Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of The Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, in this interview with BOLAJI OGUNDELE, speaks on the activities of the administration, the economy and other issues. Excerpts:
It has been about six months since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed you as his Senior Special Assistant, Media and Communications, (Office of The Vice President). How has it been?
First of all, I consider it a great honour to have been appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a presidential aide under the Renewed Hope administration. The President and my boss, His Excellency, Vice President Kashim Shettima, have taken it upon themselves to set Nigeria on the path of economic prosperity and restore the nation to its past glory as the giant of Africa. So, to answer your question directly, I would say it has been somewhat tasking on one hand, and of course, very educating. I was part of the campaigns and saw firsthand the process leading to the visions of the President. To now be part of the team saddled with the task of implementing those visions is a privilege you cannot pull off the shelf.
I am sure you have seen for yourself that Vice President Shettima is justifying the trust Mr President has always had in him. He is a workaholic and once his mind is fixed on getting a task done, be rest assured that that task must be accomplished at all cost and in good time at that. There is no excuse whatsoever, especially when the business at hand is ensuring President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is actualized and executed to the letter. Working with such a leader as your boss entails that you too must have to be on your toes, especially as the focus at hand is on the need to pull Nigeria out of the economic challenges created by years of misgovernance, misappropriation and ineptitude of some previous administrations.
The President’s quest for a prosperous Nigeria where the citizens can rebuild their confidence in government and its policies, I would confidently say, is non-negotiable. By and large, however, the experience has been not only educating, but also inspiring, as I believe in the vision of the President.
The present economic challenges facing the country under this administration are attributed to the announcement of fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu. Was that not a step in the wrong direction?
It will not be right to say that the economic challenges popped up under this administration. What people must realise is that what you term economic challenges precede the Tinubu administration. The immediate past administration spent a huge amount of funds tackling these challenges. For instance, it was the Buhari-led government that initiated the social investment programmes we have today.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was created under the immediate past administration to address the plight of vulnerable Nigerians. Granted; fuel subsidy removal came with its peculiar challenges which will soon fizzle out in a couple of months, but it is unfair and amounts to killing a fly with a sledgehammer to situate the economic challenges under the renewed hope administration. I expected you to frame the question around the present economic challenges the Tinubu administration inherited and what it is doing to salvage the situation.
Now, on the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, I would be surprised if you try to feign ignorance of the economic wreck the subsidy regime turned Nigeria into. Before the Tinubu administration, the debate as to whether subsidy should go or remain had reached a crescendo, and the consensus had been that subsidy was a scam ab initio. Previous administrations had made frail attempts to end the subsidy but were unable to summon the political will to do so. Former President Jonathan tried it in 2012 but was overwhelmed by the backlash.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari pondered the idea of subsidy removal and when it was time for his administration to pack up, it attempted a partial removal of subsidy, announcing on several occasions that it will stop the payment of fuel subsidy by the end of June 2023. Again, the most conspicuous is that there was no provision for petroleum subsidy in the 2023 budget. On May 29, 2023, when President Tinubu declared an end to the era of subsidy, he expressly stated that there was no longer any provision for fuel subsidy in the nation’s budget. The majority of the citizens welcomed the idea, saying it was long overdue and the congruence of opinion was understandable. The President’s pronouncement came immediately after the 2023 campaign in which presidential candidates of the opposition parties all agreed that it was right for subsidy to go.
So, it is quite pathetic to see the opposition claiming President Tinubu has caused Nigerians untold hardship with subsidy removal as if it were deliberate. This is one issue the same opposition elements were in one accord in chorusing – that fuel subsidy must go. I think President Tinubu should be given due regard for taking the bold step to end the subsidy regime rather than degradation. The benefits of the fuel subsidy removal are enormous. Apart from robbing the country of its abundant resources, our economy was on the verge of being crippled, and the cumulative effects are what you just referred to as economic challenges under Tinubu. Besides, petroleum subsidies are responsible for the inefficiencies that characterised the Energy Security for donkeys of years now, making it difficult and impossible to invest in critical areas of energy security.
