Comrade Ogakwu Dominic is the President Civil Society Group for Good Governance, Publisher CSO News Watch, and President of CSO News24. In this interview with David Obio, he bears his mind on wading the storm of challenging times in Nigeria, the 2023 change of government, and the kind of leadership needed for the Country. According to him, whoever becomes the president of Nigeria must think radically to bring changes in technological advancement, industrial revolution, power transformation, and de-concentration on Oil and Gas, among others. He argued that President Muhammadu Buhari may have good intentions, but Nigeria is difficult to manage. He argued that there may not be a messiah anywhere, but what Nigeria needs is a dogged leader, a patriot, an experienced nationalist, to rule the Country better. Excerpts:
As the CEO of CSO News Watch and CSO News24, how has it been plying your trade in the harsh economic times in Nigeria?
Well, we are Nigerians, survival is the key word, being optimistic is the watchword and trying to sustain is a necessity. Times will always be harsh but it beckons on us to do our best for ourselves, for our nation and the world at large. It is not just hard in Nigeria, It is hard everywhere, but for us as Nigerians, we are dogged, we are consistent, we believe that there is a God that answers our requests, and when there is a will, there will always be a way. These are the basic things that have assisted us to stay firm in the place of harsh realities or harsh economic times, as the case may be.
Can you say that you are more successful now than you were under previous administrations?
Well, it’s a matter of what you mean by that, because it has nothing to do with an administration. It has to do with growth, it has to do with different indices for checkmating and appropriating at any point in time. Possibly, this administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has lasted for up to seven years, you don’t expect I would be where I was seven years ago, that’s the truth. I may not be where I was, but it’s not the function of this administration, it’s a function of growth, it’s a function of planning, it’s a function of innovation and it’s equally a function of so many factors. So, it really has nothing to do with administration. Possibly, maybe I wasn’t doing what I am doing now, so I expect growth, it’s expected, it’s necessary. If you grow, no matter the kind of administration they will need you for one thing or the other. One thing to note about success, is that it flows in the direction of planning. When you plan, you either plan to succeed or you plan to fail. To a large extent — our organisation as a civil right practitioner and also as a media practitioner — we have been looking ahead to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, so that we can survive whatever administration that comes our way, its policies, laws, taxes etc. Government is government! Our prayer is that as we plan, a government should come that will need our strategies to survive, to make policies etc. And that is what we have tried to do over time.
As an entrepreneur, what are your challenges and the secrets of your survival in this economic phase of Nigeria?
Yes, the challenges we have are very akin to the average Nigerian. And they are also very basic because we are practicing CSO within the basics of international best practices and to also undertake Media practices also within recognisable laws, to ensure we are not at loggerheads with the institutions of government. And it behooves on us to look at the merits and demerits of what we are doing, to ensure that there is synchronisation with what we are doing and to ensure that everything is basically on point. So, some of the basic secrets of our survival include consistency, discretion, innovation, teamwork, trying to ensure that we play by the rules, and dreaming big. I must say, beyond anything, dream big, because the size of your dream will determine the kind of pursuit that you will have, so that when you see challenges you will know you are heading towards your dreams, and they will become indicators to the fact that you are on the right trajectory to success. Also, these challenges are there, the challenges of finance which are common to every Nigerian business man. As you know, the basics of every entrepreneur is resources, and the kind of businesses we do, people don’t trust you with their resources to invest into our business. As such, we are trying to be innovative enough, re-engineer new ideas, as we go through the trying phase of this economy.
As an activist, I believe am a community worker, a community developer. To me, this is sacrifice, it is a call, a clarion call at that. While I was growing up, my childhood passion had been to care for the less privileged, the vulnerable people, to ensure that good governance is secured for all and sundry. At this level, I don’t see it as a profit-making venture, I see it as what we owe, to give back to our society, so as to build the kind of egalitarian society we all dream about. And so within the confines of our job, we do not think about profit, even though we try to attract donations, and also do programmes that will project the image of government. Basically, we ensure that we become senior advocates for good governance. There is nothing that is too much for us to sacrifice, to be able to ensure that whatever challenges we face we surmount them and our focus is to succeed and our focus at any point in time is to place nation-building and brotherhood above every other challenges that we encounter. And so, these have been our driving forces; these have been our survival strategies; they have become our basic secret in trying to see that we survive and surmount all the basic challenges that come in trying to do business within our environment.
