Decentralise power to cub agitation, royal father tells FG

The Federal Government has been asked to encourage and implement the decentralisation of power from the centre to curb agitations from different zones of the country.

A royal father, Eze John Onyebuchi Ibezim, the Ugwu 1 of Amuzukwu Ibeku, in Umuahia North Local Government Area, handed down this advice to the government in his palace recently,

He urged that the 2014 National Conference report should be looked into and the recommendations thoroughly implemented, pointing out that in Nigeria, power is so much centralised that the President has overwhelming power.

Secession, he said, may not solve the problem of agitations in the country but said that there should be resource control through confederation in the country.

He stated that the Federal Government should not dabble into everything in the country, maintaining that under confederation, the police and other armed forces should remain under the control of the Federal Government as if allowed to be controlled by the confederating units, power would be abused.

With decentralisation, there will be no need for secession as all states will depend on each other. Let there be competition amongst the states.

Take for instance, why should things be shared by the number of local government areas in a state? This is cheating when putting into consideration that such state like Bayelsa that produce the oil has only eight LGAs when compared with Kano with about 44 LGAs and which relies on the oil produced from Bayelsa.

Power should be decentralised as in the US, a state can challenge the decision of the central government and even drag it to court to get things corrected,” he said.

The Federal Government, the monarch said, should not be in Abuja and take over our responsibilities and none is working, like the roads and other infrastructure in the states.
State autonomy, he said, will “let us know how the states are performing so that states will know where our development is based. Federal Government roads in some states are smooth while they are not in other states and some left behind”.

He said that asking Ndigbo to go is not where the trouble of the country lies, but said “the cause of the trouble must be addressed.

Nigerian politicians, the royal father also pointed out “have no agenda, no principle and no faith in the political party that has its own agenda” and where politicians learn the modus operandi is where there is agenda to better the country. Here in Nigeria, the objective of politicians is what they will get or do not have plans but what they will get long afterwards.

Politicians in Nigeria are self-centered, so let the country address its fundamental problems first before talking about secession. On corruption, he said: “I regretted that I did not vote for Buhari because he is now doing well, fighting corruption and impunity in the country.

Fighting corruption is the best area President Buhari has done well. All of us are corrupt and we find it difficult to adjust. In other countries, for any minor misconduct, the offender will be shot or jailed,” he said.