Now, what are we witnessing in post-subsidy in Nigeria? We are now seeing some level of transparency and accountability in the energy sector. Also, funds that were previously allocated to subsidizing petroleum products are now rechanneled into developing and upgrading the nation’s energy and other critical infrastructure.
The Tinubu administration is gradually restoring energy security, with Energy Transition as one of its primes. This is so because, in less than one year in office, the administration has succeeded in getting the private sector to participate in the energy industry, with the potential of attracting more local and international investors, fostering innovation and competition that will drive down costs and improve the overall efficiency of our energy sector. We are in a new era where traditional energy sources are being complemented and replaced by cleaner and more sustainable alternatives. Apart from ensuring a healthy environment, energy transition is also creating economic opportunities by leveraging innovation and collaboration to ensure a smooth and just transition that will leave no one behind.
Besides, the latest data reveals that fuel subsidy removal has led to the reduction of fuel imports by 50 per cent. Don’t forget that a few months before President Tinubu ended the subsidy regime, the Group Chief Executive Officer (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, had lamented that Nigeria was consuming about 66 million litres of PMS daily. He decried the over N400 billion spent monthly to subsidise PMS at the time, stressing that it was having adverse impacts on the cash flow of NNPCL. Today, with petrol importation dropping by 50 per cent, the volume of imports into Nigeria has reduced by about 33 million litres daily, based on NNPCL’s figures in February.
This implies that the importation of petroleum products has dropped by about 990 million litres in one month. What does this imply to you? It is a clear testimony that the Tinubu administration is working very hard to recover lost production and provide the right fiscal environment to attract investments.
We are already reaping the benefits of the reforms being spearheaded by President Tinubu. Statistics showed recently that Nigeria’s gross domestic product grew by 3.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, as against 2.54 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2023. So, whenever you choose to talk about economic challenges facing Nigeria, try to be fair. The benefits of fuel subsidy removal are far more than the challenges the oppositions are fixated on and are capitalizing on to shed the Tinubu renewed hope administration in a bad light.
Your principal heads the National Economic Council (NEC). What has been the impact of that body and what is his agenda?
Established by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended in section 153(1) and paragraphs 18 and 19 of Part I of the Third Schedule, the Council chaired by Vice President Shettima has the governors of the 36 states of the federation as members. It has the mandate to advise President Tinubu on matters pertaining to the nation’s economy, especially on measures necessary for the coordination of economic planning efforts or economic programmes of the federal government. In its advisory capacity, NEC has no agenda different from that of the government and to talk of the impact it has made amounts to arrogating the powers of the President to the Council. Whatever impact the Tinubu administration has made is an encapsulation of part of the recommendations made by NEC. It does not operate in isolation from the federal government it was established to counsel.
The impacts made so far by the Tinubu administration are a reflection of NEC’s agenda, which is to assist the President in arriving at sound decisions on the nation’s economy. Vice President Shettima who is chairman of NEC has the onerous task of helping his principal, President Tinubu, succeed, and so are other members of the Council.
Does he have the support of Mr President in all of these?
If I were to put your question in its right context, I would take it to mean a situation whereby somebody is being sent on an errand without the support of whoever sent him. At NEC, the Vice President is purely doing the bidding of Mr President. How is it possible that he would not have the backing of his boss, the President, he is actually representing? On several occasions, VP Shettima has told NEC members that President Tinubu has offered visionary leadership and presented a coherent development plan to assist the pursuit of order, abundance, and stability. He has shown that the challenges inherited by his administration are within control. The VP has not relented in stressing the need for the citizens to feel the positive impact of fuel subsidy removal and forex unification. Whatever he does at NEC is no different from the mind of the President. Senator Kashim Shettima’s loyalty to his boss is unalloyed and the support he enjoys from his boss is absolute.
