Nkwocha: With Life-changing Projects Like RSPIC, It’ll be Unfair to Protest Against Tinubu

Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, in this interview sheds more light on the benefits of the Resettlement Scheme for Persons Impacted by Conflict recently launched in Kaduna by President Bola Tinubu, maintaining that this and many other ongoing projects across the country are enough reasons Nigerians should ignore the brazen planned nationwide protest by some group of persons. Deji Elumoye brings excerpts.

President Bola Tinubu recently kicked off the Resettlement Scheme for Persons Impacted by Conflict (RSPIC) launched in Kaduna State. Why is the President passionate about the scheme?

For this first phase of the RSPIC, we are targeting around 294,000 people in each of the seven states chosen. But aside the states, it’s beyond resettlement; it’s about giving dignity to human life as enshrined in our Constitution. It was also the promise President Tinubu made during the 2023 campaigns, that his administration will give meaning to the life of every Nigerian. 

So, for the President, it is about giving meaning, it is about giving succour, and it is about giving life. And if you remember, in his inauguration address last year, the President said, “Look, we will give you the power to dream to become like every other human being.” 

Again, if you take it further, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) pegs the total number of displaced persons in Nigeria at three million. You might begin to think this number, out of our total population of about 250 million, is too microscopic to worry about, but a country like Rwanda with its right has a total population of 14.4 million. 

So, if you pull out three million from that country’s population, imagine the impact it would have on its workforce and the national economy. So, for President Tinubu, resettlement is key, given its correlation on one hand with poverty and on the other with human capital and development. 

For Vice President Kashim Shettima – a man with track records and driving the scheme – he has brought in his enormous experience in conflict management and resolution to bear on the scheme. Don’t forget that it was during Senator Shettima’s time as governor of Borno State that Nigeria, for the first time, had a state ministry of Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation. Given his commitment and devotion, many persons displaced by insurgency moved back to their natural habitat. Now, you hardly see IDPs camps in Borno State because his successor, Prof Babagana Zulum, who was his Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, finished the work his predecessor left for him. 

On the larger view that wealth of experience and commitment is rubbing off on this initiative and we shall succeed no doubt. 

Why is it that the North West is the zone favoured for the kickoff of the resettlement programme? You and I know that it is not the geopolitical zone that is the worst hit in terms of conflicts compared to the North East where the Vice President hails from.

The RSPIC is not just a programme for the North West. The first phase of the scheme focuses on seven states that have been disproportionately affected by banditry and farmers-herders conflicts. Among them are Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara in the North West, as well as Niger and Benue States in the North Central. For instance, Benue State has had it very tough in terms of conflicts, especially the herders-farmers clash that has taken its toll on the agrarian state, popularly referred to as the food basket of the nation. Now, you will agree with me that the RSPIC is part of a holistic approach to tackling insecurity, with a focus on addressing food insecurity. As a food basket of the nation, it is simply strategic that Benue is among the seven states given priority as one of the takeoff points for the scheme. Look at Niger State, another agrarian state in the North Central; you don’t need more information about the havoc caused by bandits in this state. There is a need to bring these two states of the North Central into the first phase of this crucial scheme, even if it was meant to be undertaken zone by zone. So, the beauty of this scheme is that it is a national project spearheaded by Mr. President and rigorously driven by the Vice President. The scheme will be executed in phases – from the North West, gradually to the South South, North Central, to the South East, the South West and the North East, encompassing a broad base national agenda. This is the drive, this is the promise, and this is the vision of Mr. President.

Do the people being resettled have the buy-in into this project? In resettling them back in conflict-prone areas, the issue of vulnerability must be taken into consideration. How are you going to assure them of their safety in a place where they have fled from due to conflict?

That is why I told you that the RSPIC is part of a holistic approach to combating insecurity. It takes into cognizance the nation’s economic growth as well as the living condition and welfare of the citizens. You have roads being constructed, you have schools being built and you have empowerment projects under this scheme. Of course, most importantly is the issue of security which is guaranteed, with police stations, military bases and formations being established alongside the infrastructures being built within these resettlement areas. 

It is a must that these resettlement areas are going to be dominated by military and security presence as a way of providing security in these areas. So, like I earlier said, it is going to be an all-encompassing, holistic and non-kinetic scheme. There is also the issue of education. I can remember the Vice President saying under the scheme, the federal government is going to build model schools equipped with modern technologies. And you will agree with me that education is priceless and life fulfilling.

But are Nigerians considering such projects as necessary in the face of what they have described as hardship that has led to plans for a nationwide protest? Some are saying it is irrational to think of resettling displaced persons when those in place are facing untold hardship?

You have just put forward one salient question, and I’m going to answer it objectively as possible. Your question has re-echoed a very critical question well-meaning Nigerians are asking out there: why the protest against a government that is putting everything in the works to turn around a battered economy it inherited? 

