Independence Day: Our inner caucus meeting with Tinubu shows Nigeria ‘ll be great- Hon Olulade

 

With myriads of challenges confronting Nigeria despite attaining 63 years of independence, a former Lagos State House of Assembly member, Hon Segun Olulade popularly referred to as ‘Eleniyan’ gives hope about President Bola Tinubu administration in this interview with our correspondent, IBRAHIM QUADRI. Excerpt:

What is your assessment of the present situation in the country as Nigeria marks her 63rd independence anniversary?

 

Well, 63rd anniversary still makes Nigeria very young compared to our democracy. Out of the 63 years, I think we still can say we have done well but not up to expectation. This particular Republic is the one we have seen different dimensions of events that have shown clearly that we are developing as a nation. For the first time, we have an incumbent President being defeated and even the one that introduced a 3rd term was stopped democratically unlike what we have in some other African countries that have sit-tight presidency. For me, I think our democracy is growing. Yes, we have a lot of hiccups, we have issues of insecurity, economic, infrastructure, unemployment- all the same the country is moving forward. We have seen development in all the sectors of our lives. Even if a particular Government is not doing well, we can’t compare it with a military Government. We have seen Lagos moving from where she was to where she is today and we have seen healthy competition. Today, people talk about Borno, Rivers States, about states that are doing well. We believe if we continue to keep with this pace, definitely we will get there.

 

But the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan, that brought in Muhammadu Buhari had not given relief to majority of Nigerians.

 

I will say we are developing. It is that Government that did a disservice to itself in the area of information dissemination. We see the second Niger Bridge in that regime, whatever anybody would say, it was towards the end of that regime that we started having uprising and terrorism. When he first came in, there was this level of sanity in terms of security because the way Boko Haram was operating before he came in, was not the same way they operated at the end of his regime. We must not take that away. The rail was also coming on board. I remember a President once told us that rail system could never happen but we saw it happening. In our airports, we have improvement. He has his shortcomings no doubt, we can’t say that everything done was bad. We believe that they could have done better because there were a lot of expectations on them. Unfortunately, they were lacking in some aspects but Government is a continuum. Now we have a President who is leading the nation in a commendable way. We have seen him in several areas including being the number one ambassador of the country leading at the front.

 

Over 100 days in office of President Bola Tinubu, what can you say in concrete terms that he has achieved?

 

The President met a government we are running using over 90 percent of our revenue to service loans. That alone means Nigeria was grounded. The President has been able to stop subsidy payment and able to save some money which are given to states and local governments as allocations. The onus is on Nigerians to start asking questions about the allocations not just focusing on the President alone. We don’t operate unitary system, we can’t put all the blames on the doorstep of the Federal government. We are changing the narratives bringing experts into different ministries that will support the President. We have seen him championing the leadership image that Nigeria deserves in Africa. We have seen him appointing capable hands into our security apparatus and we have seen them swinging into action. Look at the way the military have been flushing out the terrorists in the East and other parts of the country. We can’t expect him to perform magic. We all know the situation that he would meet on the ground before he came in. There are so many things that are being done to turn things around. The monetary policy is being addressed. You know it is within 100 days he has to choose his cabinet and he had to do that in consultation with the leadership of the states. We have seen him bringing the womenfolk to limelight and we have seen the youths playing active role in this government.

 

But the President policy has affected the purchasing power of the citizenry.

 

You must not look at the short term effects, you must look at the long term effects of every policy of government that will have positive impacts on our governance. They have open the exchange rate to demand and supply. The currency had been bastardized in the past, to reverse it is not going to be a tea party affair. The idea of saying the black market determines the rate should not be. Speculators were operating in a bigger form. So the President said No, that commercial banks should play a bigger role in the exchange rate. Don’t forget, there were issues with the former CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele. It is a gradual process, now we have a new CBN Governor nominee and others, these are capable hands, they will swing into action. You know there are agencies that don’t have their heads. A lot needs to be done, no doubt but we have seen a government that is ready and providing us with a renewed hope for a greater Nigeria.

 

Going by the hardship in the country, the Federal government and Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) have not reached an agreement, how do you think this can be resolved?

 

I’m finding it difficult to see reason why Labour union wants to do what they want. The government has started discussion with them. What is the population of those who are even gainfully employed?

Don’t you see the NLC as the mouthpiece for ordinary citizens.

 

They are just politicians. This particular NLC people are politicians, they belong to a political party. The agitation is uncalled for because the President has inaugurated a committee. The President has made himself available and you had a discussion with him. A new minister has just been appointed for labour who needs to be briefed. So the issues they are talking about like palliatives are being provided but there are major ones that cannot be done abracadabra. Look, for instance, President is talking about bringing in investors to establish factories, you can’t just say the man should meet all these demands overnight. We have to be patient with the government because there are processes to be followed.

 

The issue of insecurity is still very much with us…cuts in

 

Where in the world that you don’t have the issue of insecurity? There is no place, so government will have to address it systematically and strategically so that they don’t cause more problems. We must give him the opportunity on what he promised and he has started doing them.

Do you subscribe to a committee proposal to have a livestock ministry to address farmers/herders crisis in some parts of the country?

There is nothing wrong for us to have a ministry on livestock. We have a lot in the ministry of Agriculture already. Cocoa is no more, rubber is going to come back again, palm kernel in the South East is needed. Having a ministry of livestocks where we can even begin to export beef, Nigeria can be known for that. For me, it is a welcome development, let’s start to talk on how to increase our livestock production. It is like this government is starting all over again. You can see it for the first time , we are having a ministry of Blue economy- there is a lot of money there that have not been tapped including the steel.

 

How do you think President Tinubu should address agitations for self-determination?

 

I listened to Ohanaeze few days ago and I have seen that there is a change of perception. In the South-West, we have a lot of enlightened minds- that it is not only when you have your person as the President that you would say things would happen positively. We had Obasanjo and did not do a road that leads to Abeokuta. Different Governments had been there that didn’t do Second Niger Bridge but Buhari came in and it was done.  Asiwaju has done it in Lagos, that is why people like us, are passionate about him. We are proud of what he has started, we know he has the stocks. We know what he was telling us in the inner caucus and we have seen that what he was saying are what we need as a country and he has started performing those things. To me, we are blessed to have Asiwaju Tinubu as the President of the country. He has antecedents not those playing on sentiments. He had established institutions. One thing that I ‘m sure Asiwaju will give Nigeria is that he is going to build institutions that will leave longer than his government. The other time in America during Donald Trump, what helped American citizens was the institutions that were there. Tinubu had built institutions in Lagos, you can see all the institutions are getting stronger. Other states come to Lagos to learn what we have been doing. Once he builds those institutions in the country, you will see that Nigeria will be great.