Comrade Rotimi Olumo is the Coordinator of the Pan -Yoruba Group, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in Oyo State. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on Nigerians’ expectations from the Bola Tinubu Administration, the need for restructuring and other issues of national importance. Excerpts:
What are your expectations from President Bola Tinubu?
There is nobody you asked this question that will not have a lot to say because one can see that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has left Nigeria in comatose, especially as regards the issue of insecurity.So, what should be paramount in the mind of President Bola Tinubu is how to tackle insecurity.
If Tinubu wants to make Nigeria a better place for both Nigerians and non- Nigerians, he should first tackle the issue of insecurity.
As I said before, insecurity has brought famine to Nigeria. Now there is scarcity of food everywhere.
We are all aware that the insecurity has been on before former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan left office and Nigerians expected Buhari, who was a military Head of State, would be able to tackle it. However, Nigerians were surprised that it was during his tenure that the situation got worse.
You know, this started from the North-East and it spread to all parts of the country. Even the South-West, which was regarded as the most peaceful region, is affected.
If Tinubu is able to solve the issue of insecurity, it will give the people hope and the assurance that he is capable of solving the country’s problems. They will not regret his coming to govern them.
Tinubu should know that insecurity has affected farmers, many of who have been attacked, killed and kidnapped by terrorists. As a result, many of them are scared to go to farm and that is why there is scarcity of food in the country today. Farmers are not working as optimally as before to produce food and this has made the prices of food items to skyrocket beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians.
This situation has forced more people to resort to begging in order to survive across the country. In Nigeria today, corporate begging has become the order of the day.
One other critical issue which the government of Tinubu should look into is the provision of employment for the youth. Right now, millions of young men and women are unemployed and that is why there is an increase in the crime rate. Lack of employment has thrown many youths into the business of kidnapping. Others have embraced Internet fraud or Yahoo Yahoo, which is now rubbishing the image of the country globally.
What are the things you think former President Buhari should have done differently?
Nobody expected the situation in Nigeria to deteriorate this badly under Buhari’s watch. He left Nigeria a confused nation. He left many bad legacies, such as insecurity, high rate of unemployment, scarcity of food and acute indebtedness. He is one former President that Nigerians would wish to forget in a hurry.
His tenure brought about a serious uprising in the form of the EndSars protests and a devastating cashless policy that made millions of people to groan in pain. These are the kind of things that Tinubu should avoid. He should ensure that his government fares better so that Nigerians will have a sense of belonging.
Buhari has left a lot of work for Tinubu to do. Tinubu must show that his government will not be like that of his predecessor.
I will therefore say that Tinubu is a lucky man to emerge as the President of Nigeria and he must make us happy. What Nigerians went through under Buhari was enough to reject the ruling All Progressives Congress, but God knows his plans for Nigeria. That is why we have Tinubu today. He must be aware that he should not let the people down.
A lot of people have come out to say that the best way for Nigeria to move forward as a nation is to restructure. What is your view on this?
I believe that Nigeria is now ripe for restructuring, if we must remain as a nation. We should not forget that the country is a combination of many nationalities fused into one. As far as I am concerned, we have to restructure because some people think that they are born to rule. I believe that a section of the country should not be dominating others. It will no longer work.
If we must stay together as a nation, Tinubu should ensure that the country is restructured. This is the only legacy he can lay down and many Nigerians will appreciate it. By doing so, he would be averting what could lead to bloodshed in the country in the future.
If Tinubu wants to do the restructuring, it should not be difficult for him because the template to do that has been created by the Goodluck Jonathan Administration. I am talking about the 2014 National Conference. At the conference, all notable Nigerians sat down to brainstorm and came out with a beautiful paper on how to move the country forward. Restructuring was one of their recommendations.
What pained Nigerians most was the attitude of former President Buhari to the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference. I am strongly convinced that if he had looked into the recommendations there won’t be agitation for self- determination on the part of some ethnic nationalities.
Tinubu should write his name in Gold in the history of Nigeria by being bold enough to restructure Nigeria.
Governor Seyi Makinde is back for a second term. What is your advice to him?
I will urge him to intensify more efforts on the security of the state. This time around, he should use all the security apparatus available in Oyo State to his advantage. The police, the Civil Defence Corps, Amotekun, OPC members, local hunters and the Peace Corps are ready to work to secure the state and protect the people.
I want Governor Makinde to look at agriculture. Oyo State is blessed with a large expanse of land, especially in the Ibaraba and Oke -Ogun areas of the state. He should make agriculture his priority because this will go a long way to alleviate poverty and to solve the people’s problems of the people.
If Makinde concentrates on these two areas, he will have left a legacy that generations of Oyo indigenes yet unborn will cherish.
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.
