At colloquium, stakeholders call for a new Nigeria

Stakeholders at the maiden colloquium of a think-tank group, Voice of Reason (VOR), yesterday stressed the need for government to streamline its activities regarding the effective way of running the country.

They said that Nigeria needed to be re-invigorated, educated and empowered to exhibit proper democracy.

Besides, they called for the restructuring of a new Nigeria with a new framework for collaborative and autonomous aspirations by all nationalities.

Chairman of the occasion, Olorogun Sonny Kuku, in his speech, said until Nigeria restructures her political system, the country might be doomed.

Kuku, who said Nigeria should run from family, village and then government, said: “The Federal Government needs total restructuring so that it would not be overwhelmed. We need a democracy that is home-grown, which will accommodate our different ethnic cultures. Voice of Reason has drafted a new constitution that Nigeria can adopt and use for restructuring purpose. It is an excellent document on how Nigeria should be run.

Also, Women Advocate and Social Entrepreneur, Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, lamented that the failure of government in Nigeria has become a recurring decimal warning that come 2019, no person would be allowed to negotiate on behalf of the Yoruba nation with candidates seeking political posts.

She said: “When we get to the negotiation table, anybody that would not put pen on paper and agree on certain deliverables, the Yoruba nation would not vote for him.”

She noted that mindful of the fact that the South-West would be in pole position to swing the coming 2019 elections either way, politicians have woken up and suddenly count the region as important.

She said as the elections approach, Nigerians need to be re-invigorated, educated, empowered and given information so that they can fundamentally asked the right questions.