George Oji and Ali M. Ali
4 January 2009
Kaduna — Deposed Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, has said the creation of the Niger Delta ministry as a way of addressing the restiveness in the oil producing areas is unnecessary and capable of causing endless demands from other aggrieved sections of the country.
Dasuki, who expressed this concern while speaking with THISDAY in Kaduna on the occasion of his 85th birthday anniversary, said he found it illogical how the creation of a special ministry for the Niger Delta region would address the numerous problems of the people.
"What kind of thing is that, what for and why? That is short term thing, which does not address the problem. If government has to establish a ministry for everyone who shouts, how many ministries are we going to have in this country? Is that policy well thought out?" Dasuki queried.
He said: "I think the government which set up that ministry should know better. How many states do we have? It started from 12 and got to 19 and now 36, still people want more states, you should continue to give them more states, local governments?
"The more you start acceding to such request you can never stop, there will be more and more requests coming up. You have to be very careful doing that. So, whatever you are going to do, study it carefully to understand the implications."
The former Sultan, who was deposed in 1996 and has since been domiciled in Kaduna with his family, also commented on the current proposal for constitutional role for traditional rulers. He said such role should be limited to supervisory functions at the local government areas. According to him, this suggestion is informed by the affinity the royal fathers enjoy with the people.
"I think they should be given supervisory roles, particularly at the Local Government levels. They should be involved in the development needs of the local people, not go for campaign for any particular party.
"I know that when the ordinary people have problems they go to the traditional rulers, not the governors not the chairmen. The traditional rulers are therefore the ones that are accessible to the ordinary people, day and night. Therefore, in one way or the other they should be involved in determining what should be going on in their areas.
" Unfortunately, government only involves the royal fathers when there is trouble. That means that they are still relevant. So, there is need for the royal fathers to be involved in the determination of what should be done for the communities," he said.
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