₦airaland Forum

[size=13pt]Nigeria runs the risk of collapse —Fayemi[/size]

In this interview with OLUSOLA FABIYI in Abuja, the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, spoke on the desire of the states in the South-West to form a regional block to promote growth and development in the zone. He also talked about the contentious minimum wage and other issues.





Eight states that were formally in the defunct Western Region recently met in Ado-Ekiti to deliberate on how to come together for the development of the region. What is the essence of the meeting and why now?


It is about development, and development has no party colour as far as we are concerned. If you look at the entire stretch from Lagos to Delta, at least three parties re present there: we have the Peoples Democratic Party in Delta while the Labour Party rules in Ondo State. Of course, the Action Congress of Nigeria is in control in six other states. But one thing that unites all of us is the demand of our people for progress and we have no solid explanation to give them that 50 years after independence, it is not possible for our people to enjoy life more abundant.


But how do we do that in our individual states with all the challenges that we face unless we find a way to pool our resources together? Ekiti cannot on its own, in the shortest possible time put up a rail. In the array of the competing needs that we have, that will not even be our priority but in the larger context of the West, it is important to have a rail line, call it Great Western Rail from Lagos to Edo or Delta which makes it possible for me to wake up in Ado Ekiti at 7am and walk into my office at 9am in Lagos and leave that same office at 5pm having dinner at home in Ado Ekiti at 7pm. Imagine the impact that will have on rural urban drift and on the employment situation in the entire region.


But you have Oodua…


(Cuts in) Yes, but Oodua covered only five states, excluding Lagos, Edo and Delta. Of course, they have their own initiatives as well but the important thing for us is to try a regional development paradise. The Nigerian nation is work in progress. We are unapologetic believer in the Nigerian project. We want the Nigerian project to really be achieved and perhaps one way to do that is for those who have ethnic, political and historical link to pool their resources in a manner that they can achieve a quicker phase of development. It is happening in the South-South. They have a commission. We are beyond that and our expectation is that we will succeed. But even if some of us or all of us choose not to fully come on board, it still will not diminish the importance of what we are doing. We have come to a conclusion that it will be best for us to focus on areas of need and also look at our own areas of comparative advantage and learn from each other.


Delta State was not part of the meeting. Was the state invited?


Delta was invited. What we are doing, there are two sides to the argument, I don’t want to give an impression that we had a consensus on what should be a western region. Don’t forget Delta and Edo are currently in the South-South Commission as they call themselves but some of us feel strongly that there are core values that drove the agenda then; those core values are still core values associated with us in our western Nigeria. Education is important in the region, infrastructure is critical to us, industrial development and of course, agriculture. The Edo-Delta belt is the rubber belt of the old western region, the Cocoa belt is here in Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti but these were things that we used to do together. During the 1995 constitutional conference, there was this Alex Ekwueme’s suggestion of six zones, but there is an attempt to make them organic by pooling things together within them, even if we reduced it to just too current notion of the South-West, it is the necessity of the idea that is important to us, it is not who comes in or goes out. It is like the Niger Delta. There are people who talk about the Niger Delta, and there are people who talk about the nine states in the Niger Delta which include Ondo, Edo, Abia. So, what we are also saying is that there is the core west and expanded west, the contiguity brings them together in a manner that they can still work together.


The recourse to regionalism, does it not suggest that the Nigerian nation is failing?


No, as a matter of fact, it is a sign that the Nigerian nation is becoming mature. These are things that create tension in the past, imagine the situation in which we are all organised for development within that geo-political frame. When we improve our situation, we are also improving the situation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The United Kingdom is not collapsed simply because you have a Scottish government, Whale government, if anything; it has reduced certain burden on the federal centre and also distributed responsibilities across board. For those of us who strongly feel that until and unless you have restructuring of the agenda, the old project Nigeria runs the risk of collapse that is why this strengthens Nigeria rather than undermine her.


Don’t you think that states like Delta and Ondo will see this as an ACN agenda?


If you decide that you won’t do something simply because of what people will say or because of the way you are going to be perceived, then I think leadership is not a prerogative you can ascribe. People will talk any way, if we are on our own, the governor of Ekiti State tells the government of Osun State, don’t come and talk to me about what will improve our situation, of course we will do it. But we are talking about rapid growth and development for our people. For example, everyday in Lagos, people live in Lagos, if you put it at lower end of 15 million, the official figure in Lagos is 15 million but we strongly believe it is far more than that, for people who consume food, even the most conservative estimate of N150 a day, N50 breakfast, N50 lunch and N50 dinner for each, we are talking N3bn market for food alone a day, N90bn a month, Lagos is not known to the best of my knowledge, to be an agriculture endowed state, except you are talking fisheries, the yam comes from outside and tomato from outside. So, we are saying let us have a development approach to this, why can’t the remaining seven of us, if you want to go by the maximalist definition or the five of us if your approach is to minimalist, be responsible in a negotiated arrangement where the common agriculture policy that says Ekiti you have a comparative advantage in yam, and rice and cassava, supply Ido, Ketu, Mile-two market regularly, get your farmers together in a cooperative that will enable us to do this.


