Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, renowned economist, and former chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In this interview, he spoke on the controversy that trailed the recent adoption of two aspirants by a group as consensus candidate for the North, why he is in the presidential race and what he would do to return Nigeria’s economy to the part of growth. IINIOBONG IWOK brings the excerpts:
What is your take on the touted adoption of Bukola Saraki, Governor Bala Muhammed as consensus candidates for the North? Some important leaders were named as part of those that took part in the consensus arrangement. How would you react to these?
Let’s take president Ibrahim Babangida out of this. He is one of the most celebrated icons in this country and he has little knowledge of what happened. Secondly, I joined the group three weeks after they met in Bauchi and the reason why I joined was to bring harmony and unity with the country and North. We gave it every effort of our skill, good faith and commitment to see if it would work.
Some days ago after spending a month, we came to the conclusion that this thing is going nowhere and the four of us decided in Abuja to jettison the idea of a consensus candidate among ourselves, and Senator Bukola Saraki was asked to draft a press statement which was to be sent that night.
But Bukola did not come up with that statement. The next thing we heard was that the committee had met after we had met to jettison the project that two people had been chosen. I believe that Governor Tambuwal had even issued his press release before I did mine. You cannot hide the fact that the candidates had decided not to continue with the project and after that announced a decision.
Do you think it was a transparent outcome?
I don’t know who Professor Ango Abdullahi met; I don’t know what criteria were adopted, and we were never called into any meeting by the committee of elders and an announcement was just made before us. The process was not transparent. There was no fairness, equity and justifiable process.
Have you spoken to Ibrahim Babangida since that time?
I have not
Have you moved on from that process?
Everybody moved on from the night we met and the thing collapsed; everybody was now free to pursue his own campaign from a logical conclusion; however, we all agreed that given the kind of fraternity that has developed among the four people, from time to time we should be involved in the consultation. And somewhere down the line we would still come together even on the floor of the convention because only one person would win the PDP ticket and emerge as the presidential candidate.
Do you regret going through that process?
That is an excellent question, but it is a devilish one; remember I am the baby of the house. I joined the party where I was launching my campaign and developing progress and making momentum.
My momentum is broken, and in that sense it is not the nicest thing to happen. On the other hand, I have developed a lot of experience; I am more experienced and better.
What is your expectation on the coming NEC meeting which would discuss the zoning committee report?
I am not bothered about the meeting, as to what should be right. The right thing to do is that we are operating a democratic system of government; every Nigerian under our laws and constitution has the right to vie for any office.
Every Nigerian is free to canvas for votes from delegates around the country, and therefore, people should have the absolute freedom to go from any office they want so long as they can build alliances and partners around this country to compete in a free and open space.
Where do you think the next president should come from in terms of equity and justice?
The best man who possesses the best credential should be elected president because we live in extraordinary times. The extraordinary time and condition demand extraordinary leaders, it does not matter if the colour is green, blue and black. For me, I think, we have developed as a country and we have passed that far after1998 and 1999.
That is almost a generation, I think this country can come together to talk about the issues that affect the welfare and prosperity of the ordinary Nigerian people. So, I think it should be on merit.
Have you heard about the zoning agitation from people in the South East, even people in the North Central?
It is not justified. Why? Because maybe, the lessons of history have prejudiced people’s minds. It doesn’t matter if Mohammed Hayatudeen is voted into office and he is not fair-minded and is not a man of culture, he is not used to the people of Borno State, people of Northern Nigeria.
What we are saying is that if you ever make the mistake of voting someone who does not meet the acid test for leadership; you cannot expect anything good whether he is from your town or village; that is my own.
There is the view that you don’t have experience in politics yet?
If you go back to history around the world, Wareen Harding who was elected United State president was a publisher in 1920. Herbert Hoover in 1928 was a mining magnet. Harry Truman was into mining and oil. The two Bush, father and son; were both businessmen. Obama recently had a nerve contest for any elective position.
The prime minister of Lebanon who turned the country around was a billionaire businessman. Leadership and management principles are universal. You just adapt those skills to the demand of a particular profession and assemble excellent skills of men and women to deliver on the mandate.
What qualities do you possess that stand you out as the best person to lead Nigeria in 2023?
We take lessons from history, at any particular time a country goes through various moments of challenges. If you recall , France needed Charles de Gaulle. England needed Winston Churchill to avoid being defeated in the war. General Yakubu Gowon was required to prosecute the civil war and being a very good Christian he was able to reconcile the society and through his policy of reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction. So, through this kind of politics Nigeria was able to come together, at those moments of crisis, when this country was not together. Muritala was able in short months to restore confidence among Nigerians.
