29092020 - Anger as labour leaders abort strike, mass protest

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 — 13
:Vanguard News
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MEETING: From left—Former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu; Governor of Bauchi State, Sen.
Bala Mohammed; former Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu; former Minister of Special
Duties, Tanimu Turaki, SAN, and former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, when Governor Mohammed
led members of the PDP 2019 Post-election Review Panel to a closed door meeting with Ekweremadu at his
Abuja residence, yesterday.
Lets go back to regional, parliamentary
system —Mbazulike, Nwodo, ADF
• Say current system is not working
By Anayo Okoli,
Chimaobi Nwaiwu
& Ikechukwu Odu
ENUGU—THE First
Republic Minister of
Aviation and elder statesman,
Chief Mbazulike
Amechi, former national
chairman of the People's
Democratic Party, PDP, Dr.
Okwesilieze Nwodo, have
called for the return to regional
system of government
in Nigeria as a panacea
for the economic and
political insecurities in
the country.
Also, Igbo elite group,
Alaigbo Development
Foundation, ADF, has recommended
regional system
of administration as
the best way forward, saying
that it will give regions
comparative advantage
and propel faster development.
Mbazulike Amechi
urged Nigeria to drop the
unitary system of government
which he said was
a creation of the army because
it was convinient for
them.
"Let the country go back
to the original design
whereby the states managed
their own affairs. It's
easier to control. Let us go
back to the parliamentary
system of government
because this Presidential
system is not working.
The unitary system of government
was the brain
child of the military because
it was convinient
for them.`
“In the parliamentary
system, with a mistake of
a majority vote of one in
the House of Representatives,
the Prime Minister
goes.But this time, it is almost
impossible to remove
a non performing President,
it will be almost impossible
to remove a non
performing governor from
office”, Amechi said.
He also contended that
there is so much corruption
in Nigeria which is
the reason Presidential
system of government is
not working, adding that
the people expected to
steer the affairs of the
country are very corrupt,
and also making it impossible
for the fight against
corruption to succeed.
"The fight against corruption
has to start from
the top. No doubt, the job
of fighting corruption will
not be easy because the
people who are in power
or in control of things
are the corrupt people.
There are the former
governors who stole their
states dry finding themselves
in the Senate and
wielding power and control
in the Senate and in
the country.
"So, very soon, you will
have a Senate that is almost
65% former corrupt
governors and so, it is
not going to be easy for
the man in charge of the
country. They will circumvent
any effort he is
making to fight corruption.
"Look at what they are
doing with the former
Chairman of Economic
and Financial Crime
Commission, EFCC, Mr
Ibrahim Magu. That was
a man the Senate rejected
two or three times
based on the reports
against him, yet the
President imposed him
on the country. He ended
"Maguing" the country.
"Yes, everybody has
seen the way he was exposed,
that was a lesson
for Nigerian leaders.
The Senate had the boldness
to say we reject this
man, no we do not want
him; DSS wrote a report
against him and exposed
the man to the
Senate, that they were
going not to allow him to
head EFCC. The government
insisted on having
him and his name was
sent to the Senate again
and they said that he
should not be made EFCC
chairman but the government
insisted on him. So,
he did what he did and
do you blame him? It is
the government that you
should blame.
"This is the only country
where rats and other animals
swallow millions of
Naira and Dollars and it
is swept under the carpet.
How can you run a country
like that?
“There is injustice and
marginalization against
some sections of the country
particularly the Igbos,
while some sections of the
country behave and are
treated as if only they own
Nigeria.
"So, if there will be peace
in this country, there
must be equity, because
what the government is
doing now is very unfair.
There is a very powerful
section of Nigeria, the
Igbo side of Nigeria, you
cannot say they do not
exist but you don't care
about them. You will never
have peace because
their brothers know what
they are going through
now.
"If there will be peace in
this country, there must be
an assurance to Ndigbo
that they belong to this
country and by this, there
must be an Igbo President
of Nigeria, a Nigerian
President of Igbo extraction.
"The Igbos on the other
hand must accept the reality
that the North has
the majority population
and that broken bridges
between the Igbos and
the North must be repaired
if we will have
anything in this country”,
Amechi declared.
Current system
of governance
not working
—Nwodo
Nwodo, in his view, said
the crude oil which is the
mainstay of Nigeria's
economy was no longer
sustainable and therefore,
the need to return
to the system of government
which enables each
region of the country to
exploit their divergent
natural resources to develop
at their own pace.
