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| General (Dr.) Sam Momah (CFR, Ph-D) former Minister of Science & Technology of the Federal Republic of Nigeria |
year 2016 encounter with former Minister of Science & Technology, General Sam Momah (CFR) in Abuja, he
revealed the 5 basic things Nigerians need to do in the New Year (2017) in
order to escape the pang of hunger and social mystery. Momah, who unveiled his 8th book “Nigeria’s Break–Up: Great
Consequences and Solutions” to the media is a soldier, author and engineer.
He told Asabeafrika during a media
briefing why Nigerians should stop thinking about oil. Enjoy the excerpts.
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| General Sam Momah to Asabeafrika….’No free meal in 2017′ |
cost of dollars and living condition is getting quite unbearable. How can
government make life bearable for Nigerians?
also a point but dollars is an international denomination that is used. We sell
our oils and we get our money in dollars and because we don’t export anything,
we import virtually everything, we have to pay in dollars, and that is why you
found the dollar’s exchange rate to become a very important denominator in the
growth of the economy. But if we start producing and we eat what we produce,
then, of course we don’t need to import so much and with that, whatever dollars
exchange rate is, it will not affect us.
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| General Sam Momah’s new book launched on December 20th, 2016 |
But now, since we have to import even
the food we eat, we are paying in dollars and that is why dollars is a major
factor in our economy and people are trying to now make it a big deal. Even
some schools (In Nigeria) will prefer you paying them in dollars which is
wrong. But we can only defend it by being productive. Productivity is key, you
cannot legislate it because if you legislate it, they will go underground and
be collecting it. But if you make your currency strong, they won’t be able to
useless it. There was a time Naira was
acceptable in Europe, you could go to
London and buy things in Naira because Naira was strong. But now we can’t do that because we are not
producing.
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| General Sam Momah to Asabeafrika….’We can stop recession in 5 ways in 2017′ |
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this recession?
we must be able to feed ourselves. I think Government in conjunction with the
state should go into massive agricultural program. I have not seen that happen.
We must make it a duty that everybody including civil servants wherever you
are, you should have a little garden behind your house, you should rear some
chicken or something because that is what they do in Israel and some of these
advanced countries. Everybody owns little cattle, chicken farm or something.
They have tomato garden or something and you find out that, collectively, what
it sums up nationwide at the end of the day is a lot. And you find that their
people are healthier. We must go back to what Nigeria used to be in the 50s and 60s when our parent had that
knack of having some gardens or farms at the back of the house to generate some
agricultural products. That is one; secondly, we must not joke with power.
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| General Sam Momah’s book on technology as a tool of economic power |
Power is very, very crucial. We must restore our power capacity, we must
improve on it. Today, it is about three thousand mega watt, which is very, very
low compared to an earlier six thousand mega watt and that is because of the
activities of the militants who are destroying our gas pipe lines. This is what
we are saying, that the militants cannot be destroying the pipelines and hoping
that government will now be paying their bills and developing infrastructures.
Power is very, very important because you need power to energize your
factories. Today, most of the factories are closing down because they can’t
stand on private generators. So, power is very crucial and to wade off
recession, we must find a way to make peace in the Niger-Delta and be able to make sure that our power source is
assured. And lastly, Nigerians must realize that, to get out of recession, all
hands must be on deck. Our life style must change. Today, people are used to
driving luxury cars and all that, it has to change. We have to change our
lifestyle. We have to cut down on excesses, we have to realize that to regain
and revive the economy we must sacrifice a bit. This is what I think must be
done to come out of the recession.
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| General Sam Momah to Asabeafrika….’If General Buhari’s loan will give uninterrupted power among many others, i will support the decision’ |
request for $30 billion Dollars loan from International Banks and the National
Assembly debunked the request with strong criticism from eminent Nigerians like
former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Do you think Mr. President’s request is
okay?
