As Nigeria clocked 65 years of independence on Wednesday, the National President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof Benjamin Okaba, has said that the reason the country is still toddling is because of the lack of leadership with the capacity to transform the nation’s abundant resources into beneficial use.

He also warned against any politician or political party harassing anybody from contesting the 2027 presidential election, arguing that the only way to stop anyone is to do better and show justification why you should continue as the president.

In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the former provost, Delta State University (DELSU), Oleh Campus, stressed that the country’s problem would remain unresolved if the cost of governance is not addressed.

How can you describe Nigeria at 65?

We thank God that we still have one entity called Nigeria in spite of the challenges we have gone through – economic, social and political all over the years; having fought a civil war, having the military takeover, testing democracy, moving forward and backwards. We thank God we are still an entity and under another democratic dispensation.

What has happened to us as a country is capable of destroying most other countries. That is just the positive side of it. But, our indivisibility has been a result of resilience, and again, the kind of persons we are made up of – suffering and smiling syndromes.

Why is Nigeria still toddling when other countries that started with her, or were behind her are very far ahead?

It’s a leadership question. God has blessed us with so much in terms of resources, but the human capacity, particularly at the helm of affairs is a major challenge.

Let me put it better, the leadership and followership are the major challenge, because if the followers are not docile and are not also allowing themselves to be manipulated, we’ll not be where we are today. We have all the resources; talk about the human capacity, population is there. God has also blessed us with oil and gas, and other natural resources. The lack of leaders with the capacity to transform these resources into beneficial use is the reason we are toddling. We are not just toddling; we are even going backwards – educationally, social indices, even the economy.

I just returned from Ghana, and I just pitied our country. Ghana is far ahead of Nigeria in terms of economic stability. There is now a reversal. We used to have Ghana must go, but today it’s now Nigeria must go, because we are unable to manage ourselves. People that begged us yesterday, but today, we are hanging on to them for survival. We can go on and on, but the issue is the leadership factor. Leadership and followership are very important. They look very simple, but they are very complex.

Must the country continue in the same circle? How can we get over this?

We cannot continue in the same circle. A violent revolution is not the option, but there must be a revolution in the mindset of our people. We must not take things the way they are and expect manna to fall from heaven. The time, the populace should take up the responsibility of ensuring that things work better. We have opportunities that we are not utilising. We should call our leaders accountable.

Nigerians are scared of being on the other side. They don’t want to be on opposition. They even fight people who are in opposition; who try to say the truth, defend the truth because of what they think they will be benefiting. Even some poor people want the status quo because they believe that the situation they find themselves is even good enough.

So, if we can come up – civil society, journalists, students, etc and say, ‘look, we must fix this country’ and let it be a sustained revolution, and at the end of the day, with that kind of conscientization going on, even to the younger ones, the leaders will sit up. When the time of election comes, people should come out and vote massively and not allow themselves to be bribed. The youths have a higher population; more so, tomorrow belongs to them. And if they don’t fix it today, whatever that we have today is what awaits them tomorrow, or will define their tomorrow.

So, the vulnerable groups should know that there is always a time for sacrifice and a time for us to harvest. That is the mandate for all of us – some level of sacrifice that will take us beyond where we are today.

You talked about conscientization of Nigerians, but how possible is it considering that ethnicity and religion are given primordial considerations in all that the people do? For an example, when the youths started the EndSARS from the South, the North said it was an attempt to topple the Buhari government?

The level of education among Nigerians has gone higher; enlightenment has gone higher. The statistics is very clear. We have to leverage on that advancement in enlightenment to tell the people the truth. While those in power and those who want to sustain the status quo will keep on hyping falsehoods, using religious sentiments as a weapon, those falsehoods can very easily be debunked.

In the first place, poverty doesn’t have any religious or ethnic colour. We all go to the same market, we all buy the same fuel, and we all suffer the same element, whether you are a Christian or a Muslim or a traditional worshiper.

It’s a class war that should go beyond religious considerations. That is what the more enlightened must take as a lesson, and it’s very practical. Yes, it is difficult to start from, but at some point you see the reality. You gave the example of the EndSARS. At first it was seen as a southern affair, but as time went on, you saw the ripple effect. It spread across because the message became clear.

The denominations we are talking about are common to all of us. It’s hunger. Hunger does not have religious colouration, it does not have ethnic colouration; hardship doesn’t have ethnic colouration. All the poor, all the deprived, all the underprivileged are united in one, which is the fact that we are deprived, and when we are united, we can make things happen. That is why I said that it’s a revolution in the mindset of the people, which is more important because when you talk about psychology of success, mindset is number one; you don’t need to carry weapons. When we speak in the same way, with the same voice and point to this direction as solution to our problem, that’s when we get it right.

The federal government is getting so much money, likewise the states and the local governments, but the cry of hardship is everywhere. How can you reconcile the two?

