Emerging from a harsh 2016 which saw the economy plummet into a recession, Nigerians are about to witness a turnaround in their welfare because the result of policies initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari will become manifest this year. This is according to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina. He spoke with LEON USIGBE on this and many issues of concern to Nigerians. Excerpts:
2016 was tough for most ordinary Nigerians. As the president’s spokesman, how will you sum up the year in terms of his efforts to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians?
Last year was the first full year of the administration and the first thing that has been done is that the problems of the country have been identified. And, like they say, once you have identified what the problems are, those problems are half way being solved. So, the administration has identified the problems of the country and it has responded by formulating the right policies to tackle those problems.
Policies by their nature, have a gestation period, particularly when a country has been run down as much as Nigeria was. I believe that the policies that have been enunciated will begin to bear fruits from this year. Even at the end of last year, we had begun to see some ray of light at the end of the dark tunnel. But I believe that this year is the year that we will begin to reap the fruits of the policies that have been so enunciated.
Given the optimism you have expressed, what should Nigerians expect this year in concrete terms from the president?
Yes, when you want to look at expectations, you also ask yourself what are the promises. And what were the promises? They are well known and the president has said that is what he will pursue even in 2017-security, anti-corruption and reviving the economy. There are other ancillary promises but those are the key ones, the three planks of the administration. So, in terms of security, you expect a consolidation of the efforts to secure the country because the president keeps repeating it-you cannot administer a country that you have not secured-and that is the truth. So, he continues to secure the country against insurgency, against any type of upheaval. So, this year, we expect a consolidation of that so that Nigerians from all walks of life, in whatever part of the country they are, will feel a sense of being secure, will have a feeling that government is taking care of them. Don’t forget, the constitution says that the primary duty of government is to guarantee the security of lives and property. So, this government will keep faith with that.
Then, the second, of course, is anti-corruption. It started last year. If you read the president’s New Year message, he said it that the anti-corruption war would be given more pep this year. So, the anti-corruption war is expected to continue and receive more verve. Anybody that has questions to answer will answer them. It will be without fear and it will be without favour.
Then, of course, the economy; the economy is one key promise of the administration. Last year, a lot of efforts were deployed towards getting the economy kick-started again. For instance, by November (last year), it was disclosed that the sum of N750billion had been deployed to infrastructure and capital projects alone. N750billion is a lot of money. The intention is so that it can kick-start the economy. Very soon, you will begin to see the result of that deployment of the funds and all other ancillary promises will be kept.
There is no doubt that the issue of security is important but Nigerians believe that the policies of government have not started to create the necessary positive impact on their lives. Why does it seem so?
Because policies by their nature take time to reflect. It is not magic. Those who you say are waiting to see it reflected, maybe they were waiting for magic, but magic is make-belief; magic is just something that appears to be real but which is not real. But in terms of policies that would affect the lives of Nigerians, it is not going to be magic; it is going to be reality. Magic by its nature is also temporary but these policies would bear permanent fruits that Nigerians will feel and continue to enjoy.
How do you react to the assertion that the government has not started to implement the appropriate policies to alleviate people’s suffering?
Those who say that have a right to their opinion, but it does not make their opinion correct. They have a right to that opinion, but it does not make it correct. You see, there is no way 180million people will say the same thing; a lot of people believe in this government, but there will be some who are cynical. Well, if they say, ‘well, there are no policies,’ they have a right to it, but that doesn’t make it true.
There have been calls for the president to re-jig his cabinet for efficiency. Is he thinking of this? When is it likely to happen?
That decision belongs to the president. I am sure that the president himself reads the newspapers, just like most Nigerians read it because if the president is going to re-jig his cabinet, it will come from him and it will not come from the media. And so far, what we have seen has been from the media. So, when the president is ready to re-jig his cabinet, he will do and he is the one that will inform Nigerians that ‘this is what and what I have done’. Because he assembled that cabinet in the first place, the prerogative to re-jig it belongs to him. Because, one, when he assembled the cabinet, he must have given each minister targets. He is the one who can assess whether this minister has met the target or not. He must have given them timelines to meet those targets, ‘deliver this within this time.’ So, he is the one who can decide, not outsiders. Outsiders can have their say, but the president will have his way because he is the one who assembled the cabinet.
So, how do you address the issue of the fact that he is too slow? It took him six months to constitute his first cabinet and since then, there have been vacancies because of the death of former Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi and now, the exit of Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed? These positions have not been filled.
