First and only Prime Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was killed in a coup in 1966, six years after the country gained independence from British rule. Forty-eight years after, his son, Abduljhalil Tafawa Balewa, a medical doctor, who also has a doctorate in nuclear chemistry, returns with the dream of taking the leadership mantle of the country. He tells ABOSEDE MUSARI in this interview, his views about the coup that took his hero; and the way forward for Nigeria.
Where have you been and why are we just hearing from you?
I HAVE been out of the country since I was two. I grew up in Switzerland. I’m a medical doctor. I have a PHD in chemistry. I’m a researcher basically. I’ve been out of this country for some time and I thought it was wise to observe the politics for a while, what is going on and what is so wrong because for those of us in the Diaspora, we have a very emotional, almost romantic thought of Nigeria. Coming in and seeing so many different chefs trying to spoil the broth, I need to step in and see what I can bring to bear for our people.
What exactly has raised your interest to be the president of Nigeria?
Corruption is totally endemic to the being of the nation. Secondly, the cabal that is ruling the nation at the moment and for quite some time before now needs to be changed. We cannot have people learning on the job. We need to have people who know what they are doing.
Those who have been able to create the enabling environment in this and other countries, should try their hands and see where we can push this largest black country in the world.
Corruption is one of the biggest problems Nigeria has; do you have the antidote to it?
There is no one antidote to corruption. Corruption is a terrible curse on our system. Also, I think corruption grew out of sheer ineptitude. When we had the parliamentary system in this country, things ran relatively well. The military came, they were never trained to govern a multi ethnic, multi-faceted society like Nigeria. So, by just doing things haphazardly in those days, corruption in different forms came in. But corruption is so endemic in our system now that to give somebody a gift, you might have to bribe them.
When people are paid fair wages, for whatever it is they are doing, they will most likely not want to steal. Now for those people that have been involved in conspicuous consumption, politics seems to be the only high-yield profession. What they do is come in and take a piece of the cake they didn’t bake. If a lot of them have the day in court whereby a lot of the ill gotten gains are taken from them, that is where there is real rule of law; not just for some, but for everyone.
When there is a law that if you have taken something that does not belong to you, or that belongs to the general coffers, and it’s taken away from you, and there is a punitive measure behind it, people will stop. But I think eventually, we need to just straighten our environment. There’s so much beauty, there’s so much richness, so much diversity in this country that we need to be able to grow to where everybody expects us to be.
Talking about straightening our environment, I believe that past leaders had the good intention of tackling corruption but had challenges in achieving that. Do you think you have enough guts to get rid of corruption?
If somebody promises to buy you clothes, you should look at what they are wearing. When someone comes in and he says they are going to do this and that, look at their antecedents, look at where they’ve been and what they’ve done. No matter how you make it, you cannot have codfish and harvest caviar from it.
You talked about the military and the havoc they wrecked. Don’t you think it’s time to move forward and make progress?
It is time for us to move forward, but no matter what you do, you cannot run away from your experiences.
The very first inroad into civilian rule was during the Shagari era; because the military had really brainwashed maybe two generations of Nigerians from 1966 until 1979, when they came in, it was very difficult for us to think democratically. The military took over after that until 1999 or thereabout and that’s a very long time in any nation’s history, especially that Nigeria was still very young at the time. For us to now be able to think democratically, what we were trying to do and what we are trying to do now still is a result of some of those things that the military inflicted on our national psyche.
I’m not blaming them, things happen. These things are past but you cannot treat a particular ailment without being able to diagnose it. You need to know the history or the etiology of that ailment, how you got to where you are before you can get a prescription for treatment.
The anti corruption agencies have recently said some things about the challenges they have with the judicial system. Don’t you think the effort aimed at eradicating corruption should rather be focused on the judicial system?
The judicial system and law enforcement agencies are all in the same cage. We need to really clean them out, have better training for them and put much better supervising agencies over them. Our judiciary system needs an overhaul. The law enforcement agencies are used by whatever government is in power to punish opponents.
