Olufemi Aduwo, human
rights crusader and president/CEO at Rights Monitoring Group, Centre For
Convention On Democratic Integrity, Nigeria and United States, speaks to ADEMOLA ALADE on state of the nation,
particularly relating to election and people’s lack of interest in voting, fuel
subsidy controversy, state of Nigeria’s democracy, why the UN, based on his NGO’s
recommendation, is honouring Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun in August 2019, his lifestyle,
and more. Excerpt…
How would you
describe the present state of democracy in Nigeria?
Democracy
is revolving. Democracy is the same across the world. However, there are
certain features that must be prominent in the practice of democracy. I’m
talking of characteristics like rule of law, separation of power, power of the
judiciary and making votes count. Twenty years in the life of democracy is
small but it doesn’t mean we cannot do a lot of things right. For example, all
the Second Republic governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, had to
transform Lagos State was just four years in office. Before Jakande came to
power in 1979, people were going to school three times in a day. When Jakande
introduced the free education, he foresaw that there must be a university, so
established the Lagos State University. To tackle the problem of traffic in
Lagos State, Jakande said let the ferries work. With the elephant projects
everywhere in Lagos today, if the ferries are working in Mile 2, Badagry and
Ikorodu, the road problem in Lagos State would be resolved. If you have about
100 boats plying Badagry through Mile 2 to Marina, nobody wants to get stuck on
the Iganmu road for three hours. So, democracy has its challenges too. Look at
Nigeria for instance; we are talking about power shift, zoning and federal
character principle, which is not an issue in a country like America. Nevertheless,
so far, we are not doing badly, although there are challenges.
Do you think the
Nigerian media is making its contributions in making democracy work?
From
my observation, the media in Nigeria has been caged. Let me use America as an
example. In the US, the Republican knows that CNN is pro the Democrat. The
media in America don’t hide their interest; they let you know where they
belong. The media in America is the godfather of democracy, in terms of opinion
polls and what have you. If you looked at the last presidential election in
Nigeria, you could see where different opinions were focused although most of
them failed at the end of the day. in Nigeria, the media is the problem. When I
say the media, I’m not talking about the journalists because there is nothing
wrong with Nigerian journalists. Journalists in Nigeria, from my study, are
capable and well trained, but ownership is the problem. A Nigerian publisher
that doesn’t even know anything about journalism wants to interfere with what
goes in the editorial page. And some of these publishers are politicians. This
is one of the challenges of the media in Nigeria. Also, journalists are not
well remunerated in Nigeria. This problem started with the newspapers
proprietors who ensure that the media council lacks the teeth to regulate media
practice. The media council should be able to enforce the standard that
journalism is a profession. Even if you have PhD in English you must have a
minimum of diploma in Mass Communication from school of journalism. Then you
can guide on the ethics of practice and salary.
Share your
experience at the last World Bank meeting in America and how the outcome can be utilized for the benefit of the Nigerian state.
I
started attending the World Bank meeting in 2012. In 2014, I became a Returnee,
which means permanently I have to be attending at least two times in a year.
The World Bank and IMF Board of Governors meeting is one of the unique forums
in the world where economic and financial issues concerning the global are
being formulated. Where you are seeing the gathering of central bank governors
from all over the world, finance ministers from all over the world, captains of
industry and other experts and civil society groups, something robust must come
out from that meeting. In terms of ideas and networking, it has been a
fantastic experience. The last meeting of the civil society forum with the executive
Governor of World Bank was moderated by me and a friend from India. That’s a
place where the civil society forum has one on one discussion with directors of
the World Bank. In a day, you may have about one to fifty sessions. But the
World Bank knows it is the civil society forum that spread the news of its
activities. So, we the civil society forum are really given the freedom to
express ourselves and to excel. We do a session on the economy, accountability
and transparency. The only area that I disagree with is the comment made by the
IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde about oil subsidy removal in Nigeria.
We met with her and the civil society was able to express our feelings and
opinions on some of the issues. We believe she doesn’t understand how Nigeria’s
oil business is being managed. I recall that in 2015, during the election
campaign, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is a former petroleum minister, said
that subsidy is fraud. If you add the cost of production of crude oil,
transportation and refining, how do you come about the issue of subsidy? Apart
from the 2 billion barrels of oil that Nigeria produces daily as a member of
OPEC, we have always produced since the Babangida regime 400,000 barrels for
local consumption. The question is, since we say that the refineries are not
working, where do we refine the 400, 000 barrels for local consumption? Who are
those refining it and at what cost; what is the landing cost? After President
Buhari had liberalized the market by increasing fuel price from 87 naira to 145
naira, why are the oil companies still not allowed to import refined products,
why is it only the NNPC? Then we should look at the NNPC as the place where the
fraud is happening. We are surprised that in 2018, the NNPC declared a loss
whereas Saudi Arabia’s equivalent of NNPC declared 111.1 billion dollars
profit. It is an aberration. So, we have to find out what are we really paying.
