Prince Sunday Falae
By Banji Ayoola
An Aspirant eyeing the seat of Ondo Central Senatorial District in the forthcoming National Assembly Election, Prince Sunday Falae, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for “doing a marvelous job”.
Particularly, he believed that the ongoing reforms and infrastructural development would eventually relaunch Nigeria on the path of meaningful economic development.
Falae, a nephew of former Secretary to the Federal Government, Afenifere chieftain and Olu of Ilu Abo in Ondo State, Oba Samuel Olu Falae, disclosed this in Akure, the state capital, in an interview on his senatorial ambition.
The American trained IT and banking expert, and indeed a former Vice President with JP Morgan Chase in the US, which was by 2008, the world’s second largest bank, said Tinubu’s handling of the economy gives a ray of hope of a brighter future for Nigeria, and what is far better than what he inherited from the administration of the departed President Muhammadu Buhari.
Assessing the performance of Nigeria’s various federal administrations since the Olusegun Obasanjo military administration in 1976, till date, Falae said that the Tinubu administration stands out with its bold moves to tackle the major problems at the root of the nation’s economic crisis, implement reforms and also embark on infrastructural development.
He said Obasanjo’s main achievement as a military Head of State was the clearance of the nation’s debt, amid an economic boom with a barrel of crude oil selling for $70.
In Falae’s words, “I want to say the truth and the truth may be bitter for some years because of my party affiliation. I am not going to lie to you. The President is doing a marvelous job. I keep telling people.
“I was old enough when Obasanjo was the Head of State. Point to one achievement that you can see physically. The only thing is that he paid up our debt. We had money and he had no choice. Tell me one road.
“You can now go from Obasanjo to Shagari. In the days of Shagari, we were old enough. We were queuing for essential commodities, for that useless rice nobody knew how to boil. Put it on fire. The thing would never be done. Shagari left, then came Buhari. Then came Babangida.
“Babangida tried because of Daddy. But they didn’t listen. That time Daddy said we should have one single exchange rate. Nobody listened. Is it not the single exchange rate we have today?
“I remember Flour Mill was importing flour. He said no, this wheat could grow in the North. Let us stop importation. They fought him. After Babangida came Shonekan. Then Abacha took over. He brought the exchange rate to… I don’t know how he did it. All the people I have mentioned going to Abubakar rigging out Daddy for Obasanjo again.
“Obasanjo is the luckiest Head of State in this country. When he was there in 1976, a barrel of crude was $70 per barrel. When he left, it dropped to $16 per barrel. That was why Shagari had a problem. It came down again. I was in the US. I wanted to enter a petrol station in the US. The price was so high. So we benefitted as a country. But what did he do?
“Then we went from Obasanjo to Yar’Adua. Fortunately Yar’Adua was one of the best presidents we would have had. But we lost him. It is so unfortunate. Murtala Muhammed had a vision. I remember they would go to offices. If you were not there, that time you were sacked. Ikpeme and all the state governors were doing the same thing. But he was overthrown.
“Yar’Adua who had a vision died prematurely. Then we inherited Jonathan for six years. Tell me what he did for the country.
“Then came Buhari. I regret that I campaigned for him because the guy brought us way way back. One day I told myself: Sunday, you are stupid o. You voted for someone. You couldn’t ask if he went to primary school or secondary school.
“At this stage of my life now, I was the Vice President with JP Morgan Chase. At the time I left, it was the second largest bank in the world. I dealt with educated, smart people because I was in the IT section. But today there are some things you would be telling me that is over my head and I won’t understand because that is not my forte.
“I now put myself in Buhari’s shoes and said if this guy did not go to secondary school, they would be telling him things he did not understand. And he was sick. There is no way he could have run the country. He left a debt. He mortgaged the crude ahead. He took the money.
“So when Tinubu got there, there was no money. Look at where we are today. Look at the roads. It is not only in the Southwest. It is all over the country.
“With all the things Tinubu is doing, I see a brighter future for the country. Look at our petrol. When he got into power, he removed the subsidy. He had to do it. In fact he didn’t remove the subsidy. They had removed it in June because it was not in the July budget. If it is not in the budget you can’t pay. And people were crying. I now said to myself: If you know about the subsidy, you will not be complaining.”
