A former president of the Ndigbo Think Tank group, Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddie Uwazurike, is currently the president of a political pressure group, The Credibility Group; in this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, he talked about the state of the nation, saying the current All Progressives Congress (APC) led government in the country has fallen short of expectations. Excerpts:

It’s been a year since this government came into power, what is your appraisal of the performance of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration so far?

This government came into office with a lot of bravado; unfortunately, governance has nothing to do with bravado. Governance is not what I would call palliative. Governance means sitting down planning based on what you have and what you expect. As you stated, this government is expected to clock one year in office next month. A year ago, Mr. President announced with so much gusto that the era of payment of fuel subsidy is gone. When the announcement came, many of us knew that there was a problem. First and foremost, many of us know that the nation’s income per capita is very low. Two the the immediate past (Muhammadu) Buhari led government had already crippled the economy. So, when Tinubu came, people were looking forward to their poor economic burden being removed. Unfortunately, when the new government came, the burden further increased. To me, that was a very big mistake on the path of the new government. The reason is that when you remove the payment of fuel subsidy, it’s like removing something with one hand and giving it back with the other hand. Yes, the government has made promises of making things better, but we are still waiting for that to happen. Can you imagine a civil servant earning N30, 000 minimum which the former President Buhari was reluctant to sign into law. That person will now be buying fuel at the rate of N620. The question now is, will he be able to do that? When the NLC protested, the government promised to look into their demands. They have not done that a year after. This government did not plan well.

Really?

Yes! Another thing is that there is this nepotistic approach being used by this government. It’s like all the top echelon of government is so much concentrated within a 5 kilometres radius of Lagos. This is uncalled for. We all went to the university and we are all citizens of this country but when you concentrate your appointments in a haphazard manner then you get haphazard result. Let me just give you an example, a state like Ogun State has three ministers while the entire South East zone has just five ministers. Look at the South West and the North West zones to see the number of ministerial appointments that have been allotted to them. You now notice that even the North Central zone is also complaining. When the government is doing something in a parochial manner, it gets parochial results.

What do you mean by saying the government is becoming parochial?

Let me also give you an example. We are all groaning under this foreign currency exchange regime when the exchange rate has come down to N1,000 to a Dollar and yet the government is beating its chest that it has achieved some economic feat. The question is, to achieve what? While this is going on, the Nigerian Customs Service has increased its rate. The simple implication of this is that many people have just simply abandoned their goods at the ports because of the prohibitive rates that the customs are charging for clearing them. This is because many Nigerian businessmen are finding it difficult to cope with the new regime that has been introduced by the Customs. Also, look at all the telecom companies harassing people everyday about registration and non-registration. The victims of all these things that I have enumerated are the common man. So, this is not progress. The government needs to go back to the drawing board.

From the way you’ve spoken, it seems that you are scoring the government very low?

(Cuts in) I’m scoring them zero.

Would you now say that the government has not done anything tangible since coming on board?

How do you explain the purchase of very expensive SUVs to members of the National Assembly? I enumerated the sufferings of the people. Look at how much they have spent on buying vehicles for the members of the National Assembly. They bought two or three SUVs for ministers who have to move from one place to the other at the expense of the tax paying Nigerians who are bearing the burden. This is when we have been talking about pruning down the cost of governance in the country and this is part of the re- structuring that we have been canvass- ing for a long time ago; interestingly, the president has been part of the campaign. The situation today is that we now have a very bogus cabinet instead of a small one. We have a situation whereby small ministries are being broken into bits, how do you expect such ministries to function?

But the government is moving towards pruning down its bureaucracy with the implementation of the Oronsaye Report?

Even the Oronsaye Report which they said they want to implement, what do you have? They take one step for- ward and two steps backwards.

You talked about the bad economy, which you said is impacting negatively on Nigerians, the president has been giving assurances that things will get better soon, don’t you think we should give him the benefit of the doubt?

Nobody forced Mr. President to contest the office he occupies now, rather he offered himself to Nigerians to lead them. He campaigned, he went round the nooks and crannies of the country to solicit for votes of Nigerians. He went to four zones and he did not deem it fit to campaign in the South East and South South. Even though Mr. President did not tell us his plans for the country, he avoided all the debates that other contestants participated in. Rather than attending the debates, he unleashed his media officers on us. These officials talked down on us. Nobody forced him (on us) but why is he now telling us that he is planning for the development of the country? He promised to hit the ground running when elected. The question is that, if he has promised that, then what is going on? The thing is that the day you offer yourself, you should know what you want to do in office. You can’t say that you are coming into government and after getting into office, you will now begin to plan.

One area that officials of this government have prided themselves as having done well is in the area of security, are you satisfied with the security situation in the country?

I will answer your question with one illustration, when I was much younger, I would fill the tank of my car with petrol and drive round the country. That was how I got to know all the nooks and crannies of the country. I don’t think any young man can do it today because of the serious nature of insecurity in the country. As we speak, the whole of the North West has been in turmoil since the (former President) Buhari days. Initially, it was Boko Haram that was terrorising the country, the APC claimed to have the magic wand that was why they brought Buhari. Now, Kaduna is boiling, the whole North West is boiling. The same thing is happening in Benue State which is the food basket of the country. Farmers are crying by saying it is becoming very difficult for them to go to their farms. Herdsmen have been killing them and how many of the assailants have been arrested? You think that there is no more insecurity in the country when Abuja which is the capital city is no longer safe. Virtually all the states of the country are complaining. The government has failed in the area of insecurity.

You talked about the nepotistic approach of the administration to governance with respect to appointments into government, in what other areas do you think the people of the South East have been disadvantaged?

There is what is called glass ceiling and we are simply not there. The best brains among Ndigbo are not in government because nobody is willing and disposed to appointing them into government. Many who waited for the government got disappointed. If you are an Igbo man and you are looking towards the Tinubu government for appointment, and you are waiting for government redemption, then you are wasting your time. I am saying this without any fear of contradiction.

Does this suggest that the President harbours some misgivings against Igbo ethnic nationality?

I don’t think so because when he was the governor of Lagos State, he extended the hands of fellowship to the Igbos in Lagos. Up till now, I don’t know what has happened to President Bola Tinubu. He was a different person as governor from what he is now. This is the truth, so if he is harbouring anything, I don’t know. All I see now are the results of his actions so far.

You are a member of various influential Igbo groups, are Ndigbo leaders contemplating a meeting with the president to table these issues with him?

The Issue is not whether we will be considering meeting with the president, seeing the president will have to go through some form of protocol. You make your request (to see him) and you will have to wait for response and clearance. I am aware that the Ohanaeze has requested a meeting with him, we met with former President Buhari and in the end, nothing happened. It was me and the late Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi and some others who visited President Buhari. We pointedly asked him to release Nnamdi Kanu to us. He promised us Heaven and Earth that he would look into it. He didn’t give us any answer. (Saturday Telegraph)