Nigeria’s survival hinges on restructuring, economic reform, says Osuntokun

Ex-minister, Oyelese, warns of looming implosion

Emeritus Professor Akinjide Osuntokun has called for a change in governance approach to ensure a better future for all Nigerians.

Osuntokun, who spoke yesterday at the Joseph Oduola Osuntokun lecture series in Lagos, identified several challenges facing the country, including the 1999 Constitution, ethnic plurality, overpopulation, food insecurity, non-productivity, corruption, and illiteracy.

According to him, a review of the Constitution is necessary to address the country’s problems.

He suggested that the country should adopt the Independence constitution negotiated by the founding fathers and mothers, which was based on the principle of political bargaining.

Osuntokun lamented the current state of ethnic antagonism in the country, which he attributed to economic competition for scarce resources, particularly land in urban centres like Lagos, warning that if not addressed, this could lead to physical conflicts.

However, Osuntokun emphasised the need for Nigeria to learn from India, a country with a large population and diverse ethnicities, religions, and civilisations, which has managed to maintain unity despite its challenges.

The professor also stressed the need for a population policy to address the problems of overpopulation, poor nutrition, and intellectual disability among children.
IN the same vein, a former Minister of Power and Steel, Wole Oyelese, yesterday, warned that Nigeria is drifting towards a dangerous breaking with moral values collapsing, corruption festering and suffering of the masses deepening.

Oyelese, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), cautioned that without urgent and genuine intervention by President Bola Tinubu and other political leaders, the country risks a grassroots explosion that could shake its foundation.

In a statement, the elder statesman declared that Nigeria is “sitting on a moral volcano,” stressing that the failure of leadership to act with conscience and justice has left millions in despair.

“Each act of injustice, every looted fund, and every display of indifference to the suffering of the people adds heat to that volcano,” he said.

The former minister, who lamented that stolen public funds are being written off or swept under the carpet while families continue to go to bed hungry, said: “Nothing threatens a nation more than when thieves become kings and the law becomes their protector. The several cases of senseless looting of our common patrimony and the shameless cover-ups that follow are an unforgivable assault on the soul of this nation. The time has come for President Tinubu to step on toes, no matter how large. Nigeria cannot survive on selective courage.”

Oyelese also criticised what he described as the “emperorship mentality” of some state governors who, despite huge monthly allocations, deliver little in terms of performance and shift blame to Abuja.

He said that with current federal allocations, no governor has any moral justification to shirk in his responsibility for citizens’ welfare or to blame the Presidency for failures at the subnational level.

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