To mark the first year anniversary of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism launched a series of town hall meetings to reinforce the campaign of change. Assistant Editor Seun Akioye captured the mood at the Lagos meeting.
The six “super” ministers sat on the well-designed podium at the Lagos City Hall each one lost in his thoughts, after the initial greetings, they had remained largely by themselves. Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment took a piece of paper and made studious effort at studying its content, Geoffrey Onyema of Foreign Affairs dedicated his time to reading the programme while Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of state for Petroleum, simply folded his arms across his breasts, it would remain so for most of the meeting.
The other ministers present include, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing and Rotimi Amaechi, Minister for Transport and they were there at the request of their colleague, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism.
It was the first edition of a series of town hall meetings which had been planned to mark the first year anniversary of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Mohammed said the meeting is reflective of the understanding that the right to know is not a gift and it will give citizens an “opportunity to come together to discuss emergent issues in the polity, thus deepening the culture of participatory democracy.”
The ministers were expected to give an overview of their ministries and what they intend to do to solve the myriad of problems facing the country. They were also to talk about the recent China trip by the President, its gains and future prospects.
Foreign Policy
Minister Onyema began to speak very softly, his duty was to align the “numerous” foreign trips of the President to the administration’s core mandates and how it impacts on our Foreign Policy. For a man who is usually not in the media, many didn’t know what to expect. How will he entangle the intricate knot of trips and foreign affairs with the cardinal pillars or mandates of government? He said the Nigeria’s foreign policy is hinged on the themes of: Governance, Security and Economy, it was along this line that the President’s trips were planned.
“The trips of Mr President are not selected on a random basis, they were carefully selected and designed to fit into the priorities of government, on security, the trips initially were to the neighbouring countries, at that time Boko Haram was a threat to the existence of this country, MrPresident targeted his initial trips to the neighbouring countries because the Boko Haram were using these countries as base to attack Nigeria.
“The first foreign policy thrust was in that direction and the results are clear for all to see. The personae of our president also inspire confidence in some of the powerful countries in the world who have refused to help us or sell arms to us because they didn’t have any confidence in the government of the day.”
Onyema said President Buhari is trying to lay a foundation for sustainable development. “ There is the temptation to go for quick wins, most governments will take the easy way out, go to the ( International Monetary Fund, IMF) take some loans and devalue your currency, these are quick fixes which is like putting back the evil days.”
He said Nigeria’s foreign policy is economic diplomacy. He said all Nigerian embassies in the 119 countries would begin a process of match making Nigerian businesses and those in other countries. “We are doing a match making database where Nigerian businessmen can upload details of their business in a particular country and our trade representative in the embassy will facilitate the process, this cuts out the red tape,” he said.
Enelamah whose Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment is charged with creating jobs and opportunities for Nigerians spoke excitedly about his plans for businesses in the country. One could see the urgency in his voice, the joy in his eyes and his body language showed a man in a hurry to deliver.
He said the aim of his ministry is to make it easier to do business in Nigeria. “You may call us the ministry of enabling environment for Trade, Investment and Industry,” he said. There was a slight applause from the crowd; the other ministers conveyed a smile of gratitude on him.
The World Bank Index on ease of doing business places Nigeria on 168th position in the world, Enelamah wants to change that to double digits within a few years. It will be a tough job, he owned but one which he had the passion to fulfil. “We are going to be the first government to implement the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) in Nigeria,” he declared. There was applause; it took some time for silence to prevail.
Industrialisation
The minister spoke about industrialisation, but he would also worry about providing infrastructure, he would worry about the Small and Medium Scale Enterprise, getting loans to manufacturers to kick-start local businesses andforming a sustainable base for industrial growth. He promised that the textile, garment and cotton industry in Nigeria will be revived.
To many this may seem a tall dream, the textile industry about 30 years ago had provided jobs for millions of Nigerians before the eventual comatose. Despite government’s N100billion intervention fund, the industry yet cannot cope with the massive importation of textile from China and Asia. However, if one doubted Enelamah’s words, one cannot fault his passion and the energy with which he spoke.
