Address delivered by Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu as
Principal Guest of Honour/Keynote Speaker at the 2017 Annual Dinner of the
King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA) on Saturday, September 23rd, 2017
at King’s College, Lagos.
THE FITTING TOOLS OF A GREAT REPAIR - By Asiwaju
Tinubu
Whatever becomes of what is said this day, let
it be noted that we gathered under this roof in the spirit of democratic
discourse and enlightenment. In the fateful procession of time and events,
Justice, Progress and Compassion shall eventually overcome the awful strength
of their opposites.
In one way or another, we all have felt the
sting of man’s capacity to wrong his fellow man. But we are also endowed with
the God-given spirit to overcome adversity and to make of old enemies, new
allies and even brothers. I stand before you as a faithful believer in
sentiments such as these.
Before I go further, I thank the Kings College
Old Boys Association for the honour you do by inviting me to this fine
occasion.
Collectively and individually you have
contributed mightily to this nation. If there were more people imbued with the
values of King’s College, Nigeria would be a better place.
At the risk of being somewhat nonconformist, I
have modified the topic to reflect something that requires a bit more
reflection. While we are here enjoying a splendid dinner, let us give ourselves
some food for thought as well.
We must clearly articulate our objectives. That
which we cannot think clearly, will not be attained despite the magnitude of
our exertions and expenditure to achieve it. One cannot be assured that an
architect’s fine design will result in a fine building. Much can go awry during
the process of transforming idea into brick and mortar.
However, we can be certain that a masterful
building is never the result of flawed design.
In this vein, I dabble not so much in the search
for a new Nigeria. I am equally not enthused about the flaws of old Nigeria.
What I seek is a better Nigeria.
I care not whether something is old or new but
whether it shall make us better. Not all change is good. Not every new thing
shall be kind to us.
Yes, Nigeria must change but some of the changes
we need cannot be bought at the store of the new. Many things we need are
shelved in the warehouse of the old. Just as we must learn new things on one
hand, we must remember vital old wisdom on the other.
This is where associations such as this are so
valuable. You represent an inventory of vast knowledge. This should be used not
to stifle change but to guide it toward its best purpose.
The trend today is to believe progress and
improvement are basically functions of technology and science. That politics
and governance matter little and change almost nothing. That talk of political
reform spills out of the leaking chalice of dreamers. Or is but an
intoxicant used by cynical political operators to delude the public.
Scepticism abounds. The only strong belief is to
disbelief. Not enough people seek to improve society. They are told that only
the foolish looks out for his neighbour and respects his adversary.
They are taught the only thing to do is to look
out for one’s self. If thy neighbour stumbles, reach down not to pick him up
but to take those things he dropped while falling. Self-profit is the only
commandment. All else is make-believe, things heard in the church and
mosque but to be left there and not pursued in the course of everyday life.
The very dynamics of the current political
economy is to separate people from each other. Such mean isolation was never
part of us but it has crept into our culture. Of this brand of newness, I want
no part.
The world has entered a period where
progressive, humane reform are not fashionable. We are told to be practical, to
accept the way things are. There is no struggle over competing ideals; we are
told the current political economy is immutable. The only thing that matters is
whether you master its dynamics to succeed or you sink and fail. To attempt to
change things is as futile as trying to change the sky and clouds themselves.
This is a blatant lie. Change is possible and
change we must. There is no such thing as having no ideology. Every political
and economic institutions are founded on one thought system or another. To
accept the false premise that there is no alternative to how things are is to
acquiesce in the unfair ideology that has brought us to our current
predicament.
In the hard sciences such as physics, chemistry
or mathematics, one can speak of immutable principles and objective formula. In
the affairs of men, most things are subjective. Virtue and vice, good and bad,
what is optimal and what is not have no fixed meaning. Definitions change with
the ideological and moral perspective of each person.
In the face of recession, one man fires most of
his employees in order to maintain his own income level. Another man accepts to
receive less income so that he may retain his workers. Two men faced with the
same circumstance. Each made a decision of equal soundness with regard to the
rational or intellectual quality of the thinking processes that led to the
decisions. However, the decisions call forth two divergent value systems that
suggest two vastly different visions of how the political economy should function
whether in or out of crisis.
