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Yakubu
Gowon
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A former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu
Gowon (retd) in this interview with SUCCESS NWOGU says if those that took over
from his government had continued with his programme, Nigeria would have been
more developed than China, among other issues.
Is national conference/dialogue
desirable now?
Yes! What is wrong with Nigerians
trying to talk about the nation? But I hope it is not being engineered by those
who have a set of ideas, who will be doing all the talking and trying to dictate
the tempo of the conference? If the national conference or dialogue is done for
the good of the country, everyone goes in there to say, ‘yes it is our country
and we want our country to be greater and more successful than it is at the
moment.’
If there is total love and commitment to the country, let us try
to talk and bring in things we think should be able to help the country to be
even better than what it is now and the sort of way we hope it will be in the
future. If that is the approach, God will bless. To the young generation,
who are calling for that, I will say they are the ones to do the building.
It is advisable that the outcome of the
national dialogue be subjected to a referendum or that it should be submitted
to the National Assembly for ratification as President Goodluck Jonathan has
said.
Some people are calling for the
disintegration of Nigeria, how would you react to this, given the fact that you
fought actively for the unity of the country?
That is their view. Democracy
says people should have their views. Let them have their views and I respect
their views. But it may appear that they are misguided. Of course, the
disintegration or break-up of Nigeria is not the wish and desire of the
majority of Nigerians. Most Nigerians love this country and would want the
country to remain united.
A lot of things and sacrifices have been made to keep
Nigeria united. The civil war was fought to keep Nigerians as one. God
has made this country a very beautiful one and has graciously blessed us with incredible
and tremendous potentials, both human and material resources. We would be
better off as a united, indivisible and happy country than breaking up the
country. There is no need for that.
Whatever genuine misgivings or
agitations of some people can be addressed peacefully, equitably and justly,
there is no need for the country to disintegrate. We should remain one
indivisible great country and contribute our own quota to nation-building and
make Nigeria realise her lofty dreams and aspirations of greatness and
happiness for the residents.
I was reading an article by a columnist
in one of the daily national newspapers. The columnist said he was against
‘this morbid desire of the unity of the country.’ So I responded, ‘what a
morbid idea from a morbid fellow to say he does not like Nigeria. He is
probably one of those who wanted to break away but those who love Nigeria as
Nigerians made sure that it did not happen.
And he is now hoping that he can
now get it through such writing.’ It is unfortunate. However, that is his
point of view and he probably has reasons. He may be one of those, who want
either a state of his own or a country of his own and not Nigeria.
Probably he does not like Nigeria
because he has not got what he wants out of Nigeria but if he is able to get
what he wants in Nigeria, he would not call for its disintegration.
Just like I believe that if Ojukwu had
the opportunity of being the Head of State instead of me, I can assure you that
he would have done everything humanly possible to ensure that Nigeria does not
break up so that he could control and enjoy from the great endowment that God
has given to Nigeria, both human and natural resources, which if we are
able to harness, as we tried to do during the programme of my administration
with reference to the National Development Plan (1975-1980), Nigeria will be a
great nation and the residents well taken care of.
Does it mean that if the National
Development Plan of your administration had been successfully and completely
executed, there would have been tremendous development and transformation of
the country?
If that programme was successfully
carried through, it would have made a total difference in Nigeria. All the
problems of infrastructure that we are having today, is it power, petroleum,
fuel, road, and economic development; all these were planned and provided for,
for we had a plan which I had already told my Minister for Economic Development
at the time: ‘Now that we have completed our third National Development Plan
and put on ground how to execute them to the letter, I want you to start
thinking and planning for the next development plan.’
I wanted him to ensure
that the new national plan should be 100 per cent greater that the very big
plan that we were launching. It was accepted world over as one of the most
ambitious developmental projections or plan. If it had been carried through, it
would have been a different story for Nigeria.
Yes, Malaysia, Indonesia, India are
advancing now, probably it is only China that has achieved the sort of growth
that Nigeria was being expected to have at that time, the growth of between 12
and 15 per cent for the foreseeable future in 1975. The Asian Tigers only
achieved between eight and 10 per cent in 1975.
You mean if that plan had been carried
out, we would have been greater than the Asian Tigers?
That was what it meant. But
unfortunately, there was a coup d’état; a change of guard. There was a coup and
unfortunately the government that took over from me did not carry through the
plan, which if they were able to carry through, they would have been
inaugurating one project after the other; employment would not have been any
problem for Nigeria. But they abandoned the whole thing and were only adopting
one programme here and there, which really did not help Nigeria to grow the way
it would have grown.
We wanted the economy to grow in a
correct fashion and I can assure that our plan really was aimed at doing
that. And all the problems we had would not have been if they had
executed our plan. If they had said, ‘He had done a huge and successful
programme, let us show him that we have greater idea and sense than he had’ and
probably, they would have done something bigger than what we planned.
But
remember I had already said we would start another plan which I wanted to be
100 per cent bigger. The only thing is, ‘would we have been able to have a 100
per cent’ but whatever it is, reality of the time would have made us to get it
to a level that was acceptable and practicable and achievable at that time.
What was it that you couldn’t fix as
the Head of State that you are striving to fix through your programme, Nigeria
Prays?
Nigeria Prays came about in the
mid-1990s during the time that Nigeria was having very bad media reports worldwide.
The 419 syndrome; you had the CBS 60 minutes programmes that said that
Nigerians were corrupt and criminals, and that Nigerians were financial crooks.
