Tinubu should balance technocrats, politicians in his ministerial appointment —Osinkolu

Dr Olusegun Osinkolu, patron of Solidarity Vanguard for Bola Tinubu in Nigeria, in this interview with ’YOMI AYELESO speaks on security issues, some economic policies since the change of guard in power in the country, via-a-vis public reactions.

President Bola Tinubu has made some moves and decisions since assumption of office almost a month ago, including the signing into law of the Students Loan bill, which some people have expressed reservations on the effectiveness of the scheme.

I do not agree with the misgivings being raised by these skeptics who think nothing can work in Nigeria. Let me start by appreciating President Tinubu for this initiative conceptualized to ensure that the children of the poor or the poorest of the poor have access to higher education, this is quite commendable because education remains the most potent weapon to combat poverty. It is a leveler between the children of the rich and that of the poor. I thank God that we have had the opportunity of living and schooling abroad, this thing had existed for over a century in many advanced nations and I know that Mr President must have understudied the workability of the policy before signing the bill into law. I have no doubt that it will work perfectly well. The federal government has a Ministry that superintends over education and it will be the coordinating body for the accessibility of the loan based on the criteria listed for you to be eligible. Many great leaders in advanced nations that we are respecting and referring to across many fields of human endeavours, had their higher education through government’s loans, why would it not work in Nigeria? I consider this a very puerile and pessimistic thinking; let us be optimistic about the greatness in our country and it shall come to fruition by being confident in our nation. Though I thank God that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) had gone to the Aso Villa to thank Mr President, because they knew the significance of the policy and how it will reduce the level of restiveness, crime and dropouts among youths.

 Another decision, which has also generated talks and brought difficulties and pains to the citizens, is the fuel subsidy removal. What is your take on the decision?

It is high time we believed and embraced the fact that there is no gain without pain in this country. The advancement you are feeling and experiencing in advanced nations today was as a result of pains they endured several decades ago and they are now enjoying it now, so we have to endure the current pains brought about by the removal of the fraud called fuel subsidy. You have heard how less than 200 people out of 200 million population are pocketing trillions of naira under the guise of subsidy payment. If this removal will allow Nigerians to have good governance, then let it be. I support that wholeheartedly. I believe Nigeria will be a changed country in terms of infrastructure, job creation, wealth creation and investment, if the trillions that were going into the pockets of a few major marketers are invested in the economy. As things stand today, let me commend Mr President for planning to inject palliatives into the economy before the end of August, so that the pains can be cushioned in a way. The NNPC had also assured Nigerians that the price of PMS that currently stands at an average of N500 per litre will soon come down. The federal government and the major marketers had also promised to roll out cheap PMS that would bring down the price. However, I sympathise with Nigerians for this because it happened when they have just recovered from cash limit policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, but the gains of the removal outweigh its pains and the confirmation will come in a matter of months when the price starts assuming a downturn trend and infrastructures start springing up everywhere across the country.

  As a major player in the oil and gas sector, do you agree with the recent allegation that the military is also complicit in oil theft being perpetrated against the country?

Crude oil theft has become a very serious problem in the country and all hands must be on the deck to tackle it because we are losing billions of naira daily to a few economic saboteurs who are pillaging our Commonwealth. I could remember that during Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when Nigeria was making a total of 3.2 million barrels of crude daily, about 700,000 barrels were reported to be going into the hands of oil theft and pipeline vandals, almost one quarter of what Nigeria was making . This was a statistic that really gave me a lot of concerns. Meanwhile, the federal government right from the time of Presidents Umaru YarAdua to  Dr Goodluck Jonathan and Major-Gen Muhammadu Buhari had combated restiveness in the Niger Delta and vandalism of pipelines, so the only problem now is oil theft, which I believe the military should be able to solve easily. I heard the Niger Delta leader, Asari Dokubo speaking on television and made the damning allegation and he did that out of frustration in the Niger Delta by the activities of these oil theft, who are destroying not only the economy of our country but the livelihoods of the people by their criminal activities. They are also destroying the environment through pollution, which makes it difficult for people to practice farming or feed on aquatic lives they were endowed with. I am not saying that the accusation was correct, but inability of the military to arrest these oil thefts fueled insinuation that they too might be complicit. But time has come for all of us to shed the toga of pride and be ready to work in collaboration with other stakeholders. The military must be ready to work with the Niger Delta youths as suggested by Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), because these are the people who knew the terrain and where these criminals are.

I know by the time this collaboration is strengthened and done patriotically, and not with mutual suspicion, you will see that the oil thieves will flee the Niger Delta and Nigeria will be free.

 There was a shakeup in the nation’s security architecture with the appointment of new service chiefs. Do you think the administration is prepared to squarely address the security challenges confronting the country?

Absolutely yes, if you look at the way he (Tinubu) started by changing the security Chiefs and replaced them with those with experiences in the fighting of sectarian and asymmetrical wars. I had taken time to read the profiles of the new service chiefs, all of them had participated in the wars against Boko Haram insurgency. Some had also led series of theatre operations carried out by the military to end insecurity in our country and all these will help them. Mr President is not also depending on the conventional means alone, he had met with traditional rulers and religious leaders on the need to partner security operatives in their communities to rid our country of all these menaces of killings and Kidnappings that are affecting investment negatively. I also learnt plans are in the pipeline to enter into partnership with foreign experts so that we can deploy ICT initiatives to combat crimes. With all these coming up in the days and weeks ahead, I believe that Nigeria will soon become a safe nation for investors, both local and foreign.

In a matter of weeks, the list of ministerial nominees will be forwarded to the National Assembly for confirmation and many people have said the success or otherwise of the administration would be determined by the quality of persons the president appointed. What are your expectations in this regard?

Let me start by saying that I will respect the judgment of the president in whoever he deems fit for the position from each state of the federation. I decided to say this because you could see the qualities of Special Advisers he had appointed so far. These are well groomed technocrats and politicians of note. Nobody had ever raised any doubt about the competences of those he had appointed so far. So, I am 100 percent sure that the President will give Nigeria the best by way of head-hunting technocrats from anywhere across the globe to work with politicians who worked for his victory to make Nigeria great. I have had some people saying he shouldn’t appoint any politician as Minister, but the political aspect must also be taken care of because without politics, you can’t be elected a governor or a president. The two must be balanced and whoever that is considered must be someone who has the expected qualities to deliver on any task he is saddled with.

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