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Chido
Onumah is a journalist and author of Time to Reclaim Nigeria
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Interview by Chiedu Ezeanah (April, 2012)
On
December 15, last year, you had a public presentation of Time to Reclaim
Nigeria in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. How well was the book
received?
CO: The book was well received.
There has been a lot of interest about the book since then. I am really pleased
that it came out when it did. The topical issue today is how to reclaim Nigeria
from those who have kept it down for more than 50 years. That is the thrust of
the book. And I hope it can contribute to the debate.
What’s the point of a second
public presentation? That sounds novel?
CO: Yes, the book was presented in
Abuja on December 15, 2011. We had the privilege of having the governor of Osun
State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as a special guest. He stirred the audience and
the nation with his presentation “In Search of True Federalism”. The purpose of
writing is to ensure that it gets to as wide an audience as possible. It is
even more so for a political book like Time to Reclaim Nigeria. We plan to take
the book not only to Lagos, Accra, London, New York, and Toronto, but to
everywhere you have Nigerians. The business of reclaiming Nigeria is too
serious to be left to pseudo-democrats and charlatans. Thankfully, the governor
of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has agreed to honour us with his
presence as special guest at the Lagos event. He is a thorough-bred
intellectual and we look forward to hearing his perspective on how to move the
country forward.
What audience should we expect
at this event?
CO: We have reached out to as many
people as possible across the political divide, party leaders, governors,
students, professional groups, the masses of our people, civil society, etc.
From the Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), we have the national leader,
Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola. From
the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) we have the national leader, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, the vice-presidential candidate in the last election, Pastor
Tunde Bakare, the national secretary, Engr. Buba Galadima. From APGA, we have
the governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. From the PDP, there is
Alhaji Sule Lamido, the governor of Jigawa State. From the business and private
sector, we have Prof. Pat Utomi, Mr. Fola Adeola, etc. We also have prominent
Nigerians like Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Dr.
Tunji Braithwaite, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Col. Abubakar Umar, Admiral Ndubuisi
Kanu, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Odia Ofeimun, Femi Falana, Ms. Ayo Obe, Prof. Tam
David-West, Mrs. Ganiat Fawehinmi, Dr. Wale Babalakin, Chief Mike Ahamba,
Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Prof Itse Sagay, Col Abubakar Umar (rtd), Dr. Tokunbo
Awolowo-Dosunmu, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Dr. Joe
Okei Odunmakin, etc who will be part of this, call it national dialogue, if you
want. There will be students and leaders of the NGO and human rights community.
It is a very diverse audience.
What informed this rainbow
coalition, if I might say so?
My view is that whether this
country will survive or disintegrate depends on all Nigerians. Let nobody pretend
they have more stake in this country than others. The jostling for position for
2015 has started in earnest. While some are busy holding nocturnal meetings
strategising or better still plotting for 2015, those who are raping and
stealing the country blind are upping their game. Not many people are thinking
about the country, whether it will survive the current onslaught of violence,
poverty, corruption, inept leadership, etc., beyond 2015. I believe in Nigeria
and the fact the country can still be rescued. But I have no illusions that to
rescue Nigeria, require a conscious effort on the part of citizens. Just
wishing is not enough. So rather than having a monologue, Nigerians must be
prepared to come together and dialogue.
Talking about dialogue, you have
been vigorous in the campaign for a Sovereign National Conference. What
informed this position?
CO: My position is borne out of the
fact I hate to see Nigeria go through another civil war. I have studied the
options open to us. The few options we have are better imagined. That is
not to say the SNC is a silver bullet or the cure of all our problems, but it
is a good starting point to address the multifarious problems of the country.
The SNC is not about carving Nigeria into pieces as some opponents dubiously
claim. Even if the SNC leads to the formation of new countries out of the
existing one, it is still a safer route to travel, because Nigeria will implode
anyway if it continues to be run the way we have it today. Short of a people’s
revolution to clean the Augean Stable and begin to rebuild Nigeria afresh, the
SNC is the quickest and perhaps best option to tackling our immediate problem
which is how do you make Nigeria work? But let us make no mistake. Those who
benefit from the current system will not accede to the SNC willingly. They have
to be forced to convoke it by any means necessary. So, in a sense, the SNC is a
social revolution, because it is the people who will drive it and its outcome
will be far-reaching.
With what you have just said
about the SNC, why do you think some people are still opposed to it?
CO: Well, it is all about interest.
There are those who support the SNC because they think they want a country of
their own and the SNC can guarantee that. There are those who are pushing for
the SNC because they genuinely believe it can save this country. Amongst those
who oppose the SNC, many are doing so out of insincerity. They agree, even if
reluctantly, that the country is not working, but the last thing they want to
do is make it work because it is not in their interest that Nigeria works. Even
when they decide to discuss the problem, they would rather have a monologue
rather than a dialogue. Amongst them are those who have started salivating
because of what happened in Mali. They have starting flying the kite of
military intervention. Of course, any form of intervention that does not take
into account the mass of our people and the critical role they should play is
at best dubious.