The EFCC, ICPC, Police and the Judiciary, for instance, have been known to be less than perfect. Whoever has the most money will get the right results; where might is right and money is might, then whoever has the most money wields the most might. There needs to be an in-house cleansing for us, and we have to train our law enforcement agencies to be more effective in upholding the laws of the land without having to resort to institutionalised tyranny to do so. That’s not just my observation; it is the general thought.
What changes are you willing to bring on board in that aspect; you have talked about agencies and others, what about the citizens?
When everything goes wrong, the only way to make it right is through education. I was told that a long time ago, Nigerian primary and secondary schools used to offer civic education where the students, treated as citizens, were taught their civic responsibility to the government and their community.
They were also made aware of their government’s duty to respond to the needs and demands of its citizenry. Of course, there were complaints even back then because people are never satisfied. However, people were more satisfied with government than they are today. We may need to re-introduce that course and teach it in as many of Nigerian languages as possible.
As I said earlier, our law enforcement officers need to be really retrained and this retraining has to be continuous. We just can’t retrain a group now and hope that symbiotically, it will pass on to the next group. We have to constantly, consistently, and continuously retrain them so that they can focus on national expectations and be aware of acceptable standards of behaviour in the course of their duties.
It is shameful because police are so underpaid in this country and under educated. Everywhere you go now, without N200 you may not be able to pass or you may just be held back for such a long time that it will not be worth your time not to give the N200 and go.
You are talking about increasing pay for law enforcement agencies?
Yes, but we need them to be better educated also.
Another issue that affects the country is that of insurgency. How will you have it addressed if you are in the position to do so?
Just as I said, for those people that have jobs, they are so grossly underpaid, but we have a large mass of people that are educated or fairly educated but have absolutely nowhere to go because if you don’t know someone somewhere then you may never be able to get a job.
We have children going from high school straight to the university but government does not know how many of these children are in universities or polytechnics? No jobs are created for them when they come out.
Not everyone should be employed by the government of course, but there should be an enabling platform where businesses can thrive. There are so many people in government that are not doing what they are supposed to do or cannot do what is expected of them. Those people need to be either retrained so that they can do what they are being paid to do.
Everyone keeps saying that we don’t know what these insurgents want. But there are people in government that have been talking to them all this time. We know that the government and its agencies have been gathering as much information as possible from them. How come the government has not done anything about them? We also need to be able to create jobs or do everything possible that these young people will be gainfully employed. There is nobody with a full stomach that will want to fight. But you have to look at the reason behind the insurgence itself. For the longest while, especially in the north east, during political campaigns, they usually amass these young people to fight as thugs. Immediately the campaigns are over and somebody wins, they get rid of them. Where do they go?
They (the insurgents) have been given the freedom to be nasty to everybody, to hewn people down or beat them with clubs. All of a sudden, you now want them to start to live within society as normal people with no jobs, no money. Before, you were able to give them drugs, food and shelter. All of a sudden they have nowhere to go.
It goes even beyond that. We’ve found out that some senior military, police officers, some doctors and even better educated people are part of these insurgents. How can that be? Everybody asks that question.
It isn’t too far to look. In Nigeria, if you don’t know anyone who is somebody somewhere, you are not going to be able to get the right type of job. And it is very possible that even though these people are employed, they are not getting the proper promotions that they are supposed to have.
We usually have the most mediocre people in some of the highest places in the land. Those who are really capable, but are in the lower ranks will be upset. There is no way an uneducated person will be able to make such bombs to kill so many people, to be able to go and invade the military if they are not educated, at least, a large majority of them. This is our military we are talking about.
We are proud, we should be proud of the military’s successes in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Sudan, Central African Republic and Darfur. These same military now cannot tackle insurgents in their own soil? It’s not true. There’s something wrong somewhere or there may be collusion within. I think we need to ask questions.
Talking about employability, it is believed that the Northeast is deficient educationally…
That’s not true. Zumunta USA is our association outside the country. This is an association of people from the 19 states of the north. And the majority actually come from the Northeast.
You mean they are so educated and this is happening?
There are very educated people. This is happening because we’ve been maginalised for the longest while. I hate to use that word, maginalised.
How will the government find employment for them if they were not so educated?
