…Says Nigeria needs political, economic revolution
By Francis Sadhere
A sociopolitical group under the aegis of Concerned Citizens Nigeria Forum (CCNF) has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to protect the territorial integrity of the nation.
Convener of the group, Ambassador Anthony Nwagwu who spoke to our correspondent in Warri recently said this when responding to President Buhari’s comment in London where he blamed former Libyan President, Mamma Gadhafi for the activities of herdsmen in the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last week publicly blamed former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who was killed seven years ago for the ongoing killings across central Nigeria.
The killings have long been linked to herdsmen, and some herders of the Fulani ethnic stock have claimed responsibility for some attacks.
But the president said Mr Gaddafi, a dictator swept away by an uprising in 2011, was to blame for the alarming dimension the attacks have taken in recent years.
Nwagwu said Buhari has indicted his own government for making that statement, noting that Buhari had just announced to the world that he is incapable of governing Nigerians.
He said: ” “Today, I can tell you that this present regime that has thrown Nigeria into the worst economic hardship and political uncertainty. They must be rooted out from our economic and social life so that Nigeria can have a brighter future.
“The present administration that we have today has no economic blueprint that will take us out of this present situation. the man we have there today has failed economically and politically because he cannot separate politics from our social and economic life. When there are problems in our political life, it affects our economic and social life and investors will not come.”
The group therefore called on Nigerians to kick out the present administration from the seat of power come 2019, adding that this was the only way the country can move forward as a nation.
The group added that President Buhari’s statement has shown the world that he lacks knowledge in international relationship, wondering why a president of a country would be blaming foreigners for the insecurities in his country.
They noted that Nigeria needs a political and economic revolution to move it forward, stressing it was high time Nigerians fought for their freedom from the hands of bad governance.
According to the group, “In human history, there have been cases of revolutions all over the world where some of them pick up arm against their oppressors. But the real revolution we are talking about today is a complete change in our political, social, and economic life. Every nation in the world has experienced changes and Nigeria cannot be an exception. So this is why Nigerians need to make changes that can lead to political stability and growth. If we need the economic stability and growth that we are yearning for, we must make political changes.
“Nigeria is rated as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. Today a lot of people celebrate those who make their money from corruption. For us to change in this country, we need economic restructuring. Economic restructuring is sustainable and this is why we need change in our political, social, cultural lives.
“We need a clear economic blueprint if we want to move forward as a nation. The system whereby all things are taken to the central because of the resources coming from a particular region cannot be sustainable. It cannot be because the only region that is viable in the country is the one that is sustaining the country. The appropriation of monies coming from the viable state is shared based on politics and not on merit.
“It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the region that is producing the wealth of the nation is taken care of because they are the ones that suffers the pollution that is coming as a result of the oil exploration and exploitation. This faulty arrangement has made a lot of states who have the capability to develop their own resources to be very lazy and depend on government. This has also put so much pressure on the little resources that is surviving this nation.”
The group also condemned the system of government operated in the country whereby everything is concentrated on the central, noting that no country can survive in an environment that is not fair to them.
“I have not seen a country that survives with this kind of government. You must give certain degree of autonomy to the states or region or county or whatever you call it. Give them the free hand to harness and develop their natural resources. There are states that have good education capabilities and there are states that have natural resources and so on and so forth. Let these people harness their resources and begin to export them. The inter-change of resources and ideas will increase the GDP of each state. But a process whereby one state feed the other states because of the natural resources they have is not healthy and sustainable.
“Those states that have natural resources are at a disadvantage because they are been cheated because the resources that comes from their region is shared based on political arrangement and not based on how much is coming from your states. At the end of the day you will discover that the population of these states is rising but the natural resources are becoming scarce,” the group said.