Don’t forget that in the statement that announced the appointment of Hajia Amina Mohammed (as United Nations Deputy Secretary General), it was also said she would be in the cabinet till March. So, nobody should begin to stampede the president into filling that position yet. Then, the vacancy that has been there, but you don’t know what the president is thinking. Maybe the president feels a man that died in such tragic circumstances, people should not begin to jostle for his position. The president has a final say on that. It is a constitutional requirement that every state should have a minister and the president will fulfill that requirement. When he does it, it is his decision.
You came under attack recently for saying that the president doesn’t have to comment on Southern Kaduna killings. Do you still stand by that position despite the outcry?
Till tomorrow, till tomorrow, I stand by it because it is the truth. A president cannot speak on everything. Some people mentioned Obama, the American president. Does he speak on everything? No! Not on everything. There are certain things action will speak louder than words. For instance, the army was deployed in Southern Kaduna. Do you think the army can be deployed without the authority of the Commander-in-Chief? No! And who is that Commander-in-Chief? The president.
The Nigeria Police is a federal institution. Anti-riot policemen were there. A federal institution is subject to Mr President. As we speak, it had been decided that they will build an army brigade or something in that area. So you think that can be done without the authorisation of the Commander-in-Chief? These are the things the president is doing and action is what matters, not what he says at that point in time. For instance, as that unrest was going on, the president was constantly in touch with the state government. The state governor was here in the Villa, I met with him, we spoke, we discussed the issues and he put some things before the president and the president approved those things. He wanted curfew in that area at Christmas. You know it is a predominantly Christian area. The president approved it. The governor wouldn›t want to do it without consulting with the president so that there won›t be a shout that he locked the people indoors at Christmas when they are predominantly Christians and so on. So, he carried the president along and the president was also in consultation with him. They were always speaking. What else do the people want? The president has done what he should do and he will continue to do what needs to be done for every part of the country.
He mentioned Shiites and other crises areas in his New Year message but was silent on Southern Kaduna killings that appear to be most prominent. How do you respond to that?
It was implied. It was implied.
Is that enough?
O yes. What else do you want?
In a democracy?
So what does democracy demand? What does democracy demand? It was implied. He said all flash points in the country. All flash points, except you want to tell me that Southern Kaduna is not part of these flash points. All flash points in the country will be attended to.
It is not because it is Fulani matter that he kept quiet?
He has attended to it. Who deployed the army? Who has promised to build a cantonment in the place? Who authorised the deployment of anti-riot policemen? So, the president is on top of the thing. But we know our president as a man of few words. For him, action speaks louder than words. Let us allow him to do the work he has been entrusted to do.
Another issue that bothers Nigerians is the issue of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal and the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu. The president is so far quiet about their fates. Why?
It is also similar to the one we have just concluded. Does the president begin to speak on issues over which he has also directed an investigation? If you speak on an issue that you have said should be investigated, it will prejudice that investigation because the investigators will listen to you. They will see a body language and it will influence what they come out with. So, it is better that the president keeps quiet on it till he receives the report of the investigation and he then acts. I have said it to you before, our president is a man who acts more than he talks.
You may need to explain this. Many people are thinking that when it comes to opposition figures, if there are any allegations, the security forces move swiftly to arrest and detain them but if it comes to the associates of the president like the SGF and Magu, they tend to allow the due process to take its course. How do you reconcile that?
Do you detain anybody over allegations? No! You don’t detain over allegations. You detain over proven allegations; you detain when an indictment has been secured. Even in opposition. I have not seen any opposition figure detained over mere allegations. There must be an indictment, which means the allegations have been proven and there are evidence.
In the case of the SGF, are you assuring that if the allegations are proven against him, he would be subjected to the full weight of the law?
He is a fair and just and impartial president. So, he will be fair, just and impartial even on that matter when the report gets to him.
What do you have to add?
What I would just like to say is that former Minister of Information and also an APC stalwart, Prince Tony Momoh, said in an interview that by 2019, Nigerians will be full of praises for President Buhari. I want to agree with him. By 2019, they will be full of praises for President Buhari.
What would have happened?
Because every sphere of national life would have been changed for good by 2019; all the promises would have gone through the gestation period and, by then, the fruits will be evident.
That is less than two and half years from now.
Yes. We stand by that. God giving us life, we will all see it by 2019.