Alhaji Yerima Shettima is the National President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF). In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on the activities of President Bola Tinubu, especially the ministerial nominee list and the removal of subsidy on petroleum products. Excerpts:
How do you assess President Bola Tinubu’s 70 days in office?
I think it is so far so good. He has started well and we pray he will continue in the right path. You know he has numerous challenges ahead to combat which include how to steady the country’s struggling economy, address excessive foreign borrowings, tackle security crises and revamp Nigeria’s global image. To be very honest, the government has a huge, multifaceted challenge ahead, and we can only pray it does what is right.
President Tinubu has just picked members of his cabinet and many Nigerians are not happy that some old politicians are being recycled. What is your take on this?
In politics, it is about lobbying, canvassing and doing the needful. I am sure that President Tinubu has a reason for doing what he did, appointing some former governors into his cabinet. It would be out of place if he just rolled out names and left them out believing that they had nothing to offer and for that he had to betray them after all the agreement. He is a man of conscience. He will not do that. I think they should be given the benefit of doubt. Besides, if they cannot perform after the first term, he can drop them and bring in other people.
Some people are also saying that youths are not well represented in the cabinet. What is your take on that as one of the leading people championing youth inclusion in governance?
We don’t have many, but don’t forget that compared to the last eight years, he brought in the youngest elements into the position of minister or government. If you want to compare this government to the Muhammadu Buhari Administration, this is better than what we had in the last eight years. We have few people who are less than 40 years of age in his government. Rome is not built in a day. It is a process, even though we expected him to give more posts to the younger ones.
But we hope and believe that with time, he will still review the government. We know that Tinubu’s government will not be like that of Muhammadu Buhari where the moment you were appointed, you would be forgotten and nobody would monitor you to know whether you are performing or not.
I am sure that Tinubu will review the performances of those he appointed. After sometime, if they don‘t do well, he will drop them and bring in other people who are more competent. I am sure he is going to monitor them and the needful will be done. Personally I know he is a man who believes in the younger generation and who overtime has demonstrated that. He is with the younger ones and will definitely do more.
If not for Tinubu, some of us would not have come to the limelight. This is because he was part of the struggle and we received some mentorship from him during the dark days of the military. During the pro-democracy movement, he was part and parcel of us. So he is one of us and we believe he knows what he is doing.
Nigerians are also concerned about the emergence of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly. They believe that the manner in which its leaders emerged would prevent them from doing their job independently?
For us we have expected that coming and unfortunately we have a situation where people find their ways easily in a system like ours. Somebody will just decide that this is who he wants and eventually he will get through. This happens because the people we send to the National Assembly to represent our interest often compromise because they see it as the place where they can make it.
They see the National Assembly as their means of livelihood and survival rather than serving the country. To that extent, some of them lack conscience and they do what they do, thinking of what the highest bidders can give to them.
We have reservations because we know the characters that are being elected today.But let us also assume that the deeds have already been done and if they go out of their way, we will go back to the trenches and tell them that this is a country that all of us have a stake in. It is not about who becomes Speaker of the House of Representatives and it is not about who becomes Senate President, but it is about the country’s sustainability and survival.
So if they go out of their way and they become rubber stamps, definitely we would be left with no option than to come out to the streets. But I don’t believe that they will do that because the current President has integrity. He believes so much in the democratic process. He also believes in the right results. He is not going to do it alone, he needs the support of the National Assembly to get it right and we pray he gets it right.
What is your advice to the leaders of the National Assembly?
My advice to them is that they should know that the National Assembly is a separate body different from the executive and they should know that they represent the various constituencies of the country. If they don’t get it right, of course, they should also remember that their constituents are waiting for them. Some of them are likely not to go to their constituencies. But we still maintain that they have to do the needful.
They are not supposed to be rubber stamps. They need to be independent and be on the side of the masses because the masses brought them there. They should also make sure that the ethics of democracy are put in place. Respect for the rule of law should also be maintained. That is why they are there. As lawmakers, they should make laws that will be of benefit to the country.
How do you see the removal of the subsidy on petroleum products and how will you advise Nigerians suffering as a result of the policy?
Some of us knew a day like this would come. We believe it was long overdue. But the problem there is that before the removal of fuel subsidy one expected the Federal Government to put the necessary machinery in place to cushion the effects on the people. You cannot leave the people and say let them survive on their own. That is not done anywhere in the world. Everywhere that government is democratically elected, the responsibility of that government is to ensure that it provides for the welfare of the people.
If you don’t do that but think you can just introduce a policy, especially when you know that policy will bring hardship and you call on the people to make sacrifices and you are not making sacrifices yourself, we have reservations about that.
I can’t imagine that a leader will just come out and look at the face of over 200 million Nigerians and abuse their sensibilities by saying that they should just be patient and that things will be fine. It means that they are not making any sacrifices. Leaders should be able to show what the leadership is all about.
Despite the fact that I have been an advocate of this subsidy removal for long, I believe the government should also create some things for people to sustain their livelihood. You can’t just leave people and abandon them. As of today, there is tension all over the place because people are suffering. There is hunger all over the land.
If you think you can build a mansion and live comfortably when your neighbours are hungry, you should know that you are sitting on a dangerous line. They are likely to react any day and any time. When this happens, you will not be able to continue staying in your comfort zone. I hope they bear this in mind and start making amendments and make things work.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
