In this interview with ANULE EMMANUEL, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, speaks on the Jonathan administration’s efforts at addressing security challenges in the country as well as its reforms.As one of the President’s handlers, does it worry you the way some persons attack the President?
We are in a political dispensation and we have an opposition that is hyper active and likes to pick on the government and the President on a regular basis. My position is that in a democracy and under an administration that encourages the freedom of expression, you cannot rule out a situation where people will insist on their freedom of expression and say whatever they like, as long as the media encourages them and gives them the platform to express themselves.
The thing to note nonetheless is that this administration has nothing against the freedom of expression. It welcomes the opposition’s right to express its views but what we have complained about regularly is that the President while welcoming criticism would also want to see constructive criticism. The President is the President of every Nigerian. He has repeatedly made it very clear that whether you are a Muslim, Christian or animist, atheist, a Northerner or Southerner, he as President is the President of everybody. If the opposition says that their duty is to play politics with everything and to condemn government, what the government is asking for is that at least let it be constructive. The opposition in other parts of the world doesn’t play politics of abuse.
They come up with ideas, so when you see us engaging in any kind of altercation with the opposition, check it out. Two statements have always come out of my office. The first is: don’t abuse the President, respect his office, you may not like that office, but respect the fact that it is a special institution at the heart of our democracy. We all have a duty as Nigerians to protect it, so don’t engage in the politics of abuse, don’t pull it down.
Second, be constructive and being constructive means, come up with ideas. If there is something that you disagree with, that the government is doing and you don’t want, give us an alternative.
Part of your duty is to say, we think government is going in this direction, we think government should go in this direction. That will be the politics of ideas, but unfortunately, if you check the content of opposition politics in Nigeria, it is devoted to the politics of abuse.
It is always easy to abuse people and throw words around. It is always convenient to talk and not think, because it takes some effort to think. Our appeal is that the opposition should please play the politics of reason and ideas and we will continue to appeal to them. We will not be discouraged by their refusal to toe the path of reason.
Would you say that the President is winning the war on terrorism?
Yes. Absolutely, yes.
In this matter, the forces of good will prevail over the forces of evil and the agents of darkness. Nigeria will prevail and it is our conviction that we will all be here to witness that moment of triumph. In addition, President Jonathan has made it clear on many occasions that what Nigerians are confronted with is an unconventional war, which requires collective effort to resolve.
This is a type of war in which you can even say that the enemy is faceless or that you don’t know who the enemy is. The enemy can be anywhere, the enemy is a hidden one, without a defined uniform or location and who can strike anywhere at any time. This kind of warfare challenges even the training of the security forces who have been trained to deal with conventional warfare.
It is a kind of warfare in which the issues involved are nebulous and perpetually mutating. We are facing a kind of nihilistic warfare in which the enemy is even prepared to commit suicide to achieve whatever ideological or criminal objectives. What that means therefore is that this being an unusual war, nobody can effectively put a date to the end of it. We recognise this special challenge.
Nigeria is not the first country that will face the scourge of terror. The British fought the IRA terrorists for so many years. It took the United States almost 10 years to track down Osama Bin Laden. And even that has not ended the threat of terrorism in the world. But you can look at the situation in Nigeria in terms of specific milestones.
So, what are these milestones?
The first major challenge of terrorism in Nigeria started in 2002 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, so it is something that this administration inherited. By 2009, it was already getting worse, but this administration came in and began to confront it. What we are witnessing at the moment is a resurgence; a desperate effort by terrorists to assert themselves.
When President Jonathan declared a state of emergency 18 months ago, after a few months, the security forces were able to restrict the terrorists to just about a forest. They destroyed their enclaves, mobilised ordinary people to take ownership of counter-terrorism initiatives and effectively put the terrorists on the run. For close to a year, there was peace and stability in the affected areas.
Before the first declaration of a state of emergency, the terrorists had carved out enclaves, they had hoisted their own flags and had threatened to take over the entire Nigerian state. But the military with the capacity that they acquired, pushed them back, took over these three states (Adamawa, Borno and Yobe) and even began to enjoy the confidence of the local communities, with even the people themselves taking ownership of the fight against terrorism.
