Chief Comrade Amitolu Shittu is a man of many parts. He is a political scientist, analyst and security consultant. He is also an environmentalist and farmer. In this interview, he speaks glowingly about burning national issues, the way forward as well as his six books which are due for launch in December this year.
The myriads of crises that Nigeria has been passing through are perennial and seem to have defied solutions. Insecurity and economic malaise marked by inflation, hardship and hunger are the major heart breakers among the crises. Do you think government alone can proffer solutions? What do you think is the way out?
William Shakespeare makes us understand that nobody has a monopoly of wisdom. The majority of people that produced this present administration are people between the age bracket of 18-45 years. That is the largest percentage of people that voted for change. They voted for Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu because of the confidence they have in him. Therefore, the federal government should wake up to justify the confidence that the people repose in the president and his administration. I have advised the Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and also given government some clues on the solutions to the nagging insecurity challenge bedeviling the country, but they failed to heed my advice. From January this year till now, I have toured all the states of the federation. The problems I saw in one state are the same problems I saw in all other states. For instance, the problems in Yenagoa are the same problems in Damaturu, Jalingo, Maiduguri and other states too. There is no hiding place anywhere. It is high time the Special Adviser to the President on Security organised (Ribadu) a national conference on insecurity and involve the youths to proffer solutions to insecurity and all the challenges being currently faced by the country.
The youth are always at the centre stage of every crisis in the country. If they are carried along in the efforts to proffer solutions, there must be solutions. That is why it’s very crucial to involve them in every step taken to resolve any national crisis. The conference could be organised in the 774 local government areas in Nigeria and call the youths to a round table and chart a new course for our country. If the youths are called to the round table alongside elders in a national conference, I can assure you that Nigeria’s political, economic, educational and insecurity problems will be solved.
There are allegations in the public domain by analysts that Tinubu’s policies are responsible for the current hardship in the country. Do you agree with the critics?
We can’t blame Tinubu because there was no development plan on ground for Nigeria when Babangida took over as military president. That was when Nigeria was supposed to have a 25, 30, 50, 100 years development plan. But before Tinubu came and up till now, the country did not have any development plan to follow to achieve a reasonable development. As of today, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has developmental and economic target plans called: “Vision 2030” which they started in the year 2,000 the millennium year.
If government comes up with a reasonable development plan, Nigeria shall surely survive the current economic quagmire like other countries that survived theirs.
House of Representatives members have agreed to sacrifice 50 percent of their N600,000 salary for six months to support government’s palliative efforts in proffering solutions to the current hardship in the country. Do you think this is the best way that the people’s representatives in the hallowed chamber could solve the problem?
Yes, of course. They deserve commendation for such a sacrifice. For coming out openly to do that, they have identified with the people and their sufferings. Their gesture is a show of empathy with the poor. So, Nigerians must commend them.
When Britain had economic problems such as inflation, austerity, scarcity of food and incessant strikes during Margret Thatcher’s era, government came up with some strategies to find solution. During Winston Churchill’s era, the Parliament did the same thing that the House of Reps members have promised to do in Nigeria now. What they have promised to do shows loyalty, it shows commitment to the people they are representing at the hallowed chambers.
Nigerians are crying for solutions to the country’s problems. Do you see light at the end of the tunnel?
The problems we are passing through today were caused by COVID-19. The echoes of the aftermath of the malady are still haunting the world today. The ongoing wars in the Middle East as well as the Russia and Ukraine war are also parts of the global crises responsible for the world economic problem today. Nigeria is the largest populated country in Africa. The economic problem is a global trend. Nigeria is also largely affected by the problems. The federal government of Nigeria has been trying its best to solve the problems which can not be solved within one day because they were not created one day. It takes time. Therefore, we need to be patient as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is already doing his best to solve the problems through his Renewed Hope Agenda.
In what specific ways do you think the government can solve the problems which seem to be going out of control, especially the current food inflation?
Basically, government should encourage agriculture which used to be the mainstay of the economy before petroleum which has become a scarce commodity across the globe. Government should inject more money into agriculture. Raining season is the best season for farming. If farmers are encouraged to take advantage of the rainy season for intensive farming, the current food inflation shall reduce during harvest, especially during the dry season.
The federal government should embark on what we call buy-back from farmers during harvest and store food stuff in humongous proportions
If farmers produce farm produce, government should be ready to buy and store them, then sell them during the rainy season for farmers to have enough to plant during another rainy season.
With such a chain of production, there would be food security in the country. If we can not meet up with production and consumption demand, or if there is food inflation, as we are witnessing in Nigeria today, government should collaborate with other African countries to trade with us by supplying us some food stuff for sale at controlled prices to cushion the effects of scarcity. We can not do it alone. Government should listen to the cry and plight of the people.
What is your take on the price for democracy, 25 years after?
We are not praying for our democracy to collapse. But if it must stand, then government should make it a reality for the people. President Tinubu, together with us and other statesmen risked our lives to fight for this present democratic system. We faced a lot of problems when some us were in prison, police cells in the hands of military while fighting for democracy. Remember some people died in the process, while some of us are alive today, including the President himself. It is by God’s grace. We were almost killed. The pains must not continue; there must be a relief urgently through democracy dividends.
Do you think government palliatives are the way out of the current hardship and hunger in the land?
