After several hours of dissecting Nigeria’s problem under the theme, ‘Putting together the jigsaw pieces that form Nigeria,’ Guest speakers at the 2017 edition of, “The Platform,’’ an annual national discourse forum organised by the Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos, yesterday, all agreed that Nigeria as a country has witnessed major setbacks due to lack of good leadership.
In the list of the highly resourceful guests who collectively spoke about how the country can create new pathways to success include, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah; the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Dioceses, Bishop Mathew Kukah; former Presidential spokesman, Mr. Segun Adeniyi; former Super Eagles player, Chief Segun Odegbami; Professor of Comparative Politics and Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Eghosa Osaghae and Professor Pat Utomi.
Visibly worried about the ethnic fault lines now common among the people of Nigeria, he said every Nigerian feels angry at the moment.
“All of us are unhappy and I believe the president too is unhappy because this is not the country he sacrificed for. The president said he fought a civil war to keep Nigeria as one, but if we fought a civil war over 40 years ago and the problem persists, then it means something is wrong.
“The president said he fought a civil war to keep Nigeria as one, but if we fought a civil war over 40 years ago and the problem persists, then it means something is wrong.
“The country has become chaotic. Collectively, we are frustrated in Nigeria. The issue now is, how do we process this anger?” He asked, stressing that “where we are now, anything can go wrong because we are at a tipping point. Nigeria is on a dangerous precipice and we must, therefore, be careful.”
According to him, anger is prevalent everywhere in the country, and the people are seeking means of expressing their anger, therefore, he argued that the best option is to address their grievances and not attempt to silence the people.
Notwithstanding, he advised that the people should continue to enjoy their inalienable right to talk.
Adeniyi, on his part who strongly condemned most of Nigerian elites for seeing the country as a meal ticket, urged impoverished, angry Nigerians not to direct their anger at other ethnic nationalities, saying they should look for ways to move the country forward because bad governance is not peculiar to the federal government; it also affects the states and the local governments.”
He also talked about issues pertaining hate speeches, which he said is further putting Nigeria on the edge, cited the reversed Arewa Youth Consultative Forum ultimatum to Igbo in the North to quit, which though had been withdrawn, saying: “The damage done was unprecedented.”
The former presidential spokesperson added: “However, the fact was that the ultimatum was triggered by hate speeches made by Nnamdi Kanu and many elders from other climes who felt that the Igbo elders who were old enough to give birth to Kanu failed to call him to order and were genuflecting with him until the situation nearly got out of hand.”
Although Enelamah, while delivering his note started with remarks on how the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is changing the face of governance in Nigeria, he, however, admitted that there is a fundamental flaw.
He said, ‘A fundamental flaw in the Nigerian debate is the absence of self-responsibility.” Drawing example from the Spanish miracle between 1959 and 1974 when Spanish technocrats brought about rapid development in the European country, he said: “It takes only one committed generation to build a Nigerian of our dream. We must start with the end in mind.”
The minister said: “We need to create an environment for us to succeed. Nigerians succeed outside the country but when you give them the same hurdle in Nigeria they fail. Government, civil society groups and the people must partner to inspire and foster the new generation of Nigerian to bring about a new Nigeria, and why not this generation?”
Respectively, Professors, Utomi and Osaghae lamented the dysfunctionality and lack of accountability on the part of states and Local Governments.
Utomi said restructuring alone would not solve Nigeria’s development challenges.
Utomi said empirical evidence showed no link between more resources and development in the country.
He said some states with less resources were more developed than some resource-rich states.
The APC member, therefore, said that the belief that the states would do better with more resources was a myth.
He added that only those states that made the people the core of their government would develop.
Utomi decried the costs of governance at the various levels of government, saying the situation was a drain on the country’s resources.
He described governance in most states as poor, while saying local governments in the country were dysfunctional.
“The local governments in the country are dysfunctional and are a bloody waste of resources,’’ he said.
The former presidential aspirant said the country needed to be restructured in a way that the costs of governance would be reduced, so as to be able to deliver the goods.
He said the country fared better under the regional arrangement as it fostered healthy competition at minimal costs of running the government.
On his part, Professor of Comparative Politics and Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Eghosa Osaghae, has blamed states government for the many sufferings, marginalisation felt by Nigerians across several regions in the country due to their dysfunctionality.
Citing the example of the Independent People of the Biafra, IPOB, Osaghae said he always wondered why the ‘marginalisation’ which as perceived by agitators means lack of social welfare service excludes their respective state governments and local governments which claim 52% of our Nigeria’s public expenditure.
On his part, Odegbami said corruption is one of the banes of the growth of Nigeria. He drew an inference from sharp practices in the sports sector, which he said ought to have been one of the veritable tools to move Nigeria forward through empowerment of youths.