Nigeria is safe under APC leadership

Former member of the House of Representatives, Oladele Kosoko, who represented Badagry Federal Constituency, in this chat with Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, says the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government has not lost focus, assuring that it will ultimately solve the recession challenges. Excerpts

ONE of the major criticisms against the APC-led Federal Government is the biting recession in the country. Some even claim the government does not seem to know what to do. Do you think there is a way out?

Most people have spoken on the issue that President Buhari should assemble more expert team so as to come up with the best solution to the problem. Of course what is on ground was not an overnight decay but something that took years, so we need to be patient to get a thorough pragmatic approach. We must not ignore the complaints of the people. I think, there is the need to have wider consultation of economic experts; to enable us have the best alternative. At 57 we have lots of prospects, lots of challenges but I think we can surmount it. With good security we can achieve a lot and I know government is doing a lot in that area. One of the major instruments of development is power and if we are able to tackle it, it will give us leverage. If we are able to tackle our roads, education, health etc. as promised, things will change for the better and I am optimistic that the APC government is not losing focus. We need to develop the aviation sector. It's a shame that we do not have a carrier. See the huge revenue generated by the Ethiopian Airlines. At the last count they have over 76 aircrafts. My only advice is for government to take more critical survey of the situation and ensure they implement the best of options that will take us to the Eldorado. Look, if we are able to develop what we have in this country, the sky will just be our starting point in terms of economic prosperity.

I know it is not going to be easy but I still have the conviction that Nigeria is in safe hands with the APC government but the challenge is for APC not to take Nigerians for granted as that may be a costly mistake.

Some critics are saying there may be need to reshuffle or change some members of the cabinet. Do you share this view?

I do not subscribe to change of ministers, it is not compulsory because it may be too early to do that. They are just there perhaps a little more than a year. It may be too early to judge the ministers but they must understand that the challenge on ground is enormous and should be a concern for everybody. Government, as I said, should add more economic experts to its team and whatever they have pass it on to the ministers to speedy up implementation of the economic ideas generated. The truth is that the recession is hitting hard on the people and as a party that promised genuine change, we must not delay further. And we must tell ourselves the obvious truth.

Of course we know from what we inherited that it was not going to be easy but we must quickly provide palliatives. When the people are hungry, no matter how genuine your reasons are, you must do all within your reach to cushion the effect of the hardship and ensure it is not prolonged. If you don't provide immediate palliatives you end up sending a wrong signal even when your intensions are of the best interest. For me, this issue of banning rice does not seem to be in our best interest. I live close to the boarder, people still smuggle it into the country. Government should consider for at least two years, bringing in the foodstuff and within that period make all necessary plans, on infrastructure, training and empowering the farmer, giving them fertilizers, soft loans etc. so as to be on ground for massive production take-over after the expiration of the two years. As at today, the farmers may not be able to produce what can sustain us. This is our government and we must ensure we act fast to salvage the situation. I want to appeal to our President to take another look on the issue so as to get our acts right. I want our party to succeed and we need to implement the best of plans to ensure we give Nigerians the needed change we preached and which made them to give us their votes.

There are so many ways to bail the country out in terms of revenue. For instance, I have been saying that there is an alternative to this issue of toll gates. We can generate more than N500 billion in a year and create jobs for more than 10,000 people. If we adopt the system I have advocated for our roads will become better and motorable. In every two years, you do recapping of the roads; there won't be this issue of yearly road rehabilitation and all such stuff. I can beat my chest and tell you that with this model, we can generate over N500b in a year. It is an avenue that is still untapped. I have the almighty formula so to speak of that idea. There will be transparency there, accountability and jobs to take away our youths from joining the unemployment market. It is an idea I conceived and I know how to go about it in terms of monitoring, efficiency, effectiveness and delivery.

So you are quite optimistic that things will get better?

Of course that is obvious. I am very optimistic that Nigerians will feel the impact of the change we preached. We need patience but while Nigerians are patient, those in authority should begin to implement the best of the consultations they have had. Hunger does not know ethnic, religious or ideological lines; so we need to hit the ground running with implementation of action plan. I am concerned over the plight of Nigerians and I think certain palliatives should be provided as I have said at different fora to cushion effects. The time is now that Nigerians still have confidence in us. After now, we may find it difficult to secure the people's confidence. Government is on right track but they must speed up certain actions that must alleviate the conditions of the people. The recession must be approached head long and government must do everything within its reach to be on top of it.

Our President has the needed integrity and stature to bring the change we need; so all hands must be on deck from the entire cabinet particularly, to enable us move out of the present mess. APC accepted to bring a desired change, there is no going back, it's not going to be easy but we need to get all our implementation formula accurate so as to get the right result.