Nigeria had it bad politically. Of course, that was the period of National
Democratic Coalition versus Abacha. There was the problem of security at that
time. So it was during that time I got an invitation to attend the
American prayer breakfast.
During the visit, we met a lot of
Nigerians, who were also invited; Nigerians who were in America and were
invited to the prayer breakfast. They were delighted seeing us and, of course,
they asked questions about the Nigeria they heard about from the foreign press,
terrible things that they had heard about Nigeria, giving the impression that
Nigeria might not even survive the weekend.
So it made some of us to ask the
question: What are these Nigerians talking about? Has something happened in
Nigeria within 72 hours that we left Nigeria? The story of Nigeria was as
bad as that, it made Nigerians in the United States feel so bad and worried
about their country but we gave them the assurance that the nation was intact
and that there was no threat to it.
They asked the question: ‘what can we
do to help?’ We discussed the idea of Nigeria Prays; that if we can get
Nigerians to pray and to pray fervently, God may hear our prayers as he
promised to hear the prayers of his people when he told King Solomon in 2nd
Chronicle 7:14; that ‘if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their
land.’
So if you pray fervently, God may hear
your prayers, heal you and heal your land. That was the decision that we
took. It was a decision taken by all of us who discussed that issue in
the United States and they later-on made me to be the chairman of the Nigeria
Prays. Although, it is called my vision, I will say it is Nigerian
vision. If Nigerians cooperate at anytime, you can be assured that they can
achieve the greatness that they want or desire.
How can Nigerians tackle the challenges
before the nation?
If we can get Nigerians to pray, and as
we pray act correctly, we will get the intervention we need from God.
When I came back to Nigeria and got
people to talk about the Nigeria Prays project, it was accepted that it would
be good and we started it on October 1 after telling the Head of State
(General Sani Abacha) that we were going to have this movement and he endorsed
it and blessed and even challenged us to also get the Muslims to join in
the prayer.
We agreed then that if we could not
have joint prayers like we do in the military, Muslims and Christians
should decide to do it the best way that; the Muslims praying on Fridays during
Jumat prayer and then Christians praying during any day of the week.
Now it
seems that we have adopted Sunday as our day of prayer. But the Muslims will
tell you, especially the Emirs will tell you, that it is not only on Fridays
that they pray for Nigeria, they say they pray five days, seven days a week, so
many weeks in the month and so many months in the year.
The Christians have the injunction to
pray without ceasing. So, it seems that the two religions are really up
and about to pray.
Certainly, ours is a very religious
country but for the aberration of the Boko Haram sect members, which is
claiming to be Muslims but certainly they are not the sort of Muslims that
we know. This is a new group that is even against formal education, which is
certainly very sad.
This is because with education, you are able to broaden
your mind and understand and be able to achieve understanding of one another
and resolving your problem not through religious sentiments but through
rational discourse with your colleagues.
What are the challenges you faced in
your effort to address Nigeria’s problems?
The Nigeria Prays started in earnest
and we were able to go round the whole states of the federation up to the time
there was a change in government when Abacha died and Abdulsalami took over and
then started his own transition. Abacha had had a transition that was to
make him the President and he had the support of all the political
parties at the time but the good Lord intervened for the sake of Nigeria.
We prayed to God for Nigeria, for its
peace, unity, stability and well-being and not for our own personal selfish way
but we prayed to Him to give us a solution that He thinks is in the best
interest of Nigeria.
Does it mean you believe that Abacha’s
death was God’s solution to the problem Nigeria had then?
I can assure you that we never prayed
for the death of the Head of State. In fact, we prayed for God to grant him
wisdom to do the right thing for the country. What he told me was that
prayer was good and that he endorsed it and gave us support for it. Then I knew
that he could listen to words of advice that one could give him on any
issue.
But what the good Lord did was that, at that time, one of the
serious political problems we had was Abacha/Abiola, the June 12 crisis. What
happened then was that the good Lord took Abacha and paved the way for a return
to civil rule and that was to give opportunity for the release of Abiola.
Then Abiola, who was also at the other end of the crisis also passed on and
therefore left the path free for a reasonable, genuine restoration and return
to a civil rule.
That was achieved through some of the
prayers that we did but we did not ask the good Lord for anyone’s demise. Ours
is to pray for our leaders so that they can do the right thing for the country.
Many other things that happened; the admonition and appeal to the people, were
able to change the path of uncertainty to some positive end.
You can see
that when you look at the various issues, this is what we have been able to
achieve. Our prayer and effort are aimed at getting all Nigerians to continue
to love their country, to continue to love one another, to continue to help one
another irrespective of your tribe, religion, faith or belief.
The Christian
community listens and tries to practise the admonition that we give them,
contributing therefore to the peace and unity of the country. At the rally we
had, we did fervent prayers. Do you think that with that sort of prayer and the
way people believe in their country and love their country and want it to stay
united and peaceful, do you think anything can happen in 2015?
Do you have regrets fighting for the
unity of Nigeria?
I can assure you that fighting
for Nigeria is still what I am doing now through the church, fighting for the
progress and unity of Nigeria. I was doing it as a general, then a general
politician but now I am doing it in the church.
How can Nigerians bring out the best
from their leaders?
Of course, you pray for the
leaders. I was talking to you about Abacha earlier on. I said for
all our leaders, you pray to God to grant them the wisdom, the courage and in
fact the spirit to do the right thing for the country and for the people; not
to think of themselves but the genuine well-being of the country, listening to
any good advice and also making sure that God will give you the sort of wisdom
that Solomon asked God for and God granted him to be able to rule his people
correctly.
Source: The Punch
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