Blaming economic woes on oil price, sheer laziness – Bakare
The General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, says Nigeria urgently needs a revolution.
Bakare said it was sheer laziness to
blame the global economic downturn for Nigeria’s economic woes, adding
that waiting for a rise in crude oil prices before reviving the economy
was pointless.
He said this during the 27th anniversary thanksgiving of his church on Sunday in Lagos.
The cleric, who lamented that Nigeria’s
destiny was hanging in the balance, said that the revolution must
include a radical transformation of values that should transcend
politics and change of government.
According to him, since past leaders of
the country could not deliver on the promise of a new Nigeria when the
global and local economic climates were favourable, it would be wrong to
blame the country’s woes on the global economic downturn.
He said, “While appreciating the
positive developments in our democratic experience, especially the
attempts by past and current governments to eliminate systemic leakages,
I shall seek to prove that, by a fair preponderance of the credible
evidence, the state of the nation calls for a revolution.
“This is a revolution that transcends
politics or policies; a revolution that means far more than any change
of government; a revolution that means a radical reformation of values
as they impact upon the social, economic and political landscapes of our
nation.
“It is a symptom of chronic national
laziness to blame the global economic downturn for Nigeria’s economic
woes, or to wait expectantly for a rise in crude oil prices in order to
sustain our consumptive economic patterns. Our problems are not the
result of global economic cycles; our problems are the results of
counter-productive national paradigms and self-limiting frameworks of
state.”
Bakare listed structural deformation,
institutional degradation, constitutional aberrations and governmental
incapacitation as ‘fundamental errors’ that needed to be addressed for
the country to move forward.
In order to correct the structural
deformation, Bakare said the devolution of powers was essential, adding
that power must be devolved to the levels of governments that are
closest to the people and that can best deliver public goods.
He also called for a new constitution,
noting that the 1999 Constitution lacked “virtue and laid the foundation
for a culture of political fraudulence.”
Speaking on tensions created by
aggrieved groups in the country, Bakare advised Buhari to create a
Presidential Commission for National Reconciliation, Reintegration and
Restructuring in order create a new national identity for Nigerians.
Other functions of the commission,
according to the cleric, should include promoting forgiveness and
reconciliation among contentious interest groups in Nigeria and
facilitating the creation of an acceptable functional governmental
structure for the country.
While praying for President Muhammadu
Buhari to leave a legacy of a new Nigeria, Bakare urged Nigerians to
support the President.
He added, “In a three-dimensional
strategic arrangement, this national rebirth process can go on
seamlessly alongside socio-economic development, championed by the
economic team of this administration, headed by the Vice-President
(Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) as well as a national security and anti-corruption
strategy, spearheaded by the President Muhammadu Buhari.
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