What are your reflections on the state of the Nation under President Muhammadu Buhari?
In some parameters, I am encouraged; in others, I am very sad. I would like to put it my own way, the essence of government, the essence of organizational thinking of government is that it should so organize society so that the sovereign people that give it power should not suffer too much. If he can, he should make them happy, reduce the level of anxiety and poverty and an evolving society like ours, make the economic decision that would spread out the benefit of an economic development, commensurate with the possibilities that exist within the nation state. He should guarantee the people security and there should be fairness.
Any government that is not organizing itself to make people happy, to make people contented, in my judgment, needs to readjust itself otherwise; it can be described fairly that it has failed.
One of the roles of government is to reduce the level of poverty and improve economic development; therefore, any government that does not make people its content, in my judgment, has failed. In the aspect of tackling terrorism, they have done well, because they have been able to contain the Boko Haram sect.
In the aspect of the economy, the government appears to have reversed policies so many times. When an administration promises A or B during campaigns, then they go back on their promises, they confuse people. When this administration came in, it had so much good will because of the excesses of the previous administration, but when they started governing, people began to notice many inconsistencies. I warned Buhari on this economic situation. I wrote a paper and warned this government to act quickly. Very soon, the United States would declare a policy that would make our oil valueless.
We used to sell our own crude at about $140 per barrel, but now we beg and sell at $40. Is it the fault of the government? Yes, to some extent. The government should have anticipated the probability of this happening because of three reasons: they should have watched the global trend and the activities in the United States; the verbal pronouncement of leaders of industries and leaders of politics in the advanced countries particularly in the United States. These people said we are going to cut down, we are not going to be importing oil again and we seem to have just kept quiet and said let’s watch what happens.
Is there still a Middle-belt region?
The middle belt of the North was organized via the larger middle-belt congress to oppose the extreme North that was in power, because they felt they kept them out of power. And those sentiments are creeping back just one year into General Buhari’s administration. People in the middle-belt are saying that this is not their government.
If we are one with the north, how come we are being killed daily by Fulani herdsmen and there is no action from the government. In my state, we don’t have militant activities, but we have a new phenomenon that for over 100, 200 years, we never had. The Fulani have become so aggressive that they come with sophisticated weapons, that they kill people anyway they want. I have tried to tell the President that the Fulani herdsmen crisis should not be ignored because it can create a resurgence of militancy against his administration.
I believe in Buhari, but he does not have good handlers. Politics is all about perception and the perception of people about this administration is that there is unfairness, and they are tired of keeping quiet. It is this that history will judge and would be used in determining whether he has succeeded or failed.
The perception people have about this administration is that it is parochial and employment into government agencies is limited to the North. But when you come to the North, northerners are saying no, it is not to the North, but a particular section of the North. When you go to that section of the North, the people there say no, it is not us, it is within the family; they begin to give statistics like Junaid did. The handlers of the president must call the attention and tell him that this is a serious issue.
These problems point to a collapse of the system and a recession. It is either that Buhari has allowed things to fester, or maybe his handlers have pocketed him. I don’t know why these things are happening like that.
DAILY SUN
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