How Tinubu Can Create A Nigeria That Works – Pst. Matthew Ashimolowo
Senior Pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), Matthew Ashimolowo, has shared recommendations on how the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government can fix the present challenges in Nigeria.
The cleric, in a chat suggested a total overhaul of the subsisting 1999 Constitution, restructuring and devolution of powers to the regions, as well as involvement of youths in politics.
Despite the fact that majority of the resources that sustain Nigeria are located in the southern belt of the country, he lamented how the region remains neglected in the distribution of infrastructural development.
He however urged Tinubu to empower youths in the South by creating industries in the region and giving them autonomy.
His words: “Why should the South produce all the resources and a railway is built to the Niger Republic when the South remains underdeveloped? It does not make sense. It is very clear and obvious that there is a disequilibrium. You cannot blame the person, who sees resources leaving his area and going somewhere else.
“There will be agitation and you cannot stop these agitations by mere military presence. Rather you empower them and create employment and systems in the area that will make the people stop the agitation.
“If I were the president or if I was to advise the president, my counsel would be not to just go to a place like Imo and start throwing bombs at people who are agitating. The first thing to do is to empower the people by creating industries, and then make them guardians of their own economy; you do not destroy what is your own land.
“You also have to change this system in Nigeria where you either go to Abuja or Lagos for work. In England, the Ministry of Works is in Stanford, the Ministry of Environment could be in Leeds, and some other ministries could be in Kent. This means that every part of the nation has an equitable distribution. In Nigeria, everything is concentrated in the hands of an oligarchy that has created a system for themselves in just two small corners of the world.
“When there is employment and people have opportunities, it will change everything.”
