Dr. Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, an economist, economy adviser and former Chairman, National Economic Summit Group, is aspiring for the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He picked the party’s nomination forms last week.
He later spoke on his chances to clinch the party’s ticket, insecurity in the country, issue of zoning and exploration of consensus option among aspirants. Politics Editor, JOSHUA OMOLOYE brings excerpt. On the dangerous dimension of kidnapping and general insecurity in the country.
What they cannot get through the front door, they will use the back door in order to extract or extort money out of people. Kidnapping has become an industry in itself in the last few years.
Imagine a Nigerian man who cannot boast of twenty thousand naira ( N20,000) in a month suddenly getting an opportunity to work away with ten million naira (N10 millon) because he is involved in kidnapping people for ransom. The more they do this, the more they get incentified to do more.
The capacity of the law enforcement agencies and the military to cope with this problem has been challenged. One, they are not able to understand and deal with it, because it is not a conventional warfare, with define enemies, define borders, these people are all over the terrain.
Since we demobilize after the Civil War, we have never rebuilt or increase the size of the military, because we lived in relatively peaceful times. Extraordinary times calls for extraordinary solutions, we need to build up the size of the military, retrain and re -arm them, provide them with the motivational tools that they need so that they can fight this battle successfully.
They should invest in intelligence assets, all these things are very important and it will take time to develop these kind of capabilities. We require Nigerians to also support them in this battle. We need to give them support, the government need to do everything possible to fight this ugly situation.
What I will say is that this is a national emergency and understanding and dealing with this issue is not exclusive preserve of the armed forces or the military, the entire society needs to be brought in, declare a national emergency, bring in all the stakeholders, the youths, traditional rulers, academia, specialist in security, retired and military brass, police, intelligence, because this one people who live among us.
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It is important to craft a lasting solution for dealing with this issue. We need a short term, midterm and long term plan, it is not a 100 meter race.
On zoning of presidential ticket This country has 210 million people, the constitution of Nigeria is very clear and all its relevant provisions, as to who is eligible to vote and be voted for.
The electoral law of the land is clear as amended recently that anybody among these 210 million people is free to vote for who they want and to contest for any office. We are governed by the constitution.
Am not aware of any referendum for the Nigerian people to vote on zoning. Zoning is a matter of convenience for certain leaders and for parties to discuss and agree among themselves, it is not an imposition that everyone is bound to abide by.
This zoning started in 1998, going back to 1992/93 when Chief MKO Abiola won the presidential election and that election was canceled.
There was commotion in the country and the country was in a crisis and some wise people who considered it important to bring about peace to the country decided among themselves that in order to assuage the South West, with their son having lost the mandate after the election, decided that the Presidency should go to the South West.
As far as am concerned, the issues that face these country are real, are deep and profound. Muhammad Hayatu- Deen does not care who governs this country.
What matters to me is does this person has what it takes in terms of his personality, his character, is he knowledgeable about the issues in the country, is he aware about what is happening around the world and does he have the energy and imagination, commitment to deliver to the people a very high quality of life, represented by high level of employment, stability in prices in terms of inflation, the people can have a roof over their head, they can sleep in their homes, safely and peaceful, they can feel safe and secure on the streets, on the highway.
Their kids can get a good quality education. Create an economy that is globally competitive. I don’t care the colour and tribe of the person am going to vote for the person. I have seen a lot of people from my own area, they have not done any better for me, sometimes you find someone from another place doing better, it is not a yardstick that because you are Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba it is guaranteed that he will perform. On his his preparedness for the race and his chances of emerging PDP torch bearer.
My motivations are very clear, I did not go into the race lightly, I have taught about it very carefully, am different because I have a very unique resume.
Am not your classic politician, I am a technocrat. All my life I have gotten things done. I have worked in major institutions as chief executive officer and I understand quite a few issues. I understand why certain nations succeed and why some fail, I understand what it takes for nation state to be great, successful. I understand change management and I have been a turn around manager. Human organizations are all the same, you just need to adopt. Nigeria today is in very serious trouble.
I know what it takes to put people to deliver on the mandate of the Nigerian people, people with integrity. As an economists and haven gotten experience in dealing with issues and I think I have an understanding of what to do to settle the Nigerian issue. I have been a presidential adviser to three presidents, I was chairman of a committee on economy during the Buhari transition and we put in a beautiful report on finance and economy. I was chairman of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group.
With my resume I welcome the challenge. On possibility of presenting a consensus candidate The five of us met, we have been discussing among ourselves, so we decided to form this group.
Our concern bothered more the future of the country and what are the common threats that we regard as point of unity for the country, we must bring Nigeria together.
About consensus yes, we will allow natural forces to play out themselves, rather than we deciding on any formula. 83 million Nigerians are within the youth bracket and the number is growing. The way to handle it in my view is to reconstruct the foundation of the economy.
