Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, political economist, and former governorship candidate in Anambra, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, in this interview on burning issues in the state and performance of Governor Chukwuma Soludo in the two and a half years among others.
You seem to have been quiet for some time about political developments in the country and in Anambra state, particularly. What’s been going on?
I have not been quiet actually, unless you talk about matters concerning Anambra State. In terms of life, I have more than my share of being busy. I am not a full-time politician and do not believe that politics is a profession. It must be a vocation.
When you are into politics and willing to offer selfless service to people, if you find yourself in a political position, you dedicate your time to it and when the season is over you should be facing your daily job; your source of income, as the case may be.
So, I have been very active in my area of business. I have also been very visible in the media, discussing the state of the nation. I have also been visible in one of the sectors where I play, that is the aviation sector. I have also been very active in the social sphere.
But as far as Anambra is concerned, I haven’t. It was deliberate. Deliberate in the sense that when the campaign for governorship was over, and a new government was put in place, one felt that there was a need to give the government time to stabilise. The governor needed time to work to fulfill his promises.
I remember one of my interviews on television where I was asked to assess the Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration.
That was in his seventh month in office. I made it very clear to the programme anchor that it was probably too early to assess the governor. I said that I would give him one year before making an assessment. The one year has come and gone. But looking back, I do not see anything that would enable me to make a very reasonable assessment. I have waited for two years. The two years are gone and the more I look at things, and see that things are going from bad to worse, the more I get worried.
The elite and the critical stakeholders seem also to have been overwhelmed. And there is this kind of unusual Anambra elite conspiracy of silence which made me think that it could be assumed that we are conspirators in this whole very dangerous situation.
This is why I feel that I can’t keep quiet any more. I cannot remain silent any more. And, there wouldn’t be a better time to make my voice heard than now.
What’s your assessment of Anambra?
When I look around Anambra State, I see that it is becoming a ghost state. This is because of the security situation. We know there is a general security situation in the nation and majorly in some parts of Nigeria. However, we know that the security situation in Anambra got worse when Soludo took over. We know the genuine efforts that his predecessor made to contain the security situation.
Looking at it now, things are not as they ought to be. And the most unfortunate situation is that there seems not to be anything going on, in terms of a visible plan or strategy, or even investment in the security architecture in Anambra State to make things better. That makes me wonder if it is the design that suits Soludo; a design that will keep people away from the state and he thinks that is the cheapest and easiest way for him to have a second term, which now seems to be the only agenda on his table.
Soludo is an intellectual narcissist. He is someone who believes only in his own knowledge and does not think that other people know as much. People like him have never made good leaders. That is why Anambra is in a mess.
You have written him off but when you go around Anambra, you keep on hearing Soludo is the solution, and there seems to be a wave of followership on that background…
This is not about writing Soludo off. There are things he can do. He is a great man, no doubt. And he has done well for himself as an individual. Probably by his assessment, and those of people around him, he has done well. However, I am looking at Anambra from the perspective of the promises that he made.
Do you remember the promises that he made? The Dubai, Taiwan, and Hong Kong promise? It is from that perspective that I assess his administration.
All of us understood what those promises mean for Anambra State. But what we are seeing on the ground is far-fetched. Again, you see the government doing things, engaging in certain behaviours, which for me, are not necessarily addressing the problems of the people even in the interim. I can only say that he gets high on his dose. That’s what I can see going on. It’s about ego.
When you come to a state where there is no security, social and economic life, Mondays have become unconventional additional weekends, no life beyond five o’clock, people are going on the street with their hearts in their hands, the elites are deserting; and nothing tangible is seen to be happening towards addressing these issues, especially where there are daily occurrences of kidnapping and robbery and in very brutal ways, then there is a problem.
The government does not even seem to be taking action. The government does not also engage with people that matter in the process of finding lasting solutions.
Many people who have options have left the state. The people that are left behind are probably there because they don’t have options. And the sad reality is that those who are there now are not only faced with insecurity they are also pummeled by all sorts of taxes and the shenanigans of raising revenue in a most crude way that is known to mankind, in a very dehumanizing manner.
