* Ezeife 
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife is a household name in Nigeria no doubt, particularly on issues of national interest as well as matters affecting the Igbos. In this interview with Shola AKINGBOYE in Abuja, the former Anambra State governor bared his mind on recurrent national issues, its implications and solutions especially the injustice being perpetrated against the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). He equally urged the  Buhari administration to thread the part of honour in his fight against corruption amongst  others. Excerpts:

 How would you rate President Muhammadu  Buhari and his anti-corruption crusade, especially as it affects the seat of the Senate President?

 There are some clear policies that are anti-corruption policy, and there are some glimpses of implied policy by actions taken by government, which also are good. I call those ones clear policies. Buhari can change Nigeria if only he pursues anti-corruption crusade to its logical end. Even today, there are changes in the Nigerian system, people are thinking before they act. I don’t think there is anybody stealing oil by now, that has been put under control. Anything you are doing in Nigeria with impunity before now is being done with great fear now. So if Buhari want to succeed in this war against corruption, he should adopt ‘do as I do’ principle, what I mean by ‘I’ includes his immediate family and those associates around him. If he keeps himself clean and pursue those who are corrupt, not Saraki. 

 You mean Saraki is innocent?

 Saraki might be the most corrupt person now, but pursuing it the way it is being done is not corruption fight, it is politics, and that will even reduce the credibility of anti-corruption offensive. I will want you people in the media to help us appeal to Nigerians, let them leave Saraki alone. If Saraki had not become the Senate President, all this harassments including the one against his wife will never have been there. Moreover, it is even like thuggery and armed robbery the manner they invaded  Government House in Akwa-Ibom, they should return what they took  from that place and make apologies. These are not acts of fighting corruption, in fact it is the height of corruption on its own,  corrupting the system with appointment, corrupting the system with impunity and pursuing somebody who has not stolen too much.

 How would you justify the Federal Government’s recent offensive against MASSOB and Radio Biafra?

 MASSOB is primarily a pressure group which doesn’t go with arms, they have never been armed. I don’t know what the recent upsurge in the attack means. Recently in Onitsha, twelve youths who participated in peaceful demonstration were killed and many injured by the Police. And also there were those who went to Church to celebrate their anniversary, and Police went killing and maiming them. This is uncalled for, I don’t know whether to call this injustice or another form of genocide against the people. These people are protesting injustices to the Igbo, they talk about Biafra and it is only now that politicians are picking interest in what they are doing. Though they have made some mistake in the past to have prevented our people from being counted during population census, which was a major loss to our area. But to kill people when they stage peaceful demonstration is genocidal.

 But some of the Igbo leaders are as guilty of not giving adequate support to the  group’s quest  for justice?

 The problem with MASSOB is that they are not fully accepted by mainstream Igbo politicians, this is because you cannot be asking that you want to be President of Nigeria and say you want disintegration from Nigeria. In fact, some Northerner are capitalizing on this because they know the truth and tend to use it against the Igbo political interests and now Buhari is growing MASSOB by his disposition towards the Igbo people, since assumption of office. He seems to be saying,  you people can go I don’t care, even one of  Buhari’s  strong supporters, Junaid Muhammed made it clear in one of his recent outbursts.

 What do you think is the way out of this?

 This is a major problem not too good for the polity and I don’t know how it would be solved, but killing people, committing pogrom and genocide against those who are going to  mass to worship their God, all of them in one is indeed inciting of MASSOB against the nation by the authority. Moreover, I will want to discourage people from linking up Radio Biafra with MASSOB, they are different things. Radio Biafra is an individual effort being made to express the progress of the Igbo people.

 As a former governor and Harvard trained economist, do you see the nation forging  ahead in the face of the current economic reality?

 Today, we are high cost producer, Nigeria should use the cost of petroleum products to subsidize the whole economy of Nigeria, hence the importation of petroleum products by private individuals must stop. If you are importing as private effort you must subsidize. What we better do is to calculate the total quantity of crude oil Nigeria need for home consumption, then go ahead to refine it and sell it at the cost you are willing to subsidize the gallons. Then as other refineries  are coming up, you work out a modality where you supply crude across board, it is all there for the NNPC to organise. You can implement a policy using what we have to get what we want. You can benchmark petroleum pricing to achieve lower cost industrialization. We can achieve this when the strategies I just mentioned is taken into cognizance, where you convert crude and sell at the price you decide.

 What other areas should be explored?

 Beyond that, there should be a thorough examination of Nigerian economy as a developing economy. There is also the need to develop Nigerian economy as a whole, then sectoral protection, you can have 20% added to importations and that becomes protection of the economy. But when it gets to areas of competition, you can add 30% and in some areas 50%. Until you produce and learn to produce,  your cost will be high. Nigeria is a member of World Trade Center, we don’t have to beg pertaining to free trade, we would rather compete among equals. China  has advantage over other developing countries  like Nigeria. In-fact, Nigeria has the worst case in the sense that, the dearth of infrastructure such as electricity, water and access roads and expertise has been the bane of industrialization in our country. This things are capital intensive drawing back the Nigerian manufacturing sector.

 In which area do you think this administration has excelled?

 Another area of Buhari’s foresightedness is, though he may not have started working on it, but he has shown signs, which is the pronouncement that agriculture should be revolutionized. Areas we should take into cognizance is exportable agricultural produce, just as Mexicans did sometimes ago, when they came down to Enugu, plant their pineapple and take it  to Europe as export on six hours’ time bound, rather than sixteen hours from their own country. So exportable agricultural produce is germane, even flours and many more. A revolution in agriculture will silence even those talking about oil and gas. As long as petroleum price falls, it will continue working against the Nigerian economy. So should government not pay lip service to its pronouncement on mining and agriculture as it used to be, sky surely is the limit.
Another glimpse of Buhari’s policy is the Central Bank’s decision not to give foreign exchange officially to companies importing  some forty-two products including toothpick. Why I applauded that policy is that, there is no point allowing anyone to go sourcing foreign exchange to import such items. Such products should be banned because people use the scarce foreign exchange to  import  such items.