Nwodo who was a
former governor of Enugu
State also said that
parliamentary system of
government would save
Nigeria from collosal
wastage of funds during
elections.
"In the first republic,
even though there was a
Nigerian constitution,
the federating units had
their constitutions as
well. So, the states were
semi-autonomous and
independent. Therefore,
they raised their internally
generated revenue
from the resources in
their regions. They were
able to meet their regional
budgets and at the
same time, contribute a
quota to the central
purse of the federal government.
"They had opportunities
to partner with foreign
investors and to exploit
the natural resources
within their regions
and there was no exclusive
list as such that debarred
them from venturing
into any aspect of
governance and economic
activity which
they wanted to do.
"Today, the reverse is
completely the situation.
Here, all funds accruing
from our natural resources
are gathered in a central
purse and now, we
have one feeding bottle,
feeding the 36 states and
the the federal capital
territory, Abuja. The
main source of the revenue
happens to be a single
economy: oil and gas
and as the market value
of the commodities are
dwindling in the international
market and with
coronavirus shutting
down the world economy,
that feeding bottle cannot
go round again.
"Since the federating
units have no power to
utilize the natural resources
in their states or
engage in the development
of key infrastructure
which can help them
to develop because of the
exclusive list of the federal
government, they
are all tending towards
malnutrition. Only six of
them now are self-sustaining
without federal
allocations.
"So, you can see the
magnitude of the difference
between the regional
government
which we had in the first
republic and the states as
we have them today. The
current situation is neither
providing economic
nor political stability as
we had it in the first
republic.That's why a lot
of people are clamouring
for the restructuring of
the country.
“We need to restructure
Nigeria into a proper
federation. We can't be
having a unitary government
and call it a federation;
it is an abnormality.
In a federation, the
units agree to survive
and having survived,
come together for common
interest and provide
for that common interest.
I think, it is a better arrangement,"
said.
While talking about different
milestone
achievements recorded
during the first republic,
Nwodo said: "Let me
start with the North.
They had large farmlands
and because of
that, they farmed cotton
which they added value
to by producing cotton
materials and exporting
the cotton raw as well.
The Northern Region
also farmed groundnuts
and because of that, they
had groundnut pyramids.
They also exported
hides and skin from
their cattle business.
They made a lot of revenue
from agriculture
from which they built the
Ahmadu Bello University
and constructed many
roads across the region.
"Their revenue was
largely agrarian. They
provided healthcare and
other basic amenities to
the people of the region.
They didn't lack anything.
“Western Nigeria exported
cocoa and rubber
and they were the mainstay
of their economy.
Because of the rubber,
some tyre factories such
as Michelin were set up
in Lagos and Port Harcourt
for the production
of vehicle tyres and other
components. The region
made their money
from that.
"The first television station
in Africa was built in
Ibadan from that revenue.
They built the University
of Ibadan and
good road network from
the revenue. They provided
basic amenities
and gave free education
to their people, from primary
up to university
level from the revenue.
There is no state in Nigeria
that is doing that
now.
"If you come to Eastern
Nigeria, we depended
mainly on palm produce.
From the revenue, we
built the first university
in Nigeria, the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The East had the biggest
network of roads in the
whole of West Africa; we
had electricity generated
from coal in the region;
coal was equally mined
and exported for foreign
exchange. Indeed, Eastern
Region was the fastest
growing economy in
the world under Michael
Okpara. We built the
first iron and steel industry
in Nigeria at Emene
and we had our television.
In fact, when I was
growing up, I didn't
know anything like
blackout because of the
quality of electricity we
enjoyed in those days
"These regions survived
very well on their
own and were favourably
competing to outperform
one another. We
have really lost it with
the system we are operating."
On the need for parliamentary
system of government,
he said: "I am
one of those who want us
to go back to the parliamentary
system of government.
The amount of
money we are spending
to elect our political office
holders is colossal.
"In parliamentary system,
you become the premier
of your region or
the prime minister of the
country by winning election
in your region; not
in the whole federation.
You become prime minister
because you are the
leader of your party and
you appoint ministers
from those who had won
elections in their constituencies.
"You can imagine the
amount of money it costs
a member of the House
of Assembly to contest
election in his constituency
and then he becomes
the governor of a
state, compare to what
somebody spends under
the system we operate
now to be governor."
Also yesterday, ADF
through its spokesman,
Abi Onyike said that in
the regional system of
administration, regions
would cash on what they
have and develop at
their place.
He cited the First Republic
when the Eastern
Region leveraged on
comparative advantage
in palm oil and agriculture
to develop.