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Ernest Elochukwu, Chairman/CEO Nestello Gateways Group has said the two years of President Bola Tinubu’s administration has been disastrous for democracy and good governance, noting that the president’s reforms have brought hunger and hardship to the citizens.
Elochukwu, a former President of Association of Nigeria Customs Licensed Agents (ANLCA), asserted that it’s an irony that those who claim they fought for democracy are the ones destroying it. He called on Nigerians to take their fate in their hands by participating actively in the political process in order to elect competent and credible leaders. He also spoke about some other issues in this interview with DICKSON OKAFOR.
In the past two years, has this administration surmounted some of the challenges it met on ground?
When people come into government or governance, especially through political system which is by winning an election, there will be clear case of identification. For instance, where was the country at the point when the present government came? Even a blind man in Nigeria knows that the country was better during the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan before the All Progressive Congress (APC) took over. Otherwise, since 2015 there has been rapid decline before the emergence of the present administration. More so, the decline has been rapid and worst since President Tinubu came to power. What are we talking about? We should call a spade a spade. So, we should be talking about how to make right what is wrong during the previous government. In my last interview, I gave one particular instance. Barrack Obama became President of America and somewhere along the line, it was when United States of America was having a very challenging economic situation because of the kind of money that was used in executing the Gulf War. And because he promised that he was going to fix the economy before he was elected.
Therefore, Obama concentrated and fixed the economy of America. So, in Nigeria, President Tinubu came and met a situation that was bad and he promised to continue from where former President Muhammadu Buhari stopped. The expectation is that he will improve and continue to make things better, but as I speak things are getting worse after two years of this administration. When I hear President Tinubu and some of his cabinet members making reference to the past government, I wonder what that is for. For instance, price of fuel was at certain amount before he came on board, but now it has doubled. The exchange rate was also at certain amount and now it has tripled. The prices of food stuff have quadrupled and prices of other items have hit the roof.
But the government has been receiving accolades for its reforms and other things, including commissioning of parts of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway?
While it is still within the discretion of any government or President to choose any project which is priority to him, he still needs to be told there are things that has national priorities. One very important question would be, is the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway the priority we want now? Because the economy is crumbling and Nigerians are not only facing hardship cause the so-called Reforms things have gone bad. As far as the business that concerns the populace is concern, this administration has not done the needful.
So, the construction of Lagos-Calabar Highway shouldn’t have been given priority where ordinary businesses are grasping for breath for survival. The average Nigeria household is in a quandary for how the next meal is going to come about and someone is telling me about construction of a highway in the midst of hunger. I keep wondering whether it is the case of misplaced priority or somebody doesn’t understand that there are things that are very critical and urgent to attend to. First and foremost, this government should aim at how to return the economy back to functionality. It should be a pyramid because in Nigeria activities are higher and nothing is going down and there is no how we can describe such economy as performing.
So, for me all those reforms we are talking about, I am yet to understand what they mean. For instance, in the case of tax reform, many businesses have gone off the screen. And it is only when businesses are functioning that a realistic tax regime will be applied. No matter how good a tax regime is, when there is no money to pay for it, it becomes good on paper. The import and export business which is being used to survive is being over taxed in terms of the payment that the importers are made to pay and it will still not boost the economy.
On Democracy Day, President Tinubu addressed a joint session of the National Assembly and conferred national honours on some heroes of democracy. Do you think MKO Abiola’s sacrifice has yielded democratic dividends to Nigerians?
The venue where the President Tinubu delivered the 26th Democracy Day anniversary address does not matter to me. I have said it and I will say it again that the two years of President Tinubu administration to me has been two years of disaster as far as good governance and democracy is concerned. There is nothing in terms performance index we can use to make the administration reckon as a performing government. In terms of exchange rate, inflation, unavailability of basics food, the collapse of national grid and others, President Tinubu’s reign has been two years of unmitigated disaster. And it is unfortunate that we have come to a point that it is difficult for people to call a spade a spade, but they will rather call it a guiding instrument. So, in his address, he rolled out unconfirmed achievements which made no sense to me and majority of Nigerians. Meanwhile, what we have been practising in Nigeria since 1999 has not been strictly democracy but civilian rule. There is a need to make that distinction.
Democracy has been enunciated by the Athens of old which is supposed to be the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Except for a brief period from 1999 when the people participated largely, for a long time, the people do not partake. So, it has been the government of some selected people for themselves, by themselves and totally for their own welfare.
In Nigeria, the people are nowhere involved in what is going on because when the electoral umpire does not play the game by the rules, our votes don’t count. And they will use the court to technically give judgement to their preferred candidates or political party. Do you call that democracy? No, that is not democracy.
One thing that bothers me is not about naming Democracy Day after Abiola. It is what our politicians, including those who claimed to have been part of those who fought for democracy do to uphold it. It is an irony and a paradox that those who claimed they fought for democracy are the ones destroying democracy in Nigeria.
What is your reaction to the defections by opposition figures to the ruling APC, including the recent endorsement of President Tinubu for a second term by some Igbo leaders during his working visit to Anambra State?
It doesn’t need any soothsayer to know that when people without principle are running any system, that that system is bound to collapse. In politics, especially from where we borrowed it from, first the United Kingdom.
In the stories available, you hardly see any member of a political party switching sides because it is based on ideology and principle. The United States of American system, which is the presidential system that we adopted, even though I don’t know why we should go to America to borrow this system. Even at that, you can hardly see any member of either Republican or Democrat switch sides. Those are the two popular political parties in the USA. But when you come and there is a party in power which had not performed well, and you will see people clamouring and struggling to defect to that ruling party. And it can only be one thing, selfish interest. And If Nigerians are waiting for salvation to come from any of these characters, they will wait till ‘thy kingdom come’. Because what they are all doing is to protect their personal property and remain politically relevant.
The governors and key members of the opposition who are endorsing President Tinubu are doing so because their hands are not clean. Or because they cannot win if the election is free and fair, hence they need to go to where they will be assured that, as the saying goes whenever they cross over, ‘their sins will be forgiven.’ So, we don’t need to overflog the issue. People of Nigeria, especially youths should know that we are not running a democracy and that there is nobody, including America or Britain, that is going to save them. I have always disagreed with those who say they don’t want to be involved in politics because to them politics is a dirty game. There was a saying when we were in school that examination is not a true test of knowledge, but somebody has said that is the only test that is available.
Politics may not be a clean game, but that is the only way you can get into position of power. So, if all Nigerians go into politics, the dance step will change. My recommendation is that all of us must get into politics and be part of those who conduct party primaries to elect those who will represent us at all levels of governance. And decide that we are not going to collect any handout to sell our conscience and our votes and that we are going to be there to defend our votes then Nigeria will be the Eldorado we are looking for.
