Former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has disclosed that he believes that without the Igbos, Nigeria will not be complete, adding that the absence of Igbos’ intelligence and hardwork would have made the country poorer.
Gowon, who spoke through a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Obadiah Mailafia, made these submissions yesterday in Abuja during a debate on ‘’National Unity: Federal Character, Restructuring and Rotation of Presidential Power in Nigeria’’ organised by Igbo Leadership Development Foundation.
He maintained that God did not make a mistake in putting Igbos in Nigeria.
According to Gowon, in a democracy, there has to be fairness, justice and transparency in the leadership and governance of a country, adding that restructuring has to be done in an atmosphere of tolerance and love for each other.
He noted: “I am not a friend of hate speech, bitterness but a friend of patriotism because Nigeria is dear to my heart and I believe in bright future of Nigeria and Igbo and that together, we can make our country great.”
Mailafia, on his part, decried injustices faced by Ndigbo’s in the country.
Noting that the country was big enough to accommodate everyone irrespective of tribe, Mailafia noted that the constitutional debate on restructuring must address all imbalances for the sake of equity.
His words: “I believe that a lot of injustice has been done to the Igbo’s and the constitutional debate on restructuring must address all imbalances.
“Nigeria is big enough for all of us and I believe that the Ndigbo, Middle belt and the Yoruba’s are the true Nigerians because if you look round our borders, people came from abroad and are still coming but Ndigbo’s have always been there, middle belt has always been there, even Yoruba’s have always been there.”
“People who came in yesterday who have a duty of respect are now the ones talking”
“Going forward we must create a federal democracy that will respond positively to all the aspirations of our people, not about East-West but all about working together inequality, bringing in the youths, the women together to build a new Nigeria.”
In his keynote address, founder of Gregory University, Uturu, Prof. Gregory Ibe who noted that Nigeria’s unitary system and federal was only in name regretted that the present system was a clear departure from the federal system bequeathed the country by its founding Fathers and colonial Britain.
Ibe said: “Most of the powers that will engender real growth and development are tied in the exclusive list. Solid minerals, electricity, railway, ports, security etc. are all tied to the federal exclusive list to the executed only by the federal government, which has not been able to live up to an expectation of Nigerians.
In summary, restructuring consequentially is: returning to the States the powers taken away by the military from Regions”
“The coalition also calls for Federation Equalization fund, a body to be saddled with developing 6 Economic Hubs for 6 geopolitical zones based on Ricardo’s principle of comparative advantage and prepare the zones for fair competition and cooperation as obtained before and after independence.”