₦airaland Forum

Chief Don Etiebet, former Minister of Petroleum Resources and front-line politician in Akwa-Ibom in this interview stated few things the incoming Buhari Administration must do upon assuming office in May 29.
He further said he believes the Buhari administration will cut down the cost of governance and with strict adherence to the rule of law, will gradually turn the fortunes of economy around. Etiebet is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

What are your expectations from this new government?

Yes, I believe in General Muhammadu Buhari as a person who God has given to Nigeria at these trying times to save Nigeria, to get Nigeria working again and to reposition Nigeria and change her face in the comity of nations for respect and seriousness of purpose in tackling the ills of the country.
Having worked with him in the past as the National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), I believe he will make Nigeria a different place where security, economy, discipline and the rule of law will abound to contain corruption. I only pray that Nigerians would understand him and give him the necessary support in the face of challenges and difficulties to put his programmes through unimpeded.

My expectations from his government are very much captured in his resolve to fight corruption and insecurity, and to rejuvenate the economy. I would like to add, that one of the cardinal things he must do would be to reposition INEC in all its ramifications to conduct free, fair, credible, violent free and acceptable elections because he suffered the pangs of rigged elections thrice to become president. So he should use this opportunity to put in place the machinery for credible elections always. Faulty elections are at the basic roots of all democratic short comings in this country.

What are the urgent steps you feel the General Buhari led government should address immediately it is inaugurated?


On this question, I would like to note first that there are many landmines laid for him which if he steps on them directly, they would explode disastrously on his face. The first is the petrol (PMS) supply situation. The outgoing government is owing the importers and marketers hundreds of billions of Naira which they are not likely to pay before May 29th. And there is no money in the kitty to pay when he takes over with dwindling foreign exchange reserve, lost crude oil production, falling crude oil prices, huge debts overhang, the clamour by certain interest groups in the country not to remove the petrol subsidy and salary debts by many states. But there must be petrol at the filling stations otherwise the country cannot survive a week. I can tell you that salaries can wait for a month but lack of petrol cannot.

So I see what to do here as CATCH 22, and it is the greatest challenge of what to do immediately he is sworn in. I see it as the first button to press and it must be pressed right.

If I were in his shoes, I would call the NLC and TUC leaders immediately to a one-on-one meeting soon after I say “SO HELP ME GOD” to dialogue to allow/let me tell the Importers and Marketers to Import the petroleum products (PMS, AGO, DPK,) I hear that there is no aviation fuel too to sell at market prices meanwhile as I dialogue on how to pay their debts and get all the refineries working optimally for local production. We can decide on appropriate pricing of the products that would benefit the masses and the economy alike, pleading with them to understand the circumstances and appreciating their sacrifices for giving me time to settle down.

With that in place and resolved, he can now start on how to dismantle the other landmines one by one.

Do you see this wind of change blowing away the level of impunity we have seen so far in government?

Yes, I see the wind of change blowing and cleansing the institutions of government, starting from the Executive itself, the National Assembly and the Judiciary if he is still the Muhammadu Buhari I knew with strict adherence to discipline, rule of law and proper law administration with no “I beg you syndrome” in the administration of justice no matter whose ox is gored. All the impunity will disappear overnight and an atmosphere of fear not to commit crime will pervade the society as it happens in other countries.

Why do people commit suicide in some countries when they commit crime instead of waiting to face the law? And we respect those countries and would like to be like them.

Many Nigerians have argued that for this government to succeed, the cost in governance must be reduced. What is your take on that?

Every Nigerian knows that the costs of governance at the Executive and National Assembly institutions are absolutely inconsistent with our national revenue and productivity so much so that our recurrent expenditures always outweigh capital expenditure many times over. Muhammadu Buhari has a great opportunity to address the high cost of governance in the country while embarking on projects that will impact the masses’ lives greatly. The example must come first from the executive wing, we don’t need 100 vehicles following the President when he goes out. I can imagine the traffic jam when he stops at a traffic light as he said. As I know him to be personally very frugal, I would like him to bring his life style to bear on his governance to show example to other African presidents.

Of course you know in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, the people like to copy their President’s style of life from clothing to cars to parties. I am sure General Buhari will change us for better for us to be better and more caring citizens.

Rubbish.

They have been shouting Biafra since 1970, when they were resoundingly defeated.

Here they are still having Masai Dance on the same illusion of Biafra, without any concrete step taken to actualise it apart from noise making and chest beating like king kong.