China also featured prominently in the talks. The Minister of Information was determined that the gains of the President’s trip to China be enunciated profoundly by the Ministers. Enelamah said the President’s recent trip to China has opened up a vista of opportunities for the about 200 businesses that went with the President on the trip with various business deals signed with various Chinese companies to help kick off the industrialisation of Nigeria.
“ We are concerned about creating the enabling environment for business to thrive here, that is what the Chinese told us they opened up to us and are very willing to partner with Nigeria in various sectors.”
Minister of Power, Works and Housing and former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola mounted the podium accompanied by loud applause and screams of “Shehu”. “It is good to be back home,” he said after the crowd had quietened. The crowd agreed with him, especially the Local Government workers, “I know you are behind me, he told them.”
Fashola didn’t want to talk about the China trip anymore. “But when I was looking at this rostrum where I was sitting, I saw something written under here, maybe Alhaji Lai would can read it,” he said. The Minister of Information read: “Made in China,” and the crowd erupted again, seeing the logic and wisdom in Fashola’s method.
“So, we are standing on China, if you look behind your phones and you journalists look behind your cameras, of they are newer versions, you will see everything is made in China and that informs the direction we are taking,” he said.
Power Supply
Fashola also brought message of hope, one that says the government that was elected on the altar of change has not lost its touch with the people. “We hear you loud and clear,” he said to a resounding applause and as relief swept through the hall he added: “We are connected and our feet are on the ground, we are working backstage, we are here because we care and believe this job can be done, we are here because we know the right to know is very important in a democracy.”
He assured Nigerians that results of planning will soon materialise. “I acknowledge we are in a result driven business and today result can be measured by how many roads have done, how much power you have, how much housing you canget; now those results have not yet delivered but I assure you they will be delivered. But some results are becoming evident to us in government and they may seem intangible to those outside the government, it clearly understands why we are where we are.”
He pleaded for patience regarding power saying the problem is generation.”I am looking at some of the things that have been done well and some of the things that could have been done better, but I will summarise the power issue in one word: There is not enough power, 5000 megawatts for 170 million people is not just enough,” he said.
Fashola ruled out building any new roads, at least for now. He said the roads awarded by the previous administration would require N2 trillion to complete. “We are focusing on the roads that have the highest traffic and the ones with the greatest damage. The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing proposed N423billion at the Federal Executive Council and the information reaching us is that we are not going to get all that. On-going road projects alone awarded by the government before we came — about 266 roads awarded in the various states — the liability to complete them are about N2trillion.”
Housing
He acknowledged that housing is his “most difficult responsibility”. He said a new model of housing that will be acceptable to all Nigerians bearing in mind the culture and traditions of every region will soon be unveiled.
Perhaps the Minister that has the most difficult job was Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of state for Petroleum, when he came up; there were loud murmurs of disapproval. Some jeered silently, others dismissed him instantly, Kachikwu was unfazed and without giving ground to the murmur began to address the crowd, there was pin drop silence, almost.
He said a lot of power and privileges had been given to previous ministers of petroleum, but away with such privileges and pretensions, he only wants to serve. Kachikwu laboured to explainhow hard he has been working loosing “several months of sleep.” He said the problems faced now was due to years of systemic failure, complete lack of transparency, contracts that didn’t make sense and a Corporation “where nothing was working.”
Fuel Supply
In less than 12 months, however, with sheer determination and energy, he has been able to turn the fortunes around. “We understand the right to know for Nigerians is not a gift, so we reorganised the NNPC and began to publish monthly reports of the transactions.
The gain was enormous. NNPC’s loss of N300billion was reduced to a mere N3billion by January 2016, there was a savings of $1billion and subsidy claims went down to near zero. Also Crude is being pumped through the pipelines from Brass to Escravos and Warri refinery is back on stream, same for Port Harcourt, while Kaduna is set to join. “Finally, we are focusing on the business, not just bleeding government,” he said.
