National President, Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bitrus Pogu, speaks on the opposition of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the core North to restructuring in this interview with JAMES ABRAHAM
From the utterances of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), do you think he understands the full import of restructuring?
Mr President has continually said that the people who are talking about restructuring don’t know what they are saying. Given that fact, it means that he understands what it means. Remember, he also said that those who are clamouring for restructuring are people who are either confused or whatever. So, before you can say somebody is confused, or somebody doesn’t know something, it means you know the issue they are talking about. Given those responses coming from him, it means Mr President must have known what he understands by restructuring, which he feels the others don’t know.
However, given the fact again that he said if the National Assembly amends the constitution or brings the bill on amendment of the structure of governance they are working on that he is going to append his signature, it also means he is willing to do what the National Assembly believes is necessary to move Nigeria forward. So, let’s leave him with that benefit of the doubt.
If we look at it differently, the issue of restructuring, which includes devolution of power and changing the way things are done to reflect true federalism, is the bottom line and the kind of restructuring that is being clamoured for. It is now left for the National Assembly, which has the blank cheque of Mr President to do the needful and restructure Nigeria and ensure that what is going to emerge from the constitutional review is what will tally with true federalism so that Mr President will append his signature for it to come into law.
But why is he reluctant to embrace restructuring?
Mr President by his actions, which many of us consider as nepotism, belongs to the group benefitting from the current structure. And this current structure is a fraud and doesn’t meet the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians. And you can see that the majority of those who are opposed to restructuring are people, who are from the far North that Mr President belongs to.
Anybody, who is in a vantage position, will not want to lose the benefits he is enjoying. And for that reason, Mr President will not want to give in easily to change. Maybe with the way he is behaving now and accommodating a lot of pressures coming in is because these pressures are becoming unbearable may be to him or the groups he represents. If not, a person who truly loves and represents Nigerians will say to all the stakeholders: ‘Gentlemen, sit down and let’s discuss. We want Nigeria to work. What is the way forward for the electoral system and other issues bedevilling the country’?
But a person, who benefits from the current fraudulent system, will not want it to change. The issue is that Mr President hasn’t done anything of such, because the people he represents are not all Nigerians and will not want the status quo to change. They are telling him that ‘If you try that, we are finished. As much as possible, refuse to do it so that all of us will depend on the oil, which is coming from the South’. And in doing so, Nigeria will not move forward. People will not think; governors will not think of how to develop resources within their domain and will all wait for next month when the federal allocation will be shared rather than generating revenue. That is what is happening in the country presently and it is very unfortunate.
The umbrella body of the North, the Arewa Consultative Forum, is not comfortable with restructuring. Are you not bothered?
We are concerned about their disposition towards the affairs of Nigeria. We in the Middle Belt are not opposed to dialogue. Our concern with regards to restructuring is more on security and our survival, because as of the time attacks by gunmen started, they were targeted at the Middle Belt and later spread to other parts of the country. Yes, some people lay emphasis on some items more than others, but all are encapsulated in restructuring.
Some are concerned about restructuring the economic aspect, devolution of power and fiscal federalism. Though we are not opposed to any of these items, however, there should be a time frame so that everybody can develop their potential to be able to run the government themselves. We support restructuring and a system that will make every Nigerian to have some sort of equity and equality in the country and restructured Nigeria will allow for that one. So, if the Arewa Consultative Forum says they are opposed to it, they are saying it because they are the beneficiaries of the fraudulent system as we have it presently.
Let me give you one example with regard to the creation of local governments. The military created states and these council areas arbitrarily based on their personal interests. If the leader is from a particular section, he will ensure that his area gets more local government areas and this has happened over time and this thing is affecting the structure of Nigeria, even at the National Assembly to the extent that Kano State alone has 44 local governments with a population said to be close to that of Lagos, which has only 20 local governments. That is an unfair arrangement.
If you calculate the amount of money going to these 44 council areas in Kano, it is simply astronomical. Apart from the monetary benefits, the arrangement is also giving Kano undue advantage over others. Jigawa State, which was created out of Kano, has 28 local governments and the whole of Borno State has 27, while Katsina has 36 LGAs. Other states outside the North have fewer LGAs. You can see the glaring inequality, because this also translates to imbalance in representation at the National Assembly apart from the Senate, which has equal representation from the states.
In the House of Representatives, such consideration shouldn’t have been given a priority, but for the fact that if today, you want to do something, they can veto it because they have a majority of representatives. So, what we are saying in restructuring is that there is the need to readdress some of these things so that there can be equity in our representation.