Living in Anambra State now, from the way I look at it, is quite traumatizing. With all these things going on in the state, I cannot just say that I believe in that solution philosophy. Rather, I will say emphatically that Soludo is the problem and not the solution.
On insecurity, don’t you think you are too harsh in blaming the governor because governors are not actually in charge of the security apparatus of their states?
Why do we have different tiers of government? Each tier has its responsibility from the federal to state to local even to the community level. There are security threats that are left in the hands of the Federal Government. Besides, why do we have that title for a governor that is the chief security officer of the state? In my state, we say that the traditional rulers are the chief security officers of their towns so we all have the responsibility and each individual is also the chief security officer of his environment. So, I think that this is about not having what it takes.
Why would somebody like Soludo take home about N2 billion monthly in what is called security vote and from every information available, he does not spend more than N50 million on security? I agree that the state has security apparatchik, from the Police, DSS, military and paramilitary service, which are federal agencies, but they work in the state to sustain the security and peace of the state; and they report to you as governor. You do not need to be told as a governor that no matter the vision or dream you have for a state if you don’t have an enabling environment, security-wise, you cannot actualise anything.
The greatest asset that Anambra has is its human capital. When these human resources are not able to come around to transact their businesses, whether social or economic, and are not comfortable visiting and enjoying the community of their kith and kin at home, then you are depriving the state of the fabric that propels its growth. It is like depriving someone of oxygen. This is exactly what has happened to Anambra State under the leadership of Soludo. As you know, Anambra is known to have created a social industry where people come home for huge chieftaincy title taking, marriage or funeral ceremonies etc., which have gradually become part of the people’s way of life. But today you see more of our people doing these things outside the territories of Anambra. These ceremonies have helped to develop and grow ancillary businesses in the state through which people make income and pay their taxes to the state. However, these businesses are now suffering and dying gradually as a consequence of insecurity.
To make matters worse, Soludo, in his deliberate programme to stifle the growth of the state for his benefit, is also using some utterances and actions, and then promoting some kind of funny laws from the State Assembly to dissuade people from elaborate burials. Seriously, I wonder why how someone who chooses to bury his deceased parents or family members should bother the government.
Look at it this way, if you are going about and saying don’t print posters, banners or brochures for burials, did you forget that people, who are in the business of printing are living and paying taxes to the state through printing jobs? Why frustrate them?
So, what I am saying in essence is that economic activities are carried out effectively where there is a suitable environment and when people can go around freely.
Imagine that at six o’clock, life shuts down in Anambra State. In some parts of the world, and even in a normal situation, you can equate both night and day economy to 40% to 60%. In some places, you could say that the day economy is 60% and the night economy is 40%. In some places it’s 40%. In Anambra, we have lost almost 60 per cent of the economic capacity. I haven’t heard anything from Soludo or his administration, even to express concern about it, even though he’s an economist.
Anambra will soon be going for another election, there seems to be no opposition to challenge Soludo and there’s a feeling out there that he’s already coasting home to a second term…
I am not here to speak for the opposition. I am expressing myself as an authentic and eligible stakeholder in Anambra State who is concerned and worried about the situation. I leave voters in Anambra State to decide who wins the next governorship election. More importantly, I leave it to God to give us who will be the next governor. So, this is not necessarily about if he will come back or not.
The issue is that he is there for now and so far he is presiding over the affairs of Anambra State, not with his resources or his family resources but with the resources of Anambra State. It is time to call him out to know that he is not doing enough as he promised. He is not doing enough as we expected and he is not utilising our resources, our commonwealth, for what matters more to the people but more of what massages his ego.
I am more interested in what matters to the people and that is what he has to do. If you had grown through the daily business process of buying and selling, like those of us that went through the main market, you will know that what you offer is what the people want and not what you want. Offering only what you want is ego tripping. When you offer what the people want, it means that you are closer to the people and you hear them. You don’t just sit down somewhere as a governor and then all you want to do is what will boost your ego by building whatever you want and labeling them solution this and solution that. The people are shouting out against multiple taxes and asking you to stop. These are things that matter to them, but you continually take life away from the grassroots, meanwhile development should have a bottom-up approach.