All over the world, governments look for ways to raise revenues through
taxation. Of course, there is nothing bad with that, but there must be
palliative measures. There must be reward for the tax payer. With due respects,
people may have their reason for labeling Abacha a bad man, but he did one
thing that is very unique while in power. When he increased the petroleum
price, he established Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) with the current president,
Buhari as chairman and set aside funds from the increment to repair roads,
schools and hospitals. Nigerians could feel directly the positive effects of that
increment in the fuel price. What are we getting for paying so much for fuel
now? Nothing. Buhari may mean well, but he has to sit with experts on this. Why
someone like me is against Buhari is because he failed in certain aspect. When
he came to power he should have ensured that at least two or three refineries
were working at a maximum level. It is a shame that we are still here.
How do you see the
PDP’s statement against the government’s position that VAT could be increased to
pay the new minimum wage?
I
don’t agree with PDP and Tinubu’s political blackmail on this. The VAT must be increased;
it must be increased on luxury things. A man that is buying a house of 1.1
billion naira in Banana Island should be ready to pay government 200 million
naira VAT. A man that is buying Rolls Royce of 200 million should be ready to
pay government at least 40 million VAT. We should tax luxury things, not garri,
beans, rice or pepper.
Nigerians are
worried that human rights violations and brutality by the police are becoming a
trend. What do you think is the solution?
Well,
this is not happening in Nigeria alone. Even in America, the people are
experiencing police brutality. The problem is that, in Nigeria, it is becoming
almost a daily occurrence. And this is sad. Things have to be done to really
reorganize our police, like retraining. If I had my way, I would advise the
President to deploy an Army general who has background in military policing for
the overhauling of the police. The
police rank and file has become notorious and dirty. For instance, a soldier
can’t expend a bullet without accounting for it. But nobody questions a
policeman how he spend bullets in his gun. They don’t give account. When
policemen stop your car and you decide to make them happy like giving them some
wads of naira notes, they just release bullets to the air to appreciate you. It
is that bad. The police as they presently are, to me, are careless, untrained
and uncultured. A police sergeant will meet an ASP and wouldn’t salute. And
this idea of wielding guns in the public by policemen and wearing –Tshirts in
the name of SARS, for God’s sake, should be done away with. They should be
disbanded. Police are meant to arrest criminals. But when you give them a tag
and give them special names, they become criminals themselves because this will
go into their head and make them to misbehave.
Voter apathy is
becoming a big challenge during elections in Nigeria. What is the best solution
to people’s lack of interest in voting lately?
Voter
apathy is a new phenomenon across the world, even in America. People are not interested
in voting. And there are many factors involved. The last election in India
which is the largest democracy in the world, about 100 million people turned
out to vote. In the case of Nigeria, I would say it is lack of education and
lack of awareness. People do not know the importance of the voter card. I was
one of the people that moved the idea that there should be a law to compel people
to vote. About five countries have done it that if you don’t vote, it is a
criminal offence. Once you are 18 years of age, it should become an obligation
for you as a citizen to cast your vote. The way we are going in Nigeria, it
would get a time where just two million people would show interest in voting in
an election. So, it becomes embarrassing. Nigeria should make it a punishable
offence that if you are 18 you must cast your vote during election.
People probably are
losing interest in voting because they believe their votes don’t count…
…
(cuts in) That is carelessness. Every vote counts. Your duty is to participate.
When a lot of people are participating, it reduces the influence of money
politics and vote buying. How many
people will you bribe when several million people are voting? It is appalling to
see about four million people registering to vote and less than one million
actually vote. In some states where there are four million voters, governors are
elected by just 200, 000 voters. Some senators are elected by less than 30,000
voters, whereas in a senatorial district you have more than four million people.
So, voter education goes beyond political parties. It involves the political
parties, the government, credible NGOs and INEC. Unfortunately, the national
orientation agency that should take up this responsibility is not doing well. It
is a waste.
What is your social
life like?
I’m
a good Christian. I’m an ordained minister in a church. So, I’m not really an outgoing
person. I’m a worker in Redeemed Church. I’m an Elder in my mother’s church in
my village, Erinje in Ondo State. And I belong in many Christian associations
either as an Elder, secretary and other titles. Although, some people think I’m
an extrovert because of the way I carry myself, I’m not. I don’t attend social parties
to drink and sit with strange women. But I’m a good dancer. I relax more by
reading books.
Recently, you rated
the administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State high. Would you
say his achievement exceeded the governments before his?
