There is still hope in Nigeria, but damning predictions might come to pass, if… -Oyelese
…Says Awolowo would have shut Nigeria’s oil production, if he became president
Elder Wole Oyelese is a former Minister of Power and Steel under the late Sani Abacha junta in Nigeria. The former Egbeda Local Government chairman of Oyo State spoke on Sunday on a radio station on the state nation. STEPHEN GBADAMOSI, who monitored the interview, presents excerpts of his thoughts:
Looking at the situation in this country now, is there any hope for Nigeria?
Yes, there is hope. There is no situation that has no perspective of hope. Sometimes, God allows some things to happen over time until He intervenes. What I can tell Nigerians is that there is hope. However, when a king reigns and reigns well, people don’t forget; when another rules and rules bad, the people also don’t forget. And whoever does well and otherwise, god rewards them.
We are going through so much in Nigeria. Whether we like it or not, there is a ‘war’ between the elites and the downtrodden; and between the leaders and the led.
You said something about some ministerial nominees who have bags of corruption allegations hanging around their necks. The question many are asking is that: Should how corrupt you are be the criteria for getting big positions in government?
I usually say that the masses are the enemies of the masses. But we have to be careful in this country to avoid the revolt of the masses. When a few minority is oppressing the majority, there might be a cause to stop that one day.
The sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, at a meeting with us, his lieutenants in 1983 (that was the last meeting he held with us before he died), said this was not how God wanted Nigeria to be. Nigeria is one of the most blessed countries in the world. He said something terrible might happen in this country. I do not want to use his exact words.He predicted that four things would happen in this country. Three of them have happened already. I am afraid that the fourth, which is the worst of all, should not happen. Something similar to it happened in Ghana. That is why I am praying that vision was seen about Ghana; not Nigeria.
But as an experienced politician, I can see that such day as it happened in Ghana is near, unless things change drastically. It is time for Nigerian leaders to begin to rethink.
How do we get it right?
Right now, it is only crude oil that we live on as a country; and that is wrong. At another meeting in Yola in 1982, Awolowo told us that if he became president, he would shut Nigeria’s oil production for six months. We were all looking at him in awe and asking how he would run the country. He asked us all to go back and think outside the box. But we didn’t know what to tell him.
Later, he asked us if we knew why God surrounded Nigeria with massive ocean bodies.
In Nigeria today, we flare our gas. We don’t have the technology to harness our gas resources. Why can’t we think of looking for those who have the technology to use our gas reserve? Why can’t we say: Come in, use this gas, take two-third of the proceeds, let us have one-third; we share the proceeds until a time we are able to manage it ourselves?
The problem with us is that we still retain this colonial mentality. For example, you see papaw three growing in a garden and you find that some trees have small pawpaw fruits, while others have large ones. A Nigerian would tell you that the larger ones are oyinbo (white man’s) pawpaw. That’s pawpaw growing on Nigerian land o; whatever is good is from the white man.
And these white men don’t want freedom for us in Africa. They rely on our economy to survive in their own countries. Look, there is no change of government and coups that they don’t know about. Whoever benefits from a fool would never pray for the fool to be wise.
A good example is the uranium they are getting from Niger Republic. We learnt that it sells for $200 per gramme, but the Niger government, under Bazoum, gets $11 per gramme for the African country. That must be the reason the president that supports such was chased away. ECOWAS did not bother to find out the grouse of the people before rebelling against the government.
Sir, the Nigerian government has spoken on various palliative measure over removal of petrol subsidy, party of which is provision of N5 billion for each state. How do you think we can share this?
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I actually do not like that word ‘palliatives.’ If we know what palliatives means, we would not be happy; it is not good. Medical people think of palliatives for patients that they believe would not survive their ailments.
What then should government do?
There are real actions we should have taken. I feel sad when they say Nigerians lack. When I was in government, thing were also hard like this. And we were discussing possible solutions in government. Some said we should plant large expanse of land of maize and beans. And being a farmer that had been getting hybrid seedlings from NISER, I knew it would take not less than three months for any such thing to mature for consumption; and I was wondering what the people would eat before that period. And if the people of the country are hungry, why are you in government?
You said you did Anchor Borrowers; and the money got to people who are not farmers. What is the good in that? I recently bought a bag of rice for N42, just last week. Such price has to go down first, else the people might take to the streets.
But, is there still hope?
Yes, there is hope.
What is your view about the coming local government election in Oyo State, being a former local government chairman?
I know that Seyi Makinde is a good person who would not ask anybody to write election results. But our leadership recruitment process is bad. Imposition is part of the problem.
When we were in the saddle in the local governments then, we weren’t poor before getting there. It was solely about service. Many people are in politics now because they are poor. They don’t have any profession to fall back on. They have made it a profession. They would amass wealth for their future. But the heads of the suffering masses will ask them.
I budgeted N500,000 for my expenses to become local government chairman in those day. It was a lot of money then, though, but I didn’t spend all. But now, they sell their houses and other properties to get to positions.
For now, there is no more local government in Nigeria; local government is now a desert course on the governors’ dining table. I am not referring to OYO, but all local governments in Nigeria.
What about your service in Abacha government?
I had to take him to court over plan to scrap local government. And I won in court. But one thing I want people to know about him is that it is only when a tiger is dead that people can tug at its tail. Which of all those past leaders did not take our money away? Let all our leaders change their mindset.
