he knows how Nigeriansbehave and react to issues. Even if the President had removed 20% of the subsidy, we would still be having the same problem that we’re having. You will see that when prices of goods go up, for Nigerians to bring it down is always a problem. We have seen it before, even when they add just N20 or N100 to the price of a litre of fuel, we see the way transporters increase transport fares anyhow. President Bola Tinubu had studied us and he felt that it’s better to remove the fuel subsidy at once. He has also saved money for the country because instead of spending unnecessarily the government has reduced what they spend. Also, you will see that what goes to the states and local governments have increased, but all of us still concentrate on the Federal Government. It’s high time the NGOs, the youths, and human rights activists asked state governors and local government chairmen questions about all the money they have been collecting. Let us see what they are doing with it, we are docile in that area. Also, when we’re protesting, we should be mindful of those that would want to hijack it. We saw in the north, where people brought out all forms of weapons. They were killing people, looting and committing all forms of crimes. You would see that the government told the protesters to be careful that it could be hijacked and that was what happened as it went out of control from the original idea. Again, how could someone like Omoyele Sowore engineer protests from outside the country? He was not here to face the heat, he was outside there throwing stones and we were burning here. If I want to lead a cause I should be involved and be in the forefront. I remember President Bola Tinubu, when they were leading protests during the era of former president Goodluck Jonathan, he was involved. I saw him with former president Muhammadu Buhari walking from Maryland in Ikorodu Road, Lagos to Ojota Park. They were in the front and they confined themselves to a particular spot. That was what they were saying because when they protested, there was no destruction. Also, the government has to be proactive about the needs of the masses.

What are those needs?

The number one is food, this is even reflected in the hierarchy of needs. Hunger doesn’t knowmother or father. Even you might steal when you are hungry. My concern now is the economic problem of the nation. Fuel subsidy has been removed, but how do we alleviate the suffering of the people. I can even say that subsidy is back. This is because crude oil is priced internationally and due to the exchange rate now, the price has gone up. When subsidy was removed, the rate of a naira to a dollar was N700 in the black market and about N500 for official rate. The President cannot come again to say that subsidy is being removed. With the collapsing of the exchange rate, the difference between the parallel market and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rate is not up to N50. That is the problem as naira is over N1000 to a dollar now. So, petrol is still being subsidised now, though the government cannot come now to tell you that they are subsidising fuel again. When the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) sells at the official rate of less than N600, other marketers sell for N700 or even N800. If you allow the marketers to sell without subsidy a litre of fuel will be over N1000 because we’re not producing locally. But if Dangote Refinery starts production and the government sells crude oil to the company in naira, then the pressure on dollar would come down. But this will depend on the quantity of the crude oil they buy in Nigeria. If the company buys from other places, which will be in dollars, then it would still be expensive. Also, if Port Harcourt Refinery in Rivers State starts production, then it would be better. But it is not easy to understand these things on one day. People aresaying that the government should sack the directors of the NNPC at once. How is that possible? The new people you arebringing, do they understand the system? Do they know what to do? So, even if you want to change the directors, you have to study the system and get information on what is happening and do cost effective analysis. I am not saying that these people areindispensable, but you need to understand the system and get the people that can do it better. There’s a cabal in the oil sector. You need to understand them and work with them so that they would not sabotage your efforts. It’s not about making policies, it’s about implementing them. You must have people that would help you implement them.

Talking about farming, with the killings of farmers in some parts of the country, what shouldthe government do to make it easy for the farmers?

