11-19-2018, 03:33 PM
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in this interview on Arise TV, monitored by TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, speaks on the chances of President Muhammadu Buhari in the forthcoming presidential election, controversy on Minimum Wage, solution to crisis in some states and other issues. Excerpts:
Some foreign commentators are predicting doom for your party and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, how optimistic are you of victory?
In all honesty, it is strange that it is foreigners who are crying more than the bereaved. I also heard Nigerians saying pension benefits that have not been paid for twenty years under the PDP; they are being paid now by this government. I have heard the Head of Service say for the 16 years of PDP, there were promotions that were delayed but that through the intervention of this government, we begin to settle these huge arrears and promotions. People talk about the huge amount of money PDP spent on power. The taller they spent, the more darkness Nigeria found itself in. For me, there are people who find joy in quoting foreign sources, I like to talk about Nigeria people and they are our primary constituency. They are the ones that hired Mr. President. I am not accountable to financial intelligence and everybody is aware that some of these papers don’t have the reputation they claim to have. After all, these are the same institutions that wrote lavishly about Nigeria banking system but few weeks later that some of these banks were empty.
I think we have done couple of things that will form the basis of our campaign. This is the only government that gives bail-out money to state governments to enable them meet their most basic responsibilities without bothering whether they are APC, PDP or APGA. I don’t know any government before now that was just fair and just regardless of political party affiliation. These are things we should be talking about. We had governments that spent billions doing ground breaking ceremony for the Second River Niger Bridge, but this government as we speak is not doing ground breaking, it is actually constructing the Second Niger bridge. These are things we want to talk about. Secondly, there are couple of things the Federal government is doing in Lagos, Ibadan and other parts of the country; these are things I think we should talk about. It is not the views of sometimes hired foreign commentators. These people are not superior to the Nigerian journalist. These are things we must discuss. If the opposition does not want to do that, we will do that. In any case, we have moved the government from one that service the elites to one that looks at the forgotten majority of Nigerians, the voiceless. I think very soon, we will begin to talk what this government has done and who has benefited and how the previous government converted private debts to public liabilities and privatised public funds to private pockets. And of course, we are going to get people who are knowledgeable about micro economy issues to assist Nigerians to understand that there is always a time lag between when certain policies are put in place, when certain mismanagement occur and when the impact of those mismanagement begins to occur in the lives of the people. For me, these are the issues that I want to talk about. We must consciously begin to discuss issues, policy issues, security issues and all of that.
How has the government fared in addressing the insecurity challenge in the country and other crimes?
The truth is that new forms of insecurity are manifesting around the world. That will be a more holistic appraisal of the security situation around the world. But I need to remind you that I was a member of the National Council of state as governor of Edo state and then President called us for a meeting and paraded the service chiefs who admitted that 28 or more Local Government are being controlled by Boko Haram. And on account of the level of insecurity the military chiefs submitted that they were not in a position to guarantee the conduct of a general election. Based on that, elections were postponed. But today, Boko Haram have been severely weakened, the much talked about mystery at the Sambisa Forest have been demystified and the Nigeria Armed Forces have made a bold statement. And you will recall that under the previous government, a lot of our young men were sentenced to death for running away from battle and of course the money voted for them were stolen by the Generals that were supposed to provide leadership. But today those are history. As we speak, there is no Local Government in Nigeria that is under the control of militants as it was before, of course you still have pockets of strikes here and there but for all of us who are familiar with insurgency, you know that it is not something you wipe out overnight. Even in Europe, America with all its powers, couple of times they suffer some embarrassment when terrorists attack. So there can be no question that under President Buhari’s leadership, commendable progress has been made. Certainly this is not to suggest that we go home and sleep and say all is over. No, we all need to build on the progress that has been made.
