Dr Bolaji O. Akinyemi is a respected Apostle and a Nation Builder with years of impeccable character behind him, generally accepted and celebrated by Nigerians for his strength of character, integrity and boldness. As the Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman of PVC Naija and Convener of iWalk, Dr Akinyemi was engaged for an exclusive interview conducted by the CEO of Maximum Communication, Clem Adeyi a consultancy and brand management expert in a no holds barred interview.

He spoke on iWalk 4 EFCC 2024 project, the integrity of the Commission, and other national sundry matters.

Excerpts:

Are you not mindful of ruffling your integrity; why the identification with EFCC at a time when the Commission is embroiled in the Bobrisky bribery scandal or are you on an image making contact with the Commission?

Integrity is an impeccable attribute of a personality in his disposition to situations of life, especially when moral hazards are involved; it is the reason the worst of us are leading the rest of us. Remember, it was the political myth with which Buhari was sold until his “intelligence” betrayed his integrity and he got demystified in the art of statecraft. Not staining or denting our integrity is the lame excuse that has kept many God sent citizens out of public leadership. Particularly in a nation where the people are gullible. It took Babangida nothing to rubbish Dr Tai Solarin; public opinion of him as a result of that episode notwithstanding, there is an image of Tai Solarin in the hearts of Students he mentored, that all of Babangida’s skills in antics would never be able to erase. In men like Pastor (Dr) WF Kumuyi and many others, we still see a version of Tai Solarin.

I stand naked before God, and those who know me closely I believe will stand in the days of integrity trials, real or fluke. But, fear won’t keep me from doing what my life is all about. Still on your questions, our first communication with EFCC on the 2024 project of iWalk, tagged Economic and Financial Creativity for a greater Country, was dated 19th of August 2024.

 iWalk is one of our many successful intervention projects nurtured by Project Victory Call Initiative as a leading Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with core values in civic education towards citizens’ patriotic drive and commitment to nation building. iWalk stands for Independent Walk; it is our deliberate effort to create Citizens’ conscious commitment to values that can help build a better and greater nation via annual walks to celebrate the Independence of our dear country Nigeria every October.
Our maiden edition was held in October 2022 with a caption of; iWalk, to say No To Vote Buying!!  The acceptance of the iWalk project by Nigerians is commendable, as an average of 100,000 iWalkers have participated in the iWalk since inception. The 2024 episode of iWalk in October, and any other one for that matter, is about Nigeria and not Bobrisky or anybody.

The challenge of building a better and greater nation remains the cardinal focus of iWalk as succinctly captured by the rider of the project; “4 a better and greater nation”. It’s simply a matter of undesirable coincidence that the Bobrisky incident emerged on the national stage drama when all is set for iWalk for Economic and Financial Creativity for a greater Country (aka iWalk 4 EFCC). iWalk is not a cherry picking concept for image laundering but a process to inculcate the virtue of transparency and accountability in stewardship.
In light of the above, the evidence in the public domain shows conclusively that the link between 2024 iWalk exercise and the governmental agency for Economic and Financial Crimes has nothing to do with the suspicions of image laundry efforts of either of us. Neither the governmental agency nor non-governmental project is flippant or frivolous in its pursuit. We have a choice between getting excited about the Bobrisky incident like most people are, but our choice for the 2024 October iWalk was long made. Beneath the drive for financial crime is the survival from poverty foisted on citizens by prevailing economic conditions, and the ensuing culture of corruption in today’s Nigeria. We won’t be distracted! by the excitement with corruption cases. The pointing of the fingers in the direction of the corrupt persons can never be the solution. The need to rid our society of the culture of corruption that has snared us in our self-imposed poverty is the focus of the 2024 “iWalk 4 EFCC”. We stay focused!

Why iWalk 4 EFCC and not iWalk 4 Intelligence Policing?

