Hon Abraham A. A. Sumaila is the director general Bola Tinubu Volunteers Movement, Nationwide. In this interview with OYIBO SALIHU, he appeals to the president to remember promises made to the people.
What informed the formation of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Volunteer Movement ?
The group was formed in 2018 and comprises people of like-minds from various states of the federation who aligned and formed a formidable group that will galvanise support for the emergence of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu now president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It was in 2019 that the group became formidable and kick- started the process of our supporting the newly inaugurated president.
The Bola Ahmed Tinubu Volunteer Support Movement was used to campaign and canvass votes for Kogi state governor, His Excellency Alhaji Yahaya Bello. The group was among other political support groups that went round the three senatorial districts of the state to campaign for the governor in 2019 for his second team in office.
I was the state coordinator of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Volunteers Movement then. It was as a result of my effort that the group was viable during the electioneering campaign of Governor Yahaya Bello, I had to obtain loans to fund the group without receiving any dime from any body either before or after the campaign and I don’t even know whether the governor is aware of our efforts toward his second term re-election.
The group also worked assiduously for the emergence of our president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election. Our clamour for Tinubu made us to form the group in 2018. His antecedent in Lagos state when he was the governor of the state motivated us because we want him to replicate that across the country. Between 1999 and 2007 when he was the governor of Lagos state, everyone attested to the fact that he laid a very strong foundation for every governor that came after him to follow for the continuity of development of the state.
As part of this, he created 37 development councils which till date are being funded by the state government without any support from federal allocation. Despite the fact that the federal government denied him federal allocation for months, he performed well. He is a leader, trained many people that are leaders today. Many of them served in the immediate past administration of president Muhammadu Buhari. Tinubu as governor of Lagos state started the NIPP project which the federal government later copied.
He brought a lot of developments into infrastructure and economy that today singled Lagos out. He met Lagos state struggling with IGR of slightly over 600 million naira monthly, but due to his commitment and ideas he was able to change the trend to over 40 billion naira monthly which was why the state can always survive without federal allocation
Theses are some of the qualities we have seen in him which made us to form the movement to contribute his aspiration of leading this nation and I am very glad that today he is the 16th president of this country.
As someone who had campaigned vigorously for APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, what advice will you offer him and the administration?
First and foremost President Tinubu is a leader that has agenda for the country. He has prepared adequately to govern this country for the purpose of taking the nation to the glorious level. My advice to him is to be focused and not allow detractors to derail him from his plans of changing the narrative of this country for better. Secondly, he should use his experience and contact to assemble a formidable team that will add value to this country. His speech during his inauguration indicated that he is ready to turn around the fortune of this country and I am sure and optimistic that he will leave Nigeria far better than he met it.
Thirdly, the president should prioritize the issue of Ajaokuta Steel Company and Itakpe Iron Ore revitalisation to enable him meet up with his quest to create jobs. It is no longer a hidden fact that the steel company is capable of generating over 500,000 jobs aside the jobs other subsidiary companies will generate for the country.
Therefore since former President Buhari has cleared all
the local and international disputes, it behooves on the current administration to put the issue of the company on the front-burner because any government that truly wants to develop and industrialize the country will not handle the issue of Ajaokuta steel with levity. Also in operationalizing the steel company, the federal government should concession it to a competent and viable private investors that has the financial and technical capacity that will operationalise the steel industry effectively.
This is the time for the new government to learn from the previous effort that were not tangible to the realisation of the objectives of establishing the steel industry. In addition, President Tinubu during his electioneering campaign in Kogi state promised to dredge River Niger in order to create job opportunities for Nigerians.
He should please bear those promises in mind with a view to fulfiling them. I am also using this medium to passionately appeal to Nigerians to be patient with the new administration. We should support the government to achieve its numerous developmental plans for the country especially on the issue of removal of fuel subsidy which is long over due.
