How
has the subsidy intervention fund (SURE-P) fared since the government introduced
it in the aftermath of the protest in January? The vice president of the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC), the body which spearheaded the January protest, Comrade
Issa Aremu, provides the Labour perspective in this interview. The general
secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of
Nigeria (NUTGTWN), also speaks on the state of the nation. Excerpts:
Your
view on Chinua Achebe's book on the civil war, "There Was a Country", and the
indictment of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The
controversy that trailed the book written by Chinua Achebe is unfortunate, it is
also diversionary. I think Chinua Achebe, as a respected writer, a legendary
story teller, an acclaimed author of the celebrated books: "Things Fall Apart",
Man of the People, has that right to reflect on the past especially the civil
war because I strongly believe that if we don't know where we are coming from,
we will not know where we are going. So, it was good that he made an attempt to
interrogate the past especially the crisis between 1967 and 1970 when we had the
Biafra war to which we lost about a million people. But the question is that in
interrogating the past, we need to be careful so that we don't get haunted by
the past.
We
should also be careful not to draw inappropriate lessons. I think it's
regrettable that Chinua Achebe took many steps backward with a view to promoting
further division, rather than uniting the country. I think it's completely wrong
to do a post-mortem analysis of the dead who can't reply, it is literary
cowardice because he has done many books after the civil war and he had all the
privilege to write on the war even when it was hot. In fact, in fairness to
Chinua Achebe, he had realized that the war was over and that the problem of
Nigeria was leadership, that's why he wrote a book entitled "The Trouble With
Nigeria'.
Opportunistic
Diversion
So
to return to it is opportunistic diversion. It is important that writers have
the responsibility to unite Africa because the tragedy of Africa today is that
we have no inspirational leaders to unite the continent. When Achebe wrote
"There Was a Country", he was not saying there is no more country, there is a
country; in fact, the passion and debate that followed his book shows that
Nigeria is still alive. Which country does not have its own travail? I mean
nobody can say there is no America after September 11; there was America before
September 11, there is America after; in fact, America produced more leaders
after September 11, and we have the likes of Obama. All the key actors in this
drama (civil war), both living and the dead, they are proud Nigerians. Ojukwu
sent more people to death as a Nigerian with Nigerian flags than with Biafra, so
why is Achebe flogging the dead? Even the leader of that war was proud to be a
Nigerian, to be accepted back as a Nigerian than as a Biafran; that's why when
he came back, he was pardoned and was so proud to be restored the title of a
General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not of Biafra and Nigerians were so
appreciative to honour him and he was buried as a Nigerian. And Ojukwu
post-mortem said to Awolowo that he was not agonizing about who did what. When
Awolowo died, he said he was the best president Nigeria never had. So if the key
chieftain could say such, what is Chinua Achebe up to? Who is he talking
for?
Literary
Reflection
I
think it may be convenient for Nigerians in Diaspora to have the comfort of
literary reflection but, in that literary reflection, they should not throw us
into reverse gear. I think with the burial of Ojukwu, civil war is over and
Governor Peter Obi said " with the state burial given to Ojukwu, conclusively,
civil war has been buried; nobody should exhume it again". I want to leave
Achebe on this note but my only counseling is the reaction of our people, the
reactions became intolerant. I think we should explain to Chinua Achebe because
he has also said it in that book and I think you can't really engage that book
because he said the war still resumes but I think the war is over; we shouldn't
be agonizing about the past. What he needs to do instead of agonizing is to
organize his thought for reconstruction and rebuilding of Nigeria. I think
Nigeria has the best post-civil war recovery in the world. Today, if it's not
because we are digging up the past in the wrong way, if you ask an average
Nigerian born outside the civil war, they never knew we had war before. Igbo are
back, the Yoruba are back, from abandoned properties. I think the problem of
Nigeria which Chinua Achebe said before is leadership that is parochial instead
of thinking global. But how can a global writer just speak of Biafra at this
hour?
Comrade
Aremu...
