HOW far do you think Nigeria has come as a sovereign nation?
Nigeria has fared well in the 57 years of its existence as a sovereign nation. I will say so far, so good. It is not easy to have lived for over five decades. It has been a serious challenge that required serious commitment. But as you know, success comes with challenges and there are failures, too. Success is achieved if we learn from our mistakes, our failures and challenges. So, in the past years, we have seen a mixture of all of the above. Sometimes you pass and sometimes you fail and then make up for your failure. You try again and again until you pass. That has been our experience over the years.
In your view, where is the country headed?
Well, I think this country, by now, should be mature in terms of providing good governance and the discharge of government responsibility. If you compare us to countries that got independence at the same time with us, you will see that, to an extent, we are lagging behind. So, the question as regards where we are supposed to be heading to is one that comes with pain and agony. Some countries have long forgotten about the challenges we are facing today in the areas of economy, security, health, investment and so on and so forth. To be honest with you, in our case, certain variables have hampered our growth as a nation. Yes, call it corruption, call it mismanagement, call it bad governance, all these have thwarted our efforts and forced us to a standstill. I think our country should be heading towards ensuring that there is security. This is because security is very important, or, say, it is a recipe for economic development. Without it, everything will come to a standstill. It is rather sad that in recent times, we have some of these challenges. Some were self-made, some politically orchestrated and others religiously so.
If the government wants to get it right, it has to look at the possibility of restoring peace and security in the society. Government should analyse its economic policies because when you have security, you have economy. For a society to be able to stand on its feet, its people should be able to feed themselves. They should be able to pay rent, pay school fees and do a lot of things. These are basic things that we ought to be able to do as human beings. To this end, the government should have a formidable vision. Yes, we must have solid and cogent vision. Then, we look at the state of our education from the primary level up to the tertiary level. It is in shambles. And the education sector is very important for the economic development of any country. We must put it back in proper shape. The issue of unemployment, too, we have millions of energetic graduates roaming the streets on a daily basis. We must think on how we will provide jobs for them. If we do that, we will be able to put our economy on a sound footing. How are countries like India and China who are bigger than us able to manage their populations and you do not hear of issues like unemployment? All these cannot be achieved without good governance, an acute deficiency of which we suffer in this country. Bad governance is synonymous with corruption, incompetence and political maladministration. Nigeria is endowed with human and natural resources, but because of the absence of good governance, we are at a standstill.
Would you say the leaders have succeeded or failed in the management of the affairs of this country?
They have not wholly succeeded and they have not wholly failed. You know our founding fathers played the game according to the rules. You could see good governance; justice, fairness and improvement in the society. The intermittent thwarting of administrations did not help our country. Some governments that came were populist governments, which Nigerians hailed, but we have also seen several other governments which were plagued by corruption and maladministration. But the truth is that the failure is monumental compared to the success.
How do you see the agitation for restructuring from some sections of the country?
Restructuring has many definitions. If you are talking about restructuring, what manner of restructuring are you talking about? Is it restructuring for ethnicity, restructuring because of religious bigotry, restructuring for devolution of power, restructuring for power, restructuring for good governance? It depends on who is talking about restructuring? If restructuring is for good governance for the people, then, it is desirable. I mean if it is trying to address the issue of corruption and making policies felt by the masses and not calling for the tearing of the country apart. I don’t think people who are psychologically balanced will call for the tearing of the country into pieces. And if this happens, it will be very bad for the country. But one can agitate for any issue that can make life better for the common man. So, we should be wary of making statements just for the sake of it. We should look inwards and see what better things we can do in the society.
How do you think Islam and Muslims are faring in Nigeria?
