Nigeria is destined for greatness – Kogi stakeholders

Stakeholders in Kogi say Nigeria is destined to be great, in spite of the current challenges.

A cross-section of those who spoke with our reporter in Lokoja, identified corruption as the main factor militating against the country’s development.

Retired Maj.-Gen. Clement Olubunmi, said corruption had been responsible for the country’s backwardness for years, calling for God’s intervention to tame the monster.

“The problem we are presently facing is corruption which deserves God’s intervention. “Although Nigeria has made some progress as a democratic nation, its progress is very slow due to the corruption in the system.

“We are all conversant with the news on what is happening everywhere in this country especially in all the sectors as it relates to corruption.

“It’s unfortunate there are few individuals that are holding this country to ransom with their corrupt tendencies in our democratic system and what we actually need is divine intervention for Nigeria to free itself from this clique of individuals,” he said.

Olubunmi added: Any democratic system is expected to open up rural areas to industrial revolution and infrastructure development.

“If you go to the rural areas, you will see that most of social amenities desirous of the government magnanimity to the masses are near absent in spite of the over 26 years of democracy.

“Could you believe that during President Goodluck Jonathan administration, the then Minster of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonji-Iweala, who attempted not to release fuel subsidy money was fought to a stand still.

“First they kidnapped her mother and did all the could to force her to resign as the minister of finance but it took the grace of God for her to survive it. Because when the kidnap her mother She could not longer concentrate on her work.”

Olubunmi commended President Bola Ahmed-Tinubu for his bold step in removing or ending he subsidy regime, which had also been a clog in the wheel of the nation’s democratic journey.

He said that Nigeria had a lot of potential, yet things were not just working, requiring a strong and capable hand that would stand and weather the storm.
Prof. Alewo Johnson-Akubo, the Vice-Chancellor, Salem University, Lokoja, said Nigeria had not recorded much progress as a nation.

Akubo, a sociologist, said It was unfortunate that Nigeria’s democracy was not moving forward.

“Could you imagine that a bicycle that used to sell for N8,000 is now N45, 000, while a bag of rice is now being sold for N45, 000 such that a a worker’s minimum wage can’t buy it for his/her household.

“With this kind of hardship, can you say we are progressing? Look around our roads, most of which are death traps. I don’t know how many people have sworn against the government because of the deplorable nature of the roads killing and naming innocent people..

“I am not convince that what we are practicing is democracy, This is because you can’t say you are practicing democracy and on election day, people who go out to vote are threatened.

“They will say, if you are not voting for XYZ don’t come near the polling unit. Is that what we call democracy? Do you know how many thousands of petitions are with INEC now as we speak,” he said.

The VC said that recently a serving senator,who was a guest in a television programme admitted that the 9th Assembly in which he was part of was a rubber stamp to the executive.

He said the senator expressed the hope that the legislators that had been elected In the last election would chart a new course different from the 9th Assembly.

“That for me is not a forward movement. Look at all the policy plans upon which the out gone government officials at the federal, State and Local Government levels campaigned upon. Which of them can you point to that it was executed as promised?

“Is it security? Is it education? Is it unemployment? Or the health sector. The hospital we have now are more or less transitional camps, where people are taken to as waiting rooms between life and death,” he said.

He said that changing the narratives, for Nigeria to move forward as a democratic nation, required that all the stakeholders should tell themselves the truth.
“It is the problem of the elite and not just the problems of the leaders and the people,” he said.

He said that Nigerians needed to come to term with a popular saying that followers get the leadership they deserved.

“Here in Nigeria, people move about and force their candidates on the people. And again situation where you don’t belong to a ruling political party you don’t dire go out and campaign.

“Again during electioniary campaign people come out and start sharing five thousand, three thousand , ten thousands as these to this followers and the do their biddings. The question is can five thousand, three thousand, ten thousand Naira last for four or eight years?

“The truth is that the very day the people can realise that power belongs to them and decide to use it only then, we can begin to have a change in this country and experience a progressive democracy,” he said.

Dr Ibrahim Mohamed-Nasir, a political scientist and a lecturer at the Prince Abubakar Audu University (PAAU), Ayingba, said Nigeria had made tremendous achievements since its independence in 1960.

“In terms of political development, especially the fourth republic from 1999 to date, even if we are crawling, for the mere fact that we have been able to hold ourselves together in spite of challenges it’s indeed an achievement.

“Some may say our political culture is not yet strong but they can’t say either that it’s weak. This is because our political institutions have been strengthened over time.

“We are everyday learning from our mistakes, which is why our electoral process is improving year by year. What it was in 1999 was not what it was in 2003 or 2007 or 2011 to the extent that an opposition political party unseated a sitting government in 2015.

“As it’s now, we have introduced new technologies in the 2023 general elections, and you can agree with me that we are making little progress in our democratic process,” he said.

He added: “In terms of infrastructure development, a lot have been achieved. We are now having a lot of social amenities and infrastructure that have been developed post independence such as the roads, bridges, educational institutionn, Health facilities, industries both public and private, financial institutions, huge entertainment industry, sports and technological wise to mention but a few

“We had our first Niger bridge and now we have the second Niger bridge besides our brothers and sisters, who are outside the country creating impact, politically, medically and technological wise.”