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| Gen. Sam Momah to Asabeafrika….’In 2017, Nigerians must learn to feed themselves’ |
I don’t believe in taking loan and I know if Mr. President too is averse
to taking loan. For him to have decided to take loan, it must have really been
a very sad decision for him to take because it is not the best. But you take
such decisions when you have nowhere else to run to. Maybe he knows details of
what is going on and maybe, he knows the details of how bankrupt the economy
is. And of course, he now wants to see how he can leave a legacy of development
behind. So, if for instance, the $30
billion Dollars loan will give us a refinery, maybe one in each zone; if
the loans will crisscross Nigeria with rail, if it will build our water
transport system. If it can give us a twenty megawatt power capacity, I will
say ‘take
it’. But we have to know what the $30
billion Dollars is going to be used for. It has to be enshrined and
understood by everybody because we can’t go into the debt trap that we fell
into before Obasanjo came and bailed us from that trap. If the money will
crisscross Nigeria with rail, fine,
because we are tired of road traveling. Nigerians
thinks that the best way to travel is by road but in most developed countries
of the world, it is by rail. Because it is a mass transit and it is less
expensive. Cars are supposed to take you within the city from point A to point
B if there are no buses to do so because cars are a luxury and that is why it
is called ‘luxury car’.
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| Another of General Sam Momah’s book |
But now, we are using luxury something for everything.
If he can crisscross Nigeria with
rail and if I can just join a rail and within two hours I am in my village, why
not, something that should take me many hours why not? So, it depends what the
loan is to be used for. And based on his integrity as a patriot, I believe he
will give a good account of the money. If the money is going to be used for all
of these things, let us be quite categorical and specific about them so that
everybody can say ‘ok, let us support Mr.
President on the loan issue’.
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| The General’s most auspicious book ‘Nigeria: Beyond Divorce’ |
three cardinal agenda of President Buhari’s government, this he promised during
his campaign. Do you think he has achieved all?
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| The General with his family & Eminent Nigerians including present Minister of Science & Technology during his 70th birthday in 2013 |
is definitely an attempt to try to achieve most of it. First is security; at
least, Boko Haram has been virtually castrated and no longer a force
to reckon with. Even though they are still having skirmishes here and there but
I strongly believe Boko Haram has been well decimated and dealt with. But then, in
terms of social security, armed robbery, kidnapping and of course, the
distortion of government’s assets in the South, I think a lot ought to be also
done, particularly in the Niger-Delta. I am happy that of recent there seems to
be a lull in the destruction of pipeline and I want to say well done to those
who have succeeded in convincing the Niger-Delta
militants to drop their sword and at least, listen to the voice of wisdom and
give peace a chance. We hope that will continue so that we will be able to have
a more meaningful development of our economy. The other aspect is corruption;
we can all attest to the fact that Mr. President
is very, very serious about fighting corruption. He does not tolerate
corruption in any fashion no matter who is involved. For that, we doff our hats and hope that he
tries to take it to a logical conclusion and try and make it all inclusive because
now, the war seems to be purely on federal level. What happens to the states
and Local Government Areas?
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| L-R: The GDA, Mr. Paul Ukpabio of The Nation, General Sam Momah, Mr. Jude Leonard of Daily Trust and Mr. John Alechenu of The PUNCH Newspaper |
Are they also fighting corruption the way we are
fighting in Abuja? No. so, it bothers
me. Unless the base is broadened to cover the entire country, it looks like;
eventually corruption will just bounce back. So, there is the need to broaden
the base and ensure that every arm of government participates in the
anti-corruption war. For instance, the Treasury Single Account (TSA), you
know that the senate does not comply with it. The whole senate does not believe
in it and that is one of the anti-corruption measures I believe government can
use to block most of the loopholes of corruption. If the senate cannot even
support the TSA, how much corruption are you fighting? Something ought to be
done and that is why I am talking about ethical re-orientation of Nigerians.
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| Another of General Sam Momah’s book |
re-orientation?
believe that Nigerians should assist Mr.
President to ensure that corruption is erased in our society because
without that, we will find that the states will continue to get poorer than the
citizens. Nigeria is a country where the citizens are richer than their country
and that is a shame. And I think it is only this anti-corruption scheme that
can stop this misnomer. Then, on the economy too, I can see that definitely,
the economy is not doing well. We are hungry, there is no food on the table,
things are expensive, inflation is over 80%, unemployment is over 50% and the
indices are very poor.
