In an industry where journalists are hardly celebrated by their colleagues, you have risen to become a media role model. How did your romance with the media begin?

You are asking me to reflect on 29 years in time? Well, I graduated 30 years ago from the then University of Ife (now called Obafemi Awolowo University). After I left school, I went for national service at the Lagos State Television (LTV 8). That was how my journalism career started. I served there for one year in the Current Affairs Unit. Afterwards, I worked at Radio Lagos, also in the Current Affairs Unit. I was there for almost two years, but I wanted more action in terms of writing. On radio, we did news analysis and newspaper reviews quite alright. But I wanted more writing. That was what led me to Vanguard newspaper in 1989. I was a features writer, and I was assigned to the supplement unit. So, I wrote all the supplements they ran in Vanguard in those years. I was there for two years, and I then wanted to do more of human interest writing. So, I went to The Concord Press, where I met Mike Awoyinfa.

If I go back in time, when I was at Radio Lagos, I contributed to Concord Press –in fact, Awoyinfa gave me assignments once in a while. I was the one who wrote the third cover story in the then Weekend Concord titled “Inside Fela’s Shrine”. Awoyinfa asked me to visit Fela’s Shrine and paint a portrait of his lifestyle, and when I gave him the story, he was very happy and led the cover with it.

Eventually, I went to work at Vanguard. After two years at Vanguard, I went to meet Awoyinfa when he had an opening –he didn’t have an opening at the time I was contributing. So, he employed me as a senior writer in Weekend Concord. Eventually, I was posted to the daily paper, National Concord, as the features editor, after I had been senior writer, chief correspondent and deputy features editor.

One thing led to the other, from Features Editor, I became Deputy Editor and Editor, National Concord, and later that paper went down. I was engaged by The Tribune as a visiting member of the editorial board for about two years before the late Dimgba Igwe and Mike Awoyinfa –who were my editors at Concord –sent for me, telling me that they were handling a project to set up The Sun Newspaper, and asked whether I was interested. I said yes, since both of them were involved. That was how I joined them, and we set up the paper together, and I became the pioneer editor of Daily Sun. I edited it for five years, and from there I was promoted to Executive Director, Publications; from there I became Deputy Managing Director/Editor-in-chief and later Managing Director/Editor-in-chief. That was the assignment I was doing till I was offered this position, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, to the president.

What was the magic in making The Sun a major hit in Nigerian journalism when it first hit the stands?

We just needed to study the market, find out what the niche was and enter that niche. We saw that the human interest niche was open. There were a number of papers actually –in fact, it was said that the market was saturated, but our conviction was that, if you gave the market what it wanted, people would always buy. So, we designed a paper that was going to occupy a niche that the old Weekend Concord, vacated, but on a bigger scale. Weekend Concord was a weekly paper, and so we designed the one that will be a daily newspaper. In fact, at the beginning, many people warned us that we were going to commit suicide if we wanted to do that kind of paper on a daily basis. But then, God helped us and we got it done.

Have you always wanted to be a journalist?

Always. In fact, in secondary school, my teacher always told me “you’ll either be a lawyer or a journalist. I don’t know what they saw in me. When I left school, my natural inclination was to be a journalist.

You bowed out of the media at the peak of your career as The Sun Publishing Ltd MD/editor-in-chief and President, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Was it a hard decision to take?

It was indeed. In fact, I never envisaged I would serve in government. I didn’t think it would happen. I took the decision just because of the person involved –President Muhammadu Buhari. If it was another person, I wouldn’t have done it. I took that decision simply because I had always believed in him, and I believe he can make a difference in Nigeria to the extent of leaving my job as the MD of The Sun and president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors to take up this assignment. I don’t see this as a job but as an assignment.

So, some day, you will return to the media?

Well, I am on sabbatical. The publisher of The Sun, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, was gracious enough. When I wanted to leave, I thought of maybe, resigning, but he said no, that he would give me a sabbatical leave and he personally issued me a letter to that effect, and any time I needed to return, I would return. The media is what I love, and I believe one way or the other, no matter what I am doing, I will always have a leg or two in the media.

Do you have some unfinished business at the NGE?

