09012021 - Nigeria must stop paying ransom to kidnappers

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12—SATURDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 9, 2021 2023: It’s Igbo presidency or nothing — Ufomba •Ikpeazu on track to develop elop Abia By Clifford Ndujihe, Politics Editor Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba, former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA in Abia, was one of the founders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Ufomba, who returned to the PDP in 2017, in this interview spoke on the politics of Abia, and how Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is turning the fortunes of the state around. He also spoke on the state of the nation, how to save the country and why the Igbo should produce the president in 2023. How do you look at governance in Abia State between 1999 and today given poor infrastructure especially roads? Abia is work in progress and to the best of my knowledge is making progress. We have had our ups and downs, it was the shortcomings that led me into contesting elections in 2011 so that we can better the lot of the people. Regrettably, we have not been able to actualise that. You talked specifically about bad roads, Abia is the only state in the country that is bordered by seven states - Imo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Anambra, all of them linked by federal roads and these federal roads are abandoned, totally abandoned and neglected. So, when people talk of bad roads in Abia, we need to delineate federal roads from state roads. The basic problem is that until the nation is restructured to give room for states to manage certain structures within their localities, we will continue to have the issue of abandonment of roads, infrastructure, and all property belonging to the Federal Government. Most of the federal roads ought to be handed over to the states. The Federal Government has no business coming to repair roads or construct roads in Abia or Ebonyi or any other state for that matter. Can you assess the present PDP government in Abia You don’t award marks to those who are still sitting in an exam hall, let the person finish first. We will be able to fully assess the performance of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu around 2022. He is on the right direction, salaries were owed before he came, he is filling the gap. This is the only government, to the best of my knowledge, that has done great roads in Abia. Until recently and I will tell you to the shock of many critics, when I rejoined the PDP in 2017, I discovered that the government was being sabotaged. One of the federal roads he wanted to embark on, he was stopped from doing it. There are letters and documents to prove that he was stopped from working on those roads. The flyover he is doing at Osisioma I had to personally intervene when the issue of design came up. The Federal Government refused to release the design, I had to discuss with the Arab contractors, I went to the Federal Controller of Works in Umuahia, I went to the governor because the whole place was a mess. I believe that you can still work for your people without being in government. So, I took out time and went to the governor, met the contractors, met the Federal Controller of Works and we worked to ensure that the design was released. It was released sometime this year. So, when people say there is a centre table in Osisioma that has taken ages to complete, we also to have refer them to the cause of the delay, which was the design of the area. They did not know where to step down, you know what design the government was coming down with, you know Enugu Expressway is being reconstructed so he had been able to do that and work is in progress there. Generally, we have asked the governor to do most of over nine federal roads in Aba alone – the Port Harcourt road, the Ngwa road, Aba-Owerri road, Okpara road, and so many of such roads. What we have done is to ask the governor, go ahead and rebuild these roads. Whether you are refunded or not, whether you have the permission or not, go ahead and build these roads for the benefit of the people. So, if you go to Abia today, you will notice that over 60 roads are under construction. That is why I said let us not assess Okezie by yesterday or today let’s give him time to run the new initiative and mandate we have given to him to move into federal roads and rebuild them. Some leaders are clamouring for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023. What’s your position? For me, 2023 is igbo president or nothing, we don’t even need to debate it. When we returned to democratic rule in 1999, we had Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, all the parties gave their tickets to South-West. The South-West has had its turn. After that, it went to late President Musa Ya Adua, from the North-West. After Yar’ Adua it went to South-South through President Goodluck Jonathan. So every other component using the tripod formula of North, West and East, have had their fill, it’s no longer debatable that the president should come from the South-East in 2023. South-East leaders are clamouring for the presidency, the youths are clamouring for Biafra. How do you reconcile that? Where there is inequity you have a lot of agitations. Even people like us are agitating. Should we clamour for Igbo presidency? We shouldn’t where you have a system that works. Since it’s zoned should a component unit that fought for Nigeria’s independence clamour for the presidency? We shouldn’t, and I don’t want to go into immodest areas. Anything you give to an Igbo man he turns to gold. Give Igbo man Most of the federal roads ought to be handed over to the states. The Federal Government has no business coming to repair roads or construct roads in Abia or Ebonyi or any other state for that matter the presidency and Nigeria