As in almost all social interactions, there are
few acts devoid of subjective ideological coloration. The decisions we make are
determined by how we would like the world to be – our very actions are
determined by what we value so as to keep and what we are willing to discard
when the ship of state is tossed either by storm or errant navigation.
Since there is no one objective optimal standard
by which to construct a political economy, it would seem prudent for a nation
to dedicate a healthy amount of time discussing this fundamental matter. For
such is the surest path to reaching consensus on what economic development and
good governance mean in our particular context.
Sadly, the obverse is true. We talk little about
this core issue. Instead, we spend inordinate time bickering over the symptoms
of our failure to discuss the core issue.
We are like the bewildered couple who has gotten
their marriage license after a lavish wedding; yet neither of them really
understands the meaning of marriage or their roles as husband and wife in it.
Legally, they are married but functionally, their union is a crippled one. This
couple will be at loggerheads until somehow, someway they forge an agreement on
what type of home they want and what are their respective duties in making that
home come into existence.
It is a rather curious lapse that a nation with
such diversity as ours has not taken the time to give our legal marriage its
proper functional underpinning. In other words, we all lined up to call
ourselves Nigerian without gathering to discuss what it meant. Thus, we inhabit
a nation that has not sufficiently defined its governance. We may be defined by
political borders and boundaries but we have not glued ourselves to collective
purpose and vision. Too many of us are born in Nigeria but not of it.
Thus, our society is not a collective enterprise
as important to each of us as our own personal endeavor. It is but a platform,
an arena, to claim whatever one can by whatever means available.
In too many ways we resemble a wrestling match
instead of the nation we were meant to become.
Thus, we argue over matters that long ago should
have been settled. The longer such fundamental questions fester, the more
extreme become the proposed answers.
Thus, we have people clamouring for secession in
one part of the country and the murmur of such a course grows stronger in other
sections.
These other areas resent that some have
advocated secession. Blame and recrimination become the political currency.
Statesmanship falls in short supply. The dominant urge is to confront instead
of reconcile.
It would be wrong to mistake this for a tempest
in a teapot. If not careful, we may be tossed about like a teapot in a tempest.
We must listen to what is being said so that we
can determine what is really meant.
Let us be frank. Many who cry separation do so
because their personal ambitions will be better served by such a thing. They
believe they will have greater chance at political power under a different
arrangement. Yet the cry for separation has gained traction among average
people; this is due to the chronic failure of government to meet basic
aspirations.
If over the years, government had delivered on
the promise of growth, prosperity, and justice, those calling for such extreme
remedies would be but a small fringe of little consequence.
Our task is not to condemn but to listen and
understand. I care not at all for this proposed solution. But I dare not
discount the concerns and problems that have led many people into advocating
such a thing.
Here, I want to plainly state my position. I am
a firm believer in Nigeria. I believe this land will become a great nation and
a leader among other African nations. We can resolve our dysfunctions in a
manner that will make this nation rise as a standard of decency, justice and
prosperity for all Nigerians.
So many excellent people have devoted
themselves, even given their very lives, to give life to this nation. I
dare not cast aside their hardy and brave work as if it were nothing. Many
things we now enjoy and see as good are due to these people. We have benefited
from their labor and sacrifice. Many of you have likewise sacrificed because
selfless values and working for something noble and larger than your own
advancement are the precious lessons King’s College taught you. Morality and my
understanding of our history will not allow me to discard such contributions to
our humanity and common welfare.
Being more pragmatic, separating the nation into
small pieces resolves nothing and creates additional problems. The world
marches toward integration. Europe, America, Asia seek trade and commercial
pacts that will make them more integrated markets. Notwithstanding Brexit, the
EU grows more integrated in the functions of governance by the day. Thus, while
nations more powerful and developed than us seek to pool their wealth and
might, some of us seek to whittle this nation into smaller pieces.
Such a thing would make us more vulnerable to
outside influences. We would forfeit our rightful place on the world
stage and as a leader of this continent.
Moreover, not every split solves a problem. The
political mentality, either good or bad, that defined a group before the split
will remain after the divide. If one is imbued with factionalism, that
perspective will remain even when the immediate problem is surmounted. Division
will manifest differently, but manifest it will.
A new factional bigotry will arise to replace
the old. The cycle of tension and unrest will take its inexorable toll. Just
ask the people of South Sudan if their woes ended when they left Sudan.
