Don’t get deceived that we don’t have money. There is money, there is plenty of money. And let me give you an idea: Nigeria was built the way Nigeria is now… Even with all our complaints, Abuja and Lagos — when you look at the biggest cities in Nigeria at a time when oil was not even $30 — all these things you see… and that is not to say that there was no corruption in those days. And now we are selling oil at $108 per barrel. The Customs’ income is now almost N1 trillion. We have much more now, but, as we speak now, because of the level of corruption…no, there is plenty of money. Fuel subsidy went up from what we used to pay in Nigeria, which used to hover between N200 billion and N300 billion, to N2 trillion. And then somebody will tell you that there is no money.

What is your economic ideology? Are you going to operate capitalist economy or what? Though the term ‘ideology’ is becoming unfashionable across the world, because of the way the world economy has evolved over time, is it going to be heavy government’s investment or are you going to be encouraging the private sector to take the lead in the economy?

We are going to run a government that works — what works is what we are going to be doing. I am not going to tell you that we would do capitalism or socialism. No. But every government must invest heavily in infrastructure; it must invest. Let me give you an example to tell you that, for the American government, everything is private-sector-led. If the internet itself was not endorsed by the government, we would not have the Google and the Facebook of this world.

The government does what people cash into. You create the enabling environment, create a superstructure that private people cannot just do on their own because of huge resources required to do it; you do it to create or to liberalise the sector. Typically, the internet was developed by the American government. Of course, even though it has changed the world it is America that is affected the most.

Let me take the case of Abuja now. If we waited for the private sector to come and build hotels in Abuja, there would have been no Hilton and Sheraton in Abuja. The initial idea was… there was one businessman who was supposed to partner with the government to build it but, eventually, the idea couldn’t sail through. Imagine that Abuja was built without a five-star hotel. So the government would have to be involved in aspects of our lifestyle that private-sector people can’t do, or that are too big for the private sector. That is one.

Secondly, I told you we are going to encourage the creation of superstructure; that is private sector. But there is no way you see the private sector doing very, very well that the government has not created the enabling environment. In the UK or the US, there are places you go and you tell them you want to start a factory somewhere, and they will even provide you with the building free of charge. That is the kind of thing I mean — things that will encourage people to jumpstart them. That’s how South Korea did become what it is now with the Hyundai, the Daewoo, the Samsung and so on. It is massive support from government; it is not for you to go and give them cash. No, it’s far from that. For instance, there is a gentleman that created a competition to iPad in Nigeria, four years ago. Yes, he did it.

What stops the government from ordering large quantity of that, even if it’s is not good enough, even if it is not as good as iPad? One guy from one place in the South-West — I have his name somewhere.

Somebody that will go that far has a passion for success. If you patronise him, even if it is not good enough, even if you are going to lose part of that money, the multiplier effects on many of such people will change this country. That is how South Korea developed — massive support from the government. We keep hearing every time that somebody has developed this and another developed that. How is the government helping these talents to prosper? Let’s not even talk about this government because they are not doing anything. But there are several ways the government must be involved in encouraging the private sector, because the private sector creates the jobs.

Sir, you said you have been meeting with some members of your party on your ambition. What have been their responses to your quest?

I have been meeting everybody, not just members of our party. And, of course, I have been attending meetings of the APC. Yes, but I am not trying to be the president of APC; I am working to be the president of Nigeria and so I am talking to everybody across the country.

What have been their responses?

Very good, very good. It’s fine. You also go for consulting sometimes, not just looking for endorsements. I told you before that, even before I started consulting, people called me to say that you have to do this. And, of course, there is consultation. I tell everybody including people who, because of certain parochial interests, do not even see things in the national interest. We still tell them, because we have to talk to everybody.

Reading your past columns, one knows that one of the people that you hold in very high esteem is Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Though he has not come out to say that he is contesting again, some people are assuming that he may emerge as the presidential candidate of your party, APC. So, are you going to be contesting against him during the party primaries? When you informed him about your ambition, what was his response?

I think what you mean is that he may contest, not emerge as presidential candidate. Because presidential candidates emerge after the primaries. Well, what I know as at now — and that is also what I work on — is that what he said before now was that he was not contesting again. Now, many people including me are no longer sure, though he has the right to contest. There was one joke he cracked a few years ago that we all laughed over: ‘There is only minimum age to contest, there is no maximum age.’ I give that to him!

Secondly, yes, everybody knows that I hold Buhari in very high esteem. Not just that, I believe that he should have been president since 2003. Not just that I believe it; I staked my life on that. I am sure you know. He remains my role model in politics, but he was actually the first person I told when I finally made up my mind, because I did not want people to mismanage that information. But I am sure that, even by the time I told him, he must have heard; because he was not surprised and I did not expect him to say ‘don’t do it’.