Emir Sanusi reveals what President-elect Muhammadu Buhari must do to succeed

 

In this interview with Eniola Akinkuotu, the former boss of central bank now the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, who is a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, speaks on the outcome of the presidential election and what the President-elect must do in order to succeed.

What do you think about the conduct and the outcome of the presidential election?
I think this is the first time in a long time that we are having a result that boldly reflects the will of the people and I think it speaks volume about the improvement and the transparency of the process. The card reader was extremely effective and it reduced the possibility of rigging. And the maturity shown by all the parties after the election must be commended. And the international community was with us every step of the way from the issues leading up to the elections to the elections itself and managing the post-election.

So, this is an election that I am sure many Nigerians are proud of and it is the first time in a long time that Nigerians will say they are proud of their country. So, everybody including the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and the Chairman of INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) deserve commendation. I think he, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has done a fantastic job. Prof. Jega is a son that Nigeria should be proud of and I hope there is an improvement on the coming elections.

You said during an interview with CNN recently that the issues surrounding the missing $20bn were not properly addressed. How do you think the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration can handle it as well as curb corruption in the petroleum sector as a whole?

The General (Buhari) has said he will tackle corruption but I think it is important for the President not to be the Chairman of the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission). So, while corruption is still a very important issue, my advice will be that the President should not be so obsessed with fighting corruption because he is going to be ruling the country. What he needs to do is to strengthen the institutions that have the duty of fighting corruption. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the EFCC and the ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission).

There is the police and the office of the Attorney-General and it is important to appoint the right people and give them the independence and support to investigate, to prosecute anyone they find guilty of breaking the law. If the President does that, he allows the system to work and that is more important than an individual doing it. But we also need to understand that corruption takes many forms, when you find one way of dealing with corruption, other ways are evolved.

So, in the last few years, we have moved away from the corruption of inflating contracts due to the Public Procurement Act because of the EFCC and because of convictions, to other forms where revenue does not simply get to the government and those ones have to be looked at whether in terms of waivers, alliances and agreements and we need to pass the PIB (Petroleum Industry Bill), improve transparency in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and we would like to see what the PWC (Price Water House Coopers) audit report came up with because quite apart from talking about the missing money, I would have expected the auditors to have made serious comments about how to improve accounting and transparency in NNPC’s revenue processes and those things need to be implemented but having said that, I would think fighting corruption is one important task of this incoming government and I hope it would not be what the government is obsessed with in four years because there are issues in education, health care, infrastructure and security. They are all tied to corruption but I hope we will not be so obsessed with it.

Also, corruption is not about fighting individuals or looking for human beings to jail. It is also about asking what are the forms that corruption takes and how can we close up the opportunities that people have such that even if you are corrupt, you do not have the opportunity and I think that is very important.

Now that the global oil price has fallen significantly, how do you think this new government can diversify as quickly as possible?
I think the oil price is a big problem. If you look at what is happening with the talks in Iran today, a lot of progress has been made and we are happy but it is really bad news for oil price and at the moment, you already have a market that is already over-supplied by about 800,000 to one million barrels today. When Iran comes on board, you are going to have about two million barrels more a day. People have basically been blind because in the last three years, I believe the United States from Shale oil alone has added about 3.5 million barrels a day to production and that is like another Iraq (production) added from Shale oil.

Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if as a result of the peace talks with Iran, agreements and lifting of sanctions, oil price goes to below $40 a barrel and I think we need to be realistic. We need to know that this government is being put in place not just at a time when oil price is at $60 but when there is a theoretical possibility of oil price falling to below $40 and that might be with us for some time because there are structural issues such as over-supply issues and OPEC has lost control of the market and clearly Saudi Arabia, which is a major producer is not going to cut its production; clearly Iran is not going to stop selling if you have the sanctions lifted, so I think it is important to bear that in mind and that means we need to focus on diversifying our revenue base.

All those waivers, exemptions need to be reviewed. We also need to ensure that people pay their taxes. Very rich people need to pay taxes, personal income taxes but the biggest way to grow government revenue is to broaden the tax base and the way to do this is to make the right investments in infrastructure that will create economic entities that will pay taxes. We need to have agricultural firms that are profitable.

Agriculture is about 40 per cent of the GDP and it pays no tax. If you can make many agricultural firms profitable, those ones will begin to pay taxes. You need to put in power and create industries and have manufacturing and those companies are profitable and begin to pay taxes. That is the only way you can diversify the revenue base of government. It is not by preaching but by really growing a diversified economy where the private sector can find opportunities for profitable investments which will in turn translate into wider forms of revenue.

Why do you think President Goodluck Jonathan lost the election?

That is a speculative question but personally I think in 2011, it was very clear that Jonathan had lost many states in the North that had previously been won by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. And it was clear that there was a general sense by people of the Federal Government not investing in the areas where there is a high level of poverty. 

I believe more and more of those states began to feel that sense of not feeling the federal presence and not feeling the impact of democracy in their pockets and I think it is extremely important for people to connect with the government and when you have such conditions after 16 years of democracy, it was natural that people would want to have a change and I think this is basically what has happened.

I don’t think it is something about an individual, I think it is something that has been going on for a number of years and you could see the states won by the PDP in 1999 and what they won in 2003, what they won in 2007, 2011 and you would begin to see the changes in the way Nigerians were responding. So, it was a matter of time and I think it is good for the country that you have different parties winning and if the APC performs, they get another term and if they don’t, they get voted out after four years and it is extremely important that this happens. So, let us not see it in terms of somebody losing. I think it is a natural process in democracy. In America you have democracy of the republicans and democrats and too many factors play in. What is important is that we have had a smooth process and we have a chance of a new beginning and we should just take that chance.