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At 60 nothing to celebrate because of our structure and we need to restructure if we must move.
“At 60 we need to see a visible thing that can impress us. At 60 we are battling with insecurity. At 60 we are battling with economic problems. At 60 we are battling with extreme hunger. At 60 Nigeria is still listed as one of the poorest countries. At 60 what can we mention, is it good water, is it good road, is it electricity, at 60 we lack all the necessary things that we need.
“We are told life starts at 40 and expectancy at 60, so if you look at life expectancy Nigeria has almost outlived his life expectancy going by Nigerian standard or African standard.
“We are called federal government of Nigeria, how many years after we are running a unitary system of government.
” The centre is overloaded and that is why the vehicle called Nigeria can’t move. ” You can’t take a small car like a Toyota and give it a load that a trailer will carry, it won’t move so that is the problem of Nigeria. The way Nigeria is structured presently it is difficult for us to move Nigeria.
Therefore at 60 we should come together now, go back to the table and restructure Nigeria. I challenge you this is 2020, now look at Nigeria in historical perspective, 60years ago 1960 and look at the economic advancement the GDP then and now, you will see that we are matching backward how many years ago. I will illustrate.
“In 1983, somebody that is being paid $500 or convert that to naira then; somebody was earning N500 in 1983 it was a big money. As a corper by the year 1989, 1990, I was earning two hundred and fifty kobo. Now that person that was earning N500 in 1983 lived well. If you convert it to dollar, dollar was at N60 to a dollar, then he was earning over N200,000. Now the person retired as a Perrmanent Secretary and he is earning N250,000 which is now less than $1,000; can’t you see that he was matching back for the last 30years that he was working because what he earned then when it was N500 was now bigger than the N300,000.
In 1982, a brand new Peugeot Pan with insurance was N6,500 and they will give you one year service free; today N6,500 cannot fill the fuel tank of a vehicle, can you see where we are getting to.
“In 1982 if you are found with N7,000 they will call the police for you, but a school boy will hold N7,000 and nobody will think anything happened. So how did we get here, from where and how do we get out of here?
“So at 60, all we should do is gather, go and clean the table and start drawing, there is nothing to celebrate. It calls for solemn gathering, a call for fasting and prayer, we should go to the Eagle Square, call all the pastors and bishops and imams and pray for Nigeria for a change and then look for how to shed the excess load we are carrying, Nigeria is overloaded at the centre and that is why without FAAC or whatever they call it, some states cannot work. They need the FAAC to be able to pay salaries.
We emulate other persons, other regimes; we should apply it to us. We must decongest Nigeria so that every components of true federalism and fiscal federalism where you can grow at your pace and limit and timing is put in place.
Also, speaking almost in the same vein, Hon Rima Shawulu, a top ranking member of the House and a journalist simply said all the elites in the country should apologize to Nigerians because we have failed them.
He said: “The British spent 58 years ruliing us while we have spent 60years ruling ourselves and nothing to show while the colonisers had something to show.
“The British constructed roads, built ports, schools and rail lines within the space of 58years what do we have to show in 60years, Shawulu wondered.
He explained that”not untill Goodluck Jonathan came into governance, children born in the 1990s and maybe in the 80s too don’t know how a rail line looked like.
“We left it the way they left it and added nothing until GEJ came on board and the railways became operational.
” We the elites, including me we need to tell Nigerians we are sorry because we failed Nigerians.