The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Media Trust Limited, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, has expressed dismay that Nigerian leaders are not showing any sense of urgency in dealing with the numerous challenges facing the country.
He made this statement while delivering his welcome speech at the 18th Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme: “Restructuring: Why? How?” held on Thursday in Abuja.
Mallam Yusuf said rather than making efforts to fix the country, the government of the day was responding to issues by issuing press statements.
He said: “There is widespread dissatisfaction in the land…
“What seems special about Nigeria, is that while the natives, are permanently restless, there is no sense of urgency from their government.
“But let me qualify that when it is threatened, as during the EndSARS protests, the Buhari government can go into overdrive, sending ministers, back to their constituencies. But then the matters quickly return to the old normal.”
He stressed that the default position was to wait on events, issue press statements in response to recurring outrages, display pictures of meetings and briefings on television and repeat promises of better days to come.
Mallam Yusuf maintained that, as a result of absence of systematic planning and diligent follow up, small gains are lost and progress stalled.
“The lack of vision and vigour has affected everything, including dealing with urgent national issues; one of which is the agitation for ‘Restructuring’…”
He recalled that the rulling All Progressives Congress (APC) pledged to introduce constitutional changes that will establish true federalism just before the 2019 elections.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State headed a committee on restructuring, which made recommendations including state police, revised formula of revenue sharing and abolition of the local government.
However, Mallam Yusuf noted that not much had been heard about the El-Rufai report since the APC was re-elected to a second term two years ago. (Daily Trust)