By Daniel Kanu
Ambassador Frank Nchita Ogbuewu, former Ambassador to Greece and former minister of culture and tourism, is a grassroots politician loved by his people in Ebonyi Central Senatorial District, having impacted on the lives.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, Ogbuewu speaks on critical national issues, including the ECOWAS military option on Niger Republic, removal of oil subsidy, ministerial appointees by President Bola Tinubu and the insecurity in the Southeast. Excerpt:
Let’s know your take on ECOWAS position and by extension Nigeria on Niger Republic coupists?
War is not something a country will want to rush into out of emotion or sentiment. You must weigh the consequences. Is it the last option? Have they exhausted all diplomatic options? Can Nigeria cope with the bill for prosecuting the war given the country’s pitiable condition today, both economic and security-wise? Is it our war or a proxy war for others? You must weigh all the options before dabbling into it. I do not think it’s something Nigeria should dabble into. I do not think it will serve this country good.
How will you react to the issue of subsidy removal and its fallout in terms of its harsh effect on the Nigerian people?
I think I am one of those that believe that the petrol subsidy was unnecessary and it was something that was just enriching few individuals at the expense of the majority of Nigerians. Agreed that the subsidy removal the way it happened, it has been quite harsh for the people, but at the same time there is no way it wouldn’t have happened one day, it must happen and it has happened. What is important now is for us to go ahead and embrace the president’s latest broadcast. I listened to the broadcast and I am pleased with what he said if the government will implement the things he promised to do to cushion the effect of present hardship. I am impressed by his broadcast and the package he is releasing is good enough. The implementation is what we should now look out for, who and who are going to implement it? Is it going to be effective enough? Is the broadcast going to be effective, not just for the sake of saying it? I think if it is well implemented it will cushion the effect of the pain and with time things will get better. Anybody that is against the subsidy removal is not fair to Nigerians and their welfare, Nigerians have actually suffered in the hands of few people. I stand by the position of fuel removal because it is in the best interest of Nigerians. Yes, one can say they did not plan for it in terms of putting the needed measures before the removal, but the truth is that the previous government left without any inclusion of it in the budget because it was expected to end by June. So, after that June what would have happened? The president did what he is supposed to do, a hard decision to take, but he must take it if you want to guarantee the future. Of course, in life sometimes whatever you do people will still complain. Some complain even out of ignorance, but as a leader your focus will be on the result of your action. No doubt, there will be momentary pain, but the result at the end will be worth it. Some decisions are painful, but what you consider is if it will achieve a better result in the end. I can tell you again and again that the subsidy removal is in the best interest of Nigerians, what is expected now is for the government to make good its promise, ensuring that the palliatives are intelligently executed. The palliatives should be made available as soon as possible. It is the challenge before President Bola Tinubu now to work the talk. In his broadcast, he has realized the pains Nigerians are going through and he is now working hard to address it, what we need to do at the moment is to give him the chance, to be patient for a while to see the implementation of the policy, the promise.
I know you must also be familiar with some of the names as ministers. What is your take on it and do you see them having the capacity to do the turnaround expected to bring about a better country with strong economy, and free from the daunting security challenge?
Well, it is the prerogative of Mr. President to appoint whoever he wants to appoint, but if I am to do the appointment, I wouldn’t have appointed those people or majority of them, but he has a right to appoint whoever he likes to appoint, so there is no point criticizing it, they are his choice. But if I were to appoint or to suggest names, I wouldn’t have suggested some of the names that made the list. This is not in any way castigating the list. I don’t need to mention names, but I think, we needed something new, something better than what we have seen. We need people that still have the energy to build not people we already know their capacity as most of them have nothing new to offer. Of course, it may be wrong to confine all of them in the same category because there are still a few that will stand out, but if I were to choose such will not be my kind of team. For goodness sake some have served at different capacities and we know their performance there, some have been governors and their record of achievement was not satisfactory, so why should such people be the ones you want to position for offices again given the Nigerian condition today and the huge expectation from the people for a better Nigeria? For me, he (Tinubu) has done what he is supposed to do, but if you ask me whether I could have done the same thing, I will say, no. But let’s wait and see what they are going to do, maybe since there is going to be restructuring in some ministries, it might create some effects. The truth is that he can’t appoint everybody, so let’s watch first and see what they will do before we start the real assessment. But I think the only five slots for the Southeast zone is unfair. Already, Ohanaeze, the apex Igbo socio-political organisation, has flayed that appointment of only five ministers from Southeast, and says it’s unjust and unfair. I share in their position. I think the Southeast deserves better than that.
