Dr Charles Marindoti Oludare is a  US based medical doctor and the convener of the Social Rehabilitation Group, a socio-political organisation committed to good governance and social welfare schemes.

His name gained significant recognition during the 2023 presidential election. As a social critic, he has featured on television and has been published in newspapers, magazines, and other media outlets.

He advocates for the rights of the common people and provides suggestions to the government on ways to improve Nigeria’s economy, enhance human empowerment, and develop the grassroots.

Charles Marindoti is a native of Oka Akoko, in Ondo State. He grew up in Akure, the state capital. 

In this interview with the Weekend Hope, he spoke about the policies of President Bola Tinubu, which he posited, will lead to  economic stability.

Excerpts:

Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, you returned to Nigeria and mobilised youths in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What were your motivating factors?

My motivating factors were the pedigree of the man, what he had stood for as a governor and even outside of government. The key reasons I supported him are, interestingly, the same policies that are now generating controversy: the removal of the fuel subsidy and the unification of exchange rates.

I often use two simple examples to explain these policies. Fuel is essentially food for machines. From an individual perspective, democracy is about one man, one vote.

However, some individuals are wealthy enough to own 18-car convoys, all requiring fuel, while the majority of poor people do not even own vehicles. So when the government subsidises fuel, who benefits the most? The rich. Yes, the removal of subsidy makes life harder for the poor initially, but the funds saved can be invested in empowering them, ensuring they earn more and enjoy a better quality of life.

The same logic applies to the dollar. If the average poor Nigerian reflects on when they last purchased a dollar, many would realise they never have. My late grandmother, for instance, never bought a dollar in her lifetime. Yet, some people have had access to dollars at significantly cheaper rates.

The Central Bank of Nigeria does not print dollars; the country earns them, mainly through crude oil sales. Previously, state governments earned dollars from oil sales and sold them at N460 per dollar. However, when they needed to buy essential infrastructure materials like cement and iron rods for roads and schools, they had to pay the market rate of N750 per dollar.

So, if our governors are earning at N460 but spending at N750, should anyone be surprised that we have poor roads, underfunded schools, and poorly equipped hospitals? These essential materials were bought at the higher exchange rate, not at the lower rate at which the government was selling what we earned.

This was a major reason I returned to Nigeria during the election. I knew he would implement these policies, and he had the courage to do so. Unfortunately, I don’t think the administration has effectively communicated these reforms to the public, making it difficult for people to see their long-term benefits. But that was why I came.

Although, my impetus for joining the fight was largely due to the bullying the president suffered at the time, he endured a great deal. I do not tolerate bullies in any form or manner. It is the same reason I supported the current governor of Ondo State because he was being bullied by the powers that be. Especially when these are men who genuinely care about the people and have their best interests at heart, I felt it was imperative to stand with them.

I did not know any of them. I was never interested in politics, even up to that time. But I felt the need to get involved in the struggle, and thank God, we won. Nigeria is currently on a path to prosperity and greatness.

Can you assess the president’s performance over the last two years?

One must consider the country, not in an 80-year term, but in terms of 20 years, 50 years, and beyond. When we reflect on the kind of nation we want to bequeath to future generations to our students and children, we will realise that what he is doing is essential.

I will also criticise the president because I believe there is a food crisis, largely caused by shortages stemming from insecurity. Security is not just about eliminating bandits and terrorists but also ensuring that people have the confidence to return to farming. At present, we do not have enough food, and there remains some restrictions on food imports. You can buy a bag of rice in Cotonou for N46,000, whereas in Nigeria, it costs N100,000. Farmers are benefiting and making significant profits, but the general populace is suffering.

I believe this is a strategic mistake on his part because he is providing his opponents with ammunition to use against him in 2027. We need the policies he has implemented to continue beyond 2027. That is when we will have any real chance of escaping the rot of over 60 years.

So, while I can criticise him, I would still give him a general pass for the last two years.

What is your assessment of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s government?

Thank you. The government of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa faced significant challenges, as you mentioned. However, he remained calm, a virtue that was quite novel to me. This is something I actually learnt from Governor Aiyedatiwa: that sometimes, in the midst of a storm, you just need to stay calm, and you will survive it.

He stayed composed. He did not lose his cool. He endured it.

When you consider his short-term policies, such as teacher employment, it is clear that he is passionate about the future of the youth. After all, how do you build a nation if you do not invest in its people? A country does not create its citizens; the citizens create the country.

If you want to build your nation, you must first develop your people, and in turn, they will build the country. His actions demonstrated that he genuinely cares about the youth, which resonates with me. When you look beyond Nigeria, at places like China and Japan, they lack the youth population that we have in abundance, but fail to utilise effectively.

His policies and initiatives proved to me that he understands what he is doing and has the nation’s future at heart. Initially, my support for him stemmed from my strong opposition to bullying and a sense of duty. However, his actions in office solidified my support for his re-election. Thankfully, it was a flawless victory—18-0—the people have given him a mandate.

Like the rejected stone that has become the cornerstone, he will be inaugurated on February 24 and, in the long run, the people will be better off for it.