Now the forms of crime that you are talking about, unfortunately you did not list them, but I guess you are talking about the level of kidnapping. Now kidnapping resurfaced under the PDP, and I was governor of Edo state. I found myself helpless at a point, some Generals were kidnapped in Edo state and the kidnappers were even threatening that they might kidnap me if I make noise. Yes, we still have a share of kidnapping but nothing of the scale that we witnessed under the previous government. Yes, we have religious extremism and so on, again, short memory, talking about Generals being Heads of State, under General Babangida, there was this Maitatsine riot in Kano and we had this huge crime in Kaduna state which the former head of state called a civilian coup. So we had these problems, the problem is that maybe we have poor documentation in terms of history, this is never to justify insecurity anywhere but just to say that it will be incorrect to suggest that no new initiative have been involved or that not much progress have been made. A lot of progress has been made but every Nigerian is entitled to a secured home, every Nigerian is entitled to go to a secured market, government must continue to be on its toes to deal with all forms of criminality. Around the world we witness every day, we hear that with all the sophistication, we still find that terrorist manage to attack in America, Europe, Turkey, everywhere around the world, and Nigeria has its own fair share. And because we represent about a quarter of the blacks in Africa in the South of the Sahara, it is not surprising that we also seem to have perhaps our own share of insecurity. But what you cannot say is to suggest that no progress has been made. I think progress has been made. We are discussing election now; nobody is going to say we are postponing election on account of insecurity. I think we must encourage government to sustain what it has started, it must provide modern facilities to our Armed Forces, they must be motivated and take advantage of those countries that are willing to collaborate having recognised that terrorism is a global problem. To encourage our men and women in uniform to do what they have to do to make the country safer and much more secured.
What is your take on the controversy surrounding the New Minimum wage?
My views are clear that payment of wages is not an act of kindness for an employer to pay the employees’ wages at the end of the month. There are provisions in our Labour act that says that you cannot delay the payment of salaries in excess of 30 days interval, which means salaries ought not to accumulate beyond 30 days. And Government decides the size of its employment but when it made the decision to employ, it has the obligation to pay. Even the Holy Bible says that the labourer is entitled to its wages. I think again, this is where President Buhari stands out clearly. He has publicly asked public sector employers; how do you sleep when you have not paid your employers for one year?. But he did not stop at lamenting it, he went on to provide the much talked about bailout fund and said please use this money to pay your workers and pay pension arrears. And even the deductions from states that was done under the PDP in the name of settling our foreign debts, they went into state treasury and they over deducted, that was done under the PDP. But under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, even inspite of the huge financial challenges that he faces, decided that in order to assist the states to meet up with their social obligations, to begin to pay what is now referred as Paris Club refund. He has done that two, three instalments and each time the governors are told that you must use this money among other things to settle pension arrears and be up to date in the payment of salaries. But I am very proud that this President has rich conscience, he recognises that the Nigerian worker deserve his wages and that is why he has publicly lament that there are governors who have not paid salaries as at when due, whether they are PDP or APC it is immaterial. And in seeking to deal with it he has also provided support across party divide and I think that is statesmanship at its best.
As for my views on the minimum wage, I tried to deal with it as a governor. I have told my colleagues then that wage is not a burden in the society. In economics, when people work and get paid purchasing powers is enhanced and because purchasing power is enhanced producers will respond to that by seeking to produce more goods and services. And in the process they will recruit more hands. But when you don’t pay wages you create a virtuous circle, no payment of wages leading to low purchasing power. None payment of rents, compounding the problem of those who have invested in real estate, depressing the commercial life of the state and of the country. And I tried to settle this question by increasing minimum wage in Edo state to N25,000 from N18,000. I remember some people calling me to ask how will you pay it? I am on record of having paid it and as we speak, my successor in office is paying it. I do not agree with those who say Nigeria cannot afford a more realistic minimum wage. My being in government or now chairman of a party cannot change what I believe in. I believe that no nation has enough to meet the greed of leaders but nations have enough to meet basic needs of their people. The real problem in the public sector is money being stolen in the name of salaries, I found it embarrassing when we talk about ghost workers. And I ask the question who counts ghosts? It is only in Nigeria that ghosts are known. The labourer deserves its wage, the primary purpose of government is the welfare of its people. So we must pay wages as at when due.
https://www.independent.ng/ignore-hired-foreign-commentators-predicting-defeat-for-buhari-oshiomhole/
![[Image: 8166587_buhariandoshionhole2_jpeg4cf4099...3e77262272]](https://www.nairaland.com/attachments/8166587_buhariandoshionhole2_jpeg4cf409906072201468c2e03e77262272)
Some foreign commentators are predicting doom for your party and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, how optimistic are you of victory?
