Second republic politician and former communications minister, Dr Ibrahim Tahir, the Talba of Bauchi, has said that the ongoing reform programmes of President Olusegun Obasanjo has the potential to break up the country via bloody crises and urged the president to retrace his steps.
Dr Tahir who spoke with Daily Trust in an exclusive interview yesterday in Abuja, also absolved former President Shehu Shagari of responsibility for taking the first ever jumbo loan of one billion dollars from the intern-ational community, saying in the contrary that it was the Obasanjo/Yar’Adua military government that took the loan in September1979. Sha-gari only inherited the debt, he explained.
According to the old bre-ed politician who also dou-bles as an academician and custodian of the traditional institution, said the Obasanjo government must abstain from economic policies wh-ose ultimate consequence is the probable dissolution of the country.
“I have a palpable feeling and this is not fanciful, that the latent consequence of the so called deregulation of the economy is the dissolution of this country because nothing will work in the country if deregulation continues,” he said.
Responding to questions as to whether or not he was accusing the Obasanjo gove-rnment of pursuing such aims, Tahir said, “I have said to you once which for reasons you failed to publish, that my mind is completely defeated to find a reason why a public spirited indiv-idual like Obasanjo is pursuing a policy which will bring this country to its knees and kill about 40 percent of our people if it does not also result in rampant killings all over the place.”
He said the economic policies currently being pursued will ultimately lead to disaster and cited the cases of old Angola, where Portuguese power declined owing to unpopular policies, such that government and the administration of justice collapsed and freedom fighters just took over.
He also cited the case of Yugoslavia which dissolved in violence and bloodshed because government collapsed and everything stopped working and strike continued everywhere. The former Sov-iet Union is also an example of states that dissolved similarly, he said.
He also suggested that a few influential people in the country are pursuing selfish interest at the expense of the majority of the citizens which is inimical to nation building.
“Today, the downstream sector of the oil industry, particularly the distribution sector, is almost wholly owned by some of the biggest names in the country who also control the fuel importation business,” he said.
Dr Tahir however advised the president to return to orthodoxy and remove from his approach, the idea that only the executive arm of government should dictate economic policies and reforms and seek approval from the National Assembly on such policies, particularly the incessant fuel price increases.
