Anu Ibiwoye is currently a Special Adviser to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State on Agriculture and Water Resources. A successful technocrat and politician, Ibiwoye speaks on why Nigerians have to be patient with President Muhammadu Buhari in delivering on his change mantra he so enthusiastically espoused in the build up to his election. Excerpts.
Who is Anu Ibiwoye?
I am from Kwara state and particularly, Irepodun Local Government Area. I was born in Kaduna and lived a fairly good share of my life up north. My primary school was in Zaria, secondary school in Kaduna and I attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, I am a graduate of Economics, a fellow of the Charted Institute of Economics and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers. I have my Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA). I am a banker, stockbroker and I am also into politics.
Give us an insight into your journey into politics?
My interest in politics developed in 2002 and I came into politics primarily because I felt that there are opportunities for me to contribute my own quota through politics not only in Nigeria but also in Kwara in particular.
In 2011, I made a bold attempt to run for Senate under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). I took that decision from oblivion. I wasn’t really a brand name, I wasn’t known but we made a bold effort to change the status quo. I used the word oblivion because that was my first attempt at running for elective office and we took a shot at the Senate. We were convinced and we were driven by passion to try to make an impact particularly with the younger generation which we identify with. I think we are driven by the fact that we also needed to have a voice and try to do things differently from the way it is being done.
How do you describe Nigerian politics since 1999?
From 1999 the democratic process has been evolving and it is still evolving up till now. I think the will to stay on is what is more important to me in driving the electoral process and each administration has had its own ups and downs and their own merits and they have their own short falls but I think as a nation we are just held together. From 2011 till now I can say have been the worst years in Nigeria in terms of our democratic experience, I say that because corruption has been at its height, we have one of the weakest leaderships in the country. There was no direction and there was no focus and you can almost say that there was really nobody in charge. Once nobody takes responsibility for what is being done, then everybody does what he or she likes and that is why we find ourselves where we are.
We thank God for the regime that has come in place. And I think that you cannot attribute that to any political party, you cannot attribute that to APC alone. Although, APC has offered a platform for the change that has come, they have also done what they should do as a party, and I think more importantly they have provided the right candidates in appointment made so far. But I think the Nigerian people have also expressed the fact that they are tired with the way the immediate past administration ran government and we want to try something else. You would see that also evolving over time are the electorates, they have become wiser, they have become more sophisticated, they have access to information and they know their rights. And now, the electoral institution has also been able to conduct election that was fair and more credible over the years. In my own assessment from this point things should get better and I think that everybody most contribute their quota to ensure that Nigeria stay on the part of recovery.
What of in Kwara state?
We cannot isolate Kwara from the rest of the country. Like I said, I started politics from the opposition, the ACN and the then government was PDP. But then, again you see that the situation in Kwara is such that those who are in government in the PDP at a particular point in time opted to move out of PDP and went into agreement that produced the APC. What I find instructive about this thing is that everybody is realizing that it can no longer be business as usual, the political landscape is evolving and those who are smart enough to see the way the wind is blowing have taken a proactive decision to join the moving train and Kwara was not left out. The leadership of the PDP in Kwara with the governor and the leadership of the party took a decision to come to APC. We were in ACN and we also decided to stay in the APC because we felt that, that was the vehicle that would guarantee change.
Some people in the other party stayed on with PDP even when it was even glaring that it was a crumbling ship. Kwara is also in the league of those that are pushing for a change and I think that everybody on board was looking in that direction. A lot of things may not have been perfect in the past like it has been everywhere but I think we are moving towards a direction that we hope that Nigeria will change for the better.
Today in Kwara, if you look at the development, some people will say that there is nothing on ground to show but I really do not agree. Look at the performance of the state government relative to the resources that are available. You must group like with like. You cannot assess the development in Lagos state with the development in Kwara.
Look at Kwara state, look at the people there, I know the government has made an attempt to increase its internally generated revenue but then the people at the state level refused it. How do you want to further impoverish the people who are complaining that they are poor? So a lot of those internally generated revenue drives on the part of the state government is resisted by the indigenes and the state government conscious of not wanting to inflict further hardship it has to find away to mana ge that situation. Today, we have in Kwara political stability and she is doing well administratively.
As an economist by training, how do you think President Buhari can revamp the Nigerian economy?