Global
Thought
When
he wrote "Things Fall Apart", it showed that his thought was global and that is
the bane of Africa, everyone starts to return to the village. I want to say for
Nigeria, there used to be part of forthright tales in the 70s, we liberated
South Africa, we liberated Angola, then literary writer from Nigeria must be
global in his thinking. The new war we need in Nigeria is war against
under-development, war against power failure, war against hunger. There is no
country that doesn't have its past. America went to civil war but there is no
writer that will make a meaning that America experienced civil war. No writer
can sell in America because you are writing about slavery, they have moved on,
an African has become the president of America. I think we need to move on. On
the last note, I think we need to be encouraged that he recommended Nelson
Mandela's leadership, but even that one is academic. If it is found out, Nigeria
produced Nelson Mandela, we liberated South Africa, it's our struggle, Mandela
said so that when he needed money to start the struggle, Nigerians gave him.
Mischievous
Title
Let
Chinua Achebe leave us and watch his thought. Mandela was not digging the past,
he said there can't be a future without forgiveness. Today he has built a
rainbow in his country in which even the whites are now more depressed to say
Mandela should not live longer. Chinua Achebe must also follow Mandela's line;
you can't be saying you are recommending Mandela when your literary thinking is
that of Malema, a youth who is raising up literary xenophobia and was kicked out
of the ANC youth wing recently. Regardless of their shortcomings, we are proud
of the founding fathers of Nigeria. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a hero in his own
right, he died a patron, he was a regional prime minister but he ended up as
somebody who wanted to become the president of Nigeria, not as a village leader.
Ojukwu, in his own right, said he (Awolowo) was the best president Nigeria never
had, so who is he (Chinua Achebe) talking for? So, we can't go back to the war.
"There was a country" was a very mischievous title, there is Nigeria and there
will still be Nigeria.
What
is your take on the raging controversy between the Federal Government and the
National Assembly over the benchmark for crude oil in the 2013 budget?
We
should be talking of the developmental objectives that 2013 budget aims to
realize. I think we should be able to put the horse before the cart. I think the
cart in this case is that 'what do we want to achieve with 3.9 or 4. something
trillion naira budget in the year?'. From my point of view and point of
objectivity of labour, I think the critical developmental ends in this matter
are very minimal. We have voted so much money for physical security, I say so
much money because close to 1 trillion naira was voted for physical security
last year. But we have always been saying this, in labour, that physical
security that is not complemented with economic and social security cannot be
sustainable security. So, beyond the physical security, I think we need
electricity or power supply. And now we have environmental challenges occasioned
by climate changes, we call it flooding which has to do with lack of proper
management of the environment.
Now,
these physical challenges can be addressed by massive job creation, reviving of
industries, and we need current intervention. Now if we start from this level,
then you ask yourself, what should now be the benchmark to drive the agenda? I
said the need for benchmark is divisionary because the position of the Federal
Government, as articulated by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has not been driven by
development agenda. She is rather comparing, talking about other OPEC countries,
namely, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iran who benchmarked their oil money because they
ran for other things. But those countries are not facing the same challenges
facing Nigeria. As I am talking to you, Saudi doesn't have uninterrupted power
supply, it has no problem of drainages, the roads are clear.
Grounded
Cars
Here
in the forest, cars are grounded in the pathway which we call road. We couldn't
even cross the River Niger and somebody is talking of benchmarking, it doesn't
make sense. I think we should be driven by development agenda. And if we say
development agenda, we need more resources both at the federal and state levels,
so you can't have a low benchmark. I think those who are pushing for 80 dollar
benchmark are more rational because the developmental agenda we have is 80. In
fact, we need to benchmark more than 80 to possibly 90 because we need this
developmental agenda as, in the long run, we are dead; in the stone throw, we
must survive.
So
I think the finance minister is being academic and Nigeria is not a classroom.
We are talking of people who are grounded; you are not going to clear the Niger,
open up the waterways with peanut; you need money to do the dredging, you need
money to clear the bridges, you need money to finish the express way;
Lokoja-Abuja road, you need money to open up Kaduna-Ilorin road, of course you
need more money to even have uninterrupted power supply.
85
Dollars Benchmark
So
I think we should be moral rather than being academic to meet our needs. The
last of the challenges is that whether it is benchmarked at 80 or 85, you must
also tell us the base level.
What
is the quality of the spending? Does the money reach there? What was the
benchmark last year? How much releases have been done this year? Again, we also
have the debate in the National Assembly and I support the Reps who say you
don't spend for next year when you have not shown us what you spent in 2012. So,
it's commendable that the president has moved very fast to submit the 2013
budget this year but he must also show that the one they gave him last year, he
has finished spending them; otherwise, we have crowded expenditure where people
are grounded.