It’s not about palliatives. It has to do with a conference with the government to talk to Nigerians. If we have a conference, Nigerians would listen and also have a say and there can be solutions. It is high time Nigeria organised a national conference.
Government giving listening ears to the people will reduce the anger in the land. Conference can reduce the crisis, conference can give direction, conference can stimulate economic plans. Saudi Arabia has 30 years economic plan. What vision does this present administration have? Vision what? We must have a vision. What is our target? What do we want to achieve? There must be a plan. If there is no plan, there can be no vision and if there is no vision, there can be no mission and if there is no mission, we can’t get anywhere to be able to call ourselves the giant of Africa.
I sincerely appeal to Mr President to direct the security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to quickly organise a conference to address insecurity, inflation, food scarcity.
Do you think Nigeria has lessons to learn and apply from other countries that survived the current economic crisis bedeviling her?
When Britain had economic problems, especially inflation and hunger under Margaret Thatcher and incessant strikes by Labour, she had to map out some strategies and economic plans and the country came out strongly from the crisis.
When the country also had problems during Winston Churchill’s era, they engaged the service of Indians and Jamaicans. There was a call to reduce the salaries of the parliamentarians and they sacrificed their salaries. This was one of the supports that helped the country to survive the economic crisis in those days.
Do you think Nigerians are to blame for what the country is passing through?
Part of the cause of the economic problem we are facing is that many Nigerians are used to luxury and ostentatious life so much that people don’t want to farm. If there is no farming, how can there be food production and security? Government has to give incentives to farmers, including the youth and encourage good participation in farming. Government should give a stable economic direction. It could come up with something like 50 years economic plan.
Solving the current hardship is not just by salary increase but workers’ participation in economic development. They, too, can be encouraged to go into farming. Are local government areas using the large expanse of land in their communities for large-scale farming? Are they producing eggs, chickens, fishes, fruits, vegetables and other crops especially cash crops? A lot of lands are wasting away in rural areas. The potentials of the lands must be maximised to achieve the optimal values.
Tinubu has approved N70,000 as minimum wage for Nigerian workers. Is that ok?
With the N70,000 new minimum wage, it is clear that government has done well but workers must reciprocate the gesture through productivity, otherwise there may be no value or justification for the wage increase. Many workers just sit in offices, doing nothing and at the end of the month, they want government to pay their salaries without productivity. Many of them don’t even go to work. Many Nigerian workers especially in the wake of Japa Syndrome have travelled abroad for greener pastures. Yet, they still have their names on the payrolls and receiving salary alerts because they have racketeers and syndicates who aid and abet the fraud. Tinubu pledged recently to deal with them. Nigerians are waiting for the sanction against the fraudsters and culprits. They must be unravelled and made to refund the money and even punished for the criminal offence.
Transportation, housing, land are basic development indices. Do you think all is well with Nigeria in these areas?
All is not well because there is misplacement of priorities in many areas. A lot of farms have been converted to private estates by private owners who extort money from tenants for personal aggrandizement instead of using part of the lands for large scale farming which can benefit a larger population. Do we need estates in Nigeria? We don’t need them. There must be a restriction on the use of our lands. Government should control land ownership and usage as it’s done in Germany and Britain. Even transportation is controlled by government in many advanced countries. It’s only in Nigeria that government is not in control and that is why private operators exploit the public. In Russia, France, Britain, Germany and several other developed and some developing countries, socioeconomic systems work well because government is in control.
So, deregulation of some sectors of the economy is part of the problem we are facing because the managers are not getting things right. Another cause is that government is not sincere in solving the problems. Transporters are not paying tax, some private school owners are not paying tax. How can the economy grow with this kind of anomalous trend?
What is your assessment of the country’s education standard, especially now that private school owners are major role players?
The crisis in the education sector, especially the falling standard is because the sector is being dominated by private school owners. Private school system is killing our education system because many private school managements have sacrificed standard and quality control on the altar of greed for money. That is why anybody that has money can obtain certificate from a private school, particularly tertiary institutions. Some schools give good grades to their students to entice parents to enroll their children and wards into their schools. All these tendencies lower our education standard. It is high time government wake up from slumber and put everything right through application of policies for quality control.
In about four months time, you will be launching six books at a go. What actually inspired your passion to write the books and what messages are you using the books to communicate?
The book encompasses many things from the past till date. They tell stories of lessons for whoever wants to learn the spiritual way of life and whoever wants to know about business, agriculture and life challenges. The books are also diaries of my experiences about businesses, philanthropy, hunger and starvation, education, security and life generally. They tell stories about the fact that mankind is bound to face challenges and problems in life as well as the solutions to them.
The books also have some secrets on how such challenges, whether personal or general, could be solved. They are books of record. They also tell good stories about life and beautiful stories about Amitolu Shittu. They are reminiscences of what he has done to make Nigeria proud in the last 45 years, the contributions he has made to the economic development of the nation in the last 30 years, his involvement in democracy and good governance in Nigeria in the last 30 years, what he has done to promote ecosystem in the last 25 years, what he has done to protect our forests, what he has done to bring peace to the people of Nigeria, what he has done to help those who are dejected and prone to drug abuse, his concern to stamp out cultism in our society, kidnapping and killing without the fear of God. Anybody that has the opportunity to get copies of the books will surely be informed and those that need reformation shall be reformed. It is a ‘book of life.’