Restructuring not Nigeria’s problem, but greed and selfishness -Oyubu
Dr. (Mrs.) Janet Oyubu is the All Progressives Congress (APC) Woman Leader in Delta State. For her the call for the restructuring of Nigeria is unnecessary, rather she wants Nigerians to re-orientate their mindset, arguing that such was the panacea for the rapid growth and development of the country. Oyubu in this interview with OLA JAMES in Warri, insist that Nigeria can stand tall within the comity of nations and the best in the African Continent. While commending the five South-East governors for proscribing IPOB, the frontline politician advised Nnamdi Kanu to tread softly in his quest for the creation of Republic of Biafra.
A lot of Nigerians are clamouring for restructuring of the country, what is your own comment on the controversial issue?
I have never been against restructuring like that, but the problem of Nigeria is not restructuring, it is re-orientation of our mindset.
Nigerians hate each other, we are greedy; we are selfish, we are self-centered and those on stage politically are wicked, they don’t have the common man or the grassroots man in their mind;
they are there for self-gratification; they want to grab to the third generation according to their mindset. Until the re-orientation of our mindset is achieved, we restructure our mind to our needs, not our want, we cannot go anywhere.
Secondly, we need to develop ourselves, like our forefathers did, but that is not to say there are issues created down by bad governance.
The issues that are created down is not even 18 years ago, it has been there since Independence because of these factors I have just mentioned.
Also, greed, selfishness, tussle for power, nepotism, character assassination and other evil attitude.
So, if we start on a platform of growth, neighborliness and that kind of solidarity for our country, I think we would have grown more than this if we are going by the tenet of our colonial masters;
going after our necessary needs and not our want to be special beings among our tribes men, society to be one out of a million, infact we created the problems we have found ourselves.
I have come to the conclusion that people are just criticising this government for nothing. This present government opened our eyes to our root foundation, exposing treasury looters and disgruntled politicians; that is what we are suffering from;
not necessarily restructuring, they want their relatives to come around them and beg before they can eat and survive, that is cause of inequality.
President Muhammadu Buhari is fighting a lot of battles, especially corruption and insecurity and all that, but which area do you suggest he should focus on more?
Number one is the power sector. He should try everything he can to stabilise power because if there is enough power and constant light, the idle man will see something to do and that will quell the tempo of tension in the polity for now.
You see if he can provide the three necessities of life, power, water and food, tension across the country will subside; infact those three things work together especially now that he has revised us to having the backyard farming;
our needs will come down a little because we may not be buying so much things like we have been buying before; so, we are looking inward now because many foreign foods, clothes and other necessary things have been taken out of the way.
If we grow up with garri, akpu, starch, tuwo without fried eggs, bread, etc. all these things will increase our internal earnings. Infact, the government has taught us to be ourselves and not to be artificial.
Don’t you think Buhari is too hard on Nigerians?
In what sense? Buhari is not hard at all, he is only doing what he has promised and what he knows how to do best. He is a very virtuous man
and he wants everybody to be like him and if not like him at least if you are not virtuous at all, change from vices to virtue. He is trying and gradually we will get there.
Madam, people are saying Buhari is always unlucky to rule Nigeria because each time he comes on board, people suffers?
You see every human being is created for a purpose. When there are errors there are bound to be corruption, the duty assigned to Mr. President from Heaven is a very tedious one.
Perhaps, he was born to correct all the ills in our land; is that hard luck? The first time he came he foresaw today; he wanted to forestall it so that today will not be what it is now, they disturbed him.
You know when you are thriving in evil, it is like milk and honey but if they try to correct you, to do the right thing, it is like you are undergoing punishment. People are saying when he came now things are hard, did he loot the treasury when he came first? He only came to correct what is not right.
What is your advice to Buhari on foreign policy?
I don’t think we are doing badly in terms of foreign policy, because we have enough kettle of fish inward here.
Mr. President is struggling to tackle the internal problems and he has normal relationship with powerful countries like Britain that gave us Independence, we are not from America, but we like their idea that is why we are following along.