The Federal Government came up with Ease of Doing Business, we are also trying to take advantage of that, to ensure that we get more financing towards developing the business aspect of what we do for the good of all.
This dispensation of government has left many businesses in Nigeria bankrupt, liquidated and some even closing shop. What are you doing in business to stay afloat that your contemporaries aren’t doing?
Well the key word is “discretion.” By design, you cannot play with the same rules in different climates. For instance, you cannot plant banana in the desert, and expect it to grow, unless you bring in all the necessary environmental factors that can allow the banana to survive. I have mitigated all the factors that would have gotten us bankrupt.
As a Civil Rights practitioner, I have asked my colleagues who are disenchanted and are not very happy to do what they are doing, because when you have invested money, you equally have to ensure that you pay salaries, you have to subscribe for all the consumables; you have to ensure the day-to-day running of the office and then you have to ensure the daily running of the business and equally reach out to others. I must say it has not been, really, really easy. what we do differently I must say is that, we try to be more discreet by ensuring that our next line of action does not land us in murky waters or in troubled waters, nor run us out of business. We can say, we have been very discreet with our resources, discreet with our strategies, discreet in terms of how we deploy resources and effort towards ensuring that success is achieved at the end of the day. Yes, it is true that a lot of businesses have actually folded up in Nigeria, but you will also agree with me that a lot of businesses have taken a leap forward. While others are folding up and cascading into the ditch, others are actually climaxing and taking off. For sure, every business needs re-jigging, from time to time, to ensure you are still in the trajectory towards success. You must do this review, you must get feedback and try to reapply what you have seen and what you have heard in terms of what will improve your growth in business, without necessarily rocking the boat. And so, I think we are discrete in all ramifications. The sanctity of what we do is sustained by our discretion.
Considering the level of damage done in our economy, do you think a new government can change the political landscape for the better in Nigeria?
Definitely, there is always room for improvement. In all things, there is always room for growth and changes. In fact, one of the devastating mistakes anyone would make is for one not to create room for improvement, or not to forecast or be hopeful. What that means is that we are hopeful as Nigerians, hopeful as global citizens, we are hopeful as activists, we are hopeful as media practitioners, we are hopeful as businessmen, we are hopeful as citizens of Nigeria. At every point in time we are hopeful, I believe the next government will try to close up the gap between what they try to achieve and the failures of this administration. Well, every administration has a stronghold, there is a strong point that this administration has, they have tried in certain areas and have failed woefully in other areas. One area we have to commend this administration is that they have the continuity agenda. In the past, once it has to do with different political parties taking over power, there is the tendency to jettison what the other parties have done, but that did not happen in this administration. This administration took off where the previous administration stopped. One thing going for this administration is that it took off where the former administration ended. With that, they were able to complete a lot of projects and record a lot of successes for themselves. But their major failure is that they have not been able to communicate to Nigerians adequately, there is a gap, a lacuna between the leaders and the led. This administration has undermined the areas that would have been their stronghold. Most propaganda have been done without due consideration or consultation and this has grossly affected them immensely.
On this note, I will tell you categorically that, one of the major deficiencies of this administration is the fact that even though the President means well for us, since he assumed office, Nigeria is actually a very different and difficult political atmosphere to manage. What that implies is that, once you assume office in Nigeria, there are people already programming you to fail, amplifying the loopholes in whatever you do. This has been one of the weaknesses of this administration; inability to manage the people to ensure that less damage is done, in terms of governance, in terms of government spending, to ensure that there is frugality in terms of government spending which is what we have noticed. People will actually try to undermine or sabotage this administration, whereas the President means well in terms of his anti-corruption agenda. In his cabinet, there are some of his team players who have taken advantage of the lacuna created by his ill health, not being able to be upwardly mobile, and his silence. They have taken advantage of this to actively try to undo him in every area. It is our prayer that the next administration will ensure that Nigerians try to get the maximum dividends of democracy as expected.
Do you see any Presidential candidate capable of sparking off any positive change in Nigeria in terms of economy, technology, industrialisation, power, oil and gas, transport, housing?
