Bode George, a former deputy national chairman (south) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in this interview with TheCable’s TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, speaks on the myriads of challenges confronting Nigeria and why the implementation of the 2014 national conference report will bring a lasting solution. He said President Bola Tinubu’s name will be written in gold if he implements the report.

TheCable: The word ‘restructuring’ seems to have taken backstage since the new administration came on board. When you mention it, there are discordant tunes from north to south, east and west as every region have different interpretations based on how it suits their needs. What is your definition of restructuring?

George: What it means is that, reduce the power at the centre and give more economic power to the states. In other words, the resources that are being harnessed and being paid to the federal purse, let each state keep 70 percent of what they can produce and send 30 to the national — just like we had in the first republic where the centre was weak and the regions were powerful.

Also, policing is local. Let us have state police. To me, that is the solution. Reduce the power of the centre. This means there will be political and economic restructuring; but defense, external affairs will still be national and this means that the states will have more powers and then they will be more responsive to the needs of the people in their state. I was a delegate to the national conference of 2014. That was the only national conference this country has ever had convened by a civilian administration that started and ended without any fiasco. Unanimously, all those resolutions were adopted on the plenary session at the floor, all thrown open.

The history of this country must not go down without a big thank you to the late Justice Idris Kutigi and former President (Goodluck) Jonathan. Jonathan never interfered to manipulate and say ‘Do this, do that!’. Baba Kutigi was a decent, humane, and thoroughbred Nigerian. He rose above the frills of tribalism or annoyance; no matter what people said, even in anger, he would reply with smiles. He brought down all the tension in that hall. I had never seen Nigerians so united. The most sensible thing to do is for the government to revisit that document, throw it to the national assembly and let them open it up because justice, fairness and equity must be the tripod that will stabilise this country.

People are just misinterpreting restructuring. Yes, people will have various ideas, comments and all that, but there must be a meeting point and there must be compromises. The national conference document is the compromise version. Agitations from all nooks and crannies of this country are saying what they want. In the end, everybody may not get all the things they want but they won’t go home empty-handed.

TheCable: What are the two critical issues you think
this present administration should give priority to?

George: Very simple! There are two major areas of concern. The first is the insecurity challenges across the country. We have enough people with the experience in security matters in this country. Yes, the president has appointed security chiefs and other aides on security matters, but the infant’s head does not bend when the elders are in the market. The government can tap into the experience of retired security experts. He should consult with them on the way to go. He should look for retired security experts who were very useful during their active years in service and brainstorm with them on how to tackle these monstrous challenges. It is only when there is mutual collaboration and sharing of ideas that we can effectively tackle these challenges.

Aside insecurity challenges, there are other issues such as kidnapping, hunger, unemployment and economic crisis. The president should consult widely and seek for solutions on how to alleviate all these sufferings and pains.

The second is the issue about the 1999 constitution which we are using to direct the affairs of this country. We must be deceiving ourselves if we think this present constitution will take us to the promise land. Also, anyone who believes an amendment will make the constitution work is just deceiving himself. We must revisit the constitution in order to effectively tackle the insecurity challenges. If we implement state policing today, it will be value-added because the governors will recruit locals into the police. In America, they have state police; they also have county police. The nearer the police command is to the people, the safer. Because the policemen live in the neighbourhood, it will be easy for them to spot any criminal or bandit that comes into the community. The creation of state police will not affect the national police in anyway; but it will rather complement and ensure that we have a very effective policing system.

Look at the issue of local governments in Nigeria today. What is the business of Aso Villa with what happens in my local government? But what do we have here? It is the federal government that allocates money to local governments every month. Lagos has 20 local governments and it is the largest populated state in this country. We also have the highest number of registered voters. Yet, we have just 20 local governments while Kano has 44. Jigawa was created out of Kano, yet it has 27 local governments. What is the business of the federal government with the local governments? If any state wants to create one million local governments, that is the state’s problem. They will solve any problem that arises as a result of the creation. They must use the resources of that land for the benefit of the people. Look at the United States, in Atlanta, the airport there is run by the council. The city of New York runs their port and JFK. Why should everything in Nigeria be about the federal government? That is a military system of management where a boss will be giving orders to people all over the place. This is a civilian administration. Power must evolve from the people.

EmptyGarden:
He has already achieved that feat… Nigerians won’t forget him as things are right now.

hisexcellency34:
What did he achieve? Has he implemented the report?

EmptyGarden:

Isn’t the current hardship faced by Nigerians enough to remember this man for a lifetime?

happney65:
He can't implement shit. Person that is already giving excuses for restructuring.

Na GEJ be the werey and the mumu that should have implemented it and written his name in gold.

Your area feeds the whole Nation yet you couldn't implement something that will do well for your region

Omo ale oloshi buruku.

He deserves everything the APC did to him

Arindin ode omo

Anyways, Better restructure this damm country or to your Tents O Isreal

hisexcellency34:
Agreed. GEJ really messed up. You organised a conference and want another man to implement it for you

EmptyGarden:
He has already achieved that feat… Nigerians won’t forget him as things are right now.

happney65:
He can't implement shit. Person that is already giving excuses for restructuring.

Na GEJ be the werey and the mumu that should have implemented it and written his name in gold.

Your area feeds the whole Nation yet you couldn't implement something that will do well for your region

Omo ale oloshi buruku.

He deserves everything the APC did to him

Arindin ode omo

Anyways, Better restructure this damm country or to your Tents O Isreal

BlocksNG:
when? How? Are you okay?

happney65:
He can't implement shit. Person that is already giving excuses for restructuring.

Na GEJ be the werey and the mumu that should have implemented it and written his name in gold.

Your area feeds the whole Nation yet you couldn't implement something that will do well for your region

Omo ale oloshi buruku.

He deserves everything the APC did to him

Arindin ode omo

Anyways, Better restructure this damm country or to your Tents O Isreal