What were the key factors that influenced his victory on 16th November?

The first major factor was the opposition he faced. He is a remarkably gentle and humble governor, yet many people who felt entitled to the position, perhaps believing it was a hereditary role passed from father to son or that their nepotistic ties would grant them power turned against him.

This generated a great deal of public sympathy for him, including from people like me, who, at the time, had not even met him, but supported him fervently. That same sentiment was shared by many others.

When people saw his commitment to empowering, employing, and educating the people, they recognised his vision. The Yoruba say; the only wealth that remains with you is the knowledge you acquire. Journalists are in their profession today because they received some form of education, which sustains them.

If we allow children to remain on the streets without education, what future do they have? They will turn to crime and become bandits. But if we train them, they will become productive members of the society and bring prosperity. That is precisely what Governor Aiyedatiwa is striving to achieve.

Before becoming governor, that was why he employed teachers. Teachers in Ondo State had not been employed for about 16 years. That is revolutionary. It is not as if the state has too much resources at its disposal, but he knew that was a priority, and he did it. That is one thing that is so heartening to me and makes me happy. That is one of the reasons.

Yes, he has lived up to expectations and even exceeded them. And I am sure there are still many naysayers who, based on the circumstances leading to his emergence, are still hoping for his downfall. But he is going to prove them wrong. He is still going to prove them wrong in terms of education, agriculture, and security. He is going to prove them wrong. But up until now, he has exceeded expectations, and he will continue to do an amazing job for the good people of Ondo State.

And I am certain that, come 2028, Ondo State will be a transformed state and on the pathway to even greater transformation.

The only way forward is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can apply it and use it to make a car or a wheelbarrow. Every secure part of the world has a decentralised security architecture. Prior to the coup of 1966, that was the system we operated in Nigeria. The Western Region police and their judges were different from region to region, and they had local control.

If you think about it, if your children were the policemen in the area where you live because that is where they live too, if they heard that some bandits were nearby, they would respond swiftly. When someone commits an offence in that area, they will be tried and sentenced there. But when you have an overarching, centralised security system whereby Abuja can send someone unfamiliar with the terrain, we see many high-profile security issues making the news, while the numerous smaller kidnappings occurring in villages go unnoticed.

Whereas, if people were in control of their security architecture, they would ensure their own safety. That is the only way we can fix our security challenges. You can kill the bandits, you can kill the terrorists, but until security is decentralised—until people feel they have control over their own safety—Nigeria will only be making baby steps towards achieving real security.

You can eliminate the bandits, but you must also empower people to protect themselves. Trust the people, and they will do a good job.

So, I hope the National Assembly continues with their plans for state policing, local government policing, and regional policing—what is known as a stratified policing structure—rather than concentrating control in the hands of a single authority.

What are your suggestions for Governor  Aiyedatiwa regarding the transformation of Ondo State?

Yes, the transformation of Ondo State will be multifaceted. For us to achieve genuine change, we need to educate our people. This is crucial because I saw an interview with the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook—I believe that’s his name—where he explained why they have many factories in China. He said it’s because the Chinese have the necessary tooling skills to build the phones and components they require. That if you went to the United States, you would not find that same level of skill.

So, if we want industries and factories to come to our communities, we must develop the skills needed to support them. Unless we train our students and build a skilled workforce, we will not be able to grow our economy. It is this talent pool that will attract investment, leading to infrastructural development, tourism growth, and agricultural advancements that we need.

We must focus on training the youth and recognise that our most valuable resource is not the crude oil in Ilaje, the bitumen in Agbabu, or the cocoa in Akoko, but the people living across Ondo State.

When you provide them with quality education and training, they will be equipped to thrive in the world because they will be better prepared than their contemporaries.

And they will always be in demand. So, my advice to the governor is to prioritise education, appoint competent individuals—not just politicians—who can drive transformation, and ensure that despite limited resources, our children do not miss out on opportunities.

Our children must not waste their 18-year exposure to education, only to finish school and still be unable to read and write, compose a coherent thought, or speak fluently.

When we achieve that, we will truly transform Ondo State in the long run

Sir, I want to take you back to 2023. You said Tinubu’s decision to remove the subsidy earned your trust in him. With the current economic situation, do you think the subsidy removal has had any effect on the economy?

Yes, the removal of the subsidy has had an outsized effect on the economy. You see, you need to think about it in terms of where the money was going before the subsidy. It was not just the subsidy on oil; the subsidy on oil was about 25% compared to the subsidy on the dollar at the time.

What we were doing before was concentrating resources in the hands of a few wealthy individuals. The subsidy was like an opium for the poor but a luxury for the rich. They had a lot of money and were not spending as much as they should on their plane tickets or multiple convoys. Meanwhile, the poor, though able to survive with limited resources, had no opportunity for growth.

Now that the subsidy has been removed, we can build the infrastructure, schools, and hospitals that people need to truly develop. That is how we will be able to get out of the economic doldrums we have been stuck in for about 50 years.

