nigerians prepare to cast their votes in the present but if you change for the oil rich nation well to talk about this i'm joined by a presidential candidate. africa's most populous country. is also said to be the continent's most corrupt beset by electoral crises and terrorist insurgency does nigeria have the resources to tackle it. will bring the country together. credible government. nigeria's presidential candidate doria welcome to the show great to have you with us. so those in power in nigeria over the last decade have been promising to root

out by alcohol rom yet the terrorists remain and they long ago pledged allegiance to islamic state even establishing an isis province in the country's northeast what is your plan for deciding them. well let me quickly start by saying that the reason why there has not been an effective degrading dismantling of the book or her armed forces is really because major that is committed to actually getting the job done and for us i believe that that's exactly what they are lines from you niger my party office nigeria and if the the the strategy that we have to dismantling and defeating book or rum and coke around the three major pillars number one strengthening our institution especially our military to ensure that we have the best fighting military force that is highly motivated and excited and equipped to

be able to do everything that they're meant to do so we're talking about making sure that we recruit the best people we train them and we quit them with and of course reward them in terms of just the remedy ration and all of that that makes sure that they're healthy strong and highly motivated fighting force the second most important that we have to focus on is intelligence you know it's very strange that many times the military have become like sitting ducks for the who are on that you know they seem to know more about me than we know about about them they know when we're moving we don't know when they're moving so we need to invest more in intelligence i guess whoever wins the intelligence war actually wins the war and for us we have to make sure that we're integrating the old the different. forces so that we have. air force military and all of that is integrated especially with the communities so that we can get the kind of information and intelligence that we

need to know where they are so that we can have preemptive strikes the third and the most important one is focusing on what we call international collaboration there is a phenomenon that happens almost every single time whenever we put pressure on around the kind of like just run across the border. and the question is why even though we have a joint to talk force with neighboring countries why is there no. where there are no military forces on the other side to be able to sandwich them we've got to work on making sure that we have like i said the the right motivated forces intelligence and the level of international collaboration that helps to defeat boko haram so all of these reforms. circle around those three pillars are great but they are going to take time and you will have to move forward as soon as you come to power before these reforms are actually implemented would you consider i don't know hiring private armies and actually yes king other countries for help and what countries might they be. well again i think that nigerians has proven to be

when they when equipped when they are when motivated they've proven to be the best fighting force on the african continent and if you just look at the way that we've performed with the with the forces and operations outside nigeria we've always been ranked the highest and the best performing so i don't really think that it's going to take time to get. to be in top form we just need to to release them to do so we need to motivate them to do so the actually do have the information but again as i speak to you a degree did me over the many over the past few years every year two elections the government has to make a special vote of about a billion dollars towards towards fighting and we know from the previous government which was a p.d.p. led government peoples democratic party led government that that money was actually

used to finance elections rather than actually finance weaponry for the for the ministry of say the bulk of her office still there because powerful people are benefiting from this war. but on the other hand with syria porous from the battlefield and we see nigerian army describe. ill equipped outgunned by militias missing strategic ideas so maybe that is the reason their war is dragging and not just powerful compare conspiracy or you're right but they are they're linked that's a powerful corrupt leadership and even leadership outside the un forces itself that has led to ill equipped. forces so it's the what you're seeing in terms of just the poor quality of of a mission and weaponry is as a result of the corruption that has been in there and i'm like you said look you know what if you give

a highly motivated force that knows that the leadership of the armed forces is committed to its best well being if you give them you know even medium quality weapons they will outperform anything else and still in the money from the from that that is meant for their weaponry so the most important thing that i'm saying is very simple we would directly be be seeking to motivate and equip and train forces to ensure that they have you know not only that level of training but the also have the level the best level of intelligence that it is that they can get and i believe that with the level of international countries in the world can the new or next generation of leaders like yourself really break the system that has been there for so many decades oh absolutely and i'll tell you why we can break the system of corruption the system of corruption that you find in government is actually an inherited system from the political system that is corrupt and that

