Gambo Magaji, a former career civil servant, was Secretary to the Bauchi State Government under three military regimes in the 1980s and was the deputy chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) for North-east before becoming secretary of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and subsequently its chairman. He served under the merger committee that produced the APC and is now a member of the party’s BoT. In this interview, he gives areas that the incoming Buhari administration should prioritise. Excerpts:
What would you say about Buhari’s victory?
Nobody gave Buhari the chance of winning, but I had it in mind that he was going to win because this is the time that Nigerians need him most. This is the time to save this country from drift. Honestly, if he had not won, this country would have gone to pieces. You can see today that salaries are not even paid by the federal government with all our resources, so where is the money?
What do you think should be the priorities for the Buhari administration?
I sympathise with Buhari, because the level of rot he will find when he takes over will be so horrendous. I want to appeal to Nigerians to exercise some patience with him, because there are a lot of expectations from him by Nigerians. But the situation that Buhari will find himself in will be such that the expectations cannot be met immediately.
I believe the transition committee will come up with something, but with the way things are happening, I doubt if the transition committee will be able to get all the information they require from the sitting government, because the government has started showing a very combative posture by alleging that Buhari was forming a parallel government. Ministers are even warning that he should not tamper with this and that.
He should be allowed to do what he thinks is the best for this country, and his first priority should be the economy. All federal agencies involved in revenue generation and collection should be looked into. The issue of $20 billion shouldn’t be allowed to die. We believe this money is somewhere, and Buhari should insist on getting that money back to the coffers of this country. Those involved in the scam should face the law. He should look into the NNPC, CBN, NLG, NDDC, the maritime authority and the NPA.
He should also insist on all corporate organisations to be paying their taxes as at when due, because that is not happening today. He should ensure that customs duties are paid and no waivers. This country is losing almost 40 percent of revenues. He should also insist that royalties are paid by all companies.
Buhari should also look into the power sector, because even with the billions of dollars sank into that sector, there is no electricity supply anywhere in Nigeria. He should also come up with a programme so that we will have improved electricity within the first 100 days of his term.
Some say that if Buhari engages in probing all these agencies, it would be a distraction to his government, do you share that view?
Nigerians expect him to perform, and as things stand today, there is no money to do that work. Unless loopholes are sealed, he cannot have the money to do the work that Nigerians want him to. He is not going to be the one doing the probing; he will have people that will do it for him and concentrate on the aspect of governing the people.
As an insider, how do you want the president-elect to constitute his cabinet?
I want to advise the general that he shouldn’t be stampeded by governors or anybody on the appointment of members of his cabinet. He was elected by Nigerians, and most of these governors rode on his back to be elected. He should not allow what is happening in PDP to happen in APC. At the end of the day, if the person he appoints fails, he is the one that fails.
He should ensure that anybody that will hold any political appointment in his government should have no case in any court of law or have been found wanting in any way. This issue should extend even to the National Assembly. Those aspiring for positions there should be people of impeccable character.
Your party is delaying the issue of zoning National Assembly positions; why is it so?
The National Assembly will not be convened until June. Zoning can be done even a day to the inauguration. I think members of the National Assembly should be allowed to know themselves very well.
Already, we have the president and the vice president-elect coming from different zones. You cannot zone the Senate president to the South-east because they don’t have a senator from APC. In the House of Reps, you cannot do that as well because the members they have from there are new.
There are agitations by some APC chieftains from the South-east that the position of SGF should be zoned to their area, will you say that is justified?
Whoever the president-elect wants to appoint as his SGF, that person must have experience in the civil service. The least I expect is either a former secretary to the government of a state or a former permanent secretary. I believe there are many of them in the APC that are qualified for that position.
If we’re going by patronage, South-east completely refused to vote Buhari, so if it is based on patronage, I don’t think South-east should be considered for that position. There are other positions which they can be considered for. But knowing full well that our president-elect is magnanimous, I still caution that he shouldn’t try to please one part of the country at the detriment of the majority of Nigerians who voted him in.
What is your reaction to the last-minute sackings and appointments by President Jonathan?
Legally, Jonathan is still the president of this country, but there are issues of morality in whatever you do in life. If I were Jonathan, the day Buhari was announced elected, I will not do anything that Nigerians will misinterpret as being antagonistic. I will not do anything that will create an impression that I’m doing contrary to what I did immediately after elections, that is to say congratulating Buhari.
