Elder statesman and President of
the Senate in the Third Republic, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, has stated that Nigeria
requires a leader that will organise its human and natural resources for a
desired transformation.
Ayu said so far, the types of
leaders that have ruled Nigeria as president since independence were not good
enough to transform Nigeria.
Speaking with Punch, Ayu recalled
that the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo unfortunately did not rule Nigeria as a
country, otherwise, the country would have been greater by now.
According to him, Awolowo,
“showed leadership, was very educated and well prepared, and very organised
also. He made tremendous impact on his immediate region and moved it forward.
Even in the context of Nigeria today, that impact is still there. The blueprint
he had was still being followed by the subsequent generations.
“It clearly showed that if he had
ruled Nigeria, his transformation in the Western region would have reflected
across the country,” he said.
Asked about his take on
restructuring, the ex-senate president said, “The restructuring that people are
talking about now is a misnomer. What we should be advocating is devolution of
power. More powers should be given to the states. People thought if we returned
to the 1963 constitution, everything would be in order, which is not correct.
What we lacked now is purposeful leadership. We need someone who has the
capacity to galvanise Nigeria into its greatness.”
Sir, we should first restructure and include devolution of power in it. You can not be talking about ONLY devolution of power under this arrangement of 36 states. The question is how economically viable are the states? Most of them are not. They are not producing anything. They only survive on allocation from Abuja. Such states should not have been created at all. Possible restructuring will mean that such impotent and parasitic states be dissolved. We could have six geopolitical zones turned to regions to be governed by six governors. And then devolution of power from the central/federal to these six regional governments. David
ReplyDeleteIyorchia Ayo, who prevented Awolowo from being President? The current issue is to restructure Nigeria or disintegrate it.
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