Kunle Olajide, the
Secretary-General, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), has tasked President
Muhammadu Buhari to ensure true federalism and national unity in his next
government.
Olajide told the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) that the president needed to return the nation to the era of
revenue generation and not sharing of allocation.
NAN reports that Olajide is also
a retired medical practitioner and a traditional title holder in Ibadan land.
“I have written a congratulatory
letter to the president on his re-election and assured him of YCE’s support for
his administration towards achieving a greater Nigeria.
“In the letter, I told him that
his victory carries enormous responsibilities among which were the need to
ensure national unity and a revisit of the El-Rufai’s committee report on
restructuring.
“The president has replied the
letter, appreciating it and the in-depth suggestions.
“He assured me that the
suggestions will be given adequate cognisance,” he said.
The YCE leader said the nation
could achieve rapid growth and development with true federalism which allowed
devolution of powers.
He stressed that the decisions of
the Gov. Nasir El-Rufai-led committee on restructuring set up by Buhari’s
administration in 2017 was far-reaching, calling on the president to revisit
the report.
“We have to gradually move back
to the period of generating revenue and not sharing revenue.
“Each federating unit should be
allowed to exploit and explore its resources.
“They should then pay an agreed
percentage to maintain few essential services in the centre such as Defence,
Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Custom services,” he said.
Olajide said that there were only
14 items on the exclusive list in the First Republic and the rest were residual
for the states.
According to him, “today, there
are 66 items on the exclusive list. The intervention of the military in 1966
truncated the march to true federalism.
“So, in the next four years,
Buhari should be able to finish the process, foundation and implementation of
the El-Rufai’s committee recommendations.
“I think it is very essential
that the report is implemented as a first step to entrench a true federal
system of government.”
He also called on the president
to make national unity a priority, urging him to ensure that all parts of the
country were given sense of belonging through appointments and projects.
“The president should ensure that
his appointments reflect the diversity of Nigeria and in line with the Federal
Character Principle enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.
“We must ensure that people think
of Nigeria before anything else, irrespective of tribe and religious
affiliation. The president must ensure that he bequeaths a legacy of a United
Nigeria
“He must ensure that the people
remained the centre of all their decisions, including security of lives and
properties.”
On the 2019 general election, he
said that the nation had made some progress, adding that the conduct was still
better than those witnessed in the past.
Olajide opined that INEC should
be unbundled from its overloaded responsibilities.
He said the electoral umpire
should only be responsible for registering of political parties and conduction
of elections.
He called for the constitution of
Election Offence Tribunal to handle cases of electoral malpractice.
The YCE leader said that civil
security agencies and not military, should play roles in elections, suggesting
recruitment of more personnel for the police as well as NSCDC to meet up with
required number.
“Let me confess. I am very proud
of the Yoruba race. The outcome of the election gladdens my heart considerably
because the political temperature was very high during the campaign season.
“Everybody was anxious and
worried that there might be widespread violence. Yes, there were violence and
skirmishes here and there, but not to the extent envisaged.
“Looking at the conduct of the
election by itself, I think we have made progress. We are not yet there, but we
are far better than where we were before in Yorubaland,” he said.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com