Former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party, Prof. Pat Utomi, wants the ruling All Progressives Congress to stamp its feet on the ground, by calling senators elected on its platform into the National Assembly to order over the ongoing face-off between the lawmakers and the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. In this interview with ADELEKEADESANYA, the professor of Political Economy also says that the Federal Government should explore diplomacy in dealing with the recent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa. Excerpts:
Nigerians are currently the main target of xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa. How do you think this problem can be addressed?
What is happening to Nigerians currently in South Africa is a sad development and surely, it depicts how poor the democratic culture there is. Even if the Nigerians there are living in their country illegally, there is a process to evacuate them; not that South Africans will descend on them and take their lives and vandalise their property, as they have continued to do. There are South Africans living in this country, and I don’t think our citizens will be so cruel to do same to their citizens, no matter what. Some of them live here, run businesses here and we don’t have the feelings that they are giving us inconveniences in our country. This issue as it happened in South Africa showed their level of maturity and the way people relate in their own part of the world.
Moreover, it is also a big challenge to our leadership in this country, in South Africa and the entire continent of Africa. People are expected to show good example in life, but this kind of acts on the part of the South Africans is becoming alarming, and world leaders need to intervene.
This is not the first time such a thing will be happening to Nigerians in South Africa. What do you think our government should do to put an end to it completely?
As it is, we don’t expect our government to go to war in that regard. Having said that, I believe our government should make good use of diplomacy as an instrument to resolve the issue. What is very important here is that Nigeria, being a country with a developed culture, needs to let people know that our citizens deserve good treatment in their country.
Diplomacy could be used in this case to let them know that if something happens to Nigerians living with them, there is consequence and so we retaliate economic-wise. If this is done, Nigeria will be respected around the world; people will know that if you hurt their citizens, their leaders will react.
Moreover, the conduct of the South African government over the case is condemnable, especially in the way they have spoken about it. Instead of speaking against the incident and finding a way to curb their citizens, they are not doing anything serious about it, and that to me is a big disappointment. However, the best way to go about it is diplomacy.
Senator Ben Bruce recently pleaded with the Federal Government to consider legalising illegal refineries in the country in order to have enough oil to run our system. Do you support this?
Well, for me, I don’t think legalising illegal refineries will solve our problem in this country at this time. But the qualities of the refineries should be looked into. If they are producing well, and you consider where they obtain their crude from, you also consider various questions like: are they going to be ready to pay for crude? Will they stop their criminal act of stealing the crude and refining it, among other crimes? All these should determine whether their operation should be legalised or not. Government must evaluate the options well, so that we don’t dip our neck inside another problem that will cost us time and a lot of money, before we are out of it. Look at the economic recession we have been battling with, look at how long we have been in it. So, we have to weigh the options well before any decision is taken.
The Senate is currently at loggerheads with the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, over his decision not to sign four bills passed by the National Assembly into law. The senators have said they will override his veto. What is your take on this?
Well, it is part of the games that are going on between the legislature and the executive. The senators are part of the system. If our democracy will work, they (senators) all have roles to play. But I don’t think they should take laws into their hands by going against the acting President’s decision. Forget about the acting title now, Prof. Osinbajo is currently the President of the nation, and he cannot take decision that will affect the nation? Having said that, if the senators feel they are not pleased with him and they want to override him, fine.
To me, I would say they should go ahead, if they have enough votes to do that. And at the same time, the President should begin to use party machinery to begin to beckon on the party leaders in order to call their own senators to order in the Senate. The biggest challenge of our system is that the All Progressives Congress does not have control over its people.
The party does not have influence over its legislators, over the executive. Where are the party policies? How is the party ensuring that government implement good policies? See, I think it is time the party took its stand and act as a mother to everyone that comes under it. In this situation, the party should call the senators that belong to it to order, if they don’t want them to afflict their ongoing administration.
With the dwindling resources in the country, how do you think Nigeria’s problems could be solved?
With the situation of things in this country, everyone is needed to put solution on the table for government to see, evaluate them and see if it is what will move us forward as a nation.
Also, we need that fiscal system that will work for us as a nation. We also need our leaders to change their orientation from being selfish, because no matter how you are trying and some people are embezzling what you are sweating for, then the problems will be increasing.
In addition, while we are carefully managing inflation, we must make efforts to diversify the economy from oil. We need to diversify the economy from oil. Even if oil skyrockets tomorrow, we will still continue doing what we are doing. But by diversifying, we will regain our economy back.
