Former Cross
River State Governor Donald Duke has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s
regime as a government of many failings which is disconnected from reality.
Duke, who
has declared his intention to contest the Presidency, said the Buhari
administration was not ready for leadership and that was why it took the
President nearly six months to appoint ministers.
The
presidential aspirant said this during an interview with DW Africa.
When asked
why he thought he would be a better President than Buhari, he said, “Because I
see such obvious failings. I see a leadership that is steeped in the past; that
has refused to evolve with a nation that is predominantly a nation of young
aspiring people and still doing things the way they were done many years ago
and did not work.
“I think our
leadership in the country today is totally out of tune with the current reality
of our nation. There is disconnect somewhere so when you have a leadership that
blames its young people for instance of not striving enough or of being lazy,
there is a disconnect because the tools to make them achieve their aspiration
have not been provided.”
Duke, who
became governor at 37, said the standard of education had continued to worsen
under the current administration.
He said the
health sector was in crisis adding, “The President, himself, receives treatment
abroad. That is a sad state of affairs.”
The former
governor said the President had not excelled in the area of security and
fighting corruption.
He said the
Federal Government was concentrating on fighting persons perceived to be
corrupt instead of building a system that could automatically prevent
corruption.
When asked
to state Buhari’s worst problem, he said, “They were not prepared for
leadership. For example, it took six months to set up a cabinet. Where do you
hear such? President Buhari came into office to fight corruption and
insecurity.
“Let us look
at the scorecard. Corruption is not dead. Prosecuting corruption is addressing
the symptom and not the problem. The real problem is you have got to create
jobs for people; you have got to strengthen institutions that make it almost
impossible to engage in such an activity.”
Duke also
faulted the government’s claim that Boko Haram had been defeated.
He said
suicide bombings, kidnappings were still occurring mainly in the North-East.
“They have
announced that the war is over and Bokom Haram has been defeated. We know it
hasn’t been defeated. There are still bombings and kidnappings in the
North-East. If you visit the IDPs, you will see that we are breeding the next
generation of very disgruntled people,” the ex-governor said.
Duke, who
was governor from 1999 to 2007, said Nigeria’s economy ought to be growing at
15 per cent per year for the next 10 years.
He said
interests rates must be lowered to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation.
The
presidential aspirant added, “You can’t grow your economy with the type of
banking system we run where the interest rate is in the upper 20s. You need to
have affordable credit which will enable small and medium scale businessmen to
borrow and expand their businesses.
“Nigeria
grew faster when we had regulation on interest rates; when the interest rates
were in single digits. Secondly, we have to grow the economy at 15 per cent for
10 years to recalibrate the system.
“Nigeria
ought to be a $2.5tn economy and not a $400bn economy.”
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