What of the issue of the increased women inclusion in the cabinet…?
(Cuts in) I applaud him for that. Even if he had included more I would also have appreciated it. The appointment of women is good and better than so many of the men that are there going by what the women have been able to do in this country. They have shown that they can really do it and even do it better. The appointment of more women is going to help this country better. He should even increase their number because they have shown that they have capacity to do the job.
What do you expect the Federal Government to do regarding the state of insecurity in your region, the Southeast zone?
There are things that you expect an outsider to do for you and there are things you are supposed to do for yourself for your safety. The Federal Government bringing in the military, bringing the police and other security agencies can only achieve good success with the support of the Southeast. They cannot work well or perhaps, achieve the expected success without the support of the people of the Southeast. In the area of intelligence gathering it is very necessary now than flooding the soldiers all over the place. With intelligence from the people you achieve much. If you saturate the zone with the army without good intelligence, don’t expect them to achieve much. The people must be involved. Those causing the problem, the mayhem, are not spirits, you need intelligence to track them down, so the people themselves must be ready to give assistance. The Southeast zone must talk to themselves because the destruction going on is not doing us any good. Do the Southeast think they will succeed better with what is happening? Southeast is just a zone out of the six zones, so what is happening is affecting the Southeast more, it is destroying the Southeast. The Southeast themselves have to help to make the Federal Government succeed. Without good cooperation from the Southeast, you can’t achieve much and the zone will be the loser. Pushing down the whole security forces to Southeast without the cooperation of the South Easterners will not work. The Southeast zone must work with any security forces coming in there if anything commendable must be achieved, and that is why I talk about intelligence gathering, the cooperation of the people.
Most critics are also blaming the Southeast governors as not having done enough in terms of synergy in their handling of the situation. Do you think otherwise?
You know we were having governors from different political parties in different states. Anambra is APGA, Abia was PDP now LP, Imo was PDP now APC, Ebonyi was PDP now APC etc. So, the governors are not working closely enough and it should not be so because the threat is on the entire zone not a particular state. So, no state is safe, the reason they must cooperate, synergise and plan strategies together. If they decide to come together for synergy, the better, but how willing are they to do it? But even if they are not coming together and they decide to work at their individual capacity in their different states and implement their plans, things will not be the way it is now. For me, I think the major problem in the Southeast now is the South Easterners themselves no matter how you look at it. If you take it state by state, if each governor concentrates in his state and delivers and if all of them deliver their state, it means also that the Southeast is delivered. If it is the approach they prefer, there is no problem about that but let each governor deliver their state. What is happening in the Southeast gives me some anxiety, it calls for concern, so we must be encouraged to rise up as people of the region to do the needful. What are your fears for Nigeria if any? I am an optimist and I still believe that Nigeria can be rescued. God gave us people that are resilient and very intelligent, hardworking people and again God gave us a lot of mineral resources. So, we have both the human and natural resources that can make this country work to the joy of all, but we need the determination. Everybody in Nigeria has an idea of how Nigeria can be developed, but nobody is doing what we are supposed to do to achieve it. Everybody is a specialist in governing Nigeria, but are not doing the things expected of them to do so as to achieve the greatness that we need. I am still very hopeful that Nigeria can be saved from whatever bad prediction made. We need cooperation, we need the determination and if we join our hands to make it better we will overcome. Although leadership is key for direction, but wherever one finds himself or herself we just need to do our best, be committed in the Nigerian project, commitment of the people is also key. Whoever is given any assignment should do it with commitment, we need to reduce selfish interest and think more about Nigeria. What contribution are we doing individually? What is leadership bringing on the table in terms of transparency, justice, fairness, good governance? In building Nigeria, it is not a task for the government alone, each and every one of us must also be committed and think of what we can give to Nigeria also. That is where individual commitments come in to make the country work. It should not be: Let me go and grab my own. Are we prepared to work together as Nigerians, that is the question? Can we take the Nigerian project as our own project? Can we assist the government to make things work? Can we begin to see government project as our own project? Can the government also be doing things considering the people? We must strike a balance as the onus is on both the government and the people, individually to rise to the challenge expected of them. I think stopping the sit-at-home is commendable.