The president is also very clear as to what the problem is and the areas that they need to handle as an issue of national emergency. I think the starting point is to first of all deal with corruption. I think that corruption is the bane that we have in Nigeria today. If we are able to deal with corruption effectively then of course even where the level of income the nation generates does not increase and you are able to block the holes through which the resources are fleeced away then you can still be able to save more money you can use to solve other things. That is number one, number two; I think government has taken a very bold step to clean up the energy sector, the petroleum sector. A lot is going on there, the place has been reorganized and it is expected to be more efficient. That is number two.
Number three is also closely related with one and two. When you deal with corruption and you have more money available, I think you need to reduce the dependence on oil as a national foreign exchange earner. I want to believe that government is working very seriously to shift away from oil to non-oil sector. We need to develop agriculture, we need to develop the industry that are linked with agriculture, the processing industry, we have to develop our sources of raw material, we have to strengthen the manufacturing companies, we have to ensure that power is stable and available because that power issue once it is solved it will sort out a quite number of things. It reduces the cost of living, it helps the manufacturing industry to be able to produce cheaper and it will also bring the cost of production down and bring the cost of goods available to Nigerians down. Even, when your salary does not increase your disposable income will increase. Once you deal with corruption, you clean up the energy sector, you deal with power, when activity begins to go on, and it will generate employment. Agriculture will generate employment, if there are activities going on in road construction, infrastructure and others, the companies that get those contracts will employ much people and those people will earn income. The income will be used to do so many things within the economy so it will stimulate various economic activities and Nigeria will be better for it.
Thank God! today we have a government that is decisive, we have a government that is focused, we have a government that is determined and a leadership that is committed to rescue Nigeria from the cliff that the Jonathan administration had driven it to and we as Nigerians also need to be patient to understand that, even when there is the will and commitment there are some gains that we see as quick wins but there are also some changes that will take some time to come. Nigerians must also be patient with this administration and give it time and put Nigeria on the path to steady recovery.
Have you been maintaining touch with you constituency?
I am always home. For me as a politician, I am not being driven by what I hope to make from the process. I have invested more of my personal resources, I have not gained anything since being in politics but I have spent so much. I have spent so much on mentoring, spent so much on trying to educate people on what we know is an ideal situation, get our young people to channel their talent constructively, and to also see what they can do as individuals rather than constitute themselves into a bunch of nuisance. We have encouraged them to try to get something meaningful to do.
First of all I ran an election where I made it very clear that I will not tolerate violence in a bid to push my ideals across to people. Violence is not an option in politics. I also ensured that people conducted themselves with decorum. Also in our campaign we also tried to change how campaigns are run from mudslinging to a campaign that is based on issues. I said to somebody jokingly that I was in ACN and today I am in APC with some people who are in opposition to us in PDP yet I have nothing to apologize. I do not have any reason to apologize to anybody about what I have said in the past because our campaigns were not based on personalities our campaigns were based on issues.
When we finished that election, I also ran a small business in Abuja and what I have done is that we have also been able to bring some of these people to Abuja to find some job for them to do, of which they are earning income and we have taken some of these people from the streets where they harass and intimidate people and we brought them into constructive employment and today we are able to influence employment for people. We are able to give scholarship here and there to people and other social responsibilities that we are able to do from the organization that we run as individuals. Every day we are spending money, this person is doing this, that person is doing that. Government cannot do everything, the little we can do we are also doing it.
How do you see Nigeria in the next 10 years?
We are praying that Nigeria in the next few years will have recovered fully from where we have found ourselves. Nigeria is called the giant of Africa but when you have a giant that should be running and he is not even able to walk you see that it is not a normal situation but with the help of God and the resolve of Nigerians to move forward we pray that God will help Nigeria to get to a point where it will be self sufficient and things will not be as difficult as it is. I am an entrepreneur, I know how much I need to spend to live a comfortable life in this country. And I see how difficult it is for people out there to survive. There are so many people who are willing to work but they do not have jobs, it is not because they do not want to do anything but because the jobs are not there and you begin to wonder how do this people survive from day to day. Some of them have to beg, some of them have to do things that they would not ordinarily have done to stay afloat.
When we got to the path of recovery the prices of commodity will come down, people will be able to walk freely and things will get better, that is what we pray for Nigeria to be in the next few years. Nigeria that we will all be proud of; Nigeria where our aspirations will be met; Nigeria where generations coming behind us will be well accommodated and be able to pursue their aspiration without hindrance.