As you now know, there are no activities at the local government because he has stifled that tier of government and withheld their funds. As you know, I am from Idemili North LGA and my local government area is one of the largest in terms of population, voters population and even revenue. My hometown of Ogidi is the capital but there is no single thing I can point to as what the state government has achieved in the area despite the huge local government monthly allocation and IGR from the LGA.
LGA elections have just taken place in Anambra State and the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, had a landslide. How would you assess the conduct and outcome of this election, which is the first in Anambra since 2014?
From information available to me, APGA has declared themselves the winner of the entire local governments and the councillorships in Anambra State with unimaginable numbers. What can I say? I congratulate them. What they have displayed is how the government or the governor has used the powers he has in Anambra State, first, to change the state electoral laws, within 24 hours, in such a very scandalous way and now has declared the state, both local government and council for APGA. He has shown what power of incumbency can do and I congratulate him.
The only thing I will add to that is that he should also be ready to congratulate any other party that might come into Anambra anytime with a bigger power to take every elective position in the state in the same way he has taken them now. He should be ready not to complain but to congratulate them. When people use powers to their favour, there is tendency for them to say that democracy is at work; but when stronger power comes and overwhelms and the result goes differently, there are always tears and wailing about threats to democracy.
But Soludo is your friend…
I have known Soludo for over three decades and he is my friend but this is not about our friendship. It is about making him live up to his promises and give us that Anambra of our dreams or the Anambra of his dream. Also, it is because he is my friend that I am worried for him. I am also worried for our people. I am worried because we have dependent people. We have people who are looking up to us. We have our responsibilities in this state. It is even becoming very difficult for me to carry out these responsibilities because of the environment. So, part of the things which are our social responsibility is to go home and be with our people, listen to them, see what you can do to assist them.
I have some calendar programmes I have been carrying out for over 10 years –Christmas festivities, the New Yam Festival and other activities that are supposed to warm up the environment, bring joy and happiness and offer some help to people. Those things are closed because I can’t even go home. Imagine, for the first time in over 50 years I did not spend Christmas in Anambra State? Not that I cannot protect myself. That is far from it. I can protect myself because God is with me.
However, the issue is that when you go and you have a social obligation to each other, you invite some of your friends to join you. Some of them must come because it is you. But that puts them in a very difficult situation because they will be in fear and even you won’t be at rest.
Recently, I buried my uncle. I know what it took me to secure the environment to ensure the safety of everyone who honoured us with their presence at the funeral ceremonies. The sad thing is that even community efforts to secure the environment go without support from the state government. I have not had any community say that they are getting support from the state government every month. The people are now forced by the situation to provide for themselves, even for infrastructure development. Communities are getting together, taxing themselves for infrastructure development. So, what is the function of government? And Soludo will proudly tell you that he has redefined the PPP (public-private partnership) to become PPCP (Public Private Community Partnership). What a disgrace!
Don’t you think that the present government in Anambra acts the way it is doing, careless of the issues you have raised because, perhaps, it feels that there is no strong opposition to shake it up?
It has nothing to do with opposition. Even if you have the biggest opposition around them, he cannot offer what he doesn’t have. That’s what I can say. He probably doesn’t know better, because if he knows better, he should know that what is at stake is his name, his legacy. He wouldn’t need any opposition to push him. I don’t know the opposition we had during the Dr. Michael Okpara era. Dr. Okpara came with his vision and he was driving it and the legacy lives beyond him. Soludo should be thinking about legacy. It is not just about the opposition. By the way, why should it be the opposition that would drive you? It should be about your vision. Opposition should not determine your legacy and your achievements.
It should be a vision and your commitment to realizing them, not the opposition.
