A former President of the Igbo think tank, Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, is also the current President of the Credibility Group. In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, he talked about the nationwide protest as well as the state of the country under President Bola Tinubu. Excerpts:

Let me start this interview by condoling you on the deaths of prominent Igbo sons and daughters who passed away recently.

Thank you, God bless you.

Recently, the country has been witnessing some kind of upheaval with the people protesting against perceived poverty and hunger in the country, how do you see this with respect to how government has responded to it (the protest)?

One thing that I want to take an exception to is your use of the word ‘perceived’. Hunger and poverty is real. It (hunger) is one thing that humbles everyone. If you don’t eat, you feel hungry. If you don’t eat well, you’ll fall sick, so hunger is one major phenomenon in our lives. Two, in this country, real hunger has been with us since 2015. Unfortunately, people waited with bated breath for the exit of former President Muhammadu Buhari because he knew what was going on in the country during his time but did not care. There were a lot of expectations when President Bola Tinubu came on board. Many Nigerians felt he was coming to do things differently considering what he did in Lagos. Many thought he wasn’t going to allow Nigerians to suffer any longer. Sadly, during his inauguration as the President, he made two unfortunate statements that turned things around negatively. He told Nigerians that ‘subsidy (on petrol) was gone. He even went further later to say that the foreign exchange system has been amended.

Are you saying that this is the genesis of our current problems?

Those of us who knew the implications of what the president said knew it was the beginning of problem because those who bought fuel in the morning of that day and went back later were subjected to the effects of the volatility of the pricing system of the commodity. So therefore, both the removal of subsidy on petroleum products and the devaluation of the naira, which is the messing up of the foreign exchange system, meant we were doomed. Those who were and who are still immune from these problems are those in government. While we were still pondering on what to do, the telecoms providers were also busy messing us all up. You had your phones but you couldn’t use it. All of a sudden, the banks too were making things difficult for the common man. Yet the government never bothered. Government officials are even telling us to tighten our belts and when the people were wondering how they will tighten their belts, the government quickly rolled out outlandish expenditure for its officials. You will agree with me that though many members of the National Assembly were well to do before coming on board, they were voting humongous amount of money for the purchase of SUVs. The people became shocked and while the people were still expressing shock, the government made provision for the office of the First Lady and for the president’s office. Of course, President (Bola) Tinubu was a wealthy man before coming into office. At his age, feeding wouldn’t be his problem. The question one should ask is, why the humongous expenditure? As if that was not enough, the number of ministers in his government, ballooned beyond expectations.

How do you see that impact on governance sir?

People keep forgetting that President Tinubu was an advocate of restructuring which has at part of its core objective, reduction in the cost of governance. He has increased the number of ministers in the Federal Executive Council, the number that has never been seen before. What that implies is that each minister will have at least two SUVs, they will also have support vehicles for their support staff members like his assistants such as Senior Special Advisers and the likes. Now, look at the sheer number of advisers and assistants that the average minister has. Nigerians are wondering, why the government is saying one thing and doing another thing. I won’t say that President Tinubu is being gaslighted. What is happening to this government is self-inflicted. Government official cover themselves with oil the moment they enter government and close their eyes to reality. They don’t even realise that the people are suffering. They (government officials) keep making disjointed statements to make people to begin to wonder whether they are coming from the moon.

Were you satisfied with the response of the government to the protests?

Well, the bulk stops on the president’s table. His speech was like just manage and just tighten your belt. The second aspect of his statement was boastful and he was just reeling out plans. You see, if you are a father and you have children who had not eaten since morning and you came in later in afternoon to tell them to keep bearing the hunger. You tell them to manage and yet you go out to buy a new suit and you are wearing it in their presence while they are hungry. The question is, how do you think they will feel? Our government is very insensitive. Let me tell you something, if the president had planned well, he wouldn’t have removed the subsidy that day that he was sworn in. Again, if he had planned well, he wouldn’t have messed up the foreign exchange system. The people are suffering but for how long will they will suffer? No one knows. If the government decides to make sure that the army helps to clear the farmlands from those who have prevented farmers from farming, people will then believe that something is happening from the side of the government.

