Since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, power has been revolving between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC), with either of the parties taking the position of opposition when the other is in power.
Ahead of the 2027 general election, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) is strategizing to become the next option for Nigerians who have tasted leadership under the platforms of PDP and APC.
In this interview, the National Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Chief Ladipo Johnson, says that the party would wax strong and become the next option for the nation in 2027 to guarantee the good governance that the citizenry has been yearning for.
Apart from the ruling party, the APC, and the opposition PDP that are the strong contenders in Nigerian elections, what is your assessment of your party in terms of performance in elections?
It is crystal-clear that the NNPP is also waxing strong, not only during elections but also in popularity. The party enjoys some measure of recognition in the country, particularly Kano, which we govern. Not only did it emerge as the winner of the governorship seat in Kano State in the 2023 election, it also won some seats at the national assembly. From Kano, we had 19 members in the House of Representatives. We also had two senators out of three from Kano. There are also other states where we did very well. For instance, in Taraba, we felt that our candidate won but someone else, a PDP candidate, was announced as the winner. We have more time to grow and broaden the base of the party and popularise it among Nigerians and to generally contribute to good governance in Nigeria.
What is the true position of the NNPP, are you a supporter of the ruling party, APC, or you are an opposition party?
We are working assiduously to make it a viable opposition party that could make constructive criticisms and support the ruling party in the interest of Nigerians if need be. We are doing that and Nigerians can see that we are doing that. Some times, people ask question about our party: Are you really an opposition or you are just supporting President Tinubu? I always clear the air that without any doubt, we are an opposition party. I don’t want to say that we are not supporting the government but we are constructive when we are not supporting. We are not just an opposition for the sake of being an opposition. We believe that the first and most important thing to determine our position is the welfare and wellbeing of Nigerians and if that is the case, we would always make sure that we support the government to guarantee the interests of Nigerians.
Politicking is gradually gathering momentum ahead of 2007 general elections. Do you think NNPP has what it takes to join the race?
We believe strongly that before 2027, the party will be better positioned to be presented to Nigerians as a possible alternative to engender better governance capable of fulfilling the yearnings of the masses; a party that would turn the economy of the country around and stimulate rapid growth of the nation. It shall wax stronger and create an conducive atmosphere for Nigerians to thrive, guarantee reduction of cost of living, improve the standard of living of Nigerians, guarantee quality education, healthcare etc.
So, we believe that we will be able to work towards all these for 2027.
Don’t you think there are albatrosses that are already working against the party ahead of 2027?
Yeah. I always tell people that the party is under attack and they wonder what I mean by that. What I mean is that we see a lot of things coming either from the APC national party or from others that seem to want to create disaffection and disunity within our party or within the state that we govern at the moment which is Kano. You would recall the problems we had which got to the Supreme Court to uphold our mandate, then the issue of emirates in Kano. They came to cause trouble and they are still causing trouble. Then you have the issue of local government elections. I think it is clear to us that they will not stop; they will continue because it is one thing after the other. But we are determined. Despite all these aggressions towards the NNPP, we would still continue to serve the people in the capacity that we have today to serve them which is constructive opposition. We would try and broaden the base of the party so that by 2027, it would become a real alternative for Nigerians to consider.
What is your assessment of the current APC administration?
We are hoping that the current administration would press the reset button and take a look at its policies again because the taste of the pudding is in the eating as they say but Nigerians are not finding it tasteful at the moment. There is economic hardship everywhere triggered by fuel subsidy removal as soon as the present government came to power. It ought to have prepared alternatives to assuage the inflationary pressure that people would feel for removing the subsidy. But they did it the other way round. So, they are still grappling with it. They are still grappling with the fact that the naira was floated and they did these two difficult things at the same time. Now, they are trying to work their way back and trying to see how they could juggle or rejig. things. This is one thing that is necessary. The other is that government has to look into the cost of governance itself. We keep repeating it. It is too high, the expenditure is too high. You tell the people of the country to tighten their belts, but they don’t see government tightening their own belts. You know, we are buying presidential jets and other things and it’s all boring. The government is still boring. So, these things do not portray a government that is serious in trying to turn around the economy.
What would you say are your recommendations?
My take on it is that the president should look at his track records from Lagos when he was governor till date. He seems to believe that when government is increasing revenue, government is performing very well. It’s one thing to achieve revenue increase but when the cost of governance is going up, almost higher than the increased revenue we are getting, then you are not doing much for your people and the people you are increasing the revenue from, are they able to pay?
There is this challenge of devaluation of naira that we are seeing on weekly basis. Currently, it is about a thousand seven hundred and fifty naira or to a dollar.
The revenue is not increasing in real terms. Let me explain. If you got 10 billion last year and you got 15 billion this year, you might say we have an increase. But in real terms, the value of the 15 billion this year is now less than 10 billion of last year because naira has fallen in value.
Now, how do you you ensure the naira doesn’t continue to drop? With all these challenges, government really needs to work quickly and change the narrative for the better. They have to because it is not something that is palatable. Borrowing billions of dollars and increasing tax base might be good but we hardly see the results.
So, we at the NNPP are very troubled about the state of the economy because we really haven’t seen the total package towards improving the economy.
What is your take on the controversial Tax Reforms Bills?
Now there are about four tax bills in the National Assembly and people have said that these is a fundamental document and it is important that the people have interest groups. Stakeholders have time to study these things. But I advise either way. As a party, we are studying it at the moment but it seems that government is bent on forcing it down the throats of Nigerians. You saw the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau the other day and Senator Ndume working out of the House. So, such things are not indictive of good governance. We hope that the National Assembly would look at things in a more circumspect manner. Although there is an urgent need to improve the economy, you don’t rush into something that can equally damage it beyond recognition if not properly implemented.
Recently, the Presidency and the opposition disagreed on President Tinubu’s frequent travels to other countries despite the economic crisis bedeviling the country. What is your party’s stand?
You know that you’re traveling around the world almost every week and you haven’t seen investment flowing as you have promised us. Now, with insecurity as it is, with power generation and distribution as it is, with the devaluation of naira as it is, how many people would want to come and invest here? When they make the investment, how do they repatriate their funds? These are the questions. The economy is not healthy. If the economy is not healthy, then we have a big problem.
Is palliative by government a way out of the hardship in the country?
They’ve turned us into a palliative country. I was telling some people the other day that everytime they are giving a bag of rice or whatever as palliative, know that it’s a proof that the economy is bad. If not, you won’t be happy to be receiving rice and garri and whatever as handouts. Nigerians are hardworking people. They need a government that can create a viable environment for businesses to develop and thrive. If you do that, you’d be shocked. That is the kind of legacy that NNPP would bequeath to this nation as from 2027.
Nigerians are geniuses, they can come up with things that you yourself would like. But that atmosphere and that environment is not in existence in this country to motivate them. Government needs to find a way to bring this into existence so that the economy will start to recover and grow.
Are you satisfied with the number of ministers in this present administration despite the recent reshuffle?
Buhari had many ministers but Tinubu came in and increased the number to 40 something. When he reshuffled recently, the number reduced a bit but it is still higher that the number that Buhari had. Now, you might say it’s not a big deal, but don’t ministers earn a lot? How many cars do they drive? These things go around when you look at the budget of the State House. If you look at last year’s budget and look at this year’s budget, then you begin to wonder; are we making money just to run government or we are making money to benefit the people with healthcare, infrastructure development, education? electricity etc. These are the questions.
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