OKUPE: OPPOSITION WILL BE GONE BY 2014

Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, recently paid a courtesy visit to THISDAY Newspapers, where he addressed some issues in the country. Excerpts:

Let’s look at the problems confronting the power sector. What really are the challenges?
When I was not in this administration, I found it difficult to understand that things were not as good as one would have expected it, even at the time of the Yar' Adua /Jonathan came on board. When we started with Obasanjo, there was a lot of movement but somehow, effect was lost and there was a slowing down which affected achievement. For instance, this power situation, we would not have been at this place if Yar'Adua's administration did not totally destroy what was put in place.

The genesis of the problem of the NIPP project was the amount of money that was required to push that investment. Power is expensive and I think about USD 12billion or so was spent and all we are getting from all of them when they are fully functional is about 5000 megawatts. Now this type of money is not the type of money that entrepreneurs in Nigeria can aggregate and it is not unusual; this was like a sovereign wealth fund because it was money belonging to Federal, state and local government and really, this was the development model that was used elsewhere in Japan.

What they did was that government used its resources, pushed it to a particular sector and once it had achieved that objective, it sold whatever its equities were in that sector, recovered its money, then went and invested in something else. This was supposed to be the plan. By the time Jonathan came, five major problems bedevilled the power sector. One was that there was a low generation of power capacity. All we were generating was about 2600 megawatts. Two, was that the NIPP project on which we had spent so much money on and was lying comatose because of two years of abandonment. Contractors had left; their equipment was rotten at the port. The preparatory stages to move them around were not completed.

Three, even if these things were working, they were located in places that it was impossible for gas to be available to the equipment. They were located outside the gas framework. The supply of gas could not service one let alone ten of them because at that time, the projected requirement was 250 international units and we were doing under 100. Four, there was very poor transmission and distribution capacity. The distribution network we had as well as the transmission network were archaic, dilapidated and rickety. They could not stand the new power voltage that was coming. Five, was the indecisiveness involved in the privatisation. And without privatisation, most of the things we want to do in power will not work.

So, how is the Jonathan administration handling the problems?
In two years, Jonathan's administration has solved four out of these five problems facing the power sector. Yes, we are not there yet, the power is not on but I can tell you categorically that four of the challenges have been taken care of. The NIPP project- all of them are about 90 to 95 per cent completed and they will be completed in December. There is abundant evidence and there is enough monitoring to ensure that it takes place. If they are completed, then we have solved the fourth problem of low power generation.

They are coming in with about 5000 megawatts and presently the average daily output is 4500 megawatts, by December we have 10,000 megawatts, so we solve the issue of potential. If we go from 3800 to 10,000 it is still not enough but it is going to be better. The real issue here is distribution and transmission and the minister also said this recently and unless that is sorted out, then we will have relief in the power sector. That will cost about 300-400million USD and I am aware that the money has been approved.

What I know is that it will take about 9 to 12 months to correct the distribution but now there is a catch, the problem is that government has been giving certificates to disco and the rest of them but because they are privately owned, government itself is handicapped and cannot put money in the distribution. Why the certificates were handed to private distributors was that it was important that government finds a way hurriedly to hand over these companies to those that have bought them.

Once they have these commitments, many of them have spent millions of dollars to purchase these things; they need money to come in quickly, so if your distribution network is bad and people do not get electricity, their metres cannot charge them, so you don't get money. Because they are private investors not government, the assumption is that they will use the money quickly in repairing the distribution and transmission network then all of us will have electricity. I am very certain that we are going to leave that legacy of power; it is going to be done.

Why is government always reluctant to full disclosure of information and how come the administration is fond of setting up committees to run, looking at the issue of Boko Haram for instance? Also, a few days ago at a press conference, you condemned those who turned down their membership of the Boko Haram committee when they were not consulted before being appointed?
On the issue of full disclosure, my position is that, it is a difficult thing to achieve in government because I’ll always give you my personal experience. When I got to Nigeria in 1999, I immediately developed enemies who felt that I was talking too much and they virtually took me to the president and the impression being given to the president was that what I was doing was not necessary but because they were very senior members of the government, I did not respond.

But it is just like when you are fighting for somebody and you don't let him know you are fighting for him; he might actually come out to say what the hell are you guys doing here? Whereas you are trying to defend him! Government cannot be bigger than the people that elected them into office and really speaking, apart from the things that can sabotage government in the immediate; the government should not hide too much secret from its own people. That is my position. I had a lot of difficulties. I remember at that time, I used to brief the press two times in a week, Tuesday's and Thursday's and I tried as much as possible to give all the information I have in respect to what the President's activities were.

