Iyoha John Darlington is an expert in conflict management and resolution and the International Media Aide of the Green Party of Nigeria in this interview with Paris-based Radio France, he discussed how his party will tackle corruption, insecurity and other issues in Nigeria
How do you intend to advance the cause of social justice in Nigeria?
You see, we believe every man is born free and, therefore, equal in right and dignity. If one may descend to pedestrian analysis, social justice refers to the strict observance of justice in terms of equitable distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. But it has a broader social, political, economic, and cultural understandings in the lens of the Green Party of Nigeria in that it reflects a concept of fairness in the assignment of fundamental rights and duties, economic opportunities, and social conditions. It must, however, be borne in mind that putting the above-named ideals into concrete practice is often fraught with challenges. Nigeria has often run into a brick wall while trying to implement this concept to pave the way for peace, unity, progress, and development. The Green Party of Nigeria shall in all honesty kick-start a process to first and foremost comprehend and surmount the intricacies of the above subject matter, strive to create a healthy relationship between and among the diverse ethnic nationalities, communities and states that make up the Federation of Nigeria to reduce the hue and cry of alleged marginalization. We shall vigorously pursue social liberty, equality, solidarity geared towards the common good. This hopefully remains our bounden duty and, therefore form the cornerstone or basis upon which our edifice of social justice would be built. We remain religiously focused and fanatically committed to this ideal. In fact, it is no news that our past leaders have failed woefully in this regard which has dragged our nation into abysmal depths, that is why the in-coming GPN-controlled Federal Government will set every machinery in motion from a distributive perspective, that is by ensuring equitable distribution of goods and resources. This would be done by the structuring of societal institutions to guarantee human rights and dignity, equal opportunities for free and meaningful social participation with a view to enthroning a new national, economic nirvana for our country.
You are well aware that past governments have failed the citizens of the country due to the way they managed the resources of the country, what do you think the Green Party should do to find solutions to Nigeria’s problems where other political parties have failed to obtain tangible results.
The Green Party of Nigeria is not unaware of the blunders made by Nigeria’s past and present leaders which tell on the citizenry marvellously, thus our great party became a child of necessity to address these various problems. We have carefully set up a package for a holistic solution. Infrastructural development and renewal remain our bounden duty. It is pertinent to note here that Nigeria has wasted eighteen years on the reckless pursuit of a Maoist one-party ideology that focuses on power retention since we returned to civil democratic rule in 1999. This our rulers have often done by the instrumentality of incumbency rather than democratic participatory power geared towards regenerating the country, making adequate provisions for infrastructure renewal and development. Far from doing this, concentration was more on maintaining expensive bureaucracy, reckless expenditure, and political brigandry. We shall focus on agricultural infrastructure and finance which are key ingredients for economic development and a clue to the unemployment problem in the country. We also intend to look at agricultural finance whose neglect has contributed in no small measure to the decimation of agro-based infrastructure. What Nigeria urgently stands in need of which shall also receive our attention is none other than a vibrant saving culture, intelligent public revenue collection, retention and international finance partnership. Our national debt overhang is also an albatross on our country’s development trajectory seeing that we owe too much to be able to re-ignite our service infrastructures destroyed by greed, prodigal and visionless leadership. Here is our blueprint. In each infrastructural subsector, GDP-led FG will work tirelessly to attract investments and also put state resources so as to have a modern infrastructure base, adequately maintained and efficiently run to meet our various needs.
You mentioned that the best way to deal with Boko Haram is through dialogue, could you shed more light on how you want to dialogue with a group of people who do not want to speak to anyone but through arms and guns.
Yes, I did say so. You see, nothing works like dialogue and this, I dare say, remains the only antidote to conflict management and resolution all things considered. The angry young men who have been unleashing terror on Nigerians are not spirits but humans. We are fighting two things. Number one is ideology which has become deeply rooted in them and of course a cause for which they are prepared to die if need be. You will also agree with me it is not going to be an easy fight for we have this ideology to contend with in this fight. Like I did tell you a while ago, the insurgents are not spirits. Efforts have been made in the past to dialogue with them. We will adopt the carrot and the stick approach. You are, doubtless aware that over 100 girls who were held in Boko Haram captivity are being released although we earnestly hope that the government will do more in this regard to ensure the rest of them are released. If they were not prepared to speak to anyone then how was the government able to secure the release of the girls held in captivity? This would have been impossible. We will use the same link used and explore others to reach out to the leadership of the Boko Haram militants for an extensive dialogue and strike a deal to make them lay down their arms. We do believe there is something the government is not doing well that has made this fight to continue this long. We shall explore every avenue to extend the Olive branch and I am sure we will be able to obtain tangible results in the end that would bring back a lasting peace to our beloved country.
How do you intend to fight unemployment in the country since this has been confirmed as one of the major reasons why violence is increasing on a daily basis in the country?