Educated or not, Nigerians will not volunteer to die unless they are really pushed to the wall. We shouldn’t just concentrate on the Northeast. The Arab Maghreb, the crisis then in Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt could also have sent some hoodlums our way where they are just trying to concentrate because there is nothing else they can do.
But our military have encountered quite a few of these people and they’ve been able to take them on. We shouldn’t lay too much emphasis on that. We need to look at what we can do to make this area calm down and make these citizens, they are still our citizens you must remember, yes, we need to see what we can do to bring succor to them.
Do you have any suggestions?
We are mainly farmers in the northeast but nobody is going to go to the farm with subsistent implements like hoes, cutlass. There are so many ways of creating farming enterprises or looking for small industries, maybe screw driver industries that can come and establish here.
I’ve been asked by people from different parts of the world what it is that they can do in my country. I have that ability to be able to bring small, medium, large companies in so that jobs can be created here. We cannot depend on government to keep creating jobs. And most definitely, I have the intention of industrialising that part of Nigeria just like any other part of Nigeria.
Don’t you think it’s wise to dialogue with the insurgents and get them to clam down before establishing any industry, in order to avoid destruction of such investments?
You talk as if these are insane people that we really need to approach cautiously. No. These are my people. I have no qualms about going to talk to them. I have nothing to negotiate; this is our country. We need to develop it. You just have to lay down your arms.
Can we talk about the issue of draft constitution that nearly divided the National Conference. What’s your take on that? Should we have a new constitution, should we not?
There shouldn’t have been a divide because they were not asked to meet or to be sitting to draft a new constitution. Nobody has said there’s something wrong with the 1999 constitution. Drafting a new constitution makes absolutely no sense because this is the tail end of the large majority of elective positions. If now somebody says I was elected under some constitution that went before me, where it says a President, a vice president, governor, a deputy governor can only be sworn in two consecutive terms but the new constitution maybe nullifies whatever the old constitution says, this is seen as a less than intelligent try for a third term in office. That’s what I see.
The United States constitution, which our constitution is based on mainly, has several amendments because any constitution needs to have evolution. That way, it just grows and grows to make life a bit more comfortable depending on what new technologies, not just physical technologies, but also linguistic technology that comes within the society.
We can be having those amendments, but who said anything about a new constitution. Not at this juncture in our nation’s history.
There are many issues threatening to divide the country. The Niger Delta lays claim to the oil, the north says they were able to get that amount of oil offshore because of the size of the north. The Niger Delta also wants President Jonathan to re-contest election and the north doesn’t want that. As a candidate for presidency, what’s your strategy to be a bridge for Nigeria’s unity, especially since you are ancestrally from both regions?
I’m glad that you asked that question because I have always been an advocate of our old national anthem—Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand. We need to always have that at the back of our minds.
Nigeria is a very diverse country, there is enough richness in every single state that each state can be a Dubai. If only we have the leaders to take us through. A leader must be educated and I’m not talking about going to the higher institution, I mean going to the root according to the Latin word, duco, ducere devi detum. It means to be able to adapt your environment to the best of your abilities. That is one.
Secondly, whether the north says Nigeria stretches so far into the desert and that’s why we are able to spread so far into the sea, that is true also. Now, for the South South for instance, the oil that we talk about just like there are deposits in all the other states, were made minimally, over 2.5 million years ago. Nobody would have even gotten through the Australopithecus africana stage. Like homo habilis or australopithecines.
The stretching out into the sea, over 55 per cent of Nigeria oil is offshore and under 45 per cent is onshore. But even at that, we’ve got to think of it a little differently, when Nigeria had regions, it was the eastern, northern and western region that contributed towards the federal government at that time in Lagos. And it was this federal government that eventually brought in the International Oil Companies. It was perfected a little during the Gowon era.
At that time, oil was selling at about $7 a barrel, but he thought we had so much money. If it was the federal government then, that is, all the three regions in Nigeria, that contributed to develop the exploration then, then it is their investment because not any of us alive now or even our ancestors had anything to do with that oil. So, it makes very little sense for anyone to say it is theirs.
