Nigeria cannot achieve food security because there is war – Agbakoba

Olisa Agbakoba is a senior advocate for Nigeria (SAN) and regular commentator on national issues. In this interview with Zebulon Agomuo GOMUO, editor, he spoke on a number of issues ranging from the recovery of the naira, to the steps the government must take to make the recovery sustainable, to the danger of government security agencies working at cross purposes, and to the negative implications of the continued insecurity across the country with regard to food security in the country. He also urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose government will last a year next month, to “step up the accelerator” and “accelerate.” Fragments:

Some critics say the naira’s revival is a fluke. What advice do you have for the federal government to make stabilizing the currency a sustainable recovery process?

It’s very easy. Broadly speaking, there must be an aggressive economic plan implemented with a sense of urgency. We are an open market. Everyone comes to dump goods here; That is why we have been feuding with the late Ambassador Osakwe, who was the first trade negotiator, for the past decade. Nigerian policymakers do not understand the importance of trade. If they did, they would not sideline the office of trade negotiator, which I prefer to call trade ambassador. That’s number one. Why, in my opinion, did Britain leave the European Union? It was because they felt there was a trade imbalance; and that they gained nothing by remaining in that Union. Whether that is the case or not remains to be seen. But it was a trading decision. There must be an advantage. You know, when Donald Trump came and all the phone companies – Apple and others – flooded China, and he said, you can do whatever you want to China, but when you come back, your duties will be 25 to 40 percent; immediately they stopped. They stopped because they saw a president willing to protect the market. We must protect our market. We can’t be a dumping ground for everyone. So Nigeria is a country without borders where everyone comes to dump things. Peter Obi’s slogan, “from consumption to production”, is therefore the perfect policy solution. If this “from consumption to production” were to hold in all sectors, you will see the result. The answer is simple; If there was an articulated national economic policy that said ‘Nigeria First’ and the government actually pursued and implemented it, you would see the result. It would be very clear, whatever sector you are thinking about. Look north; the north is a huge agricultural area, but no one can put, say, $2 billion into it because all the land is made up of small businesses. Then to acquire land, go read what President Roosevelt did in the 1990s when he had a top Secretary of Agriculture who understood what it was all about. That’s why he went from small farms to mechanized industrial agriculture. That will reduce food prices; it doesn’t mean you want to import rice from China, or the one that Emefiele did: the rice pyramid. So we really need to move from ‘conception to production’ so that we can see what’s growing: local tomatoes; local onions, local rice, local yam, local everything – local hospitals, etc., prices will come down; but not to sit in Abuja and continue making policy statements without backing them. If you ask me; President Tinubu’s policy statements were refreshing because they were different from Buhari’s, and President Tinubu’s policy statements were almost similar to what Peter Obi and Atiku said.

I think the difference is that President Tinubu needs to speed up to understand that there is serious suffering in the country. To speed up, he must hold ministers accountable. The ministers I would be proud of today are the Attorney General, Festus Keyamo and Mr Nyesom Wike. Those are the ones I see doing things. In the case of the Attorney General, it is very invisible; What about the other ministers? Do we now have the right tools to pursue aggressive, urgent economic policies that translate into visible results? So, if you ask a Nigerian now, are you feeling good? The answer is no; because the prices of goods are too high. That is the message the government must convey.

On May 29, the current government will have been in office for one year. How can you access the performance so far and what can you also say about the states?

President Tinubu took office promising “renewed hope”. I read his campaign speech; good paper. I saw the takeoff. People criticized the removal of subsidies and the decline of the naira; I don’t, because the economy needs to be structurally adjusted. If I am an architect and someone takes me to an old building and asks me what is best to do: renovate or demolish it. I’ll tell him to take it down because there are visible and dangerous cracks all over the building. We have to adapt the economy very well. It’s called ‘market correction’. He was right when he said what he said about the withdrawal of the subsidy. I will repeat what I said on Godswill Akpabio’s birthday. The problem is the resulting support for withdrawing the subsidy. I would have

thought the refineries were long overdue. So when you get on a plane, the hardest part of the pilot’s journey is “getting off.” So Tinubu climbs out; it has not yet reached cruising altitude. I need to see the speed. Assessing his one-year tenure, I’d say his velocity isn’t as high as I’d like. It is necessary to tell Captain Tinubu to push back and accelerate; so we can get

quickly to a certain cross level. This is because there is a possibility of “air return” (calling the pilot back), he could be informed by air service control that you can no longer climb further; so, you have to go back. That’s where we are. We are not stabilized.

