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| Nigeria seems to be mired in crises since the last general elections, which threaten its unity |
As a result of the current situation, Kalabari Prince and Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Prince Tonye Princewill has said that Nigeria’s unity is under serious threat more than ever before and warns that stakeholders in the Nigerian project should subsume their ethnic, religious and personal political interest for the health of the nation.
Princewill told reporters in Port Harcourt that from all indications, the fabric of the unity of the nation seems to be under siege, pointing out that the Nigeria of today is perceived to be more divided than ever before.
He listed issues that have constituted the centrifugal forces that could torpedo national cohesion and nation building to include unemployment, religious intolerance, growing ethnic consciousness in a multi-ethnic nation state, corruption and facile effort to combat it as exemplified in the after election acrimonies, the Boko Haram fundamentalism, bickering over the proposed Islamic banking and the zoning imbroglio, which has refused to ebb.
Others, he further listed include the issue of numerous unresolved murders, injustice against some persons and some sections of the society on which enquiries were set but no solution was found.
He said that unemployment is a major issue and could be very destructive, adding, ‘We have heard about it and seen it in the North as was in the Niger Delta and I have mentioned this severally before now. The absence of productive employment is clearly an issue. Power generation is also a clear issue that must be addressed to encourage business and diversify the economy, but how many people can run businesses competitively while having to buy diesel to keep their company running?’
According to him, ‘So many reports on some of these subjects have been prepared without any implementation. As a ‘victim’ of this policy of setting up committees only to ignore reports at the end of the day, I am aware that many true and real solutions exist if only leaders will listen.’
He expressed the belief that by positively addressing employment and other contentious social issues, the country stand a greater chance of reducing ‘this challenge that is itself a critical factor militating against the unity of the nation. In Rivers State we encourage social integration’.
‘I believe the best way to heal these wounds is to show without prejudice that the good, the bad, and the ugly from across the North, East, West and South are all stakeholders in the entity Nigeria. In which case it behooves on all and sundry to work towards ensuring that governance becomes participatory to encourage transparency and a capacity to accommodate different views and opinion’, he said.
The Kalabari Prince and Atiku Abubakar’s political associate wants Nigerians to be more tolerant of each other, saying, ‘I hope we all start to become more accepting of each other. I think we may soon see a commissioner in our state that is not from our state. That is progress. We cannot stop there. Mr. President should take the lead in promoting harmony and reconciliation. Nobody is too big or too small. They are all important. He remains the President of the good, the bad and the ugly’.
‘I must appeal to all those who believe that crawling back into an ethnic shell provides a cover for tomorrow to have a rethink. We need a Nigerian agenda, not a Northern agenda or a South West agenda or Ijaw agenda. There is no place for this in mainstream politics’, he counselled.
He advised President Goodluck Jonathan on the issue of Boko Haram, proffering dialogue as one good option, adding that constructive engagement resolves issues of disagreement, which is normal in any society.
‘I don’t believe that everybody is a criminal; I believe there are people who have good intentions but pursue it through illegal means. My view on it is to isolate these people and then take on all well-meaning Nigerians and bring them on board; for me, that is the first thing I will need to do if I were the president. I think Jonathan needs to be open and transparent. Next thing he needs to do is to tackle the issue of unemployment and the only way he can do that is by addressing the issue of power’, he said.
Princewill emphasized that if the President tackles power, then he would have been well on his way to tackling unemployment, pointing out that a closer look shows that the majority of youths involved in violent pursuits do so as an alternative to gainful employment.
‘If he does that and we start to improve on the social security of people, especially those in the North, then we can certainly say we have found the way forward. But as it is, I foresee that the resolution to the Boko Haram issue may likely end in amnesty with the Boko Haram requesting a share of the amnesty budget,’ he predicted.
He said that in Nigeria today, there is a lot to say for why any one group will be justified in requesting for the same treatment or outcome as was meted to a similar group conducting similar ‘business’ as them, regretting that with such scenario, at the end of the day, Nigerians have a government whose overheads are firing out of control because it needs to ensure the youths desist from violence.
‘This is not practical, this is not sustainable and this is not good for our government. Look at our budget and how much we spend on recurrent as opposed to capital expenditure and then ask yourself “are we developing or maintaining poverty for the poor and riches for the rich?” others have spoken and were ignored, Iweala has said the same thing, let’s hope she would be listened to. Thankfully with the minimum wage, we will all be forced to rethink how we spend the people’s money’, he said.
He agreed with those who impute political manipulation of the Boko Haram, saying, ‘there is no doubt that there are some organisations that are hell bent on making sure the status quo does not favour the sitting president. But I think this goes beyond Jonathan, even at the level of the state governments and smaller units of government, there are still attacks and these happened even before Jonathan became the President. I think the agenda is wider than Jonathan.’
The PDP chieftain maintained however that the best way to tackle the issue is to isolate the radical elements, identify them, advising that the way to do this is not to go from outside, because, according to him, ‘inside the communities is where you start this process of isolation, in other words, the moderate individuals who are dissatisfied but do not subscribe to the violence need to be recruited and brought onside.’
He said that politicians should also play their politics and the jostles for power in such a way that it could conduce to peace and stability and commended Rivers Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) withdrawal of its election petition against Governor Chibuike Amaechi.
‘This occurrence at this time is evident of the ACN leadership commitment to patriotic ideals and that Dr. Abiye Sekibo has shown himself to be a true son of Rivers State. Though the decision may not be an easy one to make given past aggravations, between all concerned, but it is evident of Sekibo’s decision to cast aside differences for the good of the state’, he said.
‘This withdrawal also serves to concur on a widely held opinion during the course of the electoral campaigns, when political pundits stated that Governor Amaechi did not have any formidable opponent. In this regard, I expect Sir Celestine Omehia to toe the path of honour and withdraw his petition in the wake of ACN’s decision,’ he added.
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