Just ask them what is stopping them from declaring their Biafra today and see them go dumb.

chukwudi44:
Where did I imply tribalism.Did Otedola not switch camp immediately Buhari won?

When will you learn to talk with your brain rather than your feet?

He paid a courtesy call on the new sheriff in town, the same way Obiano and Adaobi did.

If you call Otedola a coward. What is the word for Adaobi and your AkpuGA Gov, Obiano? Cowarder and Cowardest, maybe

Intelligent response to daft minds.

is owing the problem or the capacity to repay?

Is America owing?

Is Dangote owing?

What is their capacity to repay?

We all know how "stealing is not corruption ". Do not tell us what we already know.

However, the honourable thing for you to have done, is to have resigned jejely. If you did not, you were comfortable with the mess. Therefore you are part and parcel of the goats that our barn if yams.

NOBLEDANDY:
At least is in only in ijaw land in ondo that you can find oil...
Besides saying the oil is greater than the oil that can be found in South East..

One question for you?? How do you pass mathematics in your waec??

Another lie.

1. Arogbo Ijaws are migrant to our soil and they are mere fishermen.

2. The oil part of Ondo is ilaje in Igbokoda and Ilajes are oduduwa descedants.

Don't get it twisted.

If you are pained that the Oil Ondo state produces surpasses the whole of what alaigbo is producing --- a verifiable fact, deal with it or jump into the lagoon.

AustineE1:
you just can help being st*pid,Ifeanyi Uba like every other has the right to be lifting oil,own oil wells and import petroleum,regardless of who ever becomes president.During GEJs regime the criminal oil cabal comprising of mainly northerners and south-west subordinates,had a free hand and yet GEJ was sabotaged!
Then Ifeanyi Uba who happens to be closer to oil and bearing in mind that IMO and Abia are oil producing states;not to even mention Anambra,doesnt need to be apologetic to the nomadic fulani man who happens to be a president of this deformed entity called Nigeria....woe betide 'Baba one chance' if he ever tries any shit against the vibrant generation of Igbo billionaires running things in Nigeria.
Kudos to Ifeanyi Uba,first among equals.No wonder there is no fuel scarcity in the south East.

How daft can you be? This one owns oil, that one's owns oil. Who is God depriving of oil?

All the oil in the whole of alaigbo is not up to Ondo state production, so shut your mouth up and know where you will pour your frustration.

The Chief SaTANoid is trying to buy his way out with his gesture, but as usual we can see through his folly.

Whether the Cabal likes it or not, a new sheriff is coming to town on Friday and the rule of the game will totally change, no matter which part of the country members of the cabal are from. If Ifeanyi Ubah is guilty, no Jupiter can.save him. He will be dealt with according to the rule of the land in full measures. Likewise other saboteurs from other parts of the country. The days of lawlessness and clueless govts are over.

Who are the vibrant y1bo billionaires. Are we not in this country when GEJ used our collective wealth to bail out the bankrupt Ifeanyi Ubah, based on the promise of 10million signatures from SaTANoids? If you have billionaires, which part of the country is God denying billionaires? Bunch of empty barrels and noise makers.

When will decorum ever enter into the lexicon of y1bos? It is an expensive word in your culture I guess.

Trying to buy goodwill against Friday, despite the campaign of calumny he ran for GEJ.

Nice move, but we can see through your intention. Buhari will come for oil marketing thieves, it cannot be worse than this.

GlorifiedTunde:
You really still think you're talking to a logical mind? You're mistaken if you keep explaining to that child

I want him to display more of idiocy and people to see him as one, based on his stup1d and blind argument.

1stola:
You must be a very sick gullible person
I'm so disappointed!
Who told you it's Obasanjo that brought gms to Nigeria?
Besides, is that an achievement?
Tell one part of the world today that doesn't have gsm irrespective of how fine their economy is.
It is a very shameful thing to say that Obasanjo brought gsm to Nigeria.
Is Obasanjo mtn? Is he mike adenuga that owns globacom?
Is he airtel thay has been existing since 1978?
FYI, gms came to also every country in Africa well around 1997 to 2001 which was somehow the time Obasanjo was in power.
Obasanjo is a thief
An old fool
A rogue and a miserable shameless elder.
Woe unto him.
E.g, he stole and squandered 16 billion dollars for power project.
He had complete good eight years to make things right but he decided to crude, egocentric and wicked.
May he live long in pain.

Another ranting. I will allow the first insult to pass and will take you to the cleaners with the 2nd.

