By Daniel Kanu
Renowned university teacher and tactical politician, Prof Tunde Adeniran, was former ninister for Education and ambassador of Nigeria to Germany.
He was also chairman of the defunct Directorate for Social Mobilisation, former member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before he moved over to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to become its national chairman and retired from partisan politics in 2020.
Adeniran, in this exclusive chat with Sunday Sun, speaks on Nigeria’s condition, ASUU/FG face-off, capacity of presidential candidates for the 2023 elections and the frightening security challenge in the country, which he warned should be properly addressed before embarking on elections. Excerpt:
Most Nigerians are worried about the ongoing ASUU-FG deadlock and asking ASUU to reconsider its stand, bearing in mind that the government seems to have proved insensitive to the plight of parents and students. They are saying that ASUU should tamper justice with mercy and return to work. How do you react to such view?
Well, my position is that we should give education the prime of place in this country, if we do, we won’t be having all these problems that we are having. We have to make up our mind whether we want to educate our people or we don’t. And if you want to educate our people we will plan thoroughly, we will not wait until there is a strike here or there. It doesn’t require a crash programme fire fighting approach. I think all that is needed is an urgent stakeholders meeting to discuss education in this country, it is a very vital issue. The way some people see it as fire fighting approach, saying Oh, why should ASUU do this, why should government not do this, that is not the way to go. It needs a very serious thought-provoking session where all the stakeholders will sit together and take a critical realistic look to get education properly positioned.
So far, all the presidential candidates of political parties are already known and made public. Do you really have hope in those that have showcased themselves so far for the job? Do they have capacity to take Nigeria out of this doldrum?
Well, I believe that God will intervene with people who are serious about the future of this country putting thoughts together, praying and taking action. God will throw up and then the peoples’ decisive action will also throw up the ideal person who will be serious, who will not just be rehashing past policies, past posturing and also recycling the same old ideas etc. I believe Nigeria has a lot of potentials, there are great minds, there are great people in Nigeria. And God will throw them up, they are there, they may not be the big money spenders because of their financial power.
How will you evaluate the strength of the party you left behind, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) which you were its national chairman before you retired from active politics?
What makes me at least happy is that even though I have left partisan politics, I think they have a presidential candidate that understands the fundamental problems of this country. He is very incisive and insightful and very deep in his knowledge of the problems facing this country and how to solve them. He is not theoretical, he doesn’t appear to be playing to the gallery, he has come into the open, into the field with his very sober mind and then very analytical, very realistic in his approach, in his understanding and in his perspective. That makes one happy and that indeed, all is not lost for this country. He is not a push-over, and it shows that there are still people who are very conscious and who really, genuinely, thoroughly, deeply understand what it will take to turn things around for the country.
Nigeria’s economy is in bad shape, no doubt. But some government officials have argued that what is happening is a global phenomenon and not related to Nigeria alone …?
(Cuts in) I felt insulted, that those people, whether government spokespersons or not are insulting Nigerians as if they have no brain. We know what is happening all over the world and we know that all over the world people are not as reckless the way they squander the common wealth, the national resources as we do in this country, so they should stop that nonsense. I believe that they should respect Nigerians and they should respect the Nigerian nation. I know that, yes indeed, there are some challenges globally, but people are facing those challenges realistically. If you travel out of this country what you see all over is not what you see in this country. The massive corruption, the way the looting is going on, the disregard for the future of this country, the lack of concern for what the common man is going through, the welfare of the people, it makes Nigerians outside not feeling like coming back home and it makes those who are in Nigeria like running away. That is not how to approach the economic adversity of a country. It is to sit down, think thoroughly, discover and come up with approaches, strategize to solving such problems, not to be rationalising those problems, not justifying the disaster that we put ourselves into. It is insulting justifying the mess rather than making genuine and frantic efforts to tackle them head-on.
Let’s look at the spate of insecurity in the North and even in the South, are you not worried that the 2023 elections may be badly affected as there are fears that it may be impossible to hold elections in some areas? Do you have such fear?
We are in a state of insecurity and we cannot just wish it away. We have to tackle it. When there is a problem you do not wish that problem away, you address the problem, and we are not addressing the problem realistically. I believe that it is time here for us to sit down and really address our problems and this is something that I believe is for all of us, not just the government alone. It is for all of us, individuals, ordinary Nigerians in our various communities, various towns and cities, in our states, in our zones. The fact that it is happening in the Northeast, or Northwest is now a thing of the past because it has covered the entire country as at today, there is no area that can say, this zone or this state is safe. There is insecurity all over and, of course, there is no way, unless we are deceiving ourselves, unless we tackle it (insecurity) you cannot be talking about the 2023 election. How do you want to conduct the election? Who is going to conduct it when the people, the umpires are not safe? When the voters are not safe? When the candidates themselves are not safe? So, we really have to address that issue before we can be talking about elections. Elections are not just about being able to write or provide figures and all that, elections have to be elections, that is what will make democracy meaningful. Anything short of that is a ruse, a farce.
With all that we are witnessing today in the land, the pain, the hopelessness etc, what really is the way forward for Nigeria?
The way forward is for Nigerians to do what the situation calls for now. Everybody has been calling upon the government for action and all that, but Nigerians themselves should also wake up and try to take some steps about it. There is the need for conferences, for dialogue, there is need to really, popularly address some of these issues. The government is doing what it thinks it ought to do, but that is not enough, every community, every society in the various states etc, so much needs to be done to ensure that we address the security issue. We should address it and then raise meetings and address what is it that we need to do for peace to reign, for stability to reign, so that we will be able to move forward. In the present circumstances, it will be foolhardy in this self-deception for us to think that we can have this environment of insecurity, of uncertainty and say that we are going ahead with elections, we have to address the security situation before we move on and this can be done not just by the government, but by all of us, starting from the various communities, starting from the various states and the zones. The threat is real and we must not joke with it, we have to secure the future of this country, we have to make this country stable, we have to make it safe for us to have meaningful democracy and for democracy to take us to the next level.