Oh yes. A good number. I had just been re-elected for a second term in office on April 25 and this offer came May 31st. You will see that I have just spent just a month and a week in my second term. There were things I set out to do in my second term. In my first term, we succeeded in raising money for our national secretariat which will be unfolded anytime soon. We have succeeded in that area. So, I felt a sense of accomplishment in that area. For my second term, I gave myself some challenges. One was to set up an endowment fund for Nigerian editors. I didn’t like the condition of some editors whenever they leave the professional seat as the quality of their lives plunge, and they are not able to make ends meet. So, I resolved to set up an endowment fund to help some editors who were off the seat. And Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State pledged seed money of N10 million to that endowment. So, I wanted something we would launch that would be very big. For the national secretariat, we raised over N200 million.

In cash or kind?

In cash, that is, the money that came in from the pledges. I was looking forward to raising that sum of money or more, which we would then use to establish an endowment fund for editors. My vision was to have trustees from fellows who will then administer that money. Editors who have things doing: if you want to write a book; if you want to establish a business, etc, you will always have some money from that endowment fund. Editors who run into tough times, maybe, they are incapacitated or even died, their families would be taken care of from that fund. Unfortunately, I couldn’t accomplish it. It is one of the things I am going to hand over to my successor. I pray what I couldn’t achieve, he would achieve.

How are you adjusting to life as the SA Media and Publicity to the President?

Yes, it is a new terrain, but then, it’s not strange as I interface with the media and the media is my constituency. I still have to interface with them. So, it has helped me to settle down well.

Now, to trending national issues. 100 days after his inauguration, many Nigerians complain there is little to celebrate with President Muhammadu Buhari. Are they correct?

Anybody who says there is little to celebrate is blind and maybe deaf also. There is a lot to celebrate. If you want to assess his government, what you do is to match his promises against delivery. So, you ask yourself what are those promises? Three key words: he said he would secure this country, fight insurgency. 100 days later, you can see that the level of insurgency has come down considerably. In fact, the insurgency has been weakened. In fact, it has been degraded. Now, we can only look forward to its complete end. He said you cannot administer a country you can not secure. So, he is securing the country. You know what he has done with our neighbours: A Multitask National Joint Force has been set up with our neighbors. Cameroun, Republic of Niger, Chad and Benin Republic have contributing troops. But it was our president who championed it. In the area of security, he has done a lot, and a lot more needs to be done. He promised that, and he has done it.

Then he promised again that he would fight corruption, and you can see that, as we speak now, a lot of things are happening on the corruption front. Trails leading to money taken away illegally from Nigerian treasury, particularly, in the last administration, are being followed. Those monies, by the grace of God, will be recovered. Those who took those monies would have their days in court; they would face justice here in Nigeria. On the anti-corruption front, he is living up to his name on his promises. Then he has talked about reviving the economy and creating jobs, particularly for youths. During the campaigns, he used to quote the statistics indicating Nigeria is about 60 percent youths, with many of them unemployed people. It is very sad if you have about 60 percent of the population as youths and a vast number of them unemployed. So, he said whatever it takes, he would create jobs. When the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria visited and complained about monetary and economic policies, the president said whatever it took to attract investment and industrialization, including attracting and somersaulting policies, he would do. If a president is able to tell you that he would somersault some policies in order to create jobs, then he is very committed.

Of course, there are many other things. What do we see about his commitment to fast-track the cleaning of Ogoni land? He said Ogoni land had suffered environmental degradation, yet nobody did anything despite a report on ground. He has, therefore, given instructions to fast track the cleaning up of Ogoni land. It is a good one. You have the Treasury Single Account. You have corporations, parastatals, agencies of government that do not even know the numbers of their accounts; they just have multiple accounts and that makes accountability difficult. Now, he has said there must be a Treasury Single Account. All monies that accrue to the Federal Government must go into that account, and it is also from that account that you spend. It makes accountability easier; it makes transparency easier. For me, it is a big achievement.

And what of openness of government in terms of finances? The first meeting he had with the governors at the villa, he disclosed that about $2.1 billion had come into government coffers from LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). The governors were surprised. In fact, it was Governor Adams Oshionwhole of Edo who stood up to say it was never like this before, [in the past]when anything came, they didn’t know; when it went out, they didn’t know. Again, there was the issue of the Excess Crude Account which was squandered without the knowledge of the government. So, there is full disclosure in this administration and of course you know that the National Economic Council has been set up under the chairmanship of the vice president and whatever comes up is shared according to laid-down principles.