Looking at the array of people-oriented project being initiated and executed by the administration, all in a bid to give Nigerians a new lease of life, is it not hypocritical for a microscopic few in the camp of the opposition to instigate a protest against a government that is working round the clock to fix the nation’s economy that had already wobbled and tottered towards an eclipse when it took over? 

Of noble priority to this government is the building of strong institutions all across board. Whether it is in the education sector as exemplified by the Students’ loan scheme, the enforcement of Nutrition as a policy directive in the health sector, the commendable innovations in the aviation sector, the immigration and tax reforms, the unifying of our exchange rates, massive infrastructure going on in the country like the Lagos – Calabar, Lagos – Sokoto coastal highways, and now under this administration you have the North West Development Commission and the South East Development Commission. 

So with just these few thrives that I have mentioned, you can see the deliberate building of institutions with multipronged goals. 

Let’s the take the RSPIC, for instance; the Tinibu administration embarked on the scheme because it will create jobs, empower Nigerians and restore peace and security in the country. It is not just about resettling and reintegrating displaced populations. The scheme will address the root causes of insecurity and ensure farmers return to their farms. It is part of efforts by the President and his deputy towards economic transformation. If we had a significant cut-down on insecurity and poverty, as well as increased provision of infrastructures that would enhance the living condition of Nigerians before now, would there have been all this noise about protest under any guise? It is quite obvious that what you call planned protest is a calculated attempt by opposition elements to throw the country into chaos? 

Those behind the rumoured planned protest are politicians of the opposition extraction who are yet to come to terms with the fact that the era of politicking is gone. It is now era of governance and all hands need to be on deck. Their idea is to project the Tinubu government in bad light and that is totally wrong. 

The argument is that it is under the current administration that Nigerians started seeing hell following the removal of fuel subsidy…

(Cuts in) The removal of fuel subsidy was an essential step taken to free up resources for critical sectors and infrastructural development and the benefits will be felt in the long run. The subsidy removal has also led to the discovery of fraudulent practices in the oil sector, and the government is working towards recovering stolen funds. 

For an administration that is just one year in office, it will amount to the greatest disserve to the nation and its people to stir the citizens into a mutiny. This is a government that set out to work rigorously on assumption, with series of interventions and programmes that are gradually changing the hitherto dwindling economic fortunes of the country. Look at the MSMEs Clinic being spearheaded by the Office of the Vice President to assist businesses back to their feet. Is it the Agriculture Empowerment Programmes like the one launched in Yobe State last week to ensure food security? There is the Light Up Nigeria Initiative being undertaken in industrial clusters across the country. There is also the programme to ensure financial inclusion for all Nigerians and the Human Capital Development programme, all driven by the office of the Vice President. 

The Supreme Court’s verdict granting local government councils absolute financial autonomy in the suit initiated by the Tinubu administration is targeted at taking development to the grassroots. 

For the first time in the nation’s history, Nigerian workers got an astronomical rise in their wages, with the national minimum wage increased by more than 50 percent. And there is the students loans scheme to ease the educational burden of students and their parents. 

These are all a genuine commitment by President Tinubu to wriggle Nigerians out of poverty and enhance their welfare. So, what is this noise about planned nationwide protest all about? In fact, the so-called planned protest, if any, is dead on arrival because Nigerians are too educated and enlightened to be gullible to such an extent. Nigerians must be careful in order not to be hoodwinked by selfish politicians who are seeking to exploit situations.  

Back to the RSPIC project, we have had such tangible projects in the past and the last we always hear about them is the groundbreaking stage. Is the resettlement scheme sustainable; are we looking at international development partnership?

We have our indigenous development partners like the Great Green Wall and many others that have offered to make the resettlement areas habitable enough for the beneficiaries. The Vice President himself, through his personal Agriculture Empowerment Programme, has donated crops and other farming items to the people. We also have SMEDAN on ground to train the people in skill acquisition, while military personnel and health workers will be doing a great job to rehabilitate the victims and help them get over the trauma caused by conflict. At least, we have enough on ground to take the scheme to where we may only need international humanitarian organisations and development partners to fill in certain gaps.

What is the budget like, how transparent will it be, and how does the federal government intend to source the funds required to execute the project?

You can’t be talking about transparency in a project that is being driven and managed by the Office of the Vice President himself, with the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning as chairman of the Steering Committee. What VP Shettima did was to conscript the chairman of the EFCC and the Due Process Office as members of the committee. Governors of the seven states involved are members of the committee, with the Director General of NEMA as chairman of the implementation unit. The project worth over N50 billion will be monitored by the three composite units, the state governments involved and the community themselves to ensure there is transparency and that the scheme is delivered speedily. This is a project that is at the heart of the administration of President Tinubu, considering its pivotal role in revamping the nation’s economy which is quite germane to the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration.