Stanley Osifo is a stalwart of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State. In this encounter with Daniel Adeleye, he said despite challenges of sorts facing the nation, Nigerians have reasons to celebrate 20 years of democratic rule. Excerpts
FEW days ago, Nigeria celebrated 20 years of unbroken democratic rule. Looking back into those years, do you think Nigerians have reason to celebrate despite what many viewed as stunted growth?
I think Nigerian democracy has evolved and kept maturing. The last 20 years is the longest period of democratic rule in the history of Nigeria; we never had it this way. So, I believe strongly that for the fact that we are able to manage our democratic journey since 1999 till date, in spite of what is happening right now, Nigeria democracy is evolving. So, there is need for us to celebrate.
Taking a look at Nigeria in the last 20 years, many believe that state governors are not creative enough and that is why today there are only less than six states that can stand on their own. How would you react to this?
For state governors, I will say that everyone try to do his best as governor in their various states. The resources available to state governors determine how far they can work but that does not rule out the fact that some state governors have failed to manage resources available to them in such a manner that they would be able to cater for the needs of their people.
Nigeria is seen in the international communities as a country that has potentials and have resources and it is believed that when those potentials are married with resources, it can put us among one of the top richest countries in the world but our leaders don’t seem to see it that way. The over dependence on the monthly allocation from the centre is one major thing that makes many governors not to be creative enough. Although some are striving to see how they can use the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), I believe there are so many other things that every state in Nigeria has that can be utilised in terms of bringing in enough revenue to cater for its people. So it’s just for the governors to look inwardly and see those things that are available in their various states and harness them to generate the capacity that the state needs to stand on its own.
So are you now throwing weight behind those calling for restructuring?
Restructuring is what everybody calls for, nobody is against restructuring. But when we talk about restructuring, it’s just a word so we need to define the kind of restructuring that we really want as a nation. The kind of restructuring that ‘A’ wants may be different from that of ‘B’. Nigeria is made up of several ethnic nationalities and each has its own mindsets on what it wants. So, I believe that talking about restructuring, we have to actually sit down and ask ourselves what kind of restructuring do we really need? We need to know exactly what we are restructuring and I believe that that’s the first step. The important thing, like I said earlier, is to know those areas that we need to restructure and if we can fathom those areas then we can now sit down and work for restructuring in those areas.
President Muhammadu Buhari has been given a fresh mandate to preside over Nigeria in the next four years. What areas of governance would you want him to give more credence to?
The president mentioned it that he has 3-pronged issue based approach when he was campaigning. He talked about security, fight against corruption and economy. And I believe that these are very key fundamental issues that affect Nigeria right now. How do you drive economy and make it to work? What are those things that we need to do as a nation to enhance our economy? So, this is one area the president said he’s going to look at. I want him to pursue it vigorously and I also want to believe that the president means what he said and will technically pursue that area of looking at the economy. And secondly, we need a better approach to the war against corruption. Also, the security issue that is bedeviling the country right now is so much that government needs to deal with it. The president should take the bull by the horn and address those grey areas so that the nation will have peace and security will be assured. Nobody should be afraid to move from one part of the country to another.
In Edo State, how would you assess the current administration under Godwin Obaseki?
Governor Obaseki is less than three years in office and like I always tell people, I believe that the governor has plans and programmes to turn around the state positively. Usually when you want to assess a governor you need to give that governor time to really execute his plans and programmes so that after his tenure, you would be able to assess him better. But if you do such assessment when the work is still ongoing, you may discover that the assessment does not worth it at the end of the day. But right now, I believe that he has plans to do what is proper for the state.
Looking at what happened in the state during last general elections, where two PDP senators emerged; do you see the governor and APC retaining the state in the next governorship election in 2020?
In the Presidential and National Assembly election, though the opposition PDP had two senators and APC has one senator; if you also look at House of Assembly election that was held later on, you’ll discover that APC cleared all seats. So that will give you a different view from the Presidential and National Assembly elections that was earlier held. So, for the coming elections, I wouldn’t want to pinpoint to a particular person because in any democracy everybody is free to aspire to any office or any position. What I will like to say is that Edo State is a matured state and the people of the state also know what they want. If you look at the direction of elections in Edo State, it’s not a prediction that always come true because it is people that decide who they want to vote for. If you work well in Edo State, you are assured to get back but if you don’t work well, it may be very difficult to get back. So, the election that is coming up in Edo State in 2020 is going to be an election that we cannot predict irrespective of the gladiators that are trying to foster themselves here and there.
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