Our concept Note about the acronym of EFCC is Economic and Financial Creativity for a greater Country. The creative ingenuity of citizens must substitute their crime tendency in the pursuit of livelihoods in the polity. Nigerians are talented and creative, but not as skillful and competent in legitimate pursuits. Talents are inborn, creativity is an intelligent expression of one’s talent. But skills and competencies are acquired and honed by training! It is the duty of leadership to train the citizens in the gap areas of talents and creativity to hone skills in their areas of talent for more intelligent creative expression through human capacity development. As a “people”, we seem to have chosen corruption over creative means of livelihood! for which the iWalkers are walking to say No!

iWalk is a tripodal nexus between The Government, The Citizens and The Private sector to collectively take responsibility to WALK and WORK together to end corruption in Nigeria. The citizens are saying yes to us, and the Private Sector as usual are watching the reaction of Government to know how to engage with us. After God is the Government. And you need to be in the good book of the Government to safely operate within their territory of sovereignty. Unfortunately, those in Government are seeing the best of friends a nation could have in us as nation builders as enemies of government. But the only way to conclude on any group in government whether they are friends of the people or enemies, is their perceptions of sincere labourers for a better and greater Nigeria like us.

Can we have more light on iWalk?

The iWalk project aims to inculcate a system of transparency and accountability in stewardship, which dates back to ancient times when society began to attribute value to transactions amongst members. This started with labour rate as the basis of valuation of transactions such as the pristine marital deal between Jacob and Laban, the father of Rachael.
Abraham was a steward of God, who was called to WALK before Him and be perfect. The demand in stewardship is to go before and be seen, open your book and hide not your ways! The absence of this philosophy is the mystery of inquity that NNPCL is to Nigeria. Transactions in crude oil is arguably the most documented deal in the world today; virtually all costs elements are benchmarked by standards that are globally acclaimed. The per barrel cost of crude oil extraction, sales in the global arena, freight cost by shipping, refining margin, internal distribution in a jurisdiction and eventual pump price of products to end-consumers are crystal clear. Regrettably, Mele Kayri, the helmsman of NNPCL gleefully boast about a debt burden of $6billion upon NNPCL; because what is open to the world is hidden from Nigerians and nobody is asking questions.

What is your message to Nigerians about iWalk?

Citizens are invited to register their patriotism and commitment to the Nigeria project by becoming an iWalker!; iWalker is a Walk to higher ground! This is not about any governmental agency per se but the one for economic and financial crimes (EFCC) is only a privilege of coincidence to share same acronyms that makes it our focus this October and at a time like this. However, we are determined to see this partnership through to fruition.

How can an interested Nigerian become an iWalker?

To be an iWalker, simply register in the dedicated portal and participate in any of the exercises of the project; that will automatically confer the status of an iWalker to a participant. The next iWalk project in view is scheduled for Saturday, 5th October 2024 in Abuja by 7:00AM at Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC); register via:
https://www.pvc-naija.com.ng/iwalk-2024/
join walk to instantly become an iWalker.

It’s a week to the walk, why is this information coming lately?

It is not late; briefing Notes have been out for a while but this interview is a timely reminder about the level of preparedness and status of preparations. As a non-protest advocacy walk in celebration of Nigeria’s independence, there is need to be on the same page with all security agencies for the safety and security of iWalkers. That is what it will take to get a system to work and deliver for everyone in the system. Let all whose duties it is to do something, do something! And deliver it to the next person in the line; that attitude and discipline is what is needed to get Nigeria working! The 2024 iWalk 4 EFCC is a duty we are determined to deliver to Nigerians, it is bound to be our biggest since inception. Like I said earlier, iWalk project is a coordinated tripodal nexus between the Government, Citizens and the Private sector to collectively take responsibility to WALK and WORK together to end corruption in Nigeria. iWalk! Is the walk we must walk to make Nigeria better and greater through uncompromising determination for a good and responsible citizenship role in governance. Together with you, we look forward to the success of 2024 iWalk 4 EFCC for a greater Nigeria.

Will iWalk hold in all 774 Local Government Areas across the country as publicised?

No! iWalk was initially designed to hold in all Local Government Headquarters across the country, but in view of national atmosphere by the after-effects of August protest and rumours of another looming one, we need to avoid creating a platform for those who want to protest to jump on, so we narrowed our plan to one location.

A word for Nigerians on this?

Nigerians in the millions can join us on live streaming and share on their page to tell the world we are up on the fight for our lives from the hands of corruption. The 2024 iWalk exercise is scheduled as follows: –
Date: Saturday 5th October 2024.
Time: 7:00AM.
Convergence Point: AMAC Headquarters, Area 10, Abuja.

Terminal Point: CBN Headquarters, CBD, Abuja.

See you at the walk.

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