Hardship: APC Govt. Must Cut Spending in Nigeria- Dr. Peter Uwaibi

A politically inspired financial crisis is threatening to cripple Nigeria's economy as the dollar against the Naira rise astronomically, petrol pump price climbing over a thousand Naira per litre and the cost of living beyond the reach of majority of the people.

Dr. Peter Uwaibi Esq., a leading figure in the Diaspora seeking for good governance in Nigeria believes that the nations leaders should cut down its spending jamboree and concentrate on how to alleviate the plight of the suffering masses.

In this interview, he gives his views on what the situation should be for the interest of Nigerians.

Who is Dr. Peter Uwaibi

I am an Edo man who has passion for good governance and based on that strong passion I had to pioneer the establishment of the support group  and that birthed, as the convener of Ighodalo/Ogie Choice 2024. The Ighodalo/Ogie choice 2024 is an offshoot of the mind set to propel a better government.

How do you propel and instill a better government. You cannot simply be vocal and  grumbling without taking a proactive action and without being proactive. For instance, I now find it very necessary looking at Governor Godwin Obaseki and his performance in office and it became extremely compelling   on the part of those of us who are Edolites to see  and be able to support the continuation  of good governance in Edo State.

Political Campaign

Political campaigns are such that has been formulated right from the time of the  Greek reign. It was supposed to help the citizens of the nation or of the given geopolitical area with the opportunity to be able to select who comes across to them best to govern them. That means the campaign is a democratic process in electing a democratic leader to lead the people. That is the peoples choice, because the campaign and election determines the peoples choice.

Now, campaign therefore means go and tell the people who you are, go and tell the people what you can do and go and tell the people what you have done and what you have  to govern the people. You try to tell the people so that they will understand and know who you are.

Economy of Nigeria

Today, we have the All Progressive Congress, APC in government in Nigeria and from its inception, 2015, it has been continuation of hardship, the economic quagmire of the people has been excruciating. The people are not able to bear the pain anymore and it is a continuity of pain, a continuity of fraud, a continuity  of bad policy that has led Nigeria down to such a point that Nigerians are now suffering.

The economy is bad in agriculture, the economy is bad in infrastructural development, in transportation, housing, roads and the GDP keeps eroding. It is not even constant, it is very bad and the people are unable to feed. There is no reason for this, no natural disaster, but the government cannot sustain a workable economy that will create economic growth.

The fuel price keep going up. Before the Endsars protest or Badgovernancemustgo protest, fuel price was about 500 Naira , now after the protest, fuel price is about a thousand three hundred Naira. 

That is to say the government is deaf to the yearning of a better life for the people. Therefore, I can easily say that this is a government that is not listening to the people and we have a President that is mute and this is very embarrassing. The government has not come to address anything, there is a rise in prices, there is suffering everywhere. there are killings, insecurity, and the government is not addressing them. They  are lackadaisical towards proffering solutions to such insecurity we are experiencing in the country. We have not seen any policy of succor from the APC.

Financial Institutions

The treasury is being looted by the executive and the operators in government. The APC government has introduced POS monetary system in Nigeria.  You have your own money in the bank and when you go to the bank to pick up your money, the bank tells you to go across the road to the POS to give you the money. That is the bad economy we now have in Nigeria,  it is not a compelling economy, it is not a growth strategy at all.

When you go to these POS they charge you interest to collect your money. The Irony of it all is that who are the people financing the POS. The people financing the POS are the banks. Now the bank is delegating authority of financial operation to the POS. If you do a transaction with the POS they are not guaranteed by the financial security of the country. You can transact through the POS and the next day it vanishes or whatever and you are at a loss. The Central Bank of Nigeria should look into this abnormality.

Corruption 

If the government knows that a system is corrupt, it is supposed to address that system and correct the corruption. But because the government are mostly lined up with bandits, looters and corrupt politicians, they see corruption as the order of the day, otherwise, the country, first and foremost as a matter of fact we must address corruptions in all ramification. 

For instance, the corruption in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, we should be thinking of electoral reforms.

The APC government told Nigerians that they want to change the currency, the reason for it we were not told. But Nigerians started queuing up all through that period and there was no new currency and there was no old currency, putting the people through hellish sufferings. This APC government is a government of suffering, not caring about the people, but they care for themselves. Till today, we are using the old currency.

Now, what happened to the billions of  Naira that was earmarked to change the currency from the old notes to the new one. Why must Nigeria continue to be involve in pleasurable expenditures.  That again is fraud, people should be indicted, we cannot continue to live like a kangaroo government. It is unfair to the people, it is unfair to this present generation and great great generation and children yet unborn.