political system itself is is what produces the people in government that political system is one that that hinges its capacity to be able to win elections on buying votes and making sure that they mobilize the. from friends of a few rich people who have benefited from the corruption in government to making sure that they give a little pittance to voters inducing them to be able to vote for them so it's actually a very simple system where they use money to buy votes and they use votes to get into power and then use the power to get more money but the most important thing is that to be able to ensure that they keep the cost of reelections low the most deliberately impoverished the people so poverty is a part of that system they must make sure that they also make the people ignorant so that they so killing education is also a part of that system so the three things that are part of all existing political

system is corruption it can't go away because the they need to get their money but that means they're going to have to find ways to inflate contracts but then the second thing is that they're going to have to make sure that the people remain poor so that the able to give them a little bit of money to be able to buy the votes on the third is that they must make sure that they are educated these three. three pillars that hold the political system actually on their way out and there's a simple reason own political party has not sought to incentivize or even get money from what you call the godfathers or sometimes we call them the. not so to have anymore it's been funded by is from the people so it's so we don't have enough international you don't have one i don't really want to talk about because that's another big issue on topic for africa for your country africa as a whole is the world's most corrupt bridge and you can invite lavish foreign investment but it won't make any difference to the economies of nations if they

largely end up in their coffers of corrupt local elites i mean i know that aid projects and loans from exactly come with strings attached to prevent you know wasting of money do those conditions work exactly. exactly look at i mean they're one of the reasons why people like myself who have thrived very much in the private sector and you know now saying look we cannot continue to stay outside and leave the business of government to people who we will not even hire in the business is that we are running one of the reasons why we are stepping out of our comfort zone in the private sector in business and saying we've got to solve the the business of government is because of exactly what you're saying that it's the niger is not working because of the corrupt system what we're doing is to create a completely different political structure and our own announced a new niger my party has three values that we call everything and it's not just the

way that we run our party it's exactly the culture we're going to bring into government and that is transparency integrity and excellence these three values are in line with our personal values and more importantly the values that will become the culture of our government so so what i'm saying to you is that the same political system that has run in nigeria for the last fifty eight years is being one that is based on corruption on. you know nepotism and on what you would think of you know killing the the capacity of the people so that you can incentivize them that system is about to go away a new order is about to come into nigeria so talking about new order. are the least corrupt countries in africa that's according to transparency international what are this estate's doing right and why can't others follow suit it's simple as the getting the right credible leadership you get the leadership right the culture changes it's really that simple you've got to get you know the

leadership to become competent people culpable people people with the right values and character people with the right level of vision that inspires the nation to want to be able to to do great things that is once you sort. the leadership the culture of the government to the culture the society changes what we've had is for the last fifty years they ate a group of people who have held nigeria bottled and b. have been the same kind of leaders they've moved from one political party and to another they've been but it's the same people they've been in the military are now doing democracy but it's the same people so what nigeria needs is a change in leadership and every time we see the right competent culpable leadership we will get the right results in africa are going to take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to nigeria's presidential candidates talking about the challenges his country and their rest of the continent are facing.

from the muslim people but it's no good to the salon if. the focus on domestic abuse is the one. that's been. put moment in.

more. than. one year let. alone. as night follows day all paper money becomes worthless and that's the history of the last three hundred years and gold has survived and now bitcoin is synthetic gold or new gold or gold to point out except that it is has properties that exceed those of gold will see that now starting to gobble up as this enormous black hole of the currency space all feel money will be converted into a big point the dollar the yes the shackle the draw. when they're all going to go to big oil. that's far right parties obsess about the danger is that imprisons to the western lifestyle some islamic scholars are concerned about the opposite. argues the

muslims don't step up their game within the next twenty to forty years islam may vanish from europe are those fears really just to find. the owners to still again interview ultra croaky is a former e.u. diploma and founder and director of conflicts forum this time we will discuss the americas you know. our back when nigeria's presidential candidate to la toya discussing nigeria's problems and ways to solve them so this is rich area africa receives about fifty

