Tinubu’s govt has been fair to opposition —Ahmed, NNPP national chairman

The national chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Dr Ajuji Ahmed, speaks with TAOFEEK LAWAL on President Bola Tinubu’s first year scorecard and how the government can get it right with its policies. He also talks about how the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) can be the centrepiece of the government economically and security-wise.

How do you think the Federal Government can handle the economy that is nosediving every day and making lives more difficult for Nigerians?

The economy, of course, has been very bad. But however bad it is, it has a history of mismanagement from the military right up to the various civilian administrations that came and went, culminating in perhaps the worst era of economic downturn in our country, that is, the Buhari era. Any government that inherits the ‘mountain’ from Buhari will definitely find it extremely hard to manage the economy. What we are emphasising here is to call on all Nigerians to close ranks with the government and make the resuscitation of the economy a collective responsibility. Things are bad but we have to help the government and make them better for future generations.

 

What do you think should be the solution to this economic problem in the short term?

The short-term plan, definitely, will be for the government to inject more energy into its efforts at resuscitating the economy. Because no matter what the citizens want to contribute, they have to ride on the back of the government’s efforts to do it. The first thing, certainly, will be job creation. And as soon as we are able to encourage the private sector, particularly, small and medium-scale enterprises, to thrive. That will be a very good starting point and I believe that the government will be on the right track if they emphasise that going forward.

 

With what you just said, it means the youth will have to be engaged meaningfully for crime rate to reduce drastically.

Certainly, the youth are always the backbone of any society, especially here in Nigeria. The youth population accounts for about 65 to 70 percent of most countries in Africa, Nigeria inclusive. They are a vibrant and a good source of any economic policies geared towards improving the economy of the country. As soon as we target youth employment or create jobs where the youth can find employment, we will find out that the overall philosophy of economic regeneration is going to be easier.

There are lots of areas that the government can emphasise, especially entrepreneurship. Various financial institutions like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and others can be mobilised to provide capital for the youth to be in the farms and to begin their own small scale businesses with the support of the government. This definitely will prop up employment rate in the country and provide our youths with the employment that they badly need because no youth wants to be idle. It is the wherewithal that the government provides for them to be employed that differs from one country to another and which also accounts for the economic development of one country and the other. Therefore, we cannot overemphasise the importance of youth participation in the economy as a method for national economic regeneration.

 

The present administration just marked a year in office, but many Nigerians are disenchanted with the policies or decisions the government has taken so far. In what areas do you think the government needs to improve for Nigerians to be happy?

Certainly, the situation is very challenging for the government and the people. I said earlier that we should not rest on our oars or shirk responsibilities and blame the previous administration. But with the support and cooperation of everyone, the government will be able to regenerate the economy, create jobs and the youth will be gainfully employed and by so doing, the country’s economy would leap from there.

The steps the government should take will depend largely on the overall philosophy of the administration. In this particular one, we have seen the situation where they think that removing fuel subsidy will lead to economic regeneration as their first step. Floating the naira is going to lead to proper exchange stability as a second step which they have taken. And we have seen the fallout of that. Therefore, we believe that the government will have a better hard-headed thinking in regard to these twin policies as a way of retracting some of the policies and bringing in more and more hard-headed thinking in order to solve the problems that the country is facing economically.

 

Some Nigerians have singled out the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, as performers in this government. They based their argument on the infrastructural development the FCT is undergoing now and the issuance of the Nigerian passport which has more or less become seamless.

Let me start with the Ministry of Interior. Perhaps there is some kind of positive moves in terms of easing the process by which Nigerians are obtaining international travel passport but then how many percentage of Nigerians travel with international passport? To me, you are addressing a tiny number of elites and congratulating yourself on easing their burden while the rest of Nigerians suffer. If there were massive reforms, for example, in the prison system, if there were other tangible objectives that they set and were able to achieve in the Ministry of Interior, I would have been the first person to congratulate them but I don’t see it. Reforming the process by which people obtain their international passport does not call for any celebration.

Concerning the FCT, the minister has certainly made his presence felt because there was a time I heard him congratulating himself on turning Abuja into a construction site. Well, Abuja has always been a construction site. Maybe the construction is a little bit more visible now than before. The disappointing regime of the last minister of FCT would make any scratch of any construction done by anybody so massive and that is the big part of it.

But if you look at life in the FCT, there is hardly any improvement at all because if I were to advise the minister, I would have told him first and foremost to reform the chaotic traffic situation in the FCT because whatever life you enjoy, you enjoy it only on account of the law-and-order situation that prevails in that society. There is no law and order going on in Abuja by any stretch of imagination. The traffic lights are now practically effigies established for people to run over and pass with no accountability whatsoever. And you find that the situation is so bad that you see law enforcement agents standing by while motorists do whatever they want. It is very chaotic and bad. I wish that is tackled at least for us to know that there is law and order in Abuja’s driving environment.

The second part of it is the celebrated incidence of insecurity in the satellite towns. That is quite disappointing and I wish the minister is up to the task of organising the security architecture in Abuja to confront the situation because Abuja has become a sanctuary to a lot of people from troubled spots in the country and while here, they believe they are safe. But it’s so disappointing to see that at the end of the day, some of them are kidnapped for ransom and even get killed in their homes.

Economic life in the FCT can also be something that can be radically shaken up by the minister. Job creation, recreational facilities and bringing some kinds of hope in terms of what to do in the FCT and to earn a living can definitely be improved upon. In different metropolitan cities around the world, we can see how they regenerate the city centres, how they turn common roundabouts, underpasses into very beautiful edifices. These can be turned into commercial centres in the evening making a centre or beehive of commercial activities, well lit shades for them to conduct their activities under the regulation of law enforcement agencies and by the time midnight is approaching, when those who patronise them are no longer coming, such places will evaporate completely and become the normal roundabouts that they were. I wish something like that could be started in order to promote and support small businesses.

But right now what you have is artisans settling anywhere in the metropolis, carrying on their trade as if nothing is at stake. You see those operating restaurants or roadside canteens dotting every available space. All these are eating into the beauty and aesthetics appreciation that people could have had of the city. I wish that such a thing could be reorganised, systematised to regenerate the economy of the city massively as well as maintaining the aesthetic beauty of the city.

 

What would you say about this government’s relationship with the opposition parties so far?

So far so good. I cannot cite any instances where the government has gone all out to harass opposition political parties. They allow all of us to operate within the area of our operation without let or hindrance and that is commendable and the opposition don’t have anything to complain about in that regard. Before, some of the political parties lack a lot of infrastructural capacity to function effectively as an opposition. The government can go one step further to support the relevance of the opposition parties. Not that you give them funds in order to challenge you in elections but by allowing them to organise themselves with the wherewithal that they require in order for them to be more effective opposition to you. Because the more you have opposition the more you have people who will tell you the truth to your face and make you sit up in some of the policies you might get wrong.

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