Guardian

Idaye Opi is the coordinator of the Niger Delta Project Group in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He told KELVIN EBIRI that this is the time for the leadership to move Nigeria beyond the realm of rhetoric.

What are your expectations from government this year?

GENERALLY, my expectations regarding governance are two things. One, I will refer to as immediate concern and the second not so immediate. The one that is very immediate has to do with corruption, lack of power and security. The government should do more than rhetoric. We have more of rhetoric in 2012. Anytime somebody dies, we hear of condemnation from the top and then everyone condemns it. And then they will say we are on top of it.

The next thing you will hear is that we are doing everything to arrest the situation. Before you know, another one happens and we repeat the same thing. Albert Einstein was the one who said when you repeat same thing over and again and you expect a different result, he said it is madness. So they should raise the standard. Find a way to do better than what they are doing. We cannot continue this same way. I appreciate the security forces; they have tried their best. This Boko Haram and the kind of security challenge we face in Nigeria today is new to our security agencies and they are operating from a disadvantage because of the structure and the way the offenders are organised. The Police is not properly trained, the same with the State Security Services. For the army to join them on the streets, I don’t think that is very fair. We should have a police force that is so strong that it does not require the army on a daily basis to work with it. Assuming now that Nigeria has an external aggression, what will the army do, because the whole army in Nigeria is being used to do what the normal police ought to be doing? So the government this year should try as much as possible to find a way to handle security.

Do you want to see a more aggressive anti-corruption crusade?

Corruption in Nigeria is different from that in other countries. I am not saying that there is no corruption in other countries.  But what makes Nigeria’s own different is impunity. Anybody can do anything and get away with it. In some other countries, when corrupt happens, the system will track them down. If it happens in other countries, the citizens know that they have an institution that will respond. If it happens in Nigeria, there is no system that will respond to it. That is why corruption is walking on four legs in Nigeria. Why do you have so much corruption in Nigeria? It because you have slush funds all around. There is cheap money everywhere. Unaccountable money. Funds not earned. The centre has so much money from oil, yet the people who own the oil are left high and dry. Governments don’t function that way. So I expect that government should strengthen its anti-corruption agencies and the police to combat corruption. If government can tackle corruption, then we will be better for it.

Are you expecting electricity supply to truly improve this year, based on government’s assurance?

If we can have power in 2013, that will be great because it will have a lot of multiplier effect.

The National Assembly is set to amend the constitution. What do you expect?

The major issue in the constitutional amendment is section 162 of the Constitution. If the Goodluck Jonathan’s government wants to do this country a favour, it has to work hand in hand with the legislators to make sure that the constitution is reviewed particularly this section. Section 162 talks about revenues of this country and how monies are shared. Section 162 and other supporting sections tell us how money is shared on grounds of population density, landmass and all that. I am yet to see a country where they share money every month. That is why we don’t have data. The entire census organised in this country cannot stand, because everybody wants to influence figures to be able to share from the federal purse. That is why we have people shouting for state creation because they want to position themselves to be able to share from the center. Everybody’s attention is geared towards sharing, sharing, sharing. No, countries don’t run that way. This system of sharing is fueling corruption everywhere. Mo Ibrahim foundation listed us badly in 2011 and 2012. Several other reports are coming in. We are seen as the kidnap capital of the world. One other report says Nigeria is the worst country where somebody should be given birth to in 2013.

Nigeria is not different from other countries that are trying to get it right. We are not difficult people. The problem is our constitution and I expect this administration to be bold and courageous this year to allow Nigerians review the constitution instead of the National Assembly option. When you ask a man who has left school to be coming to collect money everyday, you are invariably telling him not work. When you ask states, which should be generating money for themselves to come and collect free money from Abuja, you are killing the system. The present system is not sustainable. There is no creativity. Constitutional amendment is so crucial. Without amending this present constitution, there is no way this country can fly. And when I talk about amendment, it is not the type of thing they are doing in the National Assembly. With due respect to them, they were not elected to provide the type of constitution that we are talking about.

And I am surprised to hear in some quarter that there is nothing wrong with our constitution, that the problem we have are the people that operate it. Nothing can be farther from the truth. If you live in a building and the structure is faulty, if rain is falling and water is leaking, it will pour on you because the structure is bad. So what we are saying is that we have a structural problem in our constitution and we need to urgently address that this year. The constitution needs to be overhauled. What we are talking about is not amendment, which the National Assembly can do. We want a review of the constitution. There are two types of amendment. You can amend the constitution by tampering with a few clauses or you can amend by substitution, which is a total review of the constitution. We are talking about the second one. A review of the constitution is not the function of the National Assembly. The National Assembly was elected to make laws in accordance with the constitution.  When it comes to review, it goes outside their function. When you talk about review, you are talking about a total overhaul of the constitution. The constitution is the fountain that gives validity to all the laws made by the parliament. If the National Assembly wants to review the constitution, it means they want to give us the condition of service with which they want to work. A constitution contains the terms and condition of governance. How the government relates to its people, how the national Assembly should work. Now, if the National Assembly can review the constitution, it means that if you want to employ somebody, he can give you his condition of service. We are employing the National Assembly to work for us, so it is not for them to give us their condition of service. You are standing logic upside down. We should write a peoples’ constitution and invite them to come and work in accordance with what we have agreed. But for the same people that we want to checkmate to now write a constitution and give us, you are standing logic on its head. I want to agree to what a former American president, Jefferson once said; that there are two enemies of the people. The first enemies are the criminals. The second enemy is the government. But he went further to say, in case of the government, he said, we have to chain the government down with the chains of the constitution, so that the government does not become the official wing of the criminals.

In the constitutional review that I am suggesting here, we will want to look at the jumbo pay they are receiving. Should their job be part time of full time? They are not competent to take that decision. If a man is taking a decision that affects him, of course he will be bias. Nigerians need to decide whether they want a bicameral or unicameral legislature, considering the huge number of lawmakers. Again, this is a decision they cannot take, because it affects them directly. We need a constitution that is made by the people for the people. The preamble in the constitution that says ‘we the people’ is fraudulent. So why should the National Assembly make the same mistake? We can sit down and do what they did in Egypt and then pass it through a referendum and then let’s vote. Then we can elect our leaders based on the constitution, not for them to give us their terms of service, which is what they want to do.

Do you expect more jobs will be created this year as promised by government?

If government should remove its hands from sharing money, allow every region that has natural resources to tap it for their own development, you will be unleashing the creative ability of the people. Why do you think MTN is here? It is the market. What makes a country great? It is the talent of the people and the market. China has market and talent. If government creates the environment and allow people easy access to loans from the banks and allow them to be creative, jobs will naturally follow.  This idea of not working is working against the society. The country is making money without work. If the citizens are doing well, the country will do well. They cannot give the citizens jobs by creating ministry of employment. Nobody creates job by forming ministry of employment. It is strange. You need to unleash the creative ability of the citizens. Provide infrastructure and the jobs will follow. You create jobs by empowering your citizens. When you empower them, they now create jobs. The difference between rich nations and poor ones is talent. Government must begin from this year to unleash the talents of the citizens.