billion dollars of international assistance and willie and yet about six hundred million people live below the poverty line many experts argue that lavish foreign aid has developed you know some kind of dependency in africa is foreign aid actually aiding the continent what's your take on it. well. i would say that no sustainable growth can be achieved through foreign aid i believe that the first most and most important thing that will take. and i mean nigeria and all the other conflicts and countries out of poverty is the capacity for us to to make sure that our people become productive and they are able to start businesses to solve problems that build our societies and most importantly that enable people to find jobs so that they can prosper now whenever it is that we are able to find a way to use natural resources mineral resources and our human resources to solve

problems we would become productive and we would be able to build our economies so the problem that we've been seen is that much of africa has been led africa's development has been government led what we have seen is that that is like putting the cart before the horse ideally the horse that should drive social development economic development national development is the private sector and so for us. management consultant understanding how to start businesses and grow businesses this is what i am with brigade it's it's a business friendly go game but they don't tell us in which they can maximize our resources and the point therefore the what the question is do you believe that we're going to i'm going to be including your studies when we and then being on eight. has it become and i'm saying to you that the that the reason why africa has been a dependent is because the governments. in being able to grow the business the

economy from within that's why they're not they're not growing the economy and then they're having to rely on aid and much of that aid is actually with strings attached and of course it's it's embezzled so what we're seeing here is this the way out for africa and to be able to go beyond from a trade lead relationship with the rest of the world east to make sure that people are productive and we're using the natural resources which africa has in abundance when we do that we will not meet the world's aid we will become those who give aid to the world as it should be blessed continent like africa so apart from resource extraction the former colonial powers remain present on the continent no other means for instance france it keeps up a network of its former possession stays involved in politics arranges military interventions etc like in some cases for instance coming into mali to actually stop this lama's advance it could be seen as

a positive thing what do you think do you see that way well i think that to a large extent you know africa when a frequent countries are not have not been well led we really tend to lose our sovereignty and so i'm i believe very strongly that the reason why we have so much interference involvement depending on whether it was an invited or not the reason why we have such foreign involvement is because of the failure of leadership most much across the african continent i believe that when africa and especially nigeria when we become better lit and we begin to fulfill the purpose of all of our governments which means creating a prosperous peaceful and progressive nation all across africa you will not see the kind of interventions that are currently the bane that we have in africa today but do you think the former colonial powers have a responsibility to stay involved in african affairs since they mess the continent up so badly or should african nations just be left alone finally. well i think that

african nation should be left alone to do what it is that they need to do. i've always said that the reason why we don't have one eye in the in front of our head and another at the back of it is because we're not really supposed to dwell so much on the past colonial rule is a part of our past and whilst many people would say that the foundation of nations was structured by the colonial rule is sometimes to the detriment of the nation itself the that the challenge i have always thrown at the leaders is to say you know what no matter what happened in the factory in the past we will not be judged by what it is that we inherited we will be judged by what we give to our children we must accept responsibility to fix our nations and make sure that we fix them for the sake of the future let's stop looking behind us and blaming the good clue no rule is gone we have a new we must have a new generation of people who will fix our countries for the rest of the future

and that's basically what it is that we are offering in nigeria we're offering a young youthful future forward thinking leadership you know different from the seven to six seventy two year old leadership that is parochial backward thinking that's the one that we've been seeing over the last few years we are offering that and that's why people are very excited in nigeria about the upcoming elections tomorrow and they're going to be saying well this is not between two political parties it's between the past on the future we need to take away the blending of the on the past and we need to focus on the future of nigeria and africa that is the leadership will do i want to talk to you about this new type of investment which construct china because it's also directly linked to your countries and the chinese investment in africa is huge and unlike the west's or their former colonial powers usually comes with no demands of political change of anti corruption measures or anything like that do you see the chinese ways the right way to go about it. well i think that any i mean the spent in you know

in infrastructure that can help the nation grow is useful especially if it's used by by the leaders in power the challenge that you have with the kind of noose almost no strings attached that you have with the chinese type of investment is that it also comes with a lot of loose ends for for corruption or embezzlement so much of the investment that china is making in major area. because they're looking the other way so china is saying this and as long as we we're making what it is you know and we're putting the money in and we know how we're going to get the money back from you we don't care what you guys do we need to have a memo going to lay any blame on any nation that is going to it's not their responsibility to make sure that you invest the monies that they're giving you if that's the responsibility of the leaders of your country so i'm not going to lay any blame with china and china is good is ready to give us no low cost funding