Do you think the North will lose out if the country is restructured?
The North will not lose out and nobody will lose out; I can assure you of that. But the problem with fear is fear itself and there is no basis whatsoever for the North to entertain any fear about restructuring Nigeria. But this fear will certainly happen if we don’t articulate issues properly. For instance, there is enough gold in Zamfara to move this country forward, but it is being smuggled out every day without even the proceeds being channelled into the Federation Account. Everybody is depending on oil.
The majority of Nasarawa State and parts of Kogi State are sitting on coal and if we can tap the coal, it can do wonders for the country. We have a lot of things in the North that can be developed. We have a lot of fish and land for farming in Borno State. You will find these natural endowments in virtually every state in the North. All we are saying is that let us look at ways and means of developing every federating unit, which are the states, so that they can be viable. We can say we are going to restructure to engender true federalism and fiscal federalism, but let us have a time frame to develop all the resources of the federating units so that they can stand on their own.
Is it possible to achieve true federalism with the current disposition of the North?
I believe it can be achieved through dialogue. Dialogue is important so that they will get to understand the way forward for Nigeria and be able to renounce their fear about restructuring. What the North is seeing is that since everybody is depending on oil and because of that they think restructuring and fiscal federalism means that states with oil will keep their oil, leaving them with nothing to run their states. It will not happen that way. There are checks to lead to what we are talking about.
For more understanding of the situation of things in the area of insecurity when the country is eventually restructured, I grew up to know two types of police when I was young. We had native authority police and then the Nigeria police. Now, the native authority is like the states as we have them now. If the states are the federating units, why can’t we have the state police? Why can’t we have the local government police? The same way it works in America can apply in Nigeria. It will solve the present problematic situation, where the people are helpless even when they are seeing those that came to attack them. If the people ask the police for help, they will be watching and waiting for orders from above.
The same thing happens with the military. Meanwhile, people are being killed. That should not be allowed to continue. The truth is that the present arrangement is not working and for effective protection of the people, we also need restructuring even in the aspect of security. So, restructuring will go in different forms and ways, and we can achieve that through dialogue. Let’s sit down and discuss. By the time we discuss, the North that is opposed to it will understand the benefits of what we are talking about and we can collectively say that is the direction to go. Implementation of restructuring will take away every form of fear, which the North has, and Nigeria will be better for it.
From its utterances, does it appear the regime understands the gravity of insecurity in Nigeria?
I believe that Mr President and his administration understand. Everybody in Nigeria understands the gravity of the current insecurity. No President or government will say they are blind to what is happening in the country. There is no day you will wake up in this country where it will not be either in the newspapers or the social media that people have been killed in one area or the other. It is a daily account all over the country.
Secondly, we were told recently that the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, who seems to have many lives, had been killed, but the result of that development is a greater danger, because Boko Haram has united with ISWAP and other Fulani militia to form one global terror group against Nigeria. They have even posted videos that they will start dealing with people who don’t believe in what they are doing, thereby calling out Christians. So, the situation does not show any sign of de-escalation. And the government is aware of it.
As to what the government is doing; that is where the problem lies, because people like us believe that our military has the capacity to crush the insurgents, because they have the intelligence, firepower and manpower, and also know where the enemies are. If Sheikh Gumi knows where the terrorists are, I believe that our security agents know better than the cleric. I think what is lacking in government is the political will to address the problem. Boko Haram does not have an air force base, but Nigeria has air surveillance facilities.
We have seen Boko Haram moving in convoy of vehicles to areas where they wanted to attack and the Nigerian Air Force did nothing about it. They also move on motorbikes and even write to the communities they want to attack that they should expect them. After carrying out their attacks successfully, sometimes Nigeria airplanes will appear and fly over them, but not to bomb them. Does that show that Nigeria wants to end terrorism? So, there are things that are wrong and baffling, and Mr President has to sit up. He should forget about whether the terrorists are his relatives or not and bring their activities to a stop, because these people attacking Nigerians are destroying the country.
If what they are doing leads to a kind of reprisal, it will be very bad for the country, because its military will be rubbished as Nigerians will stop believing in the military and the police and their ability to keep doing their jobs. And by the time these people are crushed, those who think they are the beneficiaries of the present unworkable situation will be the losers, because these situations will change. The people who are dominating today will be beggars. And that is why I will say to Mr President to listen to wise counsel and give the military the wherewithal to crush the insurgents before Nigeria collapses.
PUNCH.