There has been reckless spending on INEC, on the Central Bank and then this same government came up with the idea they need to spend another trillion  Naira for the population census. We asked ourselves what benefit in an economy that is so bad  will Census create.

The government must be able to know the benefit  before they  embark on any project. You cannot embark on projects that are non productive. That brings us to the position of devaluation of the Naira. The government came into power and said they need to borrow money, two billion dollars. They went cap in hand begging IMF to give them the money. The IMF said they will give them the money but first of all they should go and devalue the currency.

The government rushed quickly to devalue the  Naira currency because they wanted that money. The people had thought that in borrowing money you have a mind of paying back, therefore if you borrow money you must invest it because the return on investment is what pays back the money you have borrowed. But the APC government is into so many pleasurable expenditures. They borrowed the money and used the money for unguarded expenditures. They used the money to  buy private Jet, to buy Yacht, Jeeps for over four hundred National Assembly members and none of these purchases or expenditures have any positive economic returns to our coffers. That is what they call wasteful spending. If you have a bad economy like the economy we have found ourselves now, the government is the first  to cut spending. Government spending must be cut, that is the principle of economics. You cannot be asking that your economy is so bad and you are spending hopelessly, carelessly and pleasurably like you do not know what government need to do to improve the economy. 

For instance, we are seeking dollars, there is shortage of dollars and the Nigeria Naira keep falling in measurement against the dollar because in Economics, opportunity cost demand that the demand is so high but the product is few. We can save dollars by patronizing companies in Nigeria. We have the Innoson Motors that manufactures Jeeps and Cars. Why is the government not patronizing Innoson motors and saving the dollar wastage by going to buy foreign cars and giving a boost to their economy. It is a waste of resources because we have put the wrong people in government.

If you buy made in Nigeria cars, you will be creating employment, preserving dollars and also be granting opportunity for manufacturing and industrial growth. But when you are patronizing other countries and helping to build their economy by destroying your economy, it shows lack of intellectualism, it shows lack of governmental knowledge, you do not know how to run a government.

From the day the APC government came into power, the President had not sat down at his office, in Aso Rock but right from the Podium at the Eagle Square, the  President announced the removal of subsidy. He did not sit down to have a meeting with captains of Industry, he did not hear from Nigerians,  but he just removed the subsidy. Subsidy removal was suppose to be a kind of succor to the people. If subsidy was keeping the people happy and was  able to remove suffering from the people, then why remove the subsidy, because the money is for the people. You do not need to remove subsidy for the people to have to suffer, it is their money, if they say leave it at three hundred  Naira for them to be able to buy petrol, the government should leave it. But now the government say they will take it away for the people to buy petrol for two thousand Naira.

The question Nigerians are asking is to whose benefit is the removal of subsidy. That is miscalculation, and the social economic values are not there.

Role of Diaspora in Elections

The diaspora's drive and awareness was set up by me and it is getting very visible today. In 2020 when I came to cast my vote, the journalists asked me at the Airport why I needed to come to cast one vote. I replied that I am very passionate about who governs, and good governance. I am passionate about the individual who wants to govern me. It is passion driven to come to cast my one vote. I also sensitize the international community, that is where the diaspora comes in and they appointed international electioneering observers to  beam their searchlight on the election and several embassies issued threats and said any electioneering malpractice perpetrators visa's will be revised, denied and cancelled and their properties overseas seized. When President Buhari heard that in 2020, he  was transparent because he does not want the international community to come and hold him responsible.

Now, the reason why diaspora's are very important is that it is in the diaspora that they tenaciously hold the process and governance of democracy. They do not joke with democracy at all, they want to hold sway the process and do not want it to be diluted, frustrated in Africa and they try as much as possible to come and support, and supervise the growth and stability of democracy. The diaspora's are able to galvanize support for democratic processes in their country. 

Because of our diaspora's commitment, some of them can now cast their votes overseas as citizens. We have also made request to the former Prime Minister of Britain to assist us to ensure that Nigerians are able to vote anywhere as citizens of Nigeria, it is a civic right. If Diaspora's are able to vote, which is what I am also sensitizing, it will be beneficial to the nation and the state because diaspora's that are able to vote  will be able to invest their money in Nigeria because they are  part of installing a government of a caring government, a government that will be able grow the economy. If you are part of governance you will be able to invest your money. But when you are not part of it and you do not know what is happening, it is difficult to invest your money. All this diaspora's campaign we are doing now has been able to sensitize  Nigerians who went overseas in search of economic benefit, better life, better education, and those who are lost because of the negative news from Nigeria. This campaign has been able to reignite hope in the hearts of Nigerians overseas and they are now coming home to think of investments. The diaspora's have been able to sensitize the world on the  importance of coming to vote and coming in to invest with their friends.