A politically inspired financial crisis is threatening to cripple Nigeria’s economy as the dollar against the Naira rise astronomically, petrol pump price climbing over a thousand Naira per litre and the cost of living beyond the reach of majority of the people.
Dr. Peter Uwaibi Esq., a leading figure in the Diaspora seeking for good governance in Nigeria believes that the nations leaders should cut down its spending jamboree and concentrate on how to alleviate the plight of the suffering masses.
In this interview, he gives his views on the APC led government, the September 21 governorship election and the candidates profile among others
Who is Dr. Peter Uwaibi
I am an Edo man who has passion for good governance and based on that strong passion I had to pioneer the establishment of the support group and that birthed, as the convener of Ighodalo/Ogie Choice 2024. The Ighodalo/Ogie choice 2024 is an offshoot of the mind set to propel a better government.
How do you propel and instill a better government. You cannot simply be vocal and grumbling without taking a proactive action and without being proactive. For instance, I now find it very necessary looking at Governor Godwin Obaseki and his performance in office and it became extremely compelling on the part of those of us who are Edolites to see and be able to support the continuation of good governance in Edo State.
In that regards we saw that among the candidates that are vying to be governors in Edo State one of them is the best man viable for the job based on antecedents, performance and intellectualism performance. That is Dr. Asue Ighodalo who will be the best man to continue in the strides of the developmental aspiration of the peoples interest.
Political Campaign
Political campaigns are such that has been formulated right from the time of the Greek reign. It was supposed to help the citizens of the nation or of the given geopolitical area with the opportunity to be able to select who comes across to them best to govern them. That means the campaign is a democratic process in electing a democratic leader to lead the people. That is the peoples choice, because the campaign and election determines the peoples choice.
Now, campaign therefore means go and tell the people who you are, go and tell the people what you can do and go and tell the people what you have done and what you have to govern the people. You try to tell the people so that they will understand and know who you are.
The people are able to make a choice, an unbiased choice. But whereby you as an aspirant and trying to lead the people and you have not told them anything about yourself, they have no idea about your background, they cannot say who you are, your educational qualification, proficiency, knowledge of governance or your knowledge as a family man, if you have a wife or children. That is why you must come out for the people to x-ray you in and out.
They must know who you are before they can make up their mind. But here we are in Edo state where one of the contestants, Senator Monday Okpebholo has not told the people about himself.
As a matter of fact he is a muted candidate of the APC. Now he has not been able to sell himself with the opportunity given to all the aspirants by campaigning, how will the people know you, what do you want them to know before they can vote for you. As far as it is any rationally thinking Edo man or woman will not have anything to do with you because they do not know you. You are not an option as a governor.
Economy of Nigeria
Today, we have the All Progressive Congress, APC in government in Nigeria and from its inception, 2015, it has been continuation of hardship, the economic quagmire of the people has been excruciating. The people are not able to bear the pain anymore and it is a continuity of pain, a continuity of fraud, a continuity of bad policy that has led Nigeria down to such a point that Nigerians are now suffering.
The economy is bad in agriculture, the economy is bad in infrastructural development, in transportation, housing, roads and the GDP keeps eroding. It is not even constant, it is very bad and the people are unable to feed. There is no reason for this, no natural disaster, but the government cannot sustain a workable economy that will create economic growth.
The fuel price keep going up. Before the Endsars protest or Badgovernancemustgo protest, fuel price was about 500 Naira , now after the protest, fuel price is about a thousand three hundred Naira.
That is to say the government is deaf to the yearning of a better life for the people. Therefore, I can easily say that this is a government that is not listening to the people and we have a President that is mute and this is very embarrassing. The government has not come to address anything, there is a rise in prices, there is suffering everywhere. there are killings, insecurity, and the government is not addressing them. They are lackadaisical towards proffering solutions to such insecurity we are experiencing in the country. We have not seen any policy of succor from the APC.
Financial Institutions
The treasury is being looted by the executive and the operators in government. The APC government has introduced POS monetary system in Nigeria. You have your own money in the bank and when you go to the bank to pick up your money, the bank tells you to go across the road to the POS to give you the money. That is the bad economy we now have in Nigeria, it is not a compelling economy, it is not a growth strategy at all.
When you go to these POS they charge you interest to collect your money. The Irony of it all is that who are the people financing the POS. The people financing the POS are the banks. Now the bank is delegating authority of financial operation to the POS. If you do a transaction with the POS they are not guaranteed by the financial security of the country. You can transact through the POS and the next day it vanishes or whatever and you are at a loss. The Central Bank of Nigeria should look into this abnormality.