In all honesty, it is strange that it is foreigners who are crying more than the bereaved. I also heard Nigerians saying pension benefits that have not been paid for twenty years under the PDP; they are being paid now by this government. I have heard the Head of Service say for the 16 years of PDP, there were promotions that were delayed but that through the intervention of this government, we begin to settle these huge arrears and promotions. People talk about the huge amount of money PDP spent on power. The taller they spent, the more darkness Nigeria found itself in. For me, there are people who find joy in quoting foreign sources, I like to talk about Nigeria people and they are our primary constituency. They are the ones that hired Mr. President. I am not accountable to financial intelligence and everybody is aware that some of these papers don’t have the reputation they claim to have. After all, these are the same institutions that wrote lavishly about Nigeria banking system but few weeks later that some of these banks were empty.
I think we have done couple of things that will form the basis of our campaign. This is the only government that gives bail-out money to state governments to enable them meet their most basic responsibilities without bothering whether they are APC, PDP or APGA. I don’t know any government before now that was just fair and just regardless of political party affiliation. These are things we should be talking about. We had governments that spent billions doing ground breaking ceremony for the Second River Niger Bridge, but this government as we speak is not doing ground breaking, it is actually constructing the Second Niger bridge. These are things we want to talk about. Secondly, there are couple of things the Federal government is doing in Lagos, Ibadan and other parts of the country; these are things I think we should talk about. It is not the views of sometimes hired foreign commentators. These people are not superior to the Nigerian journalist. These are things we must discuss. If the opposition does not want to do that, we will do that. In any case, we have moved the government from one that service the elites to one that looks at the forgotten majority of Nigerians, the voiceless. I think very soon, we will begin to talk what this government has done and who has benefited and how the previous government converted private debts to public liabilities and privatised public funds to private pockets. And of course, we are going to get people who are knowledgeable about micro economy issues to assist Nigerians to understand that there is always a time lag between when certain policies are put in place, when certain mismanagement occur and when the impact of those mismanagement begins to occur in the lives of the people. For me, these are the issues that I want to talk about. We must consciously begin to discuss issues, policy issues, security issues and all of that.
How has the government fared in addressing the insecurity challenge in the country and other crimes?
The truth is that new forms of insecurity are manifesting around the world. That will be a more holistic appraisal of the security situation around the world. But I need to remind you that I was a member of the National Council of state as governor of Edo state and then President called us for a meeting and paraded the service chiefs who admitted that 28 or more Local Government are being controlled by Boko Haram. And on account of the level of insecurity the military chiefs submitted that they were not in a position to guarantee the conduct of a general election. Based on that, elections were postponed. But today, Boko Haram have been severely weakened, the much talked about mystery at the Sambisa Forest have been demystified and the Nigeria Armed Forces have made a bold statement. And you will recall that under the previous government, a lot of our young men were sentenced to death for running away from battle and of course the money voted for them were stolen by the Generals that were supposed to provide leadership. But today those are history. As we speak, there is no Local Government in Nigeria that is under the control of militants as it was before, of course you still have pockets of strikes here and there but for all of us who are familiar with insurgency, you know that it is not something you wipe out overnight. Even in Europe, America with all its powers, couple of times they suffer some embarrassment when terrorists attack. So there can be no question that under President Buhari’s leadership, commendable progress has been made. Certainly this is not to suggest that we go home and sleep and say all is over. No, we all need to build on the progress that has been made.