Tinubu as a pilot is behind schedule. He must speed up; he has to accelerate; he has to look at the entire environment. Are the ministers the right people to be in office? Are the right problems being addressed? Why is the government still busy? Why wouldn’t the government involve the business community and the private sector? If the government takes the decision to say from now on that the government will not interfere in any matter, you will see the enormous opportunities that would arise. I know Nigerians are actually in serious pain, but that is the pain necessary if you want to turn around. But there is still a major trust deficit. If you ask me to endure pain and I see that you are not enduring the same pain; There will be a trust deficit. The president must do something about that trust deficit. Look at Beta Edu which was accused of embezzling approximately 500 million euros; three months have passed and nothing is heard about her case; that does not promote trust. As for the states, I don’t see anything. Do you know there is a reason for that? If I understand that I have been protected all these years by a very large federal government, I will do nothing. The states are not moving because they go to Abuja every month with a cap in hand to collect revenue. What the federal government needs to do is say; “You know what, everything is over.” President Tinubu would now introduce an executive bill that will amend the constitution and remove all those 68 items that give him exclusive power. He now says, “I’m bringing it down to 10; the others are for you. Don’t come to me again. Look at the Electricity Act. The law claims to open the market, but that is not the case; because the electricity (power) issue is in the Concurrent List. The exclusive is exclusive to the federal government; and thither the states cannot enter; so they are lame; if they have no power, they are crippled. We need the federal government to liberate the states. If the states are not liberated, the state in turn will not liberate the local governments; it remains the same; you have only one federal government, 36 states doing nothing; the FCT and 774 local governments do nothing but collect revenue and chop it off.

Last Wednesday, a bizarre incident occurred in Abuja involving several government agencies at the residence of former Governor Yahaya Bello. Security agencies worked at Cross-purposes. Once again, a court issued an order that no one could touch the former governor. What do you think of what happened there and what are its consequences for the health of the country?

That’s part of the problem. You will recall that former President Buhari said that national security takes precedence over the rule of law. So the rule of law is just talk. I hope that the massive conference convened by the AGF (Attorney General of the Federation) this week will yield a solution to the new National Order in which the rule of law is supreme, because the rule of law is not supreme. The AGF has also raised questions among these law enforcement agencies as to whether they are really necessary; are they not in conflict – EFCC, ICPC, etc. I hope this AGF will resolve all this. If an investor wants to bring his money into the country and asks me, “How does Nigeria work? Tell me about the court.’ Let me tell you something; I have a case in court against a bank, 10 years have passed. So, how could anyone want to get in here? So your point is relevant. When law enforcement agencies fight each other, there is a problem. Personally, I believe that the EFCC is an unconstitutional entity; it shouldn’t be there. If we want Nigeria to be a respected country, the rule of law must be respected and functioning. Donald Trump, the former American president, has appointed more than sixty judges. He appears before them and sees the heat he is getting. He is confronted with an institution. In the eyes of the law, he is no better than any other American. Can it happen here? But we have to make it happen; that is the way to know Nigeria works. There is a link between security and the food crisis in the country. Food prices are constantly rising and in some places we hear of wanton killings and people being chased away from their farms. How can Nigeria achieve food security in this way, or what is your thinking here?

Firstly, the failed states index, which measures how secure a country is, has since rated Nigeria as being in a low-grade civil war. The reason is clear. What can we do? The most difficult warfare to wage is irregular warfare. If you can’t see the enemy, the fight becomes difficult; everything can happen. When you wage an irregular war, the instruments change. The security architecture must change to regular tactics. That’s not what’s happening; apart from the fact that I believe you can never win in an irregular war. You call out your opponent in an argument; and you arrange it. If you arrange it; Investments will flow and farmland will be available for people to cultivate. So when you talk about food security, how can there be food security when there is war? The reason you have high food costs is because no one is ready to plant. If you go to plant cassava, you will find that tomorrow someone will go and blow it up and destroy everything.