By John Oba
Abuja
A group, under the auspices of Fast Forward Nigeria, has commenced sensitisation of Nigerians, especially the youths on the forthcoming 2019 general election.
The convener of the group, Okuma Hembe, said the 2019 is a deciding factor in the Nigerian history hence Nigerians must make the right decisions on who will govern them.
He asserted that due to the deep animosity in the Nigeria political system as a result of lack of social security only an individual that can address this problem should be allowed to lead in 2019.
Hembe spoke recently at the public discourse with the theme: “Moving Nigeria forward” organised by his group, commended the current government on its fight against corruption. This is even as he added that the fight against corruption cannot be successful without the provision of social security safety net.
“We are not political group, we stand for mass mobilization of Nigerians especially the youth to actively participate in politics. It is only in Nigeria that you see leaders without a successive plan. So we want a cabinet minister will not be more than 30 – 50 years of age,” he said.
Also speaking, the former vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who was represented by Dr. Umar Garba Pella, said Nigeria can only move forward when it is restructured as there is no state in the country that cannot stand on its own if their resources are properly harnessed.
He wondered why Nigerians take restructuring as a mystical word, saying restructuring is the only way to move the country forward.
“There is no state in Nigeria that cannot stand on it own if it potentials are properly harnessed. We must look beyond oil, the earlier we do that the better.”
He lamented the level of intimidation under the current administration saying, Nigerians had more freedom of speech under the military than now.
“Nigerians must speak out about restructuring, we need to engage each other as there is no longer time. Now Nigerians don’t talk, we had better opportunity to talk under the military regime than under this government.
“Restructuring has become a mystical word that people don’t want to discuss. I have discovered that restructuring is the only way that will move us forward,” he said
While the Spokesman, for Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin, said the problem of Nigeria is not corruption but the failure of subsequent government to run a productive society.
Odumakin said: “There is a narrative that may want to tell us that the major problem facing us is corruption, it is impossible to fight corruption with this current political setup.
“At the heart of Nigeria problem is because we fail to run a productive society, and secondly, poverty. There is no part of Nigeria there will not be affluence under restructuring.
“If the 68 items from the exclusive list is removed, every section of Nigeria will become productive, and nobody will have time to contest to the centre.
“It is clear today that to fast forward Nigerian, we cannot sit on the current system, we must start having conversation on economy governance.
“No country has developed on the basis of the current model of governance that we are running. We must remodel our governance system to create more space for everybody.”
He noted that corruption is product of the type of political system that the country runs saying that “a model where states wait for allocation from the federal cannot work. And the situation where land and population are using as the criteria for sharing allocation is wrong.