Many prominent Nigerians have called on the government to reverse the harsh policies but the president in his recent speech ruled out such possibility, how do you see that?

That decision is akin to a man who presses down the neck of a victim who is complaining that he couldn’t breathe, yet saying he wouldn’t do as requested. You see, former President Muhammadu Buhari and the current Bola Tinubu have both messed up this economy and we don’t even know where to start with them. They have messed up this country. If you remove subsidy, you are in problem but many people are saying that subsidy was not removed at all, rather with the payment of subsidy, we are in trouble, hence we need to do something. If we eventually remove subsidy, the cost of products and services will increase astronomically. It is sheer myopia for anyone in government to believe that mere pronouncements will bring things to happen. No! Things are achieved through proper planning and careful execution of policies and programmes.

Does that now suggest that you align with the thoughts of prominent Nigerians who have continued to insist that the current government is failing because it has decided to close its doors to independent opinions of Nigerians who would have offered viable suggestions to it on the way forward?

There is this expression by young Nigerians which is called gaslighting. If the handlers of the president say that they are gaslighting him, they caused it. Let me put in this way. The most myopic kitchen cabinets that I have ever seen in this country have been that of former President Buhari and that of President Tinubu. So, between the two of them, they have been messing up. Their ambitions were shallow; they did not go beyond grabbing power. The president of Nigeria is cocooned in Aso Rock. You know that those in power don’t read newspapers. Somebody will have to read it to them and summarise and tell them what is in the news. If they keep telling the president that all is well and that the people are hailing you, then what you have is a government of mediocrity. Let me ask you, have we had any meeting of the National Council of State since this government came into being? The answer is no. Under Buhari, it was sparingly. One year has passed and we are now into his second year, there has not been any meeting of the Council of State. All we have continued to see is the National Assembly acting when the president has spoken and everything is done. All these gave rise to this anger. All these revelations that the president has bought a jet for himself and the vice president has further made Nigerians more angry, and remember that one of the first things he did when he came to power was to buy himself a yacht. What does he need it for, he lives in Abuja? They said it (the yacht) has been paid for, by whom? Mr. President needs to sit up. He needs to deny himself of so many things so that he will go down positively in history or to be remembered as having done badly.

What do you think the meeting of the Council of State can do for the country in this instance?

Yes! I know that their (members’) views are not binding or mandatory, but they can sit down and review the state of the nation and talk to the president and advise him properly on what to do. Granted that there is no Igbo man there but there are some state governors and eminent personalities who are statutory members who would tell Mr. President the truth.

How do you see recent developments where some people are waging relentless campaign for the eviction of Nigerians of Igbo extraction from the South West, particularly Lagos?

This has been going on for a long time and it is being championed by some elements that I want to refer to as ‘borntroway’. In the past, when you go to Osolo Way at the back of Emzor Pharmaceutical, you will see a banner there saying ‘Igbos Must Go.’ They display the banner and then they (the advocates) will then run away. We later discovered that many of these people are not Lagosians. These are people who can never point to the gravesides of their ancestors in Lagos. In other words, these people came to Lagos from different states and they are pretending to be Lagosians. They do this because they live in Lagos or that they speak Yoruba language. Let me be blunt with you, anybody who cannot show me his grandfather’s grave is a visitor. The real Lagosians are very welcoming. The governor of Lagos State needs to state expressly that the government will be cracking down on them.

I think that assurance came from the Deputy Governor of the state recently…

(Cuts in) He was pressed by the media to say so. He was pressed on a televised interview to say so. The governor is the chief security officer of the state who should ensure that the welfare and security of all residents are guaranteed.

Why do you think that Igbo people didn’t/ are not participating in the protests across the country?

The Igbos have been aloof since the coming of the current Bola Tinubu-led government not because they don’t like the current government. They are indifferent because as far as they are concerned, they are not part of the current government. President Tinubu does not talk about them and is not reaching out to them or factor them into his programmes. (Saturday Telegraph)

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