Jude Idimogu, a former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly (2015-2023) and a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has described the recent hunger protest as a wake-up call to Nigerian leaders to address the food and economic crises in the country. Idimogu acknowledged the government’s efforts in combating insecurity and suggested that members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) be mobilised to engage in farming during their service years.
He also said in an interview that this initiative could significantly contribute to food production and alleviate poverty. INIOBONG IWOK brings the excerpts:
What lessons would you say Nigeria learnt from the recent hunger protest that lasted 10 days in Nigeria?
There is a lesson there that the people in government now know that they should be on their toes and jealously guard what we have. We should avoid anything that would bring any form of anti-government protest.
The fact is that it is the right of the people to protest, but they should not overdo it or infringe on the rights of others. But it is a fact that the economy is not good enough as this is not what we expected. However, President Bola Tinubu had said that his policies would be very hard. It is like a woman in labour that feels pains, but will enjoy later. But if she dies in the process, what would happen? So, sometimes we need balancing. The protest is a wake-up call for the government that all is not well with the nation. My challenge is that we should not go the way of Kenya and Bangladesh. You cannot compare the two because the woman there had spent almost 15 years in office, how long is our own, barely a year and three months. Apart from that, their own became like a family issue. I am looking at the African setting.
In Kenya, they destroyed almost everything that they have during protests and what did they achieve at the end of the day, their country is in ruins and the government would still go and borrow money because they don’t have resources to repair those things.
We should think twice before we take certain actions. Even all our leaders today used to be followers before they got there. When you are not in a place, you think it would be easy, but when you get there, you would see that it’s not the way you think.
That’s why we politicians must be careful when we make promises because we don’t know the situation of the place we are going. If you want to take a position as a governor or a lawmaker and you get there and you see that the treasury is empty, what happens, can you reverse what you have said? If you do that, they would say you are not serious. But you still have to make promises, when you are campaigning, it’s just like when you want to woo a woman, you have to make promises to her until reality dawns on both of you. So, the government should know that Nigerians have woken up now, we are no longer docile like before. The youths have the zeal, they are restless and when you look at the unemployment situation and high cost of living you will understand why they did the protests.
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But this is our country, what do we do?
The two major policies that are causing problem is the removal of fuel subsidy, and the convergence of the exchange rates. It’s not easy even for the leaders, how many leaders have tried to remove subsidy and they failed. Remember that the President had been in the system even when he was not in office.
He has studied the system and he knows how Nigerians behave and react to issues. Even if the President had removed 20% of the subsidy, we would still be having the same problem that we are having. You will see that when prices of goods go up, for Nigerians to bring it down is always a problem. We have seen it before, even when they add just N20 or N100 to the price of a litre of fuel, we see the way transporters increase transport fares anyhow. President Bola Tinubu had studied us and he felt that it is better to remove the fuel subsidy at once. He has also saved money for the country because instead of spending unnecessarily, the government has reduced what they spend.
Also, you will see that what goes to the states and local governments have increased, but all of us still concentrate on the federal government. It’s high time the NGOs, the youths, and human rights activists should ask state governors and local government chairmen questions about all the money they have been collecting. Let us see what they are doing with it, we are docile in that area. Also, when we are protesting, we should be mindful of those that would want to hijack it. We saw that in the north, where people brought out all forms of weapons. They were killing people, looting and committing all forms of crimes. You would see that the government told the protesters to be careful that it could be hijacked and that was what happened as it went out of control from the original idea. Again, how could someone like Omoyele Sowore engineer protests from outside the country? He is not here to face the heat; he is outside there throwing stones and we are burning here. If I want to lead a cause I should be involved and be in the forefront.
I remember President Bola Tinubu, when they were leading protests during the era of former president Goodluck Jonathan, he was involved. I saw him with former president Muhammadu Buhari walking from Maryland in Ikorodu Road, Lagos to Ojota Park. They were in the front and they confined themselves to a particular spot. That was what they were saying because when they protested, there was no destruction. Also, the government has to be proactive about the needs of the masses.
What are those needs?
The number one is food; this is even reflected in the hierarchy of needs. Food doesn’t know its mother or father; even you can might steal when you are hungry. My concern now is the economic problem of the nation. Fuel subsidy has been removed, but how do we alleviate the suffering of the people?
I can even say that the subsidy is back. This is because crude oil is priced internationally and due to the exchange rate now, the price has gone up. When the subsidy was removed, the rate of a naira to a dollar was N700 in the black market and about N500 for the official rate.
Talking about farming, how do we go about it with the killings of farmers in some parts of the country, what should the government do to make it easy for the farmers?
The government is doing its best on the issue of insecurity. But if we can tell ourselves the truth, the issue of banditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram and others are coming down gradually. The security men and women are working, but the bandits are even killing some of the security men. Also, the number of our security men is not much.
More so, this issue of security is based on some ideology. Some people in the north who are involved in Boko Haram, what is their agenda, what do they want? We should change their psyche. How can someone believe that he would have benefits when he dies by carrying arms and ammunition.
The government must also support them, though the resources of the government are limited. That is what is affecting farming like you said. If we say security is there, the psychological fear is still there for them. All these herders, kidnappers, terrorists, bandits have leaders. They have sponsors, they should not turn our country to something else. The government should battle them.
There are kinetic and non-kinetic methods of dealing with them, but when you don’t give them what they want they go back. Nigerians should support the government and the government should be determined.
Also, we must do everything humanly possible to protect our borders to prevent unwanted elements from coming into our country. All these could be achieved if we have a united front. I will keep on talking about patriotism. Now, it’s Yorubaman that is there, how are the northerners and easterners supporting him.
President Bola Tinubu has spent over one year in office, how would you describe his government?
President Bola Tinubu has done well so far. Number one is the student loan, we have never experienced it in Nigeria before, they only had it abroad. Now, there is no excuse that a child cannot go to school because of money. The government pays to the schools directly.
They plan to rejig it if there is any problem, I heard that over N45 billion has been approved for the take-off. Look at the Lagos-Calabar Expressway. This will lead to further development. I learned that the road would be tolled, and when they do this, whatever they get from it would be used to maintain the road and many people would be employed. Everybody cannot afford to travel by air because it is expensive. Moreso, sometimes, you want to go on a trip by road and see nature and have a better experience.