What is wrong with the type of federalism that we practise?


We have made it clear that we do not know any country in the world that calls itself a federation that has 68 items on its Exclusive List Items that no Federal Government should be involved in it, primary education, primary healthcare, even roads. What is the business of the FG with roads in my state? There are so many things that are defective, and we keep pointing out this, beyond the issue of revenue allocation sharing formula, that in itself is a product of the militarisation that this country has experienced over the years and it is the same militarisation that was responsible for the unitarisation of the Nigerian state. That is why we are clear about an agenda of restructuring for the Nigerian state because we also believe that the closer government is to them, the more accountable it is likely to be to the people. Ninty-nine per cent of Nigerians do not know where Abuja is, they have never been there and the idea that 66 per cent of the resources of this country is consumed in Abuja is also what tends to some of the expenditure we see because there is so much money at the centre and they often don’t know what to do with it. I read the federal budget and you see some descriptions there that just bother the mind.


Is it the defective federal structure that made the governors’ forum to say they will not pay the new minimum wage unless the revenue allocation was addressed and the oil subsidy removed?


Governors met and we said the new minimum wage is an Act of a National Assembly, we are law abiding citizens. In fact, it is our responsibility to enforce the law in our various jurisdictions, the issue of ‘won’t pay’ stage does not arise for government to the best of my knowledge, at least for the ACN governors. I know we have no issue with the payment of minimum wage. One of the things that we see in this federal structure is that it is not the business of the FG to determine what the individual state must pay its workers. Look at the history of the minimum wage anywhere in the world, it protects the most vulnerable sector of the working class, those who are not tenured, those who do not have condition of service, in many country where you have minimum wage, it relates to hourly wage and who are the people who are paid hourly? It is those who don’t have permanent employment.


It is only in Nigeria that we want to convert minimum wage into a permanent wage arrangement and we feel that that is not the right thing to do. So what governors are saying is that the resources to pay are not there; we do not want to sack workers because we believe that they are the engine room of this democracy and for some of us, who come from a social democratic background, it is an aftermath to us not wanting to pay minimum wage. Ultimately, I believe that we will pay, as we have said. The ACN governors, we issued a statement and decided that we will pay but we will have to return to the question of what is this country, what are our responsibilities, what is the inter-governmental relationship meant to be because if we don’t resolve all these issues, we are all digging a hole to which we are all going to fall one day.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201107182293917

[size=13pt]ACN’ll reclaim Kwara, says Tinubu[/size]

From LAYI OLANREWAJU, Ilorin


More Stories on This Section
The national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and former governor of Lagos State,  Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the weekend said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in Kwara State would soon give way to ACN.

Tinubu, who gave the assurance while speaking at the 50th birthday lecture of the ACN governorship candidate in the last election in Kwara State,  Mr. Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN) noted that leaders of the party were battle-ready for eventual change of baton in Kwara.

The former governor of Lagos State added that ACN was out to dislodge the Saraki dynasty in the state for a more progressive and forward looking government headed by Mohammed Dele Belgore.
He therefore urged Kwarans  to stand solidly behind the ACN governorship candidate in the April polls, saying, “we are out to rescue Kwara State. But I urge you not to be discouraged but rather steadfast.”
Earlier, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Raji Fashola (SAN)  in the  birthday lecture entitled: “Relationship between Democracy and Good Governance,” said the current unitary system of government in Nigeria masquerading as federalism would continue to deny the country good governance.

According to him,“I am an optimist but until that unitary arrangement is changed for a more federal arrangement, Nigeria will remain poor and denied of good governance.” He said, “those  who argue for a federal arrangement do not feel that we need the federal arrangement for the sake of it. If we have conducted elections, which debatably were better than what we did in 2007, that should not be the end of the world. We must now seek to bring content into the electoral progress by making sure that we translate electoral progress into a better quality of life for our people.  We cannot do that under this unitary arrangement where everything comes from Abuja.

“We do not  seek federal arrangement because we like that word, ‘federal’ we seek it because Nigeria is made of many small nations, many diverse ethnic nationalities with different cultures and they are differently blessed with resources and political history has kept us and the federal arrangements is the best way to harness these resources.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/27/national-27-06-2011-008.html

I trust you to do that my dear. I have always known your hospitality to be 2nd to none.