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| The GDA & Mr. Paul Ukpabio listens to the General |
The percentage of doing business in Nigeria is one of
the poorest in the world. So, investors don’t come because our system of doing
business in Nigeria is much roughed with so many obstacles to cross. Because of
it, the economy is still in the woods and I believe we can still survive it. I
pray the new budget will diffuse and nullify recession, I pray it does. I pray
it does because the fears are there because if you look at the budget, almost
54% of it is still going to recurrent and 46% is for capital project, as long
as recurrent is still higher than capital, it will be difficult to rise the
economy. Most active economies in the world, the ratio is about 70-30.
Recurrent will be 30% and capital 70%.
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| General Sam Momah gives Mr. Jude Leonard of Daily Trust a copy of his new book in Abuja |
That is when you know that truly,
capital development will take place, but because we are too many, there is
problem. This is the problem I have been highlighting; there must be deliberate
effort to control our population. Population of Nigeria is the highest growing
rate in the world, 2.6% that is the growth rate of our population and it is the
highest. Today, we are the 6th largest in population escalation in
the world. And the prediction is that, by year 2050, Nigeria will be about the
largest in population. After China, India, it would be Nigeria. Now we have USA,
Brazil and Indonesia. And then, Nigeria coming in; but by 2050, we will
overtake Brazil, Indonesia and USA because
USA is the 3rd largest in
the world now in population with two hundred and something million people. But
if you look at Nigeria’s land space, it cannot take that kind of population
unless there is a deliberate action to control our population. I feel so serious about it because I know
when I was in the secondary school in the 60s, we had only a class of 30 and
out of which only about 25 or 20 will make it to take school cert. Then, our
principal used to notice and mention every one of us by name; I mean the entire
school, because the entire school was made up of a total of about 120 or 100
pupils. But now, go to schools, one class will have over 50 students. Some will
have day and night class because population is exploding. Go to universities,
the same thing. But this does not happen in
Britain.
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| General Sam Momah with eminent Nigerians during the launching of his star book ‘Nigeria: Beyond Divorce’ |
In 1960, our population was almost at par with Britain, about 30 million we were then.
Today, Britain is just about 50
million but Nigeria is 180 million. So, you can see why the schools in Britain are stable, economy is stable because
population rate is not off the roof. I keep saying there is no amount of
re-structuring or anti-corruption whatever can save us unless we do something
about our population. I am not saying government should kill people but let
there be a dedicated effort like China
did. Let there be incentives given to people to go and work. The truth is
bitter but the truth has to be told.
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| General Sam Momah’s book on the amalgamation of Nigeria |
land and people really feel that government has let them down. How do you think
people’s hope can be awakened in line with the change mantra?
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| The General gives his book to Mr. Soni Daniel of Vanguard Newspaper, Abuja |
you said, many of us believe in Mr.
President because we happen to know his track record and we still believe
that he still has that resilience in character traits. And the way he won the
election was miraculous and I believe that, maybe, God has a plan to use him at
this time and this is why I am making my appeal that he should buy the idea of
the national conference, he should buy the idea of re-structuring and do
certain things that will ensure that we lay a foundation for modern Nigeria.
The Nigeria we have today is the old Nigeria;
we want to see a modern Nigeria of
which he should be privileged to lay the foundation. If he can do these things
that are mentioned here (Inside his book), then, there will be hope for Nigeria.
But if the issues I mentioned here are not tackled, well, I hope there
are other solutions. But, I believe these are cardinal issues. The National Conference and re-structuring
are cardinal for the future survival of Nigeria and that is the fact, they must
be taken seriously and I hope Mr.
President will give it a good bearing and ensure that he puts in motion the
machinery to have a fruitful national conference that will set the foundation
for a modern Nigeria.
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| General Sam Momah to Asabeafrika….’President Buhari must brief the electorate once in a month’ |
Officer to General Buhari in the 1970s when he was still an officer. Do you
still have his ears on national matter and if no, what will you tell him if you
are to meet him today?
it simply, what I will advise Mr.
President are many but I think I have mentioned five of them in my book.
The first is I will advise him to be making monthly broadcast to Nigerians. It
is important because there is communication gap. There is a need for a monthly
broadcast as the people will like to hear from him because people so rely on
him; they believe he has the magic wand. So, whatever word he utters is like
gold to Nigerians. So, there is need for monthly broadcast. Secondly, I will
advise him to start visiting the states so that he can interact with the state
and know what is on ground in those states.
