Dr. Olusegun Osinkolu, is the Patron of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Solidarity Vanguard in Nigeria. In this interview with journalists, he defended the removal of the Service Chiefs and insisted that the appointments made so far aligned with the Principles of Federal Character. Excerpts:
How do you feel about the steps taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since assumption of office?
I felt happy and elated by some of the steps he had taken so far. He has been showing by actions and deeds that he is the father of all Nigerians regardless of race, creeds, ethnicities and political leanings. What really marveled me was the way he hit the ground running within a week he started the presidency. At a time when some former occupants of the seat will be studying the situations and meeting groups, Tinubu was performing the two. As he was meeting with critical stakeholders like politicians, traditional rulers, business men and women,diplomats and other pivotal groups, he was also signing bills into laws, which confirmed that he was really prepared for the huge tasks ahead . I think Nigerians should be happy having someone with cognate experience and gravitas to do the job very effectively. Presidency of Nigeria is too big to be consigned in the hands of a callow person in the name of youthfulness. It requires a lot of experiences and skills because of our complexities in terms of ethnic and religious compositions. We are so sensitive and what we need is the person who can connect with all our tendencies and bring out the best and I think President Tinubu fits in perfectly for this job. Those of us who supported him are now being vindicated and we are happy and now boastful publicly that our support was based on capacity and not based on political patronage or ethnic connection.
Some people raised doubts about the workability of the Students’ Loan President Tinubu signed into law. Do you have a contrary opinion?
I do not agree with the misgivings being raised by these skeptics who think nothing can work in Nigeria. Let me start by appreciating President Tinubu for this initiative conceptualised to ensure that the children of the poor or the poorest of the poor have access to higher education, this is quite commendable because education remains the most potent weapon to combat poverty. It is a leveler between the children of the rich and that of the poor. I thank God that we have had the opportunity of living and schooling abroad, this thing had existed for over a century in many advanced nations and I know that Mr President must have understudied the workability of the policy before signing the bill into law. I have no doubt that it will work perfectly well. The federal government has a Ministry that superintends over education and it will be the coordinating body for the accessibility of the loan based on the criteria listed for you to be eligible. Many great leaders in advanced nations that we are respecting and referring to across many fields of human endeavours, had their higher education through government’s loans, why would it not work in Nigeria? I consider this a very puerile and pessimistic thinking, let us be optimistic about the greatness in our country and it shall come to fruition by being confident in our nation. Though I thank God that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) had gone to the Aso Villa to thank Mr President, because they knew the significance of the policy and how it will reduce the level of restiveness, crime and dropouts among youths.
How do you respond to the removal of fuel subsidy because it is bringing a lot of pains?
It is high time we believed and embraced the fact that there is no gain without pain in this country. The advancement you are feeling and experiencing in advanced nations today was as a result of pains they endured several decades ago and they are now enjoying it now, so we have to endure the current pains brought about by the removal of the fraud called fuel subsidy. We have heard several heart rending revelations about the evils inherent in the payment of fuel subsidy. You have heard how less than 200 people out of 200 million population are pocketing trillions of naira under the guise of subsidy payment. If this removal will allow Nigerians to have good governance,then let it be. I support that wholeheartedly. I believe Nigeria will be a changed country in terms of infrastructure, job creation, wealth creation and investment,if the trillions that were going into the pockets of a few major marketers are invested in the economy. As things stand today,let me commend Mr President for planning to inject palliatives into the economy before the end of August, so that the pains can be cushioned in a way. The NNPC had also assured Nigerians that the price of PMS that currently stands at an average of N500 per litre will soon come down. The federal government and the major marketers had also promised to roll out cheap PMS that would bring down the price. However, I sympathise with Nigerians for this because it happened when they have just recovered from cash limit policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, but the gains of the removal outweighs its pains and the confirmation will come in a matter of months when the price starts assuming a downturn trend and infrastructures start springing up everywhere across the country.
The President has made some appointments. What is your impression about the removal of the security chiefs?
What really gladdens my heart was that,Nigerians didn’t condemn the removal of the former security Chiefs. Again, they didn’t oppose the qualities and competences of those that were appointed in replacement. If you read about the career progression of those Mr President brought on board as the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff,Chief of Air Staff and the Inspector General of Police, they have solid and very colourful careers in the service and that accounted for the wild jubilation in the defence and police headquarters when they heard about the appointments made by President Tinubu. Again, the process reflects federal character. You could all recollect how all the service Chiefs had come from one section of this country at a time, but this one embraced all the zones. What really thrilled me most was the appointment of the Chief of Naval Staff from the Southeast, this will give our brothers in that section of the country a sense of belonging. Just take a look at the appointment of the SGF , Senator George Akume from Northcentral even when the South thought it will surely come to them because all the SGFs appointed under former President Muhammadu Buhari were from the North. However, we must learn how to allow the Doctrine of Necessity to come into play in some national issues, so picking Akume from the Northcentral was a child of necessity and that was why the Southerners didn’t raise any objection and that was good for the stability of our country.
