Mohammed Tsav, a lawyer and rights advocate, weighs in on the challenges of insecurity and leadership in Benue State and argues in this interview that Governor Hyacinth Alia is a more transformational and effective leader compared to his predecessors like Akume, Suswam and Ortom, among other issues.
You are from Benue and of recent there has been an upsurge in insecurity, leading to several deaths with no one being held to account. How do you view this against Fr. Hyacinth Alia’s two years in office?
In as much as people will like to make it seem like he is weak and not doing anything in Benue, I rather think that he has done quite a lot and is doing more. We must know that the killings in Benue did not begin with Governor Hyacinth Alia. They started in the government of Gabriel Suswan and heightened in Samuel Ortom’s time. Even under Alia, the killings stopped but have heightened again. The question is this: ‘is it possible that there is a conspiracy or a plot to use it to destabilize Fr. Alia’s government to ensure that he does not win re-election in 2027? Or to make it difficult for him to execute and implement his campaign promises? As far as I can see, Fr. Alia, so far, is doing what previous governors in Benue failed to do. He is leading right. He is building infrastructure. When I talk about the previous government, I refer to the democratically elected government of George Akume, Suswam and Ortom. If you look at Benue State from the point of view of infrastructure development, the infrastructure landscape is changing radically because of Alia’s focus on project development. The education sector too is also changing because of Fr. Alia’s focused leadership. Schools are being built and rebuilt. Old schools are being upgraded to one-storey buildings and so on. The civil service is being re-organised and made more effective and he does not deny them their wages. It is not like paying salaries of workers is an achievement for a governor, but the previous governors made it look so because they could not pay workers. So, since the government does not owe its workers, it can hold the workers accountable to their duties. In the health sector, Alia has been intentional in his development programmes. I have no doubt that, after late Aper Aku, Fr. Alia ranks next in terms of transformational and purposeful leadership in Benue State.
You have literally written off the previous governors…
Yes, I have. There is nothing to show that indeed they governed Benue State. That is why I believe that Alia is only being set up by unknown forces, using insecurity, so that he will not be able to carry out his programmes for the transformation of Benue. Anyone who sits back and observes developments in Benue critically may not arrive at any contrary view. Fr. Alia is doing well for Benue and if I am to score him at this point in time, I will give him 80 percent. However, some people raise allegations that he is not inclusive in his budgeting, that he does not spend money recklessly. He is intentional and purposeful in the management of state resources. So, if you go check the state accounts, you will find the funds in there. They are not spent frivolously and on things that do not add value to Benue State. People who are used to feeding from government’s coffers are not happy with this. They want him to share the money. He has refused to do so and is, instead, using the funds to re-work Benue State. He has revamped the agricultural sector and agricultural activities are buzzing again in Benue. There are new plantations springing up and that is a good indicator for the state. If not for the issue of insecurity, I am sure that the tempo in the agric sector of Benue would have gone farther than where it is today.
So, how best do you think insecurity in the state can be resolved?
You see, first and foremost, I think it is about time we had federal security presence across Nigeria. The federal government has to be intentional in addressing the situation. These outlaws traverse Nigeria like we do not have security outfits. They behave like Nigeria is an ungoverned space and so they come in and move around freely. For us to address this, governments must begin to put boots on the ground and march up with equal force. I also believe that whatever government does can be supported by our traditional rulers who are in the position to get firsthand security report about infiltrations into their domains. Sharing such security information among themselves can go a long way towards helping government forces to take necessary action before they unleash mayhem on communities. However, I do not rule out politicians. I think that the security forces should beam more searchlights on them. They are capable of hiding under the security situation to create more crises in order to destabilize a state government for their own political advantage. Our politicians can do anything possible to enable them get what they want.
The President Bola Tinubu administration has gone through two years managing Nigeria. From your experiences as someone who is interested in the democratic governance of Nigeria, how would you rate his performance so far?
You see, the people around him, his sycophants and those feeding from his table, will tell him that he is doing very well. And of course that is what he expects to hear from them. But as a lawyer and analysing it critically you will find out that the facts on ground speak differently from what his supporters are saying. Every government has its bad, good and ugly sides. That’s a fact. But in terms of the economy of Nigeria, everyone on the street is shouting. People are not finding it easy. Life is becoming unbearable for so many Nigerians. The economy itself is screaming. The poverty level in Nigeria has skyrocketed and this started from the day of his inauguration when he declared that subsidy of petrol was gone. Everything in Nigeria changed instantly, in terms of the economy. The society responded to that declaration because almost everything was tied to that industry and the subsidy regime. As I talk to you, the issue of transportation is now a major problem in Abuja. You will observe that, during the morning and evening rush hours, when people are going to work or returning home, civil servants have turned to kabu-kabu drivers simply to make ends meet. So, if his acolytes are saying that he has done very well, we that sit on the sidelines to observe his performance see it differently. The poverty situation has become worse. He said that he has paid off our debts to IMF. That’s fine, but why seek to borrow more and indebt the country further? The question is, at what interest rates are you asking for these new loans? Again, the exchange rate is not stable and when you do not have a stable exchange rate, you have problems with your economy because most things are tied to your exchange rate. Perhaps, except for corn, many things in Nigeria are imported… even the corn, if you check properly, we may be importing the seeds. The fact here is that many people who are involved in international business and need forex do not even have access to them at the official rates. They now must buy from the black market before transacting business. Looking at these indicators, how will anyone say that the economy of Nigeria is doing fine when the poverty level has risen by 20 percent? You also know that inflation has jumped up to 33 percent. The problem this presents is that if you have to borrow from the bank to fund your business, you will have to pay very high interest. This is not helpful to the economy. So, in as much as I do not want to compare Nigeria to other countries because the indices that determine our economies are different, however, we must still engage in comparative analysis of some jurisdictions. Let’s take Ghana, for instance; their interest rate is not as high as we have in Nigeria. Also, in Burkina Faso, which had a regime change just two years ago, their economic dynamics are turning out differently. You may not want to compare Nigeria and Burkina Faso, however, the question will still be asked as to why they are making headway and we are not.