One could almost feel the pains of Kachikwu, he spoke with simplicity it was evident he was telling the truth, one could feel a man who is determined to change the petroleum industry only to find that not everyone he has to work with share the same patriotic zeal as he does. In such cases, ignorance can be bliss but for Kachikwu, this realisation has left him in a state of shock. It was akin to realising in the thick of battle that one had left at home, the bullet proof vest, a sinking feeling that would not go away.
Please, don’t judge us in the context of fuel supply
On the current fuel scarcity, the minister seemed at a complete shock why his hard work has not paid off, despite “oversupplying fuel to Lagos. “Thirty per cent of crude in this country is being diverted. in the last five days, we have pumped 400 trucks into Lagos the total consumption of Lagos at maximum time is 250 trucks. Most of these trucks are diverted, they go to Chad and Cameroon and we need literarily a whole army to stop them. So, what I continue to do is to over supply to cover the shortcomings.”
He blamed those who are making “ money out of the agony,” saying the NNPC will henceforth select only trucks with trackers and he has to worry about the whole chain because private marketers who used to be responsible for 50 per cent of fuel importation have refused to import.
Transportation
Many people were eager to hear Amaechi and his plans for the railway sector and he did not disappoint. Work on the Lagos/Kano rail line would start by the end of the year. Also, Lagos/Calabar rail line will also be completed. He reeled off all the states and communities that would be connected, including Otuoke which he said deserved it because “ it produced the former President.”
Also, the old Lagos/Kano line has been awarded to General Electronics (GE). “We met with GE and we gave these conditions. I give you Lagos/Kano and you give me the following: A University of Transportation because you don’t dump technology on us. That would create railway, marine graduates and they have agreed to do that. Not enough, I will not let you do Lagos/Kano if you will not give me a factory that produce the locomotives, wagons and the coaches in Nigeria.
“ Finally, I will not let you do Lagos/Kano if you will not do Port Harcourt/Maiduguri. I think they have also agreed, I hope we will not disagree at along the way. They have agreed to do Port Harcourt to Kano, if all these are done, then we will have been able to connect the whole of Nigeria and reduce the stress on the road,” Amaechi said.
The town hall meeting is designed to help Nigerians buy into the policies of government and air their views on the process of governance. According to Mohammed, the essence is to create a chance for those in authority to meet the people directly to explain developments in various departments of government.
The people had the opportunity to ask questions from the ministers. Alhaji Femi Okunnu, a former minister of works called Fashion “ Tunde, my son” and told Kachikwu he usually waved to him, but the minister always rebuffed him. Kachikwu was perplexed at this unexpected adversary, he held his hands to his chest apologetically, muttered some words with regrets spread over his face.“ Don’t worry,” Okunnu said, “ I was waving at you in the television.”
Secondary school students wanted to know why politicians always send their own children to school abroad, while another girl wanted to know if there is hope for the Chibok girls return and if they are safe as well. “ People living with disabilities wanted assurance from Amaechi, if his railways would make provisions for wheelchairs etc. Lagos State Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) warned about religious crisis, former Lagos deputy governor, Sinatu Ojikutu was worried that the meeting had an elitist’s configuration.
A Lagos politician, Cardinal Odunmbaku, wanted to know when those who stole money will be jailed. this was quickly followed by Professor Ralph Akinfelere’s quest on the list of the looters. The ministers have succinctly enumerated the work they would accomplish, the challenges on the way and the gains therefore, but what they really gave to Lagosians was hope. Kachikwu captured this in a recitation he made everyone read, a pledge to the country.
“There is a reason God made me a Nigerian, I have a stake in this country, I have the skills and determination,the focus and belief in my capacity. To be the best in what I do, and to help this country change and make progress, today, this day, this moment, I commit to be an instrument of change. And to work hard with my brothers and sisters to move this country forward, so help me God.”
