We Cannot Afford Another War, Restructure Now Or Be Doomed - IBB

Former Military Head of State, Gen Ibrahim Ba­bangida, has added his weighty voice to the calls for Nigeria to restructure or implode.
General Babangida, fondly known as IBB, said on Monday that the time has come for Ni­geria to restructure – and de­volve more powers from the centre to the states.

Babaginda made the re­mark while appealing to Nige­rians to refrain from making hate speeches which, accord­ing to him, fuelled the Nigeria- Biafra civil war.
Speaking during the prayer to mark his 75th birthday cel­ebration at the Hilltop, Minna, Niger State, the former military Head of State said there was “little discord among Nigeri­ans of different social classes as he urged Nigerians to synergise their different potentials to­wards building a great nation.”
The former military rul­er noted that the fear of state governors using state police to run amok was not as strong as the greater benefit that cre­ating state police would do for the nation.

Babaginda, who urged leaders across the aggrieved parts of the coun­try to show maturity, insisted that war is not a “joke anyone should toy with.”
His words: “Nigeria, my dear country, is not a stranger to crisis, nor is she immune to it. In a profound sense, she can be said to have been cre­ated out of crisis, a nation state that will continue to strive to subdue and tran­scend crises.”
“In over a century of its formal­ized colonial architecture, Nigeria has grown and made remarkable progress in the midst of crises. The most trag­ic and horrendous episode in Nigeria’s history has been the 30 month Civ­il War of July 1967 to January 1970, in which many of our compatriots lost their lives.”
“Indeed, many others also suf­fered terrible injuries of human and material dimensions. So, who really wants to go through the depth and di­mensions of another Civil War in Ni­geria again? Who does not know that that Civil War was preceded and start­ed by intolerance and a series of hate pronouncements, hate speeches, hate conducts and actions that were inflict­ed upon one another by the citizens?”
“Today, with a deep sense of nos­talgia, I still carry within my body the pains of injury from the Civil War: there is nothing romantic about war; in any form, war is bad, condemnable and must be avoided. I need hardly say I am very worried by the current on-going altercations and vituperations of hate across the country by individuals, well-known leaders, religious leaders, group of persons and organizations.”
“ We need to remind ourselves that conflicts are not evidently the stuff of politics and governance, particularly so of democracy, hence we must apply caution in our utterances, body lan­guage and news reportage.”
“The management of conflicts is the acid test of maturity, of mutual live­lihood and of democratic governance. We cannot and we must not allow the current hate atmosphere to contin­ue to freely pollute our political land­scape unchecked.”
He cautioned against hate speech – and urged the mongers of hate speech to desist from the act.
IBB continued: “Personally, I re­ject the proceedings of hate and their dissemination and urge my fellow citi­zens to strongly condemn the scourge and orgy of the current crisis which, in my view, is an outcome of vengeful ap­petites within the multiple contexts of our democratic governance and the profound inequalities that have dis­torted our social relations.”
“Nonetheless, it is not the place of leaderships to fuel and hype conflicts nor should we allow losers and gain­ers of our governance regimes to make pronouncements and threats that ex­ploit our ethnic, religious and geopo­litical construct.”
“Democracy, anywhere in the world, is a work in progress; and one that is subject to constant evolution and debate. The drums of war are easy to beat, but their rhythms are difficult to dance. Starting wars or political up­heavals comes with the slightest prov­ocation, but ending them becomes in­elastic, almost unending with painful footages of the wrecks of war.”
“I have been involved and its rip­ples are tellingly unpalatable, with gory details of destruction and carnage. I am a Nigerian, a citizen, patriot and con­cerned stakeholder. It is my strong be­lief that Nigeria can attain greater great­ness if we all nurture our minds in the direction of building a nation, and ac­cepting responsibility for its successes and failures.”
“We cannot deny or repudiate our progress at nation-building in spite of the limitations and challenges that we have continued to experience. As a peo­ple, we need a proper study and under­standing of our history in order to cor­rect the warped perceptions of our past so as to minimize the dangers of badly skewed stories of our democratic expe­rience in governance; and to regener­ate mutual confidence and uphold the tenets of living together as one country.”
“No one government or adminis­tration can provide all the answers to the myriad of problems and challenges confronting us as a country; no matter how determined, resolute, committed and motivated such a government is.”
“The citizens have their roles to play, and their obligations to fulfill in or­der to motivate government in achiev­ing its stated goals and objectives. Gov­ernance is a function of the leadership and the followership.
“It is a two-way traffic that de­mands certain responsibilities from those involved. Of late, Nigeria has be­come so sharply divided with emo­tions running high on the least prov­ocations. Once tempers are that high, the fault-lines become easily visible and with the slightest prompting, the unex­pected can happen.
“But I want to believe that Nige­rians are still their reasonable selves’, highly endowed in various skills and intellectually empowered to compete anywhere in the global arena.
“As a Nigerian, I have had the rare privilege to benefit from robust rela­tionships from different people across the socio-political divide; East, West, North and South. I have also immense­ly interacted with persons from all the numerous tribes, cultures and ethnic configurations dotted across the en­tire gamut of Nigeria’s expansive lands. I have made friends, built alliances, nur­tured relationships and sustained link­ages amongst Nigerians of all shades and opinions.
“In fairness, Nigerians are great people. In those hours, moments and duration of friendship and camarade­rie, no one talks about origin, geopo­litical zones or even states. The issue of religion does not dictate the flow of dis­course. We deal with ourselves based on our character and content, and not the sentiments of what part of the coun­try we hail from.