Corruption
If the government knows that a system is corrupt, it is supposed to address that system and correct the corruption. But because the government are mostly lined up with bandits, looters and corrupt politicians, they see corruption as the order of the day, otherwise, the country, first and foremost as a matter of fact we must address corruptions in all ramification.
For instance, the corruption in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, we should be thinking of electoral reforms.
The APC government told Nigerians that they want to change the currency, the reason for it we were not told. But Nigerians started queuing up all through that period and there was no new currency and there was no old currency, putting the people through hellish sufferings. This APC government is a government of suffering, not caring about the people, but they care for themselves. Till today, we are using the old currency.
Now, what happened to the billions of Naira that was earmarked to change the currency from the old notes to the new one. Why must Nigeria continue to be involve in pleasurable expenditures. That again is fraud, people should be indicted, we cannot continue to live like a kangaroo government. It is unfair to the people, it is unfair to this present generation and great great generation and children yet unborn.
There has been reckless spending on INEC, on the Central Bank and then this same government came up with the idea they need to spend another trillion Naira for the population census. We asked ourselves what benefit in an economy that is so bad will Census create.
The government must be able to know the benefit before they embark on any project. You cannot embark on projects that are non productive. That brings us to the position of devaluation of the Naira. The government came into power and said they need to borrow money, two billion dollars. They went cap in hand begging IMF to give them the money. The IMF said they will give them the money but first of all they should go and devalue the currency.
The government rushed quickly to devalue the Naira currency because they wanted that money. The people had thought that in borrowing money you have a mind of paying back, therefore if you borrow money you must invest it because the return on investment is what pays back the money you have borrowed. But the APC government is into so many pleasurable expenditures. They borrowed the money and used the money for unguarded expenditures. They used the money to buy private Jet, to buy Yacht, Jeeps for over four hundred National Assembly members and none of these purchases or expenditures have any positive economic returns to our coffers. That is what they call wasteful spending. If you have a bad economy like the economy we have found ourselves now, the government is the first to cut spending. Government spending must be cut, that is the principle of economics. You cannot be asking that your economy is so bad and you are spending hopelessly, carelessly and pleasurably like you do not know what government need to do to improve the economy.
For instance, we are seeking dollars, there is shortage of dollars and the Nigeria Naira keep falling in measurement against the dollar because in Economics, opportunity cost demand that the demand is so high but the product is few. We can save dollars by patronizing companies in Nigeria. We have the Innoson Motors that manufactures Jeeps and Cars. Why is the government not patronizing Innoson motors and saving the dollar wastage by going to buy foreign cars and giving a boost to their economy. It is a waste of resources because we have put the wrong people in government.
If you buy made in Nigeria cars, you will be creating employment, preserving dollars and also be granting opportunity for manufacturing and industrial growth. But when you are patronizing other countries and helping to build their economy by destroying your economy, it shows lack of intellectualism, it shows lack of governmental knowledge, you do not know how to run a government.
From the day the APC government came into power, the President had not sat down at his office, in Aso Rock but right from the Podium at the Eagle Square, the President announced the removal of subsidy. He did not sit down to have a meeting with captains of Industry, he did not hear from Nigerians, but he just removed the subsidy. Subsidy removal was suppose to be a kind of succor to the people. If subsidy was keeping the people happy and was able to remove suffering from the people, then why remove the subsidy, because the money is for the people. You do not need to remove subsidy for the people to have to suffer, it is their money, if they say leave it at three hundred Naira for them to be able to buy petrol, the government should leave it. But now the government say they will take it away for the people to buy petrol for two thousand Naira.
The question Nigerians are asking is to whose benefit is the removal of subsidy. That is miscalculation, and the social economic values are not there.
Asue’s Rising Popularity
The popularity of Dr. Asue Ighodalo is based on a tripod. It stands for three reasons. The first is his achievements in the private sector . Where most of us are still struggling to be able to own bank accounts even with our PhD degrees and all, Dr.Asue Ighodalo has banks and he is Chairman of these banks. To be chairman of several corporate organizations tells a lot about who you are.
It goes to decipher the fact that this man has a very high intellectual capacity. It goes to show that this man has high mental discernment in terms of operational and organizational growth. If you measure his private sector success, dealings and achievements it will be difficult for anybody not to support him. The popularity profile is definitely rising above other candidates because their achievements are obscured. Asue’s private achievement is a phenomenon, that is one reason the people are endeared to him.
