‘ We must change method of floating, bringing about political leaders’
We do have capable hands that can bring us out of these socio- political and economic woes, and bring us into progress and development. We have capable “hands that can perform credibly well. But the problem is that they will not allow them to come to power
take the peculiar characteristics of Nigeria into consideration. For example, our multiethnic religion and other diversities and strive to ensure some level of equity not equality, where to some extent almost all the ethnic nationalities have some sense of belonging. That is what we are talking about restructuring. So, for us to have that there has to be sincere effort of reviewing the constitution. The recent Executive Order 10 of Mr. President, I don’t hail it; we should not be ruling a country through that. We don’t need presidential orders; we need a constitution. American has a constitution that is well over 200 years old and it has never been changed. That is because the founding fathers were sincere in putting in paper what they know would sustain that democracy for a long time. You should know American practised confederalism for eight years before they converted into federalism. So, what we need is a working constitution, a constitution that would be realistic and addresses the peculiar nature of Nigeria’s state. That is why when I pick up the constitution and look at the area that says ‘ We the people of Federal Republic of Nigeria,’ when did we Nigerians make this constitution, because the nearest I could remember Nigerians made was the 1963 constitution. All other constitutions have been either colonial fiat or military imposition. If we can have a genuine federal constitution all this glamour you are hearing now, all will fizzle away.
Will you advocate the adoption of the recommendations of 2014 national conference?
It was a national conference that was intended to review the constitution. But they killed it; that Obasanjo did not get his own when he did doesn’t mean that the bath water and the baby should be thrown away. Fortunately, we have a volume, whether they like it or not, it is there. The only thing that we couldn’t agree then was the sharing formula. Apart from that, there were many other useful suggestions that have been made, which if brought into practise, most of these agitations would be things of the past. The issues of cheating and marginalization will not be there.
Today, how do you have more than 80 per cent of the service chiefs from one region of the country? No, let’s be realistic; we are talking about human sensibility now. So, I hope as bold and forthright as Buhari is seen to be, in some areas, especially on this issue of presidential orders, he can also be bold to say, ‘ let us go back and work on the content of 2014 national conference.’
Recently people have asked, why is 80 per cent of hierarchy employment done into NNPC from one section of the country? And people are justifying it. How do you use that to create a sense of belonging among those who come from the oil- bearing communities and states? And those are the people that would take control of the industry in the next 10 years. These are middle managers; only one region has produced about 80 per cent. Is this a good idea? We are still waiting and hoping to see a de- tribalized, altruistic leader who will say, ‘ what was done in 2014 was a fantastic work; we cannot just throw it away, let us revisit it, pull it out and see how it could be infused into the system’.