would work. If we want Nigeria to work, do we need to beg and say give it to a competent hand to manage? Now, if you come to a country where your kin cannot be president, vice president, chief of staff to the President, secretary to government, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, IG of police, head Customs, head Immigration, head the EFCC, head the NNPC , head of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, why won’t the youths agitate? So, you see the injustice meted on our people. So the agitations are justified. Political patronage is where Nigeria is today, if you don’t know anybody you don’t get appointed, you don’t get employed. Commerce has been destroyed in the South- East. Tariff is high up there. I was in the cement sector, we used to pay 10% today it’s 50%. So, instead of employment our brothers and sisters are now sacking, so • Ufomba there is unemployment all over the South- East.h Wy won’t there be agitation? There is hunger, poverty, and unemployment. The people are bound to react to the very hostile environment they have found themselves. Fears about the future of the country The fears are well founded and as long as we continue to treat one part of the country as kings and untouchables and the other as slaves and people who do not matter, people who cannot attain their destiny in their own country, the people are bound to react and you don’t beat a child and tell him how to cry. Few days after a prominent Emir was kidnapped about eight people were shot dead. The other time it as Chibok school girls, the other day it was 40+ people who went to farm that were slaughtered. So, why won’t there be fear? We allow herdsmen to come into the country to slaughter Nigerians. Who grants them access? You can’t even have accurate information from those entrusted with leadership. So why won’t there be fear? The way out is simple. Let’s go back to where we were, let every component unit return to regional government and stop these wastage. Having 109 senators and the humongous number representing us in Abuja and then back home we have another set of people running affairs is killing us. We must restructure this country to the extent that it becomes efficient and productive. If we don’t we would be crying everyday. You are back in PDP what is the assurance that you will not leave again? People like us have conscience, we are driven by our conscience and by what is right. I’m a founding member of the PDP and I served in that government in 1999. There was a dislocation caused by Orji Uzor Kalu leaving the party with quite a number of people. We remained to rebuild the party, and I did say myself Vincebt Ogbulafor, and Adolphus Wabara, we contributed the first money that was used in building the party. I personally continued to fund the party and support the party, up to the point of going to court to stop the party from dismantling the state until they brought somebody to say we will give him automatic ticket. That was not right as far as I’m concerned and the only way I protested was to go to court. I didn’t leave the party, I complained to the leadership of the party they didn’t listen, I went to court in Abuja to stop them but they didn’t listen, then the option I had was to temporarily leave in protest. In 2017 the leadership of the party appealed to me to come back, and I’m back to the house I built. You were once governor candidate in Abia, in 2023 do you want to contest that position? To be the governor of Abia, yes my vision remains the same, but I will take that decision in 2021-2022 Is Abia charter of equity in favour of your anticipated aspiration? Well, it does. In 1999, the governorship was in Abia North and the governor then was Orji Uzor Kalu. From Abia North, it came to Abia Central and then an Umuahia man by name TA Orji contested and won. Now, it is in Abia South. In 2023 it would be returning through Abia Central. Power does not fly it does not have wings, it has to walk back. On the security situation in the country I feel very embarrassed. Nobody believed that we could get to where we are today, where nobody can farm. People find it difficult to get to the farm, people find it difficult to do business of any kind due to insecurity, and any nation where you have this level of insecurity there can’t be foreign investment, and not even local investment. Nobody wants to invest in a hostile environment, and that is affecting employment. Unfortunately, it’s happening under a retired general, somebody who vehemently opposed Jonathan for not doing enough. Today, people are now apologizing to Jonathan as the best president we ever had. The man we thought was the Messiah has not lived up to expectation. It’s really unfortunate that we are where we are today. What’s the way out Nobody would have thought Buhari would fail to provide security because the fundamental, the cardinal objective of electing a president is for him to protect lives and properties which is enshrined in our constitution. Some of us worked to bring him in, in 2015 that was when he came in. For second term, I didn’t vote for him because already we have seen the style. if it’s not nepotism it’s a bad attitude. The way out is to vote out this government in 2023 and before then change the security chiefs. We have all said this over and over again control the herdsmen. Tackle terrorism. I don’t know why they are baptising terrorism by giving it another name, banditry. The government knows those who are behind these acts, they know the bandits using their own words, they know them and their sponsors, they know those who have said we are behind this action here, they know those who are saying if you kill one of us we would kill 20 here and there. Why are they not being arrested? It is simple. Sit up and get these people arrested, use them as example to other people who may want to take up terrorism or banditry as a way of life.