To be candid, it is not for us to say at this point of political campaign. We are at the point of making promises. There is no political aspirant or candidate as they will soon become later, that will not want to promise all of this. It is too close to call, there is no messiah anywhere. What Nigeria needs is a dogged leader, a patriot, an experienced nationalist, to rule Nigeria better. I cannot sit here and try to forecast which presidential aspirant is better. To a large extent, we are still in an era of political jamboree, when there is a trimming down to possible candidates, we can now talk. For now, a lot of political permutations is ongoing, to ensure that we have the best candidate to take over from president Muhammadu Buhari.
All the political parties should try to micro zone the presidency to give room for balance, equity and justice. It is not necessarily that you must zone, but that will actually aid whatever region the president will come from, so that their best hand will be brought forward. If we don’t do that, we will be running into chaos and if we are not careful, we will have people who will hijack the Presidency, charlatans for that matter. As you can see, many of them are declaring for presidency, some of them privileges and responsibilities have been given to them in the past and they have failed, now they want us the electorates to trust them with higher responsibilities of such magnitude, as the President of Nigeria. I must drum this, whoever becomes the president of Nigeria should try to think radically to bring changes in technological advancement, industrial revolution, power transformation, de-emphasise oil and gas. We have to de-emphasise oil in terms of how we apply that. What we think about oil is just the crude without thinking about the value chain that is involved or accrued to it. Housing, we need low-cost housing; we need Nigerians to have access to affordable and good access roads. In terms of transportation, we need speed trains, speed boats. The world is fast revolutionising, and one would expect that we come to that point where whoever wants to be Nigerian president must think radically along these lines. Not just thinking radically, there must be a radical approach to birth these changes. But what we lack is the will power to ensure that this is seen to be fulfilled in all ramification.
For me, I believe as we have more people declaring, we have presidential candidates who are capable of sparking off these transformation radically.
Political stakeholders want a young, intelligent, economically sound and visionary leader, to become the President of Nigeria. What is your stake on this?
Well, the wisdom of Solomon has nothing to do with the age of Methuselah. I know in this country we have visionary young minds who can steer this nation to greater heights, to the desired greatness that we deserve as a nation. As many dissident young minds that we have, as many confused and disorganised young people that we have, we also have many radicalised young minds that will set the nation on a different trajectory of progress. When that will happen, how that will happen, I cannot tell. What I am very concerned about is that, if we want to do that, then young people should take over political parties first. For instance, if the two leaders of the two leading political parties are not young people, that should already give you a room for concern.
Are the young people actively ready to take over power? Affirmative action must be taken to ensure young people display or put up a challenge that young people actually want to take over power. This is not a wishful business, there are road maps in ensuring that young people take over power, there are steps, rules and guidelines in ensuring that the rule of old men is halted in the near future. I don’t see that happening anytime soon because by now one would have expected the gathering of young people, young minds, wanting to take over one of these political parties and win elections, but that we have not seen.
Well let’s believe that anything can happen, anything is possible. As for me, I believe in the leadership of young people because young people are updated, they can easily acclimatise to the changing environment. The world is fast changing. We are in a digital age now. We cannot be using a different template that is obsolete to run. That has been part of the challenges we have had as a country.
As a Civil Society activist for Good Governance, what do you think any elected President should do to change the narratives?
Radicalism is the key word. A radical change, a radical approach should be deployed in ensuring that the economy is turned around. We cannot have an economy that is foreign based, consumption-based. You can’t be using obsolete models in running and over hauling your economy and expect to make something out of it. It is unexpected, it is not achievable and it is unthinkable to assume that life is all about garbage in, garbage out. So, if there is anything to do to change the economy, it is to be radical about it. We must not use the same model of federalism, the same model of national assembly trying to do constituency projects, the same model of trying to depend solely on importation; same model of not doing anything about local manufacturing. We need somebody that is radical, just like what happened in Asia, and in the Arab World etc. What happened in most of these countries is that the leaders decided to close their borders and then look inward. Right now in Nigeria, we are yet to consider those options. If we are to consider those options, we will begin to see the daily indicators showing that we are heading that part. But at the moment, what we will need to be able to change the narratives in Nigeria’s economy is a radical change, radical economic models. We might suffer for a while, but that will cause most Nigerians to put on their thinking cap.