Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Chief Joe Igbokwe, in this interview with BIYI ADEGOROYE, speaks about President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent indication to seek re-election, saying he has done so much to rule Nigeria till 2023
What is your view of the desire of President Muhammadu Buhari to seek re-election?
It is fantastic. Were you expecting otherwise? President Muhammadu Buhari is their worst nightmare. We have done a lot to reposition this country even though the opposition may not see it and that is why we want him to continue. This government does not have much but with the little it has, it has been developing the country. The reason we follow him is that he can be trusted; he cares; he knows what he is doing and he is dependable. The major thing is that he can be trusted with the resources of this nation. The man is honest; he is committed. What the pretenders did not do in 16 years, he has been able to do them within three years. They continue to wail and shout but we do not care till 2023. He will rebuild this country before another person will come in. At least by 2023, he would have laid a foundation for Nigeria where corruption would have been reduced to the barest minimum and made unappealing.
What would you say are his achievements to justify your current position?
Look at what he has done in the area of infrastructure. Even in the face of dwindling resources, he spent humongous N1.2trillion on infrastructure in 2016 and replicated that in 2017.
No government has done such since 1999 but we can see the impact of such capital expenditure. Number two is that no government in the history of this country has given a bloody nose to corruption like PMB and we have seen results. Cars have been seized; houses confiscated, monies returned and their names published. No leader in this country, living or dead, has been able to do that. Anybody who is going to steal public money now will think twice. For instance those whose names have been published in the newspapers would have to tell their children what they have actually done. Their children will ask questions and they will provide answers.
Three. Were you told how much was left in our foreign reserves when we assumed office? It was about $27 billion. Today when oil price is selling for a comparatively lower figure, our foreign reserve is about $50 billion. During their time when it was about $120, how much did they have in our foreign reserves? Nothing was saved, rather even what we had was depleted. I guess they made so much during the oil boom, but they squandered everything. But now when it is selling between $50 and $60 per barrel, we have been able to raise our foreign reserves to about $50billion.
I want to also talk about how he has curbed insurgency in the country. Before Buhari came into power, many villages and local governments in Borno State were under the control of the Boko Haram. They were attacking the Federal Capital Territory. They attacked the United Nations Headquarters there as well as Police Headquarters and army barracks. Now, they have been decimated, even though we still have pockets of them scattered all over the place, facing soft targets. Sambisa Forest where they used to hide has been invaded. They will not talk about this but this is very important to us.
I am not talking about power sector, where we have moved from 2,500 megawatts to 7,000. Compare with the transportation system where the Minister of Works and Transport, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has been doing well silently. Go to Enugu-Onitsha and Port Harcourt roads, Second Niger Brigde, Nnewi-Okija, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway- many of the federal roads across Nigeria are receiving attention.
In the area of agriculture, importation of foreign rice is now coming to zero per cent, because of the humongous investment that is being made in the sector. Look at the anchor bowing scheme where millions of naira are being given to them for agriculture. As I speak with you even Choscharis is cultivating acres of land and planting hybrid rice. By December, I can tell you that this nation will be self-sufficient in rice production. Don’t worry about noise makers. I tell you when you go to market to buy something, you concentrate on your customer and the product you want to buy and ignore the noise. Market is known for noise, but you that went to buy something will concentrate on your transaction. By 2019, some people will decide whether they want to remain in Egypt or go to Canaan. I have chosen to be in Canaan.
Many people are concerned about the President’s age and health. Does your party think he can handle the stress of office with all these?
It does not matter to us because those who were younger plundered and looted this country. We are not worried about it at all. If we have a100 years old man that we can trust, all well and good. The previous people we have tried betrayed us. Is Dr. Goodluck Jonathan not young? What about Chief Olusegun Obasanjo? If you look at the achievements I have listed you will forget about age. If a 100-year-old man is giving us what we want will you go for corrupt 30 or 40 years old?
On the federal allocation of N1.2trillion to Infrastructure, do you recall that a couple of months ago, Mr. Fashola said only about 40 per cent of capital expenditure was released?
Yes, that was because of paucity of funds and in every government that cannot be ruled out. The fact is that when the funds are available, it will be released and the projects will be executed. Like I have said, we have great confidence in the men entrusted with the government and we trust that they will execute the projects and utilize our funds for the purposes they are earmarked.
How do you see the jumbo pay federal lawmakers are receiving according to the revelations of one of the Senators recently, in the face of the parlous state of the economy?
You know this thing has been there for so long and thanks to Senator Shehu Sani one of APC’s senators for bringing this to the fore. Personally, I believe we should look at the funding of the National Assembly, because to me, this bi-camera legislature is too expensive for the country. Left to me, we should scrap the Senate by legal means, because I really don’t see what they are doing there. In most cases, you see that they just invite ministers now and then and sometimes we hear about allegations of trying to get money from such ministers, especially during budget defence or while performing other oversight functions. That is unacceptable and that is why I think we should do away with the Senate and make do with the House of Representatives which is actually more representative of the whole constituencies in the country than the Senate. On the alternative, of the Senate must be retained, it should be on part time basis as it is in some developed countries.
While you are eulogizing the President’s declaration, what is your reaction to the demonstration against this second term bid in London recently?
Who were the people who demonstrated in London and what is their grouse? That is the issue because as far as I am concerned and many Nigerians can see this, this government is working and the best thing to do is to sustain the tempo. To me such demonstration was a manifestation of the fact that corruption is fighting back. We have done away with feeding bottle democracy and it is expected that those who benefitted from that democracy we jettisoned will fight back. So the London incident is not any different.
Post a Comment