Former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Dr Olisa Agbakoba, has urged President Bola Tinubu to unbundle the administration by allowing autonomy of the states in running affairs of the country.
He also assured Nigerians that Tinubu will stabilise the economy adding that his fiscal and monetary policies are effective to deliver Nigerians from the current hardship.
The maritime lawyer made this known in a recent exclusive interview with Business Day, stressing that leadership is vital to the resuscitation of the Nigerian economy, as he added that Nigerians will soon enjoy the policies introduced by Tinubu.
“You need to unbundle the judicature…I don’t like to use the word restructure because it is offensive to some parts of Nigeria. And if you want a marriage, there are things that you must do. Bring everyone together, but I think the common denominator that we should all agree on is that we need to create more space,” Agbakoba said.
Agbakoba likened Nigeria to an aircraft that just leaves the climb-out and is already halfway to the cruising level, as it is in the airline parlance, with the assurance that government officials in the front seat of the Nigerian economy are capable.
“So Captain Tinubu on the aircraft pushes back, he’s on the tarmac, he’s cleared by the air traffic control to take off. Very well, head wings, turbulence. For me, the state is Nigeria. My loyalty is to the state, not to the president, so whoever occupies it, I’m loyal to that person because of the state, because of the office,” Agbaokoba said.
“I just did a little test with my people at home. They don’t care who is the president, they are hungry. They are not interested whether it’s Tinubu or whoever. They just said ‘Look, I don’t want to know. I’m hungry, I can’t pay school fees, medicals.’”
“If there is a big volcano that comes and bruises Abuja away, no one feels it, because the informal sector is keeping Nigeria alive. We just hope that we can find this in airline parlance it is called the climb-out. We are halfway on the climb to cruising. When we get to cruising level, then things will look good. The potential for Nigeria having a single-digit interest rate is very possible.”
Speaking on the potential of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Economy, Mr Wale Edun and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Yemi Cardoso, the ex-NBA chair said the duo are heavyweights in the economic sector that can help stabilise the economy.
“The two guys are my friends, I know them. They are bright. I know Wale Edun, in fact, sort of like I prophesied in one of my shows on TV as I talked about Cardoso and I talked about Chikobi for CBN. I mentioned them. They are good guys,” he noted.
“So now, I know the case in court is distracting, let’s be honest with ourselves. And I’m not going to comment on the merit of it. I think that when that phase is over, we might then begin to see strategic thinking come out. I was happy to hear some things at the National Economic Summit which the President attended. So, let them just get it together. Nigeria is not a big challenge in the other plan.” (Vanguard)
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