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| General Sam Momah to Asabeafrika….’Nigerians love to see their President no matter how bad the situation is’ |
The people want to see their
President. The Governors alone cannot do it; some of them might not even share
his ideas. But by visiting their states, he can push them to work and carry out
his ideals. Like Obasanjo did many years ago in Dodan Barracks, he got behind Dodan Barracks with a hoe and psychologically, everybody started
having gardens behind their homes, doing farming. And of course, Shagari came and followed that same green
revolution which was a partial success. We had rice silos and other farm
innovation that brought surplus food to the country. People are hungry but the
lands are there, you can put a few pieces of corn in the soil and it will bring
multitude of harvest. Rather than going hungry, do something. That is where the
economy is leading us to. Nobody will come and give you free launch any more.
If you see the cost of ordinary garri
and rice, you will be shocked. So, if you now sow something that will give your
family daily bread, it is in your own interest. I believe government should
find a way to ginger people to know that if all hands are on deck, we can feed
ourselves and let’s not wait for the industrial farmers who will come with
tractors or absentee farmers.
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| General Sam Momah to Asabeafrika….’Biafra broke the Spirit of Nigeria’ |
were young during the time of the Biafra War. I was born in the north, I grew
up in the north and Nigeria was a
country to belong, a country to really cherish before the military coup. As
children, we just play around and we used to interact. Whatever your language
is, I try to learn your language and you try to learn my language. That was
what Nigeria was before Biafra. After the war, states were
created and division started coming up. And up till now, people are still
asking for their own state, which means there will be no end to this. That is
why I am talking of provinces; so that we can now scatter the thing to enable
each nationality have its own group. Biafra
war ended but the intrigues was there. Then, the oil boom of the 1970s happened
and people now started moving from the villages to the city. They became
contractors, made money and some people became rich over night. So, those who
couldn’t make it, now decided to go into armed robbery to get from those who
have made it and that was how armed robbery started in the 1970s; and later on,
they were able to checkmate armed robbery because eventually the oil boom
started weighing down and there was not so much money again. So, the next thing
is that we had some oil workers and people started kidnapping these oil
workers—the white people, and used them to bargain for money, and that was how
kidnapping started. Eventually most of those white men decided to leave Nigeria and when they now left, they now
targeted Nigerians and they now
started kidnapping fellow citizens. So, what I am saying is that the genesis of
most of the things we have today started because of the consequences of the
war. Law and order broke down, there was no control. The police force we had
before the war was really a police you can be proud of but at the end of the
war, many things happened because the quota system came, federal character came
in; all sorts of divisions came in, merit was thrown overboard and therefore,
the mess we are in here started because of the war. And like I said, Lagos
State is the only viable state today. And I know that if we have remained three
regions, by now, Nigeria will be like
Singapore if not better. We will be
in the first world class because the regions have little overhead, they have
focus and they have the capital to develop. But when we now created states, we
just ended up paying salaries. And when you now pay salaries, people now forgot
about the farm. Before then, farm was the normal thing everybody will do
because only few got government job. Majority were farming. But now, we have
enticed them with government salaries, with government quarters, cars for you
and now you are saying they should go back to farms. So, a re-orientation will
be required to tell them ‘look, the party
is over, Let us go home and hit the ground and be serious with our lives
because the oil that was funding the party is no more, it is gone’. And
that is the fact of the case; this oil thing will never be reversed. The other
day I was reading a news item about Japanese
engineers who are now trying to produce cars that will run on water. So, very
soon, oil will just be irrelevant.
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| The GDA and others listens to General Sam Momah’s deliberations from his new book |
The party is over and this is what Nigerians
ought to be told. The earlier they start alternative things, the better for
them. Now, we take our oil to sell, we take it from continent to continent,
nobody will buy. India will be
pricing us next to nothing because it is only India that tries to buy. The US is virtually sufficient; oil is a
glut. So, the party is over and Nigerians
need to be told that in bold language so that we now know that we have to go
and use what we have to develop the economy and feed ourselves and plan for the
future.
Momah’s books call 080-3-596-35-26 for delivery in any part of the world or for
direction to e-copy)
