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A frontline Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart and one of the founding fathers of PDP in Rivers State, Engr. Captain Briggs Opunabo Dokubo, has attributed the series of agitations going on in the country, and calls for re-structuring, to accumulated frustrations Nigerians had been physiologically forced into, as a result of bad governance, lack of justice and equity exhibited by the past administrations.
Captain Briggs made this declaration while speaking with newsmen in his office in Port Harcourt.
According to him, the problem of Nigeria, is not anchored on restructuring as some people erroneously believe, rather the problem is lack of patriotic attitudes and greed usually exhibited by our leaders within and outside government.
”We have not been able to get a patriotic and visionary leader, and a followership which are equally patriotic, honest and demanding”.
”We have problems of unemployment, decay in educational sector, our industries are moribund problem of power generation and poor policy for crude oil and gas production, problem of self-sufficiency in food production, poor infrastructures and lack of adequate security. We have been restructuring for years, yet our problems have not been solved.
For instance, we have restructured from 3 regions to 4 regions to 12 states, to 19 states to 21 states to 36 states, to 6 geopolitical zones to 774 local government areas, but instead of having our problems solved, they are rather compounded, and solution seems not to be in sight” Capt. Briggs noted.
He said people who are “seeking for restructuring, including our Igbo brothers from the South East, who are agitating for Biafra Republic from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, are all venting their accumulated frustrations to seek relevance.
“It is natural, that these series of agitations would be coming up simultaneously at this time in the country. This is because the past central governments and the present Federal Government have failed woefully to adequately address the whole scale of decays that have been with us for years.
“If the past governments and the present administration from the Local Government areas to State Governments up to the Federal Government, have been fair in the sharing and distribution of our common resources (common wealth), certainly, the citizens would not be aggrieved to the extent of agitating for restructuring,” Capt. Briggs said.
He said, what Nigerians desire now, is a government that is truly Nigeria in nature and in structure, a government that will accord equal recognition to all the ethnic groups that make up the country, a government that would recognize that Nigeria is a whole and indivisible entity where every Nigerian would have equal right to the common wealth, and elites would stop profiteering from ethnic divisive tendencies, and change of attitudes, where our strength should be seen in our diversity, and only people who are credible are elected into positions of trust, then, the issues of agitations for restructuring and independence, would come to a natural halt.
Captain Briggs, however stressed that the country need a national economic rolling plan, with every state having an input into the plan to drive the country into economic prosperity, with a clear indication of where the country would be in the next 10 or 20 years to come.
The plan would also alley the fear of the minority because every community have pockets of minorities, hence, the bottom line is equity and fairness where everybody would feel belonged. “So long as there is injustice, lack of equity, marginalization of some ethnic groups and ‘unfair distribution of the nation’s commonwealth, people who feel cheated would continue to agitate.
“So no matter where one comes from, we should think about the betterment of Nigeria and not ethnicity pr sectionalism. The problem is not restructuring, it is all about living right with one another and growing a prosperous Nation, it is all about industrialization and wealth creation, having at the back of our minds equity and patriotism,” he said.
