No sane person is happy with Nigeria’s current situation
Mr. Ikenna Modebelu is a Marketing Communications Consultant and Lead Promoter for SouthEast Development Initiative (SELDI), an NGO to foster development in the southeast region. He spoke to journalists in Enugu recently on national issues, Nigeria @ 62 and other socio-economic and political challenges facing the nation and the way forward. JUDE OSSAI was there.
Excerpt:
Q: Nigeria is at 62, are you satisfied with the state of the nation’?
A: I do not think any sane person living in Nigeria is happy with the present situation in the country. There is no gain saying the fact that seven and half period of Buhari has been a colossal disaster because the indices prevalent in 2015 have systematically been rubbished. Petrol was N45 per litre. The Dollar was under N200. Three months after Buhari came on because of wrong economic policies, because of lack of attention to, none appointment of even Ministers, the economy went comatose. Nigerian economy is like a big engine. If you stop it like the president did for six months without appointing anybody, it will take much longer to start it again. Big engines like Nigerian economy runs without ending just like any other economy in the world. Nigeria is now the poverty capital of the world. All the indices of development have failed us. The debt profile is excruciating. When Obasanjo administration, we had succeeded in debt cancellation but now, we owe over 60 billion dollars. What have we done with the money? Is it Niger Republic that we are developing or is it Nigeria that we should be developing especially the economy which is the engine room for Nigeria as a nation? So there has been a lot of distortion on the economy. Nepotism has grown and almost every agency of government is headed by someone from ethnic zone. Indeed, as i said, the current situation is very hopeless with inflation above 20%, which is reflected in the high and unaffordable prices of goods and services. The 33% unemployment rate (with an unemployment rate among young people of about 53%) exacerbates the current security crisis caused by a high poverty rate of over 40%, among other factors. Economic experts agreed that our exchange rate is volatile even as the nation is faced with high corruption and insecurity, intractable divisions among ethnic nationalities and broken public finance. Look at our primary health care, it is virtually non-existent and basic education is largely or completely ignored. At present, more than 250,000 public school classrooms (from pre-primary to junior secondary) are classified as bad and an estimated 20 million Nigerian children are out of school. Kidnapping has replaced Nigeria’s crumbling industries. Public debt, which stood at N42.84 trillion in the first half of 2022, is a huge concern. In addition, Nigeria’s largest source of income and foreign exchange suffers from oil theft, with around 400,000 barrels of oil reportedly stolen daily. As hopeless as the situation is, most state governments will accumulate more debts to fund campaigns
Q: The dwindling fortunes of Nigeria did not start with President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime. At what point did our leaders began to derail, not following the footsteps of the nation’s founding fathers?
A: They derailed mostly with the unitary system that was unfortunately foisted by an Igboman in the person of Ironsi, it opened the floodgate for military interventions that have not paid us. The derailing of the nation actually started with the advent of the military into the leadership of the country. The various coups and counter coups were foisted on the nation by a section of the military. So the derailing started there. Really, the military do not really have any direct interest on leadership. This gave birth to the issue of nepotism, tribalism and what have you and this transcended to the civil society and now being used everyday.
Q: What do think are the possible solutions to all these challenges engulfing the nation?
Q: Sincere leadership pursuit. Assuming the elders should allow this movement that is gaining currency to continue, and then it will be solved. The youths have seen that their future is no longer guaranteed and they have taken up the gauntlet to salvage their future. They have been in hibernation and now that they are coming out, they should be allowed. They are now convinced that leaving power in the hands of the genotocrats, will always mar their future.
Q: Will there be anything positive from the unfolding event in the country that appears to be a youth revolution sort of?
A: Something good will come out of it at the end of the day, even if they don’t win now. They have suddenly woken up to the fact that their power is with them. If they don’t win this time, they will be taken seriously next time.
Q: Ahead of 2023 general election, Ndigbo have canvassed for restructuring, presidency and separatism, which one should they concentrate most in 2023?
