Only True Federalism Can Save Nigeria –Rotimi Amaechi

Rivers State governor,

Rotimi Amaechi

, has said that only true federalism can save Nigeria in her quest to surmount her numerous challenges and be a true leader of Africa. He made this assertion yesterday 4th june in Abeokuta at the 3rd Annual Lecture Series organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ogun State Council. Delivering a lecture with the theme: “Nigeria, The Leadership Question”, Amaechi traced the leadership or lack of it in Nigeria to the pre-independence period. Represented by his commissioner for information, Mrs Ibim Samentari, the governor reminded the audience of how Nigeria functioned as a federal entity before the coup of 1966 that effectively derailed her working federalism and replaced it with unitarism that has continued to create all sorts of intractable problems for the country. “When we had true federalism in Nigeria, everybody rejoiced. The three regions developed at their own pace and that created healthy rivalry in terms of bringing development. The federal government back then only functioned in the context of that regional autonomy. But then, all that changed with the advent of coups and counter-coups that followed,”Rotimi Amaechi said. He noted that there was a time in the country when it did not matter where Nigerians lived. “Nobody feared or suspected anybody of domination because the federal arrangement had already eliminated such possibilities.” He condemned what he called tyranny today where someone in Abuja decides what goes into individual states from the federation account, and the arrangement that cedes the lion’s share of the national wealth to the federal government while states and local governments grapple with funding inadequacies and huge commitments, making it difficult for governors to perform effectively as the chief security officers of their states.