Achieving such miraculous feat in telecoms should not be called an achievement, for a country that had a teledensity of less that 250,000 as at 1999 and we are talking of 148million as at 2015. What should we ca that then? Better put, it is a miracle.

The bottom line is GSM came into this country during his tenure. Shikena.

He squandered 16billion USA and turned around the moribund Kainji Dam with brand new turbines from Daewoo, he built Afam V and VI Power Stations from the scratch with new turbines by the same Daewoo and he initiated the IPPs being commissioned today.

Those are undeniable and verifiable facts.

If you have a problem with his character, fine (I do too), but you cannot take away his leadership and achievements.

InvertedHammer:
/
Obasanjo killed the economy,

Yar'Adua embalmed it...

And the idiotic Jonathan buried it.

In other words, OBJ should STFU!

He had his chances and blew it.
/

Kindly inform this honourable house how OBJ killed the economy, in a concise and clear words, without any ambiguity or tantrums.

sasquareT:
Shut d hell up......the way some of us celebrate dis man and ascribe so much meaning to what ever he say got me thinking some timeaa..he only has an opportunity to lead but base on his action and uterance he is not a good leader....he is so egocentric
Like you people forget that Nigerian head of state and president has stay longer in office than this man...but yet he has nothing to show for.
Nigerian should try and learn hw to ignore this man

He has nothing to show and you have telecommunication and Internet on your palms today.

He has nothing to show and people can go to sleep with their eyes closed, knowing fully well their pension is secured, based on his pension reforms.

We can all lean back and never panic about our money in the banks, based on his banking reforms.

Nigerian Banks now have financial muscles to syndicate billions of dollars in loan, unlike before when our businessmen will be at the mercy of the London and New York banks.

He did not have anything to show and he navigated the tortuous lane of securing debt relief for us, thereby cushioning the effect of Economic Meltdown.

He did not have anything to show and he initiated IPP that your GEJ is busy commissioning.

He did not have anything to show and he commenced the reformation of the railway system that GEJ is busy celebrating.

He did not have anything to show, he built up our foreign reserve from the 2bn USD he met and that some people are busy sitting down to steal.

He did not have anything to show and he never said stealing is not corruption. Thereby jailing Bode George, Former IG etc he set up the anti-corrutpion agencies and empowered them.

Pre-1999, you are either rich or poor. This same man created a viable middle class and he does not have anything to show.

He created millions of employment that affected lives and you do not have to go on propaganda campaign for people to see the jobs.

Only an ingrate or a toddler-turned-teenager will say he does not have anything to show.

With these few points of mine, I believe I have succeeded in convincing you and not confuse you that Baba Iyabo has so much to show for his governance. It is only fair to give honour to whom honour is due. Of course he has his excesses and his personal deficiencies, but we can not question his visionary leadership.

Thank you.

FreeGlobe:
is there anything as south south? Can there ever be a south south country? Answer is NO

If there can be Mid-west, then there can be South South.

noblezone:
Which courts pronounced judgments on any of them?
Or you think this is some criminal military junta?

Nigeria is a corrupt country.
The courts and their judges are not spared.

Is the function of the judges to bring them to court?

Can you remember what EFCC said about corruption concerning GEJ, when they were complaining about his body language?

dunkem21:
Comments like this piss me off. So, how do we know that Buhari's govt will not loot the loose funds

That is why I suggested that subsidy stays so that we can suffer it together.

Who cares whether you are pissed or not?

I just laid the bitter truth bare. GEJ lack the moral rights to question the protest against the removal because events upon events had shown they were right after all.

dunkem21:
..I remember begging people to take this your stand two years ago ..we would've been better today.

This is one reason I detest the APC. ..I might join the protests if they remove this subsidy ..Its a painful stand.

We would not have been.better in anyway
I was in full support of deregulation too.

What it would have done is, it would have merely free up more funds for few to loot. GEJ's govt lack the moral strength to handle such idle and loose fund.

What happened to the little that was removed?

The Genie of Owu, that some political neophytes described has being inconsequential, has spoken words of advise again.

He who has ears, let him listen.

dearpreye:
Subsidy has to go. It's a tough decision GMB must take. I've started preparing myself for such. It's just not sustainable!

We have to face the reality, subsidy must definitely go. There is no way we can have refineries built by private investors if subsidy does not go. I knew it will definitely go by 2017 whether there is scarcity or not, when Dangote completes his refinery. He was not a first mover for nothing.

With subsidy removal, there will be more refineries and more jobs.

