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Founder and President of KAFTAN TV, Comrade Barrister Adewole Adebayo has led the conversation at the public lecture to mark the 50th birthday of the National Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Dr Tanko Yinusa, in Abuja.

Other speakers at the event include the former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Segun Mimiko, Senator Ben Obi, Dr. Biola Akiode, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, Mr. Jude Iferanmi, Senator Shehu Sani, among others.

Adebayo, who led the conversation at the public lecture, spoke on the topic: “The future of Nigeria and the unabating crises of the Almajiris, Area Boys, Baby Factory Children on the worsening Banditry and Insecurity in Nigeria, What Panacea?”, congratulated the celebrant, Adebayo said for various reasons, which are not insurmountable, Nigerians are currently unable to agree on the most effective ways for the country to get back on the track of sustainable development.

Adebayo blamed previous Nigerian leaders for failing to enunciate policies that would have addressed the issues. He maintained that the problems festered due to the negligence of the past leaders.

According to him, “Those problems should have been solved before Tanko was born because when we were working towards Independence, we had self-government and the realistic goals of the leaders who led us at that time was that in one decade we would eradicate the problems that we are now discussing. We did not eradicate them. Rather, they became big cancer that have grown and also sponsoring other cancers.

The Ife and American-trained lawyer stated that in order for a new country to be born, the oppressed must band together with people of like minds to pull the country out of the woods.

“Our problems are not socialist or capitalist, as we thought, because you can distribute using socialist methods and produce using capitalist methods. Scandinavian countries have demonstrated this by running their own oil companies in an efficient capitalist manner because they sell their products in a capitalist market. When wealth does arrive, it is distributed socially, so that there is no difference between the child of the oil company’s managing director and the child of a bus driver on a street in Oslo, Norway”.

The media mogul and philanthropist also stated that Nigeria is not devoid of ideas because the country is brimming with brilliant individuals.

“We are from the tropics, where we are naturally brilliant because we eat all of the plantings and other natural things that make us brilliant. So, in Nigeria, it is easy to produce 50 professors in a village where no bicycles are produced. One billion dollars can be put into a community of one million people, which should be enough, but seven people would syphon all of the money, and the debate over isms will continue”, he stated.

Going back in time, the legal luminary stated that vulnerable people existed in African kingdoms and empires prior to the colonial era, but that leaders of those kingdoms and empires were responsible for resolving their societal problems. As a result, he urged the current generation of leaders and followers to learn from history.

Adebayo called for a shift in the country’s mindset and orientation. He bemoaned the fact that, while the imperial power established Nigeria as a business, subsequent generations of Nigerians have continued to view and run the country with a business mindset.

He claimed that the country’s problem is that its citizens are divided into multifarious camps. Those who do not belong to the ethnic camp, he claims, are either becoming bureaucratic champions, religious camp or transnational camp leaders.

According to Adebayo, the solution is not far-fetched, and as a legal luminary who has studied and practiced in other countries’ constitutions, he is convinced that the primary solution to the country’s myriad of issues is already contained in Chapter 2 of the Nigerian constitution.

“The solutions are available at the end of the day. Nigeria’s problems are addressed in Chapter 2 of Section 13 of the Nigerian Constitution. While many have argued that the Nigerian constitution is incomplete, as a constitutional lawyer who practices in the United States and has studied every part of the American constitution, I disagree. I can state unequivocally that the Nigerian constitution is one of the best.

Adebayo concluded his lecture by urging the country’s privileged and less privileged citizens to work together to save the country.

“My recommendation is that we identify our common interests as a group. We do not have to be poor in order to fight for the poor. No wealthy individual has anything to lose by the disappearance of poverty in Nigeria. The world’s wealthiest people have solved the poverty problem while becoming even wealthier in the process. I implore those who are doing well to abandon the false belief that if the rich work together to eradicate poverty in the land, they will become poorer”, Adebayo concluded.

In his goodwill message, the former governor of Ondo State, Dr Segun Mimiko congratulated the celebrant, whom he claimed to have known for many years.

Mimiko noted that “It’s not surprising that the topic of his birthday lecture is Almajiri, the Area boys, and the baby factories. My argument has always been that a society that fails to pay attention to vulnerable groups cannot progress. “We must examine this phenomenon in the context of an ideology.

It is all too easy to gloss over our fundamental issues by focusing on the north-south divide, identity, ethnicity, and religion. But, beyond that, there is a substructure and a solid ideology that drives Nigeria’s elite and political class” Mimiko said.

In his appreciation message, the celebrant, Dr Tanko Yinusa, expressed concern about the Almajiri, Area Boys, and baby factory phenomenal and urged every Nigerian to see the issue as one that requires everyone’s attention.

Vanguard News Nigeria