“It’s a combination; politics can’t be ruled out of it but it is a brew but I believe that politics can’t also be completely ruled out.”
A media adviser to the President, Femi Adesina has said politics cannot be ruled out of the insecurity being experienced by Nigerians under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He said this during an interview on Channels TV on Sunday, which was monitored by SaharaReporters.
He said, “Those who do those things, are they largely foreigners? A good number of them are Nigerians and people will get the kind of country they work for. Most of them are largely Nigerians; if you make your government to be embattled from day one to the last, then you will hinder that government from doing what it wants to do for the country.
“It’s a combination; politics can’t be ruled out of it but it is a brew but I believe that politics can’t also be completely ruled out.”
Regarding the massive emigration of Nigerians to other countries, Adesina said the average Nigerian has always believed the grass is greener on the other side and has always wanted to leave the country.
He, however, said the average number of people leaving Nigeria is nothing compared to the population of Nigeria.
He said, “Not just now, the average Nigerian had always wanted to leave and it’s not just in Nigeria, it is in most countries of the world, particularly in the third world. They want to leave; they always believe that the grass is greener on the other side.
“The truth is that if you have an opportunity to better your life in any part of the world, there’s nothing wrong with it. If you think migrating legally is good for you, all well and good. By all means, go, you cannot say that because people are leaving then it’s a sign that something is fundamentally wrong.
“You said 70,000 people left; what average is that out of 200 million Nigerians? There are Nigerians who will never leave this country, no matter how things are.
“For every person that leaves, there are 100 people that want to stay.”
Adesina also said the Buhari-led administration has fulfilled all the promises it made to Nigerians, adding that there’s no one president or administration that can solve all the problems of a country.
“I believe so, one thing we need to understand and appreciate is that there’s no single president that will solve all the problems of a country. It has never happened before; it will never happen anywhere in the world that a president or an administration will come and solve all the problems. That president and administration he leads will do their bits and hand over to another administration that will continue.
“There will always be criticisms, particularly in a country like this. You change the Naira, they criticise you. Don’t change, they criticize. You have electoral law, they criticize; you don’t have, they criticise. Anything in this country will be criticised.”
He also insisted that Buhari will leave a safer country than he met it when he came to power in 2015 as there is much to do before the administration leaves in May 2023.
He said, “He will leave a safer country no doubt about it. When he came in 2015, you couldn’t be sure that Nigeria will exist in the next one month; as at 2015, what was happening was that nobody could confidently say that Nigeria will still be on the map of the world. The following week, month or the following… but we saw that he came and he took the battle to the insurgents. When he came, insurgency was the main thing and he took the battle to them.
“Then it became hydra-headed, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, cultism, separatist agitation joined. How many challenges can one administration confront; that’s the issue with the Buhari administration.
“But we also see some calm in the country now, you can’t compare what we have today to what we had six months ago, one year ago and in another six months, six months is enough time to finish what’s on ground.
“Security will always be a continuum in a country. America still has to be alert to security. Other countries of the world still have to be alert to security, you will never get to a time you will sit back and say we are all sound, safe and secure, no need to be alert again. No, you will never get to that point.”