Executive capitalism, the path to Nigeria’s prosperity By Dr Omaghomi Ofioritse Global competition for the earth’s scarce resources gets increasingly frenetic, with each passing day. This continuous struggle between available resources and yearning global needs, has resulted in a new approach to governance, that better guarantees continuous prosperity. We shall call this style of governance, executive capitalism, which is partly a win win symbiotic arrangement, where private capitalist companies are in close relationship with the Chief Executives / governments of their respective countries. The companies get unlimited government money, intelligence, and patronage; resulting in bigger, more profitable companies that are better able to employ more of the country’s nationals. The companies are also better able to pay proportionately larger taxes to the government. The resultant more buoyant governments are in turn more equipped to assist new sets of private companies, the end result being a continuous circle of financial growth for the government, industries and capitalist entrepreneurs. Executive capitalism as described above is practiced almost to perfection in China. The growth of the Chinese economy is a testimony to the effectiveness of executive capitalism as a pathway for wealth creation and this governance style is practiced to a lesser degree by the present American administration, through stimulus packages, bail outs and protection of American businesses from unfair global practices. This leadership style is the unifying cement in the European Union’s strong economic hedge that accounts for a fifth of global trade. It’s time the Nigerian leadership changes to this style of governance. But first how did Nigeria and indeed the world get here? The Earth has moved from a world where countries inherit the wealth they need to survive simply because they occupy portions of the earth’s crust /surface, to the present situation, where a country’s chances of prosperity will be slim if it adopts the laid back approach of tax and render services. The reality is that the world has changed since 1945 when there were only about 51 independent nations, to the present restless, crowded, global struggle of 193 independent nations. Another factor of note, is that the world’s population was three (3) billion in 1960, but within four decades to the year 2000, the world population doubled to six (6) billion people. This no doubt increases global strain, due to increased need for food, clothing and housing. Another issue of particular importance to Nigeria, is the global clamour for reduction in the use of fossil fuel, which the world sees as an effective means of combating global warming but sadly for us, fossil fuel still constitute at least 90% of Nigeria’s export earnings. Nigeria can therefore be likened to a child stuck at infancy! Or Arrested Development, owing to the fact that, we are still clinging to an archaic leadership style. In today’s world, where most women’s rights groups, are advocating that housewives live more fulfilled lives; by not being limited to housekeeping roles, it is therefore worrisome to see the opposite scenario play out in Nigeria where men bribe, fight and maim on their way to becoming mere housekeepers! These housekeepers adopt the name and style of; their excellencies, our executive leaders. They collect allocations and monies, taxes from workers, businesses and citizens alike. The collected monies are used for the construction of roads, bridges, houses and hospitals, they also pay salaries, maintain the judiciary, police and military amongst other housekeeping duties. Hence, we call this method of governance, which has been prevalent in Nigeria since independence, as the executive housekeeping style of leadership. This governance system doesn’t aim to create o r generate wealth for the nation. The m a j o r assumption here is that once a territory is called a country, that automatically it must have money to take care of itself. Nigeria as a nation must discard this false and destructive assumption of abundant wealth and come to terms with our today’s reality, of not enough money to run Nigeria! We must understand that Nigeria is a broke country whose problems far exceed available resources and that it is the serious poverty of the Nigerian nation, that is manifesting as a “failure to thrive” in its citizens, businesses and government. The Chinese are aware of this dangerous end result of governance by executive housekeeping, hence they veered from it by setting up a think tank, called the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP ). The CCP is basically a group of patriotic, nationalistic eggheads who analyse, preempt and formulate forward looking policies. The Communist party searched for present and future fault lines in their culture, practices and policies with the clear aim of creating an enabling environment for their economic emergence. First they had to decide the location where they wanted the Chinese people to have the good life in: Communist China had a straight choice between providing its people with paradise on earth or paradise in heaven. They decided that the duty of government was to provide its citizens with a better life on earth as against in heaven, due to the danger inherent when there are multiple pathways to heavenly paradise. They realise that diverse faiths could divide a country along lines of beliefs. To avoid this obvious source of disunity and discord, the Chinese decided to build their country along lines of reason rather than on spirituality or clairvoyance. The second enabling environment to ensure success for the Chinese, was to prevent looting of the country’s wealth by those who are supposed to safeguard the country’s wealth, so they put corruption in the list of criminal offences with severe punishments. The Chinese have shown great resolve, by ensuring strict enforcement of anti corruption laws across all strata of government, serving as Nigeria can therefore be likened to a child stuck at infancy! Or A r r e s t e d Development, owing to the fact that, we are still clinging to an archaic leadership style a n effective deterrent against plundering of the Chinese treasury. The Communist think tank also reasoned that a galloping population growth could dampen economic growth in a future, where machines, robots and Artificial Intelligence ( AI ), would do most of the work! Added to the above, they saw illiteracy as an obstacle in the wheel of economic progress. The Chinese tenaciously tackled the twin problems of rapid population growth and illiteracy. The resultant effect is the present day reality where China is less densely