I speak for myself as a critical stakeholder who loves his state. That is the only place I go for holidays and relax and be happy. It is something that I started doing long ago even while I was a student abroad. I love to visit my hometown and stay with my people. But I am being deprived of that. It is not that I can’t just go and fortify myself, but how about other people? The painful aspect of this whole thing is that it even looks like Governor Soludo himself does not know that there is this problem because he goes to events, picks the microphone, and tells the people that Anambra is a safe paradise. If you are a foreigner, you might be tempted to believe that because it is coming from a governor. However, he drives around the state in multiple Armoured Personnel Carriers and all sorts of security, conventional and unconventional, in their numbers.
Why would a governor who tells people that his state is secured be driving around in Armoured Personnel Carriers and security protocols like a warlord driving through enemy territory?
How would you assess the Federal Government, especially within the context of calls for President Bola Tinubu to reshuffle his cabinet?
Changing the cabinet is long overdue. It is long overdue to have changed the cabinet. The President Bola Tinubu we know is one person who has a reputation to identify talents and choose people who are capable of delivering results. He did that effectively in Lagos State. Nobody can take it away from him. There is hardly any governor who has been able to rule and who has been able to do things with the best of talents that has not grown beyond the state and even gone international and has achieved international reputation. We had expected that to happen here.
It is understood that it took a lot for him to run the election. He fought a whole lot of battles to get the ticket and surmounted obstacles to win, and there may not have been enough time within the period the ministers were chosen for the cabinet to pick the best. And then within that period, also, there were a whole lot of legal issues going on for the legitimacy and survival of the government. That may have been a thing of concern that one wouldn’t rule out the possibility that it could have influenced the composition of the cabinet. But he has won the Supreme Court case and has been in office for one year. I think that at this point, it is time to rejig because he may have enough time to know who is performing and who is not. He has been very patient.
No person has fought as hard as he has fought to come to this level to become president and will be as patient as President Tinubu has been with his cabinet.
I believe that the team that has been with him, surely has not proven that they are a winning team. And so I think he should know it, and they know it. I called for the change of the cabinet on the first anniversary of his inauguration. But if it is going to happen now, it is even overdue. It is highly necessary.
Do you think that this has something to do with the state of insecurity in Nigeria and the response from the government?
For over five decades, the world over has classified the economy as part of security issues. I think that was in 1964. Since 1964, it has been known that the state of the economy is part of the security issue. So, if the poor performance of the government is leading, as it is obvious, to very poor economic activities, then obviously, insecurity is not only when the sovereignty of Nigeria is under threat. This security could be internalised. It could be self-inflicted. In this case, we have had, before this administration, even before APC, there has been insecurity across the country. There was a government going on, economic activities were booming because there were efforts by the government to contain Boko Haram in its domain and all the other such things.
However, the dynamic of crime has changed. Crimes are now happening inside homes and neighbourhoods. And this is driven by hunger. If you recall, I had raised an alarm during the cabinet screening when one of the critical appointees had gone for screening and said there wouldn’t be any interventions in agriculture. I had gone on television to warn about the dangers of the proposal. I had warned that if the agricultural interventions stopped, this country would face the challenge of food scarcity and hunger. It is now playing out. This is because all the gains in agricultural reforms and policies are eroded, and it has started affecting the stomachs of people.
Not long ago, we had protests against hunger. That should be a wake-up call. In all of these, however, I still believe in the potential of Nigeria. I still believe that we do not have any problem beyond human comprehension. Our problems are internal and self-inflicted. For instance, the Naira has no business to be above N1,000 to the dollar.
As a matter of fact, for me, the actual value of Naira should be about 850 and that was simply because this floating of Naira had been partially done even before Tinubu came to power. During the Muhammadu Buhari era, thegl official and unofficial rates ran around N300 to N400 and the unofficial was N750. So technically, if there was a strategic approach to it, it is just to bring up unofficial and official. So, it hovers around N700. The worst-case scenario is N800 to N900 to the dollar. But, by and large, the Naira should not be above N1, 000 to the dollar. That is the real value of the naira. These other ones are speculative.
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