Let’s talk about the cost of living. What are you doing to salvage the situation?
Let truth be told; what is being peddled as hardship and economic challenges is President Tinubu’s demonstration of the political will and enough purity of motive to end subsidy on petroleum products. For the records, the issue of oil subsidy had been with us for as long as Nigeria started exploring oil. It became a purview through which Nigeria’s scarce resources were siphoned with the active connivance between some oil marketers and some dubious government officials under past PDP administrations. But with the petroleum subsidy regime buried, we have started reaping the dividends. In the past months since this administration came on board, state governors received huge amounts of cash from the federation account, more than what they have been getting. Statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that FAAC shared a total of N16.04 trillion to the three tiers of government in 2023, a 37.3 per cent increase from N11.7 trillion in 2022. From the said amount, the states and their local government councils got a total FAAC allocation of N6.57 trillion, double of the N3.16 trillion they received in 2022. Now, with this astronomical rise in the money accruing to states from the federation’s account, it is expected that the governors would address these challenges in their respective states following the bountiful harvest.
That notwithstanding, President Tinubu and VP Shettima are doing their possible best to end the present challenges through immediate, medium, and long-term strategies in line with the President’s campaign promises. The administration still deemed it necessary to cushion the effect of subsidy removal by approving and disbursing billions of naira in palliative packages to each state of the federation and the federal capital territory (FCT) to enable them to procure food items for distribution to the poor in their respective states.
Recently, President Tinubu approved the distribution of 42,000 metric tonnes of grains to poor Nigerians at no cost. As I am talking to you, distribution of the grains is ongoing. The Department of State Services and the National Emergency Management Agency were engaged in the distribution process of the 42,000MT of grains approved in order to ensure that the commodities get to the targeted citizens nationwide. Still in a bid to address this challenge, President Tinubu at the last FEC announced the reinstatement of cash transfer program alongside plans for further social support initiatives. He gave approval to resume direct cash transfers of N25,000 to 12 million vulnerable households, encompassing approximately 60 million Nigerians.
In the long term, efforts are also being made to revitalize food supply through specific interventions like the distribution of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to thwart the effects of subsidy removal. The administration is also promoting collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources for effective farmland irrigation to ensure year-round food production. Besides, the administration is making frantic efforts to restore four million hectares of degraded lands within the nation’s borders as its contribution to the AFR100 Initiative. It is also involving the security agencies to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks. The administration is also collaborating with mechanization companies to clear more forests and make them available for farming. The Central Bank of Nigeria has been mandated to continue to play a major role in funding the agricultural value chain.
You must have read in the news recently that President Tinubu has resolved to implement the Stephen Oronsaye report by merging some agencies and scrapping some others.
This means many redundant agencies will be scrapped and many others will be merged to pave the way to a leaner government. What does this tell you? Considering the unique challenges faced by young Nigerians, particularly in the current economic climate, President Tinubu also directed the development of a Social Security unemployment program. This initiative aims to provide financial assistance to unemployed graduates and young people seeking work.
Only recently, President Tinubu demonstrated that economic revitalisation is his top priority when he announced that the federal government was planning to raise at least $10 billion in order to increase foreign exchange liquidity so as to stabilise the Naira. Foreign exchange liquidity is a key ingredient to stabilise the Naira and grow the economy. With the steps towards salvaging the Naira, the value of the Naira has been appreciating in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange market (NAFEM). These are just a few of the measures the administration is taking to address the cost of living in Nigeria. I can assure you that in the next couple of months to come, Nigerians will start seeing tangible results in the ongoing economic reforms.
And Security?
This is one area Nigerians would soon start asking to know how the Tinubu administration made it. Insecurity in Nigeria seemed to have defied every strategy, but significant steps made so far by the administration shows that it is surmountable. Even in other countries where they have had cases of insecurity like terrorism, banditry, and other forms of insurgency, it is not something that was resolved overnight. They are still battling with these threats after so many years.
