Former Vice-President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and chairman of the Ikeja branch of the body, Dr Monday Ubani, speaks to DARE ADEKANMBI on how the incoming administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu can address the existing socio-political challenges in the country.
What will you like to see in the new government?
There are many expectations from the incoming government to be headed by Ahmed Bola Tinubu and I just pray that he will have the heart, zeal, commitment, and transparency to fulfill all the promises he has made concerning the country. The economic situation of the country has been badly damaged by the outgoing administration. So a lot will need to be done. Firstly, in handling the basic infrastructure like energy, as long as we have not dealt with the energy situation as we are still having problems with the investors in that regard, let there be full implementation of the needed reforms in the sector in terms of power generation, transmission and distribution. Secondly, the incoming government will need to look at the state of Nigerian roads, because there are not many good roads out there. In fact, now, I can’t take off now from Lagos and say I want to go to Abuja without having agony. I can’t take off now and head to the East without having problems on the way. The fact is there is no country that can make progress if its transport system is not functional. Now, we don’t have railways that link up all the states. But President Buhari was ready to go and link Nigeria to Niger, where he came from, but he was not able to link the entire state by rail. Movement is very key. You and I know that if you don’t have a solid way to move your goods safely and faster from one place to the other in your country, the economy will still be regarded as a primitive one. And our transportation system generally is very poor and I have mentioned that of energy.
But then again, Tinubu should rule Nigeria like a patriot. We had thought that Buhari would run the country that way as a father. But he only came to run a family business and tribal colony, he didn’t come to govern Nigeria. He came to ensure that he entrench his people all over the place. But you don’t do that in a heterogeneous country. Up till recently, he was still appointing people into all the federal ministries. And he has been putting people mainly from the Northern region. You don’t run a country that way and think that there will be peace. You don’t run a country that way, where a particular tribe is dominating everywhere. A president must be able to diversify and ensure that both people from the minority and majority ethnic groups are covered in the appointments because the country is called the Federal Republic of Nigeria, not the federal republic of Yoruba, Hausa, or Fulani. A president must cover all. So, Tinubu has a lot to do. He should be able to find the area of each region that has comparative advantages and put people from that region in the sector. He should make the country open to all, because I don’t need to be a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) before I can enjoy things from Nigeria. Somebody was telling me recently that if a particular person wants to enjoy in the next administration, he has to join the APC and I said, that is unacceptable. What exactly is wrong with the black man mentality? Are we cursed? A president must look at the overall interest of everyone in a country, whether they are from the minority or the majority group. This is because once you have won a presidential election, you are no longer a Yoruba, Hausa, or Igbo president. You are now the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So you must not begin now to say that some people didn’t vote for you, so you will not look into their problems and grievances. What kind of leadership is that? Tinubu should never be such kind of a president and run Nigeria in like manner. And he must try as much as possible to ensure that Agbero does not come into the country. He must not allow them to dominate Nigeria like Lagos. He run a different country where the rights of everyone will be respected. He must not run a country where there is barefaced illegality, unlawfulness, and criminality. It can be only a criminal sitting president that will make a judge go and intervene in a post-election matter and say he has removed a governor. It is only a criminal sitting president that will allow that.
Specifically, what areas do you want him to make priority areas?
I think the key area of priority is the economy because a lot of graduates are just roaming about with no jobs. He needs to run an economic system that will make Nigerian economic enterprises function properly. This is because the major driver of any economy is the small scarce industry. So he must formulate an economic policy that will make them thrive. When they do this, a lot of people will be fully employed. And as I have said earlier, let him make the energy sector a priority.
And make sure that he attracts foreign investors and investments. But they can only come in when the security situation in the country is very right. So he must also deal with the issue of security. He should not allow the ongoing killings in the country to continue to scare investors away. He must deal with these issues. He should also try to restructure Nigeria. I am very happy that the process of restructuring has started. So, let Tinubu unbundled Nigeria, because the country is too over-centralised and this is not making the system work. The truth is all the roads in a state should be fixed by the state government and not that some called federal roads will be left in total disaster. That is rubbish. Above all, let Tinubu run Nigeria like a father, where every interest will count, including those of who didn’t vote for him, because he has become the Nigerian president and not a tribal leader. If Tinubu wants to run a government that will make people support and be happy with him, let him remove the issue of bringing only his families, friends, and cronies into his government, because Nigeria belongs to all of us. And then, let him tackle corruption.
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