He applauded Tinubu for scrapping the infamous petroleum subsidy through which he said Nigeria was being defrauded in several billions by a cartel of unscrupulous government officials and businessmen.
Explaining why petroleum subsidy was a fraud, Falae said, “In the 80s when you travelled, you would see petrol stations. You ask yourself: What is this petrol station doing here? Who will buy petrol from here? There is one after Owena. It was the GP on the left. It has been there since the 80s. It was part of the subsidy fraud.
“The owner built the petrol station. GPRO would come. They would take the picture. That was what they were doing in the 80s.
“When Jonathan got there, they said petrol didn’t work. They started with vessels. Vessels would be discharging cargoes in China. They would say it is dropping petroleum products in Nigeria; discharging cargo that didn’t exist. They were using it to do subsidy fraud. It got to a point that the government would make N100 and was using N92 to service debt.
“So when Tinubu got there, he removed the subsidy.”
On the effects of subsidy removal, he said, “Look at it today. The governors are not owing salaries. In our state, I was told allegedly that at least N2.3trillion has entered since the man became governor. The problem is that we are not holding our governors accountable.
“Not just our governor here, but all the governors. Nobody has seen the kind of money they are seeing.
“That is the truth. So I won’t sit here and condemn somebody that is doing well. But we are not seeing that effort at the local level. As there is money for the governor, there is money for the House of Reps, and for the Senate. That is the difference. The President is doing a good job.”
Also, Falae said the new policy announced by President Tinubu that states would from October keep 50 percent of their internally generated revenue would stimulate competition and economic development, as states are now free to look out for investors to develop their resources.
His words, “Look at what he said that from October, every state will keep 50 percent of whatever they make. Another 20 percent would go to the geopolitical zone. Out of that geopolitical zone, you are still going to get a part. If we are doing N1billion, and I give you N500million.
“The states are now encouraged to go out and find investors. For instance our bitumen which is the second largest in the world. We were waiting for the Federal Government. We now have a free hand to go and look for investors. We are going to make a lot of money from it. The state of our economy is going to improve.”
However, Falae faulted Tinubu on security, saying, “Security wise, the president needs to do a lot more than he is doing.”
According to him, “Children are being kidnapped. That is one area he needs to address. He is not doing well in that area. The way I see it, he is not doing well there.
“And I hope he does well. And if anybody that comes continues with what he is doing, the better for the country.”
On the economy of the United States and that of Nigeria, which he described as “night and day”, Falae said that there is no basis for comparison.
According to him, “For example when I was in the US, I started a company. When the banks saw how I was doing they came to approach me: how can we help you?
“But here, they see the money and I still go to them. They will ask you to go and bring the world. Collateral worth a huge amount. If you bring the collateral they would offer you at 38%. How am I going to survive on 38 percent?
“We don’t have the same infrastructure. In the US, their budget is based mainly on infrastructure and defence.
“You would not see the government doing petroleum, hotels, this or that thing. It is left in private hands. We are not there yet. But slowly, I think we are getting there. Some of these things they are asking the government to do are not government jobs. But because we are not there yet.”
He said, “The banks are not doing what they should be doing. Banks would rather go and buy treasury bonds. If you ask for a N3million loan now and ask for 50, it is the same problem for them. They don’t even want to hear it. Do you know how much they are collecting on transfers?
“In the US it is free. I was in IT. The whole point of online is because they don’t want you in their banking centres because it costs them money to staff it.
“But here they collect ten naira. They are making billions on transfers that should be free. You see as I am sitting down I am making transfers. How is it bothering them? It is not costing them anything. The code is already there.
“But the infrastructure is not there yet. So we can’t even compare. We are 15 years behind whatever obtains in the Western world.”
Falae said that he has dedicated his life to the selfless service of the people of Akure and Ondo Central Senatorial District,whom he longs to serve by executing numerous novel people oriented welfare programmes if elected as their Senator.
He said his tenure in the Senate will be remarkably different from what his people have ever experienced.
Besides, he disclosed his plan to utilize his experience as an American trained IT expert and banking wizard to support the Ondo State Government turn around its economy.
Falae, a university graduate from Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, in the United States, is contesting under the platform of All Peoples Movement, AP.M.