Well, what do you have for me?

toba:
The lang coding is fast becoming a trend here. Same in the Romance section. How can we know if they are cursing us sef

Its ok if it is even 2 or 3 posts like you see on other threads, but when you have 2/3 pages filled with wollof, it is simply asking others to get out.

I will recommend they change the title of this therad to " Wollof Speaking Can i meet you" and open another one in Culture Section with the title " Let's speak Wollof"

iice:
[color=#9900ff]Thunder scatter your keyboard
Your own dey come kekeke [/color]

kekekeke  My computer no get keyboard. 

[quote author=Emeka 7. link=topic=599076.msg8732516#msg8732516 date=1310888987]Dis topic has degenerated to latin, Which only d latin pple understand.[/quote][quote author=God, link=topic=599076.msg8733843#msg8733843 date=1310911703]OmGod, whats going on here? Possin dey speak strange language for here. Sey u na wan sell us? Make i run fast comot 4 here[/quote]All thanks to mukina, her albino sister, and her arab boyfriend. About time they rename the thread and move it to culture section. 

Anyway am out. 

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=490918.msg8735712#msg8735712 date=1310933585]Thanks OAM4J. and how was your sunday today?

I would really appreciate if jason's thread can go front page or should be recommended thank you

and if not, please give me reason why not[/quote]Thanks. Sunday great so far.

I dont determine what goes to the home page. Admin and Supermod do. They follow this thread and they will see your recommendation. If they think it's worth being on Home Page they will put it. But note that thread from that section rarely make the home page, I guess it is because most of the threads on that section only promote or demote a section of the country and the forum would not want to be seen as promoting such threads. But Admin and Supermod have the final say.

Sorry guys, just coming online. All the complaints have been looked into.

Happy birthday Seun.

Many happy returns!

[quote author=Missy ★ B link=topic=451442.msg8731321#msg8731321 date=1310858590]I'm sowiee, sugar! I was too busy thinking of you. . .I didn't see some comments let alone read 'em.[/quote]Ok get her a good food cos of me, I trust you to know what food she will like, then we will have a special all nite peaceful discussion this night

@Iragbijile/ fstranger

Ordinarily I would have ignored you, but seriously do you have to quote the same post 4 times to make your points. You are gradually becoming another becomerich.

All of us used to be friends on this site and we make fun of each other and we forget about it. What is the problem Fstranger? What is wrong with you? Is it more than the normal disagreement we see every day on NL? Why are you taking things so personal? Why all these bitterness? Or did katsumoto or anyone take your girl from you on this site?

Take it from me as a friend, even though you might not believe it; it is becoming too much of you and its like you dont even know it. You are not looking good at all. O ye ko fura o.

houvest:
Callking you moderator does not mean I am calling your post moderator's moderation as of course you can only moderatye concerning NL Rules or breaches thereof. You cannot force opinions on others of course so there is no need to think I am mistaking the two.  Interestingly you say your post is a humour and you incidentally did not see the humour in mine but rather chose the option of me twisting your words. Allow me my own tongue-in -cheek aproach too sir,  Certainly it could not be because I did not use emoticons. I do have high regards for you of course as a moderator as you are doing a good job to a large extent but of course I recognise when you offer a lame opinion with all due respects and the aim of my post is just to show that while according you your rights of opinion.

All those expecting GEJ to do an overnight miracle over BM or other Nigerian problems after 2 months post- election while forgetting that those issues have been long in forming and that they can not be solved overnight must be able to provide better suggestions than you did when confronted as you were by that poster's question or a similiar one. If Bin Laden did  defy three American Presidents and Al Qaeda more why are we expecting such a sleight of hand from Jonathan and a brandish by him of a Boko Haram-less Nigeria out of his magic box overnight. The steps he has taken so far are what we should criticise or applaud or better still flesh them up instead of jumping in this bandwagon of seeing everything done by Jonathan as nothing or clueless and some other funny apellations used on NL. Of course I cannot jump willy-nilly into such a wagon and does not stop anyone from doing so especially the pro-Buhari-tes but I am at liberty also to disagree with them even vehemently as long as I respect the rules of engagement on NL. So my dear sir I have not offended you.

Thanks for your understanding. And my apologies for misunderstanding you. We can agree to disagree. As I always say, time will tell. It will soon be 2015 and we shall take stock.

But believe me with all my heart, I wish GEJ/PDP will surprise me and succeed, that will be better for me and for Nigeria. Cos I love this country.

@ Katsumoto.

That Speech is recent. It talked about Yaradua's death in the 1st paragraph, that means he made that speech after he had already become the CBN Governor.

