Ibraheem Musa
1 October 2008
Kaduna — The greatest challenge facing Nigeria as a sovereign nation is the enthronement of genuine democracy, where leaders will emerge through free and fair elections and for them to respect the electorate and not to trample on their rights with impunity, retired General IBM Haruna, the Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF) said yesterday.
In a telephone interview with Daily Trust, General Haruna said that in spite of everything that Nigeria has gone through, the nation is still marching on as a sovereign nation for 48 years and this calls for celebration. The ACF chairman who spoke in his personal capacity, also said that there are good reasons for Nigerians to cheer at the country's independence anniversary.
According to him, a lot is presently wrong with the nation and he lamented that our economy is not amongst the most buoyant in the world in spite of our rich natural resources. General Haruna also said that there is still an unacceptable level of poverty in the country, adding that the nation's productive capacity has been on a steady decline. He mentioned lack of steady power supply and unfriendly business climate as some of the factors that are responsible.
The ACF chairman also lamented that despite our huge foreign reserves, the nation's seeming roboust economy has no mitigated the high incidence of poverty in the country. He also said that unemployed has remained high in the country.
However, the fact that Nigerians and even their leaders know what is wrong and they are determined to put things aright is reassuring, he said. According to General Haruna, "we know our problems and we are prepared to solve them in spite of the actions of our detractors." He categorised the nation's detractors into two, namely those from within the country and those from without.
Specifically, he listed criminal elements within all the groups that are seeking for self-determination like the Niger Delta militants, Odua Peoples Congress(OPC) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra(MASSOB) as some of the nation's detractors. Also, he mentioned corrupt public official in this category.
Countries who aid the perpetration of corruption as well as those that have not joined Nigerian in it war against corruption, according to General Haruna, are among the nation's external detractors.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
