Ayodele Olalere
In the wake of high rate of insecurity in the country, the Nigerian Press Organization comprising Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE),and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), has called on the Federal Government to implement the el-RufaI Implementation Committee which recommended the devolution of power and restructuring of the country.
The body also called for the implementation of the Orosanye report to tackle the insecurity in the country.
In a statement jointly signed by the President, NPAN and NPO, Kabiru A. Yusuf, President NGE, Mustapha Isa, and President, NUJ, Chris Isiguzo, dated May 21, 2020, the body lamented the spate of killings and high cost of governance in the country and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the reports.
The body also expressed confidence in the oneness of Nigeria.
“Nigeria has been embroiled lately in profound socio-economic, political and security challenges that threaten its very existence as reflected in ethnic divisions and separatist agitations in the country, with growing fears that an implosion is imminent.
Today, criminality, kidnapping for ransom, banditry, arson, killings, defines the everyday reality for a good number of our citizens.
At the centre of all these are high cost of governance, devolution of powers and restructuring, petroleum subsidy removal and accumulation of foreign debt, among others,” the statement stated.
It added: “We, leaders of the media and major stakeholders in the Nigeria Project, given the responsibility imposed on us by Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, state that we believe in the oneness of Nigeria and that its population of about 200 million people, if resources are well managed, have innumerable advantages, both in economic and soft power, and that this should not be sacrificed on the altar of ethnic or tribal chauvinism.
That one of the triggers for the current socio-political, economic, and security challenges in the country is high cost of governance, reflected in the outrageous allowances and flamboyant lifestyles of our political leaders.
These leaders, rather erroneously, misconstrue public service for primitive accummulation of wealth, instead of its being a platform for galvanising development and satisfying the collective aspiration of our people for quality life in a safe and secure enviroment. One of the consequences of this ostentatious lifestyle is the new craze among a growing number of youths that the end justifies the means in their quest for easy wealth.”
They called on the Federal Government to “immediately take steps at devolving powers to the component units by implementing the El Rufai Committee Report, which among others, recommends State Policing, in addition to other far reaching adjustments to the structure of governance.”
“The continued delay to implement the report after its recommendations have been approved by all the organs of the ruling All Progressives Party, in line with the manifesto for which the party sold itself to win the 2015 election is self-defeating. We hold that its implementation will curb the galloping rate of criminality, reduce tension across the country, and reset the botton of development.”
The bodies also asked the government to “Implement the Orosanye Report, which provides a veritable road map for arresting the unsustainable high cost of governance.”
“A reduced cost of gevernance will free substantial funds to fight insecurity, provide social safety nets for the generality of the people, fund developmental projects, and stem the current penchant for external and local borrowing by government.”
It also asked the government to “put pressure on the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill, (PIB), which has gone into our history as the longest bill to ever go through legislative processes.”