We may also ask why the corruption level in Nigeria, under his watch, is getting out of control. Corruption is running at the pace of rifle fire. Look at the Lagos-Calabar coastal road for instance, yes, that is a good project and most desired, but how about competitive bidding and all the nuances of procurement law? There was no competitive bidding and the award of the contract did not follow the due process of the law as established in the Bureau for Public Procurement law and other extant legislations governing the award of contracts that are beyond certain financial threshold. This one is N1 trillion and was awarded to a single company without competitive bidding. That is an abuse of the law. And, in fact, to fast-track the project, it ought to have been broken up and given to several companies, which will execute different sections that make up that road.
It is being whispered that he awarded the contact to his friends, the Chagouris. Well, the name is well entrenched in the Nigerian leadership circle right from the Abacha days. Even when Abacha had dealings with the Chagouris, a lot of people complained about them. A lot of people had complaints about them having dealings with the government. So, if Tinubu wanted to extricate his government from whispers behind him, why is he dealing with the Chagouris? So, we cannot really say that the Tinubu government has passed the democratic score mark in these past two years.
What about his two years in the area of security management, compared to Buhari’s years?
On the issue of security, President Tinubu’s government is also found wanting because there are people who are crying out very loud against insecurity and nobody listens to them. Many of those who watch television do not know how loud Nigerians are crying in many parts of the country. If the government was serious about fighting insecurity, we should by now be hearing that the IDPs are moving back to their villages, or have actually moved back and that the villages are being rehabilitated so that the people can settle in comfortable and engage in their farming activities peacefully. But that is not the case here. More Nigerian are crying out against insecurity and the fact that the government is not listening to the people indicates that not much is being done to manage the situation, at least, to the expectations of Nigerians. In this regard, I will say the government has, in two years, scored below average in security. One thing that baffles me about President Tinubu is that, while Nigerians are crying out against insecurity, and the country is yearning for security, he is making repeated trips to France. When an old man is always running to see a small boy, you begin to wonder what there is between the old man and the small boy. Added to this, he has not bothered to tell Nigerians why he is always going to France even when we know that France did not colonise Nigeria. Any such relationship should be with Britain, not France. So, what’s there in the frequent trips to France? So far, I do not see the benefits of these trips to France. I can’t even place my hand on what France has done for Nigeria with those trips. Ordinarily, such trips should have led to an influx of French businesses into Nigeria, or a return of French businesses that had left. But there is nothing to show for it. So, why the frequent trips to France at the expense of taxpayers?
How do you relate with the President’s establishment of Nigeria Credit Guarantee Company against the fact that Nigeria already has such entities like the bank of industry, SMEDAN, Bank of Agriculture and many ore whose functions may be a duplication of what the new company will be doing?
Well, it would look like the functions are duplicated but from the explanatory notes following the credit guarantee company, the functions are actually different. The role of the company will be to guarantee loans from other funders like Bank of Agric, Bank of Industry and other such institutions that provide loans to Nigerian businesses. The question however is for whom are they going to guarantee the loans? Obviously, it will be for those who are sitting in government. As it is, the people who will actually need these loans are the small businesses, the farmers, and market women even, but I have a feeling that given the nature of our government, those loans will most likely be given to his supporters and party members. It seems to me also that Yakubu Dogara is being compensated for his support to Tinubu and that raises a question that we all must look into –how come that the Tinubu government keep recycling old politicians event those whose antecedents have questions marks on? Why not discover new bright people who have the intellectual capacity to make change happen? Why always the same old one? We have brighter and more intelligent people all over Nigeria. Why not discover them and work with them?
What do you suspect?
It is obvious, no doubt it could be for electoral purposes. But the more new people you bring on board, the wider your horizon. And they are actually campaigning even with infrastructure development. We are seeing what is going on in Abuja. No doubt, Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister is doing well, but there are whispers from his office that he is more of a dictator than a democrat. Civil servants in his office whisper to us that he is authoritarian in giving out those contracts. He does it unilaterally and the figures are such that only he knows how they are arrived at. The civil servants in his office, who should have a role to play, are sidelined. The contract award process is alleged to be exclusive and not inclusive. People who are supposed to know what is happening are shoved aside. So, that raises the question of if this is one of the processes to accumulate money for 2027 election?
With the way Nigeria is going, with loud outcry against rising poverty and a seeming care less government, are you not worried that there may be a revolutions soon?
Well, the possibilities are there. However, with the older Nigerian leading the country now, it is not possible because they are comfortable and always know how to settle themselves. so, with such people, I do not see the possibility of revolution despite the poverty index. However, with the Gen-Z, a revolution is possible. That is the generation we must be careful with because they have no scruples and do not accept the sort of excuses that you and I will accept. They want to see changes and fast too and so, they are not ready to stomach the things that we stomach. I fear that the Gen-Z may one day ignite a revolution to change this country. I wouldn’t like us to go that way because I love Nigeria and will always pray for my leaders, but again, we must be able to tell our leaders the truth when they are going the wrong way.