When your heart is geared toward division, you
will seek it within a single tribe, even a single family. The gossamer of
ethnic unity will be ripped apart by sub-ethnic squabble. An angry man outside
his home remains angry inside it as well and a thief steals from both stranger
and friend.
Driven by such a mentality, even someone you
once called your brother becomes a nuisance, then a burden, and ultimately your
enemy in short order.
Thus, I oppose talk of break-up and all other
exotic political arrangements tantamount to it. That I am a foe of disunity does
not mean I have blinded myself to the truth that our nation is in need of great
repair.
We all see the nation for what it is. Some look
further to see the nation for what it is not and they rush to condemn it.
I choose to see the nation for what it can be
and thus seek to nurture and cultivate it so that this Nigeria may bring forth
the fullest blossoming of its riches, resources and ingenuity of its diverse
people.
We need a better Nigeria and we must move toward
it with speed. Once an ally, time no longer is on our side.
To achieve this better place means some old
things must change. But it also means that we must revive some practices we
have tried to forget.
I will offer you a thematic overview for laying
the foundation of a better nation. I pretend not to give all the answers. What
I give is my humble initial contribution to the overdue discourse on how to
mould and shape our political economy.
Our current national economic model is but an
old, crumbling house. Repairing this edifice is the greatest challenge
confronting us.
We allowed a once vibrant, diverse economy to
atrophy into something overly dependent on oil revenue and on the rent-seeking
behaviour such revenues encourage. Even at the best of times and with the
highest of oil prices, the economy was characterized by imbalance and
inefficiency. Widespread poverty, gross inequality and massive unemployment
described our condition.
We survived but did not flourish. But bothered
not to change because we thought oil would always be able to pay for
everything.
Because of this, we left millions upon millions
of our people in the clutch of destitution. Poverty became their
abundance and joblessness their vocation, despair their faith.
The secular decline in oil prices revealed our
extant economic model for the travesty it is. Should we continue along its sad
path, history will write of us that we chose self-destruction over progress for
no reasons other than inertia and arrogance. Future generations will
utter “there went the best chance of Nigeria.” This is not a verdict I want
attached to my name and our generation.
We must refuse to be bondsmen to failure.
Here are some ideas that may aid this vital
economic repair.
We are among the world’s most populous nations.
We must realize that no populous nation has ever attained broadly- shared
prosperity without first creating an industrial capacity that employs large
numbers of people and manufactures a significant quantity of goods for domestic
consumption or export.
In one form or another, England, America and
China implemented policies to protect key industries, promote employment and
encourage exports.
These three nations represent the past, present
and immediate future of national economic achievement. A strong common thread
is their policies of buffering strategic industries in ways that allows for the
expansion and growth of the overall economy.
We must press forward with a national industrial
policy fostering development of strategic industries that create jobs as well
as spur further economic growth. Whether we decide to focus attention on steel,
textiles, cars, machinery components, or other items, we must focus on
manufacturing things that Nigerians and the rest of the world value and want to
buy.
We must partially reshape the market place to
accomplish this. The federal government should institute a policy of tax
credits, subsidies and insulate critical sectors from the negative impact of
imports.
We need a national infrastructure plan. Roads,
ports, bridges and railways need enhancing and new ones need to be built, the
goal must be a coherently-planned and integrated infrastructural grid. A
national economy cannot grow beyond the capacity of the infrastructure that
serves it. Good infrastructure yields a prospering economy. Weak infrastructure
relegates the economy to the poorhouse. Government must take the lead.
The focus on infrastructure has important
corollary benefit. Federal expenditure for needed infrastructural spending has
empirically proven in every place and in every era to boost recessionary
economies and provide employment when sorely needed. Deficit spending in our
own currency to advance this mission is neither a luxury nor a mistake. It is a
fulcrum of and balanced and shared prosperity.
We must overcome the economic, political and
bureaucratic bottlenecks preventing us from achieving reliable electrical
power.
This is perhaps the single greatest impediment
to economic advancement. The lack of power inflates costs, undercuts
productivity, causing havoc to overall economic activity and job creation. Our
economic situation is literally and figuratively in the dark.
The hurdles we face are not technical in nature.