Secondly, is Asue reasons for coming to serve and contest the position of governor. The people have seen that the reason is very altruistic, the reason is so selfless, they have seen that the reason is towards serving the people, giving back to the people the blessing God has also given to him. He wants to extend the blessing, he has the heart of a philanthropist who wants to give to society. He sees society to be at the edge of destruction and it will be worse if there is no clear assistance and direction in the growth of the economy in Edo state.
Asue has seen that Obaseki has done so well, and he wants to steer the ship in continuity of what Obaseki has done. The people see him as a selfless man that has come to build the state. After all, the man has everything, he is a family man, married with children, successful and established. He owns one of the most successful legal chambers in the whole of Nigeria and if not Africa with over one hundred and fifty lawyers operational in that firm with over fifty affiliates and associates . A man of such capacity who has done that feat and reached the zenith and epic of his career by all ramifications of all he has achieved. Coming down to Edo state, it is a privilege. The people have seen that and they are endeared to him. that is one of the rising profile
The third one is that they see Asue has a sense of developmental knowledge, he has the propensity and proficiency to attract foreign direct investment FDI to Edo State because all his life he has been in finance and he has the financial muscle internationally and he has said it himself that once the state is stable, investors will come in and when you are trusted Investors will come into the state.
Asue can attract trillions of dollars to the state, build Edo state and pay back the stipends without noticing it. Meanwhile, we would be enjoying what we have already attracted. It is like a hire purchase. In developed countries they give you mortgage to purchase a house because you do not have the bulk money to buy it or build a house. They give you the mortgage to allow you enter the house and be the owner of the house, instead of paying other landlord you pay the money towards being the owner of the house. The same thing Dr. Ighodalo has said he would do in Edo state. He said he would bring in investments and then pay off the principle and interest. That is business knowledge that will be able to grow the economy, because if you have no money in the economy you try to induce money into the economy, you create financial inflow and you cannot do this when you do not have the intelligence.
We have many times, from the APC, including the Director General of their Campaign, Pharmacist Matthew Urhoghide that they will share the money of the state. He said it on television and social media has it. The APC Candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo also said they will share the money. The APC candidate said if he construct a federal government road in the state with ten million Naira he will tell the state to go and collect twenty million from the federal government. That is fraud and dishonorable. We cannot be having dishonorable men at the helm of affairs to grow an honorable society. We must frown at it. A man who has three birthdays, I do not understand what is wrong with Nigeria. It is only in Nigeria that you see a man that has presented fraud that will be saying fraud does not matter. It is a criminal offence, but in Nigeria they are parading themselves all about as our Senators,members of the House of Representatives and others. Unless something is done we have no way of seeing the remedy and if we have no remedy, will Nigerians continue to live like this.
But when we see the prudence in a man, the nobility of a man, like Dr. Asue we all rally round and embrace him, because we have seen that he is a dedicated unsparingly hard worker in terms of trying to help the people to remove them from suffering. In his campaign tours we have seen that he has gone round the nooks and crannies of the state over five times.
Godwin Obaseki’s Tenure
The present Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki is an enigma, a phenomenon and I described him as the Magic Wand of Godwin Obaseki. He has the strength and grace of a divine gift to do the things he is doing. Obaseki’s policies are not popular policies because the populace are expecting hand out from the financial treasury. When he made very good policies, he became unpopular in certain areas. If his policies are very popular by sharing the money, they will be singing his praises. But because he said government money is for development and not to be given to some individuals who call themselves leaders. The government money is not to be given to enhance or to bribe people who call themselves godfathers. If he had done that there will be no development in the state today.
Look at the development across the state now for instance, it is not countable,it is phenomenon, it is there to see, in all areas. For instance he has been able to bring in what they call telemedicine, which means you do not need to go to the hospital if it is not near you when you are not feeling fine. Get on a telephone and a doctor will attend and prescribe for you and administer the treatment just like overseas, there is consultancy by phone. He has put medical centres in all the one hundred and ninety two wards in Edo State. In terms of Education he has introduced the EdoBest. He was invited by Cambridge University in the United Kingdome to give a lecture on how he was able to make EdoBest a huge success and other states have sent delegations to come and learn.
EdoBest is about a computerized system where all the teachers in the state are in a soft ware and at the punch of a button, the governor and other administrators of education in the state knows which teacher is not at work and what they are teaching because they are all wired to a system with lesson notes based on the syllabus which must be followed to teach the students and there are computers in the class rooms.