I will urge Buhari to institute a panel to look into all these contracts and appointments. Those found to be genuine and in line with the laws, he should allow them to continue; those that are not, he should do away with them. What they’re doing is trying to undermine him.
How do you think the alliance between the North and the South-west, which produced Buhari as president, can be sustained?
The alliance worked and it saved this country from total collapse, because the country has collapsed but not totally. As patriots, those who participated in this alliance will ensure that it survives, because that is the only way this country can lift itself to be counted among the comity of nations.
The alliance must be sustained for the sake of this country. If we fail to sustain it, I’m afraid we may go back to where we started. Nigerians from both sides of the divide must come together and agree that Nigeria belongs to all of us, and we should commit ourselves and work for the country.
Sentiments really played out a lot during the elections, particularly in the South-east and South-south. They should sit down and have a rethink so that we will all join hands together to get this country out of the woods.
As a retired civil servant, what will you want to see being done in the current civil service?
The civil service was partially surviving up to the time when Oronsanye went and mis-advised late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to distort things in the service. He was never a civil servant but was brought in, and he destroyed the civil service.
It will take a lot of courage and commitment by Buhari to revamp the civil service. You cannot execute your programmes unless you have a vibrant and committed civil service. The current civil service has been so much traumatised. Those of them who cannot cultivate what is in Buhari should be prepared to leave.
What will you advise the incoming administration to do on the issue of fuel subsidy?
Fuel subsidy is a fraud. So many of them have been indicted by the EFCC, and the cases are in the courts, but nothing has happened because they’re children of the big guys in the PDP. Fuel subsidy goes to the big guns who “import” and those who live in the cities and ride big cars.
Why the issue arose was because we have inefficient and nonchalant system that doesn’t care about the ordinary Nigerians. Make our refineries work, and we will not pay fuel subsidy. So, the first priority of General Buhari is to ensure that the refineries are working.
Instead of pumping finished products, we should have small refineries and be pumping crude to them through the pipelines, and they will be processed there. They will create jobs.
How can the incoming administration fight corruption?
Buhari can fight corruption because he is not corrupt himself. When appointing his ministers and other aides, he should have them sign a letter of resignation so that if anybody is found wanting, he will just sign the letter and the person is gone. Once they know such a situation is there, it will reduce the temptation.
Whoever is appointed should declare his assets in public so that if anybody has anything to say, the person will do so. Whoever is found wanting should be punished. The judiciary must be up-and-doing also.
Nobody gave Buhari the chance of winning, but I had it in mind that he was going to win because this is the time that Nigerians need him most. This is the time to save this country from drift. Honestly, if he had not won, this country would have gone to pieces. You can see today that salaries are not even paid by the federal government with all our resources, so where is the money?
What do you think should be the priorities for the Buhari administration?
I sympathise with Buhari, because the level of rot he will find when he takes over will be so horrendous. I want to appeal to Nigerians to exercise some patience with him, because there are a lot of expectations from him by Nigerians. But the situation that Buhari will find himself in will be such that the expectations cannot be met immediately.
I believe the transition committee will come up with something, but with the way things are happening, I doubt if the transition committee will be able to get all the information they require from the sitting government, because the government has started showing a very combative posture by alleging that Buhari was forming a parallel government. Ministers are even warning that he should not tamper with this and that.
He should be allowed to do what he thinks is the best for this country, and his first priority should be the economy. All federal agencies involved in revenue generation and collection should be looked into. The issue of $20 billion shouldn’t be allowed to die. We believe this money is somewhere, and Buhari should insist on getting that money back to the coffers of this country. Those involved in the scam should face the law. He should look into the NNPC, CBN, NLG, NDDC, the maritime authority and the NPA.
He should also insist on all corporate organisations to be paying their taxes as at when due, because that is not happening today. He should ensure that customs duties are paid and no waivers. This country is losing almost 40 percent of revenues. He should also insist that royalties are paid by all companies.
Buhari should also look into the power sector, because even with the billions of dollars sank into that sector, there is no electricity supply anywhere in Nigeria. He should also come up with a programme so that we will have improved electricity within the first 100 days of his term.
Some say that if Buhari engages in probing all these agencies, it would be a distraction to his government, do you share that view?
Nigerians expect him to perform, and as things stand today, there is no money to do that work. Unless loopholes are sealed, he cannot have the money to do the work that Nigerians want him to. He is not going to be the one doing the probing; he will have people that will do it for him and concentrate on the aspect of governing the people.
