The Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Ali
Ndume, at the weekend, described Nigeria as an almost a failed state, just as
the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Obadiah Mailafiya, called for a leadership that would tackle the
incessant level of insecurity in Nigeria.
Also, former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode,
blamed the numerous problems in the country on injustice and nepotic policies
across the country.
These leaders highlighted the state of the country at
a colloquium organised by the Haske Satumari Foundation in commemoration of the
50 years birthday of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of
Aerokeys Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kudla Satumari, tagged: ‘Unity and Faith, Peace
And Progress’, which was held at the Yar'Adua Centre in Abuja.
According to Ndume, "Nigeria is rapidly
becoming a failed state. We have a constitution that we have since been
amending, but it is still not working despite the amendment. Many Nigerians are
suggesting that we should have a new constitution, but the process of having a
new one is a problem."
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence
said Nigeria had had several national and constitutional conferences yet it has
not led it to anywhere, stating:
"We need to agree on what we need to amend and change in the
constitution which would probably give us what we want"
He alleged that there is a big problem which the
country has not been able to resolve.
According to him, "Personally, I don't believe
that the presidential democracy is good for Nigeria. Although back in history, we
first tried the parliamentary system and it collapsed, I still believe that the
parliamentary system is the best for a country of diverse nature like Nigeria."
He said the presidential democracy gives so much
power to an individual and concentrates power so much in the centre, adding
that the parliamentary system will Nigeria resolve most of the diverse issues
facing it.
Ndume explained further that the National Assembly is
just saddled with the responsibilities of amending the constitution not to make
a new one, stressing that it is only when everything is amended that it will
become a new constitution, but that, however, cannot be done easily.
He said: "We are doing it gradually and I hope
we will get it right. The constitution is faulty and not working. The
presidential system of government cannot work in Nigeria, however, the parliamentary
system seems to be better.”
In his contribution, the former Deputy Governor of
CBN, Mailafiya, said Nigeria needs
leaders who would condemn terrorism and all forms of insecurity with passion.
He said:
"We should stop paying lip service to the issue of insecurity. We
have what it takes to build a great country. We need leaders who can take proactive
actions to save lives instead of issuing
condolence messages after the deeds have been perpetrated by the evil doers."
Mailafiya, who called for a dialogue to address the
problems in Nigeria, said: "We need to come together as a people to
discuss and come up with practical solutions that will address the issue of
unity, faith, peace and progress in the country. We are reaching towards a
dangerous threshold of a system breakdown because our constitution is full of
inequality and injustice. It needs restructuring.
"There are too much injustices in the land.
There can never be progress unless we have respect for merit. There is
insecurity in the land. The people of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe State are paying
heavily with their souls but the world has not abandoned them. We have killed
Nigeria of our dream and mortgage the future of our children based on the
system of government we are running. The system has divided us and turned us against
one another."
In his submissions, the former Minister of
Aviation, Fani Kayode, noted that there are a lots of injustices in the
country, explaining that politicians in Nigeria don't speak the truth, which he
said is responsible for the country’s numerous problems.
According to him, "Doing nothing over the
daily killings in the country by the leaders is nothing but injustice.
"If Obasanjo or a Yar'adua were to be in power
at the moment, it would have been a
little bit different from what we have now. Obasanjo, for instance, refused to
talk about religion, tribe or ethnicity while in power. If you take anything based
on those things to him, he will throw you out.
"We have somebody with a totally different
perspective in power today, who believes there is nothing wrong in having 90
per cent of the people working in the villa being northern Muslims with Hausa
as their lingua franca. A situation where every single manager in the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is a northern Muslim, that is
injustice."
In his remark, the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmad
Fintiri, said with unity, Nigeria can attain the height God has designed for
it.
Represented by the Shettiman Mubi, the governor said
irrespective of tribe, religion and ethnicity, Nigerians must come together in
order to overcome its many challenges.
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