The governor also made it easy to acquire a C-of-O in the state and the civil service has become paperless, the first in the country. The last time the former Secretary to the state government, Osarodion Ogie Esq. was with us in London on a campaign visit he was treating files. That was very impressive and the government is moving away from the archaic system of governance that has stalled the progress of the people because of the delay in growth. Look at the Benin City Mall bringing us to international level, where you can go to the Shoprite, the cinema to relax. We must grow like the developed countries. Obaseki has revamped the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, school of Nursing, skill acquisition centres across the state and today we have a refinery in the state. There is the Ossiomo electricity power and so many other physical developments across the state. Look at the N70,000 per month minimum wage by Godwin Obaseki at least to ameliorate the plight of the people. The state is calm and peaceful due to the policies of the government. This is the kind of state we are looking for and not a state of lions and tigers of the APC government.
The Election
Elections are supposed to be based on facts and figures. If you say you have done something, show us the facts. Okpebholo says he has done a borehole and that is what he is using to campaign. But the borehole is not functioning. The last time he was on BBC Pigeon English interview, they asked him how he would solve the electricity problem in the state, he said he would buy transformers, buy poles and then electricity will come to the people. How can he talk like that; that is gutter talk. They say you can remove a man from a gutter but you cannot remove the gutter from the man, a gutter talk is from a gutter man. We are trying to struggle that he is not a gutter man. Wash a dog, comb a dog, wash a goat, comb a goat, dress a goat in agbada, a goat is still a goat.
They are trying to disenfranchise the people from voting and they are using the unfortunate arm of government security, they are harassing PDP voters, arresting them to discourage them, they want to frighten them into a submissive position of not being able to vote. As a matter of fact the INEC is part of it also. They are refusing to bring out the voting cards and thereby frustrating people who go to collect their voters card. They make sure people queue for a long time. By the time they wait in the sun for too long, they will forget about the voting cards and go home. These are all instruments and tricks to rig and disenfranchising the public from being able to partake and demonstrate and perform their civic responsibility. These are negative tactics, evil tactics and criminal tactics. The truth is that the populace will not cave in to all these tactics and the propaganda behind the idea of using federal might will not work.
The former President Muhammadu Buhari was an APC man, Adams Oshiomhole was chairman of the same APC and he was an Edo man. But this same Governor Godwin Obaseki, divinely gifted with the magic wand still won the election of 2020 in spite of the Federal Might they were talking about. When we are talking about elections what concerns the Federal government and why do we have to conduct an election instead of just telling Federal government to just appoint one man as the governor as a military administrator.
Role of Diaspora
The diaspora’s drive and awareness was set up by me and it is getting very visible, 2024. In 2020 when I came to cast my vote, the journalists asked me at the Airport why do I need to come to cast one vote. I replied that I am very passionate about who governs, and good governance. I am passionate about the individual who wants to govern me. It is passion driven to come to cast my one vote. I also sensitize the international community, that is where the diaspora comes in and they appointed international electioneering observers to beam their searchlight on the election and several embassies issued threats and said any electioneering malpractice perpetrators visa’s will be revised, denied and cancelled and their properties overseas seized. When President Buhari heard that in 2020, he was transparent because he does not want the international community to come and hold him responsible.
Now, the reason why diaspora’s are very important is that it is in the diaspora that they tenaciously hold the process and governance of democracy. They do not joke with democracy at all, they want to hold sway the process and do not want it to be diluted, frustrated in Africa and they try as much as possible to come and support, and supervise the growth and stability of democracy. The diaspora’s are able to galvanize support for democratic processes in their country.
Because of our diaspora’s commitment, some of them can now cast their votes overseas as citizens. We have also made request to the former Prime Minister of Britain to assist us to ensure that Nigerians are able to vote anywhere as citizens of Nigeria, it is a civic right. If Diaspora’s are able to vote, which is what I am also sensitizing, it will be beneficial to the nation and the state because diaspora’s that are able to vote will be able to invest their money in Nigeria because they are part of installing a government of a caring government, a government that will be able grow the economy. If you are part of governance you will be able to invest your money. But when you are not part of it and you do not know what is happening, it is difficult to invest your money. All this diaspora’s campaign we are doing now has been able to sensitize Nigerians who went overseas in search of economic benefit, better life, better education, and those who are lost because of the negative news from Nigeria. This campaign has been able to reignite hope in the hearts of Nigerians overseas and they are now coming home to think of investments. The diaspora’s have been able to sensitize the world on the importance of coming to vote and coming in to invest with their friends.
The Voters
My appeal to the voters is to come out and cast their vote for the candidate of their choice and that way, they have the pride and happiness and honour that they have taking part to install the candidate that they like because if they do not come to vote they cannot complain when who they do not like come to govern them.
You should be able to correct what is wrong with your own input. Do not grumble but do some thing by voting on the 21st of September, 2024