The subsidy removal will cause pain. But let’s do a little bit of maths. When the dollar was N500, it is now N1,300. That means it has increased by a factor of three.

Let’s assume that before the dollar rose, you had N3,000 and I had N3 million. Now that the dollar is N1,500, the value of your naira has dropped from N3,000 to N1,000. Mine has dropped from N3 million to N1 million.

So, who lost more money? You lost N2,000; I lost N2 million. The same factor, but not the same impact.

It will have an oversized negative effect because, with your N1,000, you may not even be able to transport yourself home. Whereas with my N1 million, I can do whatever I want—perhaps even pay my rent.

But that extra N2 million that the government is no longer giving the rich—because imagine that for every N2,000 the government was giving you before, I was getting N2 million—they can now reinvest in real sectors like education and infrastructure, which will benefit not just me, but all of us.

That is why it is having a negative impact right now. But over time, we will emerge from it, and we will all look back and thank President Tinubu for taking that bold decision because he put the stability of his administration at risk and severely weakened his re-election prospects by doing so.

But this shows that he is not a man who cares only about himself. If you look at it, President Tinubu is a wealthy man. He lost more money than you did, yet he still went ahead with it.

That is selfless sacrifice, which many fail to acknowledge. So yes, it has had a lot of negative impacts, but as Shakespeare said, “one must be cruel to be kind”—so that the bad begins, but the worst is avoided.

So it is kindness, but it is cruel at this moment.

In the course of this interview, you spoke about bullying and said you are against it. The former First Lady of this state, Dr Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, has been putting pressure on the government for the past two weeks. She has been interfering in matters that do not concern her. What is your take on this?

I believe she does not deserve anyone’s attention and should be ignored. I see nothing but contempt in her direction. She does not deserve anyone’s time or mental space in Ondo State.

She is gone. We are happy she has left. Let us consign her to the dustbin of history and allow her to keep lamenting.

Once she gets no response, she will probably fade from our minds, because all she wants is attention.

That is the game she is playing. Let us ignore her. She can cry for as long as she wants. In my opinion, she is self-centred and egotistical. She does not care about the people. Let the compassionate governor focus on his job while the former First Lady continues lamenting over her lost position. I did not see her mourn much over losing her husband. I am sorry.

I would like you to speak on the agitation for new states. Recently, the National Assembly presented a memorandum comprising 31 proposed new states. There have been divergent views on this topic. What is your opinion?

I see the idea of creating new states as what the Yoruba would call an “egbé apartment” scenario. They are merely trying to fragment the country so that people cannot compete on a broader scale. We will probably end up with smaller circles of influence where individuals can exert control. The new states do not make sense. We have states that are not economically viable. Is this the time to be discussing the creation of new states?

The most important thing is to restructure the system of government so that states have more control over their resources. They can harness these resources to foster prosperity, rather than arbitrarily proposing the creation of  new states without any logical justification.

Nigeria is fine as it is. In fact, I would advocate for the merger of states rather than further fragmentation. It is a baseless suggestion, in my opinion, and I hope the National Assembly discards it and focuses on real restructuring—economic, financial, and security restructuring of Nigeria.

The outdated exclusive list needs to be reviewed. States should take charge, especially in a multi-ethnic country like ours, where we are fundamentally different people. We need to have control over our own affairs. That way, citizens will participate more in governance and democracy—not by simply breaking states apart.

Let’s restructure, and with that restructuring, Nigeria will be better off.

And the black race will be better for it because Nigeria is seen as a beacon of hope for black people globally. If we succeed, it will elevate our standing and that of every black person in the world.

As a U-S.-based medical doctor, what, in your opinion, are the implications of Donald Trump’s victory, particularly regarding immigration and global stability?

Yes, President Donald Trump and his vice president, Elon Schmuck, are both extremists, in my opinion. The United States relies on immigrant labour—both skilled and unskilled—to sustain its economy. That is how they keep their farms, restaurants, universities, and hospitals running.

So, their demonisation of immigrants stems from a lazy, unenlightened segment of the U.S. population. It is also fuelled by disinformation on social media.

My biggest concern is the reduction in U.S. aid, which many countries—including Nigeria—have relied on for years, particularly the PEPFAR programme that provides HIV medication.

The world is beginning to see that the U.S. is not as reliable as it once seemed. While this is not the sentiment of all Americans, electing Donald Trump again signals that the U.S. is no longer a country to rely on.

Nigeria and the rest of the world should take note. The goodwill the U.S. enjoys is tied to its generosity. Now that it is withdrawing, we must also rethink our dependence on it.

What’s your advice to youths?

My advice to Nigerian youths is to believe in themselves. You can only achieve what you believe in. If your eyes cannot see it, your hands cannot grasp it.

They must have hope that despite the suffering, there is good intention and their lives will improve in the future. The government must also act swiftly to show results, especially regarding the cost of living and food prices.

For instance, rice cannot cost N46,000 per bag in Cotonou and N100,000 per bag in Nigeria. Something is clearly wrong and must be addressed.

That is my advice for both the government and the youths.