After reading that speech,  though he made some points which are obviously true, but condemning the Igbos and Yorubas and turning a blind eyes to the ills of the Hausa/Fulani which he represents made him guilty of the message he is preaching. And he just scored himself lower in my rating of him with that speech.

@ Isale_gan

I think I will soon limit your posting to Romance and Nairaland Section

houvest:
Seriously this is your solution, our dear moderator. SMH. In one breath you tacitly approve his appointment of Nnaji and Iweala ,et al, as deft and in the same breath you say you doubt his ability to recognise sound advice. Complicated ,my dear Watson. However,I did not know that the Messiah has come back and his name is Buhari. Hail Mighty Buhari. We your servants beg you to use your omniscience and tell your humble servant Jonathan how to solve the Boko Haram issue, We know that thou only has the solution. Help us mighty saviour before Nigeria perishes.

Can you people learn to separate moderator's post from OAM4J/Jarus's opinion.

That said, ordinarily I would have ignored this post cos I dont like people who twists words to mean what it doesn't mean and those who cant separate humor from real comment.

I didn't call Buhari a messiah, I only used Buhari as a representative of alternatives and my comment about Buhari was a joke; i thot that should be obvious because realistically it is not possible, and you at least saw the 3 grin smileys I used. I even went after the line to use the word "Now seriously" which should have made it obvious that the 1st line wasn't serious.

When I mentioned Nwela and Nnaji I also talked about them being given free hands and ONLY then do I see them succeeding. I went to tell you how I doubt PDP/GEJ will truly give them free hand. So what is so complicated/confusing/contradicting about that? Truth is, I will be happier if either of these people is the president, but unfortunately they are not.

If there's any Justice - Lemar

^ok

omanzo02:
Since u did'nt put yourself foward, now tell us what u would propose if u were an adviser to GEJ or in his oversized shoe?

Good, I will advice him to get all the elders in the PDP and all past presidents/head of states to follow him to beg Buhari. He  GEJ should "dobale" for Buhari and hand over the presidency to him. 


Now seriously, I will advice him and his VP to resign, and allow competent and courageous men to take over. I doubt his ability to recognize sound advice and the balls to follow it 

^ok

omanzo02:
Do u have a clue yourself?

lol. Well, your question is unfounded cos I didn't contest in the last election. The point is, if u don't have a clue and sure of a solution, don't put yourself forward.

wired123:
Mods, please unban Jason 123!!! I was banned by the Spam-bot

I will let Admin and the Supermod know about it, something will be done as soon as they come online.

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=714760.msg8730029#msg8730029 date=1310842671]I have come to realise that majority of the igbos on this site and indeed ezeuche are nothing but trolls

they do not live with us in nigeria but yet try to tell us what is going on in nigeria

SMH rubbish[/quote]Please don't "tribalize" the topic.  

[quote author=Rhino.5dm link=topic=714760.msg8729962#msg8729962 date=1310842096]you be careful with the in-house PDP vampires. Soon they will start calling for your head.
I will be there if you need any help brother.[/quote]Thanks my brother.

Campaign time is over, minority have had their say and majority have had their way. Now it is the time to start comparing notes cos we are all together in the boat.

I only hope the PDP machinery will give Iweala and Nnaji some free hand to do something, but knowing PDP as I know it, i seriously doubt they will.

EzeUche:
Like I said, why would anyone vote for an illiterate like Buhari and a loud mouth like Ribadu?

Jonathan was lesser of two evils. And I was a supporter of Pat Utomi, who did not get support from the Nigerian masses.

It depends on your definition of illiteracy.

Even then, I will rather trust a high school graduate who understands the problem and knows what has to be done, than a Phd holder who obviously has no clue.

Kobojunkie:
I don't know about you but in my books, when it comes to leadership . . . . doing absolutely NOTHING is FAILURE!! There is no such thing as a LEADER who does nothing, either you a leader (good or bad e.g Hitler) Or you are a failure as a leader(DO NOTHING people who have no leadership abilities but still sell themselves as leaders).

So, like I said. . . .

+1

I was going to make similar response after I saw afam's post, then i saw yours, I wouldn't have put it better.

have you ever – Brandy

Against All Odds - Phil Collins

Lonely - Akon

hmnnnnn, looks like there was a party and I was M I A

Hi Mrs Pinkpunk

hi rice, sorry I mean Lice, oh no, I mean iice 

hi Albino.

You girls should always be nice.

Goldieluks:
Am hungry

What will you like to eat my dear, sorry I have not been around lately.




Missy B, why didn't you attend to my friend? Cant I talk to u as your husband? Or what is it you cannot let go for my sake?

If that's what it takes - Celine Dion