“The inalienable fact that Nigeri­ans can live in any part of the country to pursue their legitimate aspirations is a strong indication that we have accept­ed to invest in the Nigerian project, and are no longer driven by mutual suspi­cion but mutual respect.
“That we have not fully realized our potentials as a great nation is not enough reason for us to want to de­molish the foundation of our nation­hood or rubbish the labours of our he­roes past; both of which are borne out of our collective efforts to build a truly great nation, and great people.
“If we have repeatedly done cer­tain things and not getting the desired results, we need to change tactics and approach, and renew our commitment. It is our collective responsibilities to en­gender a reform that would be realistic and in sync with modern best practices.
“For example, restructuring has become a national appeal as we speak, whose time has come. I will strongly advocate for devolution of powers to the extent that more responsibilities be given to the states while the Federal Government is vested with the respon­sibility to oversee our foreign policy, de­fense, and economy.
“Even the idea of having Feder­al Roads in towns and cities has be­come outdated and urgently needs re­visiting. That means we need to tinker with our constitution to accommodate new thoughts that will strengthen our nationality.
“Restructuring and devolution of powers will certainly not provide all the answers to our developmen­tal challenges; it will help to reposition our mindset as we generate new ide­as and initiatives that would make our union worthwhile. The talk to have the country restructured means that Nige­rians are agreed on our unity in diver­sity; but that we should strengthen our structures to make the union more functional based on our comparative advantages. Added to this desire is the need to commence the process of hav­ing State Police across the states of the Federation.
“This idea was contained in my manifesto in 2010 when I attempted to contest the presidential elections. The initial fears that State Governors will misuse the officers and men of the State Police have become increasingly eliminated with renewed vigour in cit­izens’ participation in, and confidence to interrogate power.
“We cannot be detained by those fears and allow civilization to leave us behind. We must as a people with one destiny and common agenda take de­cisions for the sake of posterity in our shared commitment to launch our country on the path of development and growth.
“Policing has become so sophisti­cated that we cannot continue to oper­ate our old methods and expect differ­ent results. I also want to appeal to the Nigeria media to be more circumspect in their news reportage.
“They should always weigh the security implications of the contents of their news and the screaming head­lines that stare us in the face every day, especially at this fragile period of our political emanations. The media play an important and remarkable role in shaping the flow of discourse.”
“Their level of influence is also not in doubt, but as the fourth estate of the realm, it has a greater responsibility to moderate public discourse in a manner that will cement inter- and intra-cultur­al relationships.”
“If Nigeria works, it benefits all her citizens; if it fails, it hurts all her citizens too. The media should be patriotic in its present engagements to berth a new Nigeria of our dreams. On a final note, I really wish we see strength, determi­nation, commitment and confidence in our diversities rather than adversities.”
“As a heterogeneous country with flourishing skills and numerous en­dowments, we should dictate the pace in Africa and lead by example of what is possible amongst a people that are fo­cused and determined to pursue com­mon national goal.”
“As a former Military President who had the rare privilege to travel around Africa to sustain the African cooperation through peace-keeping operations, I have come to the conclu­sion that nations are driven by a com­mon ideal and not by the homogene­ity of their race. I saw Somalia, such a homogeneous conclave yet one of the most troubled countries in Africa to­day.”
“I saw South Sudan, which broke away from the old Sudan, but peace and stability have eluded them. Rwan­da genocidal experience is not roman­tic either. But a President from the mi­nority ethnic group has repositioned the country to assume its pride of place in the comity of nations.”
“That a people share common identity, language, history, doctrine, culture, mores and values is not syn­onymous with development, growth, stability and peace. When we went into peace-keeping operations in Sierra Le­one, Somalia, Liberia and Congo, we had in mind to sustain oneness in Af­rica even though we are a continent of different countries all bearing different logos and identities.”
“Our motivation was simply that we are Africans. I am therefore appeal­ing to the sensibilities of all of us, young and old, leaders and followers, groups and organizations, that in the interest of peace and stability of our country, we need to sheathe the sword. At 76, I have seen it all. I have seen war. I have fought war.”
“And I have survived war, even though I still suffer the pains and inju­ries of war, it is part of the selfless sacri­fice to keep the union afloat. We must build a country that is forward looking for our children and future generations of Nigerians.”
Babangida urged all Nigerians to be mindful of their words and actions – in order to avoid throwing the nation into another civil war.
“We cannot afford to toil with the destinies of the 170million Nigerians by the shape of our discourse and the content of our interaction. We must carry out conscious attitudinal orien­tation that will change the mindset of our youths and the held beliefs of the elderly.”
“We must explore the therapies of dialogue and constructive engage­ments in our desire to make life more meaningful for our people. My friends cut across all regions, zones and states. I am proud to be a Nigerian because I see hope in the youthful population of Nigerians. I see remarkable skills and raw talents that can stimulate enter­prise and innovations.”
“This is the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan, a month in which Mus­lim faithful have dedicated their lives to seek closeness to God, and forgive­ness of their inequities. It is a month of penance; a month of prayer for phys­ical, moral and spiritual rejuvenation, regeneration and rebirth. I urge my countrymen and women to use the occasion to look ahead with hope and renewed dedication to the service of our country.”