The Federal Government through the
Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun,
said it had banned public servants
from flying first class when on official
trips. Do you see this as cheering
news?


That statement of the Minister of Finance
(Kemi Adeosun) that public officials are
barred from flying first class is
hypocritical and only a mere attempt to
divert attention from the suffering and
agony that have been imposed upon the
Nigerian people as a result of the poor
and ineffective economic policy of the Maj
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Nigerians are no fools and we know what
is going on. The issue of flying first class
by government officials is mere tokenism
because the people who are living the life
of affluence are indeed the politicians.
And I believe that if the Minister of
Finance were to be serious about cutting
cost, she should have encouraged her
boss to let charity begin at home. How
can a president be maintaining nine
presidential jets flying up and down, all
over the world as a way of escaping the
crisis Nigerians are going through? How
can a president who has budgeted over
N1 billion for feeding in one year or over
N4 billion for his own clinic in Aso Rock
have feelings for Nigerians to be able to
subsidise petroleum products?

Despite the 20 per cent reduction in
travel expenses targeted by the
Federal Government, you think the
decision makes no sense?
If he reduced flying first class for public
servants and increased the
Nigerians by subjecting them to trekking
to work, by subjecting Nigerians to
inflation and perpetual darkness and at
the same time increasing the tariff for
that darkness, that is wickedness. What
we demand from the Minister of Finance
is not palliative measures but an
unfolding of her economic agenda for this
country. She has virtually run this country
aground; no economic policy, no
economic direction, people do not have
access to exchange rate, children are
being withdrawn from schools abroad,
middle businessmen and manufacturers
are closing shop – what is she talking
about flying first class? What is our
business with that? Will that bring foreign
exchange? Will that increase salaries of
workers? Will that put an end to fuel
scarcity?
I believe that the Finance Minister has not
been able to appreciate the enormity of
the responsibility imposed on her office.
As we speak today, there is no budget as
indeed the direction of this government;
contractors are not paid; most state
governors cannot pay their workers; and
the president has gone to China to beg for
N2 billion loan for which we do not know
the duration and the purpose for which it
will be dispensed. This kind of policy of
denying government officials the
opportunity of flying first class is not
worthy of news given the current crisis we
are going through in Nigeria.
Would you describe the decision as a
misplaced priority?
I believe the Buhari administration has
lost direction; he is now looking for
populism by embarking on statements
that will seem to tie into the minds of
Nigerians. The government has
discovered that Nigerians are beginning
to be tired out by the anti-corruption song
or national anthem since May 29 (2015,
when Buhari was sworn in as president).
Now that the anti-corruption war is not
bringing food to the table of the masses,
they now want to go back to populist
programmes; that will not appease us in
this country. I think that the president
owes us a responsibility to unfold an
economic agenda that will bring food to
the table of Nigerians and not to be
deceiving us by embarking on populist
programmes. How much has the
President recovered so far from the
Peoples Democratic Party’s regime? How
much has been returned and what are the
recovered looted funds being used for?
The government cannot just keep us in
darkness. A Federal High Court made an
order that Buhari and Obasanjo should
account for the looted funds of (Gen. Sani)
Abacha and the looted funds of (ex-
President Goodluck) Jonathan and he
(Buhari) is refusing to do so.
What is our business with whether public
servants are allowed to fly first class or
not? We have major economic challenges
in this country that affect virtually every
part of our society. Inflation has gone up
while power generation is less than what
the President met when he came into
office. It is almost one year since he
assumed duty as the leader of this
country and he has no agenda. He has
denied virtually all the promises he made
to Nigerians when he was campaigning.
His government has lost credibility and
integrity – and the President does not
care. He has been flying up and down. Is it
because he has access to jets? What is our
business with first class?
But reductions in government
expenses like this are seen to be good
for the country.
What Nigerians want is food on their
table. We want electricity and we want an
end to fuel scarcity. If we are subsidising
the President by paying his feeding
allowance which is over N1 billion in one
year and subsidising his health care,
paying for his medical bill to the tune of
more than N4 billion; why can’t he
subsidise fuel for Nigerians? And why is
the All Progressives Congress-led
government being hypocritical? In 2012
when Jonathan wanted to remove fuel
subsidy, we occupied Ojota Park every
day; (Former Lagos State Governor,
Babatunde) Fashola sponsored the
protests. He was there to give a speech.
Today, it is this same Fashola – these
same (Bola) Tinubu people – now saying
that Nigerians should bear the brunt of
fuel subsidy removal. This is hypocrisy. I
think Nigerians should reject this APC
regime for fraud. We are tired of this and
I think the President should be man
enough to resign from office instead of
imposing something on our people. Who
is interested flying in first class? All we
want is food on our table; we want
education for our children; we want
violence and crimes in our land to reduce.
We want people to respect the rule of law
and not to be shooting people who are
agitating for Biafra. We want respect for
all our people, not to be killed by
herdsmen calling themselves Boko
Haram.
Nigeria is currently at the crossroads and
the solution does not lie in populist
programmes or denying people flying first
class. We are not interested in that. I call
on the Nigeria Labour Congress and all
activists who protested against Jonathan’s
government back then to wake up now
and do the same thing against this
government and not act as hypocrites.
There is no difference between 2012 and
now; when we insisted that subsidy
should remain back then. We should insist
it should remain now.

Are you saying President Muhammadu
Buhari is insulting people’s
intelligence?
It is beyond insulting people’s intelligence.
Buhari as a person was not prepared for
the presidency. He has no agenda; he has
no programme – he has no blueprint.