It is a hard decision GMB will need to take quickly, before his administration will lose its goodwill.

dunkem21:
My brother, I disagree here. Sensitive and classified information like subsidy removal needs to be done without the public knowledge and explain later.

1. If you tell me that subsidy is going to be removed, I will stock up fuel @N67 and sell at whatever price. Remember, these marketers are smart and always waiting for an information to strike.

2. A lot of heated debate ensued and Nigerians got to know the implications of subsidy removal but the propaganda machinery of the APC swung into action with all manner of protests. The FG was forced to introduce partial subsidy amidst curses from masses.

My point is that some sensitive info from govt should be kept secret. An example: The legislators have divulged to us that subsidy have been removed from the 2015 budget while the executive kept it away from the masses ..chaps like me already know that the price of PMS will be higher than N87 before the year runs out.

The problem has never been about removal or not.

It has always been about the accountability of the part that was initially removed and how such removal has impacted positively on the lives of ordinary Nigerian.

You cannot remove subsidy, when you are only freeing more loose funds for some people to steal, at the expense of all. If government had tangible things to.point out to as the dividend of the removal, people will buy into it

I cannot remember anything the SURE-P achieved and USD20billion developed wings. Won't it have been better for the money to be used for payment of subsidy, rather than ending up in the bank account of devilish few

dearpreye:
Bro, GEJ lacks the power and provision to punish anyone; only the courts do that!

Honestly, I'm not going to entirely blame the protesters for their action. .....but we're all feeling the hit now....

GEJ lacks the power, but he has the political and administrative clout to task EFCC to do their work.

The protesters are right after all. I was totally for the full deregulation, I feel stup1d for supporting such now.

One thing Buhari needs to do with immediate effect, is to announce full deregulation and go after the subsidy cabal in full swing too. It can't get worse than this.

dearpreye:
Bro, God doesn't build nations. He's been intervening in our affairs for years, but we're NOT doing our part. That's the problem!

We are almost only preoccupied with the gains of the moment without sparing a moment's thought for the future.

In 2012, GEJ tries to do the painful but right thing, but he was resisted and given names. The cabal, like noblezone wrote on a thread, deceived the gullible; and here we are still dancing around the same issue.

The cabal did not deceive anybody.

Has GEJ punished any member of the cabal despite their indictment?

What did GEJ do with that partial subsidy removal? Some people sat down and ate it as usual.

Are the protesters not right after all?

The question is

What can GEJ used to justify the subsidy he removed?

The people protesting were right after all. Though I was in support of total deregulation.

Nice one eGift.

Of only the few deranged and myopic ones could reason.

No be only amnesty, they will soon see arm-wrestling.

ZeezaRapture:
Source or i dont believe it

VANGUARD

This is a sane voice , rather than an empty threat of one pregnant pig.

Ateke Tom was a general in the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND. In this interview, the soft spoken ex militant General bares his mind on his expectations from the incoming All Progressive congress, APC led government at the centre. He dismisses fears that hostilities may resume in the region when President Goodluck Jonathan finally bows out of office  on May 29. He fielded questions on why he rears lions in his Okrika residence.

What are your expectations from the President Elect, General Muhamadu Buhari
I expect him to lead the country on the right path, provide  quality leadership. And I am sure the President Elect will make positive impact.

I am sure he knows what to do, he knows what the country expect from him. He should give all Nigerians opportunity to contribute meaningfully to his government.

Let me just add that the Niger Delta still needs serious attention. He should develop the region. Later, we will tell him some of the things we expect him to give special attention to.

There are fears that some boys in the Niger Delta may resume hostilities, militancy at the end of President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure
No! No! I don’t see militancy coming back again in the region. Niger Delta will be very peaceful than what it was under President Jonathan.

Well I want to say that nobody will go back to the creeks. Anybody who does that has no reason for that and should be treated as a common criminal. We don’t have any reason to resume militancy in the region. So there will be peace.

Speculations are high that the President -elect will cancel the pipeline surveillance contracts awarded to individuals and groups recently. You have something to say on this ?
We got the pipeline security job for our area. And we are doing the job very well.

May we never see his type again.

His type that will tell us stealing is not corruption.

His type that will describe corruption as a goat eating a yam.

His type that loves setting up committee upon committees.

dckelvin:
typical Yoruba boy.
always looking for excuses to console themselves.
Smh

Who is consoling who? if this is the leader of your struggle, i cant but laugh.

Let the madness begin.

... and they want companies to relocate to SS.