Nations fail when the leaders fail to do the needful and negotiate to stir their troubled nations to safe grounds.

A former Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has faulted the recent proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Federal Government, saying it was capable of truncating Nigeria’s global respect, which it has been begging to redeem.

He also stated that the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) rated the Boko Haram terrorists as the third highest top terrorist countries in the world while the Fulani herdsmen is being rated as the fourth deadly terrorist in the world. He spoke while delivering a paper presentation at the Inaugural Distinguished Lecture series, titled “Leadership and Nigeria’s Developmental Challenges”, organised by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), an arm of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja.

Nebo added that nations fail when the leaders fail to do the needful and negotiate to stir their troubled nations to safe grounds, adding that he suspected the government to keep relying on the use of force to keep Nigeria one with the recent military operations in the South East codenamed (operation python dance II) and the (operation crocodile smile II) in the South South and South West.

He lamented that the way the Nigerian leadership responds to the crises of the ailing manufacturing sector of the economy is mortally wrong, adding that some policies of government appear to achieve the opposite of what they were intended to accomplish.

“To make matters worse, Nigeria recently branded IPOB a terrorist organisation which means that by our own admission, Nigeria now houses three terrorist organisations in the world.

“It is no virtue at all and this is very dangerous record capable of truncating the global respect Nigeria has been begging to redeem of recent, “ he said.
On restructuring, the former minister noted that before the civil war, the regions retained 50 per cent of what they earned and 50 per cent went to the federation account out of which 30 per cent is redistributed and 20 per cent retained by the Federal Government.

According to him, the President had made it clear to those clamouring for restructuring to go through constitutional amendment processes going on in the National Assembly and the State House of Assemblies.

“If I were president Buhari, I would cause a piece of legislation into being to set boundaries on restructuring and whatever two/ third accepts should be implemented automatically as it does not include the dismemberment of the Nigerian nation state.

“I cannot say what and how restructuring maybe, but I do know and firmly believe that we need to bend towards each other; this is the only way to avoid breaking up.

Source: TheGuardian.ng

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