Presiding Pastor of Living Spring Chapel Lagos, Pastor Femi-Emmanuel, speaks with Sunday Oguntola on state of the nation. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the nation?
It’s pathetic. We are retrogressing. We are losing grip. Everything is in abeyance. This unfortunately is not what we desired, voted for or had expected but unfortunately the government of the day seems to have lost grip of what governance is all about. Citizens are suffering. The economy is down. Naira is on a free fall. Nothing is moving.
The whole state is in a redundancy mode, the whole nation. There is decadence everywhere. States cannot pay salaries. Businessmen are crying. Naira’s value is dead. It is still falling; nobody knows where it will stop. And of course, when you have a problem with the currency of the nation, it affects everybody. The church is mostly affected as a distribution centre because the church governance is welfarist as it takes care of the welfare of the members.
We have a system where the government is the biggest spender. And when there is a hitch there, it affects everybody. So, this is the wrong structure we have built. People say the government has no business in business but in Nigeria everybody looks up to the government. The 36 Governors run to Abuja to collect money. No nation can survive that way.
So you support restructuring?
Seriously, I do. I mean we cannot continue like this. We are just a step away from falling over.
What kind of restructuring because it means different things to different people?
Well, the restructuring we’re talking about is Nigeria with over 250 ethnic nationalities was forced together under marriage of convenience and the different zones, different tribes are calling for self-actualisation. So, there is no way we could have it the way we are going about it. If we are going to have federalism, let it be true federalism. And I think the national conference of 2014 will help us. It is surprising to me that the President is saying he has not even touched it; it’s gathering dust on the shelf.
That’s unfortunate because it is so clear that this nation cannot continue this way. So the restructuring I have in mind is I think the national conference was a blueprint. We may not be able to accept all the recommendations but there are good recommendations. For example, we can’t accept a recommendation like 18 additional States when the existing States can’t even survive but there are good recommendations like community policing, state police, each state generating their resources, federal centres and regionalisation.
But why do we need another referendum when the National Assembly is supposed to deliberate on this?
The truth is democracy, especially the presidential system, if I want to be very frank with you, is not meant for us. We can’t run it. It’s meant for the mature minds. It’s meant for people who are humane; it’s meant for people who value integrity and their name. It’s not for this corrupt society. Everybody wants what he can steal. Look at what is happening at the National Assembly, look at the padding. Look at what is happening with the security vote of the Governors. Where else do you see that all over the world? Look at the huge money stolen from the system. It’s surprising. It is even amazing that Nigeria could be sustained till today. So, this democratic presidential system of governance is not sustainable. There is this Nigerian factor, the tribal card, religious card we play.
But when will we ever get over all these?
We will never get over it.
Why?
We are not wired that way. Remember that what is called Nigeria itself is a contraption. It is a lie. We are never the same people. This nation is never one. It was the Lord Lugard crisis that we are in. Even when the British people came, they saw that we were never one. The North was having indirect rule. They studied us and knew we were not the same people. And how do you merge people that don’t see things the same way? Different values, different orientations, different mindset. There is no way.
It has never worked. It is not working. And it will not work because we are not the same people. We don’t have the same values. We are not seeing things the same way. If we are not careful, if we don’t restructure the way we have explained it, we are heading for doomsday because we are just not the same people.
Isn’t that a call for fragmentation?
Let us agree how we are going to live together, let us agree on things that we can agree on. And let everybody go and take his own life in his own hands. Awolowo built the old Western region without oil. So each region can generate resources if we have not spoilt ourselves by running to Abuja.
But all these issues predate the current administration, don’t they?
Yes. Where we are now is a product of the military. 35 years of militarism had killed this country. Remember it was the military that introduced corruption. And then the civilian government came, accentuated it and took it to another level. Now, an average Nigerian just wants to steal the whole country and sell it without remembering that his siblings and parents are within the same system. It has become an obsession, everybody just wants money. And that is going to continue until we do something very serious about it, which is what we are saying.
So how we can get out of these?
We must get out of this because we are where we are heading for the rock. I am optimistic if the government of the day will listen with the political will. That national conference of 2014, I believe, is divine. People said Jonathan just did it to get support across the nation.
That was what he did. Jonathan did it. It was a joker. But whatever it is, Jonathan is no longer there. And that document has some usefulness for us. And I don’t see any of this government setting up another national conference, look at the huge money we spent. Whether Jonathan has a hidden agenda or not, the country was fairly represented. I mean, what we have in the National Assembly is not a representation of the people. An average member of the National Assembly is a stooge. An average member of the National Assembly bought his way there. You either pay your way through or you are sent there by a godfather whose interest you must cater for. So 80% of the people in the National Assembly have no mind of their own.
Democracy is not supposed to run that way. Immediately after the election, party affiliation is one side, you will now contribute depending on the way you see it. That is not what is going on. Imagine the Senate President going to court and over 90 senators are following him. It’s shameful. It’s never heard. Somebody sent you there, you are fighting to ensure that you go there again, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. That’s the reason behind all this mind boggling stealing, so that you have enough money to fight the next election. Buy property everywhere. No nation survives that way. We must even thank God to have made it to this time.
So do we need a referendum or restructuring?
True federalism, restructuring, let’s agree on what is agreeable. A weaker centre and let’s give more power to the regions. We have too many States. It’s obvious now as States can salaries, they are borrowing money. For how long will that continue?
We are getting bailout funds.
That bailout is not a gift. They deducted it back. So some states will go home with less than a billion. They can’t even buy fuel and service their vehicle. So for how long are we going to continue postponing the evil days? Not going for referendum, not agreeing at restructuring or federalism is postponing the evil days. Sometimes ignorance is bliss because when you know, you become more restless. It’s like a blind man about to fall into a ditch who doesn’t know anything except rescued. Nigeria needs to be rescued. We are at a precipice, we must not follow over. And it’s about to fall over. We just pray for God’s intervention. It’s frightening.
