A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Victor Akande, who is representing Ojo Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, in this interview with TOPE MUSOWO speaks on unity of the party and the economic situation of the country amongst other matters.
Who do we blame for the economic recession in the country? Is it the past or the present government?
Well, the question you asked is very pregnant and I am going to start from a logical point of view. Before now, even before the 16 years of the government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there had been some past military rulers that were saddled with administration in Nigeria and we know their antecedents. Nothing good came from their governments in the sense that the economy had been in shambles for many years. We didn’t get independence today, and the economy has been very bad. To be candid with you, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said the same thing when he came into power, but he was able to take us from the shackles of recession to economic boom and when he was leaving power, he was able to get $18 billion dollars written off by some conglomerates or some clubs. We got some loans written off by the IMF and the rest like that and at the end of the day, he left some money in the covers of the government. When he left, definitely every year, the economic situation of the country will change.
A country that only focuses on importation and does not export any other thing than crude oil will find herself in this precarious situation. A country that does not look into agriculture to encourage or boost its economy, but solely depends on agricultural products from other countries such as rice and all other things will always go into recession but it was not so bad like this.
If I should release a bomb now, it is going to be an atomic bomb that people will start having a second thought of about assertion of the present administration as regards why we find ourselves in this present situation. If the present administration of President Buhari apportions blames to the past government for the economic downturn, it means the present administration is in shambles and they are incompetent.
The present administration said that they inherited an empty treasury, but thank God that people like former President Obasanjo asserted that it was not empty treasury that they inherited and that at least there was still about $30 billion dollars in the reserve. Then, why is the present administration claiming that they met an empty treasury, it is just a political game to change the mindset of the people and to continue the propaganda that they are known for in order to call a dog a bad name so that they can hang it. They want to change the economic woes of the country and the people agitated for change so as to change the ineptitude of the past government, but Nigerians are wiser than that. I want to put a bombshell and my bombshell is, if there is any administration that is so blessed, it should be this administration. The reason is because of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The government gains so much through every month, the issue of ghost workers is now a thing of the past. If you know how much Nigeria is saving on TSA every month, it runs into billions of naira because all those loopholes through which money was being siphoned have now been blocked. The second bombshell is this, this government is so blessed because of the issue of stamp duty as regards money saving into the bank and money collected from the bank, look at the volume of money they collect everyday that runs into millions or trillions of naira and they are still saying that there is no money and you still say there is economic recession. If the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan had been fortunate to have the logical reasoning about collecting this kind of money, do you think we would still be in recession. Let us call a spade a spade and stop giving it an unwarranted name. If this government wants to be truthful to themselves, let them stop the name calling and face the task of governance and do it the right way.
But, it appears all this money is still not enough to solve the nation’s problems based on what have happened in the past. What is your take on this?
I just said it that a country that puts her hope only on crude oil or one product will always have recession. If the crude oil does not dry up, those other countries that we are selling it to will be agitating for another means of gas, another means of fueling their vehicles, another means of power such as hydro, gas, solar energy and all that. Nigeria became virtually rich in everything, but we remain the poorest because we cannot make use of our knowledge. Nigeria is so blessed, when you come to Nigeria, the fastest computer in the whole world was made by a Nigerian and because of the economic situation in Nigeria, a lot of people have gone for greener pastures abroad and they are doing well in all those countries they went to. China became super power in technology because of hunger, they turned their weaknesses around, and this gave them power. Today, an average Chinese that was then hungry turned that hunger into technology and today they are producing so many things. The phones that we are using are made by some school children in China and they sell them for thousands of naira to us. Unfortunately for us, we don’t want to do anything about the knowledge we have acquired.
Do you think the ban on the importation of rice is a good decision by the government?
If you want to ban a particular product from being imported into the country, you should also put an alternative on ground so as not to make the people cry. You don’t bring out a policy that will affect the general public, especially those that are poor because we the poor masses are in the majority and there is no middle class in Nigeria, it is either you are rich or poor, the middle class has been eliminated. Ban on importation of rice, which is the common food of the poor man is wrong. If it is banned and there is no alternative in place, then you want them to go hungry, you want to add to their suffering, they are not feeling the change, they are not feeling the essence of democracy, it is demosyncracies.
Your party, the PDP is just trying to come together as one and election is fast approaching. Do you see them resolving the crisis?
I have granted interviews before now, but unfortunately, what I deduced then is what is now happening. Good riddance in the right direction. I told us sometime ago that by the time PDP would solve their problems they would come out stronger and when they come out stronger, it would be very difficult for the opposition to see their back although they drag it for too long. When we are to resolve our problems, we forget everything in a jiffy. The right thing they supposed to have done is what they are just doing now, try to apportion blame to one group or the other. That is why I said that members of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party are not being truthful to themselves. Sit all these people down and let us find an amicable solution and forge ahead, but some people want to arrogate power to themselves thinking that they have the machinery and control of the party. It is not the governor’s party, it is the peoples’ party and let the power go back to the people.
