Former governorship aspirant in Kaduna State, under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Idris Shuaibu Mikati and member Governing Council of the Kaduna State University is an expert in human resource management and governance. In this interview with newsmen in Kaduna, including LEADERSHIP WEEKEND’s MIDAT JOSEPH, Mikati holds that extreme poverty is at the root of current security challenges and threatens the Nigerian project. He also spoke on various topical national issues
One of the greatest issues in Nigeria today is that of extreme depredations by members of the Boko Haram sect. What is your viewpoint?
From my experience in human resources management and governance, I would say poverty is one of the causes of the challenges we face today in Nigeria. According to Karl Max, when the proletariat rise, they are always ready to destroy because they have little or nothing to lose.?
There is endemic poverty in the land and when you look at the statistics and the economic indicators in Nigeria, the north eastern part of Nigeria, particularly Yobe, is probably the poorest state and the unemployment rate in this area is in the region of 30 to 40 per cent.
When you compare that to the unemployment rate in the south-western part of the country, it is about 19 per cent.
Lagos is about 17 per cent. So, we have a challenge there. Then, generally, we as parents have abdicated our responsibilities.
Poverty is not a matter of today; it has always been there with us but our parents, our grandparents trained our parents so well that even where you were poor, you did not have to cause trouble.
I grew up in a village in Birnin- Gwari local government area and there were instances where families would spend nights without food but they did not go out to beg and nobody knew that they did not have dinner or breakfast, as the case may be.
Today, it is no longer that. Then injustice is also part of the causes of what we have today in Nigeria. The moment you begin to have different laws for different people, there will be a challenge. We must endeavour to have equity and justice and fairness. Justice should not only be seen to have been done, it must be done to the letter.
But it would appear as if government and the security agencies are not doing enough to arrest the situation of Boko Haram?
It is not fair for you and me as civilians to say that government is not doing much about the problem. The little we know is that it has happened in so many places, but we do not know those things they might have done or prevented without telling us. Government is indeed doing the much it can do.
You probably heard what the Army authorities in Port Harcourt said recently, that they foiled a Boko Haram attack and arrested some people. That tells you that they are doing the much they can.
If they are not working hard in curtailing Boko Haram, by now it would have been all over northern Nigeria. For now, you notice the concentration of the attacks between Maiduguri and Damaturu. Only recently that you see some flashes in Kano and Bauchi and may be, once or twice in Kaduna.
Apart from what happened in Abuja, the rest are flashes. I think the security people have been trying the only thing is that perhaps their best is not good enough. As the saying goes, even the best system has room for improvement. There is no doubt that the security people need to improve to give us more security for our lives and property.
As a Muslim, do you have certain provisions in the Holy Koran or other texts which support activities of the Boko Haram people since they are Muslims?
I am a practising Muslim but I am not a scholar versed enough to declare that one person is a Muslim and that the other one is not. But from my little understanding of the religion, it says that human life is sacred. Not just the life of a Muslim but human life; a human being, irrespective of religion tribe or nationality.
It means that you have no right to kill or take the life of anybody, whether a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew or even an unbeliever. This a golden rule as contained in the Koran. No one has the right to kill another person.
Then places of worship are sacred. The moment you run into a church, a mosque or a synagogue even in times of war, you are safe because nobody is expected to attack you in any of these places except of course there is an attack coming from within these religious enclaves.
If you attack me and you manage to run into a church, or a mosque or a synagogue, I am expected to wait until you come out, anybody who kills without following the appropriate procedures or the due process is wrong.
The Quran has made it absolutely clear on how a human life can be taken. If you kill somebody intentionally, a law court of competent authority or jurisdiction is there to impose the necessary sentence. If the judge pronounces that you murdered somebody, not manslaughter, and that you are guilty, then the religion provides that you should be killed.
Even if I saw you killing my brother, I do not have the power to pick up a weapon and begin to attack you because that would amount to taking the laws into my hands. I should go to the court and the law will take its course.
There has not been any controversy among Muslim scholars and the ummah (community) not only in Nigeria but the world over concerning these provisions. That is why you see that all the Muslim leaders from all parts of this country have continued to condemn the killings.
The same thing from our traditional rulers; everybody has come out to denounce this vehemently. The fact is that Islam is being portrayed in bad light because of the action of these people. They are just a few disgruntled elements and the most disturbing thing is that some other parts of the country have begun to label the north as terrorists. Majority of the 9/11 attackers in the United States of America are Saudi citizens but the US continues to do business with Saudi Arabia.
The 9/11 attack did not result in the painting of the whole of Saudi Arabian people as criminals or as terrorists and I think we should borrow a leaf from that. Let us say that about 100 million Nigerians living in northern Nigeria, may be 500,000 are members of this sect and I bet you, they are less than that number. Do you now label 100 million people terrorists because of about 500,000 miscreants? It is most unfair.
How do you see the recent protests over removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government?
I disagree with the Nigeria Labour Congress and its decision to embark on protests because whatever peace cannot solve, war will not solve it and even if it does, it will not last. But I do not see anything wrong in giving subsidy if you can afford to give subsidy.
But if you cannot afford to subsidize why you should do it? The USA subsidizes farmers to the tune of over $8 billion dollars. So, subsidy is not new in the economic world. The European Union also subsidizes farmers. The N65 we had as price per litre of petrol was started in 2006 and that is about five years ago.
Five years ago, if you bought five kilos of tomatoes for N65, today, , do you think you will still get the same quantity for N65? The answer is, no and this is because there is inflation. So, do we expect government to continue to maintain a price of N65 for five years?
What is your assessment of developments in Kaduna and performance of Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa?
When you reach a certain level in life, there are things you do and there are other things you probably do not need to do. I have direct and unimpeded access to the governor and if I have suggestions or I see where things should not be the way they are, I am able to reach him and express my views.
If there are things I think he should do, I go to him and he listens to me. When you have that kind of rapport, why would I come out on the pages of a newspaper and say certain things? A lot of people have little or no understanding of how governance works.
Let me give you an example. The average monthly wage bill of Kaduna State is in the region of about N1.8 billion. That was when the minimum wage was N7,500. If we increase it to N18,000 per month, how much does Kaduna get from the Federation Account every month? It is N2.3 billion and if you remove N1.8 billion from N2.3 billion, how much is left? And how much is the internally generated revenue? May be N1 billion monthly.
What can the governor do? He is not a magician and he still has to attend to the House of Assembly and do so many other things. But the psyche of Nigerians has been fixated on seeing things done fast. They also believe that government should put food on the table for the people.
But the only way I think government can do that is to provide the enabling environment which I believe the government is doing. However, the security situation has not been all that favourable. Since the post-presidential election violence, we have been having series of curfews in Kaduna.
Even if you have the resources, when there is no peace, how can you develop? You cannot achieve any meaningful development without peace. We are in February; the state House of Assembly has just passed the budget and critics should give Yakowa time and let us see what he will do for us.
Do you intend to take another shot at the governorship elections in 2015?
There was never a time when I unilaterally decided I was going to contest the governorship election. It was always a situation where a group of like minds sit down and suggest that I go into the race. I did the first time in 2007 and the second time in 2011 and I think I am almost done with coming out to contest the governorship elections.
But you know that as a practicing Muslim, one tries to keep to the rules of the religion. Whatever I do or whatever I become, it is not by anybody’s power but the power of the Almighty Allah.
So, if Allah destines that I will contest again, then I may but who knows whether we will even witness 2015. We never envisaged a situation where late President Yar’Adua would not go for a second term, but he could not even complete the first term.