Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity has been in the limelight lately mostly because of his outburst on national TV challenging Nigerians to go and fight the pipeline vandals.
He had a lot to say in an interview with the Vanguard.
You can read excerpts of the interview here:
How would you assess the state of the economy?
The state of the economy is that the President received an economy that was comatose, completely collapsed. By the time he came, 27 states out of 36 could not pay salaries. So, that already tells you the state in which he met the economy.
Oil that sold at up to $140 per barrel in the preceding years had dropped to half that price. There was a time it dropped to as low as $27 per barrel. So, you don’t expect a mono-product economy centred round oil to then be healthy if price has dropped to that level.
And if anybody is making noise that the economy is this way or that way, they are not being realistic.
Budget bench mark
There was a party in government for 16 years and almost all through that period oil prices were up. What happened to the excess crude?
There was a year that the budget bench mark was about $70 or $80 per barrel and oil price went to as far as $140 per barrel. What happened to the excess?
I read so well that Russia has reserve to last it for about three years so that if there is recession, that reserve would see that country through it. What happened to our own? What happened to what should have been our reserve? Oil sold at $140 per barrel when budget bench mark was $70 or $80, what happened to the difference, what happened to the excess? What do you think happened? It was because they were improvident. They were profligate.
You didn’t plan for your rainy day and that rainy day is here now and that is what President Buhari is grappling with. Don’t you think he would have been helped if he has constituted his economic team as being clamoured for by critics?
When I hear people talk about an economic team not being set up, I laugh. A government in which you have a finance minister, you have a minister for trade and investment, you have a minister for budget and national planning, you have a Central Bank governor, you have a chief economic adviser, who was appointed recently, and they are asking for economic team.
What team again do they want? What team do they want? I think Nigerians are trying to pigeon hole every government. If one government formed a team saying, “This is our economic team,” and drew people from the sector, what makes it compelling for the next government to follow that template?
There is nothing that says that template must be followed.
Are you trying to say that there is already an economy team in place?
There is an economic team in place. Let them just be patient and see what will happen to this country with the scrupulous spending that the President has introduced to the system.
Some people are criticising the government because they do not have explanations? Those who say they want information, do you know what they want?
They want a talkative President (laughs). But in President Buhari you don’t have one. They want a talkative President but they won’t get one in this President. He is a reticent, methodical and systematic person.
That is the way he is. If they want to turn him to a talkative they won’t get it. He is a reticent man and will rather prefer that actions speak for him just as it is said that actions speak louder than words.
Some supporters of the president cite Governor Fayose and others like him as examples of his assertion that he can work with anybody. How far can he go in that direction?
The President is giving the opposition too much of freedom because he believes in the rule of law. The same people who are complaining that he is letting them run loose, so to say, will be the first to call him a tyrant.
Powers to ride on governors
In true federalism, the Constitution does not give the President the powers to ride on governors.
Our President realises that and he just follows the Constitution. Do you think that under some other kind of government, some judgements we have seen even from our courts would happen? No. Do you think under some kind of government, even the results of the elections that we have seen would go that way? No. It is just because President Buhari believes in playing according to the rule and that is what some people are taking advantage of.
But I pity those people…because there is always a place to draw the line. And that is what you need to know about President Muhammadu Buhari.
If anybody crosses the line, that is when he knows that there is a Sheriff in town (laughs).
But the PDP insists that the anti-corruption drive is selective
The government does not prosecute. It is agencies that prosecute. The government is not the one that would arrest and arraign. It is agencies that have that responsibility that do that. And you know President Buhari, he will not tamper with the process.
He will not give directives to any of those security agencies. He allows them to do their jobs.
But are you aware PDP chieftains don’t believe what you say on that?
Because under them, they knew what they did. They knew how they treated the judiciary, they knew how they intimidated, they knew how they subverted the rules. So, this government would not subvert the rules.
Out there people are saying that you stop blaming President Jonathan and that you go on with your plans
Oh, is anybody still blaming Jonathan? I have not heard that in recent time. This is nine months, nobody is blaming Jonathan but, like the President said in a broadcast, nobody needs to be afraid of him but people should be afraid of the consequences of their actions.
So, if President Jonathan ruled for six years, there were actions and if those actions were not up to par, they would have consequences.
That is what is happening and so it is not about blaming Jonathan. It is just consequences of actions and inactions, that is all.
It is also said that President Buhari is shielding Dr. Jonathan, from prosecution. Is it true?
People who say that don’t know this President. He shields nobody. Anybody that needs to be asked question can be asked question.
I had said this to one media house and the next it published that I said Buhari will prosecute Jonathan. That is not what I am saying. What I am saying is that, if it comes to anybody to be asked question, that person will have to be asked. But you also know that a former President must be given some dignity.
Every dignity that he requires must be given to him.
Your boss, the President, is the Minister of Petroleum. What exactly is happening that Nigerians are complaining of fuel scarcity?
The truth of it is that things are not the way they should be. If the country depends on imported fuel, wholesale, there would be some hitches in the process once in a while that would cause the things we currently have.
For instance, you know that until some weeks ago, there was fuel nationwide, you just drove in and bought your own fuel.
But then a combination of factors came; one, when you depend on sole importation, NNPC imports 70 percent of the fuel we consume, independent marketers import 30 percent.
You know the issues with dollars now and the independent marketers have not been able to get dollars as they desire. Naturally it would affect importation.
Then two, this is winter and in winter you cannot calculate shipping properly because in some countries ships can’t sail because the waters are even frozen. So, if the ships should have discharged in 30 days, you find them coming after 45 days or 50 days because it is winter.
In summer you can always calculate that this ship would arrive at certain time and it will arrive. It is not the same thing in winter.
Then again, ships coming from abroad are always insured. The insurers have refused to insure ships going to Port Harcourt and Warri because of what has been happening in that region of the country.
Remember that in Bayelsa some installations were blown, in Delta some installations were blown, these send signals to the international community.
So, insurers are refusing to insure ships bearing petrol cargo to that part of Nigeria. Now what happens is that all of them come to discharge in Apapa, Lagos, and from there you now transport by road again.
So, you see what we do to ourselves as a country?
culled from Vanguard