Ekiti State governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi has bemoaned the failure of the federal government to impact on the lives of Nigerians. He regretted that, 51 years after the country’s political independence from Britain, Nigeria has remained a vast ‘‘savannah of failure”.
He was speaking during a courtesy visit to the corporate headquarters of LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group.
While admitting that it is not possible for a country like Nigeria to achieve its target within 51 years, the governor argued that 51 years is enough for a country to show direction of purposeful, transparent, accountable and development-driven leadership. ‘‘If a country is 51 years old, there should be a clear direction of speedy development, but Nigeria is simply a country in motion without movement,” the governor said. “This country is on the precipice because there is so much uncertainty in the land. What the leadership of this country must do at this critical moment of our national history is to assure and reassure Nigerians of concrete measures put in place to reclaim our lost glory.’’
For Nigeria to make progress and compete favourably in the comity of nations, the country must be re-jigged and restructured in such a way that the federal government would be unattractive to the intervening interlopers,? said Governor Fayemi.
To achieve this, he said, there must be devolution of powers, the country must revert to the parliamentary system of government, revert to a unicameral legislature and make governors of the component states directly in charge of the security apparatuses of their states, if they are? truly chief security officers of their domains.
Said the governor: ‘‘Nigerians have no organic link with the Nigerian state as it is today and this is rather unfortunate. The corruption in Abuja is mind-boggling and this is simply because the centre is made too attractive for a few Nigerians while 140 million population languish.
“My people in Ekiti don’t come to Abuja because it doesn’t mean much to them. If the country must move forward, then, we must revert to parliamentary system of government, unicameral legislature, conduct free and fair election and make the centre weaker and this will reduce corruption on its own.’’
On the savagery of Boko Haram, the governor said Nigeria became a fertile ground for terrorism because the federal government disbanded the Anti-terrorism Unit. He called on President Goodluck Jonathan to quickly reconstitute the unit to fight terrorism in the country: “Up to 2007, Nigeria had an Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) that was truly effective, working as far as Somalia, Sudan and Algeria…But something happened in 2007: that unit was dismantled. The spate of bomb blasts is the result of the dismantling of that unit.’’
Contrary to the perception that members of Boko Haram are unknown, Fayemi said if the security agencies are properly coordinated and monitor members of the sect and other terrorist groups, they will be known.
On the ongoing trial of the national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, by the Code of Conduct Bureau, Fayemi said the President Goodluck Jonathan administration was embarking on judicial lynching of Tinubu to cow the opposition ahead of 2015. He, however, believed that no amount of intimidation would stop the opposition from regrouping to move the country forward.
Fayemi, who is barely 10 months in the saddle as governor, said his administration has so far employed 5,000 youths, promoted mechanised agriculture and shored up the state’s monthly internally generated revenue from N100million to N300million. He also promised to turn the state into a tourist centre which could compete with Ogbudu Cattle Ranch.
He said his government went to the capital market to access bonds not to pay salary but to provide critical infrastructure that could raise funds for the state. The governor said people of the state would benefit from the bonds since the bonds accessed by the Governor Niyi Adebayo administration remains a veritable source of revenue to the state. He listed Nanet Suites as one of the property acquired with the bond which, he stressed, generates money for the agrarian state. ?
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