But now, the agents of Lucifer are back with greater fury and vengeance. I have no doubt in my mind that the Nigerian security forces, even if they are fighting an unconventional warfare, have been able to acquire capacity and experience and are showing real determination in dealing with the challenge.
With the support that they are receiving from the international community and with the solidarity and partnership that has been forged with neighbouring countries and other countries on the continent and elsewhere, there can be no doubt that through concerted effort, the war will be won. But nobody can put a specific date to it; nevertheless the will of government to win the war is stronger than the determination of the terrorists.
What specifically should Nigerians expect from the current support of America, Britain and others in the war against Boko Haram?
Interestingly, the countries offering support and partnership have also spoken about the nature of their intervention. Principally, it is not about the deployment of troops on the ground. The job will still be done by Nigerian soldiers; what we are receiving is support in terms of logistics, surveillance, satellite imaging, intelligence gathering and information sharing.
All of this will help to strengthen the capacity of the troops to be able to do the job more efficiently. I think it is important that that we have this international solidarity on the matter of terrorism which is a threat not only to Nigeria, but the whole of the human race.
The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Boko Haram; the United States and others have classified Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation; meetings have been held in Paris, South Africa and Ghana under the auspices of international organisations which have taken decisions to demonise, isolate and criminalise Boko Haram. So, I think that the international solidarity is important; the support that has been offered is also crucial.
The message that has been sent across is that the international community stands as one family to put an end to this assault on the human community, its members and its values.
But will America and others stay back in Nigeria even when the over 200 pupils of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State have been rescued?
I don’t think so. The various countries offering to help are not coming here as neo-colonial forces; they are here as friends, motivated by human values and united with us to solve a problem that affects the human race.
You must take note of the fact that the United States and other countries have always cooperated with Nigeria. We have ongoing relationships with many countries of the world. The cooperation did not start with the issue of the Chibok girls and that is why when people say that the President did not respond on time, I always insist that it is not true.
The partnership between us and our neighbours, the United States and others on the issue of terrorism has been a long-standing one.
President Jonathan has been in touch with world leaders and other stakeholders from other parts of the world, to address the issue of terrorism. Security chiefs from Nigeria and neighbouring countries met on a regular basis and shared intelligence; other countries of the world have on-going relationships with Nigeria covering peace and security matters.
What has happened with this issue of the abduction of the girls is just a turning point which has resulted in the deepening of existing cooperation and partnership between Nigeria and other countries of the world. So that is the thing to note. I think people should know that this cooperation that we are talking about is not an overnight thing.
It’s been long and enduring because it is well recognised that international terrorism has incubation centres in different parts of the world. What has happened in our case is that Nigeria also became an incubation centre for terrorists. These terrorists have built a network involving Al Qaeda and other groups with operational bases across the sub-region and continent.
So it is a local challenge, an international challenge, a cross-border threat and a continental challenge. Nigeria, the United States and other countries have been working together to deal with this issue. That is why the President always raises the point that this is not about governance, this is all about an evil force that seeks to overwhelm our country and also pose a threat to the whole world.
Is government investigating any issues of alleged negligence on the part on the Borno State Government or the security forces over the abduction of the Chibok school girls?
Government’s commitment is to get the girls back and safely too. The Federal Government and particularly President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the President of everybody, is not engaged in blaming A or B. There is a problem that has occurred and the problem needs to be addressed and solved. For now, that is the focus of Mr. President.
Nigerians do express concern that persons arrested over this issue of insecurity are hardly being prosecuted. Why is this so?
The legal prosecution of suspects in any matter whatsoever does not take place on the pages of newspapers; it takes place in the law courts. What is known is that government has made it clear that it will not condone impunity of any sort.
There are persons in detention centres, there are those who are being prosecuted and convicted almost on a daily basis in the law courts. But you know how these things work, so many of the people who are making those statements are speaking out of ignorance because they do not know what exactly is happening. I mean, this government will not condone criminality or promote any kind of barbaric indulgence.
