Peter Ndalikali Jiya

Peter Ndalikali Jiya is a Nigerian senator. He currently serves as the Senator representing Niger South district in Niger state in the 10th National Assembly. Quotes There is no missing link as such. If anything is lacking, it is sincerity of the nation. Sixty-three years is a long term but in nation building, 63 years is still a short term. When we look at developed economies like the United States, United Kingdom, France and others, they have their own respective histories. Interview response to the question 'Nigeria is 63 years in her journey to nationhood, but some say there is no tangible progress on ground. What do you think is the missing link?' And as it is commonly said, Rome was never built in a day. They experienced long term developmental issues and even fought civil wars. But at the end of the day, they are what they are because a certain leader came to power at a particular time and decided to do what is right. And I think, that is what we need now. We need a leader who is strong, a leader who will strike a balance between the regions, nation states within the country and the diverse political and cultural values. Interview response to the question 'Nigeria is 63 years in her journey to nationhood, but some say there is no tangible progress on ground. What do you think is the missing link?' Well, we have always had leaders who were bold and courageous in one aspect but like I said earlier, we need a leader who will strike a balance among the diverse interests and I think that is what is somehow missing at this point in time. Interview response to the question 'Have we had or do we have such a leader?' There is no individual in the world who does not face challenges. What matters is the courage to face the challenges and the determination to surmount the challenges. The Marshall Plan in the United States, defines the state of the United States as to the recovery and moving on to become the best and the strongest economy in the world as at then and up till today. So, it is not a lost hope. Interview response to the question 'Nigeria appears to be currently in her worst economic situation since attainment of independence. What do you think is the way out of this precarious situation?' It calls for a purposeful leadership, that will stand strong. The current president has shown some signs of strength by boldly removing the fuel subsidy from the very first day and merging the foreign exchange market with the view to allowing market forces to determine prices of goods. It is not easy on all of us. The Naira has been devalued and people are suffering. But it is like going to a river or stream and clearing it Interview response to the question 'Nigeria appears to be currently in her worst economic situation since attainment of independence. What do you think is the way out of this precarious situation?' You will discover that you cannot drink from that river immediately. But give it a few days, it will clear and become a very good source of water supply that will refresh, renew and strengthen people. Interview response to the question 'Nigeria appears to be currently in her worst economic situation since attainment of independence. What do you think is the way out of this precarious situation?' That is what we need, and for me as an individual, I pray for the President for more strength to do the unthinkable. As it is often said, kings are not raised in the palace, and that is what we are going through now. Interview response to the question 'Nigeria appears to be currently in her worst economic situation since attainment of independence. What do you think is the way out of this precarious situation?' Again, there is this common saying that tough times don’t last but tough people do last. Nigerians need to be strong and tough in situations and circumstances as this because if we are able to come together collectively, devoid of major ethnic and cultural biases, then we have a long and good future ahead of us. Interview response to the question 'Nigeria appears to be currently in her worst economic situation since attainment of independence. What do you think is the way out of this precarious situation?' Yes, it is taking a long time and it should take because when you are outside the government, you don't know the depth of the issues that confront you. Interview response to the question 'You are saying that the President had courage to remove the fuel subsidy, but it is taking him a long time to come up with palliatives to cushion the effects of that hard decision. What is your take on that?' Yes, he was a governor but a governor of a state, with a massive population but with little land mass. But now, he is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; a massive country. Interview response to the question 'You are saying that the President had courage to remove the fuel subsidy, but it is taking him a long time to come up with palliatives to cushion the effects of that hard decision. What is your take on that?' It is not with the eyes or perspective which he looked at Lagos that he will look at Nigeria. So, it’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be fast. And, a fast decision may lead to a crash because it will not be well thought of. So, there are bound to be pains, and collectively, we are going through the pains because it’s not easy to fuel your tank to go home and come back, and having regards to the value of the Naira. Interview response to the question 'You are saying that the President had courage to remove the fuel subsidy, but it is taking him a long time to come up with palliatives to cushion the effects of that hard decision. What is your take on that?' Now, the issue of palliative is an- other thing, which will go a long way to mitigate but the usual Nigerian attitude has not provided the required palliative as it were. A lot of the palliatives in terms of the volume of money given will end up with the elite. Interview response to the question 'You are saying that the President had courage to remove the fuel subsidy, but it is taking him a long time to come up with palliatives to cushion the effects of that hard decision. What is your take on that?' It will not get down as it ought to because there is always a manipulative tendency on the part of the privileged elite to satisfy themselves before the generality of the people. Interview response to the question 'You are saying that the President had courage to remove the fuel subsidy, but it is taking him a long time to come up with palliatives to cushion the effects of that hard decision. What is your take on that?' So, though the palliative is good, the desired result will not be attained easily because the operators lack sincerity, not on the part of the President but on the part of the executors of the policy. Interview response to the question 'You are saying that the President had courage to remove the fuel subsidy, but it is taking him a long time to come up with palliatives to cushion the effects of that hard decision. What is your take on that?' Yes, it can be done but these are short term measures that fail to address the real challenge that we have. For example, look at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under Nasir El-Rufai as minister, the buses that were purchased, where are they today, because it’s a government owned enterprise. Interview response to the question 'Can’t the President replicate what the governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, did in his state, by purchasing buses to ease off the suffering of workers and other citizens in the country?' But the long run review will be much better because if government can select people to give them these buses as soft loans to operate and fix the margin of fares for the good of the people, it will go a long way than government going into the frame to buy buses. The maintenance will not be there and there will be so much abuses. Interview response to the question 'Can’t the President replicate what the governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, did in his state, by purchasing buses to ease off the suffering of workers and other citizens in the country?' The short term is what the President has done. But the defect of that is the operators of the system. They are not faithful to the policy. I can tell you vividly that some villagers did not receive one or two cups of rice. If someone got two cups of rice, where is that going to? The people have not died, though they are suffering, so the best thing will be for people to be honest and faithful to execute what they have been asked to do. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' The greatest challenge we have as a nation is the greed in the system. It is unparalleled. If you are given N10 to work and you use N7 to work, and possibly N3 for logistics as it were, that is fair and reasonable enough. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' But in a situation where you have N10 and you hardly use N2 or N3 to work, then the executors are very unfair to the system. It becomes difficult for the arrow head to monitor some of these things. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' So, it’s all about us. But if we make a scapegoat of the operators or executors who have failed in the execution of the policy, then everybody will sit up. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' We have to look back at the time General Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon were in power. They took a position and the whole country queued behind them. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' That is the kind of leadership Nigeria needs. We criticised them when they were in power, but that is Nigeria for you. We need a strong hand as a nation; it does not matter, there will be criticisms here and there but let the leader be focused as to what is fair and what is good for the people. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' They appear not to be working because you cannot make something to stand on nothing. For them to work, the leadership must show example. Once the leader is able to define a goal and pursue it diligently, there is only one choice left for the followers. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' It is either to follow him or get out of that system, because if the leader is serious, has defined his goal and faithfully following those goals to see to their execution, then the followers have no choice but to follow too. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' So, corruption is our problem, excessive greed and unnecessary greed. But again, especially for me, government should identify people with talents and encourage them to take up enterprises. As a nation, we are proud that we have the richest man in Africa today. It is because of government support and concession given to him. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' We need that particularly for the younger generation in specific fields. Even in the United States, government backs up business people; gives them concessions for them to come up. Interview response to the question 'What are the short-term, medium- term and long-term measures you want the government to adopt in cushioning the effects of the hardship Nigerians are currently passing through?' External links Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Politicians from Nigeria Category:Lawyers