What do I bring to the table? First of all, the country today is in a moment of crisis that is unprecedented in the history of the country. I have the skills required and I have been a change manager all my life.
I have dealt with one of the most difficult and complex problems and has been recognised clearly as a transformation leader. What Nigeria needs today more than anything else is to completely reengineer this economy and put it in the part of rehabilitation, development and growth. I have those skills enough to do it as a turnaround manager.
Do you understand the problem of insurgency and extremism in the North West and North East?
This has been long in coming and I would say the root cause of it is the major economic problem that we face. This economy has been growing at an abysmally low rate; the population has been exploding from about 103 million 20 plus years ago to 210 million today and when you look at security today it is multifaceted.
I think people tend to look at security purely from the point of view of military weapons and using the armed forces and the police to quell problems. Security today is very broadly defined and you need to integrate all of these phases; food security, energy, security, economic security, political security and environmental security.
All of these things come together and therefore, when you are dealing with the issue of security, none of these things can actually stand as islands among themselves, you need to treat them holistically and integrate them in order to find those solutions in the short term.
What we need to do is to push back insurgency, by making sure we rearm the Armed Forces; we reorientate them to make sure they’re actually in a very good position to understand the nature of this particular kind of warfare. To deploy a lot of intelligence assets. To motivate them, raise their pay package. We train them and equip them. Those are the things that are actually needed.
Would you require mercenaries in the immediate time to deal with banditry?
I don’t need any mercenaries because I’ve been telling this administration for a very long period of time, privately of course, that what we needed to do was to do something similar to what we did in
Vision 2010. I mean to declare a national state of emergency and security and bring every shade of opinion under one group for a period of three, six, nine months, from every single stakeholder in this country because security is a community issue.
It’s not just an issue that is within the domain of members of the Armed Forces or political leaders or the technocrats.
So, you need to bring in the youth, labour, media, traditional rulers, academics who are specialised in security and international security experts; put them under one roof actually to clearly understand the nature and the dimensions of this problem.
Beyond that, to then diagnose it properly and come up with a range of prescriptive solutions, and then how you change agents to go out throughout the length and breadth of this country, in order to do what is required to bring this issue under arrest.
But don’t you think the economic issue is very important?
On the issue of the economy a lot of youths, though some of them are at home because of strikes, some of them are not even sure when they graduate from school they will get a job. Some of them graduated a long time ago, but there are no jobs.
If you become president you hope to take inflation to a single digit. How would you achieve that?
So, the thing to do is that first of all you have to get your macro-economic policy right both in terms of monetary policy and fiscal policy. The two of them are siamese twins; if they are not managed in a harmonious manner certain things are actually going to go completely out of place.
On the monetary side, inflation is nothing but a metric for measuring price. There are other prices like exchange rates, interest rates, etc. On the fiscal side, you deal with debt, you deal with taxes, you do revenues and a host of other metrics.
So, in order to bring about micro-economic stability, you need to craft a very clear set of policies that are designed to bring all of these things into balance.
Where do you think we’re getting it wrong?
We’re getting it wrong because; first of all, I think vision is important, I’m not sure that we are actually anchored in the right kind of vision.
Number two, I believe that you require economic managers of competence and distinction who actually understand both the theory and the application of economics.
You require excellent financial engineers and amongst them you require collaboration; where there is no collaboration everybody is going off tangent.
Read also: Nigeria must strengthen macroeconomy to reduce poverty
How many jobs can you create in Nigeria to reduce the very alarming unemployment figure?
So, I would say in about three years the unemployment rate should reduce about 10 to 15 percent, how do you do that? Within three years what you do is that you actually open up the economy.
First of all, confidence is very important. You need to create confidence in the ability of entrepreneurs and investors both within the country and outside the country to actually create national growth and grow it.
I would like to see on my own watch within a period of four to five years move the GDP growth rate from about three percent to over ten percent and within seven years move it to fifteen percent; sustained over a period of ten or fifteen years.
Other countries have done it; Nigeria can do it and therefore, when there’s outward expansion you now create a lot of opportunities for people to get productively engaged.
In case you don’t get the opportunity of becoming Nigeria’s next president would you work with anyone to inject some of these ideas?
I would work with a whole lot of people, wherever I have worked, I have actually believed in the power of people because a tree can never ever make a forest. I would hire anybody who can do a particular set of jobs wherever they come from.
I’m going to lean on the diaspora as well, talking about national security as the last point. I’ve had a personal experience with my sister who was actually kidnapped in 2014 in the peace and quiet of her home and taken to Sambisa forest and could not escape until 2016.
So, I live with that problem every day and so just my family; I understand the dire situation the country is in when you talk about security.
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