We must convince those political and economic
factors currently impeding our quest for reliable power to step aside that we
may obtain this critical ingredient to economic vitality.
Modern economies are based on credit. However,
credit for business investment is too costly in Nigeria.
The long-term economic strength of the nation is
dependent on how we deploy now idle men, material and machines into productive
endeavour. And this is highly dependent on the interest rate.
The CBN must cure its affection for high interest
rates. Lower rates are required so our industrialists may borrow without fear
that excessive costs of borrowing will consign them to irredeemable debt. The
normal profit rates in most business sectors cannot support the burden imposed
by current interest rates.
If our industrialists do not invest in more
plant, equipment and jobs, the economy will stagnate. The banking system would
have achieved its goal of low interest rates at the greater costs of economic
growth. This is as misguided as trying to save a branch by chopping down the
tree.
Consumer credit must be more accessible to the
average person. The prevailing norm is for a person to purchase high -priced
items such as a car in one lump sum. This is oppressive. It defeats the average
person and constrains transactions in real estate, vehicles and appliances that
could vitalize the economy.
The government-backed home mortgage system must
be re-engineered. Mortgage loan agencies must be better funded, and
liberalize their eligibility requirements so that more people qualify. They
need to provide longer-term mortgages with manageable interest rates.
Government should provide the supporting guarantees to make such financing a
reality.
By sparking the effective demand for housing,
the overall economy is enhanced. The construction sector and the industries
allied to it will surge.
Moreover, to the extent that a man has a house
he calls his own, that man is content; his contentment and innate common sense
will act as brakes against instability and reckless political conduct.
Also, a workable credit system lessens
corruption. The current lump-sum payment requirement tempts people toward
misconduct. They see no other way to secure such large sums. Their wages will
not suffice. Thus, they must steal the money, beg for it or forego the
purchase. Having an accessible credit system that provides for periodic
instalment payments places a purchase within the reach of a person’s wages.
They no longer have to equate being honest with doing without.
Agriculture remains the backbone of the nation.
We must help the common farmer by improving rural output and incomes.
This is best done via ensuring minimum prices
for crops strategic to food security. Here, we must revive an old practice and
policy that served us well. Though effective, this policy was shunned because
it conflicted with the free market totems that we were asked to erect against
our own interests.
We must return to commodity exchange boards
which will allow farmers to secure good prices and hedge against loss. An
agricultural mortgage loan corporation should be inaugurated to further promote
these goals.
The proposals stated above are largely within
the province of the federal government. Focusing on these and other such things
will keep the federal government sufficiently busy. Sadly, the federal
government is now doing things the states can perform with equal dexterity and
which detract the federal government from the key missions only it can perform.
This imbalance between the roles of the federal
and state governments lies at the root of our difficulties.
To achieve better levels of overall governance,
we need to re-balance the duties of the federal and state governments. The
legacy of undemocratic rule has arrogated too much power and resources to the
federal at the expense of state governments.
The quest to correct the imbalance is the
essence of federalism I have advocated for so many years.
Due to our particular political history and its
military legacy, the quality of our federalism and the quality of our democracy
are intertwined. The more we repair federalism, is the more we improve
democracy.
In my mind, federalism denotes a division of
labour between the federal and state governments that functions to maximize the
benefits of governance to the people. True federalism is that brand which
provides that the federal government should focus on those few but essential
things only it can provide such as foreign policy, defense, and national
economic policy. Additionally, in those matters where uniform standards and
requirements are appropriate, the federal government must take the lead.
All other matters should be left to the states.
If there is doubt over a particular issue, the presumption should be that the
states, not the federal government, should take the lead.
Here, I say to those so eager to dispense with
federalism in favour of more rash and impractical remedies, let us first truly
practice federalism before we deem it a failure. If given but a fair chance, we
just might perfect federalism by making it work for the benefit of all of us.
Constitutionally, we are a federation of 36
states. However, the vestiges of past military rule continue to haunt the
democratic road we hew. We function like a unitary state in many ways.
We cannot become a better Nigeria with an undue
concentration of power at the federal level. Competition for federal
office will be too intense, akin to a winner-take-all duel. Those who lose,
will bristle at the lack of power in the periphery they occupy.
