Femi Falana

By Femi Falana

Even though President Muhammadu Buhari has been re-elected for another term of 4 years by the Nigerian people, he and the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress ought to study the result of the polls critically. The election was neither an endorsement of the laissez faire economic policy of the APC nor the cavalier manner of handling the issue of insecurity or the selective execution of the anti corruption agenda. In spite of the limitations and contradictions that characterized the first term of the administration, majority of Nigerians decided to re-elect President Buhari for three reasons. First, Nigerians did not perceive former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as a credible alternative. Second, the opposition to the administration was essentially led by discredited retired military generals, decampees from the APC who rejoined the PDP as well as the pampered and thieving elite. Third, the other political parties failed to form a rainbow coalition and present a viable political and economic programme which is capable of transforming Nigeria from poverty to prosperity. Instead of mobilising Nigerian voters to reject the men and women of expired ideas that have dominated the political scene since independence the sponsors of the new political parties were busy campaigning in the social media. It was against this background that Nigerians decided to re-elect President Buhari. As the results of the national elections have shown majority of the voters are not on any of the social media platforms.

However, in view of the terrible human rights record of the administration coupled with disobedience of court orders, official impunity and and lack of respect for the rule of law it is indubitably clear that not much will change in the polity in the next four years. In other words, in spite of the promise of the President to constitute a cabinet of credible people and form a government of national unity the Nigerian people do not believe that the status quo will be radically altered. To start with, the ruling party has a duty to compel the President to implement its manifestoes and programmes on job and wealth creation, mass housing, compulsory and free education from primary to secondary school, power devolution etc. The ruling party has to make it clear to the President that Nigerians voted for him and not for the cabal that has been in charge of the affairs of the country since 2015.

With respect to the economy the substitution of Chinese economic domination for western imperialism has to give way to the control of the national economy by the Nigerian people. A situation whereby not less than half of the national budget is wasted on importation of fuel and other petroleum products, food products, furniture items, poultry products, palm oil, textile materials, papers, computers etc cannot be justified. But crude oil can be refined locally while other products can be produced in Nigeria in abundance and exported to other countries. Raw materials like cocoa, cashew, groundnuts etc should no longer be exported but processed in the country. The funds recovered so far from looters should be spent on fixing roads and hospitals in all the six geopolitical zones. Nigerians should monitor and track the budgets of the all tiers of the government.

For job creation the government should embark on industrialisation, promote mechanised farming and stop the contract award system. As our youths are not employable artisans are sourced from neighbouring African countries. In addition to retraining our army of unemployed young people the Nigerian Content Act and other indigenisation regulations should be enforced to create jobs and empower Nigeria to control the oil and gas industry and the entire economy. Without addressing the energy crisis the development of the country will continue to be arrested. After 4 years President Buhari cannot continue to complain about the $16 billion alleged to have been spent or wasted on electricity supply. If Egypt can generate 14,000 megawatts of electricity in barely 2 years at a cost of $9 billion the Buhari administration should move speedily to address the energy crisis.

In compliance with the judgment of the Federal High Court in Femi Falana v. Attorney-General of the Federation the Federal government should restore the Peoples Bank instead of the Tendermoni Programme. Apart from the TSA and BVN which have recorded some degree of success, the anti corruption agenda should be reviewed, redefined and reinvigorated. It has to be realised that corruption cannot stop without prompt payment of gratuity and pension of civil servants, provision of houses through mortgage institutions, subsidized by the government, provision of cheap and affordable drugs in well, equipped hospitals, affordable and qualitative education and availability of job opportunities. Instead of leaving the EFCC and ICPC to wage the anti corruption crusade, the Nigerian people who are direct victims of corruption should be mobilized to own the process.

My request for the recovery of not less than $200 billion from the NNPC, Oil Majors, CBN, shipping companies and foreign banks has been ignored by the Federal government. The said figure of $200 billion is based on reports of the NEITI, EFCC, NIMASA and judgments of local and foreign courts. In fighting for the equitable redistribution of the nation’s resources it is high time the privatization of public enterprises was reviewed. In other words, the recommendations of the Senate on the sale of public assets should be implemented without any further delay. Another area that calls for urgent attention is the scandalous enrichment of a few individuals and corporate bodies that are awarded oil blocks and marginal fields by the Federal government. The Privatization and Commercialization Act is not applicable in the oil and gas industry as Section 44(3) of the Constitution has vested all the minerals, mineral oils and natural gas in, under or upon the territorial waters of Nigeria in the Federal government. Therefore, the allocation of oil blocks to a few people and corporate bodies including multinational companies by the Federal government is inequitable, illegal and unconstitutional. In fact, one of the oil block owners once confessed that he did not know how to spend the hundreds of millions realized from renting out the oil block awarded to him by the Sani Abacha junta. Such unlawful enrichment of a few individuals has to stop in a country where the Federal, State and local governments depend on loans and bail out to fund budgets and pay salaries of workers, political office holders and other public officers.

