‘Nigeria’s democracy is maturing’

How do you assess the just concluded elections?Elections have come and gone and the scale of Buhari’s victory shows that he won convincingly. And I think INEC deserves very high marks.There are allegations that the card reader did not work in some areas?Yes. That is to be expected. There wasn’t enough time to test the […]

How do you assess the just concluded elections?
Elections have come and gone and the scale of Buhari’s victory shows that he won convincingly. And I think INEC deserves very high marks.
There are allegations that the card reader did not work in some areas?
Yes. That is to be expected. There wasn’t enough time to test the technology. I don’t know the familiarity Nigerians have with the application of telecommunications. The truth of the matter is that there are some kinds of glitches that can occur; sometimes in the writing of the software; sometimes the interface between software and hardware, and other kinds of interference. So it is not at all strange that the some card readers could not work. Let’s remind you that similar technologies failed spectacularly in the UK few years ago. They withdrew that a few years ago in the UK. So it is no surprise. The most important thing is that they had back-ups and the back-up seemed to have worked.
The application of technology should not be withdrawn from election; it should enhance it, so card readers must be made to work at the next elections. The surest way to eliminate fraud is to use biometrics to identify who a voter is. So INEC went the right way. The only thing is that they did not have enough time to test the system to ensure that it will work seamlessly.
How do you see the conduct of security agencies in the elections?
The elections were remarkably free of violence and rancour. So it seems to me that they did an excellent job. Obviously, you cannot have any election that will be perfect anywhere in the world. So there might be one or two incidents here and there that may make us ask some questions. But by and large, the elections were free and fair. That means the security agencies did their job well.
With a new president-elect, what are your expectations for the in-coming administration?
It is for us Nigerians to rally round now and give the president-elect the schedule of the things that he must do right. There is no shortage of good ideas in Nigeria. The problem has always been the will to do the right thing. There are hopeful signs already. I read that the president-elect has announced that he will declare his assets publicly and everybody in his administration will do so. That’s fine.
 I hope they will go ahead to do a number of things. One, that nobody who is in government will receive medical treatment abroad. Anybody who is ill should receive treatment in Nigeria. Also, the government should also implement a policy that nobody in government should send his children to school abroad – their children should all school in Nigeria. Now with these two measures in place, let us see how they will not attend to school and health care facilities in Nigeria.
The other measure they should put in place for instance, is that government officials should use made-in-Nigeria things; they should wear made-in-Nigeria cloths and shoes except those not available locally. This will be setting good example and that kind of sacrifice can inspire a lot of people. And there are laws they can make to reduce corruption. The president-elect says he wants to fight corruption. Great! Let him implement the provisions of the law that provide for people to come and explain how they came by their wealth.  If you are a government official and you own a building that is worth billions of naira, please explain to us how you came by it and if you can’t explain it you forfeit it. I know the existing laws are not sufficient, but these are the kind of laws the National Assembly should pass. I know they exist in other places and sometimes they are used for tax purposes: you own these investments, how much taxes have you paid over the years? If not, you go to jail and the property is seized.
 If you are suspected of money laundering, your assets do not reflect your earnings, even if you are a private person, you will need to explain how you got the money and there is a presumption that if you cannot explain, the wealth was ill-gotten.
 I think that the government should really implement sting operations on contracts because we know that the tender process in Nigeria is just a joke, most of those contacts are already given before they appear in the Tender Journal. Sting operation is used all over the world; by the time we know you are a bribe taker, you will be arrested.
My expectations are not too high because it is the same group of people who were in PDP that moved over to APC. So it is the same mentality. To me, what is critical for the country is political restructuring.  A situation where every month state governors come to Abuja and take handouts is not sustainable. A situation where the only agency employing people is government is not sustainable. Already, you can see that about 30 states are finding it difficult to pay salaries.
We know today that most of the public officials cannot live on their salaries. The only way to restructure is to implement some of the recommendations in the National Conference and even more. Reduce the power at the centre in favour of states and local governments. States that are not viable should be collapsed into viable entities. Let there be work at the state level. Do I have expectation that these things can be done by this government? I don’t think so. But restructuring does not have to follow what came out of  the conference; there are things that are obvious. The idea of the Federation Account is anathema. We must begin to tinker with these things. Minerals ought not to belong to the federal government. The federal government should be concerned with defence, external affairs, currency, security etc. The federal government should not be concerned with how sand is taken from the river or how coal is burned. This our fixation with fossil fuel as the only viable means of making money for the federal government is the problem. Agriculture can produce more money for this country than oil. The current minister for agriculture it appears to me  understands the issues.
What is your take on calls for the president-elect to be magnanimous in victory and reconcile across board?  
The president-elect has already said that Jonathan has nothing to fear from him. But I don’t think grievous crimes will not be punished. In any case, the law enforcement agencies such as EFCC, ICPC and so on will do their work if there are proven cases of crime, they should be compounded, unless there is general amnesty. I don’t expect that the government will go on witch-hunt.
How do you think the elections have benefited us in our democratic culture?
That is where we have won the greatest battle. In spite of the impunity and all the flaws we find despicable about our country, the way this election ended is an indication that this democracy is really maturing. Very few people expected President Jonathan and the PDP to concede defeat before the results have come in from two or three states. This is international best practice. It is a pointer to the future. We have come a long way. I warn against the danger of one-party state, which is that once a party wins, everybody moves over to that party. I hope that PDP will remain a viable opposition to the new government.
How do you see the country’s economy?
With the Iran’s nuclear talks with the USA concluded, we should expect additional three million barrels into the oil market. And there is already a glut. Rate of growth in China, India and Brazil is down. So the major users of oil don’t seem to be demanding so much, and it’s been long America lifted a barrel of oil from Nigeria. So this new government is going to face serious situation in terms of money. You have a situation where large bulk of our earnings goes to recurrent instead of capital projects. The government should block leakages and become creative. We must find other ways.