By Daniel Kanu
Bold, courageous and grassroots politician and woman leader, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu was former Abia Central Federal Constituency representative at the red chambers. She was chairman, Senate Committee on Oil and Gas Resources; chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Related Financial Matters. She has also been the chairman, Governing Council, University of Calabar.
In this encounter with Sunday Sun, the thorough-bred politician speaks on the Tinubu presidency, fuel subsidy removal, challenges of women in politics, the high turnover of NASS members, and the Alex Otti leadership style in Abia State, among other national issues. Excerpt:
You have not spoken since the inauguration of Senator Bola Tinubu as president. Why? And how will you assess the journey, so far, the few policies rolled out in this close to two months of his tenure?
I have not talked to you because you have not come to interview me. I know, I have been speaking at different fora and I thank you for this opportunity you have also given me now to express myself. I will say without prejudice because we are in the same political party, but frankly speaking, he has shown that he has a vision and mission in the sense that he is desirous to get rid of that which has become an albatross in our nation’s economy. I am talking about subsidy removal. He had it in mind, I believe so, and he simply took the bull by the horns. I can see that this is a person who knew what he was going to do before he came into office. He has seen the rot that has continued to leave out our economy in a state of comatose, that is the fuel subsidy. But having said that, I am sure he also knows that for anything to be good on a lasting basis, there are some likely pains along the way, which is what we are all going through now. I will say that the country, I mean Nigerians will need to give him some time for these policies to begin to have its expected positive effect. Even the best of policies take time to mature and show result. Of course, you and I know that nothing good really comes easy. At the moment there is the liberalization of importation of fuel and that means that more people will be bringing in PMS, petroleum products unlike before. There is no doubt that when all that has been set in motion gradually picks up, it will definitely drive down the price. I am aware that the shipment order from at least three firms have arrived the country and with others joining, it can only be better. I am in support of what the government is doing. This is because if you don’t take any action, you don’t expect any reaction, you don’t expect any output in the economy. So, the action on removal of the fuel subsidy is okay, also the way he is tackling the foreign exchange issue is good. You cannot have such a wide margin with the black market and you think you can cope. It gives room to abuse and the burden will be passed back to the economy, which results in stifling the economy. So, for me, looking at the close to two months he has been in office the indicators are good, it shows that with time there is going to be positive outcome.The PMS issue in particular is going to normalize, the issue of foreign exchange will be properly tackled and the abuse will be checkmated. Those people that have been stealing our PMS, selling it through the back door as we have seen, collecting the money at the government rate, and then re-cycling the money, sometimes using the black market should be seen as enemies of progress . For me, these two policies are a major plank in our economic development. I read in the news that he (President Tinubu) will be reviewing the decision, the initial plan of giving out N8,000 or so, to 12 million people as part of the palliative. I don’t think we need that formula of giving out cash or transferring money again to the so-called vulnerable people. We tried such in the last administration and the outcome was not satisfactory. Remember that billions were spent in buying telephone to some household, we could have used that to establish a telephone company in Nigeria sponsored by the Nigerian government and that will have the positive effect of creating real employment for most Nigerians on the unemployment queue. So, the idea of giving 12 million households N8,000, per month, I think is another way of getting into a policy that can never germinate anything good and positive. Even in developed countries when there is need to lift people through social safety nets it’s never done that way. So, I am happy that they are going to review it, hopefully, they will consider a better alternative. In the first place, N8,000 a month is nothing. It is money that will be frittered away, so we have to guide against that. The money can be put or channeled into provision of transport network for Nigerians, for the civil servants, for the ordinary people to ease their transportation movement for their daily endeavours. I learnt that the NEC (National Economic Council) will also be meeting on this issue of palliatives, so let’s wait and see how they will fine tune the issues. I know that with the application of the right palliatives to cushion the effect of what Nigerians are passing through at the moment, things will get better with time. The truth is that fuel subsidy must go if we must grow our economy and removing the subsidy will come with some pains. It is not a pain that will last if we get it right and I am sure we will get it right because the man in charge (President Tinubu) knows how to consult, how to retract or when to make a change. When you formulate policy, you implement and the result is not overnight. What we need at the moment is to be patient with the president, he is just taking off and you can see that he has the courage, the vision and the knowledge of things to be done.