As an insider, how do you want the president-elect to constitute his cabinet?
I want to advise the general that he shouldn’t be stampeded by governors or anybody on the appointment of members of his cabinet. He was elected by Nigerians, and most of these governors rode on his back to be elected. He should not allow what is happening in PDP to happen in APC. At the end of the day, if the person he appoints fails, he is the one that fails.
He should ensure that anybody that will hold any political appointment in his government should have no case in any court of law or have been found wanting in any way. This issue should extend even to the National Assembly. Those aspiring for positions there should be people of impeccable character.
Your party is delaying the issue of zoning National Assembly positions; why is it so?
The National Assembly will not be convened until June. Zoning can be done even a day to the inauguration. I think members of the National Assembly should be allowed to know themselves very well.
Already, we have the president and the vice president-elect coming from different zones. You cannot zone the Senate president to the South-east because they don’t have a senator from APC. In the House of Reps, you cannot do that as well because the members they have from there are new.
There are agitations by some APC chieftains from the South-east that the position of SGF should be zoned to their area, will you say that is justified?
Whoever the president-elect wants to appoint as his SGF, that person must have experience in the civil service. The least I expect is either a former secretary to the government of a state or a former permanent secretary. I believe there are many of them in the APC that are qualified for that position.
If we’re going by patronage, South-east completely refused to vote Buhari, so if it is based on patronage, I don’t think South-east should be considered for that position. There are other positions which they can be considered for. But knowing full well that our president-elect is magnanimous, I still caution that he shouldn’t try to please one part of the country at the detriment of the majority of Nigerians who voted him in.
What is your reaction to the last-minute sackings and appointments by President Jonathan?
Legally, Jonathan is still the president of this country, but there are issues of morality in whatever you do in life. If I were Jonathan, the day Buhari was announced elected, I will not do anything that Nigerians will misinterpret as being antagonistic. I will not do anything that will create an impression that I’m doing contrary to what I did immediately after elections, that is to say congratulating Buhari.
I will urge Buhari to institute a panel to look into all these contracts and appointments. Those found to be genuine and in line with the laws, he should allow them to continue; those that are not, he should do away with them. What they’re doing is trying to undermine him.
How do you think the alliance between the North and the South-west, which produced Buhari as president, can be sustained?
The alliance worked and it saved this country from total collapse, because the country has collapsed but not totally. As patriots, those who participated in this alliance will ensure that it survives, because that is the only way this country can lift itself to be counted among the comity of nations.
The alliance must be sustained for the sake of this country. If we fail to sustain it, I’m afraid we may go back to where we started. Nigerians from both sides of the divide must come together and agree that Nigeria belongs to all of us, and we should commit ourselves and work for the country.
Sentiments really played out a lot during the elections, particularly in the South-east and South-south. They should sit down and have a rethink so that we will all join hands together to get this country out of the woods.
As a retired civil servant, what will you want to see being done in the current civil service?
The civil service was partially surviving up to the time when Oronsanye went and mis-advised late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to distort things in the service. He was never a civil servant but was brought in, and he destroyed the civil service.
It will take a lot of courage and commitment by Buhari to revamp the civil service. You cannot execute your programmes unless you have a vibrant and committed civil service. The current civil service has been so much traumatised. Those of them who cannot cultivate what is in Buhari should be prepared to leave.
What will you advise the incoming administration to do on the issue of fuel subsidy?
Fuel subsidy is a fraud. So many of them have been indicted by the EFCC, and the cases are in the courts, but nothing has happened because they’re children of the big guys in the PDP. Fuel subsidy goes to the big guns who “import” and those who live in the cities and ride big cars.
Why the issue arose was because we have inefficient and nonchalant system that doesn’t care about the ordinary Nigerians. Make our refineries work, and we will not pay fuel subsidy. So, the first priority of General Buhari is to ensure that the refineries are working.
Instead of pumping finished products, we should have small refineries and be pumping crude to them through the pipelines, and they will be processed there. They will create jobs.
How can the incoming administration fight corruption?
Buhari can fight corruption because he is not corrupt himself. When appointing his ministers and other aides, he should have them sign a letter of resignation so that if anybody is found wanting, he will just sign the letter and the person is gone. Once they know such a situation is there, it will reduce the temptation.
Whoever is appointed should declare his assets in public so that if anybody has anything to say, the person will do so. Whoever is found wanting should be punished. The judiciary must be up-and-doing also.
Source:Daily Trust
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