Anthony Sani is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum and a former Secretary General of the Forum. In this interview, he says the position of the North in the next presidential election in 2027 may be a different ball game with the region likely going to support its own, considering its numerical strength. He also noted that President Bola Tinubu did not win in the South in the 2023 general elections, but he won in the North because the North deliberately wanted power to go to the South. Sani also speaks on other national issues. Excerpts:
We are in another new year; do you see President Bola Tinubu as a leader with the listening ears to consider the plights of the masses with regards to the outcry about socioeconomic hardship in the country?
When you wonder whether President Bola Tinubu has sympathetic ears, considering the outcry due to hardship from hyperinflation, you are at once conveying the impression that Mr. President is refusing to do the needful.
This is most unfair, especially when regard is paid to what the president has said several times, to wit, that he cannot think of an alternative course of action to what he is doing. But if anybody has a better alternative course of action, he is free to make it public, and I believe the president will look at it for performance.
The mere fact that nobody has proffered a solution that will bring succour in the shortest possible time is an indication that the president is right when he says his policies which have come with inflation are not a matter of choice but are tasks that must be done. And since we cannot provide alternatives that are superior, then we should come together with the government and unleash our synergistic potential against collective challenges under the watch of Mr. President.
This is because lamentations alone are never a solution. More so that anybody can lament. The solution is for Nigerians to come to terms with reality and embark on consciously directed efforts to make common desires possible and then actual.
President Tinubu said in his New Year message to Nigerians that there is hope this year for better things for the people. Do you believe in this assurance?
The government has macro socioeconomic indices which it can use and predict what will happen this year at the level of microeconomics that have yet to change. As for me, I cannot predict what will happen beyond hoping that importation of fuel would stop and allow our refineries to refine our local crude oil for local consumption that can reduce pump price and, thus, reduce the inflation substantially. I want to believe that is one of the bases on which Mr. President has placed the hope that things would get better this year.
From all indications, the North is actually divided over tax reform bills. Don’t you think this is politically biased?
When the media places emphasis on the North’s attitudes towards the Tax Reform Bills, the impression is that the bills have brought about cleavages of the nation along regional lines. And the media does this in blithe disregard for the fact that the National Economic Council which also asked for withdrawal of the Tax Reform Bills for further consultations comprises the 36 governors and the CBN governor. I am now happy that you have admitted that not all northerners support withdrawal of the bills. Most Northerners support the bills except the one that deals with VAT. The opposition of most northerners to provision on VAT is not political but about real issues of real concern to real northerners.
Arewa Consultative Forum has already set up a committee to look into the consequences or otherwise of the tax reform bills. Do you think that the committee will make the North take one position for or against the bills?
Arewa Consultative Forum’s committee is to help them know more about the VAT issue which most Northerners are not in agreement with. No more.
Another Northern Group, League of Northern Democrats emerged recently, smoking furiously, so to say, to work for the return of power to the North. Don’t you think that this new group is speaking the minds of NEF and ACF?
I am not aware of any plan by the League of Northern Democrats about the return of the presidency to the North let alone to be on the same page with ACF and NEF.
I have seen the submission of a memo by the league on the Tax Reform Bills which is not bad. I am happy with the controversy about the Tax Reform Bills because such have enabled the public to know more about the bills.
Do you believe that if NEF and ACF join forces with the new group, power will return to the North?
I have said it several times that ACF is political but not partisan. This is because the membership of the forum cuts across party lines. I have noticed you like to promote Nigeria that is torn by cleavages along regional lines. This is not good. Better concentrate on issues which unite the country and not divide it.
There is this argument among Nigerians that the North ruled the country for 40 years without an impressive positive impact on the region, and as such clamouring for power to return to the North is of no use. Which side of the argument are you?
How can somebody in his correct senses ask such a question? Are you expecting those Northerners who ruled Nigeria to use the limited national resources and develop the North to the exclusion of other regions?
I believe most Northerners see governance as an art of balancing competing demands among constituent parts and socioeconomic sectors as against developing some sections at the expense of other sections. You may wish to note that most of the states were created by northern leaders. The North has 19 states. The states are centres of development. Is the movement of the nation’s capital not dependent? Take the number of educational institutions from independence and compare with what obtains now. What about health institutions at independence and now? I can go on. While Northerners who ruled for 40 years could have done more, I think it is wrong of anybody to say they did nothing in the North.
“Yes, (President) Bola Tinubu did not win in the South but in the North because the North deliberately wanted power to go to the South. You recall the contest in 1993 where the North voted for Chief Abiola against their own, Alhaji Bashir Tofa who lost Kano State to MKO Abiola. I think it is not correct to use the North’s sense of fairness against the region”
In the last presidential election, the North gave Tinubu the victory votes against a Northern presidential candidate. Will the North ever be united to bring in their own power in the 2027 election?
Yes, (President) Bola Tinubu did not win in the South but in the North because the North deliberately wanted power to go to the South. You recall the contest in 1993 where the North voted for Chief Abiola against their own, Alhaji Bashir Tofa who lost Kano State to MKO Abiola. I think it is not correct to use the North’s sense of fairness against the region.
President Tinubu has spent more than one and half years in office. Which area of governance has he disappointed or favoured North so far?
The area which President Tinubu has generated concern among not only the North but among Nigerians is distribution of appointments across the country evenly and fairly. My judgement of the president’s attitudes is either the appointees are his own first eleven whose performance can render politics of identity symbolised by zoning and rotation unnecessary or he is pandering to the spirit of politics of identity which failure of leadership to deliver on the promise of democracy is foisting on the nation.
What do you expect the government to do this year?
Because the tasks of making Nigerians experience a sea of change by way of order, justice, liberty, common decency and prosperity for all are not by decree but attained through ceaseless hard work by leaders and the led, the best approach is for Nigeria to produce what the country needs. One way of the approaches is to prioritise security which is sine qua non for socioeconomic development. The government should ensure an adequate number of security personnel who are well trained and equipped as well as well motivated to secure the nation.
Both the preventive and curative measures in fighting corruption which steals our empowerment, steals our opportunity and steals our future should be stepped up for improvement. Towards that end, the judiciary should de-emphasise technical justice in favour of substantive justice derived from natural justice.
This is because technical justice makes it possible for courts to act on the spider web which catches small flies and lets big flies go. If the regime is able to tame insecurity, it will automatically encourage farmers to produce more food and reduce the food inflation that causes the current hardship. Education and health are instruments of empowerment. The current level of out of school children is unacceptable. This is because such children can pose challenges to security tomorrow. Moreover, education and health improve human capital as well as Human Development Index and reduce inequality, the government should prioritise education and health.
The need to look at the management practices in power sectors such as electricity and energy should be overhauled for performance. This is because they are the bedrock of industrialisation which should be managed for effect. With the production by Dangote refinery and other refineries, importation should cease forthwith in order to reduce the pump price and, thus, inflation. Nigerians are expected to support the government in thinking out how best to deliver on the promise of democracy.