Everybody must not like everybody according to President Donald Trump. I believe Buhari is trying his best, infact we have good relationship with America even Russia is not our enemy, but we will get there because we are doing more than our contemporary in the African Continent.
The country recently had its 57 Independence anniversary, how do you asses Nigeria at 57? Are we progressing or retrogressing?
Nigeria is standing tall among the comity of nations because Buhari’s government has made us proud and could be described as one of the best things that have happened to Nigeria, because he is trying to put us on our right and proper footing.
It is not easy to do the right thing. Buhari is a realist, a pragmatic person, he doesn’t believe in pretending, he is out to tell everybody the truth all the time and also want us to do our thing in the right way.
I mean the way China and America started, infact he wants us to have our brand in Africa and all over the world.
We are doing very well among our black Africa contemporary, don’t forget that we are the big brother of Africa and we remain there, nothing is taking us backward despite the kind of problem we have been going through.
If other Africa countries are experiencing one third of what we are going through, there will be anarchy.
We are not retrogressing rather, we are moving forward. You will agree with me that twenty-four months are not enough to correct the ills of almost 57 years back, so it is not just government or democratic dispensation.
He is trying to correct the things that were not properly done from our root foundation. So, we are progressing.
Above all we are not regretting getting Independence from the British government. Indeed, the methodology is not right, but I can assure you that we are not regretting at all. The system we had applied from the beginning was faulty.
So, the person who knows it wants to put it right if given the atmosphere to put the system right. And we will know that we are getting it better than when we started.
what do you have to say about the clamour for the republic of Biafra by a section of Igbo?
That Mr. President knows how to manage insult and has given mandate of free speech does not mean that anybody will just wake up and start insulting his personality like that for no reason.
Nnamdi Kanu is not too young to lead a revolution, but the system he is applying is very violent and cross the border of self-actualisation to terrorism, that is simply the truth.
Anybody who supports Kanu right now is supporting truancy. No country in the world can support a parallel government by somebody who does not know his left from his right. This issue has been there and it is not only the South-East that is marginalised.
Besides, our unity is sacrosanct, because we inter-marry, we have lived together and we are related in one way and the other.
That is why people are clamouring that we should review certain policies that will meet our current needs. The methodology matters a lot because the way he is going about is wrong and nothing has been achieved by violence.
So, he should have known that by age, the President is old enough to be his father. By governance it is not the fault of our President in current dispensation for where found ourselves.
If other leaders who ruled before did not allow the country to break up in their time why is Kanu and his supporters wanting Buhari to do it in his own time, even if there are issues.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo did not allow it to happen in his time, he cautioned against it and said that second war is not necessary, because no nation survives civil war twice.
So, why are we clamouring for it, because whatever thing that happens is as a result of treasury looting, greed and disgruntled politicians. We should not listen to their pranks.
Five governors of the South-East came up with a statement, proscribing IPOB and other related issues, do they have the power to do that?
They have the power to some extent to keep and maintain peace in their jurisdiction. They cannot fold their hands and allow the breakdown of law and order in their respective state.
They had called Kanu and advised him to plan well as others are doing without violence and should not plunge their region into anarchy in the name of Biafra.
He (Kanu) decided to run secret police agents and even armed them, telling people that he can stop election in Anambra State and nothing will happen.
Yes, we know youths are angry and hungry, jobless and many issues are there to be solved, but you cannot solve issues by adding more to it.
Do you believe in one Nigeria?
I do believe in one Nigeria and, we have not grown more than America because America has fifty-two states and ours is far less than America. We can form a better Nigeria if we can get things right from our mindset.
What do you have to say about the First Lady who is still donating relief materials to the less privileged, especially the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). IS she over doing things?
She is doing the best she can to support the current government and actualise what she promised in her campaign. So, Chibok girls and other women are all her own because she is the mother of the nation.
She is really doing well and we are also praying that God will grant her the courage to do more.
Quote
The problem of Nigeria is not restructuring, it is re-orientation of our mindset. Nigerians hate each other, we are greedy; we are selfish, we are self-centered and those on stage politically are wicked, they don’t have the common man or the grassroots man in their mind; they are there for self-gratification; they want to grab to the third generation