That tells you that there could be growth without development; you can have growth without development. And this is exactly what the situation exemplifies. The basic issue is that money is not properly applied. We have statistics; we were told that about N300 billion was used for a particular social welfare programme, or N25, 000 given to some Nigerians. People want to know those who are getting the N25, 000.

Now, let us even assume that N25 000 is given to people. Wh at does that amount of money do in the life of an average Nigerian?

Where is the humanitarian service feeding school children with bogus amount here and there; where is the impact?

So, you can see that the government is yet to provide an answer to the yearnings of the people; to the cries of the people. There is no answer. All the initiatives right now are not working because they are not directed at to fix infrastructure, fix security and fix electricity.

Nigerians are not lazy; they are not indolent, they are smart and are capable of doing what is right if given the opportunity. Give them the opportunity, Nigerians are not waiting to be spoon fed; provide opportunities for them, and they will work hard. Give electricity, people are skilled. Deal with issues of insecurity and let farmers freely go to their farms and harvest their crops; provide roads for them to evacuate their crops from the rural areas and send them to the urban centres.

Provide good schools; provide the things that will stimulate entrepreneurship. For those who are graduates, provide an enabling environment for them. Not everybody must work in government, let the private sector thrive.

The things are basic; it is not this tokenistic attitude of dashing people N25,000. If you give a man N25,000 today, can it carry him in a week, and what happens next? These palliatives and the initiatives and quoting of figures up and down are not working, and have not worked in the past 10 years. The leaders should think outside the box. Go down to the grassroots and think of how we can fix this country.

The federal government has suspended the delineation of Warri federal constituency, contrary to court order. What do you say to that?

I came out with a press statement on this. That same day, I saw a circular from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refuting that. They said that they have not stopped. That is a welcome development for INEC to admit that there is no directive from them to stop. For us, it is a welcome development.

We acknowledge that rebuttal in good faith and we are now urging INCE to expedite action in the completion of the process because the voter registration we are talking about is ongoing, and must be taken in line with the template approved by the Supreme Court. Anything short of that is against the law. The court has ruled on that with clear-cut definitions as to what should be done and what needs to be done. They should expedite action on the delineation for the ongoing voter’s registration.

What is your take on the tax policy of the federal government?

It’s unfortunate. I thought the government said they were coming up with a new reform. A reform should be better for the people because it’s a people-centred government. But where, at the end of the day, a reform turns out to introduce more hardship, it means that the government stands to be classified as insensitive. And if we are paying tax, we must see the returns for whatever we are paying for.

We have a country that owes us; the leadership of this country owes us our welfare and our well-being. So, anything that is done that is contrary to that constitutional provision is anti-people and is condemnable. The greatest problem in this country, if we must solve them, is the cost of governance. We are paying tax. The ordinary man is suffering on a daily basis.

The ordinary man is suffering on a daily basis, paying taxes. What about those so many government officials, senior politicians, for instance, who take a free fuel? Their vehicles are fuelled for free, so it’s the common man that will be paying the tax. What kind of government is that? A man with one jerry can of fuel will pay tax, and then an official on an occasion will have about 400 cars.

The president is visiting, his convoy is about 400 cars. Cost of governance, avoidable wastage. I just came back from a country where a minister just came to an occasion with just three cars. In Nigeria, when a minister visits a place, he cannot be less than 30 vehicles, all fuel free at the expense of the government. He does not pay tax for all of that. Leadership should show good example, and let there be a drastic cut in the cost of governance. The government is borrowing, borrowing and borrowing, for what?

Borrowing to do what? Borrowing and we are not seeing reason for that; borrowing and tomorrow we are taxed. What is the value for all this borrowing? If we want to go austere, let the austerity be for everybody. The rich cannot continue to be rich and the poor continue to be poor. That is the dilemma of this country.

If we don’t change that situation, I’m sorry, we might continue until maybe at a point in time where something else will happen.

It is being rumoured that former President Jonathan is nursing the ambition to contest the 2027 presidential election. What’s your position on this?

The question is: Is he qualified to contest? The answer is yes, he is qualified. So, if he’s qualified, why not? I don’t have anything against that.

He’s a Nigerian. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was a military head of state, and he came back and contested and won, and did well for this country. So, Jonathan has the right to contest constitutionally because there are court judgments that have been passed in that respect when some people tried to challenge his eligibility. There are subsisting judgments that say that he is qualified to contest.

If he wants to contest, at least, he has tested it. Nigerians have seen him perform, and they will have the basis for comparison. His campaign will not be, this is what I will do, but this is what I did under the circumstance I operated.

It will give us a fair deal so that people will put perspectives and compare what is happening today, what is being done today and how it was before.

As many persons that are willing to come in, whether it is Atiku, Peter Obi, and many others, let them put their views on the table. Nobody should be allowed to stop anybody from contesting the 2027 presidential election. The only way you can stop them is to do better, and not by harassing anybody. Show a good justification why we should continue to have you as president. Show good justification not by attacking anybody because we must be civilised at this point in pursuing our political process.

The sun