(SURE-P) is a mere political gimmick- Chief Bayo Ogunmupe
YEMI OLAKITAN
Bayode Ogunmupe is a
veteran journalist, economist and literary critic. He was Educated at the
University of Ibadan; University of Geneva and the London School of Economics,
UK; he holds degrees in History, Economics and Business. Ogunmupe has been
Political Editor, Daily Sketch; Production Editor, Nigerian Tribune; Senior Sub
Editor, Daily Times; Associate Editor, Newswatch and Economic columnist and
literary critic for The Guardian. He was a recipient of the Nigerian Media Merit Awards
in 1993 and the Ladi Lawal Journalist of the Year Award in 2010. He is the
author of the international bestseller, Nigerian Politics in the age of
Yar’Adua. Ogunmupe dismissed SURE-P as mere political campaign tool. Excerpts:
·
What
is your opinion about SURE-P? There are reports that people are benefiting from
it.
It is a mere political design, a gimmick. It is not
true that people are benefiting from it. I have a personal experience with
SURE-P. I applied for business loan and I was not given. They didn’t give it to
me for any justification. My business was properly registered.
It was like a small business. They were supposed to
fund it. The conditions were you should have
a registered company, a business plan; both of which I had and I was not given
the funding. I also tried applied for one of my sister in law who was
unemployed at the time. She is a university graduate and it was the same
experience.
I thought that may be, it was because of the women,
men women gender disparity but the woman was not given also. She has a good
education. She studied Accountancy so she could do something. Why did Christopher Kolade who was former
chairman of this committee resigned. It was because nothing tangible was happening
there that could reach ordinary Nigerians.
·
It
was just propaganda?
It is just a propaganda stunt. They created it to
score political points. It is purely a Political
propaganda and even a way to embezzle money that is why Dr. Kolade resigned as
chairman so there is nothing in it. If it is good project why did Kolade
resigned.
·
As
an economist, do you think it would work if it was properly implemented?
It is a good way to stop unemployment and poverty.
It is a good way, if it is properly run. it is the kind plan that was implement
in the United States in 1948 after the second world war which bought up the European
nations back to normalcy.
If It will be
done but it is going to be done by an agency independent of government such as
INEC, devoid of bureaucracy that goes on
in civil service oriented organization or a bank.
Yes actually you can, through the SURE-P, give loans
to Nigerians through the banks. They can give loans, without interest,
collateral free. You can give any Nigerian that is qualified to do business.
This will encourage entrepreneurship truly help to eradicate poverty.
It could work
but the people are not sincere. They could have created a plan that can
encourage entrepreneurship, but the Nigeria factor is always there. People are not ready to work sincerely for the
development of the nation. They are ready to work it. The belief is that, what
is in it for me, what can I steal?
What
about the issue that led to the creation of SURE- P?
What led to it was this man, the former Central Bank
Governor, Lamido Sanusi exposed subsidy as farce. He exposed subsidy as a farce and that People
were using subsidy to steal money from the Federal Government. They discovered he was right so the government
wanted to compensate the people for removing the subsidy so they establish
SURE-P to compensate the people.
Was
the removal of subsidy actually justified?
Yes, it was, Yes for me, economically, subsidy is
always corruption. It is a way to steal money. The World Bank is against
subsidy of any form because it is always a way for government to steal money so
the best thing Jonathan has ever done was to privatize electricity.
If President Goodluck Jonathan wants to do something
for Nigerians, It will be to create bank
products backed up by SURE-P which allows people, Nigerians to obtain loans
without collateral, loans without interests and without discrimination.
There should only be three factors to qualify a
person for the loan; anyone who is 21 years of age, anyone who is a Nigerian
citizen, and is properly registered, once those factors are available, the
person should be able to access a loan.
This is what President Goodluck Jonathan needs to
do. Get a banking product available to all Nigerians who are passionate about
business and entrepreneurship. This would be supervised by the central bank of
Nigeria.
Let the Federal Republic of Nigeria ensure that
anybody who is a Nigerian citizen has access to it. All these SURE- P is a complete
waste of money. Some people just want to embezzle money.
it appears as a good plan but the Nigeria factor is
always there. Give loans to Nigerians who wants to do business. You can give between
1million to ten million particularly import substitution enterprise.
Can
u buttress that point?
Import substitution enterprises involve all things
Nigerian imports. You can now tell those companies Nigeria import from to
service two or three Nigerian companies and to help them to be able to produce
those things in Nigeria. In the next 10
years you can now make it a law, if a company is not doing that you blacklist it.
Make credit facility available for all Nigerians who want to participate in
such a venture within three years poverty will be gone in this country. This is all they need to do. President
Jonathan is thinking about second term no sincerity. He is just doing this
project for the sake of second term ambition. He wants to bribe the people deceived
them so that they can vote for him
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