The President’s commitment to ensuring peace, stability and development in the country is not in doubt. For the very first time in the history of this country, we have a President who is devoting a whooping N1.6 trillion to the Ministry of Defence in the 2024 budget. This has never happened before. This is the highest allocation for security so far and it speaks to his commitment, belief, devotion and focus. These funds will help in inter-agency collaboration in the fight against insecurity in the nation and very soon, we will start getting the results.
Again State Police is also on the table and I think with time it will be embraced by the sub-nationals for deeper collaborations. And I personally think it will be a defining point. Again, for me, it shows the political will of the President to confront head-on, the issue of insecurity.
We have recorded few setbacks, especially in the Northwest but on the overall, you would agree with me that the incidents in Kaduna and Sokoto are being met with the requisite resolve. Nigerians would be free to move freely and engage in their lawful activities. These incidents would not deter nor define our strive as a nation. They won’t.
Can you confidently say Nigeria will recover anytime soon?
Of course, the country is already undergoing the recovery process. Every foundation the administration has laid so far is to wriggle the nation out of the economic and social morass it had been enmeshed in. I will not give any timeline. Neither the President nor the Vice President would do that because when the results start showing and the nation begins to prosper, Nigerians will see for themselves. Be rest assured that very soon things will begin to take shape and Nigerians will know that a serious government is in place
How inclusive has this government been?
The Tinubu-led government is as inclusive as you here can attest to. There is no government in Nigeria that has demonstrated an accommodating spirit like the Tinubu administration. Irrespective of party affiliation, the administration has abhorred partisanship. This is the first time we are having an FCT minister from another political party other than the governing party. President Tinubu is after better hands that can deliver. If appointments under this administration were made by ethnic or religious considerations, I wouldn’t be here for you to interview. The Vice President, a core northerner, made me, a typical Igbo man from the South East, his spokesperson; not because there are no qualified northerners to do the job. VP Shettima and his boss, President Tinubu, are after resuscitating of the country, and to achieve that there must be mutual coexistence. The appointments so far have been made with national spread. Those alleging ‘Yorubanisation’ and ‘Lagoslisation’ of President Tinubu’s government are agents of mischief. President Tinubu and VP Shettima recognize the importance of national unity and inclusiveness in government appointments because they know they are serving all Nigerians, not just a specific ethnic group or region. They know that inclusivity is necessary for building trust and ensuring that all Nigerians feel represented in their government. This is why they are not concerned with which part of the country they pick their appointees from. What matters most to them is the result. But most times, for mischief purposes, it is always the idea for some “spinners” to espouse narratives that suit them.
You have been a journalist before moving to speak for the government. How easy or challenging is the task?
Well, like I said earlier, it has been smooth sailing, and at the same time somewhat tasking. I have worked in the private media, and I can bet you that it is much easier and safer to write your opinions because people feel you are entitled to them. But it is certainly not so working for the government. You and I know that it is not easy being a presidential aide. You spend sleepless nights working to ensure that policies of government are clearly spelled out to the public and this entails that you must adjust to frequent travels. Besides, your phone must always be turned on 24/7. Sometimes you find yourself having a hard time dealing with colleagues who choose to be mischievous. Most times you are vulnerable to attacks from the public because you are speaking the boss’ mind not minding whose ox is gored. Although the job has its peculiar challenges, I don’t think there will ever be a time I will regret being of service to our great nation as Nigeria cannot be better blessed than with these present leaders. I am fortunate to be an insider who sees the day-to-day sacrifices that The President and his vice are making to ensure that we get the Nigeria of our dreams, loved by everyone in our lifetime.
The Tinubu presidency is out to make a difference and in due time Nigerians will realize that this government is a government they have been yearning for, just like the biblical cornerstone which later became the head at the chief corner.