By
the nature of what I do, some of these governors we monitor their performance
from a distance. Amosun happens to be one of them. I can tell you that today in
the Southwest, the only governor who brought a lot of innovation into
governance, is the former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko. Mimiko
brought a scheme called ‘Abiye’ (safe motherhood). The programme was a home-grown comprehensive
health initiative formulated to tackle the challenges of maternal mortality and
diseases in the State. When a pregnant woman had her baby, she paid only one
thousand naira as maternity fee. That was a fantastic initiative, and that was
the reason we supported him. He was supported by the UN. He was in fact the
first Nigerian governor to address the UN based on that beautiful concept. What Mimiko did is an idea whereby you can
have the record of the total of babies born in a state within one year and you
reduce mortality rate. So, Amosun too has brought a lot of innovations to
governance. Go to Ogun State and see. In
the area of green economy, he has tried in the aspect of maintaining the forest
without being deforested. One of the major causes of poverty in the world is
the abuse of ecosystem. It is deforestation that causes climate change. In Ogun
State, you have about 90 to one government forest reserve, particularly the
Aworo Forest plan. The last time when President of France came to Nigeria, one
of the reasons he came was to sign the agreement with Ogun State government and
another partner to plant trees. For me, I have said it, whoever is coming to
office after Amosun, is lucky. Amosun’s successor would just be commissioning
projects for the next four years. I know that the governor-elect, Dapo Abiodun,
is a businessman. The only area I disagree with his approach is drawing a list
of economic committee of about 100 people. He didn’t need that. Mr. Tunde Lemo
is a first class economist. Dapo should just have appointed him to head about
six or ten other credible people. Ogun is not a new state. he should just have
set up a small special committee to work with the outgoing governor, find out
where the projects would stop, how much the contracts cost so that there won’t
be dubious variations. All the projects that Amosun embarked on are ongoing. I was
with him some days ago in the company of other people in the NGO to inspect
some of the projects. Nothing is going to be abandoned in what is going on in
Ogun State. Governemtn is a continuum. Amosun has done extremely well and very
soon, he will get international recognition. In fact, some of the NGOs have
nominated Governor Amosun for SDGs Action Award of New York. Why we are
honouring him is because, the Sustainable Development Goals Award is put in
place by United Nations to celebrate some individuals in government, especially
those who have done well in the area of promotion of SDGs. It can be some of
the targets or some of the goals. We have 17 goals with more than 300 targets. This
year, in our capacity as NGO with consultative status with UN, we submitted
Amosun’s name for the award, and this is the first time a name is coming from
sub-Sahara Africa. We are the only NGO that have the mandate to do the climate
assessment of the World Bank and in Nigeria for many years. Fortunately, we
have never been mandated to conduct the same thing in Ogun State. But based on what
Amosun has done in the area of afforestation, Ogun State under him is one of
the few states with full-fledged ministry of forestry. President Macron of
France was here to sign an agreement with the Ogun State government and an
organization from France and Lafarge on planting of trees in Aworo. Planting trees
is a serious issue for mitigation against deforestation. When you go to Ogun
State, you see everywhere is green because the government encourages planting
of trees. Some of the other goals are peace and security, which Amosun’s government
believes in and promotes. These are the issues we took into consideration when
his name was submitted and more than 20 other NGOs in sub-Sahara Africa
supported us.
Tell us about your
NGO and what project are you into at the moment?
Based
on what I’m doing right now; my NGO is registered in the US. We have three
NGOs. There is Rights Monitoring Group (RMG), which comprises other NGOs. RMG
is involved with election monitoring, anti-corruption and others. We have
Center for Convention on Democratic Integrity (CCDI) limited by guarantee,
Nigeria; and we have Center for Convention on Democratic Integrity (CCDI)
incorporated, Maryland, US. We are developing it and we are resuming in US very
soon with our workers. I’m a permanent representative of my NGO in UN. When I go
to New York, I’m being addressed as an ambassador based on my status as a permanent
representative of my NGO in US, UN, Vienna and Geneva offices. Then, there is
this project we did with World Bank on climate assessment. We started the first
phase in 2014 and ended in 2016. The World Bank is renewing the project with us
this September 2020 for another four years. It is time consuming and it
involves a lot of intellectual undertakings.
How have you been
coping since 2010 as a lone parent?
My
wife was a wonderful woman. To the glory of God, my children are doing fine. I married a good woman with whom I shared
love. And when she died, she took the love key with her. So, He is a good God.
What is your honest
assessment of the Buhari’s administration so far?
Buhari is a good man. Many
people don’t even know that I don’t belong in any political party. I’m for good
governance. I have friends in many political parties, PDP, APC, name it. There are
bad and credible people in both APC and PDP. People brought Buhari to be
president because they believe he was credible. The little we knew about him
when he came as military ruler in 1983, he tried to instill discipline into
society. And many believed he was able to stop the leakages. But today, he is
in a different society. People that brought him back now, majority of them are
terrible criminals. They brought him not
because of national interest but because of their selfish interest. That is the
area where I disagree with them. My advice for him is that, in this second term,
he should rewrite his name in gold. What else does he want in life? At the age
of 76, God has been so good to him. In a society where life expectancy is 50
and below, God has been good to him. He should work during his second term and
leave a good name as his legacy. This he can achieve if he appoints people who
are credible, people who can deliver, to work with him.