In a matter of days, the list of the Ministers will be forwarded to the National Assembly for ratification. What are the qualities you are looking up to in the would-be Ministers?
Let me start by saying that I will respect the judgement of Mr President in whoever he deems fit for the position from each state of the federation. I decided to say this because you could see the qualities of Special Advisers he had appointed so far. These are well groomed technocrats and politicians of note. Nobody had ever raised any doubt about the competences of those he had appointed so far. So, I am 100 percent sure that the President will give Nigeria the best by way of head-hunting technocrats from anywhere across the globe to work with politicians who worked for his victory to make Nigeria great. I have had some people saying he shouldn’t appoint any politician as Minister, but the political aspect must also be taken care of because without politics, you can’t be elected a governor or a president. The two must be balanced and whoever that is considered must be someone who has the expected qualities to deliver on any task he is saddled with.
Do you have confidence that the level of insecurity will abate under Tinubu Presidency?
Absolutely yes. You see, like Yoruba people used to say: “Aaro lati maa ma bi ale se maa ri”, meaning that “it is the morning that indicates how the night will be”. If you look at the way he started by changing the security Chiefs and replaced with those with experiences in the fighting of sectarian and assymetrical wars. I had taken time to read the biographies of the new service chiefs, all of them had participated in the wars against Boko Haram insurgency. Some had also led series of theatre operations carried out by the military to end insecurity in our country and all these will help them. Mr President is not also depending on the conventional means alone, he had met with traditional rulers and religious leaders on the need to partner security operatives in their communities to rid our country of all these menaces of killings and Kidnappings that are affecting investment negatively. I also learnt plans are in the pipeline to enter into partnership with foreign experts so that we can deploy ICT initiatives to combat crimes. With all these coming up in the days and weeks ahead, I believe that Nigeria will soon become a safe nation for investors, both local and foreign.
Do you share the view that it is too early for President Tinubu to start globetrotting by his trip to France to attend a World’s Summit?
Those sharing this kind of opinion had forgotten that the world is no more a global village, but now at a point. No country, no matter how economically and politically strong can grow on its own without the help of others. The principle of Comparative Advantage will surely set in. You have to know your areas of strength to be able to make up through partnerships with other nations in your areas of weaknesses. I know the President is in France attending a summit that will afford him the opportunities to meet with the world leaders on how to build investments, strong diplomatic relations to tackle our economic and insecurity problems. These are crises we can’t win alone and it is better for him to start traveling now to lay a solid foundation for his government to build on. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo did same during his time and that resulted in the debt forgiveness that we enjoyed, so I support the initiative of Mr President that reaching out to other countries will help in the realization of his promises to Nigerians.
As someone who is into oil and gas business, do you agree with the allegation that the military is also complicit in oil theft being perpetrated against Nigeria?
Well, crude oil theft has become a very serious problem in this country and all hands must be on the deck to tackle it because we are losing billions of naira daily to a few economic saboteurs who are pillaging our Commonwealth. I could remember that during Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when Nigeria was making a total of 3.2 million barrels of crude daily, about 700,000 barrels were reported to be going into the hands of oil theft and pipeline vandals, almost one quarter of what Nigeria was making . This was a statistic that really gave me a lot of concerns. Meanwhile, the federal government right from the time of Presidents Umaru Musa YarAdua to Dr Jonathan and Gen Buhari had combated restiveness in the Niger Delta and vandalism of pipelines, so the only problem now is oil theft, which I believe the military should be able to solve easily. I heard the Niger Delta leader, Asari Dokubo speaking on television and made the damning allegation and he did that out of frustration in the Niger Delta by the activities of these oil theft, who are destroying not only the economy of our country but the livelihoods of the people by their criminal activities. They are also destroying the environment through pollution, which makes it difficult for people to practice farming or feed on aquatic lives they were endowed with. I am not saying that the accusation was correct, but inability of the military to arrest these oil theft fueled insinuation that they too might be complicit. But time has come for all of us to shed the toga of pride and be ready to work in collaboration with other stakeholders. The military must be ready to work with the Niger Delta youths as suggested by Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), because these are the people who knew the terrain and where these criminals are. I know by the time this collaboration is strengthened and done patriotically, and not with mutual suspicion, you will see that the oil thieves will flee the Niger Delta and Nigeria will be free.