Nkwocha: Nigeria’s Security Challenges Surmountable with Time Under Tinubu
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, in this interview with Deji Elumoye, speaks in defence of the President Bola Tinubu administration by shedding more light on government’s economic policies, approach to security challenges, commitment to inclusivity and welfare of the citizens, among other pressing national issues.
It has been about six months since President Bola Tinubu appointed you as his Senior Special Assistant, Media and Communications, (Office of The Vice President). How has it been?
First of all, I consider it a great honour to have been appointed by His Excellency, President Tinubu as a presidential aide under the Renewed Hope administration. The President and my boss, His Excellency, Vice President Kashim Shettima, have taken it upon themselves to set Nigeria on the path of economic prosperity and restore the nation to its past glory as the giant of Africa. And so, to answer your question directly, I would say it has been somewhat tasking on one hand, and of course very educating.
I was part of the campaigns and saw firsthand the process leading to the visions of the President. To now be part of the team saddled with the task of implementing those visions is a privilege you cannot pull off the shelf.
I am sure you have seen for yourself that Vice President Shettima is justifying the trust Mr President has always had in him. He is a workaholic and once his mind is fixed on getting a task done, be rest assured that that task must be accomplished at all cost and in good time at that. There is no excuse whatsoever, especially when the business at hand is ensuring President Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda is actualized and executed to the letter. Working with such a leader as your boss entails that you too must have to be on your toes, especially as the focus at hand is on the need to pull Nigeria out of the economic challenges created by years of misgovernance, misappropriation and ineptitude of some previous administrations.
The President's quest for a prosperous Nigeria where the citizens can rebuild their confidence in government and its policies, I would confidently say, is non-negotiable.
By and large, however, the experience has been not only educating but also inspiring, as I believe in the vision of the President.
The present economic challenges facing the country under this administration are bed-rocked on the announcement of fuel subsidy removal by President Tinubu. Was that not a step in the wrong direction?
It will not be right to say that the economic challenges popped up under this administration. What people must realise is that what you term economic challenges precedes the Tinubu administration. The immediate past administration spent a huge amount of funds tackling these challenges. For instance, it was the Buhari-led government that initiated the social investment programmes we have today.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was created under the immediate past administration to address the plight of vulnerable Nigerians.
Granted; fuel subsidy removal came with its peculiar challenges which will soon fizzle out in a couple of months, but it is unfair and amounts to killing a fly with a sledgehammer to situate the economic challenges under the renewed hope administration. I expected you to frame the question around the present economic challenges the Tinubu administration inherited and what it is doing to salvage the situation.
Now, on the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, I would be surprised if you try to feign ignorance of the economic wreck the subsidy regime turned Nigeria into.
Before the Tinubu administration, the debate as to whether subsidy should go or remain had reached a crescendo, and the consensus had been that subsidy was a scam ab initio. Previous administrations had made frail attempts to end the subsidy but were unable to summon the political will to do so.
Former President Jonathan tried it in 2012 but was overwhelmed by the backlash. Former President Muhammadu Buhari pondered the idea of subsidy removal and when it was time for his administration to pack up, it attempted a partial removal of subsidy, announcing on several occasions that it will stop the payment of fuel subsidy by the end of June 2023.
Again, the most conspicuous is that there was no provision for petroleum subsidy in the 2023 budget. On May 29, 2023, when President Tinubu declared an end to the era of subsidy, he expressly stated that there was no longer any provision for fuel subsidy in the nation's budget. Majority of the citizens welcomed the idea, saying it was long overdue and the congruence of opinion was understandable.
The President's pronouncement came immediately after the 2023 campaign in which presidential candidates of the opposition parties all agreed that it was right for subsidy to go.
So, it is quite pathetic to see the opposition claiming President Tinubu has caused Nigerians untold hardship with subsidy removal as if it were deliberate. This is one issue the same opposition elements were in one accord in chorusing - that fuel subsidy must go.
I think President Tinubu should be given due regard for taking the bold step to end the subsidy regime rather than degradation.
The benefits of the fuel subsidy removal are enormous. Apart from robbing the country of its abundant resources, our economy was on the verge of being crippled, and the cumulative effects are what you just referred to as economic challenges under Tinubu. Besides, petroleum subsidies are responsible for the inefficiencies that characterised the Energy Security for donkeys of years now, making it difficult and impossible to invest in critical areas of energy security.
Now, what are we witnessing in post-subsidy in Nigeria? We are now seeing some level of transparency and accountability in the energy sector. Also, funds that were previously allocated to subsidizing petroleum products are now rechanneled into developing and upgrading the nation's energy and other critical infrastructure.
The Tinubu administration is gradually restoring energy security, with Energy Transition as one of its primes. This is so because, in less than one year in office, the administration has succeeded in getting the private sector to participate in the energy industry, with the potential of attracting more local and international investors, fostering innovation and competition that will drive down costs and improve the overall efficiency of our energy sector.
We are in a new era where traditional energy sources are being complemented and replaced by cleaner and more sustainable alternatives. Apart from ensuring a healthy environment, energy transition is also creating economic opportunities by leveraging innovation and collaboration to ensure a smooth and just transition that will leave no one behind.
Besides, the latest data reveals that fuel subsidy removal has led to the reduction of fuel imports by 50 per cent. Don't forget that a few months before President Tinubu ended the subsidy regime, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, had lamented that Nigeria was consuming about 66 million litres of PMS daily. He decried the over N400 billion spent monthly to subsidise PMS at the time, stressing that it was having adverse impacts on the cash flow of NNPCL. Today, with petrol importation dropping by 50 per cent, the volume of imports into Nigeria has reduced by about 33 million litres daily, based on NNPCL's figures in February.
This implies that the importation of petroleum products has dropped by about 990 million litres in one month. What does this imply to you? It is a clear testimony that the Tinubu administration is working very hard to recover lost production and provide the right fiscal environment to attract investments.
We are already reaping the benefits of the reforms being spearheaded by President Tinubu. Statistics showed recently that Nigeria's gross domestic product grew by 3.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, as against 2.54 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2023.
So, whenever you choose to talk about economic challenges facing Nigeria, try to be fair. The benefits of fuel subsidy removal are far more than the challenges the oppositions are fixated on and are capitalizing on to show the Tinubu renewed hope administration in a bad light.
Your principal heads the National Economic Council (NEC). What has been the impact of that body and what is his agenda?
Established by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended in section 153(1) and paragraphs 18 and 19 of Part I of the Third Schedule, the Council chaired by Vice President Shettima has the governors of the 36 states of the federation as members.
It has the mandate to advise President Tinubu on matters pertaining to the nation's economy, especially on measures necessary for the coordination of economic planning efforts or economic programmes of the federal government.
The President’s commitment to ensuring peace, stability and development in the country is not in doubt. For the very first time in the history of this country, we have a President who is devoting a whooping N1.6 trillion to the Ministry of Defence in the 2024 budget. This has never happened before. This is the highest allocation for security so far and it speaks to his commitment, belief, devotion and focus. These funds will help in inter-agency collaboration in the fight against insecurity in the nation and very soon, we will start getting the results. Again State Police is also on the table and I think with time it will be embraced by the sub-nationals for deeper collaborations. And I personally think it will be a defining point. Again, for me, it shows the political will of the President to confront head-on, the issue of insecurity.