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Anthony Sani is the immediate past Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and now a member of the governing council of Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation. The former National Publicity Secretary of ACF and later spokesman for Northern delegates to the 2014 National Conference in this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, speaks on latest developments in the polity, especially on issues relating to insecurity, management of the economy and war against corruption which are the three tripods of policies promised to Nigerians by President Muhammadu Buhari. Excerpts:

The President has relieved the Ministers of Agric and Power, Sabo Nanono and Saleh Mamman of their appointments. What was your reaction when you heard the news and do you think the President should effect more changes in his cabinet?

The president has given reasons which informed the relieving of the two ministers of their jobs and he went further to say such actions would be a continuous one. For a president who puts lot of premium on loyalty and not given to sacking his ministers between tenures to say such a thing, it suggests some changes in his personal style and approaches to governance, in favour of assessing the performances of his ministers against plans with a view to replacing those who are not able to deliver on the promise of their mandate. That is how it should be and I think it is a healthy development.

On the state of the economy, the Naira is currently trading at N520 to a Dollar. Some Nigerians have criticised the President, saying he has failed in the management of the economy while some others are calling for a replacement of the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele as they claim his policies are not working. Do you share that view?

While I share the concerns of the said Nigerians about the value of the Naira to the dollar and the need for policies that can shore up the Naira, I do not support some of the CBN’s monetary policies which discourage saving by fixing very low interest on saving/deposits and high interest on lending rates. However, I do not think the performance of the CBN, and even of the economy, is limited to management of the value of the Naira alone. We must not lose sight of the trite that despite serious challenges posed by the pandemic that brought about lockdowns that stifled economic activities, including demands for crude oil that has affected prices of oil downward, the economy exited the ensuing recession in record time through various stimuli that were made possible by the CBN.As a result, NBS has just reported that the GDP improved by about 5% in second quarter over that of the first quarter of this year. That to me, is heartening and sanguine.

The hype in inflationary rates is not an exclusive preserve of Nigeria but it is due to effects of the pandemic on productivity of global economies. For example, the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns as well as activities of gunmen and bandits as well as kidnapping tended to have affected farming and, thus, prices of food. Yet, we cannot disregard taking into account purchasing power parity in our comparative analyses of the currencies. The efforts made by CBN to improve agricultural production cannot also be discounted. So, while I expect the CBN to do more and take a look at its monetary policies which discourages saving culture, yet expecting commercial banks to mobilise funds and loan for economic activities, I do not think the shortcomings of the CBN warrant calls for resignation of the current CBN Governor. That is not the way it is done.

On the issue of insecurity, are you in support of reintegrating repentant Boko Haram members back into the society as currently been done by the federal government?

I believe most Nigerians want an end to activities of Boko Haram and the only way this can be achieved is for the sects to lay down their arms and surrender. Now that the security forces are making many of them to surrender, it is a healthy sign in the sense that such would send signals to those in the trenches that the game is about to be over and spur more of them to surrender.

What to do with these repentant Boko Haram members should not pose serious problems because there are local and international laws that govern what to do with those who surrender in the course of conflicts. We must not lose sight of the fact that surrendering is a natural concomitant of war and there are laws for their management. In the case of Boko Haram, they are in thousands, many of whom were conscripted by force and later indoctrinated into the sects. I am sure there must exist some form of deradicalisation of the surrendered sects before any consideration for their reintegration to the society or not.

I do not subscribe to the view that because the victims of activities of Boko Haram are still alive, to forgive those who surrender offends their sense of justice. We cannot end the insurgence without spirit of forgiveness needed for rehabilitation, reconstruction and reintegration.

What was your reaction when you heard about the attacks by bandits at the Nigerian Defence Academy in which two officers were killed and one abducted?

I saw it as one of the attacks of our military formations and there have been more serious attacks of military formations in the North East by the insurgents most of which were repelled while very few were overwhelmed. That is the nature of war, since losing a battle does not mean losing the war and vice versa. As I pointed out elsewhere, the gunmen went to the officers’ quarters in the NDA at a time most of them were not in the barrack, ostensibly because they were on assignment. This is possible considering the fact that our soldiers are spread thin across the country to confront prevailing level of insecurity. The few officers in the barrack tried their best to repel the gunmen, but sadly, two lost their lives and one was abducted. The incident underscores the need for more well-trained and equipped security personnel adequately motivated to secure the nation across villages and take the war to all the forests which harbour the gunmen, bandits kidnappers and so on.
https://independent.ng/zoning-shouldnt-be-a-criteria-for-electing-nigerias-president-sani/

I rather like the man. He's brilliant, eloquent and non-tribalistic!

CBN does not fix economy.good government policies does.

he is part of buhari's economic disaster

donbachi:
CBN does not fix economy.good government policies does.

Tell us some of the good policies

Sirjamo:
Tell us some of the good policies

privatization,tax cuts and tax rebate,deregulation,infrastructure,stable market and fiscal policy....ur nigeria does none.

Check American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.