Reverend (Dr) David Moradeyo is the president, Ibadan Progressive Union (IPU) and a public analyst.  In this interview with Tayo Ogunleye, he speaks on issues affecting the polity. Excerpts:

HOW will you describe the controversy  trailing the fuel subsidy removal by President Goodluck?
  Obviously, so many people view this decision of President Goodluck Jonathan from different perspectives.  But I must say categorically that this unpopular decision has led to a dwindled image.  If I may say, the image of the president can be said to have dwindled from about 75 per cent to below 25 per cent.  

I would advise him to put mechanisms in place to ensure a quick image redemption.  The truth is that he has disappointed the masses that gave him the presidential mandate. This decision has affected negatively, the standard of living of the common person. The president has to work on modalities to restore his image. The masses have lost confidence in his administration.  

The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has a lot of work to do in the image-making of Mr President; the Minister of Information also has a role to play in restoring public confidence in this administration.  Government’s change in policy should not be handled rashly. The subsidy removal was a rash one; the masses are stakeholders and their opinion must be sought on national matters that have direct impact on them. If the image-making actions are not taken immediately, then the government should expect more opposition from the masses.

But it was said that the subsidy removal idea was actually sold to the president by some ministers and governors...
So much aspersions have been cast on the Minister of Information, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her Minister of Petroleum Resources counterpart, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and also our governors, vis-a-vis, their involvement in the historic fuel subsidy removal.  

What I can say is that whoever sold that idea to the president can be likened to Ahitophel in the Bible who gave a wrong counsel to King David. Such people involved in the advocacy of that policy should be regarded as Ahitophel technocrats.  Moreover, the timing was undoubtedly ungodly. Mr President has to be wary of these so-called technocrats because they are capable of misleading him and making his administration unpopular.

As a person, I believe Mr President has good intentions for Nigerians, but if he’s not careful, the so-called technocrats can mislead him.  For example, part of what was sold to him is that the removal of fuel subsidy will help to stabilise the economy. But how can that be the only solution to stabilising the economy? How can we be producing crude oil and be suffering in the midst of plenty? Why is the government not considering reviewing the government itself?  

Our kind of government is too expensive to maintain. Our governors have so many advisers; personal assistants and the ministers have their own personal assistants,  and it goes on and on like that. We waste so much resources maintaining the government.  Why are our leaders not considering reviewing all these?

For so many years, we have been canvassing the need for a national conference, and I think now is the time.  This presidential system of government does not seem to pay off. It is high time we held a national conference and fashioned out a way out of this political quagmire.  We do not have to continue managing with the presidential system and we do not have to imitate any other government. Let our leaders sit together and fashion out a political system that will solve our political and cultural differences.  I am sure that Mr President’s clamour for a single six-year tenure could also be a way out.  Imagine that the masses do not even have confidence in their governors;  most governors do not have a servant heart.  The national conference is obviously the right step in the right direction.

Are you in support of the call in some quarters for the military to step in?
No! Anybody or group clamouring for military intervention should be asked to shut up.  We don’t need the military at all.

What do you think is the solution to the incessant attacks by the Boko Haram in the country?
Let us first review the foundation of the problem, which is political mistrust between the North and the South. The northerners are of the opinion that, going by the principle of zoning, they should be in power and not the South.

In my opinion, the only solution is for the president to assure the North that he will not contest the presidency in 2015 and to also assure them that the North will be allowed to complete the remaining four-year term,  which the late Umar Yar’Adua could not complete.