President of Ijaw Media Forum and Publisher of Shipping World Magazine, Elder Asu Beks has described President Bola Tinubu’s two years in office as a period of increased hunger, poverty and insecurity in Nigeria. He lamented that the removal of subsidies on petroleum has not produced the promised positive result; rather it has brought untold hardship on Nigerians.
In this interview with DAILY POST, he assessed Tinubu’s two years in office, Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri’s five years in office and his rumoured plans to defect to the APC, the emergency rule in Rivers State, the creation of the ministry of marine and blue economy and the controversy trailing the Customs Comptroller-General’s tenure of office among others.
Tinubu has just spent two years in office, what is your honest assessment of his administration so far?
It is two years of hunger, two years of increased insecurity and two years of many Nigerians being moved into poverty. In fact, Nigeria is regarded as the poverty headquarters of the world. You came in and yes, we all said, oh this issue about subsidy; remove it. So, we all knew that subsidy was a fraud.
If you listened to the campaigns then in 2023, almost all the presidential aspirants were in support of removal of subsidy. So, we have two things we’re expecting, one, if we’re going to remove subsidies, the subsidy thieves must be dealt with. These monies were going into people’s pockets, they were going into people’s accounts, and those accounts were known to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. They were known to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL and even to the presidency.
So, how come you did nothing to try those who were ripping this country off in the name of subsidy? That’s one. Then, number two, yes, removal of subsidy is good but what did you do to mitigate that removal of subsidy? As you removed the subsidy, you saw how prices of goods and commodities skyrocketed; everything went up. So, for two years, it’s been hell. Nigerians have been living in hell. Now, you called the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, for talks on this issue of minimum wage. You told the NLC that you won’t take the N250,000 they are talking about, but if they accept N70,000, the government will not increase the prices of fuel.
But, just the following week after the agreement, the petrol pump prices jumped up. So, that is to tell you how insincere and treacherous the government can be. Barely two weeks after you agreed to a N70,000 minimum wage, petrol price was increased, so whatever gains that the average Nigerian worker would have made by way of that salary increment has been eroded.
How much is a bag of rice today? I understand that things have started going down because the borders have been opened. Now, that’s one of the areas that the APC government missed. How can you just wake up one morning and close borders, when you know that Nigeria signed a treaty with the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS? When Britain was going to move out of the European Union, EU, Brexit; there were talks, there were negotiations, there were discussions, agreements were signed and all that. But Nigeria just woke up one morning and said, we are shutting down the borders and look at what it has cost us.
One of the major problems we have faced, starting from the Muhammadu Buhari administration, was the closure of the borders. Now that the borders are open, you have seen the positive effect. I understand that the price of rice has even gone down to N60,000 or N50,000. So, what we are saying is that the government should have a human face.
Now, between you and I, what is the economic effect of that coastal road that the government is constructing? If you are constructing a coastal rail line, I can even understand. Now, governance is something that should make the people smile, to say oh yes, this is my father, they have increased his salary, which means that if my father’s salary is increased, my well-being, the little allowance that my father used to give to me will also go up. But this has not been the case. We have not seen the effect of the subsidies removal on the average Nigerian.
Now, look at the issue of insecurity. My brother, tell me why on earth, with all the security agencies, including the Department of State Services, DSS, National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Navy, Army, Police, this issue of insecurity should be growing every day. That alone is enough for the president to resign because what is the role of the president? What is the responsibility of the government if he cannot secure lives and property? Life in Nigeria has become very cheap. So, if you want to look at all the things Mr. President has promised us in his inauguration speech, I want to doubt, I can’t see anyone that he has been able to fulfill.
Look at the Naira to dollar, look at the minimum wage; the value of N30,000 in 2015, you can’t compare it with the so-called N70,000 of 2025. So, people are going through hell and then the level of impunity, oh my God, look at the National Assembly, they don’t care. The Senate President, Akpabio has said: “Mr. President, anything you want, bring it and we’ll approve.”
All that this government has been doing is borrowing and borrowing and borrowing. So, people are asking, what are the gains of the removal of subsidy? If you knew that you were still going to go from door to door to begin to borrow from every country, then why did you remove the subsidy? There is nothing to write home about the president’s two years in office.
Constitutionally, the president does not have the powers to remove the governor and stop the elected legislature in the state, but he did that in Rivers with the recent state of emergency declaration there. What can you say about that?
