Regional Secretary of International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa (IFES-EPSA), Rev Gideon Para Mallam, spoke with Sunday Oguntola on the current administration and state of the nation. Excerpts:
You were one of the clerics that supported the change of government in 2015. Would you say your decision has been justified based on the realities on ground today?
2015 was a year in which any sane Nigerian knew that change was the more expedient path to advocate and go if the nation was to be salvaged from the rampaging violence of the insurgent Boko Haram terrorist group.
Stemming the tide of corruption which was just too rampant in government at the time required a new direction and leadership change. Such change is healthy for our democracy.
Let me quickly add that if the current APC government fails to deliver, come 2019, I will equally support their ouster through a normal democratic process, credible elections.
Politicians are taking Nigerians for a ride too much and we the people must teach them lessons to bring them back to their political and normal senses.
What I did in 2015 was nothing personal but things were not moving in the right direction for the country than hence my support the agenda for change.
Where would you say this administration is getting it right and what needs to be changed?
I still believe the current campaign against corruption should continue but this needs to be done is such a way as to not make it look like a selective affair.
Also, the seriousness with which this administration is tackling the terrorism challenge and other insurgencies should be supported. We must use force in some instances and in others find ways to dialogue and negotiate a settlement without compromise or mortgaging the future of our children.
But this administration has been very unimpressive in the way it is tackling the whole question of ravaging Fulani herdsmen who are today marauding and terrorising the nation especially the Middle Belt minorities. Why is the President always silent? Does he hate the Middle Belt people so much as to note care what happens to them?
Our President’s silence is not only disturbing and unfortunate but it appears the herdsmen are acting as if they are emboldened to do maximum damage in wasting lives around the nation.
Buhari also needs to double intentional response and efforts on the economic fronts. Economic woes have no ethnic color or religious distinction whether you are Bachama in Adamawa State or Jaba in Kaduna State, a Muslim in Zamfara State or a Christian from Warri, we all suffer the present economic bite in Nigeria.
How is your assessment of the ongoing anti-corruption war?
I personally find it difficult, given the arrests and some of the EFCC celebrated. Cases of corruption are mostly those of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Are thesethe only faces of corruption in Nigeria today? I have said this over and over again that the fight against corruption should be made a Nigerian fight and not just a Buhari fight, if this is to succeed and make some appreciable impact in society which will outlive any administration.
The President Buhari as a one-man anti-corruption hero approach won’t go far enough. There is no doubt that he has been championing the fight against corruption but I am convinced that there are many more such champions in Nigeria.
The government needs to fish out and bring them on board. So far, one is not seeing that happening. As an ethnically diverse and multi-religious nation, we need to rid ourselves of the false mentality that there exists one ‘super-hero’ who can succeed as a loner in winning the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
I am afraid, the problems confronting Nigeria are myriad and the sooner even the APC government know that they alone cannot solve these, the better.
How can Nigerians beat the biting economic recession?
We need win the recession challenge by changing our economic lifestyles from a consuming nation, which imports virtually everything under the sun to focus more on intentionally promoting local manufacturing. To me, these are the real challenges our President should address
Let this nation wisely prioritise by focusing on and developing the agricultural sector. The Middle Belt can successfully be the breadbasket of Nigeria. There is need to guard and protect the Middle Belt Savannah region instead of turning it into the present killing fields it is fast becoming.
The political danger of land-grabbing and the attendant consequences of endless generational war need to be addressed if agriculture is to be pursued also.
The present emerging phenomenon of land-grabbing is a dangerous development which will be a generational conflict. It’s worse than any insurgency conflicts. Let’s learn fast from Europe. It’s never too late.
President Buhari needs to buckle up otherwise it will go down in history that he was Nigeria’s President during whose time, Nigeria moved from being the largest economy in Africa as at 2015, into recession in 2016.
Visionary appointment of able hands especially those who will turn the tide of our economic woes is much needed instead of excuses and explanations which we keep getting.
One year is enough for some initial positive signs of where we are going economically to signpost. I read how our Minister of Finance announced that Nigeria is now in official recession with a caveat that it is not just Nigeria, but other countries too.
I found that very strange, why do we have to justify a recession instead of providing specific steps on how we could come out of it? We all know the solutions are not easy to come by but how we explain things to the public is critical.
Is there still hope for Nigeria based on rising militancy?
I am essentially saying that there is hope for Nigeria in stemming the tide and coming out of the present rising militancy in the nation.
The rising tide of not just militancy but insurgency can also still be addressed through providing social justice and good governance. Many have cried for the restructuring of Nigeria and to my mind such cries should not be ignored.
As for the insurgency posed by Boko Haram, this represents not just a home but global challenge. This is being addressed but it won’t be easy to eradicate this totally due to the Islamic ideology of those who seek to Islamise Nigeria by force of arms. Hence the success of the President in fighting Boko Haram being witnessed at moment needs to be commended and encouraged.
But on the other hand, if you look at most of the demands of other militant groups in this nation, the key cause has largely been social injustice. The President told this nation some weeks ago that he is negotiating a possible settlement with the Niger Delta militants. This is a positive step.
My appeal to our President is for him to kindly remember the plight and suffering of other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria who have longed cried for social justice and marginalization. As a nation, we do not always need to wait until a group is pushed to the wall and be tempted to resort to militant means of armed struggles before we enter into negotiation with them.
A listening President can make a huge difference in the way Nigerians are governed. Will President Buhari be that listening President as part of stemming the tide of rising militancy in Nigeria?
