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Omoniyi Salaudeen
With an experience spanning over three decades, Senator Rufai Hanga has obviously passed through the thick and thin of Nigeria’s politics.
In this interview, he takes a look at some of the recent developments in the polity, warning of the danger of a compromised judiciary to the survival of the country’s democracy.
The 2020 appropriation bill has been signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. And, of course, the budget appears to be the fastest to be passed by the National Assembly since the beginning of the present democratic dispensation. What is your prediction of the outlook of the economy in the coming years?
I think the reason for the quick passage of the budget this time around is because of the mutual trust between the executive and the legislature. But I don’t think there is anything different from the previous budgets. The way the National Assembly leadership did it is the same. Even though there are already allegations of padding, there is still this mutual trust between the executive and the legislature. The executive has absolute trust in the leadership of the National Assembly simply because the leaders emerged courtesy of the arrangement of the executive and vice versa. My fear for the economy is that the budget is going to be financed with $30 billion loan they are going to take. Again, despite all the media hype about local rice production, we still cannot feed ourselves. That desire is yet to come into reality; they are only telling the president lies. When you are borrowing to feed yourself, there is a danger. We are in deep shit. We hope things will improve. Interest rate is increasing, inflation is increasing, tax imposition is increasing, poverty is increasing and unemployment is increasing. We are in a serious problem. We have to address some of these problems; otherwise, 2020 will be a serious problematic year to us. It may be worse than 2019. My hope is that they will be able to finance the budget because from the claim we have heard from the people who are close to the government, financial release to the MDAs in this outgoing fiscal year is not more than 35 per cent. If that continues, it will be unfortunate. By my own prediction of the economy, I don’t think there will be any serious improvement in the economy.
Are you saying that border closure is of no effect on local rice production?
It is of no significant effect. I know the government is sincere about wanting to see a boom in rice production. They have taken a number of measures to encourage the farmers. But most of the incentives to farmers are given to the wrong people. Majority of the beneficiaries of the incentives collected them to sell, but not to farm. Aliko Dangote is farming, but he doesn’t need any assistance to farm. And many others like him too. Other than these people, the rest are local farmers who are farming for subsistence. What we need is to produce rice that can feed us and even export. We are not doing that right now. All government’s incentives like fertilizer, insecticide and so on are being sold in the market; they are not being given to the farmers who are supposed to be the beneficiaries. My son, who is unemployed, applied for the incentives to farm on a large farmland I bought for rice production, he was given only two bags of fertilizer and a can of insecticide which turned out to be water. The system we are employing is not right, but they don’t want to believe it. The Minister of Agriculture happens to be from my place. I went to advise him and told him all these, but he didn’t believe me. We are not yet sufficient in rice production. Let’s wait and see what happens.
Looking at some of the recent developments, what is the future of Nigeria’s multi-party democracy?
If we continue the way things are happening now, the future is doomed. This is a civil rule not a democracy. The most disappointing arm of government is the judiciary. It is a major culprit. It is the tool used to do most of the things they are doing. If you did a wrong thing and the judiciary acted righty, it will not happen again. But that is not always the case. When you suffer an injustice and you come for redress, nothing happens unless you have money or you are popular. People are not stupid, people can see. They are using technicalities to bend the rules. My fear is that when people are pushed to the wall, people may decide to push back. People are doing things as if tomorrow will not come. Tomorrow will definitely come, nobody can stop it.
Then, how do you assess the role of the opposition in the present scenario?
What can opposition do? I don’t think opposition can do anything. Our major problem is attitude. When PDP was at the helms of the affairs, people were blaming PDP for the abnormalities. Now that the APC is at the helms, it is still the same thing. Until we change our attitude, whoever comes into power will do the same thing. I am sounding a note of caution to our people in the APC to tread very carefully. Three years are just like tomorrow. When we have opportunity, we tend to forget our past. We are often blinded by power and forget ourselves. We should learn from history.
Although you are longer in APC, but by virtue of your privileged position, you still have access to certain information. Do you think all is well with APC?
All is not well with APC. There are lots of things brewing underneath. And unless something is done very quickly, it will certainly be a disaster for the party. The earlier something is done the better. I had once said it that Oshiomhole would be on rampage once he became the chairman. I have been vindicated. When they were touting him as the chairman, I said it that he would wreck the party and he is already on rampage. He has already wreaked the havoc and now he is on rampage again. If he continues, more disaster will still happen to the party. I assure you this. Two, there are some cliques that are trying to stop some people from pursuing their aspirations. That is another thing that will completely destroy the party. Since we are claiming to practice democracy, they should allow people to pursue their ambitions and aspirations. If they try to muzzle individual’s aspiration, there is going to be trouble within the party. And if other people take over, they will wish they had never been there. That is a statement of fact and time will tell.
What is the propriety or otherwise of the proposal for a six-year single tenure for President and the governors?
Those who brought the idea believe that people will work harder under a single tenure of office. Immediately some people come to power, they start to prepare for another election. So, they steal and steal. They don’t do any serious project; they are always preoccupied by second term. But once it is single-year tenure, the serious ones, who want to do something for their people, will work to deliver on their electoral promises. That is the thinking. I think the National Assembly shouldn’t have done what they did, if they were sincere. They should have allowed for single tenure.
Before the last general elections, there was this widely held view that Nigeria needed a third force. But the move didn’t materialize. Why?
It can only happen when one of the strong forces runs into crisis and the remnant of people come from here and there to form an alliance to create a third force. Besides, you have to have money to be a force; otherwise, you can’t go anywhere. If APC disintegrates and the majority of party members come together to join force with opposition PDP and other smaller parties, they can have a strong party that will wrest power from the ruling party. For as long as PDP or APC is there, it will be very difficult for anybody to make impact. So, third force is a dream unless it happens like the coming of APC.
What is the implication of the Federal Government offer of free visa to foreigners from West Africa sub-region?
That is a mistake because that is one of the reasons the UK is exiting from the European Union. And we have to learn from other people’s mistake. Opening a floodgate of foreigners into the country now will be a disaster. The time is not ripe for that now. We are in a fragile moment now. We can’t afford to do that.
Then, what does Nigeria stand to benefit from the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, which is expected to start soon?
Initially, Mr President refused to sign the agreement. Then, I was hailing him for not signing it. If now we decide to go into it, it is a mistake. Nigeria will be a dumping ground because of our large market. We produce nothing other than biscuits. For us to benefit, we have to reposition our power sector, we have to re-energise our industry to come back to life. Without doing that, we are giving ourselves away. And it is a problem. I am against it