Nigeria discovered crude oil over 60 years ago. Yet, the oil and gas industry is still dominated by foreigners in spite of the clear provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010 which has fully indigenized the industry. It may also interest you to know that the Presidential Executive Order No. 5 2018 has mandated all procuring agencies to give preference to Nigerian companies in the award of contracts and preference to Nigerian professionals and workers by all agencies and companies in Nigeria and prohibited the granting of visas and expatriate quotas to foreigners to work in any areas where local expertise is not lacking. But the relevant agencies of the Government have not implemented the provisions of the Executive Order. Instead of waiting for the government to implement the provisions of the Local Content Act and Executive Order No. 5 of 2018 the labour unions, professional bodies and other relevant interest groups should compel the government to carry its legal obligations under these indigenous laws and regulations. The Executive Order No 17 of 2017 issued by the President for transparency and efficiency in the business environment in Nigeria is not working. For instance, touting and soliciting or receiving bribes from passengers or other users at the airports and seaports prohibited by the Executive Order have continued to thrive. Can the federal government seriously talk of ease the process of doing business if the country’s port is not accessible due to the Apapa-Oshodi gridlock? It is worrisome that Nigeria has refused to learn from neighbouring countries like Benin, Togo and Ghana that are reaping bountifully from substantial investment in their ports. The point that I am struggling to make is that Nigeria is losing trillions of naira due to the refusal of the federal government to develop the ports.

The ethnic divide in the country was manifested in the votes recorded by President Buhari in the just concluded elections. The ruling party has itself to blame for refusing to address the structural imbalance in the country. The country cannot sustain a distorted federal government inherited from the defunct military dictatorship. The ruling party should as a matter of urgency implement its manifesto on devolution of powers without any further delay. The composition of the federal and state governments and the conduct of public affairs should be carried out in such manner as to reflect the diversity of the people in order to promote a sense of belonging and command loyalty among the people. Having been a victim of electoral manipulation President Buhari should seriously address the fallout of the 2019 general election. We cannot afford to waste hundreds of billions of Naira on elections that are manipulated, by the political class. In fact, local government elections conducted by the so called independent state electoral commissions are worse than national elections conducted by the INEC. Even though INEC has been empowered to deploy security agencies for election purposes some powerful elements in the government have engaged in the deployment of armed police and military personnel to intimidate voters. Having joined other civil society organizations to stop do-or-die politics under the previous regime the APC should not be allowed to usurp the powers of INEC to deploy security forces including the armed forces for election purposes. Without waiting for the outcome of the legal challenge of the results of the presidential election by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the PDP the Buhari administration should embark on the implementation of the recommendations of the Mohammed Uwais Panel, Ahmed Lemu Panel and Ken Nnamani Panel set up by the Yaradua, Jonathan and Buhari regimes respectively. One of the most important recommendations of these panels is that the government should embark on mass mobilization of the people. But that is not possible in a country where over 60 million people are illiterates. The situation calls for the immediate enrolment of the over 15 million out-of-school children and promotion of adult literacy programme.

Of course, President Buhari deserves commendation for the remediation and clean up of Ogoniland, the construction of the abandoned 2nd Niger Bridge and payment of the entitlement of Biafran soldiers and policemen. But the regime must accept full responsibility for the murderous attacks on the Shiites and IPOB by the Nigerian Army, the killing of farmers by herders as well as the terrorist attacks by the Boko Haram sect, bandits, armed robbers and kidnappers. The police should be well equipped and trained to maintain law and order while the armed forces should be limited to the defence of the territorial integrity of the nation. That is the only way to end the increasing militarization of internal security in the country. A nation that operates under the rule of law cannot afford to promote impunity by deliberately breaching laws and disobeying orders of municipal and regional courts.

The foreign policy of the country has to be reviewed as a matter of urgency. The deportation of Cameroonian refugees and asylum seekers has lowered the reputation of Nigeria in the country of civilized nations. As a matter of urgency the federal government should negotiate with the Paul Biya regime to have them brought back to the country in line with the judgment of the federal high court. That was what happened in 1981 when Alhaji Shugaba Daman who was illegally deported to Chad was brought back to the Nigeria based on the orders of a court. As a country that once hosted exiles from the Southern African region, Liberia, Sierra Leone and other troubled spots in Africa, this country cannot afford to turn her doors against Africans and refugees from crisis ridden countries. Through progressive and popular programmes, Nigeria should resume the traditional role of providing leadership in the Non-Aligned Movement, ECOWAS and African Union.

-Femi Falana was a radical student union leader at the University of Ife where he read Law. He is a successful lawyer and human rights activist who has won many awards for his activism. He is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.