Afenifere berates Osinbajo, political office holders over lack of civic education

ITRealms:

Afenifere, a socio-cultural organization for the Yoruba people of Nigeria, has berated the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) and other political office holders for lack of civic education in the political environment, reports ITRealms.

The group in a press statement made available to ITRealms by the National Publicity Secretary, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said their attention have been drawn to the statement credited to the Vice-president of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), that the call for the restructuring of Nigeria would not make any difference.

He quoted the Vice-President in the faux pas also arguing that if states are given half of the resources of the Federal Government it would not make any difference and that all we need is to diversify into agriculture.

Afenifere, said that such a statement is an indication of not paying due attention to civic education.

Noting that though it understand that the learned Professor, who is from the zone that has been loudest on this call may have come under pressure to lend his voice to the upholders of the status quo that has brought Nigeria to this sorry pass, “We would like to respectfully admonish him to be sure footed on the subject before he speaks next time.”

According to Afenifere, Osinbajo missed the entire debate by engaging in the reductionist argument narrowing the whole issue to taking more money from the Federal Government to the states.

“Yes, fiscal federalism is part of the argument but the issue goes beyond the monthly Federal Allocation Committee,” Afenifere said.

Pointing out that the central plank of restructuring is for Nigeria to go back to the true practice of Federalism wherein mineral resources that abound in all states would be freed from the exclusive list so that states would move into prosperity and not be reporting at Prof Osinbajo's office for bailout from a centre that only corners what belongs to the states.

“They would also have enough to contribute to sustain the occupiers of Abuja and the functions that are allocated to them,” the group said.

Beyond resources, Afenifere insist, “the country is reeling under crime today and the single police we currently maintain has proved incapable of dealing with the situation. When you listen to commissioners of police lamenting at the scenes of crime these days you will think they are part of passers-by terrified by the horror of crime. It is clear we need multi-level policing to combat crime and have effective policing.

Afenifere posited “From the Federal, down to states and Local Governments, we are bogged down with over bloated bureaucracies that consume as much as 90% of available resources and with little or nothing left for development. We must address how long we want to travel with this culture of waste and to see if we ca deliver better governance with a manageable architecture.

“The question of diversification is a point that advocates of restructuring have canvassed as it makes no sense for a country as vast in resources like Nigeria to depend on a mono-product economy.It is part of restructuring we are talking about and not an alternative to it.

“The restructuring package has a whole wide range of issues that have to do with justice administration, electoral system and its cost implications, conflicts arising from clash of cultures and how to deal with them to ensure peaceful co-existence.

Nigeria is fast falling apart and all genuine patriots have come to a consensus that we must restructure to arrest the drift.

“Yes there is a minority that is insisting that we must continue the way we are just like the minders of some empires that have disappeared from the world map did. The Vice-President is free to cast his lot with this group even when silence could have been golden but he should at least try to acquaint himself with the issues so people are not wondering what are we talking and what is he saying.

Afenifere, therefore advised Prof. Osinbajo and all those who seek high offices to ensure they are not far from issues that shape their political environment and pay due attention to civic education.

Ayo Omidele/GEE
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Buhari fears Nigerians revolt after 100 days in office, seeks media support

ITRealms:

President Muhammadu Buhari has decried the culture of 100 days in office for political office holders, which mounts lot of pressures even as he expressed fear of revolt by Nigerians, thus seeking media support, reports ITRealms.

Speaking to State House correspondents, Monday, on his first official day in his office, barely 25 days after assumption of office, lamented that the culture of 100 days in office has not been helpful as there are lots of pressure to make a mark within this period.

“This culture of 100 days ‘in office’ is bringing so much pressure with treasury virtually empty, with debts in millions of dollars, with state workers and even federal workers not being paid their salaries. This is such a disgrace for Nigeria. I think Nigeria should be in a position to at least pay its workers. This bad management that we find ourselves in, we really need your help to protect us from people before they march on us,” he asserted.

Buhari also disclosed that he inherited an empty treasury from his predecessor, which corroborated assumption that Nigeria was broke and may need of a bailout in spite of being the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world. 

He expressed concern that indebtedness by the government which run into millions of dollars is a worrisome situation, stressing that its disheartening to note that states and federal workers are owed salaries.

This, he feared may cause a lot of disaffection among Nigerians and invariably lead to peoples’ revolt, although he assured that with the relevant cooperation from the citizens, mostly the media, these challenges are resolvable.

He reiterated that the culture of assessing government’s performance in the first 100 days in office was putting extensive pressure on him considering the effects of the mismanagement he allegedly inherited.

President Buhari, accompanied by the duo of Adesina and his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, noted it was not by accident or error that he appointed one of the best journalists in the country, Mr. Femi Adesina, as his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.

He pointed out that whether Adesina’s job would be easy or not would depend entirely on him, but was hopeful that what happened recently under former President Goodluck Jonathan when a State House correspondent was expelled would not happen under his administration.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)  

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