Can we talk about the welfare package for states?

Many states could not pay salaries. You know what the president did? He said, “I have to call it a welfare package, because they are three things in one”. The $2.1 billion that came from LNG, he said, “Share immediately”. It was shared according to laid-down rules. The states got what they should get, and it helped some of them offset salaries. There were two other packages. One was that he approached the Central Bank to make between N200billion and N300 billion available so that states that wanted some loans can access them. They did, and could pay salaries.

Recently, there was going to be a protest in Imo over outstanding salaries, but Imo accessed that loan, and it could pay at least two months salaries. Also in that package is a restructuring of loans states have taken. The loans they have taken are being deducted monthly. It made their take-ins to reduce. Earnings from crude had dropped to as low as $40 per barrel, and states were going home with nothing because of the loans that were being deducted. So, the president also directed that there should be a restructuring of these loans, a moratorium of between 20 and 30 years, which means the loans are spread out, and the states have more money at their disposal. We can’t stop talking about the successes.

For the common man, the change expected is yet to come, because the naira has been having a free fall and the prices of goods and services have been increasing since the former president left office…

The free fall of the naira will not be relevant as at today, because that same dollar exchange rate at the twilight of the last administration was as high as N255. That same dollar, as we speak, is around N220 because some policies have been implemented by the Central Bank that have been strengthening the naira against the dollar. It won’t come by a sudden flight. It is a progression and eventually, it is going to touch the common man. Remember, the president was elected for 48 months; this is just three months.

The president has also been pilloried for jettisoning Federal Character in his appointments so far which is visible in the lopsided appointments in favour of the North and which earned him pseudonyms like “King of the North”, President of the North”, among others. Does the Federal character still matter in the scheme of things?

Those who call him those names are not being charitable. Now, I can tell you the president believes in Federal Character as enshrined in the constitution, because it is what will uphold the constitution. If it goes against the constitution, he will be breaching his oath of office. Now, let me tell you three key things about those that hold positions now. The first set is those elected. For instance, what some called lopsided appointments include the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, this and that. How do you blame the president when those people were elected? Was it the president who put them there? How come that is part of the sins being counted against the president? So, those ones came by election and you can’t blame the president.

The second group consists of those who came by statutory appointments: the Chief Justice of Nigeria is a northerner; he leaves office, and the next to him is a northerner, he is capable and efficient, do you then, say you will bypass the next in line simply because of where he comes from? It will be unjust. Now, the Accountant-General of the Federation leaves office, the next in line to him is from the same zone as he is. He is capable and competent. Do you then say, because of where he comes from, you bypass him? Now to INEC, the chairman leaves and the next to him, and the most competent person next to him is from the same region as he is, do you, then, say you bypass her because of where she comes from? That would be unjust. We have many people in government like that where the next in line is from the same region. So, you can’t blame the president. The third group is his personal aides, which he has the right to appoint. All over the world, presidents have right to their personal aides. When Barrack Obama just got in, a number of his aides were his schoolmates, because, for aides, you start from the known to the unknown. It is those people you know that you will appoint, because these are the ones you strategize with. Those ones you trust are the ones you will depend on. Should we, then, go and bring people you don’t know? That is the third group. And then let me tell you all the appointments are over 30 and we still have more to come.

The boards in Nigeria have about 601 positions, which are to be filled. There are ambassadorial positions. The non-career ambassadors were recalled with effect from August 6 and those positions will be filled. The cabinet will come. The constitution says one per state, that is, minimum of 36 ministers. We also have directors-general of agencies, executive secretaries, we have others all over the place. Appointments in hundreds will come. Why is there so much ruckus over 30-something appointments?

The Igbo, especially, are complaining bitterly that not even one of them was deemed fit to be appointed by the current president. So, for the third largest ethnic group in Nigeria, isn’t it pathetic?

