“Tinubu’s first year in office: good policy, poor implementation”

Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba SAN, recently assessed the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, offering insight into the areas the government should focus on in the next three months to alleviate the existential hardships of Nigerians. MUYIWA ADEYEMI was there.

One year on, what do you hope the president will have achieved given the promises he made to Nigerians?
President Bola Tinubu’s first year in office has laid the foundation for significant progress and significant achievements in various sectors. The right policy choices were made, but their implementation proved challenging. To fully realize its transformative vision and deliver on campaign promises, the government must focus on the key areas that will have the greatest impact, such as security, power and the emergence of the industrial revolution. If Tinubu solves these critical problems, it will release kinetic energy and accelerate progress. It’s good that even the President himself encouraged his ministers to speak to the press about their performances.

The president is implementing many projects, which area do you think he should pay more attention to?
You can’t do everything at once. I would advise Mr. President to focus on three important issues. The first is the security architecture. When I talked to the president about a month ago, I said, “You can’t use conventional means to win an irregular war.” Conventional armies fight each other.

The war in Nigeria is not conventional. Anyone who reads Che Guevara’s book on guerrilla warfare will know that no army using irregular means can be defeated, and that is why America lost in Vietnam.

The consequences of insecurity in Nigeria can be put in the way I asked my colleague: suppose you are all businessmen, you are all sitting here with millions of dollars. You ask: “Oga, where will we go and invest?” And I tell you: “We will go to Gaza.” Will you go to Gaza? NO. So let’s ask, is Nigeria far from Gaza? Nigeria is a very unstable country in terms of insecurity – killings, kidnappings, banditry, thuggery, unemployment and lack of funds – I think the government is underestimating the issue of insecurity. Billions of dollars spent on insecurity have had no effect.

I think President Buhari borrowed about $3 billion if I am not mistaken. No results. The Army and Air Force are buying new helicopters, flying and landing them. But to no avail.

There was, however, an important point that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, made because he hails from the area. He said: “I am surprised that this is happening because when the plane lands at Yola airport, I can see everything. I even see people running around Sambisa Forest. So why don’t they see it? This beats me. Why does this forest seem impregnable? This shows that the tools are bad.

I commend to Nigeria the so-called “Treaty on National Order.” For example, in the southeast we have the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The question must be asked is retaining Nnamdi Kanu the right strategy? I don’t think so. If Kanu says Biafra is the best choice, he has the right to say so.

The question, however, is whether this would be something that would gain approval in the Southeast. I would just hold a referendum. If the referendum proves Nnamdi Kanu is right, it’s over. That is why I said that the theory of Nigeria’s indivisibility is wrong. We must end this issue of every president claiming Nigeria is indivisible.

We need to get the consent of Nigerians. We have to agree. It is the agreement, disagreement or lack of government policy that causes uncertainty. These are the policies that must be changed for peace to come. Now, if peace comes because you have dealt with uncertainty, it will free up a lot. Agriculture will be one.

Did you know that the North can feed all of Africa? We have blocked trillions of dollars in the North because of insecurity. That’s the first thing I would check. Focus on addressing insecurity in the first three months of your sophomore year.

The second is power. Power is like a ship in deep water that passes and ripples appear. When there is power, you create jobs at different levels.

When power is dissolved and insecurity is resolved, business will flourish automatically because Nigerians are very enterprising. This problem of unemployment, for those of us who have studied the “Psychology of Crime”, I dealt with this as my master’s thesis at the London School of Economics in 1980. The study shows that the psychology of crime is not an innate thing. This is the environment. Nobody is born a thief.

If there are hungry people, you can’t have a country. This is a point that needs to be emphasized. Nigerians are extremely hungry. The level of poverty is deeper than we think. Therefore, when the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) publishes its reports from time to time, I throw them in the trash. A ruthless assessment report of what Nigerians are going through, given to me every Monday by my driver.

I asked him how was your weekend? He says: “The situation in Oga is difficult.” So that’s how I rate it. The government must leave statistical economists such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and turn to Nigerians.

How do you assess the performance of the Ministers?
I’m happy with the activity of one or two.

Why out of 46 ministers?
Another minister I would like to point out who has achieved his goal so far is Festus Kayamo. Not since Sani Abacha have Nigerian aircraft landed successfully in the UK under the BASSA agreement. The British government has done everything to frustrate us. More planes will now be able to fly to the UK. Thanks to the minister, this was possible. This will not only bring foreign exchange but also create employment opportunities.

What is your opinion on the palliative measures put in place by the government to alleviate the hardships Nigerians are going through?
The first statistics released by the US government concern employment after President Joe Biden took office. And the number of employees increases its rating. When that number rose to 300,000, Joe Biden boasted that people had been hired. If you ask many Nigerians what their problem is, they will add the fact of lack of jobs. So one of the things that the government should do beyond palliative measures is to create an environment for employment. I believe that palliative care is not something we should proudly promote. We should be proud to say that the government created an opportunity to create 500,000 jobs in September. This hasn’t happened in the last year. This is the problem.

The federal government claims it has saved a lot of money by eliminating fuel subsidies, but Nigerians say it has no impact on public welfare. What do you think is happening?
What’s the point of keeping money in the bank when your children are hungry? That’s really the question you’re asking. Where is the subsidy money saved? I think the challenge is the misprioritization of the naira-dollar parity. But it’s not a problem. The problem is that if the government has saved anything, it has to be put into the system. In economics this is called quantitative easing. You make people endure less suffering. Some people don’t like to spend. You see, people with money don’t like to spend. So they raise interest rates. When they raise interest rates, people rush to save, because why should I worry about earning an active income when I can earn a passive income? If I had N100 million and the NPR was 27 percent, I could make almost N20 million. But if I had N100 million and became active, would I do the same? This is what’s happening.

What do you think the government needs to do to encourage businesses as entrepreneurs complain about an unfavorable business environment and inconsistent policies?
If I prosper in business, it is because the government’s policy is right. Aliko Dangote from Rwanda made a very important point at the Africa Forum: “People think I’m as rich as they say in Forbes magazine.” Every naira I earn; The government is taking over 52 kobo due to multiple taxes and inconsistent policies. Total Managing Director, Matthieu Bouyer, spoke about Nigeria losing foreign direct investment to Angola due to constant regulatory and policy changes.

Another thing we need to pay attention to is the stable policies and effectiveness of the government. I’ll give you my own example, because it’s this personal example that shows you the bigger problem. The land and mortgage register has not been digitized. I have a title that has not been entered into the system in Abuja. This is when you trade, the economy works and everyone makes money. It’s taken three years and I’ve done everything possible, but it’s not in the system yet.

How can the economy work? The next example I would like to give is also personal. My daughter has a property and it took nine years to clear the title at the Lagos Land Registry. If you don’t create a title in your document, the building you’re looking at is dead. It cannot be sold or given to the bank for a loan without title.

They are there, but they do not count in terms of value, because the housing stock needs to be linked to the banking sector, which is what is done abroad.

Someone said there is a land ownership problem in Abuja. But what he didn’t say was not just in Abuja but across the country. So if you measure the impact of failed land leasing on the economy, it is striking. I think the government should realize this because no one in the government has ever mentioned combining titles. It sounds very simple, but it doesn’t happen.