Security, anti-corruption must top president’s agenda – Tsav

Tsav

Former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, believes the in-coming All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of General Muhammadu Buhari must urgently address the security challenges and fight corruption. He says that Buhari should overlook religion and ethnicity in promotions, stressing that the right people should be posted to the right places.

Tsav spoke with JULIANA FRANCIS AND CEPHAS IORHWMEN. Excerpts;

General Muhammadu Buhari, on assumption of office on May 29 will be confronted with myriad of challenges, including corruption. What do you think he should do in this direction? 

Corruption has affected every facet of our society. Everywhere there is corruption. Abuja is the hot bed of corruption, so it’s a very serious problem. 

If General Buhari says he is going to fight corruption, he should also tackle the growing insecurity problem affecting the country as well as the joblessness of our youths.

I think what he should focus more on is how to address the issue of security because it has affected the industrial growth of the country. He should also extend his tentacles to the decaying educational system in the country because that will enlighten most people on the need to think positively for the growth and development of the country.

Today, I can see that most people who are surrounding General Buhari are immersed in corruption. And like I said, Abuja is the home of corruption. You sit in Abuja and hear of corruption; you see corruption and feel corruption. People who are appointed to serve in government are aiding and abetting corruption. He should be very careful about the people that are going to work with him because most of them will sabotage his administration.

He should ensure that anyone, whose hands stink with corruption, should be seriously dealt with, to serve as deterrent to others.

There are fresh cases of people, including ministers and governors who have corruptly enriched themselves while in office. Buhari should make sure that such people are dealt with. Anyone he is going to appoint into his cabinet, should declare their assets.

The issue of power has been a problem confronting the nation. What would be your advice to Buhari in this regard?

The issue of power generation in this country is so unfortunate! The incoming administration should try as much as possible to address the problem. We have refineries that have gone moribund. Buhari should try and revive and sustain them to avoid refining our oil overseas, that practice should be discouraged.

What is your take on the level of infrastructural decay in the country at present, and what do you think the incoming administration should do to step it up? 

One of the problems we have in this country is that people have corrupt interests. You can see that the President Goodluck Jonathan does not travel by road. He travels by air. He does not know the situation of our roads.

The Buhari administration should revive existing roads for easy movement of goods and services. Look at the road between Gboko and Makurdi in Benue State, it’s so bad. Contract was said to have been awarded on that road and up till now, the contractor has not done anything! He has abandoned the project and ran away. Yet the government said nothing. 

You talked about job creation for the unemployed youths. In what way do you think the Buhari administration can address this problem?

This can be done by opening new industries and moribund factories revived. If this is done, the issue of unemployment can be greatly minimised. There are many of such industries in Benue State. They are lying wasted. Government has done nothing to bring them back to life.

Again, I have observed that the overheads of members of the National Assembly is also too much. The government can use these monies to create jobs and also help provide the needed infrastructure.

In this country, we have a distinguishing feature between the rich and the poor. The rich are living in affluence, and the poor are living in squalor and have no houses to live in. Some cannot even afford a one-day square meal, so the situation is very bad.

Only recently, people were aspiring to go to the Senate but they have forgotten that they have much to do to the society; all they are interested in is how to enrich themselves and members of their extended families. If not for reasons of corruption, why will somebody would insists that he wants to hold this position or that position in the Buhari administration? They want to hold positions where they can steal money!

There have been clamours for the implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference. Do you think the Buhari administration should implement the recommendations of the confab?

I think the All Progressives Congress (APC) government should take the confab report back to the National Assembly. If the National Assembly is convinced about the provisions, why not? They should implement it. That is my position on the issue.

How would you rate President Goodluck Jonathan’s led administration on security?

It was very poor indeed! He didn’t consider security at all. You see what happened in northeast and kidnapping in southeast. Security under him was extremely poor.

Looking at the military, Air Force, police and other security agencies, which fared well under him?

Well, the country is still under Jonathan. Towards the end, the military did very well in combating insurgency in the northeast. But as for the police, I can’t remember the police prosecuting any importing case of kidnapping or terrorism.  The army did very well.

Initially, the Boko Haram insurgents were routing and defeating the army, but suddenly, the army rallied and started winning. What could have led to the army suddenly getting upper hands?

The army complained initially that they weren’t given enough standard equipment. You must have listened to the complaints of the Governor of Borno State. He said that he kept on complaining that the Boko Haram insurgents were more and better equipped than the Nigerian Army, but Jonathan didn’t believe him. Rather, Jonathan was calling him names. Now that the military had been given substantial equipment, they’re doing very well. Do you remember an incident where a jet was found with certain sums of money in South Africa?

Yes, I remember!

The jet was owned by a pastor. Why must they use a pastor’s jet to go and buy arms? Personally, I think it was a way of stealing the money. The military are the ones in need of the equipment. They know what they wanted. They should be the ones to buy the equipment. They are the ones that should have made their inventories. They should have told the government and government should have given them money to go and buy it! Rather it was left in the hands of a pastor; a pastor who was not trained in firearms.

Since the military was not equipped until later, what is your reaction to the soldiers facing mutiny charges and likely to be killed?

In the military, you obey the last order. They were not given equipment and many of them revolted because they didn’t want to go and be killed like chickens.  It’s however wrong for them to have revolted. I want to appeal to the incoming government to treat their case with compassion. They did that because they love their job, country and lives.

What can the Buhari administration do with respect to security, taking into cognizance all the security agencies?

He should ensure that all security agencies are well equipped and kitted. He should provide for them the type of equipment they need and also give them incentives. He should promote and post the right people into the right places. People shouldn’t be promoted based on ethnicity or religion. People who know their jobs, qualified and loyal to the country should be promoted. The condition in Jonathan’s administration was that the military became billionaires! Money meant for operations were kept by the senior officers who used it in building houses. I hope Buhari wouldn’t accept that. Buhari had been in the army and had witnessed war himself and fought wars. He knows the requirement of the army and police. The most important thing however is that he should get the right people, into the right places.

You once complained of extra-judicial killings in the police. Is there anything Buhari’s administration can do to combat it?

The situation is that the police senior officers should rise to their responsibilities. They should be able to supervise their subordinates very well. If they supervise them very well, they would be able to perform. But if they leave them like sheep without shepherd, they definitely wouldn’t be able to perform. Right now, if you go on the road, you’d find policemen taking bribe and sometimes they give change!

Yes! I’ve seen it on the road. I’m happy that the Inspector General of Police has come to reduce that. He should not stop at that. There should be constant supervisions and patrols, to ensure that the police on the road are doing the right thing. The policemen should also be given incentives and allowances to enable them do their jobs very well.