Going by the level of insecurity and unprecedented diminution of national unity, Nigeria is on the brink of a national disaster, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku has said.
Anyaoku’s alarm came just about 24 hours after former President Olusegun Obasanjo had also warned that the nation was on the edge of the precipice.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the Justice Dadi Onyeama Book launch, Anyaoku’s noted that pointers of the nation approaching a brink included daily incidences of kidnappings and killings of human beings, violence by Fulani herdsmen, worsening level of poverty and controversies that greeted the proposed RUGA policy of the federal government.
ALSO READ: Obasanjo Writes Buhari, Says Insecurity Now Threatens Nigeria’s Existence
Anyaoku particularly warned that the country will be worse off if President Muhammadu Buhari, members of the National Assembly, state governors and all political elites continued to deny a situation he described as “extremely worrisome.”
Noting instances of unsuccessful diverse federations which came to grief and Yugoslavia and Sudan, Anyaoku in launching the book titled, Dadi, The Man, The Legend, stressed that the nation’s leaders must be willing to learn from history.
“For no objective observer, including those in the Government, can deny that the current state of affairs in our country is extremely worrisome.
“We see an unprecedented diminution of national unity; we see an unprecedented level of insecurity of life and property with kidnappings and killings of human beings occurring virtually every day in many parts of the country including the seemingly unchecked violence by Fulani herdsmen which has spawned fractious controversies over the proposed RUGA policy by the Federal Government.
“For the sake of peace and integrity of the country, the RUGA policy must be handled with circumspection and strictly in accordance with our extant constitution’s provisions on land tenure. And we also see that all these unwholesome developments are accompanied by a worsening level of poverty that is leading to Nigeria fast becoming the poverty capital of the world.
“I call on our President, the members of the National Assembly, the Governors, and indeed on all our political elites not to continue to live in denial of the seriousness of these glaring facts which, if not effectively addressed, are bound to push the country over the brink of a national disaster,” Anyaoku said.
As a way out of the quagmire, Anyaoku said the nation must have an inclusive central government where the component units have a sense of unity and patriotism.
This he said should take the form of adequate delegation of powers to the federating units to enable them to handle their internal security and significant aspects of their socio-economic development.
In spite of the diverse nature of the country, he expressed the belief that the country’s national entity should be sustained and nourished.
In learning from history, he described Canada and India as successful diverse federations that the nation could learn from.
“I believe that the current travails of Nigeria will be more effectively tackled if the country’s diversity is managed with a structure of governance that draws not only from the lessons of successful diverse federations but more importantly, from Nigeria’s own past happier experience during its immediate post-independence years,” Anyaoku added.
and then