Now the forms of crime that you are talking about, unfortunately you did not list them, but I guess you are talking about the level of kidnapping. Now kidnapping resurfaced under the PDP, and I was governor of Edo state. I found myself helpless at a point, some Generals were kidnapped in Edo state and the kidnappers were even threatening that they might kidnap me if I make noise. Yes, we still have a share of kidnapping but nothing of the scale that we witnessed under the previous government. Yes, we have religious extremism and so on, again, short memory, talking about Generals being Heads of State, under General Babangida, there was this Maitatsine riot in Kano and we had this huge crime in Kaduna state which the former head of state called a civilian coup. So we had these problems, the problem is that maybe we have poor documentation in terms of history, this is never to justify insecurity anywhere but just to say that it will be incorrect to suggest that no new initiative have been involved or that not much progress have been made. A lot of progress has been made but every Nigerian is entitled to a secured home, every Nigerian is entitled to go to a secured market, government must continue to be on its toes to deal with all forms of criminality. Around the world we witness every day, we hear that with all the sophistication, we still find that terrorist manage to attack in America, Europe, Turkey, everywhere around the world, and Nigeria has its own fair share. And because we represent about a quarter of the blacks in Africa in the South of the Sahara, it is not surprising that we also seem to have perhaps our own share of insecurity. But what you cannot say is to suggest that no progress has been made. I think progress has been made. We are discussing election now; nobody is going to say we are postponing election on account of insecurity. I think we must encourage government to sustain what it has started, it must provide modern facilities to our Armed Forces, they must be motivated and take advantage of those countries that are willing to collaborate having recognised that terrorism is a global problem. To encourage our men and women in uniform to do what they have to do to make the country safer and much more secured.
What is your take on the controversy surrounding the New Minimum wage?
My views are clear that payment of wages is not an act of kindness for an employer to pay the employees’ wages at the end of the month. There are provisions in our Labour act that says that you cannot delay the payment of salaries in excess of 30 days interval, which means salaries ought not to accumulate beyond 30 days. And Government decides the size of its employment but when it made the decision to employ, it has the obligation to pay. Even the Holy Bible says that the labourer is entitled to its wages. I think again, this is where President Buhari stands out clearly. He has publicly asked public sector employers; how do you sleep when you have not paid your employers for one year?. But he did not stop at lamenting it, he went on to provide the much talked about bailout fund and said please use this money to pay your workers and pay pension arrears. And even the deductions from states that was done under the PDP in the name of settling our foreign debts, they went into state treasury and they over deducted, that was done under the PDP. But under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, even inspite of the huge financial challenges that he faces, decided that in order to assist the states to meet up with their social obligations, to begin to pay what is now referred as Paris Club refund. He has done that two, three instalments and each time the governors are told that you must use this money among other things to settle pension arrears and be up to date in the payment of salaries. But I am very proud that this President has rich conscience, he recognises that the Nigerian worker deserve his wages and that is why he has publicly lament that there are governors who have not paid salaries as at when due, whether they are PDP or APC it is immaterial. And in seeking to deal with it he has also provided support across party divide and I think that is statesmanship at its best.
As for my views on the minimum wage, I tried to deal with it as a governor. I have told my colleagues then that wage is not a burden in the society. In economics, when people work and get paid purchasing powers is enhanced and because purchasing power is enhanced producers will respond to that by seeking to produce more goods and services. And in the process they will recruit more hands. But when you don’t pay wages you create a virtuous circle, no payment of wages leading to low purchasing power. None payment of rents, compounding the problem of those who have invested in real estate, depressing the commercial life of the state and of the country. And I tried to settle this question by increasing minimum wage in Edo state to N25,000 from N18,000. I remember some people calling me to ask how will you pay it? I am on record of having paid it and as we speak, my successor in office is paying it. I do not agree with those who say Nigeria cannot afford a more realistic minimum wage. My being in government or now chairman of a party cannot change what I believe in. I believe that no nation has enough to meet the greed of leaders but nations have enough to meet basic needs of their people. The real problem in the public sector is money being stolen in the name of salaries, I found it embarrassing when we talk about ghost workers. And I ask the question who counts ghosts? It is only in Nigeria that ghosts are known. The labourer deserves its wage, the primary purpose of government is the welfare of its people. So we must pay wages as at when due.
https://www.independent.ng/ignore-hired-foreign-commentators-predicting-defeat-for-buhari-oshiomhole/