MacAlabi: Nigeria Needs a Rebirth
A public analyst and leader of an emerging group, Professionals for Change, Mr. Tunde MacAlabi, in an interview with Shola Oyeyipo and Ojo M. Maduekwe spoke about the many expectations of the people from the Muhammadu Buhari government. Excerpts:
Does your group, Professional for Change think the Buhari administration can offer the much expected change? Oh Yes! Nigerians have long been yearning for real change. If you notice, the name of our organisatoin is Professionals for Change and we started work in 2010, so the quest for change has been on long before the APC came up with that mantra.
And what we need is real change. Okay, there is change of government but Nigerians want real change to impact positively and directly on their lives. As you aware, things have not been okay with the economy and Nigerians.
Take the case of security, for instance, the emergence of Boko Haram and the destructions that it has brought on the North-east of Nigeria is unbelievable in terms of proportion.
Without security, there cannot be development. Without security Nigerians cannot fulfill their destiny. They cannot realise their aspirations.
So, security is very germane to development. Government, in all its ramifications, hundreds of billions of naira have been lost due to the insecurity in North-east due to the evil group called Boko Haram.
The outgoing government dragged it foot at the initial stage, which also compounded the problem. Early action – early military intervention, would have slowed the trajectory of Boko Haram.
So, what is the way forward? The way forward is that this incoming government must tackle Boko Haram at different levels. Of course, the military tempo has to be pepped up. But on the psychological side, the present education that the young people in the North-east have been exposed to has to be neutralised through positive educational strategy that the incoming government has to package and deliver at the quickest time.
It’s not going to be easy! The state government should be assisted by the federal government to impart the right kind of knowledge to neutralise the poison that Boko Haram has deposited in the North that makes our young people to be carriers of suicide bombs and all that. Education is going to play a key role.
Now, economically, government has to step up the tempo of economically driven policies that would energise the private sector – because people talk about government creating jobs, government can’t create jobs beyond what is available in the civil service, but with the right kind of environment – the right incentives, the private sector can be energised to create jobs; not only in the North, even in the South because the problem of unemployment cuts across all regions of Nigeria.
The North is a bastion of agriculture. For years, the North has been known for fertile ground.
By and large, agriculture thrives better in the Northern part of Nigeria and so, there has to be well-formulated and wellarticulated agricultural development policies that would involve young entrepreneurs in production landscape in the North. There are a lot of potential for employment.
So, we’ve talked about the education to change the bad knowledge deposited in the populace – national re-orientation – there is a very critical role to be played by National Orientation Agency (NOA).
Now, they exist at the national level but more has to be done at the local government level, which is closest to the people.
They have the duty to promote the right ideals of one Nigeria, one people, one destiny. Islamic scholars and Islamic leaders have major roles to play in this regard because they earned the trust of their people and so the kind of messages they impart on the people will go a long way to neutralise the poison by Boko Haram in the people. So, Islamic scholars and Islamic leaders have major roles to play in turning around the situation – a role they have neglected to play up till now.
Going forward, traditional rulers, emirs and Islamic scholars have to take over where they have neglected because thanks to the military, Boko Haram is being driven away, but Boko Haram will not go away.
There have to be sustained efforts in these areas; education, Islamic education – the right kind of messages, the economic development and of course, the physical war should not be slowed down.
So, with security we can begin to see improvement in the lives of the people, especially those in the North.
Political reforms, you can safely say we have come out of a political war. The last election was more or less a political war that showed the ethnic strictures - the faultiness that had bedeviled Nigeria for years.
So, Nigerians want a greater say in how the resources that they are blessed with is managed, and so, the issue of derivation came up during the national conference and certain decisions were reached. I think that should be revisited.
States should be allowed to control more of the resources in their states while the federal government should earn some royalty from these resources.
The issue of state police for instance, I think most of the so-called progressive states have for years clamoured for state police to help maintain better security in their states.
I think the incoming government will be doing Nigeria a lot of good if this aspect of the recommendations can be implemented.
In Nigeria, we are also saying let us have the state police. Let us have a stronger national force like a national guard that can be called into action when there are problems in the state that affect Nigerians. The time has come for us to remove the issue of state of origin from our system. We are from Lagos State before we are Nigerians; we are from Anambra State before we are Nigerians, so the issue of state of origin has tended to serve as a point of division inadvertently of the various groups in Nigeria. Let us remove the issue of state of origin. We are all Nigerians wherever we come from.
It is stated in the constitution that if you lived in any state in Nigeria for more than 20 years you can go for election and be elected. But we have seen reactions when people from certain ethnic background tried to exercise that right – the kinds of opposition that arose.
But if we don’t have the issue of state of origin, we are all equal before the law and we stay in any part of Nigeria to achieve our dreams and aspirations politically and economically, I think we will begin to forge a united Nigeria. Don’t you think subsidy removal may not happen with this administration? I think that the Buhari government once it comes in has to make the argument very clear. I have read the manifesto of the APC and I’ve seen that the government wants to implement certain social welfare schemes. If oil was selling at a hundred dollars for instance, there will be enough money to do all those things and which will benefit the generality of Nigerians. So, where is the money going to come from?
I think that part of the areas, where this social welfare schemes can be activated will be from areas such as the removal of fuel subsidy.
Of course, trimming the loopholes in government finances would help, but to a greater degree I think that government sitting down with members of the legislature, showing them the bigger picture, they will be encouraged to support that policy. Otherwise, we’ll be in this problem that we find ourselves year in year out. Let’s go back to the issue of insurgency. How can government address the use of youths as thugs?
Our value system has been so debased that we need a national rebirth. We need a completely new orientation. Materialism and nairalism have replaced patriotism and nationalism in our national life.
Materialism has debased our value system such that everything to us is naira and kobo. So, part of the agenda of the new government must be a national reorientation programme.
The government is committed to tackling corruption headlong and so, what that we mean is that only people with the genuine desire to serve the people must be given the opportunity to do so.
Also, if there’s no money to go and steal when they get there, that will be a disincentive for many people, and so there will be no need for thuggery because we can categorically say that majority of politicians go into office because of what they can get out of it and not because they have the genuine desire of the people at heart.
This is why you still have some form of thuggery associated with our electoral process.
A government committed to eradicating corruption, with the right national orientation problem, I think we will be promoting the right individuals to go into politics for the purpose of serving the people and not themselves.