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Tobby Anumaka, a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Okigwe North Local Government Area of Imo State and Patron, Pan-Igbo socio cultural organisation, Okpoko Igbo has condemned the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi representing Bauchi Central over his allegation that N3.7trillion was not traceable to any project in the 2024 budget.
He said if the allegation turned out to be true, then the lawmakers in the 10th Senate have no moral rights to represent Nigerians. He warned that no among of instigation by some northern leaders on the people of the region against President Tinubu’s reelection in 2027 will fly.
He also spoke about hunger and hardship in the country, which, he said, is caused by the removal of fuel subsidy. He also spoke about other national issues in this interview with DICKSON OKAFOR
What’s your take on the hardship and hunger in the country believed by many to have been caused by the fuel subsidy removal?
Honestly, majority of Nigerians are finding it difficult to feed because there is hardship in the country. But like the saying goes, ‘No pain, no gain.’ We are going through a reformatory process, but I urge the government to give its economic plan a human face. This becomes necessary because even if you are planning to make things better tomorrow, people must be alive to see tomorrow and better days ahead. I’m not an economist, but with the little idea I have as a businessman, I think government under President Bola Tinubu has good intentions, but the implementation of his economic policies should be reviewed to give it a human face so that people don’t go from protest to revolt. Yes, fuel subsidy removal without adequate provision for measures to cushion it effects has really brought unbearable hardship to the people. And the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Economic Council should do something urgently to arrest the rising exchange rate and rising hardship and hunger in the country. So, government must do something urgently to arrest the situation. Otherwise, the people may revolt.
The CBN governor said the poor state of Nigeria’s economy was inherited from the last administration. Do you agree?
It is indeed, an indictment on the ruling APC and the present administration, which is not acceptable to Nigerians because the ruling party should accept the blame and think out of the box on how to revive the economy. President Tinubu during his campaign assured Nigerians that he would continue from where Buhari stopped. So, the excuse that he inherited a poor economy from the last administration is uncalled for and an indictment on the APC-led government. Even at that, President Tinubu knew what he was coming to face when he assured the people that he would continue from where his predecessor stopped. To me, that is a political statement because we all knew what happened to the economy during the time of President Buhari. It is not everything a politician says in a campaign ground that you would take home. It is not a matter of what they inherited, but the change that APC promised Nigerians. So, saying the problem is due to poor economic inheritance is a fallacy. Before this government came to power, dollar was below N750 before President Buhari left office and today dollar is over N1, 450. Fuel was N196 per a litre before this administration came into power, but today a litre of fuel is N600 in Lagos, N700 in the South-East and in the north N750 and N800. Basically, the policy of fuel subsidy withdrawal is a hard decision and a decision that is hard to take to save our economy from total collapse. But I repeat that the government should give its economic policy a human face because from all indices we can see that they are still paying some percentage of subsidies to petroleum importers. The importance of crude oil is having functional refineries, but none of our four refineries is working.
President Tinubu has written to the National Assembly seeking the repeal and re-enactment of students’ loan Act which has caused delay in the disbursement of the loans. What do you think is the implication of this decision?
I have my fears for this development because many are in doubt of this government’s ability to keep promises. Meanwhile, the Bill has scaled second reading in the senate. I think the reason the Presidency is seeking a repeal and re-enactment of students’ loan is to prevent the money from being hijacked by foot soldiers of President Tinubu. To me, Tinubu has good intentions, but some of his foot soldiers may not allow the loan to get to the students. So, I pray that after the re-enactment of the act, the loans should be paid directly to the schools on behalf of the students. And that is the best way to help the students and their parents so that the money won’t be hijacked. Because if the loan goes through the governors, I assure you they will divert the money into their pockets. The schools have the accurate records of student that deserve the loan. However, I call it a subvention, not loan, because the students cannot pay back the money. So, it is either bursary or subvention which is directly paid to the schools so that students can continue to study. I don’t believe in giving students loan. Who will pay back the loan? Because most of these students are from very poor homes. Though very brilliant, their parents can’t pay their school fees. That is why I’m happy when President Tinubu promised to give loans to students to further their education.
What is your take on the suspension of Sen. Abdul Ningi by the senate after his N3.7trillion budget padding allegation against the senate leadership?