populated than Nigeria; if a football field holds 20 people in China, then that same area of land in Nigeria has 30 persons. With regards to education the Chinese are now so educated that their citizens have moved away from unproductive courses to futuristic areas of knowledge like artificial intelligence ( AI ), robotic, super specialty medical fields, space technology and genetics (Agriculture, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals). The Chinese think tank then carefully developed a five-point agenda to capture a leadership position in the global economy. The results became obvious in the half century from 1970 to 2020 when they quickly moved from outside the world’s 20 largest exporters in the early 1970s to becoming the world’s 13th largest export nation in 1995 to presently, the world’s largest export nation from the year 2016 till date. If you add exports from their Hong Kong territory, then China now exports nearly twice as much as the world’s second largest export nation: the United States of America. Even at that, it should be noted that the immense exports from the Taiwan Republic of China wasn’t included in the figure above. The Chinese five point agenda are: *They decided to copy the wheel, with a proviso that they would reproduce the wheels of the modern world at a cheaper price! The wheel here, being goods without patency rights like say Singer sewing machines. This policy became an instant success because of the deep human weakness and urge to have more goods for less price, what we call the auction/promo appeal (buy two and get one free) *They also acquire technologies from all over the world; while some people may call this action, theft of patency, but when looked at from the stand point of a people who want a product that the seller fixes an unsustainable price for, clearly SATURDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 9, 2021—13 one cannot stop them from copying available products. Surely, we cannot expect them to fold their arms when they can now make the goods at cheaper prices themselves. The Chinese have also grabbed any and all knowledge worldwide on their way to owning the future. *Empowered with their newly found wealth, they are setting up more research centres, expanding the frontiers of knowledge, to the present day reality, where China is the first and only country to patent 5G telecommunication technology. *The Chinese government also decided and went into a win win partnership with their private sector to give Chinese companies unlimited access to government money, research findings and intelligence network, making it easier for Chinese firms to attain increasingly more dominant positions in the capitalist world of today! *Chinese government may also go the extra mile to achieve national economic success. With the above policies, the Chinese have; *An empowered think tank, that also deliberate on ways of financing their solutions; a trait that is absent in Nigerian think tanks; *Four(4) enabling environments for economic growth and *Five (5) specific success p l a n s resulting in the Chinese prosperity story of today; from the Chinese restaurant in the street corner of Ikoyi, through the furniture factory and bakery in Victoria Island, to global IT companies like Alibaba and Tik Tok. This is what the rest of the world describes as the unfair advantage of Chinese companies, they genuinely fear a future capitalist world where Chinese companies could eventually buy over / swallow global competition, resulting in a capitalist world of Chinese monopolies. The above leadership approach by the Chinese government is now the new standard for modern capitalism. This is the method of governance that we are advocating for Nigeria as we march into the year 2021. The Nigerian leadership should jettison the laid back 1960 Executive Housekeeping, “we have crude oil money mentality” and adopt this practical and realistic Chinese novelty, that involves: *The setting up of a perennial think tank that looks for solutions, devises means of funding these solutions while having the constitutional powers to execute its deliberations. * We should try and douse religious division and promote patriotism by making religion less visible in government. * We should also discourage dishonest people from governance by limiting the glamour and monetary perks of public offices while ensuring that water tight laws are rigorously enforced across board. * We should also keep our population growth in check *We should put priority on technical skills, inventions and innovations rather than mere memory building education. We want our citizens, not only to be libraries of knowledge but more importantly, they should be inventors of products. The government should also sponsor large pool of our citizens in futuristic fields. *The government should actively bankroll centres whose sole aim is to disassemble foreign products with a view to copying and mass producing them at very cheap price tags, common goods like bicycles, rotors, gear boxes and locomotive engines. Aba is begging to get a boost, special funds for its entrepreneurs and inventors should be on the table. *The government should fund research facilities that would eventually make Nigerian companies globally competitive. * The government should also identity futuristics companies and other viable enterprises and give them access to government finances and research. Now to a few specific examples; The think tank should promote a review of our graduate and postgraduate curriculum and align them with current and future global needs. This will require collaboration with diaspora professionals who have competence in these emerging fields. Furthermore, the government should consciously promote transfer of knowledge to our engineers who work in places like smart phones assembly plants, as was done in the oil and gas industry. This should include company sponsored trainings abroad. Apple and many companies who are mass producing in China and India have directly contributed to having a large chunk of competent hands that were later useful to these countries’ indigenous manufacturing base. We should ensure that government sponsored scholarships align with growth areas identified by our think tank. Graduates of identified growth areas should on return from abroad have clearly defined roles to play and not be frustrated by federal character, party politics or any other policy that removes the enabling environment for national growth and wealth. The above will no doubt make the Nigerian manufacturing sector and indeed our economy to be much more productive and prosperous.
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