Oludare: Tinubu has Capacity to Fix Nigeria

Convener of Social Rehabilitation Group, US-based Dr. Charles Marindoti Oludare, in this interview laments the economic flux in the Nigerian economy and comes up with the view that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has the capacity to fix the country. Excerpts:

You spoke recently on a TV programme castigating the CBN currency notes’ swap. What is the way forward to return normalcy to the finance sector?

Before we discuss normalcy, we must first start by understanding the genesis of the economic problem we’ve found ourselves in. The problem started in 2014 when Saudi Arabia wanted to bankrupt the United States fracking companies and they made all of us in OPEC flood the market with crude oil. The fracking companies at the time needed oil to sell for $88/barrel to be able to breakeven. In what can be described as a shot in the groin, Nigeria joined in flooding the market, we helped crash the price of oil alongside our biggest source of foreign reserve (petroleum accounting for 90% of our forex).

Instead of re-engineering our finances and taking advantage our the bad situation, we decided to restrict access to forex, crippling commerce, scaring away foreign investors and creating a multiple exchange rate that meant; every money gets into the economy through the official route loses 40% of its value upon repatriation of same amount.

The only way out of this  quagmire is to allow both the repainted and regular currency to circulate in perpetuity, to end the opaque exchange rate (a policy Peter Obi called a necessary measure during his speech at LBS), we need to put an abrupt end to fuel subsidy, reconsider our association with OPEC and diversify our revenue base by making policies that will attract foreign investors like Asiwaju did in Lagos. That is the only way out of this mess.

Presidential election holds this weekend, as a young man, what is your advice to the youth?

My advice to the youth is to arm themselves with the knowledge of Nigeria’s problem and use that information weapon to inform their choice in the up coming election. Anybody that understands the problems of this great nation, they will have no other option but to vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for President, based on his antecedent, the testament of his regiments and the preeminence of his intelligence among other contesters. I will also want them to please maintain the peace and not play into the hands of those who want to scuttle our democracy. The night is always darkest before dawn, our prosperity dawns with Asiwaju at the helm of affairs, all these sorrows soon shall pass away and joy comes in the morning.

The three core presidential candidates, namely Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi have been shaping public opinions.  What is your assessment of the candidates?

Peter Obi, I describe as one who believes in his ability to sweet talk people into believing in irrelevant okey-doke. He processes cow dungs and try to sell to the unassuming mind as corned beef. What has Vietnam having 50% of our land mass and 30 % of our population got to do with why we are not producing up to 10% of their output? He claims to have gone to study other countries but failed to study the only country he intends to lead. It’s like a doctor who went to study drug and not human disease, how does he identify the disease that the drug he knows about will work for? He wants to fix Nigerian electricity but ran to Egypt; it’s like a doctor trying to cure patient A with the drug patient B used, without understanding what disease patient A has. That does not inspire confidence in anyone.

Atiku Abubakar, I describe as one that has neither idea nor ideology. The highlight of his campaign are the Dino’s rambunctious shenanigans. Blaming the halfwit Dino for his rowdy ways seems unfair on him because Dino-Didn’t know better.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the other hand, is an intellectual, and that is why I am in love with him. He has the guile and grit needed to marshal the affairs of this great nation. Asiwaju is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Nigeria. I see a great deal of similarities between these giants of history. FDR was elected President of the United States in 1933, 90 years from when Asiwaju will become President of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Like FDR who was a former governor of New York before his presidential term, Asiwaju was governor of Lagos. Asiwaju is a progressive like FDR, Asiwaju will be elected during the worst economic crisis in the history of Nigeria just as FDR was elected when the Unites States dealing with the Great Depression and as FDR was able to implement swift policies changes that kick started the commemoration of 100 days in office, within 100 days of Asiwaju’s presidency Nigerians would have begun to see significant change of trajectory in our economy.

FDR also faced and defeated the axis of evil in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan; Nigeria faces its own axis of evil in terrorism, kidnaping and banditry and just as FDR prevailed, Asiwaju will defeat this hydra headed monster their has besieged us thus far. I Asiwaju I trust.

Your group, SRG, has been agitating for true federalism.  In what dimension do you want Nigeria of your dream to ply, in terms of federalism?

Nigeria needs to release the bottleneck at the federal level and let every state operate to the peaks of its abilities. Our current system is like asking every member of a 36 man relay team to run at the pace if its slowest runner. This creates a drag in the system, if we let every member state run at the peak of the powers, it will be better for the whole relay team and that’s the best way to efficiently get to our destination of prosperity and peace. This is what Asiwaju stands for. His over three decade long political career was based on this idea, its first thing you see on his website and on his bio across his social media platform.

His persistence has convinced skeptics that this is the only way to go. I applaud his tenacity and indefatigability.

What is the way out of perennial economic downturn in the country?

The simple answer to this is to vote Asiwaju Tinubu. He’s got the juice. He is the man with the Brains, the Brawns and the Courage for Nigeria to ride on to success. Vote for the man with the BBC and you will ride his BBC out of this perennial economic downturn to never look back because, once you got BAT, you never go back. Ask Lagos and they will tell you why.

Some ethnic nationalities have been agitating for self-determination, pitching them against constituted authorities.  What in your view, can bring about normalcy in the polity?

The reason for self-determination agitation is because the people do not feel responsible for their destiny. The federal government has all the powers and individual states are not allowed to determine their own destiny. True federalism will bring normalcy to the polity. Once we have true federalism, secession agitation will die a natural death because the power that the people are asking for would have been devolved to them. This is what Asiwaju has been fighting for, to give power to the people. True federalism will enable realize the potentials of our diversity.

What measures should be put in place to effectively rehabilitate  the less-privileged and the infirm, in tandem with the name of your organisation?

Our organisation plans on achieving these through two means; tangible means intangible. The tangible means starts with creating social safety infrastructure that ensure the people don’t have to live in unrelenting squalor, unrepenting indigence. A hungry man is an angry man, if you don’t put food in that stomach and ensure decent roof is over that head, there’s no reaching that heart. Our aim is to touch people’s heart and minds and let them start rethinking their actions and how they view the environment but first we need to provide succor. Only after that can we start the intangible mission of trying to change the orientation by showing them what is, and what should be and helping them compare and contrast these dueling choices. With innovative thinking, a compassionate heart and critical intervention, we believe in a few years we will achieve what we have set out to achieve and continue doing same for generations long after we’ve turned to dust and blown away.