‘APC government has put economy in coma’

‘APC government has put economy in coma’

BusinessDay|REGIS ANUKWUOJI

In this interview with REGIS ANUKWUOJI, the Director-General of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Emeka Okereke, spoke on the state of the nation’s economy in the last three months among other issues. Excerpts:

The administration of Muhammadu Buhari is over 100 days; how do you assess his economic policy?

Well, the economic policy of the government is yet to be declared as far as we in the business sector are concerned. Perhaps, there are lots of thinking on their own part on the way to go, that is why that three months after plus some days we are still talking about inaugurating the federal executive council and you know democracy is not about one man, it is about the people and they are structures in place for sustainable democratic practice and I am sure that those that talk about democracy know the very reason why all these processes and structures are in place so that it will be a collective bargaining. For now, the president with all due respect, has been running the country as a sole administrator I am sure that perhaps he is very apprehensive about getting people to work with him. Some of us in the private sector had thought that the present government should have had a clear-cut policy for the economy even as the time they were campaigning.

They ought to have had a road map on how they are going to run the economy of the country, unfortunately three months plus after the inauguration we are yet to get a clear-cut economic policy and that is affecting investor confidence and business generally because people are apprehensive. Nobody is thinking of investing now; nobody is thinking of major economic activities now; everything seems to be comatose and it is hurting the economy. We thought by now the present government should have hit the ground running, that is the truth about it. I think the excuse that the economy had been run aground before the APC government came on board amounts to playing to the gallery. Whatever is the situation, you were elected to lead and you were expected to have been prepared to take over governance, and of course, you must have made some plans on how to go about it.  I had expected them to have strategy A, and B. If A does not go through, then strategy B should be employed, and that is all about governance.

So, we are praying that the President should quickly get his acts together and hit the ground running, the year is almost gone and even with the formation of his new cabinet I am sure nothing much will be accomplished between now and end of the year. We don’t want that cycle of thought to continue; something needs to be done at this point in time. We know he is taking his time, but we believe he has taken enough time for the interest of the economy of this nation. People are suffering, business activities have been kept in abeyance, people are apprehensive of what the economic policy will look like and it has not helped some of the fiscal policy the CBN has put in place. I think we have lost about N1.3trillion from investors who have kept in abeyance or who have decided to withdraw their investment in the Nigerian market; it is not doing us any good at all. So, the economy is seriously hurt and the earlier government realise this, the better for us.

You talked about formation of cabinet; what do you think is the challenge of selecting credible 36 Nigerians out of over 160 million Nigerians to fill the slot?

I think we must speak the truth; there is more to that than finding a credible Nigerians that are going to work with the President. In fact, somehow, it is indicting to the nation that it will take us three months to look for Nigerians who have integrity, who are credible and have probity in their character. It is insulting to the nation if we have to take it that way, that it will take us three months to spot those individuals and I am saying that part of preparation to take over governance should have also given clue to those they are looking forward to working with. The search process should have even started before now and is part of the preparation of the economic policy to be put in place to reactivate the economy. For me, to be frank with you, I don’t accept the claim that the President is searching for credible, worthy, trusted 36 persons to work with otherwise it is an indictment on the nation. I think there is more to that, may be, political permutations, equations may be part of the reasons why he has not been able to have federal executive council, that is the truth because those people he would choose whether they are technocrats or not, are not going to come from the moon, it would still be the same politicians who have worked for APC victory.

So, I think more of political equations and issue of managing victory by the APC is part of the problem not just looking for credible Nigerians. So, the President and the party should not disappoint Nigerians; the symbolism of 100 days in office to me has nothing much to do with governance. Honestly speaking, it is not enough for one to achieve tangible things in governance but it is more than enough for us to constitute those that will run governance that is the way I am looking at it so the president should know that time is ticking, it is less than four years for him now to complete his term in office. Taking your time to do a lot of things is good but when taking too much a time is counter-productive it is not helping the nation, it is not helping the economy.

The government talks much about fighting corruption; do you think it is sincere?

I must give it to President Muhammadu Buhari, he has been deified with the personality of somebody that has integrity; give it to him and I also believe that he has some discipline and that is the issue affecting orderliness in the country. People are being conscious in doing what is right, but my worry is that democracy is not about one person; what happens after Buhari’s four or eight years; we go back to Egypt? So, it is left for us to build and enhance institutions and not individuals; for me I think the Federal Government is also wasting a lot of time on the issue of corruption. It is important for us as a country to tackle the menace; I believe it needs to be checked to the barest minimum.

There is no society without corruption; so what I am trying to say is that we should not give 90 percent of our governance time to the issue of fighting corruption, what for? There are institutions in place to tackle the issue of corruption; the president himself cannot send somebody to jail, he cannot ask the Army or DSS to go and pick somebody because he is corrupt, No; he can’t do that; there are institutions that are in place to carry out those functions. I think what the President needs to do is to support those institutions and let them independently run these institutions in such a manner that the witch-hunting- being alleged should not even come in.

My take on the matter is that honestly Nigerians must support the country and not even the President to ensure that we have a corrupt-free society as much as possible. Corruption is not just about those in the public service, it also affects us individually in one way or the other; but let the institutions that have been put in place handle the process of tackling the issue of corruption and I think we are also chasing shadow somehow. Let us come back to the basis; yes, go to our public service how much is the salary of a worker? Do Nigerians earn enough in Civil Service or public service to enable them keep away from corruption? Government needs to do the basic things. The institutions are there, but government should provide social infrastructure that will encourage those at certain ladder not to even indulge in corruption.