BY SONI DANIEL, REGINAL EDITOR, NORTH

ABUJA—Wrong application of Federal Character principle by the Federal Government and its agencies is drawing Nigeria backwards rather than propelling it to grow and make progress in the comity of nations.

Besides, the principle is promoting culture of indolence and low productivity, instead of meritocracy and hard work for which Nigerians were known and respected globally.

Former Minister of Science and Technology, Gen. Sam Momah, (rtd), who made the observations in an exclusive interview with Vanguard, called for an urgent step to redefine the principle so as not to plunge the country into avoidable disaster and lower its image in the international community.

Momah, who is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, pointed out that although the initiators of the Federal Character principle meant well for Nigeria, its implementation had been manipulated to achieve ulterior motives rather than national interest.

Momah, who has written a book entitled, “Nigeria beyond Divorce”, which chronicles the ills and measures for salvaging the country, noted that before the emergence of the principle, Nigerians were more productive and competitive in their chosen areas of endeavours.

He said: “This Federal Character principle should be redefined and made more productive so that it does not continue to sacrifice merit on the altar of mediocrity.

“Federal Character as it is currently practised in Nigeria tends to inculcate cheating rather than emphasise hard work, selflessness and nation-building, the core values, which our founding fathers lived by.”

The retired general said he was deeply worried over the way Nigeria was going and pleaded with those in positions of authority to measure their actions and utterances before acting or speaking so as not to heat up the polity.

He also said although the country would not break up as predicted by some Nigerians and foreigners, the leadership must begin to take actions to unite rather than give room for loose talks and provocative proclamations.

He said: “I’m really worried about Nigeria although I do not believe that it will disintegrate as predicted by some of our people. Having said that, I want to warn that we must be ready to retrace our steps from actions and utterances that tend to divide rather than bring us together.

“I must advise that no one should be allowed to do anything to weaken our national cohesion and sense of unity.”

The former minister said there was no need to continue to create new states when most of the existing ones, apart from Lagos and a few others, were not viable.

He suggested that rather than create new states, the country should be run on provincial basis and most of the offices currently on the government template, collapsed into a provincial council and run by technocrats to save costs and bring about rapid development.

He said doing so would ensure that allocations were based on provinces and no longer on population and local government councils, which had made it impossible for the generation of accurate data for national planning and development.