Vice President of World Bank Africa region, Dr. Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili has observed that Nigeria’s political class is laying the foundation for the severest economic crisis ever experienced in the country.
She made the observation at the 10th edition of Pastor E. A Adeboye Annual Public Lecture on Saturday, February 24. The event took place at the Youth Centre of the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
Ekwesiele who was the guest lecturer at the event spoke on “Rebuild, Renew, Restore: The Need of the Nigerian Nation”
She also gave a historical perspective on Nigeria’s economic woes in the rather lengthy paper.
She said apart from laying the stage for the severe socio-economic crisis, the political class is also denying responsibility for the problem. Rather, “They are also invalidating the suffering of their citizens,” she said.
The biting hunger in the land due to skyrocketing cost of living according to her, “is a major destabilizing factor because it further compounds the insecurity and instability risks of a brittle country”
Ekwesile said the situation is further compounded because the politicians do not show any sign they understand the gravity of what has befallen the nation.
Nigeria’s woes
She said, “Any keen policy scholar observing the policy tools of the incumbent political Party will easily see how the preceding and current administrations unraveled the relative macroeconomic stability it inherited in 2015.
“Instead, Nigeria grapples with runaway rate of inflation, Naira exchange rate volatility, expansion in grand and petty corruption and overall poor governance coupled with worsening insecurity and internal conflicts as well as the erosion of social contract, cohesion, and capital”
Ezekwesili who was Nigeria’s one-time minister for education and that of solid minieral said the current administration has lost control.
She said APC’s poor quality of policies bad timing and incoherent sequencing of governance decisions have unleashed unbearable and biting effects on Nigerians
Solution to Current distress
According to her, the current distress in the country will not abate until a comprehensive macroeconomic consolidation programme is launched to restore stability and confidence in the Nigerian economy.
“The country cannot continue on the current path without digging into a hole. The centre is weakening speedily and may no longer hold without a swift launch of what I suggest should be called a Citizens’ Emergency Rescue Plan for Nigeria” to be midwifed by a “Coalition of the Willing” made up of compatriots from across all regions, religions, languages, ethnicities, genders, ages and such like in our Land. ”
The Coalition of the Willing Nigerians according to her must be unified in purpose so they could persuade other Nigerians to agree on a rescue mission for the country.
She said, further, “It is time to collectively confront the evident impact of the serial failures, selfishness, unwillingness, incompetence, unsuitability, and inadequacy of our brand of “political class” who eat breakfast in the morning while their children are starving.”
For Nigeria to come out of her woes, Ezekwesili said the country must evolve a people and a structure that will birth that process.
She said those who will birth the new nation must agree on common values and create a leadership recruitment system that will give birth to quality leadership decisions.
She also mentioned the need for a deep restructuring arrangement that will make Nigeria a true federation and also a transparent and credible electoral system that deepens our democracy.
Adeboye’s call for USN
She recalled Pastor Adeboye’s recommendation for a United States of Nigeria.
Her words, “I am not sure how many Nigerians followed the thoughts of the Father we honor today- Pastor E A Adeboye on Restructuring. I will end my lecture by quoting him. On that day as we listened to him, there was pin-drop silence when DaddyAdeboye said: “ Why can’t we have a system of government that will create what I will call the United States of Nigeria?
“Let me explain. We all know that we must restructure. It is either we restructure or we break, you don’t have to be a prophet to know that one.
“That is certain – restructure or we break up. “Now, we don’t want to break up, God forbid. In the restructuring, why don’t we have a Nigerian kind of democracy? At the federal level, why don’t we have a President and a Prime Minister?”
“Daddy, like Einstein prescribed, was asking all the right questions on that 2020 Independence Day event on a key nation formation issue that heated the polity before the 2023 elections and which we know seriously adversely impacts the effectiveness functioning of Nigeria.”
Bad structure can’t birth a new nation
Ezekwesile reasoned that a dysfunctional structure of Nigeria cannot be globally productive, competitive, and prosperous.
She continued, “Leaving the matter of the economy aside, when a son of God who is known for his circumspection on sensitive matters spoke like Daddy did 3 years ago by saying “ We all know that we must restructure. It is either we restructure or we break, you don’t have to be a prophet to know that one. That is certain – restructure or we break up. “Now, we don’t want to break up, God forbid”
Referring to the Bible, Ezekwesili said, “What more can be added to these direct words than to draw strength from the story of Ezekiel and acknowledge that all the developments around us point us to the reality that the Valley of the Dry Bone Moment is already happening to Nigeria.
“When God asked Prophet Ezekiel a trick question, “And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.”
“A valley of dry bones came alive and became a mighty army just because a great Prophet knew that some situations will take only God’s intervening to fix them. God then recruited Prophet Ezekiel to support him in his bone transformation work. All one can say is “Concerning our beloved country, Nigeria, O Lord God, we also say, our situation has reached the stage where all we can say to you, is thou knowest!”
Adeboye’s life
The former minister said Pastor Adeboye’s life is marked by unwavering dedication to the positive development of our country and continent.
Her words, “I speak from a place of knowledge gathered over several decades of our father-daughter relationship during which time he would variously act as a Prophet Elijah or Elisha or Nathan to Presidents and other public leaders of our country only according as the Lord directed him for each season.
“I was in fact a daily witness to several years of Daddy acting in selfless dedication by calling and visiting President Obasanjo to speak truth to power without fear nor favor.”