So,
what, I am trying to say in summary is that at the end of the day, the National
Assembly seems to be right because they feel the pulse of the people to say the
development agenda that we have today with more resources, nobody should tell us
to keep money when people are dying at flood camps. Who are you saving for? Dead
people? You can see the killings in Port Harcourt, you cannot handle that with
poorly funded police.
You
must have resources for the police and you can't do so by low benchmarking. So,
for me, to choose between an unelected prime minister whether coordinating or
not, who does unequivocal analysis with our demand and those who are elected,
who feel the pulse of the people, I think we must go for those who are elected.
So, I think the debate is academic, divisionary, what we want is developmental
agenda and developmental agenda should come with enough resources because we
need more resources especially at the state level. In any case, we are running a
federation, so more resources must go to states. What I am saying in summary is
that the development agenda that Nigeria needs today is that we need more money
and we can do so only with higher benchmarking.
The
members of the public are yet to enjoy the palliative measures announced by
Federal Government after the last nationwide strike as a result of the
withdrawal of fuel subsidy.
No,
I think the SURE-P programme is ill-managed; the intervention fund is not well
managed. The vehicles that the Federal Government gave to National Union of Road
Transport Workers have all broken down. I think what we need is holistic
transport policy, it cannot just be called palliatives; palliatives are meant
for refugees, we are citizens, and citizens need corporate multi-modal mix up
agenda. Government is organizing governance fund, it's the citizens who must do
the talking now; you can't talk what you said you are doing; otherwise, it
becomes pure propaganda, because if it's done, we see it. It's what is not
enough and visible that people have to celebrate; if it is visible, we see it
but what Nigerians see today is mis-governance.
We
see people in road transport from Kaduna and Ilorin that will take three and a
half, four hours, people do take it in 18 hours. People also see that even to
travel by air now, it's a luxury. The flight that is supposed to leave by 10am
does not leave until around 3pm, yet the price is not cheaper. So, what people
see is different from what we have been shown on television, we don't need those
dramas because when we see, Nigerians will know.
What
is your comment on the 2013 budget as a whole as announced by President Goodluck
Jonathan?
I
think we need more affirmative commitment to governance and we can see the
debate going on in the U.S. about employment and job creation. The intervention
of Obama alone has saved General Motors, we are talking of 1.5 billion
dollars.
That
is America that has already gotten to the top, we are talking of we who are
still on the ground. I think the lottery approach of the Federal Government to
unemployment must give way to massive affirmative commitment and the Federal
Government must learn from the debate about some states who have taken bold
action, what I call emergency action, commendable action to solve the problem
through public works. On the environment alone, Federal Government can create
millions of jobs, we need people to clear the environment, to clear the high
ways, to create camps for victims and help them. Some states have created 20,000
jobs, 10,000 jobs and yet, in the 2013 budget, our president is talking of one
yam processor, who can just employ 10 more workers, two entrepreneur skills. I
think we cannot have a lottery approach to creation of employment.
We
need a committed bold affirmative action which, first of all, must be led by
government and begin to create massive jobs. Second, we need to grow the real
sector of the economy and this can only be done through electrification, revival
of industries. I want to hear from the president something more than one yam
processor, who has done a miracle to create 10 jobs. I want him to do what Obama
has done, to say, 'I have gone to Michelin, and my intervention has brought
Michelin back, brought Dunlop back, and that 10,000, 20,000 jobs have been
created'. That is the way to go or to say that due to the intervention of
government, 10,000 small scale enterprises employed with an average of 300
workers each, industries that wanted to close down have been revived, not one
yam processor that was won through lottery. I think we can't do lottery, we
can't afford the luxury of a service provider who does lottery with people
without delivering service, we can't do that with employment; we need bold steps
and it should be led by states.
The
intervention funds to save the textile industry by the Federal Government. Have
you been able to access it?
Intervention
funds without electrification, without controlling flooding, without appropriate
policy to protect local products, it will not work; that is why I thought it is
commendable when you say sugarcane to sugar factory, you are protecting them
within this budget. To me, that is a way to do things, not a cassava processor
who just created about five or 10 jobs.
Courtesy: Equities.com