Don’t forget that we are all aware how Tinubu used the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, to fight the military to a standstill and helped in ensuring that we enjoy this level of democracy we are enjoying today. And for the same Tinubu to come and do what he has done in Rivers State; he has dented his image as a democrat and the earlier he corrected it, the better. In fact, I’m expecting that on June 12, if he does not reverse that emergency rule in Rivers State, then there’s no need for even a democracy day speech, because that is a democracy day. What we have seen now is a military coup; a military government in Rivers State. How do you even go to remove a governor, remove the deputy and remove the House of Assembly? What can be more illegal than that? And our Supreme Court kept quiet. The governors have gone to the court, and because our Supreme Court has become political, such matters should be heard within two, three weeks. Some PDP governors have gone to court, so why is the Supreme Court delaying the matter? It is probably because the Supreme Court is in the pocket of the president and the pocket of Wike.
Why are you delaying? That is a suit that should get expeditious attention. So, the man that is there, as far as I’m concerned, as far as Rivers State people are concerned, is not recognised. He’s an illegal caretaker because there’s nowhere in the constitution of the Republic of Nigeria that we have the position of the military administrator. So, that is the greatest damage that Tinubu has done to democracy. I’m surprised that he didn’t even copy from Jonathan.
When Jonathan declared a state of emergency during his time in Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa, he didn’t remove the governors. He didn’t remove the House of Assembly. He only sent military reinforcements. Why didn’t he copy from Jonathan? So, I expect him on June 12 to reverse himself on that.
Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri has spent about five years in office; that is your assessment of his performance in office so far?
Since the creation of Bayelsa State, we have seen governors come and go, but to be honest with you, from 1999 to date, those of us from Bayelsa have not seen a governor who is so focused and humble, and whose passion for the development of the state is unparalleled like Diri
Yes, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was the pioneer civilian governor of the state. The foundations of most of the good works that Diri is today doing were laid by Alamieyeseigha. But, you see, because of the aquatic nature of the state, we have situations where before you get to the next point or the next village, you must go by boat.
There was hardly any good road infrastructure, good road network linking the state. So, when Diri came in about five years ago, that was his focus. His focus has been to open the hinterland. So, he focused on the three senatorial roads to link all of them to Yenagoa, the state capital, which was not there before.
The major roads we had before were from Yenagoa to Sagbama, Odi and then, of course, to Amassoma. Even the Amassoma, we had a situation where when that university was built by Alamieyeseigha, people used to cross over to the other side by boat until later in the day, when the governors that were there before him, ranging from Jonathan to Timipre Sylva and Seriake Dickson, opened it.
That was the only part but since he took over, he has made it a point of duty to open up the state through rural roads. In fact, I’m sure that you are aware that one of the second phases of the roads, the Brass/ Nembe Road that the president commissioned is one of the critical infrastructure that the governor is currently doing.
This is because for you to get to places like Nembe or Brass, you have to go by boat and all that. And so, he has put so much time and energy into opening the state. That aside, he’s a man who does not discriminate due to his his level of humility and style; whether you are in the APC or the PDP, which is his own party, he doesn’t care so long as you have something to offer the state. In fact, in the present cabinet, we also have some APC commissioners; no governor before him has done that.
That is to tell you the level of open-door policy that he operates. And then, coming to the issue of infrastructure, it will interest you to know that all things being equal, by December of this year, Bayelsa will be the first state to have a 24-hour electricity supply because of the turbine installations that are going on in the state as I speak with you. You see, if you look at Bayelsa, it’s like a one-city state – Yenagoa, and the major business is the government house.
And so, everybody wakes up in the morning and they want to see what they can get from one local government or the other or from the government house just because of this lack of infrastructure. The governor has taken it as a point of duty to develop the state for growth because if you have constant electricity, of course, businesses will thrive. So, that is one area that the governor has done so well.
In the area of sports, you know, he was the former Commissioner for Sports before he became a senator and later governor. So, because of his love for sports, the state has been acclaimed one of the most improved states in sports infrastructure and development.
But if you are aware, just a week or two ago, the President of the Dangote Group visited Bayelsa. For me, I see that as a big fish, a big catch for Bayelsa. A memorandum of understanding, MoU, was signed between the Dangote Group and the Bayelsa State Government in agriculture, as well as oil and gas. And of course, they are also looking at the Agge Deep-Sea Port. Don’t forget that there is a proposal for a Deep-Sea Port in Agge, Ekeremor Local Government Area. The road construction from Ekeremor towards Agge is also moving smoothly. And so, when you look at all these things, you look at the performance of those who were there before him, you will agree with me that this governor, this miracle governor called Douye Diri, is the most outstanding of all the governors.
He still has about two years or so to the end of his administration, but what he has achieved in these five years is unprecedented. And so, that’s why you see him everywhere, whether in the Vanguard or in the Sun, bagging the governor of the year award. In fact, even in my organisation, he won the most maritime-friendly governor of the year because of his passion for the maritime industry. Don’t forget that Bayelsa is the only state that has created the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
INTERVIEW: Tinubu’s 2 years amount to increased hunger, poverty, insecurity – Ijaw leader, Asu Beks
