Obaigbena, at Conference, Wants Nigeria to Create More Dangotes, Rebuild Middle Class

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena

•Nnamani calls for zonal rotational presidency with six-year tenure

President, Newspapers Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, Tuesday  affirmed his belief in Nigeria as a nation, despite the challenges it is going through and called for efficient management of its resources through the restructuring of the legislative list to create an environment that will make the country produce more Aliko Dangotes in the nation's economy.  

Obaigbena, in his contribution to the debate on the speech of President Goodluck Jonathan to the delegates at the inauguration of the National Conference, also called for the rebuilding of the middle class.

Other delegates who spoke at yesterday's session included former Senate President Ken Nnamani who called for zonal rotational presidency with six-year tenure.

According to Obaigbena, Nigeria is a nation of proud citizens and there are many opportunities for people to be all they want to be in the country.

He said:  “I have heard many people talk about how great Malaysia is; how great Brazil is, but if you want to be a Malaysian please go there. In Nigeria, we are proud people, we are proud nationalities contributing to world affairs.

“And our people represent some of the best of humanity and we do not recognise ourselves.  The other day, Wole Soyinka got the Nobel Prize for literature and he is being followed today by Chimamanda Adiche and  Helon Habila who are garnering scores of international prizes for literature.

“The other day, Apple Computers bought an app from a Nigerian innovator; a few weeks ago, a Nigerian company, Oando, was able to raise $1.5 billion in the global market. We are making strides. Aliko Dangote is building factories in Nigeria and he was named the richest black man in the world.

“We cannot run down Nigeria. I am proud because in Nigeria you can be all you want to be. However, we have challenges; we will deal with the challenges. Life is as hellish in Maiduguri as it is in the inner cities of Chicago. Every country has its challenges; we will deal with those challenges, that’s why we are here. The biggest challenge of our 100 years could be the civil war. I remember in those war days, my dad, a civil servant, drove our family out of the Mid-west when the Biafran soldiers arrived.

“We have to figure out how we can rebuild our middle class and in rebuilding our middle class, we have to fight extreme poverty. The World Bank chief the other day named Nigeria as one of the four countries with the highest rate of extreme poverty. Yes, people are making progress, but our extreme poverty is a result of corruption and our insecurity is a result of massive unemployment.

“All these point to one thing: we are managing our resources inefficiently. Why is it inefficient? We should revisit the structure of our governance and see how we have applied our resources. We should go to the legislative list and see if we even need a concurrent list because anything on the concurrent list always have to go to the federal. We have to deal with the structure of the country and we have to rebuild the structure for the next 100 years.”  

Also contributing to the debate on the president's speech, Nnamani canvassed for a zonal rotational presidency with six-year tenure, stating that it will be in the overall interest of the nation’s democracy to adopt the suggestion.

The former Senate president who condemned the ‘do-or-die politics’ being practised by some politicians, said one of the ways to avoid such was to enshrine rotational presidency in the country’s constitution.

According to him, the constitution as it is presently constituted is faulty and therefore needs to be reworked.
Nnamani added that since the aim of the National Conference was to ensure a new Nigeria where there would be justice and equity, there would be no need to keep the state of origin system as emphasis in the new dispensation should be on the state where one is domiciled.

He also called for the restructuring of the political system through the devolution of powers from the centre to the states, adding that the federal government has no business in the management of drivers’ licence as it is the duty of the state, as well as with the prison service.

In his contribution, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Umar  Na’Abba,  spoke on the need for political parties to practise internal democracy as a panacea for ensuring credible elections and emergence of quality leaders.

   Na ‘Abba said fixing the problems confronting Nigeria should start from addressing the leadership challenges facing the country.
According to him, “unless the processes of choosing leaders are addressed, the entire process of the conference would be defeated, hence advocating an improved internal democracy within the political parties as a measure to address the challenges confronting the emergence of leaders.”

The former speaker also accused governors of distorting the emergence of leaders and their successors in their respective states.
He said: “In some cases, they bring their aides and servants to succeed them. The governors are by their actions eroding democratic tendencies.

“In the circumstances, there is no way there can be good leaders as the governors in the process of eroding the democratic tendencies and short-circuiting the processes, bring their children and personal aides to succeed them.”  .

A delegate from Rivers State and former governor of the state, Dr. Peter Odili, said an ailment not correctly diagnosed could not be treated, adding that Nigeria started on a wrong footing because no Nigerian was consulted in 1914 when the Northern and Southern Protectorates were amalgamated to form Nigeria.

He appealed to delegates to consider justice when the conference dissolves into committees.
 He advised participants to listen to each other and respond fairly, saying: “We must factor in the interest of the smallest and the strongest so that we will get to where we are destined to reach.”  

The Lamido of Adamawa, Barkindo Aliyu Mustapha, stirred another controversy when he advocated a 100 per cent resource control on the condition that those calling for a total control of their resources should be willing to pay land rent and taxes to the federal government.

He said: “I have observed that some people have started jumping the gun by commenting on issues like resource control, resource ownership amongst others. In this case, let me also jump the gun to say that states  which don’t have oil should allow the states that have to take a 100 per cent oil revenue and states which do not have oil should take land resource.

 That means ownership of land should revert to those states and anybody who wants to use the land or the structures on the land must pay rent to those states or the traditional owners of the land, for example, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”

However, responding to his comments, a former House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Hon. Chibudom Nwuche, said: “Is that really an issue? I feel that it’s his personal opinion and even if it is 100 per cent, the federal government will still get paid the taxes to provide common services."

 He added that there should be room for government to tax people and organisations in order to provide common services like foreign affairs and common currency.

On restructuring, Nwuche said: “The current status quo has made everybody a loser and humbled the African giant because it has produced corruption, inefficiency, unemployment and many others.

The leader of the South-east delegation, retired General Ike Nwachukwu, who described himself as a true Nigeria because of his parentage and marriage, said the essence of the conference was to ensure consensus and negotiation.
 He called for devolution of power to ensure true fiscal federalism, while asking the delegates to set aside petty prejudices in a bid to move the country forward.

He also defended his primary constituency, the military, refuting a position by a delegate that there was tribalism in the military, adding that it remains the only united institution in the country.

 Former governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo, who spoke on the right system of government for the country, said Nigeria is the only country that practices the presidential system like the United States, adding that the merits of the system outweigh its disadvantages.

 He also called on delegates to be less sentimental on the issue of religion, saying:  “Religion is not an issue in the country. It is only a creation of the few selfish elite.”

He supported the position expressed by Nwachukwu and Nnamani on the need for restructuring of the federation and also said the youth should be used to promote development.
Another delegate, Prof. A.B.C. Nwosu urged his colleagues to focus more on the defects in the constitution to see how they can be improved.

“I want to quickly align myself with the position calling for resource control,” he said.
According to him,  the reason for do-or-die politics in Nigeria is because of the total control of resources by the central government, which has also given rise to amorphous agency known as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with its opaque management system that encourages corruption.

The representative  of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lanre Ogundipe,  on his part, called for capital punishment for corrupt officials while a former Chairman of Punch Newspapers, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, in his contribution, called for regulation of  the number of children a family should have, while legislators should work on a part-time basis.

A delegate, Abdullahi Okeiman, advocated a legislation to enable the implementation of the budget on time and also called for impeachment of the president for failure to implement the budget as passed by the National Assembly.

Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo(SAN),  joined other delegates in calling for rotational presidency as well as zoning.
According to Ojo, it is through zoning of offices that there would be justice and equity in the country.

Culled from thisday