Comrade James Erebuoye is President, Concerned Nigerians Network in Diaspora, in this interview with Moses John, speaks on the need to appoint youths to manage some key Ministries in his government. Excerpt
There have been clamouring for the removal of Amaechi from the ministerial list. In your opinion, what do you think is the right thing for the president to do since the present administration is shouting “Change”?
Thank you very much, to start with, Corruption is like a firewood that is bringing smoke from the fire. Corruption is something that has to be handled with care and so therefore a firewood that is bringing smoke, if somebody should come and tell you to remove that firewood that is bringing smoke, you will remove it, that is how corruption is in Nigeria.
A prisoner today can become a good Samaritan tomorrow. In the case of Amaechi, I don’t want them to hold it too strong, because Amaechi is part of Nigeria as a country, a one time governor, not even 4 years, that is two term governor, for eight good years.
There is good, bad and ugly of every human being on earth, even President Buhari is not a saint, nobody is a saint, if Buhari is a saint that means he is better than Allah. So if Amaechi’s past record is not so good, nothing stops you from giving him a second chance but the other way round, the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know. At least why the president wants Amaechi is to test Amaechi this time.
Almost every Nigerian is corrupt as a matter of fact, what matters is who handles the corruption treatment, how you handle the case of corruption that is what matter.
Buhari as a person, his name is a fear to people, Buhari is the same person yesterday, today and I hope he is going to still be the same person tomorrow. But the only difference is war against indiscipline in 1985 that put fear into people and fear is the beginning of torment, so even those who are planning to loot will behave themselves, they may not even fight it but saying it and practicing it is not enough.
Now, Judging by the pace of development, how will you score this present administration?
I want to tell you something and I have to be honest, I as the President of the Concerned Nigerians Network in Diaspora, I returned back to this country in a good fate.
President Goodluck will make a change, to be sincere, president Goodluck have made a great change but the problem is, did he change the nation? I was one of the supporters, one of the men that so much believed in Goodluck Jonathan still till tomorrow, he is a good man, but he allowed leakage too much in his government, so many leakages too much that people took advantage but he find it very difficult to fight corruption, but still there are some good parts of him too, me and you will not be here talking now if Jonathan had sworn to be a do-or-die leader, but he give it up, if you listened to his statement after the election, he said if the people of Nigeria’s wish and their will for Buhari to take over, to God be the glory, that is a good leader.
So Buhari coming into power is not a mistake, he came at the right time Nigeria needs him, because the corruption was stinking high, in the ministries, corruption everywhere, immunities, that the young girls need to prostitute to survive, that the only means of survival for the Nigerian youths is through crisis and crime because those that the power have been entrusted with power decide to hold it, they don’t even care how to increase the minimum wage.
You are talking about corruption, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) a lot of Nigerians are complaining right now, there is no money in circulation, but the president said that the idea behind it is to block leakages, what do you think about the TSA?
If I will tell you, there is a saying that is “No gain, no pain”, that is just the truth, people will suffer it a little but for sure it will be better tomorrow, there is no money in circulation not because there is no money in the country. I think is a very good step by the president and I think I support it as a matter of fact and it will help to block those leakages.
What will you advise, Nigerian youths have been clamouring for a younger person as the Minister of youth in this country. In the past, we have had senior citizens manning that office that is Youth and Development in this country. What will you advise the president in his choice of appointing someone to man it?
If I want to be honest to you, someone like me, if am appointed minister of youths, I don’t need government’s fund to run the affairs of the youth, because we have so many things to get from the youths. Youths of this country can engage in so many things for example Sports, this have been a number one channel of recruiting in America, entertainment has also been number one channel of recruiting in America.
Sports alone can generate so many funds in this country for example, I can tell you about a man who I know very well, Bash Ali the boxer, He is a project that can recruit more than 20,000 youths across the country.
The minister of sports should be a youth, the minister of Tourism should be a youth , the minister of Labour should be a youth so as to groom more youths into the system
Can you tell us a little bit about your NGO?
Concerned Nigerians Network in Diaspora is a non-governmental organization that has taken care of millions of Nigerian refugees, when we talk about problem, people don’t even know where our problem is coming from, our problem is not coming from only Nigeria. You are living in Japan for ten years and along the line, something happened you could not get justice and you want to seek for justice, your government could not help you to get justice instead they frustrate you the more, you now return back to your village, you now become a terrorist.