Prof Julius Ihonvbere served as special adviser to president Olusegun Obasanjo on Policy and Programmes Monitoring in Nigeria. He also served as Secretary to the Edo State Government (ssg).
He is currently a member of the House of Representatives, representing Owan Federal Constituency of Edo State. He speaks on insecurity in Nigeria, the new minimum wage, leadership, rule of law, among other issues. Excerpts:
Nigeria has been in the throes of insecurity for a very long time. Only the other day, a serving judge of a high court was abducted in a bizarre dimension to the spate of kidnappings in the country. Of what impact is this on the nation?
Well, it is very painful when you hear of anyone being abducted. It is not something that any nation should take lightly. First, it creates a general atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. It has a tremendous impact on the economy. People are afraid to move around, to make visits to friends and family, they are afraid to get into nightlife, dinners and so on. The economic and social activities are frozen. The economy, therefore, suffers from this situation. The confidence of the people is broken. People rush home after work without completing their work to hibernate. Some do not even wait till closure of work before dashing for their homes. It paralyzes a nation. Investors are scared because of the safety of their investments. Insecurity has the capacity of reducing the nation to a failed state. Sincerely, this is worrisome. The lingering insecurity in the country does not show that we are on top of our game in public and private security.
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Would you give kudos to the security forces on the way they have managed to tackle this insecurity challenge so far. This is because, the more they fight against this challenge, the more its frontiers are extended?
I think that the security agencies in the country and their officers are doing their very best. They have really been tenacious in the engagement and have been able to contain them to the level it is at the moment. They recognize the enormous challenge it poses to their image and professionalism, they recognize the significance it has on the country, and they know the implications on the survival of the nation. But I think that the real issue is that they have not been able to deploy contemporary approaches in the battle. They are dealing with bandits, they are dealing with people you don’t see; they are dealing with people whose methods sometimes are not statutory. You don’t know what new methods and tactics they want to adopt; you don’t know the sophisticated nature of their weaponry; you don’t know the nature of the terrain they have gained ground on. You don’t know their priorities and the content of their thoughts. These are some of the challenges that they have and which they have managed to contend with so far. They are not sleeping. I think the security agencies need to sit down together and brainstorm to have unified measures that will address the problem.
If you were the president of the country and the country is going through this parlous state, what would you do?
There are many things I will do. First is to have a proper security summit. It is not a question of one or two voices. I will bring in and sift from several voices – what challenges the institutions have, what is it that they are doing, what are the wider implications of the battle, the technologies that are available to be sourced and can be deployed. We need to look at the whole gamut of the challenge and where assistance can be tapped and any other emergency measure that will contribute to the arrest of the scourge. Secondly, is what the National Assembly is doing now by providing the resources that are needed. Fighting insecurity is not like a walk in the park Nigeria. It consumes enormous resources. The security agents have to be motivated. They have to be well equipped with technological gadgets that must be superior to that of their opponents. Thirdly, is to take the issue of the challenge away from Abuja and the state capitals to the interiors where the fight is raging, engage the community leaders, youth leaders, traditional and religious leaders and other relevant leaders of thought. It is when you engage people, you carry them along, and you empower them and get the best out of them, that more impetus for victory is ignited. These bandits live in the forests and these people who should act like stakeholders understand them more than the security agencies. Their assistance and collaboration is vital in the victory against the criminals. An agenda should be formulated and they will know how to provide information to the security agencies. We will give generous incentives that will thwart any pre-conceived plot of sabotage. We will institute measures that will encourage gallantry and ensure confidence built on trust. I will commission study groups or tactical groups that will look at some countries that had the challenge of insecurity. They will visit these countries and find out how they were able to overcome the challenge. How did they deal with the situation? What measures did they adopt? What obstacles Nigeria did they encounter in trying to confront it? How did they organize their forces? We need to get all the fine details, analyze them and adopt those that are good in our circumstances Nigeria. And, of course, I will have my key officers speak on the issue. How many ministers have you heard speak on the insecurity in Nigeria? How many commissioners apart from those that are directly affected have you heard speak on it? It is a general problem, which is elastic in nature and can conflagrate the entire nation and, therefore, every hand must be on deck. When people begin to see it as a general problem, no criminal element will be bold to operate openly again. A combination of these factors will do the job. I think that is what people are not doing yet.
The new minimum wage for workers has been in the front burner for some time now. Are you satisfied with the way it is being handled by the government? What is your general attitude to the issue?
It is unfortunate that the states are not making it easy. The average Nigerian worker is not doing well. Income is not up to expectation. My attitude to it is that the new minimum wage should be taken seriously so that the income of the workers will have more value to them. When you look at the N30, 000 new minimum wage and the things that go with it, you will understand the situation more. With this amount which is tied to things like transport fare to work, house rent, feeding, school fees, healthcare bills and other sundry expenses, nothing will change in their lives. When you look at all the sub-heads involved, you will immediately know why the agitation has been long and sustained. It will not make up for all the items it is supposed to take care of. This is where I am worried. If you look at all of these, what will a worker do with N30,000 in a month? If anything, Nigeria it should be an amount for further negotiation. I am not satisfied with the amount and the delay. I am miffed that some states are even saying that they cannot cope with paying the new minimum wage, when all they need to do is to reorganize their finances, remove some irrelevant, frivolous and bloated expenditure. When you pay workers more, you also expect them to put in more into their work to the advantage of the employer. In Edo State, when Adams Oshiomhole was the governor, he was paying N25,000, even when the minimum wage was N18,000. I think that the governors should wake up. They should take this matter seriously. I commend the Federal Government for finding it necessary to enhance the wages of the workers at this time when the economy of the nation is not looking too good. There should be no room for objections. It should be implemented immediately.