They will scheme to pester and undermine the
strong executive because that is where they want to be. The executive will
become so engaged in deflecting their antics, that it will not devote its great
powers to the issues of progressive governance for which such powers were bestowed.
Things will be in a constant state of disequilibrium and irritation. Such a
situation augurs toward the maintenance of an unsatisfactory status quo in the
political economy.
It augurs against reform.
It would be better to restructure things to
attain the correct balance between our collective purpose on one hand and our
separate grassroots realities on the other.
Many of the 68 items on the Exclusive Federal
List should be transferred to the Residual List. This would be in harmony with
the 1963 Constitution, again an instance of reaching back to revive something
old yet more likely to give us a better Nigeria.
That prior constitution granted vast powers to
the regions enabling them to carry out their immense responsibilities as they
saw fit.
By virtue of the clear fact that regional
governments were closer to the people, they had a better feel for the material
and intangible priorities of their populations. We must return to this ideal.
Some items which should left for the states to
handle such as police, prisons, stamp duties, regulation of tourist traffic,
registration of business names, incorporation of companies, traffic on federal
truck roads passing through states, trade, commerce and census are now on the
Exclusive List for the federal government.
Regarding the all important electrical power,
while the federal government takes the lead, there is no logical reason to
limit states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity only to areas not
covered by the national grid.
The states should be allowed to augment power
generation so long as they do not undermine federal operations. For instance, a
state may wish to develop an industrial park or housing estate either of which
will require a boost in power generation. However, if the national government
does not agree, the state will be foreclosed from projects that provide jobs
and better living conditions to its people. This is not in keeping with the
spirit of federalism. It is consonant with an undemocratic tradition that keeps
us from approaching a better Nigeria.
As an adjunct, we should also seek to
re-calibrate the revenue sharing formula in order to bring more funds to the
state and local levels so they can answer their enlarged responsibilities.
In this regard, the residual effect of the old
unitary system has made hash of the Paris Club refunds owed the various state
governments. Money that is owed the states, belongs to the states. We all
support propriety of expenditure. The sentiment behind the withholding is
understandable if not laudable. But the federal government has no right to
withhold funds that constitutionally belong to the states. The fear of possible
misuse of funds is no reason to violate the constitution.
Provide the funds to the states as legally
required. Committed and fine governors will use the funds wisely. And the
people will be better off. As to those who squander the money, there are
appropriate ways to expose and sanction them. This is where the federal
government can appropriately step in. However, to withhold the funds, no matter
how well intended, is to undermine federalism and the rule of law. It will have
adverse long-time consequences; as such, it is too high a price to pay.
CONCLUSION
When we unite and not untie, we build on an
existing maxim of ONE NIGERIA by describing that ONENESS as the fabric of a
larger society S.E.W.N. (South East West North) together.
In closing, Kingsmen and distinguished guests,
as we continue our collective journey to a better Nigeria, permit me to borrow
and slightly modify, for tonight, the chorus of your timeless School Anthem@
“Sound Nigeria’s praises, trumpet forth her
fame,
Though of many nationalities we are all still
the same,
Brothers with a common debt,
Resolved to forgive and forget;
Let us pray that from what we have been given
We will render service to the living,
And honour to the dead”
The ideals for which Kings College is known
speak neither to the old or new Nigeria. They speak to the integration of the
best of both into a better, more progressive Nigeria.
We exist in an era where progressive reform and
compassion in governance are not oft spoken. It is a dark period the world has
entered, where the lesson is the powerful do as they will and the weak suffer
as they must.
Yes, we resist this trend; it holds nothing good
for Nigeria. We must adhere to the values and policies that suggest tomorrow
can be made a better place than today.
I refuse to believe we have become such an
untoward lot that the longer we live together, the more estranged we become.
Just as we have gathered here today, we must
gather about the national table to repair our political discourse. In this way,
we begin the process leading to policies that bring – civic kindness,
generosity of spirit, sustainable growth, equality and peace to every Nigerian
who seeks these good things. These are the pillars of a better Nigeria. By the
grace and mercy of our common Creator, we shall build such pillars so that we
and succeeding generations may come to build even greater things upon them.
May the College of Kingsmen always flourish.
Thank you for listening and good evening to you
all.
Tinubu’s speech was read by Mr Olawale Edun, one
time commissioner of Finance in Lagos state.