Our country remains plagued by high levels of unemployment. We have a lot of plans in place to get rid of this social malady. Nigerians have no reason to remain without jobs and we are, of course, not unaware of the parlous state of the economy. It is a thousand pities that we have been reduced to this level despite the fact that we are blessed with abundant human and natural resources. Our party believes in the agrarian revolution that will see a mass return to land. That is the first step the in-coming GPN-led Federal Government will take to ensure that the bulk of our unemployed youths are actively engaged and occupied. It is our interest and desire to take a cue from the West to work towards agricultural revolution to ensure food surplus. You see, hunger is one thing that stirs open revolt. A society whose inhabitants is infested with hunger becomes vulnerable to crimes particularly violent ones and all means are employed to get rich including armed robbery. As we develop the agricultural subsector we hope this will provide jobs for over 100 million youths, leave the country with enough food supplies and even for export.
The Green Party of Nigeria shall employ every mechanism to challenge the standard free-market prescription which lowers wages for less skilled workers, weaker labor unions, greater decentralization in bargaining, less generous unemployment benefits, and much less job security. Our team of economic managers is not unaware that better employment performance could partly be achieved by deregulating the labour market and also by effectively coordinating macroeconomic and social policies with the wage bargaining system – an achievement that requires both strong employer and union associations and a relatively stable and consensual political environment.
Your economic blueprint is rather very bold, how does your party tend to tackle this gigantic problem of redressing the nation’s ailing economy where other governments have failed in the past?
A country without a good infrastructural base cannot achieve anything meaningful. That is why the Green Party of Nigeria has been very consistent in this regard. Nigeria parades some of the best economic managers around the world. There is one thing we will do away with. Nepotism and mediocrity. Ours will be patterned on the Spartan and Napoleon’s model to revitalize the ailing economy. The selection of public office holders shall be based solely on merit to obtain optimal results. The incoming GPN-led Federal Government shall set up National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) to offer advice on speeding up a restructuring of the financial industry. No expense will be spared to prevent financial market failure from spreading to the real economy. We will pursue and implement policies of tax cuts and deregulation. As a strong advocate of the market economy, we will minimize the government’s involvement in the foreign exchange market.
One of our stimulus packages to drive growth is to encourage small businesses as the centrepiece of economic growth and poverty reduction. There is no denying the fact that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are important and are therefore key ingredients in this regard. You know as well as I know that SMEs are focused very much on buying and selling and small-scale manufacturing could begin here or other types of service delivery. This is where we hope to start from as a major driver. In this connection, good diversification into small-scale manufacturing is welcome. Most developing countries like Nigeria have economies driven by SMEs. The difference between some of them and Nigeria is that they have benefited from general budget support from organizations such as the EU, World Bank, and WHO. Nigeria has not had the privilege in 15 years. Very few countries would have remained afloat. We are still afloat due to its resilience and fortitude but has to learn from other countries as well. This is not to say that we should transplant ideas from elsewhere as they are and implement them in Nigeria. That will be a classic display of lacking contextual intelligence. It is a country in a situation very few countries have ever been in, therefore struggles with fiscal space to support its SMEs, but that cannot be the whole explanation. There is the issue of skewed priorities and fiscal hemorrhage as well as simple irresponsibility. Our people, however, should not forget that SMEs will bring about both political and social stability. In our economy, small business is a very big deal and whatever policies we implement, let us look at the impact it will have on such. The government has to be the womb that nurtures, nourishes and protects this sector and this is what the in-coming GPN-controlled Federal Government will do.
Can you explain in simple terms how your party intends to fight corruption because the present administration has tried to fight it at the beginning but do not seem to win the war, how will your party address the challenge of corruption in the country?
Corruption would have no place when our party assumes the reins of power in 2019. I can confidently tell you this because looking back on the damage the scourge has done to Nigeria, I make bold to say here that GPN presidency will fire from all cylinders no matter whose ox would be gored to make sure it is non-existent in Nigeria or becomes a thing of the past. We will not even create that chance in the first place. All loopholes will be plugged and whereby you contrive another means to steal from the public with ample evidence against you, we will have no option but to invoke the Chinese model and make embezzlement of government funds attract the death penalty. We will not handle this with kid gloves considering the irreparable damage it has done to Nigeria. We see no reason for converting our commonwealth to personal estates while the bulk of the citizenry thrives on dirt and dirty surroundings.
Your party the GPN does not control any state at the moment in the country. How do you intend to woo Nigerians to see the party as an alternative, especially considering the fact that there are over thirty political parties in the country?
You see, a new intriguing force in Nigerian politics has indeed become absolutely necessary in Nigeria’s political firmament and under the existing circumstances as experience has shown that the two dominant political parties namely the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that have each had a shot at the centre have not only failed Nigerians woefully but marvellously. It is, therefore, our interest and desire to go round the country and build confidence in our people. Knowing full well where the PDP and APC both failed we will set in motion new dynamics to bring about lasting solutions and to achieve this we will retain the services of a broad spectrum of firebrand revolutionaries who are highly determined to abolish corruption, violence, insecurity, hunger, unemployment and the ongoing ethnic agitations threatening our corporate existence. We will remind our people that the GPN as a new intriguing force remains the only meaningful choice that will offer them good governance, avenues for political participation and opportunities to reshape our country’s future and in this connection, we have commenced effective mobilization at the grassroots across the country and over 11 million Nigerians in the Diaspora will be featuring prominently on our political radar to secure a landslide for our candidates at all levels. The GPN after an extensive study and consultation had no option but to take into consideration new ways for citizens to organize themselves and evaluate policy, new globalized economic and political structures, and the rise of anti-system parties in some established democracies.