And the judiciary has remained a very strong institution under this administration. You can be sure that the security agencies will continue to function, and those cases that can be established for the purposes of prosecution, will go through due process. It is not standard practice for the judiciary to be conducting its business on the pages of newspapers.
So those making such allegations, they probably need to do a little more home work to find out the truth rather than just condemn the government on the basis of their own ignorance. Amid the current insecurity challenge, the Federal Government recently hosted world leaders in Abuja to the World Economic Forum for Africa. What does this mean for Nigeria? The successful hosting of the WEFA is significant because it means that the world has expressed great confidence in Nigeria.
You will note that the hosting of that event came against the background of the bombing in Nyanya and the abduction of the Chibok girls. At the time, many in fact expressed the view that the calculation of the terrorists was to frustrate the conference delegates who were meant to attend the World Economic Forum and to create the impression that Nigeria is not safe.
Nigeria was hosting WEFA against the background of the rebasing of the economy and the declaration of Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa. The terrorists and their sponsors wanted to ruin all that. But the good news is that the international community refused to be discouraged.
Everybody descended on Nigeria. They were all here: heads of state, heads of corporations, diplomats, professionals, resource persons and so on; about 4, 000 of them or moer. Apart from the hosting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which is the traditional home of the WEF, Nigeria recorded the second largest record in terms of attendance in the history of the event.
They were all here to identify with Nigeria and to express solidarity with us. It was a very successful event, which at the end of the day, attracted an estimated huge inflow of Foreign Direct Investments to the tune of about $68 billion over the next few years. Since then, we have continued to witness the expression of even greater investor confidence in the Nigerian economy.
So, the terrorists failed. And what it means is that the world recognises Nigeria as a preferred investment destination and that whatever problem Nigeria may have with terrorists, terrorism does not define the identity of Nigeria, it does not define the economic space of Nigeria and I think that the hosting of WEFA and its outcomes will be remembered for long as one of the major achievements of this administration because it translated into greater progress both for the government and for the Nigerian people.
When do we see the rationalisation of the civil service in force?
Institutional reform is one of the major pillars of the transformational agenda of the Jonathan administration and the reform has been ongoing in different regards. The main focus of the White Paper on the Report of the Steve Oronsaye-led committee on the rationalisation of MDAs is to reduce bureaucracy, eliminate the duplication and replication of functions and make government more accountable and efficient. The White Paper having been issued represents the position of government and once government has taken a position, then it will implement the White Paper.
But some recommendations in the Oronsanye report were dropped?
If government sets up a committee, it is the job of the committee to make recommendations. You don’t set up a committee especially on a strategic issue as reforming the bureaucracy and you assume that government must take all the recommendations. People in that committee are just a few persons who have been given terms of reference but at the end of the day, government and critical stakeholders will take final decisions.
So, the focus should be on the White Paper and what is done subsequently. I believe that the implementation of the document will make significant impact because the White Paper speaks for itself. Institutional reform is a continuous process.
The 2014 budget is coming at the end of the second quarter. Does it bother government if it can really implement fully this fiscal document?
You will recall that after the back and forth over the 2013 budget, President Jonathan promised that the 2014 budget will surely go to the National Assembly very early and government did precisely that. The budget estimates were submitted to the National Assembly as early as November/December 2013.
The expectation from the meetings held between both the executive and legislature was that the passage of the Appropriation Bill would be fast-tracked so that very early in the year, we would start with the Budget on the table. But the legislative arm of government took such a long time to come to a decision so you cannot blame the executive for any delay, if that is what you are trying to do. In any case, members of the National Assembly, of course, would also tell you, they had to do thorough oversight to come up with a quality Appropriation Act.
The good news, however, is that the law allows government to implement within the level of the previous budget up to six months in the new year. I think that there was no significant departure from that. Nothing suffered at all. Besides, the National Assembly was able to pass the 2014 budget within this period. I have no fears about budget performance at all in 2014.
http://reubenabati.com.ng/Jonathan-acirc-s-critics-should-come-up-with.html
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