We will succeed more as Nigerians when we see ourselves as Nigerians than as tribal nationals – Prof. Ovuru

Samuel Bumie Ovuru recently bagged a professorial seat of Public Administration at the prestigious Highstone Global University, Texas, United States of America (USA). In this interview with MOYOSORE SALAMI, he speaks on the high cost of governance, youth restiveness, food insecurity in the country and other sundry issues.

How do you feel about your elevation to a  Professor of Public Administration by the prestigious Highstone Global University, Texas?
To say the least, I am truly elated to be elevated to the professorial cadre by the Highstone Global University, Texas USA. It brings a sense of fulfillment to have risen to the zenith of academic qualification from my humble beginning. This elevation also brings with it a weight of responsibility; a responsibility for shaping the present and future public administrators in Nigeria, a responsibility for contributing my quota in making the public institutions in developing countries work properly and efficiently.
 
Like I reiterated in my Inaugural Lecture, the case of public institutions in developing countries is really intriguing as they are affected and influenced consciously and in a subtle manner by institutional, economic, cultural and external forces. It may interest you to know that the level of

performance of public institutions in a country affects the level of performance of private organisations in that country and cases abound to prove this. I am really elated for this professorial attainment and pledge to serve humanity with it.

Many Nigerians are calling on the Federal Government to reduce the cost of governance. What is your take on this?
  The issue of cost of governance normally involves two costs. The first one is the cost associated with running government, while the second is the cost incurred by government in the course of providing goods and services. In Nigeria, the cost associated with the running of government has been one of the most discussed topics in recent times.
 

That of Brazil for revenue and expenditure in 2022 was $382.6 billion and $319.4 billion. The above figures clearly show that we as a country are earning far less than our potential in terms of our population size, our natural resources and our human resources. The question in this case should not only be the per capita income of a citizen of Nigeria, but most importantly per capita production of a citizen of Nigeria. Have you considered the fact that those that Japa to other countries get paid employment in a very short time; some even take up jobs below their qualifications just because of the value in terms of the country’s currency to that of the naira.

The systems in those countries ensure that people that want to work get jobs. Why is it not so in Nigeria? Why is there so much unemployment in Nigeria? How do we engage our teeming young population to be more productive to the country? How can we increase the revenue of Nigeria without increasing taxes? Well, these are questions to be answered in another day.
 
It is also instructive to note that the major source of revenue for Nigeria is from crude oil, while those of Brazil are from agriculture, mining, manufacturing and the service sector. Pakistan’s major sources of income are agriculture, manufacturing, trade and services.
  
The truth is that for Nigeria, the cost of governance has relatively been the same with marginal growth since independence while our population has been growing astronomically without corresponding growth in our income. If our income has been growing, the talk would not be on the cost of governance rather it would be on the types of expenditure of governance.
 

According to a report by the United Nations, 26 million Nigerians are hungry. What measures do you think the Tinubu administration should take to ensure food security in Nigeria?
  The number of Nigerians that are living below the poverty line is more than 26 million. In fact, the National Bureau of Statistics’ Multidimensional Poverty Index survey of 2022 revealed that 63 per cent of persons living within Nigeria (133 million people as at 2022) are multi-dimensionally poor. Even the people that are living above the poverty line are not finding things easy except you want to be insensitive to the plight of family members, friends and neighbours who look to you to meet one need or the other.
 
Let us look at the root cause of hunger in the land. In my opinion, it is caused by insurgency, flooding, crave for white collar jobs, migration from rural areas to urban areas, climate change, unemployment, high food prices etc. Talking about them, which in most cases is what we do in Nigeria, will not solve the problem. To solve hunger in the land, we must look beyond the government, though the government has a lot of responsibility on the issue. The answer to the question is to solve insurgency, flooding, crave for white collar jobs, migration from rural to
urban areas, mitigate climate change, solve unemployment or mitigate it, and increase food production.
 
Let us start with insurgency, political violence, communal clashes, and inter-tribal wars as it concerns food security in Nigeria. Insurgency in this case encompasses Boko Haram insurgency, political violence, communal clashes, terrorism, boundary wars, inter-tribal wars, militancy, foreign aided militancy etc, which disrupts agricultural and manufacturing activities in an area.
 
One of the major problems in Nigeria is disunity and this is what is giving impetus to insurgency. Sixty-four years after independence we still see ourselves first as belonging to our tribal groupings and least as Nigerians. I am certain that we will succeed more as Nigerians when we see ourselves as Nigerians than as tribal nationals. One thing that is very interesting in Nigeria is the multiplicity of the tribal groupings even among the major tribal groupings – the Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas and other ethnic groups. If I have my way, we should not only see ourselves as Nigerians but as Africans as it existed long before the period of the 1884 Berlin Conference. Unemployment, immigration from rural to urban centres, and high food prices are all related. One would think that high food prices would force Nigerians to the farms but the reverse is the case as farmers can no longer farm due to insurgency and reduction in demand for their products. 
 