How soon then can we expect the
SNC to hold and what are the immediate challenges facing it?
CO: Well, the sooner the better, We
need to settle a few issues about Nigeria, and quickly too, so that the country
can join the rest of the world. Nigeria is a big joke. As we speak now, we have
barely had electricity for 6 hours in the last three days. What kind of country
survives on this level of neglect and inefficiency? And here we are talking
about Abuja, the federal capital of a country that earns millions of dollars
from oil every day. Mind you, nobody is asking us to manufacture turbines and
all the other things we need to generate electricity. Those things have already
been done for us. We have the resources to procure these things. Yet we can’t
give citizens electricity which is at the core of industrialisation. Simply
because of corruption. I know you asked about the challenges before the SNC. I
shall get to that. Corruption in Nigeria has taken a life of its own. Here
people steal billions and invest it in their bedrooms or stash it in foreign
banks they may never have access to. We just heard of a director in the Police
Pension Fund who kept almost N3 billion ($20million) in his room. What kind of
system makes this possible? That system ought to be destroyed. Do you know what
N3 billion can do for our health system or our universities? Some people
deserve to be tied to stake and shot in public glare.
Do you then agree with those
who say the problem of the country is corruption?
CO: Partly. But again if we fixate
on corruption, we miss the point. The question we ought to be asking is why
does this level of corruption thrive in Nigeria? It has to do with the
structure of Nigeria itself. The system is broken completely. Take for example
the fact that the minimum wage is N18,000 ($120). The average monthly rent for
a decent two-bedroom apartment in the major cities is about N50,000 ($350).
Abuja, the capital city, where most federal civil servants work, is triple
that. And you have to pay for a year or two in advance. Then you talk about
transportation, healthcare, the children’s education, etc. That is a sure
recipe for corruption. People will have to survive and meet these needs by any
means necessary. The system is broken. My only problem is our hypocrisy. People
like to pretend that everything is alright. When you ask the average Nigerian
how they are coping with the harsh economic reality, the refrain is “we are
managing”, which is a code for “we are trying to subvert the system and survive
in the best way possible”.
It brings us to the issue of what
Nigeria means to Nigerians. Very few people in Nigeria, including those who
preside over its affairs, actually believe in this country. Have we ever sat
down to wonder why people steal so much of public fund? It has nothing to do
with their mental state as some people have said. It has a lot to with the fact
that there is no country. Nigeria is just a country in name. It offers nothing
to its citizen and actually expects nothing in return. In Nigeria, there is a
one-percent chance that people who are arrested for embezzling public fund will
ever get punished. This is a quintessential rogue state. Everyone knows how to
play the game. If the culprits don’t personalise their arrest, they will
ethnicise it. All you need to say is that you are being victimized because you
are from a particular ethnic group or you profess a particular religion as if
any of the faiths condone corruption. And of course, there is enough money to
bribe the media and judges.
You still haven’t addressed the
challenge facing the SNC
CO: What I am saying in essence is
that the way Nigeria is presently constituted can only create room for more
corruption. This is where the SNC comes in. Amongst other things, there are
four basic issues the SNC will address: 1) the structure of the country. Under
this, the SNC will deal with the question of relationship between the various
nationalities that constitute Nigeria, citizenship rights, fiscal federalism,
etc. Providence has graciously divided Nigeria in 36 states or six
geo-political zones. I think strengthening these states or geo-political zones
can form the bedrock of the new Nigeria. 2) State and religion. Here we are
talking about the relation between the State and organised religion. 3) The
kind of political system we want to operate; and finally 4) The fundamental
rights of citizens, including enforceable and justiciable rights to be enjoyed
by citizens. Once you define the structure of the country and states know, for
example, that they have to generate money to pay workers and run the state,
they will sit up. In that case, any group that wants its own state can go ahead
and get it since it will be responsible to a great extent for its sustenance.
Same goes for the political system which will address the issue of the current
bloated and wasteful National Assembly.
Back to the challenges facing the
SNC. There are two main issues which I think are procedural. That is who will
convoke it and the process of representation. One, the Nigerian people would
have to convoke it. That way there is certainty that the issues and views are
representative of the broad mass. There are different groups, Project Nigeria,
New Nigeria Movement, the Patriots, Igbo National Union, etc., that are
crystallizing and mobilising the mass of our people to bring about the SNC.
They are also working on a blueprint for representation. Everyone is welcome on
board so that collectively we can fashion out a process that is
acceptable, if not to all, then to the majority. There is no way Nigeria
will disintegrate without wars. And I am not sure of any group that is ready
for war. So now is the time to dialogue.
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