(laughs) I think the Igbo are not quite correct, because the NNPC GMD Mr Kachukwu is Igbo. And don’t forget that he comes from Delta Igbo which has produced a former Ohaneze president, Ralph Uwechue. Now, if the Igbo nation accepted Ralph Uwuechue as Ohaneze president and one of their own, how come the Igbo are not accepting Kachukwu as one of their own? But, let’s not worry, every part of the country will be well treated.

Majority of the Chibok girls are still missing and Boko Haram is still having a field day maiming, despoiling and killing, against the backdrop of one of the president’s major campaign promise. Who will bell the cat?

I won’t agree with you on that. Boko Haram is having no field day. In fact, Boko Haram has been circumscribed to a limited area. They were having field day before, striking every part of…

But over 50 were killed recently in Borno State?

Those are off-and-on attacks. What they now do is carry out sporadic attacks. You will recall that in the past, they were occupying territories. Since this administration came, Boko Haram has not occupied any territory. Rather, the territories they have been occupying are being taken away from them. Just two days ago, Gamboru in Borno State was taken away from them. So, Boko Haram is being degraded.

Remember that, in the US, in July, the president assured that, in 18 months, Boko Haram would have been defeated. But, on August 1, when he went to Benin Republic, he changed the timeline to December this year. Then, again, when he was swearing in the service chiefs, he changed it to three months, which is November. He is the commander-in-chief, and he must have superior information. Before changing timelines and I am sure in the time set, we will see the end of Boko Haram.

Recently, the president was in the eye of the storm for taking dozens of Nigerians on a mission to the US. Some complained he’s lavishing scarce resources..…

Define “lavishing of resources”?

Sponsoring over 30 Nigerians to the US was considered outrageous by his critics….

Do you know that a former president of this country took over 150 people to the UN General Assembly? Can you compare 150 with 36 that were on that trip? This government is as prudent as it can be. Thirty six names on that delegation were by no means outrageous.

Women groups faulted him for not taking a single woman along. What do you say about that?

Well, the women will have their day. This president believes in women and you will see that, as appointments continue to come, the women will be represented.

Critics of this government also say the fight against corruption is akin to selective justice as it appears to be based on ethnicity. What’s the guarantee that it isn’t going to be a witch-hunt?

Corruption has no ethnic coloration. And the truth about this government is that any group that runs foul of transparency and accountability will answer for it. I have not seen any ethnic coloration to it. There is none. Anybody who is proven to have soiled his hand and a prima facie evidence is established against him will have his day in court. Nobody can accuse this government of running a selective anti-corruption war. The president even said it in America, that even in his own party, the APC, anybody proved to be corrupt, would go before the law.

There are some groups in Nigeria that say that the president should start from the people around him…

You don’t just grab people; there must be petitions against them, and once there are petitions and they’re established, then they will be taken to court. That’s the truth. You don’t just begin to pick up people when there are no petitions against them and no indictment against them. What sort of justice will that be?

Yet there are some Nigerians who believe that, rather than dissipate energy fighting corruption, the emphasis should be on growth.…

Any foundation you build on corruption and lack of justice cannot endure. Let me say any super structure you build on corrupt foundation can only stand for some time, and then it comes crashing, so those who are saying focus on governance and growth, leave corruption don’t know what they are saying.

How does this anti-corruption war benefit the common man?

The common man will have a good deal under this government. But he, like any other Nigerian, has to be patient and wait for the result of the effort the government is making.

I thought it was about 4,000 megawatts?

No. It crashed before PDP left power to about 2,000 megawatts. So, if the military left about 1.7 million megawatts in 1999, and PDP left 2,000 megawatts, what are they saying?

The high cost of running the Senate and the House of Representatives is annoying many Nigerians. Is the president going to do anything in this regard?

The president is from the executive arm of government, while Senators and Reps belong to the legislature. In a true democracy, the president can’t legislate anything, cannot order, and cannot impose anything on legislative matters. If anything will come, it is going to be from the legislature itself or the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.

The NNPC has just reported that the Port Harcourt Refinery is now producing about five million litres of petroleum daily, which is laudable news. Is it going to be replicated across our moribund national refineries?

That is in the plan. All the refineries are going to work, and of course, when all refineries begin to work, what is imported will drastically reduce. So, let’s wait for the unfolding of the plans of this administration.

– The SUN