Well, the project of Nigeria has been quite daunting and challenging. And through these challenges, you have to make sure that you fare well. Alhamdulillah, Nigeria is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. With over 500 different ethnic nationalities, with different religious groups and associations, it is not easy to make your views known without being misunderstood. That is what is happening in Nigeria today. But glory be to God, we are faring well since we have been transparent to the best of our ability. We don’t have any hidden agenda. We have been living with Nigerians of other religious convictions peacefully. However, it is unfortunate that our counterparts don’t seem to keep things in proper perspective. The Islamophobia they seem to suffer is unprecedented. And these are people we have lived together for centuries. But Muslims are not bothered by what they do. They are suspicious of anything we do, which is not supposed to be so. If Muslims should do the same, the country will be heated up. I think it is better to wish all well and try to be your brother’s keeper, join hands with all well-meaning Nigerians and the governments in making life meaningful to Nigerians.
How do you see the recent allegation of planned Islamisation of the country?
Well, this is a psychological complex suffered in different quarters in this country; crying wolf where there is none, claiming something that does not exist. I think it is supposed to be the other way round. Muslims are supposed to be the ones crying Christianisation of Nigeria. A Christian commentator, Fredrick Nwabufo, wrote on the so-called Islamisation agenda, saying he didn’t want to join the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the condemnation of the N100 billion Sukuk bond. He wondered if CAN was telling us to have bilateral relations only with Israel or the Vatican or America? The submission from this unbiased Christian is commendable. He did not allow sentiment to override his sense of reasoning.
Some other Christians, like Ebuka Nwankwo and Femi Falana, added their voices to the Sukuk bond issue. Falana, for instance, said that if CAN felt that Muslims wanted to Islamise Nigeria, Christians, too, should try to Christianise the country. He said Sukuk bond was a legitimate process through which the government could generate funds as practised in many countries of the world. They always want to draw us back. If they don’t want anything like that, then they should tell us to withdraw the bilateral relations we have with other Christian countries. He advised CAN to set up an interest-free bank, too.
It might interest CAN to also know that the first state to submit an application for loan at the Islamic Development Bank is a Christian-dominated state in the South East. They forget that Muslims have tolerated their different practices that are essentially Christian in nature. For instance, Sunday has been imposed on us as a work-free day. We have the cross as the symbol in our health institutions. We tolerate titles that are alien to us. In spite of this, over the years, CAN appears to have become increasingly Islamophobic; It has been heating up the polity.
For the avoidance of doubt, Islam had made in-road into Northern Nigeria since 11th Century before the jihad of [Usman] Danfodio in 1804. At that time, Southern Nigeria was an animist society. Even when the British left, we condoned some things like working on Friday, which is supposed to be a free day for the Muslims, while Sunday is a free day for the Christians. But what do we have? While Muslims still go back to work after Friday prayers, for the Christians, Sunday is a work-free day just as it is in the United Kingdom and most other parts of Europe. Conversely, Friday is a work-free day in most Arab countries, dominated by Muslims. Again, when Arabic was introduced in secondary schools, many Christian leaders objected to it because the language was Islamic. We don’t have time for trivial issues, we will engage issues brain for brain, pen for pen and word for word. But we equally want the peace of this country. I think the elites are the ones over-heating the polity for political gains only.
Why is it that whenever a Christian head of state is in power, CAN keeps quiet – no criticism even when there clearly are bad governance, maladministration and monumental corruption? But when a Muslim leader emerges, media war will start until the end of his tenure. I think we should look inwards. It is not good to be hypocritical. The truth chases the consciousness of someone who is double-faced.
So, good governance and justice have no colour, no tribe. They are for all. Let us have good expectations and mutual respect for one another. Let us talk to ourselves and appeal to our consciousness by coming closer to one another. It always beats my imagination when I see people who have a greater advantage over others still crying foul. What do they really want?
Can you shed more light on the principle of Sukuk bond?
Sukuk bond is structured in such a way that it generates returns to investors without ‘riba (interest). Investors had discovered that they paid a lot as interest when they obtained bank loans but Sukuk bond says there is no interest, nothing hidden. Many non-Muslim countries in Africa, Europe and Asia have embraced this financial instrument. In Africa, we have South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, in Europe, we have the United Kingdom, Russia and Luxembourg and in Asia, we have countries like China, Singapore and many firms in United States of America using the Sukuk bond. Britain hosted an international conference on Islamic banking and finance when David Cameron was Prime Minister. So, there is no big deal about it.
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