In this interview with RUTH TENE NATSA, Abdullahi Dan-alkali, who represents? Zuru, Fakai? Sakaba , Danko/Wasagun constituency in the House of Representatives, is of the view that military interventions led to the political quagmire that Nigerians have found themselves in, 51 years after independence .
How would you judge the political terrain 51 years after?
I was not born then (general laughter) but I witnessed the 1st Republic, the independence era during the NPC, Action Group, NCNC, NEPU and others. I was still young but can still remember their slogans and how the movements and campaign were at that the time. It was okay, the political terrain was fine and our political leaders were not amassing wealth as such. All they were doing was?? see to the development of their people.
What brought problems to the political arena was? constant?? military coups. If there was no interference from the military, I think the development of Nigeria would have been more than this. Shagari came with a beautiful agenda and things were going on fine. They were building on what the former premiers of both the North and West did, but the military came in between and that created a vacuum and halted all the development that Shagari had wanted to work on. His political arena was good, I witnessed that fully even though I was not a politician.?
I can still remember some of the political parties of those days, such as the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and NAP, among others. The political arena was very good, not monetised, it was based on principles. Politicians did not use money to induce voters or buy votes. People were disciplined and knew why they were joining a particular party. There were manifestoes for each party and people studied those manifestoes and decided on parties to join.
With the nearly intractable security challenges in the country now, do you still think military interventions were completely bad ?
I am not saying the military is a bad idea, but in administration, yes. The military is not supposed to come into the administrative or political arena of the country, they have their own functions clearly defined, which is the provision of internal and external security? for the nation, and it should remain so. Even some of the ad-hoc duties they are doing due to the security challenges faced in the country are sometimes biased.
You hear all kinds of allegations from the states or people they are sent to protect. Some say they have been raped, beaten and looted. It is not the military but the individuals within that do those things.? If they are asked to do something, over zealousness and selfishness make them do beyond the call of duty. But if they do what the government asked them to do , including providing security for the lives and property of Nigerians no matter the cost, make sure nobody is maimed , no burning, looting? and so on, treat everybody equally and with fairness,? things will be okay, but some of them go beyond the call of duty and that is what we are against.
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What changes do you anticipate in Nigerian political arena?
Governance with a human face is what will make Nigeria better. Government should have an agenda, first and foremost. The president, vice president, members of the legislators and others in government? have all gone out of Nigeria? and have seen what development means. First and foremost, without constant electricity there cannot be a meaningful development. This is the IT age, and without electricity there cannot be IT.? All our manufacturing industries are grounded, and you cannot continue to manufacture with diesel, gas generator e.tc.
How much was a litre of diesel, how much is it now? It has skyrocketed. How can you develop without a manufacturing sector? Must we always rely on importation? That does not bring development. So I will advise the government to look at the power sector. And there are various alternatives to how they can solve the problem of power.
?Would you say Independence did Nigeria good?
Independence has done a lot of good to Nigeria. I have seen some francophone countries that independence is just by name, without freedom of currency, economic development and so on, and their elections are manipulated by their colonial masters.
That is not happening in Nigeria, we have our complete independence. We have manufactured our political culture the way we want it, we have changed our currencies and transportation systems the way we want them, we have changed our curricula the way we want it, so we are completely independent.? We have the resources to move forward, we do not need colonial masters to tell us how to govern ourselves.
The transformational agenda is looking at mining as a substitute to oil, how possible is that?
We have been depending on oil, but before then we had other things, so it is not difficult to detract attention from oil to another thing; it only takes the willingness of the government. If government is ready to finance other sectors to explore and exploit, nothing is difficult.
?Nigeria is endowed with natural resources; every state has a particular solid mineral, and if Nigeria wishes to utilise the solid minerals that God has given us, we can do it. For example, from Lagos, if one is going to Cotonou, as soon as he reaches the border, he will see a change from the Nigerian soil, which is rich and can produce better agriculture than Benin Republic. If government is ready and willing to explore, it knows what it should do. It should enforce and embark on helping the ministry of solid minerals resources so that it will explore.
?In each state there are a lot of mineral resources, but due to the negligence of government , some people are taking undue advantage? and siphoning resources out of the country without giving government its due revenue. Government can take lots of measures to safeguard its natural resources; apart from minerals we still have the agricultural sector. Nigeria is feeding so many countries in Africa, free from our agricultural produce. Even from my own constituency, my village, I see the quantum of grains moved daily and weekly to other countries without revenue for the government.
Nigeria is sacrificing a lot without anything in return; we have to look at our foreign policies. We sacrifice a lot, yet when you go to some of the francophone countries, the kind of insults you receive will make you regret being born a Nigerian. We should not continue to give out while the inside suffers.? I am not saying we should not help, but it is getting too much at the expense of Nigerians.? Some of our foreign policies have to be looked at.
Would you say Kebbi is enjoying the benefits of democracy?
I will say we have come a long way. As far as I am concerned, the state has witnessed improved development since the present governor came to power four years ago. Before then, development was very slow, but now somebody who knew Kebbi five to six years ago will not recognise it?? because he will see a lot of developmental changes.