Why removal of subsidy will inflict more pains on Nigerians —El-Buba

Prophet Isa El-Buba is the General Overseer of Evangelical Bible Outreach Ministry (EBOMI) and Vice President, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). He is also the founder of Initiative for Better and Brighter Nigeria. In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, the clergyman speaks on insecurity, the electoral system and other topical issues.

Sir, what is your opinion on the recent statement credited to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi on the plan to establish schools for bandit children in Kaduna forest and his recent trip to Kogi State to provide medical services to herdsmen in Kogi forest?

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi is an intelligent man, we had met and discussed several national issues with him. On some issues, we are on the same page, especially on the need to rescue this country from insecurity. His ability to go into the camp of bandits and talk with them is encouraging but the only thing I do not support is where he said amnesty should be given to bandits and supported by the Federal Government.

I do not subscribe to that because those bandits are not fighting a justifiable cause. You can’t just be killing people, sleeping with their women and daughters right before their parents and claiming you are fighting a justifiable cause. And you can’t compare this with the issue of the Niger Delta agitation, so I disagree with the statement that they should be granted amnesty.

As for building schools for the children of bandits, if that is going to touch the hearts of the bandits to stop these evil acts, there is nothing wrong with it. To bring them to an environment where they can learn and be influenced is a fine idea. But whatever that is going to give the bandits the motivation to continue to justify their actions is not acceptable. For instance in the past few days, if what he is doing, that is reaching out to the bandits is respected and accepted, the sudden eruption of the high level of attack that is going on along Abuja to Kaduna highway shows that all these things are not working. So it means they don’t appreciate the carrot approach and since they don’t appreciate this, the best is to go the other way.

When you use the stick, you also think about the carrot so that you can win the heart of the people. Where the people are not willing to accept the carrot method and they are bent on using aggression to oppress and destabilise the nation, they should be handled with a stick. That was why I asked the vice president when he came here, I asked that the issue of state Police should be looked into quickly and also that they should approve the use of drones in fighting insurgency. Some technologies can site where the bandits are hibernating in the bush. Speaking with Gumi one on one, he is an intelligent man; we have been interacting on the way forward for Nigeria but what I am reading in the press is that he is asking for amnesty for the bandits, I don’t support that.

The economic hardship in Nigeria is hitting harder and getting worse on a daily basis; the price of essential commodities are getting out of the reach of the common man. And to worsen the situation the federal government intends to increase the pump price of petroleum. What is your take on this pathetic situation?

The Federal Government needs to look inward and put its house in order. For instance, let’s take the issue of subsidy, if we calculate the amount the federal government is thinking of giving 40 million Nigerians to cushion the effect of the withdrawal of subsidy, it is about N200 billion in a month and presently subsidy is about N140 billion monthly. Now the government is thinking of pulling out the subsidy which is about N140 billion. Meanwhile, the government is crying ‘no money’. Which one is higher? is it the subsidy or the palliative. Common sense dictates that it is better to still maintain the subsidy.

Government is all about the state of the people, you can’t say because petroleum is cheaper in Nigeria and other countries around the world are using that to buy from what we have. Whatever you are doing should be about the welfare of your people. Some of us are just wicked in our approach towards the state of the masses. What this present government told Nigerians when they came to power was that the issue of subsidy had been taken care of, but hearing of the removal of subsidy shows that there is no truth in them in terms of what they said. So my counsel is that they should think deep and appreciate the advice people are giving, especially people of thought in terms of how things should go.

Looking at the issue of cooking gas and how it has skyrocketed, Nigeria is a nation where the moment the price of commodities go up, it really comes down and the ripple effects are also another problem. Looking at what happened in the United Kingdom; for the small interruption in fuel supply, you saw that the government of Britain had to hire people from outside to come in just to make sure that their citizens do not go through stress. The military has to come out and roll out tankers to supply fuel to its citizens. That is what governance is all about. I think the government should do the needful; removal of subsidy will cause more pain and untold hardship on Nigerians more so with the price increase, and salaries remaining the same.

Another election is around the corner; what do you think Nigerians should do to avoid the mistake of choosing wrong leaders?

We have learnt from the past; we fell into the trap of bringing on board the wrong president. It is a season that every Nigerian has learnt from. In leadership, it is a different thing to have integrity and intelligence and in governance, you need the two and basically what the President lacks is intelligence. He may have what is called integrity, but for me, I have not seen what I thought I used to know him for; this is not what I am seeing playing out. And we also thought that with this kind of vice president beside him, he will put to use his intelligence because he is more agile, strong and intelligent. What you do in governance is that you surround yourself with great minds and make use of them to become a great leader.

Most of the great leaders may not have all that it takes; usually, they pull people of the best mind to drive the system and the process. 2023 is not about a person but a team, team that would be able to carry the Nigeria project because this administration has taken Nigeria 30 years backwards and you need an intelligent mind that can move this nation forward. We are talking about people who knows what the problem is and know how to tackle the problem, we are working on that. On zoning, for now, we have a northerner who has been on the saddle for close to seven years and very soon he will round off his tenure. So it is common sense for the next president to emerge from the Southern part of this country, it is also common sense that the Christian South emerges as president of Nigeria.

This time around we are standing for equity and it must come from the South and it is not just going to be anyhow politician. We are looking for leaders that will go into politics, not politicians without leadership traits. Also on the direct primary, I think the National Assembly has gotten it right. We are in support of the National Assembly, direct primary gives the people the power to choose who they want. But because it has always been an indirect thing a lot of things can happen behind the scene. I have listened to some of the presentations of the governors that it is costly; to me it is better done right than to continue to do wrong things. Most of these governors are afraid of losing control of the system but the fact remains that people should be able to select who they want to govern them.

How do you mobilise resources to fund Movement for Better and Brighter Nigeria?

One of the greatest things that are happening in this movement is that we are moving people from the mindset of being sponsored by external forces. What has messed up Nigerians is the monetisation of every process where people believe that they must get money for whatever they do. But if we keep doing that we may not get the type of nation that we so desire. This time around, we are contributing among ourselves, people are putting in their money because they are passionate about what we are driving and that is how it should be. Even in a political setting members should be able to contribute to fund political parties, not an individual. The moment you begin to have an individual bankrolling everything, definitely such a person will control everything.

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