It was to the chagrin of many people in the villa and you cannot really blame them. Eighty percent of the people who work in the villa have been there for the past 25 years and they came in during the military era. The military era had no reason to explain anything whatsoever to any person and the same mentality is still present.

The issue about the late president’s sickness, I don't want to talk about it here. I am just telling you that the president is not really to blame but there are a lot of people that don't understand what democracy is all about; what government is all about and they have influence. The modern way to govern is to be open. We are on the same page and we will continue to try to make government as open as much as possible.

It is a major work because the people are reluctant to giving information not knowing that the more information you give the less trouble you have and people are not fools. When they read information, they can process it in their mind and they can become your defender.

On the issue of rejection of appointment in the amnesty ad hoc committees, let me tell you this, I cannot say everybody but I am aware that majority of the people on that lists were nominated by their governors. The presidency got in touch with the governors and asked, give us two names of people that can be in these committees. So, it was expected that the governors will get in touch with the people they nominated and for the purpose they were selected.

For a sensitive panel on amnesty for the Boko Haram amnesty?
But the best people to know who to work are the governors. It is quite obvious that these people are playing politics with the amnesty plan. I have spoken to Shehu Sanni severally on this issue and I know his position. When Boko Haram was a major threat and it is still a major threat, the Shehu Sannis of this world and the Datti Ahmed were as if they had held the franchise to negotiate with them and they were hoping that the arrangement will work but of course people sabotaged them at the Presidency.

Now that it has become a national matter and also a regional decision that amnesty be considered, it is only fair that those who have shown interest at the beginning should be incorporated. Now, they are no longer interested because it is no longer a personal thing which they would take personal glory or whatever, which I think is absurd. If you have anything to contribute ab initio, you should be too glad to contribute. There are some Nigerians that cannot be a part of anything unless they are leading it. If they are not leading it, they let it go. Sanni and Ahmed belong to that group.

On the issue of committee, I think it is a matter of style. You have a permanent group of people who remain constant in government and they are called civil servants. They are extremely very powerful. They are extremely difficult and they are not pliable and they cannot be sacked and this is how government is run in Nigeria from independence. It has its own advantages and usefulness, because even the bible says that from a multitude of counsel, there is wisdom. You can afford to make a mistake when you are running your own business but when you are running government business, you have to do your best to ensure that you have  taken care of all sides.

The opposition is warming up to take over government in 2015. Is government not worried?
Tinubu and Buhari are not serious-minded people. They are going around like people dancing in a market square holding arms, saying we shall overcome. I expect that when you post an aggregate of people of that calibre who want to run government by now, they must have a policy statement on power, agriculture and employment and not just talking about PDP leaving. Is it by mouth that they will run the nation? These are not serious minded people. Can someone get your vote by using word of mouth that PDP should leave without having a policy?

But do you agree that Tinubu is not somebody you can dismiss?
Tinubu has rough-ridden over South-west. Nigeria is bigger than that. This is their first time out in national politics alright, and let me give you a bad news, the relevance that ACN has in Nigerian politics is that they are a Yoruba party. That is what makes them relevant in politics and by dropping that toga, the party is dead. They have just formed an abyss - a formless abyss that Yoruba's cannot key into. The Yoruba's have always been members of a regional organization- the Action Group, UPN and what have you.

In any case, what are the electoral credentials of ACN? How many states have they won and they are boasting? They won Lagos, they won Oyo and they are boasting, the others they got through the courts, and the masquerade is now out, we know what happened. In terms of electoral victory, these people have nothing to show. We gave them Ogun, it was a donation. The point is that out of six states that they won, they have gotten three sponsored by judicial judgments. They have not really tested their political prowess and they now want to jump to national platform.

But if they are able to get the merger running well, APC will give the PDP a run for its money?
This (ACN) is a party that is consistently unable to produce a presidential candidate from within its rank and file, consistently. And even this forthcoming 2015 election, they are planning to recruit Tambuwal, they never have people in their party that can run for presidency. What kind of political party is that and you are taking them serious. It is a politically defective, weak organisation and by coming to the national stage, wind is going to blow them open. If they don't scramble in 2014 don't call me Okupe.

Source: Thisday