Chief Martin Onovo, the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, in the 2019 general elections, speaks on the state of the nation, economy  and expectations in the next political dispensation

 

 

 2023 is around the corner and politicians may have begun horse-trading to succeed President Buhari. What are your thoughts on this and what should Nigerians expect in 2023?

 

This is 2021. After 2021, it will be 2022. So, 2023 is not around the corner. The constitutional purpose of government in Nigeria is the security and welfare of the people. We must focus on the ‘Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. We cannot go from one election to another election. Elections are simply to democratically decide candidates that will hold political positions. Those that are “horse-trading” now are unpatriotic persons that are more interested in their personal political ambitions than in national development. Such persons are unfit for public office.

 What would you say about the spate  of insecurity in the country and the rise of non-state actors to fill the void created by the failure of the state to secure the lives of Nigerians?

 

It seems clear to us that the ruling party APC is the direct sponsor of insecurity and terrorism in Nigeria. This may be obvious when you consider the confessions of a former leading national chieftain of the APC Alhaji Kawu Baraje. He confessed that, the Fulani terrorists in Nigeria were brought in from Mali, Sierra Leone, etc., by the APC for the 2015 elections. His confession has been corroborated by so many others and the evidence that many of the Fulani terrorists are Bororo Fulani and not Nigerian Fulani. In addition, we have seen the Nigeria Army conniving with the bandits as confirmed by Gen. Danjuma. Recently, after some communities in Yewa land in Ogun State mobilized and expelled terrorist herdsmen from their community, soldiers of the Nigeria Army’s 35 Artillery Brigade in Abeokuta led the herdsmen back and brutalized some villagers. We know from the testimony of Col. Nyiam that  when the herdsmen that attacked Ogoja were repelled, the arms recovered from them were from the Nigeria Army. We also know that the Police in Plateau State arrested a herdsman with a Nigerian Military rifle. The Police gave the rifle’s number as HC2614. Sheik Gumi has also confirmed that Nigerian security forces know exactly where these terrorists are camped. It seems clear to us beyond a reasonable doubt that the ruling party, APC is the direct sponsor of insecurity in Nigeria.

 

Where is the place of the new service chiefs in this imbroglio?

The new service chiefs are agents of the Commander-in-Chief and have no capacity to act beyond the mandate and directives of the Commander-in-Chief. Please remember that the Commander-in-Chief is the leader of the ruling party that has been exposed as the direct sponsor of insecurity and terrorism in Nigeria. You may have heard how from the National Security Adviser how the funds allocated for arms purchase under the former service chiefs cannot be accounted for. 

 

 

 We have witnessed a synergy between the legislature and executive on issues that require critical scrutiny in form of checks and balances.What are your fears about this alliance?

 

The current leadership of the National Assembly has confirmed that they are a rubber-stamp. We have no fears about their unpatriotic and indolent alliance. We must accept reality and deal with it the best way we can. The unpatriotic alliance has led to poor policies, weak oversight and very poor legislative activities.

 

 

 Nigeria is the global capital of poverty and it is said to have exited recession when Nigerians are still groaning under severe pains. What is actually wrong with the nation’s economy?

The current government has ruined the economy. When the 2016 budget was presented, we called it a ‘Budget of Ruination’. It was clear that early that the government was determined to destroy the economy. That has been achieved. National debt is unprecedented, unemployment is unprecedented, inflation is unprecedented, extreme poverty is unprecedented and the Naira has lost more than half of its value under the current government. If you had N8,000 in a bank account in 2014, you could buy a full 50kg bag of foreign premium rice. Today, you cannot even buy half a bag with the same N8,000. With N4,500 in Nov 2014, you could buy 3 bags of 50kg cement. Today, you can buy only 1 bag.The problems of the nation’s economy include, corruption, waste, mediocrity and incompetence.

 

 

 What is your take on the fact that the country’s fuel price is still on the high side and other economic indices do not point to a buffer for Nigerians?

It is not about my take. It is about the facts. The current unpatriotic and unconstitutional policy of importation of petroleum products routinely compels us to pay for the imported product. This price must be high as imported products have so much more additional costs. If we were refining our crude oil locally, we would create a lot of jobs directly and indirectly. We would avoid all the costs associated with importation and prices will be much lower. ,

 

The country is in an era of deregulation and still importing fuel. What is the economic sense in this and what should the country do to harness the full benefits of deregulation?

If we do not refine our crude oil, we must import the refined products that we need. Since we are still importing, our deregulation is the deregulation of the importation of petroleum products. We must fix our domestic refineries and refine some of our crude oil. 

 

You observed the public hearing of the Petroleum Industry Bill before the National Assembly. Would you say Nigeria is good to go with a law that would bring in more investors and engender transparency in line with international best practices?

No! If you know the original objectives for the Petroleum Industry Bill, you will know that we have lost the foundational purpose of the Bill. Even a distorted version has not been passed after so many years. The idea of an entirely new bill was ab-initio inefficient. A simple compilation of the existing laws could have achieved 75% of the original objectives.

 

Nigeria has declared a decade of gas. How far can the country go to power the economy with revenue from gas and boost domestic consumer utilization of gas?

 

It is deceitful rhetoric. The visionless government of Gen. Buhari has been in office for nearly six years and has practically about two years more in office. How can it declare a ‘Decade of Gas’ when it practically has only about two years in office? It is a deceitful, divisive, dictatorial, visionless and unpatriotic government that is known for false promises. Of its over eighty campaign promises, none has been achieved. Also, none of the principal objectives of its ‘Economic Recovery and Growth Plan’ (EGRP) has been achieved. This government led by Gen Buhari lacks the capacity and discipline to develop a vision, plan and implement the plan diligently.    

 

 

 What is your take on the country’s power almost 7years after its privatization? What should the country do to get the sector right?

 

It was clear that the privatization was ill-conceived and corrupt. We predicted that it would fail and it has clearly failed. The companies that took over clearly lacked the professional, technical and financial capacity to run the distribution companies. The government and consumers have lost so much money to these ‘Special Purpose Vehicles’ called distribution companies (DISCOs). Rather than develop the infrastructure as expected, they have preferred to fraudulently continue to extort money from consumers using ‘crazy bills’. With these ‘crazy bills’, they are able to extort money from consumers for power not supplied. As they extort money from consumers for power not supplied, they reject power offered to them by the transmission company.To fix the problems with the power distribution companies, we must improve regulatory capacity and check corruption.