SERVING Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to consider restructuring the country to correct the flaws in the federal system brought about by successive military regimes which deviated from the original foundation laid by the country’s founding fathers.
This was as he insisted that President Buhari should adopt the founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore’s model in fighting corruption in the country in order to achieve better result, declaring that it was his considered opinion that Nigeria was still fighting corruption with kids’ gloves.
Bakare made the call on Sunday while delivering state of the nation address in his church, at Akilo Road, Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos State, even as he lauded President Buhari for some progresses recorded so far in the anti-corruption war, with the relevant agencies recently extending the fight to elements within the judiciary suspected to have been major impediments to the successful prosecution of the war.
“Be that as it may, it is my considered opinion that we are still fighting corruption – our nation’s perennial archenemy – with kids’ gloves. During the 2012 subsidy protest at Ojota Park, the ‘Save Nigeria Group’ (SNG) adopted the slogan ‘Kill Corruption, not Nigerians.’ It is very disheartening that allegations of corruption remain rife in our country, even against key office-holders in the present government,” he said.
According to the Latter Rain Assembly overseer, Singapore, by adopting its own model in fighting corruption, moved from being dubbed ‘Sin-galore’ after independence in 1959, to being ranked the seventh least corrupt state in the world by a 2014 Transparency International report, contending that the country’s upward trajectory provided a compelling contemporary case study as revealed in a book written by Jonathan Tepperman.
Bakare said much like Singapore’s bureaucrats, particularly its police, were hopeless and things were so bad the year the country first became self-governing, Lee Kuan Yew took personal responsibility for stemming the tide of decay, focusing his campaign mainly on corruption, which then, as in Nigeria now, was part of their culture.
Such steps, according to Bakare, would be for President Buhari to use the existing anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to launch a campaign against bribery and graft.
He said Buhari should take responsibility for creating his own raw materials to override constraints as all visionary leaders did, pointing out that he could introduce the ‘Prevention of Corruption Act’ (POCA), which would roundly condemn the giving of virtually anything of value in exchange for any sort of benefit from the government, like it was done in Singapore.
“In addition, ‘the law even criminalised bribe paying within the private sector cases, where no government officials were involved,” Bakare said.
Speaking further, Bakare, who is also Convener, SNG, said like Lee Kuan Yew, Buhari’s government must also demonstrate grit, single-mindedness, boldness and consistency in ensuring that anti-graft agencies went after some high-profile targets, including a few, who were close to the seat of power.
“Lee Kuan Yew demonstrated grit, single-mindedness, boldness and consistency in overcoming significant challenges, no matter whose ox was gored.
“Hear Tepperman: ‘To show how the bureau would work and to send message that, as Lee put it, ‘the disinfecting has to start from the top,’ the new government went after some high-profile targets, including a few of the Prime Minister’s close friends.
“Furthermore, Lee Kuan Yew was ‘completely incorruptible and chose people, who were incorruptible, when they strayed, he came down hard and that became an internalised norm,” he said.
Pastor Bakare, who equally shared personal experiences of his visit to Singapore, said he endeavoured to share the country’s story to illustrate that Nigeria had a peculiar problem that had not been solved before and that Nigerians could not continue to treat cancer with Panadol.
“I have shared Singapore’s story to illustrate that Nigeria does not have a peculiar problem that has not been solved before and also to state that we cannot continue to treat cancer with Panadol.
“If we are fighting corruption, let us remove the kids’ gloves; if we are diversifying the economy, let us make tough choices; and if we are confronting insecurity, let us also address the systemic issues that make it possible in the first place.
“Hopefully, this Singapore model can stimulate robust thinking, bold visions, dialogue and concrete action that will stop our national decline and save our Republic from becoming dystopian- a state in which the worst possible conditions exist in government, society and Law,” he counselled.
Speaking further, Pastor Bakare, while noting that the government of Buhari had a direction in terms of goals and objectives that were mid to short-term, as encapsulated in Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks and annual appropriation bills, lamented that Nigeria, as a nation, still lacked a true national vision.
“This government has a direction in terms of goals and objectives that are mid to short-term; these are encapsulated in Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks and annual appropriation bills or budgets. However, as a nation, we still lack a true national vision.
“Despite our previous attempts at national planning- from the era of fixed term planning to the era of rolling plans, all through to the various governmental agenda, including Vision 2020- the signs of the absence of a true national vision are so glaring, that one would conclude that the Prophet Habakkuk was talking about Nigeria in the first four verses of Habbakuk 1.
According to him, “the biggest indicator of the absence of a national vision or rallying point is the preponderance of sectional agitations- from the clamour for self-determination by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) and the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in the South-West, to the push for secession by the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South-East, from the terror unleashed by Boko Haram in the North-East, to the ugly developments involving the Shi’ites in the North-West, from the violent attacks by herdsmen in parts of the North-West, especially the wanton destruction of lives and properties in Southern Kaduna, and in the North-Central, from where it has spread down to the South, to the militants’ quest for resource control by the Niger Delta Avengers in the South-South, there is no restraint to the degree of balkanization that awaits a nation that lacks a unifying national vision.”
Bakare, while acknowledging that presently, the country was being led by a government headed by a man, who desired the best for her and was doing what he deemed best, given the quality of his lieutenants and the reliability and accuracy of the information at his disposal, however, lamented that the hues and cries for restructuring appeared not to have been well received by this present government.
Going down memory, the overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, who recalled that Nigeria’s founding fathers had agreed that the country would be a truly federal state with limited and specific powers allocated to the Federal Government and residual powers inherent in the regional governments, said this agreement as the social contract upon which the Nigerian state was formed, was broken on May 24, 1966, through the Unification Decree by General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi-led administration.
“That was the day Nigeria died. Five decades later, in spite of the reversal of the Unification Decree by General Yakubu Gowon-led administration, resulting in the division of Nigeria into 12 states, this deviation from the landmarks set by the fathers is a crucial reason for our disjointed nationhood and the perennial socioeconomic decay.
“It is why efforts at economic diversification by government after government, including the present government, has failed to yield the expected results. It is what has led to the infrastructural decay. It is why we run bloated governments that hitherto spend over 70 per cent of annual budgets on recurrent expenditure,” he said.
Bakare, therefore, enjoined Buhari, as part of measures to restructure to transit the country from 36 states to six geopolitical zones that would become harbingers of a united nation, led by patriotic and selfless leaders, recalling that Israel began as 12 tribes and then transited into two kingdoms, which later became one nation, with David as king over them.
“The current government, under President Buhari, has the opportunity to provide such leadership by being at the forefront of the quest for change. Guided by the indicators of good governance in a well-structured state, and propelled by a true unifying national vision, Mr President and his team must summon the courage to make hard choices, especially the choice to restructure and the choice to embrace the necessary self-sacrifice that precedes economic recovery.
“May 29 this year will mark two full years of this administration in government. We have no more time to waste. Mr President must galvanise his team to get the job done; square pegs in round holes must be removed or put in appropriate places; the wicked, who surround the righteous must be led away from the presence of the king. Those who cannot stand the heat must get out of the kitchen.
“It is time to demonstrate leadership, wise judgment and astute public policy, that guarantees stable and prosperous nationhood upon a foundation of peace; it is time to build a well-ordered nation with strong institutions dispensing justice; it is time to arise with patriotic zeal to build a great nation such that, years from now, generations yet unborn will look back at their history, not with disdain, but with gratitude to God that our generation preceded theirs,” he added.