Nigeria’s ride into the future is bumpy — Osuntokun

…Says governance attack indispensable change

By Olayinka Ajayi

LAGOS — EMERITUS Professor of History and International Relations, Akinjide Osuntokun, yesterday, warned that Nigeria’s thrust into the aboriginal would beryllium bumpy, noting that the state needed changes to onshore smoothly.

Osuntokun, who made the assertion during the memorial enactment lecture of precocious Oduola Osuntokun, a erstwhile curate successful the aged Western Region betwixt 1955 and 1966, stressed the request to alteration the nation’s governance approach.

He said: “I was successful a radical discussing and debating what our connection astatine the General Assembly plenary league successful 1991 successful New York should be, and we got to the constituent of discussing the imaginable of Nigeria successful the future, and idiosyncratic came up with the linguistic flourish that the Nigeria bid was entering a agelong acheronian tunnel, the extremity of which was the airy of an approaching train.

“The representation was truthful graphic that each clip a Nigerian runs into innumerable difficulties, I retrieve asking whether the gag of 1991 was a prophetic prediction.

“There is the occupation of overpopulation, mediocre nourishment of our children starring to intelligence retardation, the dormant value of religion, deficiency of readying oregon full lack of rationality, authorities taking precedence implicit the system and supra each the Constitution, which is astir of the clip lifted from the books of different countries and planted successful the situation successful Nigeria, which astir of the clip is inappropriate if not hostile and unrelated to our governmental past and experience.

“As for our occupation of taste antagonism, the concern seems to beryllium getting worse due to the fact that of economical contention for scarce resources, particularly onshore successful the crowded municipality centres, and particularly Lagos, wherever ownership of onshore by indigenous peoples is clashing with the modern ideas of ownership by purchase. We whitethorn ne'er person each our preconditions wholly successful order, but we tin lick the quality occupation of improvement and defence and enactment our radical to enactment successful exploring the state for hidden minerals and riches and expanding cultivation production.

“There are galore reasons wherefore we volition not person a creaseless thrust to the future. If, however, we alteration our governance approach, determination is simply a anticipation that alternatively than crashing, we would tally into turbulence, but we volition onshore safely.”

Dignitaries who graced the inaugural lecture see 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi; erstwhile Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; erstwhile Ogun State Governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba; woman of erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mrs Bola Obasanjo.

 former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Bode George; erstwhile politician of Ekiti State, Mr Niyi Adebayo; and contiguous past Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, among others.

The station Nigeria’s thrust into the aboriginal is bumpy — Osuntokun appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.