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Nigeria: Why Atiku Should Have Resigned as VP, By Asiodu

Charles Kumolu and Gbenga Oke

6 October 2008

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interview

WERE he to have just graduated, Philip Asiodu could still have been jobless. But he remains one of those very lucky Nigerians to have graduated during the First Republic. But, then, at 31, he headed mines and power ministry - a feat he attributed to competency.

That shows how promising that era was. Today, being lettered does not in any way simply qualify you for appointment or employment. But Asiodu is sad that Nigeria no longer holds that promise for its citizens. At every stage of this interview, Asiodu lamented that "the tragedy of seventy five" destroyed Nigeria.

"The hiccups to our development or inability to grow as a nation did not start today. It started with the tragedies of 1975 - General Yakubu Gowon's overthrow. That was when the public service was destroyed. 10,000 people were affected and it was without due process. This was done with the applause of the press, anyway I am saying this with due respect," he lamented, typical of every loyal minister in a regime. But this regret is largely harped on his first love, civil service. He condemned the purging of the civil service in 1975 saying that it kick-started the rot in the service today.

The prosperous, former minister also added that Gowon's ouster took Nigeria backwards. As an insider in Gowon's administration, he declared that Gowon meant well for Nigeria. Going down memory lane, he recalled how they opposed Aguiyi Ironsi on unification of the country.

"Do you know the questions we asked Ironsi? We asked what are these policies you want to pursue which you think under our present structure cannot be pursued.

"We couldn't get an answer and we said there is no reason to change the structure and unfortunately, we proceeded. Three months later, we felt he had forgotten it because when we said all these in the economic and finance committee, we were then summoned, Abdulata, Ayida, myself and Ukigbe who had said before this time, he was with Ironsi and I on the podium. And Ironsi said he understood that we are opposing his ideas and we said no and I repeated these questions. Of course, he had no answer"

Bravery! Many would say, but it's not. Serving in the economic and finance Committee then gave him that opportunity.

The former Economic Adviser to Obasanjo, also disclosed why and how he left Obasanjo's administration. Asiodu had expected an administration where his rich ideas could be formulated, but it was not so. And he bowed out. He still maintains that Obasanjo meant well for Nigeria.

Asiodu also spoke on Nigeria's petroleum laws, the land use act and other national issues. Excerpts:

Many have expressed fears that Yar'Adua's administration will be another Shagari's administration, which is generally seen as a failure. This is based on the President's approach to national issues. As an elder statesman who served in that administration, how would you react to this?

I think it is a wrong approach. It is better to take an administration and appraise its policies. It is better than the judgment some people are making about the President. It is also good to talk about an administration's relevance because various ages have different challenges.

Shagari took over in 1979 after thirteen years of military rule and brutal and violent truncation of normal political evolution. And he faced a lot of challenges of overseeing a young democracy, but he succeeded in introducing party administration, even though his party, the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, had only 35 percent of the membership of the legislature. The challenge of the opposition was also there.

In his second administration, we noticed he was willing to introduce a lot of far reaching technological reforms. And you know he had special advisers who were more powerful and influential than ministers because the constitution of that time made it possible. And during Shagari's time, we were not even talking of federal character then. We had Onosode, Galadanci and others. I was the economic adviser and chairman of the cabinet committee which was supposed to meet every week. We were setting macro economic adjustment and were at the point of doing it before the administration was truncated, if not, those reforms would have been put in place.

Then, we were at the same level with Indonesia and we got the same advice with IMF, but they are better than us now. And today, Indonesia's non oil contribution to its revenue is over 60 percent, and their prospects keep growing while we have killed ours.

We were about working on the long delayed LNG project then, which was delayed till 1993 and I was in the transitional administration that we did the final adjustment on it.

So, an administration should be assessed based on its policies. I think the NPN contended with a lot of things then. I think if Shagari failed, as people now think, it's likely Ekwueme would have succeeded. When you look at what Yar'Adua is doing now, it could be a little slow but I hope that the nation will now know what his vision entails.

You mean Ekwueme would have made a better president?

If he had succeeded, all these talks about marginalisation would not have arisen and the quarrels about northern domination or southern marginalisation would have been absent.

But the military struck and that took us to the 1999 situation when we got fed up and insisted that the military must go. And that was in the wake of Abiola's martyrdom which made the presidency to be conceded to the South west.

So, in appraising Yar'Adua's performance, we should base it on his policies. Also Shagari succeeded in some areas. He was able to get the budgets passed on time, even as a minority in the parliament. Nigerians should appreciate the President and his efforts rather than attack him. We need to cultivate some intellectual humility to move this nation forward. We must not be too critical of men of good will.

So we should look at Yar'Adua constructively in order to arrive at a balanced judgment. We should look at this administration within the context of the circumstances through which it came to power.

Do you think his policies, so far, are sound enough to heal this nation?

If we are to hold Yar'Adua responsible for his policies, we should base it on his seven point agenda. You know his seven point agenda talks about security, education, security especially the Niger Delta, electoral reforms and others. There is also the Vision 2020. Now, the next thing is translating all these into specific policies, and drawing programmes, projects, targets and deadline for achieving them. It is also good to have a good team that can deliver these programmes on time.

I think the President will deliver and his stand on the rule of law is healthy. With Peter Obi's victory, Yar'Adua sent the message of rule of law across the nation and it has given the administration some level of stability.

The settling of the long running battle with Lagos State, regarding local government funds, is another good point. The stalemate resulting from that under Obasanjo is gone now. With Yar'Adua, there is a harmonious relationship between Lagos State and the federal government and this shows that he is visionary and wants good governance for all and such relationship is healthy in a federal system.

In places like United States, there are certain recognitions given to some urban areas which have grown into big cities and require special attention. About sixteen metropolitan areas get financial support from the federal government. That is why Lagos needs special financial support from the centre.

You know about 60 percent of the industrial and economic activities of this nation takes place in Lagos. We also have about 18million people with 16 million in the metropolis of Lagos. Therefore, the need for direct support from the federal government to maintain infrastructure is soimportant to the economy and that is what I think Yar'Adua will do.

For example, if goods are delayed clearance to transit from the habour in Lagos, it will affect prices in this country. The way people stay in the traffic for long affects the economy of the nation and that is why infrastructures must be upgraded and created through federal support.

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