The government is doing its best on the issue of insecurity. But if we can tell ourselves the truth, the issue of banditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram and others are coming down gradually. The security men and women areworking, but the bandits are even killing some of the security men. Also, the number of our security men is not much. Moreso, this issue of security is based on some ideology. Some people in the north who areinvolved in Boko Haram, what is their agenda? What do they want? We shouldchange their psyche. How can someone believe that he would have benefits when he dies by carrying arms and ammunition? Some of them also believe that since the government gave amnesty to some Niger Delta militants, then they should also be given amnesty too, and most of them areunlearned. Look at the protests in the north, can you see the youths, and children who didn’t know what they were doing taking part in looting? How many of them will you arrest? The security agents should investigate those behind the manufacturing of Russian flags. There were some disturbances in the north during the time of former president Olusegun Obasanjo and they kidnapped Chibok girls under former president Goodluck Jonathan. All those things were just to ensure that they bring down the government. They even brought mercenaries from outside the country, who started kidnapping people. You can now see that thereare no bank robbers again. They believe there’s more money in kidnapping or banditry. The crises in the system are so much that the security agents must work harder. The government must also support them, though the resources of the government are limited. That is what is affecting farming like you said. If we say security is there, the psychological fear is still there for them. All these herders, kidnappers, terrorists, bandits have leaders. They have sponsors, they should not turn our country to something else. The governmentshould battle them. There are kinetic and non-kinetic methods of dealing with them, but when you don’t give them what they want they go back. Nigeriansshould support the government and the government should be determined. Also, we must do everything humanly possible to protect our borders, prevent unwanted elements from coming into our country. All these could be achieved if we have a united front. I will keep on talking about patriotism. Now, it’s a Yoruba man that is there, how are the northerners and easterners supporting him? He cannot do it alone, he needs our support. It’s not by running out of the country that we can solve our problems. You want to go to where all your efforts would go into paying bills. There areproblems where you aregoing, but if you have the means, no problem, but not by going through the ocean or selling your property. Of course, some of them that go there help their family members that are here by sending money to them. But must we all leave our country? I learned that some of our leaders tried to run away when the protest was coming. When those people had problems did they run here? We must build the country even for our unborn children. Still talking about farming, we have the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), we shouldrejig their programmes. We have young and energetic Nigerians that are graduating regularly. They post youth corps members to all the 36 states. So, they should provide farmlands for them, give them amenities such as houses, electricity and security and engage them there. Those that are medical doctors, post them to hospitals, those in teaching line, post them to schools, and those in specialist areas such as engineering, pharmaceutical and others, post them to where they would serve. But encourage others to farm and give them incentives. As one set is leaving, others would be coming and the farming continues. You will see that some of them would go into farming and we will think of how to store the products. Every state or senatorial zone can provide the lands. When we do that, food would be cheap. Agric will provide employment through poultry, animal husbandry, cultivation, and crop production. It’s a wide area and we will be exporting food, but it must be a deliberate policy and the issue of food scarcity will end. As government officials, the only thing we could do is farming even as civil servants. I know that in the southern and eastern parts of the country, we have better security. We cannot start giving excuses. As we move forward, we can rejig the policies. Let’s start from somewhere and use the youthful power for farming.

President Bola Tinubu has spent over one year in office, how would you describe his government?

President Bola Tinubu has done well so far. Number one is the student loan, we have never experienced it in Nigeria before. They only have it abroad. Now there’s no excuse for a child not to go to school because of money. The government pays to the schools directly. They plan to rejig it if there is any problem. I heard that over N45 Billion has been approved for the takeoff. Look at the Lagos-Calabar Expressway. This will lead to further development. I learned that the road would be on toll, and when they do this, whatever they get from it would be used to maintain the road and many people would be employed. Everybody cannot afford to travel by air because it is expensive. Moreso, sometimes, you want to go on a trip by road and see nature and have better experience. It’s a good project and I’m happy it’s supervised by Mr. Dave Umahi, the Minister of Works, who enjoys what he’s doing. Also, the minimum wage of N70,000 has been done, which was arrived at after many arguments. It was approved based on the ability of the government to pay and I want to appreciate the labour leaders for their understanding. I want the people to know that President Bola Tinubu is a listening man. He is a God-sent leader. His ultimate goal was to get to the office of the President. He said it’s his lifelong ambition to be president and the one that people would remember after his tenure. Nigeriansshould encourage him. There are a lot of things that he is doing. Like I said, one man cannot do it. I cannot judge him now, let him spend 50% of his term, which is two years before we judge him. He said they should sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery in naira and other local refineries, this has never happened before. It takes a good heart to do that, if he doesn’t have good intentions, he wouldn’t do it. Look at local government autonomy that he did through legal means. That is part of the restructuring we’re talking about. I see President Bola Tinubu finishing his first term in office and getting a second term and spending eight years in office. I just want to encourage the President to do more. Also, private organisations should give back to the society just like Dangote Foundation has been doing. The government should also provide mortgage and loan systems for people to build houses and buy cars