(Cuts in) Don’t forget that the removal was already on the pipeline and was expected to end even before the end of June. The last administration has pegged the removal to, I think, June 17 or 18 and after that date there was no provision for it in the budget to service subsidy. You know that as a leader you must take certain bold, courageous steps to achieve certain things. Some of those decisions that must be taken may appear harsh, but the end result is what matters. As I said earlier, nothing good comes easy. There are some sacrifices that must be paid sometimes. Remember that it has been very difficult for previous administrations to remove fuel subsidy. Now that somebody has tackled it head-on, I think that the right thing to do is to wait for the palliatives. There may be no time you will remove fuel subsidy without the people feeling some degree of pain. And I can tell you that with what the president has just done, it shows one that is courageous, and one that knows the direction he is moving this country to. What we need is to rally round him and support him. What he has undertaken is bound to be stressful, things are bound to be a bit painful, financially and otherwise, but I have the belief and confidence that in a short while, in a very near future the economy will begin to blossom, things will take its expected shape and Nigeria will be better for it. The people will then know that here is the man that has a plan, that was prepared for the job. Previous governments didn’t have the courage to say enough is enough to the few individuals who were utilizing more than 70 per cent of our resources in the name of subsidy. I think what the president did was to take a bold step, of course, he knows it will be painful, but I know he will adequately address the palliative issues to the good of all that must benefit from it. If this policy will take us out of the perennial poverty nation we have been in over 15 years now, we should embrace it.
Well, it has always been there. If you recall, even the Senate President position, it was only in recent time that we have had Senate President that lasted up to four years to eight years. Before now, it was a banana peel, if you look back. It’s a waste of resources for the nation having trained legislators and the system just throws them away. All of us are victims of the system and unless there is a conscious effort by political parties to ensure that there are ways we can retain certain members (especially those who performed) of the National Assembly not only senators, but House of Representatives members and indeed House of Assembly. If you go to developed countries, you will see senators there that have served for 40 years, you see congress men serving for a very long period, but in our own the system does not even allow you, does not encourage you or put anything in place like saying: we must have let’s say 70 per cent of our legislators retained. The high turnover of legislators, both at the National Assembly and in the States Assembly should be a concern to us, that is why the running of government at the three levels of government has become very expensive. Today, we are looking at furnishing offices of new legislators etc. If you were there in the last four years you will not be part of it, but now you also need to buy new cars for the new legislators. It is the system that we are running and I do not think it is the best, it is more of cutting your nose to spite your face. By the time you bring in new people, by the time they settle down and begin to add value it’s time for them to go for another election and most of them will not return. So, it becomes a spiral reaction every four years.
This is part of the problem that women will have to face. It requires a government that will consciously take cognizance of the issue, of good women in politics. The game as at today is the survival of the fittest for the women. There are no policies in place to bring on board women at various governance level, which is very sad and now every time we make our comment it’s always that of complaining so we have no means of changing the narrative unless we are in a position to make laws that preserve and protect a certain percentage of the women as agreed in the Beijing conference.
It has been domesticated, but what about its implementation? What about its actualization? It is not there yet. It has been domesticated at the various levels, it should be domesticated at party levels because when it’s done at the party level they will be compelled to accommodate the women during primaries to emerge as candidates, even as governors. For instance, if a state that has four active candidates, all women vying for governor, one of them will emerge as governor of the state, but 62 years down the lane, we don’t have such opportunity as if no woman can govern a state in Nigeria. If we are good as their deputy, we will equally be good as number one. Look, before we conclude this interview let me use this medium to say that there is the need to look into the political party administration and what is happening in our party, APC, today. What is happening is not giving joy or happiness to most party faithful. I wish the party can do a lot better. What is happening at the national should dovetail to states whereby people that haven’t done well at the state level should be kicked out rather than saying: no, they have to stay for four years, says who?
I think that so far, I am satisfied with what the governor (Alex Otti) is kick-starting. He is somebody who has been canvassing that position, he knows reasonable problems of Abians. He was one of us in the APC before he went to the LP, so I have no doubt that he will do well because he is prepared for the job. He was not nominated, he was not appointed as it happened to most of them that have been there, he prepared for it, he went for it. I know he will make a huge difference in governance and what I will appeal to Abians is to give him time. I read a lot of disturbing news about Abia in the social media, but however, some could pass as fake news. The state has been mis-governed since 1999 to 2023, let Ndi Abia give him a chance. I don’t belong to their party, but what we are looking at is how to solve the problems of the state, what we are looking at is value addition, development of the state, improvement of the state and the lives of the people in all facets of economic endeavour. If the state is functioning in terms of provision of road infrastructure, in terms of creating employment, building industries, developing and growing the human capacity, providing quality education in the state, tackling the health sector etc, the better for all of us in the state. For now, I think Otti deserves to be given a chance, and be supported by our people. I have the confidence that he will deliver because he will not want to go the way of others. He will be conscious on the verdict of history on him and will want to do things differently to take the state to a higher level.
(Sun News)