that's fine but i think that it's the leadership of africa and niger in particular that most use that that investment judiciously for long term development of africa and nigeria to ensure that that we make the best use of what we have so for me i think that it's not it's not about china it is about the leadership and i still want to get the leadership right everything will be for sure but like i still want to look at it from the outside you know figure out what is it that china would want to exactly from africa nigeria in this case kind of jury has signed a two point five billion dollar curse a swipe at grammont china and it's supposed to boost transactions in china is also a major development partners for nigeria africa as a whole this kind of how never comes for free. let's be realistic what do you think nigeria can give china in return. well nigeria is currently already opening the doors to china in ways that is is you know is it's hard to measure you know we know

that there is a lot of illegal mining that is going on and the nigerian government itself you know turning a blind eye to to what it is that many illegal miners from china are doing you know so there is there is a lot of illegal trade and illicit trade that we are seeing that the nigerian government is in a sense turning a blind eye to and i think that to a large extent that that comes as part of the deal is to say listen whilst we give you what you might look at what you know somebody that you can use to build one rail line we would we have all the interests in go in mining gold and mining precious metals and precious stones and you just take your eyes away and we will be fine i think that again it's a failure of leadership from from africa i still want to sort of corner. relationship with china because one of the most frequent concerns regarding china's loans to african countries is the debt trap beijing's eagerness to grant loans

allegedly goads to goats or recipients to continue spending at their risk of collateral while a payback clock keeps ticking nigeria's debt to china currently stands at eight point three billion dollars do you see this is a problem will the country be able to pay it back anytime soon. oh well if we have if the people of nigeria say to themselves that we want the future of niger that is better than the one that we have in the past and the vote alliance from you nigeria tomorrow and we win that election we will be able to grow our economy in double digits enough to be able to pay back china and make sure that all we are able to pay but not just china but any other obligation and when do you that what the most important thing is getting the right kind of leadership that will be able to run the government in a way that cuts down way stage the takes up corruption and is able to release economic resources all resources so that he has economic value and social benefit to all people once we are able to do that i tell you nigeria can and will grow in

double digits for at least the next ten years under the right kind of leadership and we would have no problem with being able to pay back most of the countries that china has given loans to right now are poorly led and they don't have any capacity to be able to pay back that's why it seems like a bit of a death trap and really a death trap you know. all right thank you very much for this interview for us inside good luck for the elections. and you very much and i you know i'd look for just being with you as president of nigeria next time hopefully we'll make that happen good luck with everything gloria talking to nigeria's presidential candidate thank you and i do our toy in discussing the critical issues nigeria and the whole africa are facing and that's it for this edition of sophie and cost you next time.

on. the list and. i'm just a sit. in. their eligibility is still up. in the himalayas. but then i. look. in the foot of the look i. don't want out of the modern i don't want to go about. something that's really not yet want to. miss you need to.

own the house went. on to a full stomach with. the will there and you'll get a little warmth and you know what. a wobble. this idol of the. last of the previous stage of my career was over everyone wondered what i was going to do next the ball different clubs on one hand it is logical to sort of go from fields where everything is familiar on the other i wanted a new challenge and the fresh perspective i'm used to surprising people. why not if you think. i'm going to talk about

football nazi or else you can think i was going to do. by the way what is it that slide here. i have the honors to still again interview alister croaky is a former e.u. diploma. founder and director of conflict this time we will discuss the in the americas you know. in twenty forty you know bloody revolution here to the demonstrations going from being peaceful protests to be increasingly violent revolution is always spontaneous or is it. the president recalls the events of twenty four. those who took part in the studio over five billion dollars to assist ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic.

i know. i. love. the venezuelan foreign minister denies reports of government soldiers opening fire on opposition. with brazil. continues. also the british. thrown into germany refusing.

plying certain components to the gulf. and the us actor is accused of faking a hate crime against himself just claim that he was assaulted by trump supporters initially led to an outpouring of sympathy and support. come up to seven am here are the stories had to come stay with us now for crosstalk.