The 10th Senate has disappointed Nigerians if the allegation of budget padding turns out to be true. It did not come as a surprise and expectedly when the Upper Chamber sat, the issue was discussed and some of Sen. Abdul Ningi’s colleagues called for his suspension. Don’t forget that when a motion for the issue was raised to be discussed, the Senate descended into chaos as Sen. Jarigbe Jarigbe representing Cross River North, claimed that some senior senators got N500million each in the budget for constituency projects. As it stands, many Nigerians are not happy with the Senate because the discussion has dominated the media, both local and international, as many Nigerians have been asking their representatives at the senate to comment on the amount they got. Therefore, the suspension of Sen. Abdul Ningi representing Bauchi Central for three months after exposing his colleagues for padding the 2024 budget with N3.7trillion tells you the level of conspiracy against the people by many Senators who contributed to the issue. Unfortunately, they backed the Red Chamber to take appropriate measures against Ningi for the allegation. The shocking revelations he made was hailed by millions of Nigerians. Senator Ningi had touched the tail of the tiger, having revealed the wickedness of his colleagues. And if the Senators could do this now, with the level of hardship and hunger in the country, but were bold to divert N3.7trillion into their pockets when the people are struggling to feed and until they are cleared of the allegation, they don’t have the moral right to represent Nigerians because the people cannot trust them as their representatives.
Recently, the FCT was turned to a kidnappers’ den. What’s your take? Can this government curb insecurity?
It is a lapse on the part of government for failure to at least curb the rising wave of insecurity in the country and in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. One thing about life is, when it concerns others, you will feel less concerned, because most of our leaders, politicians and emergency political contractors are in Abuja as a safe zone. But now the kidnappers, bandits and terrorists have invaded the FCT. So, they can now feel the pain and fear Nigerians are witnessing across the country. Abuja used to be the comfort zone of these leaders and they don’t care about what the citizens are facing in the other parts of the country. They believed Boko Haram and bandits won’t come near their dwelling, but now they are no longer safe in their mansions in Abuja. All government officials and the rich ran to live in Abuja and if they want to visit home or their constituencies they hire over 20 policemen as security guards and after two or three days they will run back to Abuja. But now the criminals have traced them to Abuja; that is the reason for the noise. If I may ask, what are the governors doing with the billions of naira of the security votes they collect every month? You can see they are now holding series of security meetings to find a way to tame the menace. We must be proactive and not reactive because when you are reactive you resort to counteroffensive.
Only recently, some people were virtually calling for a coup, which was roundly condemned by many Nigerians, including the military authorities. What do you make of that?
It is an evil call, and the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff have condemned it and ordered the arrest of those making such calls. Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria and anyone or group plotting to return the country to military rule is an evil person and should be dealt with. In every 12, there must be a Judas even though the Nigeria military is trying its best to subdue insecurity. Don’t forget that what we are talking about is internal and not external security. The military are not trained to handle internal security because there are other security agencies that are saddled with the responsibility to quell internal insecurity such as the police. So, we are using the military to do what they are not trained for. Again, there is internal sabotage in the military, but like I said earlier, there is a Judas in every 12. Therefore, government must encourage and mobilise the military adequately to help them discharge their duties. Government should look into their welfare in order to boost their morale. We are now in a digital world and the scope of military training has changed. Nigeria must adapt to the world system in improving and continuous retraining of the military.
Some Northern leaders have threatened to instigate the people in their region against Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 for planning to move certain federal departments and agencies to Lagos from Abuja. Do you also feel Tinubu is marginalising the North?
That is an empty threat because it won’t work this time, even though it worked against former President Goodluck Jonathan. It is not true that the relocation of some Federal Government institutions from Abuja to Lagos is a ploy to marginalise the north. Come to think of it, the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos is the busiest airport in Africa because it is sited in Lagos, the economic hub of Nigeria. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has a lot of infrastructure in Lagos than in Abuja. It is not economically viable if such infrastructure is abandoned while government is paying millions as rent for FAAN in Abuja. Almost all the directors and General managers of FAAN and the CBN come to Lagos every week on official assignments because the operational base is in Lagos. So, why making Abuja the commercial base when government pays first class ticket for them to come to Lagos and lodge in hotels, which is an economic waste? Eighty per cent of operation is in Lagos and that is reason why President Tinubu decided to relocate them to Lagos. That is a very good economic policy of the government. Lagos is the commercial centre of Nigeria just as New York is in the United States of America. It is not surprising to me for the opposition to condemn the decision. In the USA, their administrative headquarters is Washington D.C while their commercial headquarters is in New York. For instance, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has nothing to do in Abuja because there is no seaport there. The headquarters of NPA should be in Lagos or Port Harcourt, not Abuja. It is economic waste to build massive structure called NNPC headquarters in Abuja because there is no refinery there.
