Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) is a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Agbakoba has been a vocal critic of government often raising objections to government policies.

In this interview with Vanguard, Agbakoba speaks on the state of the nation, the falling economy, security and the Buhari administration.

Here are 10 things we learnt from the interview

1) Nigeria is in depression, not recession

“Yes, about three months ago, I said Nigeria was sliding into recession, because a recession is two quarterly negative growths. So, now that the politically incorrect word – recession – has finally been said by the Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, let me say that we are not in recession, but in depression.

“Nigeria has recorded five consecutive quarterly growths up to 2016 first quarter (Q1), which showed a negative balance. That is a depression. Critically speaking, nobody is making profit.”

2) Agbakoba is cautiously negative about the Buhari administration

“In the beginning of this administration, I was cautiously positive but right now I am cautiously negative. But I am waiting to see what will happen. In all fairness to President Buhari, he has been challenged by the unenvisaged crisis of governance he found- a technically insolvent country, bailouts and many of those things which meant he was bugged down and couldn’t get into governance.”

3) Anti-corruption war is a rigmarole

“Credit must go to him on his anti-corruption programme. However, my problem with his anti-corruption programme is that it’s a rigmarole. The programme has centred on stories that government is doing this and that, which is good. But I must say that if the President keeps looking in the rear mirror, as he had been doing in the last one year, he won’t move.

“The Buhari’s anti-corruption programme is an equivalent of a driver who is looking at the rear mirror to see what is happening behind. Such a drive won’t move forward.”

4) The Buhari administration has tackled corruption well

“We know that people had stolen money, but what we want to see is an aggressive action plan. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and other law enforcement agencies, don’t have the resources, capacity and the skills to fight corruption.

“However, I am proud to say that there has been some strong action plan on the path of the Buhari administration in tackling corruption.”

5) Buhari administration has unclear economic plan

“What gives me the greatest concern is the unclear economic direction of this government. I see two competing forces in the Buhari administration. I see state control from the President and I see private sector framework from the Vice President.

“A good example is the handling of the shortages of petroleum products. Marketers were excluded Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was asked to solely import and distribute, and they failed. The government ran back to the marketers who now demanded a special rate, and they got N285, the current PPPRA template.”

6) Nigeria has four foreign exchange rates

“This confusion has led to four foreign exchange regimes. Nigeria’s forex policy is unclear and uncertain. We have the CBN rate, the rate for fuel importers, the rate at the autonomous markets and the rate at the “black market.” People who can access forex at the official CBN rate would offload to the next rate. This breeds corruption from differentials in the four markets.”

7) Fashola has good policies and plan

“You can find good policies from the Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola, on roads and power, that is fine. But if you don’t have an over-arching policy, there would be a problem.”

8) Nigeria will grow economically if…..

“However, if government announces complete deregulation and liberalization of the economy, by 2016 Q2, which would end by June/July, we would begin to witness growth. If this happens, I predict growth should return to about two per cent.

“With the right stimulation, not mere N350 billion, we should witness further growth at the end of 2016. Nigeria needs about $50 trillion to stimulate the economy. Yes, Nigeria doesn’t have the kind of money, but Buhari and his team must seek creative ways to source the money.”

9) Nigeria’s biggest problem is not recognizing her problems

“I feel the biggest problem we face in Nigeria is not recognizing that we are in depression and not recession. That is the first challenge. Even though, some people would come out tomorrow and say it’s not true, the question is, what is government’s response to this? We need to see the response so that we can turn things around.”

10) Nigeria is in low grade civil war

“The administration has had flip-flops in the area of security of lives and property. We have the herdsmen menace, the Biafran question, and the renewed Niger Delta militancy. However, there have been successes in containing the Boko Haram crisis. So, we need a new counter-insecurity apparatus that can deliver results.

“In appraising, I must say something has happened. But what is missing is what the Europeans realized over 600 years ago. Without peace and stability, you can’t make progress.

“At the moment, Nigeria is in low grade civil war, because there are few places you can go, today, without thinking, is this place safe? Nigeria is in a low grade civil war, which many Nigerians don’t realise, because they are participants. But if one travels out and returns; from the airport, with all the conflicts everywhere, one would describe Nigeria as a country in a low grade civil war.”