Engr. Martin Onovo is the 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP). In this interview, he speaks on Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary, the Muhammadu Buhari administration and the 2023 presidency, among other issues. WALE ELEGBEDE reports

What is your assessment of Nigeria on her 61st independence anniversary?

It is very unfortunate that Nigeria, one of the most blessed countries in the world has been ruined almost completely by the General Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Before this regime, Nigeria was the fourth most terrorized country in the world; today, we are the third most terrorized. Before this regime, total public debt was N12.1 trillion; today, it is over N36 trillion. Before this regime, United States Dollar exchange rate was about N197; today, it is about N570. Before this regime, Nigeria ranked 136th on Transparency Internationals ‘Corruption Perception Index.’

Today, we rank 149th. Currently, Nigeria is a failing state. Under this regime, Nigeria moved from the 17th position on the ‘Fragile States Index’ to the 12th position. This position is worse than the positions of Libya, Haiti, Iraq and Mali. This year, John Campbell, a former American Ambassador to Nigeria declared Nigeria a failed state. Nigeria under General Buhari is very clearly a failing State. Insecurity in Nigeria today has got to unprecedented levels.

The national economy is completely ruined. Unemployment rate is unprecedented. Inflation is unprecedented. The Naira exchange rate is unprecedented. Total national debt is unprecedented and the level of corruption is also unprecedented. According to Prof. Adebanji Akintoye of Yoruba World Congress, ‘Buhari has destroyed our country’ and we agree with him on that.

Do you think there is much difference in the country’s leadership today with what we had at independence?

Yes, and clearly! The leaders at independence were not perfect but they were better than the rulers we have today. They had a patriotic vision. They had higher ethical standards, they were better educated and more competent.

They worked harder. The rulers we have today have an unpatriotic and sectional vision of Islamization and Fulanisation. They are deceitful, divisive, dictatorial and very corrupt.

Nigeria was once a great nation and a shining light among other nations but the situation has changed. What do you think was responsible for Nigeria’s underdevelopment?

Bad leadership is responsible for Nigeria’s underdevelopment. The serial bad political leaders that Nigeria had were mostly illegitimate products of electoral fraud or coercive military actions. Haunted by their illegitimacies in office and corrupt paths to power, they continued to pursue narrow and corrupt interests that undermined national development. Consequently, underdevelopment remained.

How did Nigerians and their leaders got it wrong?

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. We went wrong with our illegitimate and corrupt leaders, who gradually corrupted public morality in Nigeria. Corruption and mediocrity are now the norm and the consequences of corruption and mediocrity include de-motivation, inefficiency and waste.

There are also the issues of Islamisation and Fulanisation that have further complicated the issues with this present General Buhari regime. We can stop our current slide into the abyss if we can restructure Nigeria now.

How do think we can address some of the problems the country is facing presently?

These problems are multifaceted and must be addressed with a multifaceted approach. The principal problem is unpatriotic and corrupt leadership. The principal solution is good leadership.

With good leadership, we can re-establish our constitutional values, promote justice and the rule of law, achieve peace and synergy and collaboratively pray, plan and work diligently to achieve all our security objectives and development goals.

Do you support the clamour in some quarters that Nigeria should be restructured?

Yes, we support restructuring. The General Buhari regime has almost completely ruined the country. We need to stop our slide into the abyss of anarchy or war. This can be achieved if we restructure Nigeria using the principles of the 1999 Constitution and the template of the 1963 Constitution.

This will create regions with much higher developmental capacities and economies of scale than states. These regions will grow their economies rapidly and independently by developing their comparative advantages then the Nigerian economy will be efficiently diversified.

Domination and injustice will be mitigated and security will improve. Opportunities will be massively expanded with the diversification of the economy and poverty will be reduced.

During the First Republic, the North had its groundnut pyramids, the West had its cocoa and the East had its palm oil.

What is your take on the debate between the Southern Governors’ Forum and Northern State Governors’ Forum over which region will produce the next president?

They Northern governors are morally and legally wrong. The civil laws of Nigeria recognise the validity of agreements. The legal principle is generally stated in Latin as ‘Pacta sunt servanda.’ It means that, agreements must be kept. Rotation of political power is an agreed national standard in Nigeria. It is normally practiced in my Ward, local government area,

in almost all states and in Nigerian national politics. Almost all political parties uphold it including the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was the PDP that first formalised it. Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai confirmed publicly that it was agreed to in APC.

Therefore, it is unscrupulous, treacherous and self-destructive for Northern leaders to attempt to deny it. That is a very vicious assault on Nigerian na tional unity that must be withdrawn immediately in the interest of Northern Nigeria. Political domination by Northerners is undemocratic and will not be tolerated any further.

Among the major insecurity problems in Nigeria are banditry, killings, kidnapping and terrorism. The Southern Governors Forum has decided to ban on open-grazing. Do you support ban on open-grazing?

Yes, we completely support the ban on opengrazing. It will boost agricultural productivity, improve employment, reduce poverty, preserve foreign exchange applied to food importation and improve national security.

Recently there was agitation over who collects the Value Added Tax (VAT) between the federal and state governments. What is your take on that?

The court decided rightly that states should collect VAT. Unfortunately, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has appealed against the decision. We must in line with the rule-of-law, await the outcome of the appeal.

What is your advice to the government and Nigerians as we celebrate the 61st Independence anniversary?

We advise the General Buhari regime to proceed immediately with an executive bill to restructure Nigeria. This is necessary to stop our slide into the abyss of anarchy or war.

What is your take on the third force formed recently by some politicians to wrestle power from the ruling party in 2023?

Only a registered political party can wrestle power from the ruling party. Political associations are not allowed to participate in elections. Politicians who supported General Buhari in 2015 have been exposed as deceitful, inept and corrupt, so they have all lost credibility.

What is your take on the Petroleum Industrial Act?

The original purpose of the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB) was to have a single body of updated laws for the petroleum industry and to improve government revenue from the industry.

This was perverted in General Buhari’s version that was passed by the rubber-stamp National Assembly. The Act does not meet the expectations of most Nigerians. It is unpatriotic, sectional and wasteful. It has also quietly removed subsidies on petroleum products.

This is very corrupt and will lead to macro-economic instability and further devaluation of the Naira. On the host community fund, the three per cent passed by the Senate and House of Representatives is inadequate and has been rejected by both the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and Ijaw National Congress (IMC).

The 30 per cent of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Ltd’s profit assigned as frontier exploration fund is extremely wasteful.

It was still this same General Buhari as a Military dictator in 1984 to 1985 that wasted a lot of national resources on exploration in the Chad basin area. In the last six years he has again wasted a lot of resources on the same unproductive venture and he has now institutionalised the waste with this his unpatriotic version of the PIB that has been enacted into law.

This Petroleum Industry Act will cause a national crisis, disunity, and colossal waste. It will also subvert productivity in the oil industry.