By Joseph Erunke
ABUJA — PRESIDING Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM, Dr Mike Okonkwo, yesterday, joined advocates of restructuring of the country, saying with the various un-ending problems staring Nigeria in the face, such was the only panacea to its continued peaceful co-existence.

He also said it was time for Nigeria to begin to think towards making the National Assembly less attractive by making it a part-time job to reduce not only what he called waste but  also corruption.

Okonkwo, who spoke to journalists, in Abuja, on the sideline of the Leading Edge Conference, an annual empowerment programme, organised by Abuja branch of his church, insisted it was time for Nigeria to be fully restructured, regretting that the agreement to return the country to true federalism was reached in Aburi between a delegation led by the late Odimegwu Ojukwu and some northern leaders, only for the latter to return to the country to renege on the agreement.

He said: “This restructuring has been there ever since. I understood it was one of the issues that created the 1966 coup. The Northerners – Balewa, Sardauna and the rest— were advocating true federalism, that was the reason for Ironsi’s murder because they said he instituted unitary government, that he abolished federalism and instituted unitary government.

“But after taking over the power for this reason, they didn’t put in place the true federalism they were advocating for. And so, Ojukwu went to war on account of this, they went to Aburi on account of restructuring and there, they agreed only for it to be abandoned when they returned to the country.

“Now, it’s like the chicken has come home to roost and we have to do it now. Let us have true federalism now so that anyone who wants this country must come with ideas.

“Remember that Chief Awolowo established the first television station in Western Nigeria with just cocoa money, so we need such things. That is the only way out of our current problems. “

On the National Assembly, Okonkwo, who noted that the National Assembly had not made any law beneficial to the ordinary citizens in Nigeria, said it was time for it to be made to function on part-time basis.

“Look at what we are having in the House of Representatives where they are trying to redefine what is padding and what is not. Let me say here that a time has come for us to have another look at our National Assembly to determine whether we need a full time legislature.

“With their action now, they are telling us that most of the times, they only come when they want to share money.

“We don’t need full time legislature and let National Assembly be made less attractive so that only truthful and honest Nigerians who truly want to be legislators can be there.

“ With the way it is, where they get anything they want now, why won’t I fight and kill to get there?   For now, I have not seen any law made by these people that are beneficial to the ordinary citizens. I think that these people should look at the different societies in Nigeria and make laws that are beneficial to them but it is not yet the case, “he added.

He asked Nigerians to resist the pending grazing reserve bill in the National Assembly, saying allowing it to sail through in the legislature would be dangerously to the country, given the activities of fulani herdsmen.

Hear him :”Government should be bold enough to deal decisively with people who are creating confusion. I don’t see any reason why the Fulani cattle rearers should be going to villages and be Killing people and we are saying that we want to go and pass a bill on that!

“You can’t pass a bill legalizing the passage of somebody who is going to go to my backyard and kill me. We should first of all determine who are these people, why are they killing villagers? This has never been the norm in the country, we have always have Hausa people and the Fulani cattle readers around, so this new trend is an indication that there is something wrong as far as this issue is concerned.

“ And the government should be bold enough to be decisive as far as it is concerned. We shouldn’t rush to go and pass any bill, we should first sit down on the table, examine and sum out the good from the bad before such a thing could be done.

‘“ If we allow such a thing, it would be another form of Boko Haram which we are still fighting to end. Government should be very serious about this issue of Fulani herds men.’”

On the current hardship in the country, the clergy asked government to address the issue headlong and stop the blame game just as he admonished Nigerians to be patient with the current administration.

“The drop in the price of oil in the international markets alone is enough to negatively affect our economy as a nation.

“The ongoing problem in the Niger Delta where oil installations are being bombed and destroyed is another big issue affecting our economy at the moment.

“But be that as it may be, I want to encourage Nigerians that as bad as it is, they   should endure it, “he advised.

Speaking on corruption in the country, Bishop Okonkwo said :” I think that Nigerians should come to terms when it comes to the issue of fighting corruption.

“I have said it in many fora that corruption is the name of Nigeria. It’s not that we are fighting corruption, we are corruption.

“ Corruption is in every system in Nigeria and it will be so until we are able to raise a new crop of people in Nigeria.

‘“Corruption is in every part of the entire Nigerian system. Go to the market, you would see those who are selling fake drugs and when you tell them to stop, they will say no.

“ So, I think there should be a fresh re-orientation, Buhari is just scratching corruption, he’s can’t eradicate it in Nigeria even if he does two terms, he can’t eradicate it.

“The only way we can totally eradicate corruption in this country is a fresh re-orientation in our kindergarten and nursery schools to raise new crop of Nigerians who will sing patriotism.

“ If you go to primary schools now, you would see that they are waiting on the wings to enter to get their own, because that is what we are promoted, we celebrate thieves. We celebrate bandits and armed robbers and so we tell people that hard labour is not useful, we tell people that working hard is not good, that rather steal money and spray, you would be celebrated.

.  ‘“That is what they have been thought, that is how the body language in Nigeria has been in the past years. And so, young people are not ready to go to school any longer, even those who go to school are already neck-deep in the corruption thing.

“So, to stop this, as I said earlier, we need a fresh orientation and all hands must be on   deck, it’s not what the government alone can do. We should accept that corruption has brought us to this level we presently find ourselves and that there must be an urgent need to adequately address it.

“We must begin to see the areas that can be developed like tourism. During our rainy days, we did not look at this. We misused the money gotten from oil which could have been used to develop other economies.

“ This has brought us to this current situation we find ourselves. So, we should stop pointing fingers that it is this man or that man or that party or this party, this is not a party issue. The issue is that there is hardship in Nigeria and all hands must be on the deck to immediately address it.

He asked government not to spare any one found wanting in the corruption issue, saying urgent prosecution and jailing of the guilty ones was the only way to keep people out of the menace.

“Another thing I would advocate when it comes to the issue of corruption is that when somebody is caught, the government should be serious on the prosecution. That is what is done in developed countries.

“The high number of people we are hearing on daily basis that they looted billions of this and that, how many have been prosecuted and jailed?

“We only read in the pages of newspapers that this person stole billions, stole trillions, that even annoys me the most, given the fact that some people are stealing this kind of money while others are hungry and dying on streets.

“So I advocate that if anyone is caught and it is established that he actually stole, let all the money be taken and he be sent to jail.

“Don’t just say that since the money has been taken, he be freed. Send the person to jail so that they will know that corruption is not attractive, ‘“he stressed.