Buhari Is Not Sincere To Labour Workers In Nigeria – Fela Durotoye

The presidential candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Fela Durotoye, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is not been sincere in his approach towards the New Minimum Wage as being advocated by the Nigerian Labour Congress.

Speaking with Abiola Alaba Peters, in an exclusive interview in Lagos, the motivational speaker reveals some of his plans for Nigerians, should he be considered for the seat of the number one man in Nigeria.

How do you see the spate of violence at APC campaign in Lagos recently?

Well I think that the violence that we saw at the recent APC campaign flag off is condemnable, it’s regrettable, it’s not in the 21st century, what it is that we should be expecting, but it’s the reality of what it is that, today, the politics and the political class have brought upon the nation today, the political class have denied a generation of education they denied them of the opportunity, and they have stolen our bakery, and only to give the people a slice of bread, and the people are angry and they are tired. And once we condemn every act of violence, and we would like to say, this must be the end of an old Nigeria, a new Nigeria must come, where, everyone is able to, not only be gainfully employed, but also, must be able to have opportunities that develop them, so that life means something to them, when they have hope, they will not want to engage in violence and we regret the loss of lives. So a new Nigeria, where politics is won on violence, bitter rivalry, but it must be something that is a process of communicating hope to the people.

Did it not scare you about the kind of politics in the country?

Absolutely not, the truth is that, what we are doing right now in Nigeria, is exactly what every Nigerians want, and every Nigerians wants a nation that works for them, every Nigerians wants opportunities, where they can become somebody and they can achieve their dreams, every Nigerians wants that, there is nothing to be scared of, this is the old Nigerian that we don’t want, and some of us have volunteered ourselves, and laid ourselves forward, to be able to say, we will lead this generation to a new Nigeria, there is nothing to be scared of, we are courageous, don’t forget, we are the lions, and lions are never scared.

Why do you want to be president of Nigeria?

I want to be president of Nigeria, because I want to lead a team of people, good leaders, good people into government, so that we can have a government of people with integrity, a government of people that are committed to excellent, a government of people who will lead a transparent government that is accountable to the people. I want to lead a team of people who are driven by passion and dream, to build a new Nigeria, that is going to be a nation that all of us is going to be proud of, a nation that works for everybody, I want to build a government and lead a team of people that would create a government that will give equal opportunities to every single Nigerian to become everything they can be, so that we can have jobs and opportunities for everyone, where the son of a nobody can become somebody, without knowing somebody, a merit driven government, that is what we are doing, and we have what it takes to do it, Nigeria is a blessed country, we only need good governance, to get us to become a great nation, and I want to lead that team, good people in government, that will bring about a great nation.

People often argue that you do not have political experience for presidency?

I will say look at what political experience has done for us so far, if you like the Nigeria that we have today, then congratulate political experience, and give your next vote to the people who have brought us to where we are today, because they have political experience. I don’t have political experience, but the people who want a new Nigeria, do not want the same as the old, they want something completely new, and so you cannot have political experience and have a new Nigeria, it’s impossible, we need a new type of Nigeria and that is called leadership experience, and that I have, not only am I a leadership expert, that has helped many business grow, raised, even in the public and the private sector, all across, raised leaders across the nation for the last twenty five years, but more importantly, I have demonstrated leadership, in the many different projects, that I have led across Nigeria, from the Mushin Makeover project, to education projects, transformation projects, projects Raised in Oyo state in 2008, we have done many and set up projects across Nigeria, and raised many leaders across Nigeria, so I believe that, what Nigeria needs right now, is not political experience, we need leadership experience, people who have solve problems before.

What is your view of Nigerians N8trn budget for 2019?

I believe very strongly that, Nigeria budget, really is an underperforming budget, because Nigeria as we speak today is still leveraging on only one mineral resource, our budget is a budget that does not yet account for the possibilities and the potentials of Nigeria, Nigeria today should have be a larger budget, a larger economic, that what we currently have, and the budget that we have today is still focusing on sharing out of the mega resources, that we are able to get from one resources, and so the budget of Nigeria as we see it today, is not a budget of potential, as far as I’m concern, it doesn’t speak to the potentials of Nigeria, it’s a budget that is still picking to the same sharing fomular, it’s a limited budget, that is why I said it is an underperforming budget, it is a budget that cannot deliver the type of Nation that Nigerians want, this is what I believe, much of that budget as you know, is spent on just paying of interest rate on our debts, so when you look at it, the level of infrastructure, that is require to be built cannot be funded by the kind of budget that we currently have, so as far as I’m concern, it’s an underperforming budget, Nigerians would soon begin to see what we called a real budget, as we expand the potential of our nation, beginning from2019.

Your view on state of our universities and ASUU strike?

Again, like every other thing in Nigeria, we are in a sorry state, if you go to the campuses, it’s a sad situation, sixteen students sleeping a room meant for only three students, most of the lecturing theatres, the chairs are not functioning, most of the students are sleeping on the floor, today, the infrastructure is dilapidated in many of the campus, the lecturers are not happy, like almost everybody else, I believe that, a very serious level of investment needs to be made in our universities, to meet up with the learning environment for our students and the next generation, for me, that I think is the most important thing that will need. Let me also add this, and to think that our current government is allocating 7.0 percent of our budget to education, that tells you about the fact that, the current leadership of this country does not value education, and we have said, that in our first year in office, we are going to ensure that 15 percent of our budget goes to education, and we would look to see how we can increase that, till we get to a point it is 20 percent, UNESCO says 25 percent of your budget should be going to education, that is what greatness demands, in this knowledge world. So I think it’s important for us to understand, we must put the people who value education in government and give them the opportunity to build the Nigeria of our dream and to set up our academic excellence.

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