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By Dickson Okafor
Hon. Ernest Elochukwu is a former president of Association of Nigeria Customs License Agents (ANLCA) and Chairman/CEO of Nestello Gateways Group. Like most other Nigerians he is saddened by the poor socio-economic indices of the country, which account for the many troubles that have beset the nation. In this interview, he proffers solutions on what needs to be done to change the narratives on different fronts.
When you look at where Nigeria is today in terms of socioeconomic development, how do you feel?
It is saddening that Nigeria has been striving since 1960 to attain socioeconomic development. Virtually all economic policies of past administrations have not yielded good result. There is no steady power supply to drive manufacturing and sustain small and medium scale enterprises. For long and until recently, when the Dangote Refinery came into operation, the country could not refine its crude oil despite being the fifth largest oil producing nation in the world. The vast majority of Nigerian youths have no job after graduation from the university. Multinational companies have relocated to neighbouring countries because of low, unsteady and costly power supply. Nigeria is essentially a giant without economic power.
With insurgency and killings increasing in the food basket region of the country, and the military seemingly overwhelmed, what needs to be done?
It is very unfortunate that farmers who go to farm in Benue, Plateau and some other states are being killed in their farms by armed herders, bandits and terrorists, thereby hampering cultivation of fertile lands, which would have made enough food available for Nigerians to buy at affordable prices. Nigerians in virtually all the communities have already started to defend themselves through the formation of strong vigilante groups even though they may not be equipped with automatic weapons.
I don’t believe that insecurity is sponsored, and I want to talk from what I believe. Insecurity came as a result of two things. This includes social system failure whereby people who are supposed to be gainfully employed were jobless. Insecurity has ballooned in the country because the government is insensitive to the plight of young Nigerians. If the military and other security agencies had done what they ought to do, to combat these criminals, peace would have returned to states in the food basket region of the country. I believe that communities should complement the efforts of the military and security agencies by giving them reliable information on suspicious people in their areas, instead of covering these wanted terrorists and bandits.
Ohanaeze and other groups recently protested the demolition of shops and plazas owned by Igbo in Lagos. What does this portend?
This is not the first or last time Igbo property will be demolished by the Lagos State Government and landlords for political reasons. It is unfortunate that this is part of the punishment Igbo in Lagos are receiving from Yoruba in Lagos because they voted for Peter Obi in 2023 presidential election. Not too long ago, the leader of NURTW, Sego sent a threat message to Igbo in Lagos that if they fail to vote for the All Progressives Congress in 2027 they will be chased out of Lagos. The agency of the Lagos State government that regulates land and the Management of Lagos International Trade Fair complex were on ground when letters and documents were issued to the victims authorizing them to construct those structures. And they saw the construction going on and they never stopped the work from continuing only to turn around after the structures had been completed to demolish them. It is unjust attack on Igbo-owned investments and indeed a threat to national unity. The Yoruba forgot quickly how Igbo refused to take part in the national protest staged by the people in North against hardship and hunger and poor conduct of 2023 presidential election. We can’t be intimidated by this unruly behavior and actions by the Southwest. I can only encourage the victims to approach the court to demand for compensation from the Lagos State Government.
Do you see the proposed electoral reform restoring the confidence of Nigerians in the electoral umpire?
Sometimes we beat about the bush for nothing. All the electoral laws and reforms made in the past if they had been applied rigging would no longer be an issue today. But in a situation whereby the machinery of the government and the electoral umpire are deployed primarily to aid and abate rigging during elections is very unfortunate. A law is only as good as it is implemented and obeyed. An unimplemented law is no law at all. Former INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega introduced the wonderful idea of making professors and university heads as returning officers. That was supposed to have been the best that could handle the elections and ensure it was free and fair. Instead we saw professors coming to tell lies about the results. Some didn’t even announce the results themselves because they knew it was wrong. The same Jega brought a rule that said that everybody must undergo accreditation on the voting day within a certain period of time. Then after the accreditation all party agents would have the number of accredited voters so that there won’t be over voting. But was it implemented? No. Then Prof Mahmoud Yakubu as chairman introduced the BVAS machine and said that voting results would be transmitted directly to the server from the polling booth and be viewed online in real time on the iREV, to ensure that rigging did not take place. What did we see? The arrangement was sabotaged by the leadership of the INEC. Security agents actively participated in rigging elections. Until Nigerians begin to bear true to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not any party or person, rigging will persist. Electoral reform is not a one-man thing but collective. It has nothing to do with who is appointed as the new INEC chairman but for the right thing to be done.
In Katsina State, terrorists and bandits boldly came heavily armed for negotiation meeting government representatives. They were entertained. But IPOB members without arms are hounded by security forces in Southeast. How do you feel about this?
The extremists cashed in on insecurity because of the lackluster Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2014. The politicians know how to take advantage of any situation and make political profit out of it. Next year the drumbeat of 2027 general election will get louder. Some states in the North that terrorists and bandits have virtually taken over, especially Katsina State have started to negotiate with terrorists and bandits leaders and the Federal Government, the military and other security agencies pretends as if they don’t know what is going on. That is why I said if the military and other security agencies with provision of reliable information by community leaders had done their job effectively, insecurity would have been a thing of the past. Now, negotiation with leaders of Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) will not happen in Southeast because they are calling for secession. And the Southeast governors should form a synergy through which they can call the leaders of the agitators to order. And find a common ground for the IPOB, federal and state government representatives to meet like the terrorists and bandit leaders met with Katsina State government representatives and resolve the issue. Igbo are not happy with the way they are being treated in the entity called Nigeria. We are marginalized and denied our rights and that is the major reason for Biafra agitation. We saw how the Presidential election in 2023 was openly manipulated by INEC and the court. Until the people of Southeast are given their rightful place in Nigeria, agitation will continue.
When he was not in office, President Bola Tinubu strongly canvassed for restructuring and fiscal federalism. He seems to have become silent on this. What is your take on restructuring?
Restructuring and fiscal federalism may not be answer to the challenges the country is facing. When we talk about restructuring it is like every other solution. The question is restructuring along what line? What are we going to put in place? Are we going to put the terminology being used which is also the intention and agenda of some people who are agitating for resource control? And if it’s about resource control it still tells you that our problem will still be there even if restructuring takes place, because what is happening at the federal level is equally happening in the state and local government levels. For instance, since the Supreme Court gave judgment in favour of local government autonomy, what has happened? For me, whatever resources that comes to a community, you find out that the Nigerian factor will come into play. And this is the problem we are witnessing in the three tiers of government. Therefore, to end insecurity, government must put a sound social system in place, create enabling environment for businesses to grow which will in turn create employment opportunities for the youths that are being used to perpetrate crime. The best restructuring is the reform of the mindset.