Apart from the above, another way to ensure food security in Nigeria is to make agriculture more lucrative. We should also harness the work and innovations from the over 15 National Agricultural Research Institutes in Nigeria. Many of these research institutes have mandates to genetically produce crops such as sorghum, maize, cowpea, groundnut, cotton, soybean, benniseed, sugarcane, cassava, cocoyam, among others.
 
We must close the gap between our agricultural research institutes and government at all levels must also do the following to ensure food security in their areas – promote the use of technology by farmers; provide basic facilities in the rural areas; provide agricultural extension workers to farmers; repair and create more rural roads; create access to land and on an annual basis, provide credit incentives to farmers and subsidise the cost of using modern agricultural equipment.

University students have been complaining of high tuition fees lately. Do you think the government is doing enough in the educational sector?
  An increase in tuition fees by a university would only marginally increase the revenue of that university. The wealthiest universities in the world like Harvard University, MIT and Yale University do not make their wealth only from tuition fees; they make their money from other sources such as endowment, sale of patents, sponsored research, grants, donations and provision of other services like hospitals.

It is therefore necessary for Nigerian universities to explore all areas of the revenue spectrum in higher education to increase their revenues.
 
The challenges facing the educational sector in Nigeria include the following: Poor funding, diminishing number of qualified teachers due to brain drain, reduction in the standard of education, cultism in schools, high incidence of examination misconduct, failing infrastructure and facilities.

Many foreign investors are leaving Nigeria in droves because of the high cost of doing business in the country. What measures do you think the government should put in place to check this unhealthy trend?
  We are really witnessing the relocation of foreign businesses from Nigeria even to neighbouring countries and this is not good for the country because of its negative impact on our economy.
Nigeria remains the choice destination for many kinds of businesses because of our large market. But reasons cited by foreigners and local business owners for leaving the country are the harsh business operating environment, hostile and frequent harassment from host communities, high incidence of insecurity, and the high level of political and policy instability in Nigeria.

The government should pursue measures such as the following to increase foreign direct investment in Nigeria: Implementing fiscal and monetary policies that minimise the need for large changes in naira exchange rate; restore investors confidence by implementing sound economic policies; implement policies that would guarantee return on investment of foreign investors in Nigeria; reduce the high landing cost of imported raw materials and create local substitutes for imported ones over short periods of time, and lastly reduce the high rate of inflation in Nigeria. We must note that to implement these things takes some time; that is why we must be patient with government and lend our support to ensure that things work in Nigeria. 

How do you think the present administration can stop protests that are basically engineered by Nigerian youths?
  The solution to minimisation of protest organised by youths in Nigeria is meaningful engagement of the youth. More employment opportunities need to be created to engage them. Many of the youth in Nigeria believe in the fallacy that there are no job opportunities in Nigeria. The problem in this country as regards job opportunities is our culture, our training methods and our society.

This culture of get-rich quick is limiting our youths from seeing opportunities that abound in Nigeria. The Federal Government initiative for youth empowerment, which is the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), should be given more publicity for more youths in Nigeria to benefit from it. The government should also increase the budgetary allocation for the educational sector. Government should also establish technical and vocational institutions where youths that are interested in learning new and emerging skills can be trained for free. Above all, government should provide financial grants for start-ups for youths in Nigeria.

If you were the president, what would you do to reduce the increasing wave of insecurity in the country?
  I have no ambition to be the president of Nigeria; all I want as a professor of public administration is the development of Nigeria. As I said earlier, the level of insecurity in Nigeria is fuelled by many factors. These factors are poverty, sponsoring of armed groups by the elite for personal gains, exploitation of our ethnicity and religious differences, corruption, weak security apparatus, porous borders, inequality in the society, poor leadership, among others.
 
To solve insecurity in this country would require solving these problems and it would at the same time solve a lot of problems in Nigeria. The government is trying its best, but there is room for more to be done. Much need to be done in the area of enlightenment of the populace with regard to their duty as citizens of Nigeria. Citizens can play a lot of roles in the security of lives and property in this country. Government should allow communities to organise their own armed vigilantes with
supervision from the Nigerian Police Force.

What is your advice to Nigerian youths who dabble into cybercrime and ritualistic activities in their bid to get rich quick?
  The syndrome of get-rich quick in Nigeria especially among our youths is now at a very dangerous level. Surprisingly, this trend has now been exported to other African countries. Many of the “Nouveau riche” youths in Nigeria have no trace of investment, inheritance, lottery win or nothing to show before the appearance of their sudden wealth and this is not good for our country and continent. I heard that the so-called “Yahoo Boys” now have schools where they teach their converts in cybercrime and ritualistic practices. The problem is that many of them die at a very young age. Or have you seen a rich old armed robber or a rich old gangster or a rich old ritualist? I have never seen one. Most worrying about this ugly trend is that youths involved in these evil practices do not care how long they live; as long as they enjoy their ill gotten wealth even for a year they are satisfied.
 

What is your guiding principle in life?
  My guiding principles in life are borne out of my Christian faith. The first one is “God always makes a way.” This guiding principle has helped me not to give up no matter the situation. It is a belief system that makes me not accept no as an answer. This principle makes me draw strength from God. 

My second guiding principle is in the Bible in Pro.4:18, which is: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”