That it is directly under their soil, sure, the 13 per cent that had been proposed and given for a long time is more than adequate I believe; because when you consider the population there, when you also consider the fact that the leaders there over time, had had relationships with these International Oil Companies, they are getting some extra from these IOCs, but had enriched themselves and not taken care of their soil; and also allowed the IOCs to devalue the quality of life of their citizenry by just doing everything they wanted.
Just look at what happened with the Mobil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, United States government made Mobil pay through the nose, billions of dollars. We are not doing that here. Instead, we are being extremely friendly with those IOCs even though they devalued the land, they really desecrated the land so that what the people used to have in fishing areas they don’t have that anymore. That shouldn’t be blamed on Nigeria, it should be blamed on the local rulers, that is the state and local governments that waited so long and didn’t do anything about the degradation, until it’s too late.
So, in what ways are you going to be a bridge for the north and south?
As a person, I am a Nigerian through and through. I’m partly northern and partly southern. My mother is Yoruba. There’s absolutely nothing that will tear this country apart. There have been things shown on television where we were being given some false comparison of what our leadership is doing, to some leaders in the past.
But Nigeria has always been one entity. It is just now that it’s going on the brink of breaking apart but I intend, with all my mind, to make sure that this country remains one, because it still has the latent power to be one of the best countries in this world.
You said the people were being too friendly with the IOCs; I’m sure you are not trying to encourage hostility towards the oil companies?
No. What I mean is that those IOCs pay particular… for lack of a better word, some taxes to local leaders. I’m not sure, but I know they pay what can amount to taxes. So, people look the other way until there is such a degradation that even the common man starts to scream. That’s what we hear but we don’t know what happens until it gets there.
What should their local governments be doing?
They need to know that if any IOC comes to be so greedy as to mine so much petroleum without looking into our environment, it must be forced to look into the environment.
Ebola is currently ravaging the country and its neighbours, as a medical doctor, do you have any word for Nigerians?
Ebola is a filo virus. It’s a very weak virus. It’s like a filament. It was detected first in 1976 in the Ebola River region of Zaire, now Congo. Now in 1999, a pharmacologist, did some research on a possible cure and that’s how the bitter cola thing came about but no clinical trials were done.
What we need to focus on is cleanliness. We need to ensure that the parts of our bodies that are exposed are sanitised as much as possible. We should stay away from people that have symptoms of fever. Don’t go to very crowded places where you have touch. Anybody that is sick, if they have temperature of say 37 and above, inform the health officials in your area. You have to be very observant.
Most of the people within the incubation period of two to 21 days, when they become vectors, they might be bent over because vomiting and diarrhea make them lose a lot of fluid and electrolytes.
You might find the replacement of those in a quarantined environment. That is fluids replacement and electrolytes replacement; and treating the secondary infections like headache or fever might just help keep them alive. There’s no medicine really, for viral infections. They might treat secondary symptoms but the viral infection will have to take its course. By hydration, taking care of them and not allowing them to keep contact with other people, maintaining body functions might just help.
Nigeria’s debt profile is N10 trillion. If you come in as president, you are going to have the burden of paying back…
This is one of the problems we have. Monies just seem to be talked about as if it’s intangible. If you look at the processes of development for Brazil, in the 60s, 70s and early 80s, they borrowed heavily also but they had nationalist leaders that made sure that those monies worked within the country.
Now Brazil is making its own airplanes, jets, cars that are based on ethanol. If we also can do that, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable that our debt ceiling is at N10 trillion. We would have been investing it into something and we would have been able to reap it at some point. But in a country where $20 billion got missing, it’s not going to be that easy. However, we cannot continue this way and cannot leave subsequent generations to be debt-ridden. A stop has to be made to this and we need to educate and train ourselves to be able to make use of whatever opportunities that come to us a lot better than we are doing now.
As a son of the late Prime Minister, could you tell us how life was in those days?
I wasn’t in Nigeria. I’ve been away from Nigeria since I was two years old. I came back almost seven years now. I read Medicine in England, moved to the U.S and I got a Masters in Enzymology and Ph.D in nuclear chemistry. I’m married with children. The Guardian
