Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa was former governor of Sokoto state and two time-presidential aspirant. In this interview, he maintains that for Nigeria to develop, all hands must be on deck and that Nigerians need to support the government to move the country forward. Excerpts

WHAT is your assessment of Nigeria after 51 years of Independence?

*Bafarawa

As far as I am concerned, there has been so much development in the political arena after 12 years of un-interrupted democracy.

At least, we have achieved a lot politically compared to years that we were under the military. When we are talking of independence, I can say it was in 1999 we got our independence for democracy and within the 12 years, we have achieved a lot and at the same time, we cannot compare ourselves to some developed countries of the world but we have started somewhere and we should be allowed to see where we can reach. At 51, we should be grateful to God and I believe we will continue to improve better more than what we used to have under the military.

In terms of infrastructural development, Nigeria seems to be moving at a very slow pace compared to other countries of we got independence at the same time. What do you thin

k is responsible for this and what is the way out?

Well, our problem in Nigeria is that when things seem to be going wrong, we blame our leaders. But right now, whatever that happens to Nigeria, we are to blame ourselves because from our past leaders, what did they achieve that our leaders of today have not achieved right?

Difficult situation

Now, at least there are ch anges today. From 1999 till date, at least there are improvements better than the many years of military rule. No matter how bad the civilian government is, it cannot be compared to that of military rule. Nigeria has found itself in a very difficult situation. People are mixing issues up. If you minus the number of years the military ruled us out of that 51years of independence, you will understand the basis for the argument.

So, it is unfortunate that we have found ourselves in this difficult situation as far as governance is concerned because Nigeria is not a poor country. Nigeria is a rich country. The only thing we are lacking is good management and I believe that no matter how bad it is, Nigeria is not an exception because it is a global crisis but the only thing Nigerians need right now is for us to put our heads together and see how we can solve our problems collectively.

Coming back to what Mr President said, he said any minister does not need to come to his office to waste his time. It is the duty of the ministers to take charge of their various ministries and ensure things go on well for this country.

This man has said it all that ministers should play their role, commissioners in the state should play their role and civil servants too. So when we put our heads together collectively, majority of these problems will be solved. This man has been able to tell Nigerians that he has ministers, permanent secretaries, civil servants and that Nigeria’s problem is not his alone. Whether you are media man or legislature, you have to contribute your own quota for this country because government cannot do it alone.

Aside infrastructural problems, insecurity is another source of worry to Nigerians right now. What do you think is the way forward?

When we are talking of security. It is also a collective responsibility. We have formidable former National Security Advisers, former Inspectors General of Police and very brilliant former chief Security officers in this country. They should all put heads together to fashion ways of solving the insecurity situation. The insecurity situation is also a collective responsibility. At least, we have former heads of state and foremost security chiefs who are all alive and receiving pensions from government coffers.

This is now time for everyone of them to come together and allow their wealth of experience come to play and see how we can resolve the insecurity situation in Nigeria.

We should not all fold our arms and say it is the responsibility of President Jonathan or General Azazi alone. It should be a collective responsibility to solve this problem because if we are waiting for somebody to solve this problem for us, we are only wasting our time and we will never get it done. If we continue to sit down blaming ourselves, blaming our leaders, we won’t get anywhere. So let us all put our heads together to move this country forward.

Having agreed that Nigeria’s greatest problem is leadership, how do we get the leadership problems right?

I was reading through a paper where President Jonathan said he is not a lion and not a General. I think he has said it all or what else are we expecting from him? He has said it that he is throwing the ball into our hands, he is saying this problem is a collective responsibility and not his alone. So, he has confessed that he alone cannot move the country forward but it is a responsibility for all of us. He has said it that he is not a lion, not a General and not a dictator, so people should understand what he means. It is not meant for people to read and throw away.

It is a challenge he is throwing to all Nigerians and I salute Jonathan for taking that courage to tell Nigerians that Nigeria’s problem is not only his but a collective one. President Jonathan is telling Nigerians that he is the driver and Nigerians are passengers and they need to agree to move forward. Government is not meant for one person but a collective responsibility.

So, what is the way forward?

The way forward is for all of us to come together to take this democracy to the next level. We have to put our heads together, former heads of state, former security chiefs and all stakeholders must come together to move Nigeria forward.