Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari, reacts to the call for the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari and the state of the nation’s economy in this interview with Andy Asemota

What should President Muhammadu Buhari do to get Nigerians out of the current predicaments, especially the growing insecurity and economic down turn?

Let us start with economic down turn because of COVID-19 pandemic. The whole world is suffering economic down turn and for us, it becomes worse because of our over dependence on one commodity. We thank God and Mr. President that we have ‘Back to Land Programme,’ otherwise with the blockade, we would have been without food. We are lucky that the nation has gone back to land, at least, we have something to eat without depending on foreign import of food.

Again, the federal and state governments are working very hard with the private sector, in particular, in moving the country towards recovery. The road is rough and Nigerians understand this situation is not peculiar to Nigeria. It is a global problem and together we will be able to overcome and pass this stage and I am sure we will, God willing.

Following the numerous crises in the country, some members of the National Assembly as well as other Nigerians have said the President should resign or be impeached. What is your take on that?

I think those who are saying that the President should resign are missing the point. They don’t know what they are talking about. When there were problems within their homes, did they resign as fathers of their households? It ridiculous, yes. However ridiculous it is, people are entitled to their own opinions.

Fight bandits in North-West, North-Central simultaneously, Masari tells service chiefs

You see, I think we have passed the stage of passing resolutions and motions that have no teeth. You say declare a state of emergency, what have you outlined that the state of emergency will bring about or the things you will do differently under the state of emergency which we are not doing?

I think we have a national problem in terms of insecurity in all parts of the country and the military as well as the police are overstretched. So, the responsibility of securing the nation is all ours completely. Everybody has a role to play and I do believe that if we play all our roles, the security agencies will able to overcome what is left.

I think there are issues which the National Assembly should focus on rather than calling for a state of emergency. The security apparatus are federal; they are under exclusive legislative list. So, they need to know what are the requirements?

Why have security agencies not been able to meet certain expectations when they know their total packages in terms of finances, materials, and probably even manpower, that is when they will say where do we get this money, where do we get this materials and how do we really confront the situation?

Do we just say declare a state of emergency and do what? What are we going to do differently under emergency that we are not doing now. We have a problem and we have the capacity to deal with it. So, please, let us unite and deal with it.

This is not the time of sit down and look. Those who think that until somebody talk to them before they can do something are wrong because the nation, indeed the world, has talked to us. The cry of our neighbours, the problems in our neighbourhood and the problems in our communities have spoken to us. So, let us do what we are supposed to do.

Of course, we need leadership and those of us in the position of leadership are prepared any time, any day, to provide leadership and I am sure Mr. President is willing and determined. He has the ability and the courage to provide the necessary leadership to pilot the country out of the current mess.

This is not the first time the country has encountered a serious problem and has come out of it and I do believe we will all come out of this. So, anybody who is thinking of impeachment should . . . .(he hisses and waves his hand in the air dismissively).They are missing the point or they want to be heard or they want to play to the gallery, that is all.

The NNPC said its projected remittance to FAAC in this May will be zero because the corporation is deploying the fund to service fuel subsidy. What do you make of that?

You see, we need to sit down with the (organized) labour who are advocating that subsidy should not be removed. If there is no money to pay salaries, what happens? So, we have to balance these two. Obviously, all these things we are talking about require we better sit down and face the fact and the figures in this situation. We are all Nigerians, if it calls for sacrifice, all of us should be able to make sacrifice.

Lack of FAAC means more poverty and poverty may lead to chaos. We don’t hope for that and I think the issue with regard to deregulation of petroleum products prices is something that we need all concerned to sit down and agree on what to do so that together we can salvage our country.