Usman: APC Government Amplified Use of Petrol Subsidy to Settle Cronies

In this interview with Adedayo Akinwale, the Executive Director of Sustainable Initiative for Nurturing Growth Nigeria, Mr. Idris-Etanami Usman, bares his mind on the state of the nation and also advocated for power shift to the South, particularly the South-east and South-south. Excerpts:

Let’s start with the subsidy argument, the government postponed the evil day for another one year and six months to implement the removal of subsidy. What is your take on this controversy?

When we talk about the previous government which is the PDP administration being so corrupt. I don’t know why the APC government is displaying a high level of corruption. There is one thing we should, they are all Nigerians and whether we like it or not, it is still the same blood of corruption that runs in their veins, especially the elites of this country. Our lifestyle and the way we see power and how we use power. Of course, it has to be something that is promoted by corruption. So, when a group of people are in power, the first thing they want to do is to use the state resources to settle themselves; use the state resources to empower their constituency and with that, any available means of doing that, they will use the opportunity. So, subsidy has always been that avenue of empowering the few. From the PDP government to the APC government. What the APC government did is that they just amplified it. We started in a little way in the PDP government and the APC government sees it as an avenue that there is so much in here and we can really take so much out of the system with this. So, they amplified it and the next government might also see a reason to amplify it more. The major challenge is the Nigerian masses, the civil societies and people with good conscience. It is almost impossible for us to believe that we cannot manufacture the petrol we use, we cannot process it, but we know that this thing is not rocket science. Then you ask yourself what is holding us from producing our own petrol? This was something we were doing before. How come it has become impossible for us to produce our own petrol? Then If you understand all these events, you will know that there is just a very huge chunk of money that is available for people to loot in that sector. Politicians of course, when they see any loophole they capitalize on it. Of course, they have to go for election, they need money for election, they have to sustain the party. So, if you are expecting subsidy to be a thing of the past; even that 18 months is not a guarantee.

What about those civil societies, NLC who raise hell and then chicken out?

Since APC came into power we all know the civil societies have been in a “sleeping mode.” Civil societies have shown that they are not independent. The people that control the civil society, the politicians in quotes that control civil societies are the ones who are still holding the rope. They know when to release it, they know how to draw it back. The fact about it is that long before now, we have seen people who have held different civil society organisations become billionaires overnight, we didn’t ask for their source of wealth. Civil society is another cabal of people who choose to also hold the society to ransom, because they are suppose to be the voice of the masses, but they are now the voice of the elites. The elites tell them where to go out and when not to go out. So at this point in time, I will say the Nigerian masses have to make decisions if this so called subsidy removal or not subsidy removal or the hardship the economy is taking a toll on them, the Nigerian masses should not wait for civil societies to come out, they should come out themselves because the civil societies are living large now. So, the Nigerian masses are the ones suffering

So will you say the suspension of the subsidy removal is political or economical?

It is political. For God’s sake, the election is just next year, you want to remove the subsidy now?. How would they make money from the election? You know politicians hardly save money, they only start saving money one year to election. They need to save money for the election, so the government would do itself a very grave danger in terms of wanting to remain in power, but more danger inside of the masses. But for themselves, they wouldn’t want to commit that error in removing subsidy when election is coming, they need to make money for the election. So, the money for the election instead will be padded into the subsidy claim.

We have two dominant political parties; one of them will produce the next president. APC from its body language may likely zone it to the south and the PDP is going to the North. With Buhari eight years already coming from the North, does any of the political parties have the moral right to still retain power in the same region after eight years?

Let’s look at the whole north and south power sharing from 1999 till date. The South-west has done eight years, the power went back to North-west. Yar’Adua came in and did 2 years after then he died. Goodluck Jonathan came in from the South-south after finishing Yar’Adua’s tenure, he decided to contest using the South-south slot; Jonathan used 4 years. What we are hoping is that the South-south has never ruled this country before. Buhari also came in after Jonathan, Buhari is going to use eight years. By calculation the north has used 10 years all together. The entire south has used 14 years, out of that 14 years, the South-west has used eight years as president. South-West is holding the office of the Vice President and the Speaker, so the South-west has been compensated well.

Then the South-east is also being marginalized but then, there is a region that has never ruled this country, which most of our resources, if not all come from. That region by chance became president. What is fair and what is right is for them to complete their tenure so that you know that that region has been settled. Then we can now come back to the North after four years because the North is also being shortchanged. Like I said, the north has used 10 years, the south has used 14 years. We know that any northerner that comes into power now would not want to use 4 years, it will be another eight years. So, to be fair, let it go to that region that has four years to complete its own circle. And then come back to the north. We should now start a fresh again of eight years again then go back to the south. I think that would be fair because we can’t stop zoning.

This is a country that there is still no trust among ethnic groups. There is still no trust among the regional blocs. The only way to balance is this power rotation and the South-west should not think of producing the next president. The South-west has been one of the major stumbling blocks in turning a united South. We remember very well what happened in 2015 , how the South-west could not stand by their own southern bloc which is the South-south to support Jonathan against a northern candidate. And now again the South west has decided to neglect that same bloc again who has four years more. The only way we can move forward as a country is when we start to see ourselves as equal. When we don’t feel we are superior to other group. For instance now, an Edo born child today, what is his hope of ruling this country? The only hope he has to be president is by zoning and if you zone it to the entire south and if the South-west have done, they should shift it to the other place in the south. So, that one day every Nigeria born from any ethnic group would one day know that he or she can become president. So I think the South-west should do what is right for a united south. The South-west should allow the South- south to complete its four years.

Nigerians have tasted PDP and APC and there is not much difference. Do you see a third-force upstaging the two political parties in the 2023 elections?

It is impossible. That is simple, it can never happen in the next 20 years, it will never happen. As it is now, we should all go into PDP and APC. We should make ourselves available, we should work hard to also see that we create a true democratic system in the government and probably also find way to suppress money politics within party and then from party level we can still start getting it right there at the national level. We will get it right, but as it is, the battle is between PDP and APC. PDP has been in power for 16 years, they have accumulated a lot of status, they have governors who can bring out billions for elections. APC is now 8 years in power and they have accumulated a lot of money. What we should pray for is that we should have candidates among these parties who will think of Nigeria first, unite Nigerians, account to the masses, candidates that will bring true change. That is what will help us.

You have praised this government in the area of infrastructure, how do you rate this government under a retired general in terms of security?

Security has been a very big challenge in this country. As it is today, I believe the government is handicap, the government has tried everything and the government has failed woefully. That Is what I will say but I will not blame it on the government alone, I will blame it on also state actors. We are in a country where because of the desperation to attain a political office, because of the desperation to be elected, because of the desperation to sit in one office or the other, we can do anything and sometimes most of these actors don’t look at the pains of the masses; they look at their own gain. We know how this banditry started, we know the story. A party chieftain of the APC has come out to expose how bandits came into this country. It was due to the desperation to grab power at all costs. We shouldn’t go into that conversation and it is still playing out up till today.