A: We are not going to talk about Biafra because technically, Biafra may not be desirable as our young people are positioning. These three areas are all what I may call desirable desires for Ndigbo as a people. All of them have their various degrees of importance. Restructuring is a very favoured plan. If you look at the 1963 constitution, it had regions. It is highly desirable. Do not forget that it was the absence of restructuring that led to the Aburi accord. Assuming that the Aburi accord was adhered to, the civil war would not have been necessary. It was the reneging of the federal forces led by Yakubu Gowon that led to the inevitability of the civil war which was led by Ikemba. So restructuring is a vital political and economic structure, that if truly implemented will solve the problem of separatism. So it a highly desired. The presidency is highly desired by our people because since the Ironsi unitary government, the Igbo have not been anywhere near power. So presidency will solve alot of problems for the Igbo. It will give Ndigbo a sense of belonging. It will bring emotional healing to the Igbo who have been terribly bastardized in the scheme of things in the nation especially with the type of input the Igbo make in Nigeria to be given presidency. It is a desired position that the Igbo should be allowed to occupy for the better interest of Nigeria.
Q: Is it right easy and proper for the Igbo to fight for the three at the same time?
A: The three approaches will not work at the same time. The presidency is there for the Igbos if we win. In the absence of presidency, restructuring. We believe that if you have a good president, he can convince Nigerians on the need for restructuring. Restructuring is very important. In its absence, that is when separatism will rear its ugly head. Separatism is not really good for the Igbo. I don’t think it is a desired pursuit the way our younger men are going about it by the way of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and any other force being used. But I can tell you, we should go restructuring and presidency first and any other thing will follow. In the views of our south-easterners, they believe that all views have really failed, so that is why the agitation for separatism has gained currency so much so that it has affected most of the things that are being done in the southeast with the sit-at-home philosophy which I may say is a measure of self- hate that has almost crippled business in the east. It is not desirable.
Q: Let us now talk on your pet project, “Southeast Leadership and Development Initiative (SELDI). What is it all about?
A: Like the name connotes, SouthEast Leadership and Development Initiative was set up to foster information dissemination among our people through various ways. One of our biggest mantras has been the think home philosophy. It was initially propounded by our Leader, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the former governor of Anambra State. We have had symposia, conferences and moving from one community to another to sensitize the people on the need to get their people in the Diaspora to think home. We also got through our conference in Lagos a couple of years ago to get industrialists to rub minds on how best to position the southeast region industrially if not politically and getting to let our people to know why it is necessary to think home. So that is really an area that we are passionate about in SELDI.
Q: By your vintage position in private sector, briefly access the industrial development of the southeast vis-à-vis the insecurity?
A: The level of insecurity in the zone is too high. People are no longer moving around. It has impacted negatively on productivity and industrial development of the southeast. The value of Monday in terms of output is highly than the rest of the days of the week put together. The issue of insecurity and sit-at-home to me is a measure of self hate by the Igbo. The sit-at- home is destroying the economy of the southeast. It is impacting negatively on the aggregate earning of the country. The problem there is that we don’t know how to stop it any longer. The civil servants are happy but the employees are not happy. It has debilitating impact on industrial development of the southeast. It has slowed down development. A lot of industrialists have fled the southeast. A place like Delta is gaining from the negative impact of the sit at home on Onitsha. The same thing is happening in Aba where Ikot Ekpeni is taking over the production zone. People that come from Central Africa to Aba stop at Ikot Ekpene.
Q: Are you comfortable with the way our leaders have handled the insecurity matter by allowing non-state actors to dictate the pace?
A: The governors of the southeast have not performed well in this area of insecurity. Some of them seem to be aligning to the federal system. Apart from Chukwuma Soludo who is talking about industrialization, others don’t bother. The southeast governors forum is not in existence. The last I heard of it was when Peter Obi was chairman. They have not cooperated among themselves to stop the insecurity in the southeast. they need to do much more. They need to strengthen their efforts. They are dancing to discordant tunes.
Q: What is your message for political office seekers and their supporters in this campaign period?
A: The candidates should be canvassing for ways and means of unifying Nigeria. They should be canvassing for equity, justice without which there can never be peace. They should canvass on how to encvuiciate policies that should be favourbale to the rest of Nigeria. The terrible economic policies that have killed ports in Aba, Calabar, Port-Harcourt should be reviewed. Those policies that should concentrate gateways to a region should be changed. Supporters of the candidates should play according to the rule. No hate speech, no thuggery and no killing before, during and after election.
