You can’t tell Nigerians things are hard, yet you are enjoying luxury—TREM GO, Bishop Okonkwo tells Tinubu

Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr Mike Okonkwo has called on President Bola Tinubu to cut down on the excesses in his government.

Dr Okonkwo also called on President Tinubu to have empathy with the masses, while stressing that the recent hike in the pump price of petrol from about N600 per litre to N855 and above is challenging for Nigerians.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Bishop Okonkwo made the call on Thursday in Lagos State at the 23rd edition of the Mike Okonkwo’s Annual lecture, which is part of events to celebrate his 79th birthday anniversary.

Prizes were presented to the winners who emerged in the 2024 Bishop Mike Okonkwo Annual Essay Competition for Nigerian Secondary Schools at the event.

Okonkwo specifically urged members of the National Assembly, the 36 State Governors in Nigeria, as well as other public officials at all tiers of government to have empathy for Nigerians, especially the masses.

He noted that many Nigerians are having challenging times having been plunged into excruciating poverty and penury, adding that the government must initiate policies and programmes to ameliorate the sufferings of the people.

He stated that the Tinubu administration inherited a bad economy but called for cutting down the cost of governance by all tiers of government.

The revered cleric warned that it would be difficult to convince people to understand the bad national economy when public officials are being profligate and living luxurious lifestyles.

“The hike in pump price is a challenging period because it appears everything is going higher and higher. As I often say, the present administration, unfortunately, inherited a terrible thing on ground and people should not expect overnight change. It is not going to change overnight.

“What they inherited, if the truth is to be told, is a very poor economy. The economy was already on the floor before they took off.

“But the challenge Nigerians are facing is that the government should be seen to have empathy with the masses through the way, they have to cut down on their excesses. You cannot be telling Nigerians, ‘O things are hard’ and fuel prices are increasing, electricity cost is increasing, everything is increasing, and then you are enjoying luxury. So it will be difficult to reconcile it. That is the problem we are facing!

“My advice is that the government should be seen to cut down the cost of governance so that Nigerians can agree with them. Otherwise, it will be challenging to agree with whatever they are saying because whatever they are saying is contrary to their own lifestyle.”

He urged the federal government to convince the organised labour not to embark on strike again, through good governance, delivery of dividends of democracy and prudency in management of public resources.

He also admonished Nigerians to continue to believe in God for a better Nigeria, adding that they must be godly and avoid untoward behaviours.

“On labour, that is what I am saying, that it is a complex situation. If the government is saying to labour, you should not go on strike, then show them, let there be a sign that you are also willing to cut down (cost of governance).

“You are not willing to cut down the cost of governance and you are telling labour to accept the situation the way it is. It will be difficult. It will be tough for anyone to accept that,” Okonkwo said.

Meanwhile, former Attorney-General of the Federation and former Minister of Justice, Kanu Godwin Agabi (SAN), who spoke at the event, warned that efforts at a complete overhaul of Nigeria’s Constitution can only lead to disaster.

Delivering the lecture titled: Nigeria’s Pathways: Diagnosis and the Prescriptions,’ Agabi also said that people should be mindful that it was not easy to agree on the Constitution even as it is.

He added that even as it is, the Constitution meets the needs of the nation if its interpretation is approached with honesty and imagination.

Agabi said: “We must be reconciled to the fact that there is in existence a binding Constitution. To dismiss the Constitution as a product of the military is unrealistic. Lack of respect for the Constitution has played a significant role in our downfall. Those who gave us the Constitution were under no illusion that it was a perfect document.

“The constitution is an evolving document. It is prepared for all generations. And so every generation will have the opportunity to amend it to suit its own needs. Let us do what we can now and not worry too much about the future. At the same time, we must acknowledge that some responsibility for the defects in our polity lies in the constitution itself.

“Our Constitution envisages a strong national government. Unless the national government is strong, the nation will disintegrate. In all its provisions, the Constitution looks to an indivisible and indestructible nation.

“We may restructure or rearrange the nation as we please but its integrity as such must be protected and preserved. A bad Constitution, assuming that our constitution is bad, is better than none at all.”

In an interview with journalists, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also urged President Tinubu to close the nation’s borders and encourage indigenous production of goods and services.

He said: “We should unite, we should be self-reliant, we should be transparent, we should love one another. If we do that, we are good people. Firstly, we must unite, and remove all these boundaries and divisions.

“We are having fuel scarcity and hardship today in the country because we are running a government of patronage. People are waiting to be patronized and because of that patronage, we do not pay too much attention to elections.

“We must pay attention to elections: House of Assembly, Senate, Councillors, everything. We should stop the government of patronage, just patronizing people!

“I do not know what policies and programmes President Bola Tinubu has in place because there is a price to be paid for growth. Maybe we are paying that price. The price will be paid. For instance, if we say shut the borders, stop importing things, and all others. Look at some of the cars being driven in the country, look at how big and fat they are, for a nation that is producing nothing.

“If we shut the borders, all this type of thing will not come in. The first thing this nation must do in order for Nigerians to use their hands is to stop the importation of things.

“If I were Mr. President, I would shut the borders. If you shut all the borders, you must immediately start producing. If you shoot the borders and you are not importing rice, you have to produce rice. That is what we must do. The first thing the nation should do is to shut the borders, stop imports.”

Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Atedo Peterside, in an interview with journalists called on the federal government to ensure that there is a proper and good arrangement for its cash transfer for the vulnerable.

Peterside, who is the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, stated that there must be verifiable data for the government’s social safety net programme.

He said: “The people that I am particularly worried about in this country are the poorest of the poor and we do not even have any proper arrangement for identifying them and doing cash transfers to them. Instead, what happens is that some authorities, or some ministries or some agencies collect money on their behalf and dispense it to whoever they want and whoever they like. It is not even transparent!

“So it is important to get people to buy into the reform of the economy where you have no proper arrangements to provide some minimal safety net for the poorest of the poor.

“I pray that we all see the kind of change that the guest speaker was referring to. That is the Nigeria of our dreams. It is not the one based on corruption, theft and other vices.”

The finance guru called for transparent elections, adding that people must eschew bad conduct.

He said: “You cannot use bad behaviour to correct bad behaviour. Then you are as bad as the person you are correcting.

“If in an election you are my opponent and you are changing figures, hiring thugs and beating up voters, if I do the same to beat you, then what have I achieved? We are back to square one.

“Perhaps also the change that will come is only deserved when the majority of Nigerians decide that there has to be some sort of overall cleansing and people get into government not for what they can get, not to favour themselves and the narrow clique but to really commit themselves to doing the best for the generality of Nigerians.”