Igbo people are even better off than the northerners - Lagos lawmaker Makinde
Rasheed Makinde, a lawmaker at the Lagos state House of Assembly, categorises southeast as the second best zone in Nigeria
- Makinde says the region is far better than the north which is riddled with poverty
- The lawmaker however kicks against the agitation for a Biafran republic as he urges the region is not marginalised
Hon Rasheed Makinde, the chairman of the special duties committee of the Lagos state House of Assembly reveals in this interview with selected journalists, why the southeast should not be allowed to break away from Nigeria. The lawmaker, who represents Ifako/Ijaiye constituency 2, also rates the region as second best zone in the country while the north is the most backward region
Let us hear your thought on the agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the insistence of the government that they must remain as Nigerians.
The agitation of the easterners to break away from Nigeria is uncalled for. What is happening in Nigeria is not peculiar to a particular state, regreporir religion, it is all over. If you check your statistics, you would see that the southeasterners are spread all over the country. If they are calling for secession, I don't know what they want to achieve. It means all their people would have to relocate to their states, will those there accept them?
By nature, the Igbos are entrepreneurs. You would find them everywhere. I don't really know the cause of their agitation for secession because since the enthronement of this democracy, the Igbos had been the most beneficial. At least, they have produced more senate presidents than other regions. You have Evans Enwerem, Anyim Pius Anyim, Chuba Okadigbo and Ken Nnamani. Today, they have the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, and they have others serving in this government. Maybe when they come out with the reason they want to go, we might agree with them.
However, by saying they should not go, we are giving them undue recognition. We should allow them to go and give them just six months; they will want to come back to Nigeria.
Our problem in Nigeria is that only a few people are sharing our resources. The most backward region in Nigeria are the northerners. The easterners are still better off; I will rank them second among the six geo-political zones in Nigeria coming after whoever we say comes first in terms of welfare. I mean standard of living, development and their placement.
Don’t you support the call on the government to dialogue with IPOB instead of the Operation Python Dance introduced by the Nigerian army?
Operation Python Dance is really strategic to calm down the agitation in the zone. We Nigerians enjoy the civilian government. If it were to be under the military, they would have run away because you cannot dare them. That would have resorted to casualties. The government could not fold its arms and allow IPOB have a field day; it would find a way to destabilise them and their organization. If the Igbos really want to go on their own, it should be in a civilised way. What Nigeria signed is to be together for 100 years and we have surpassed that. So, they should be civilised if they want to go.
We have tried to organise a constitutional conference in 2014. Should this government review it or organise another one to sort out some of these issues?
The constitutional conference is for us to have a better basis for issues in the country. A sovereign national conference is not a law. It is just an avenue for memoranda, it is not binding. All the ones we have been having could be basis for the present government. What we need is economic restructuring. We should dwell more on our economy rather than politics. If this government could work more on economy and agriculture, Nigeria would be better for it.
Watch this exclusive interview with Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra:
[Download herehttps://www.naij.com/]
- Makinde says the region is far better than the north which is riddled with poverty
- The lawmaker however kicks against the agitation for a Biafran republic as he urges the region is not marginalised
Hon Rasheed Makinde, the chairman of the special duties committee of the Lagos state House of Assembly reveals in this interview with selected journalists, why the southeast should not be allowed to break away from Nigeria. The lawmaker, who represents Ifako/Ijaiye constituency 2, also rates the region as second best zone in the country while the north is the most backward region
Let us hear your thought on the agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the insistence of the government that they must remain as Nigerians.
The agitation of the easterners to break away from Nigeria is uncalled for. What is happening in Nigeria is not peculiar to a particular state, regreporir religion, it is all over. If you check your statistics, you would see that the southeasterners are spread all over the country. If they are calling for secession, I don't know what they want to achieve. It means all their people would have to relocate to their states, will those there accept them?
By nature, the Igbos are entrepreneurs. You would find them everywhere. I don't really know the cause of their agitation for secession because since the enthronement of this democracy, the Igbos had been the most beneficial. At least, they have produced more senate presidents than other regions. You have Evans Enwerem, Anyim Pius Anyim, Chuba Okadigbo and Ken Nnamani. Today, they have the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, and they have others serving in this government. Maybe when they come out with the reason they want to go, we might agree with them.
However, by saying they should not go, we are giving them undue recognition. We should allow them to go and give them just six months; they will want to come back to Nigeria.
Our problem in Nigeria is that only a few people are sharing our resources. The most backward region in Nigeria are the northerners. The easterners are still better off; I will rank them second among the six geo-political zones in Nigeria coming after whoever we say comes first in terms of welfare. I mean standard of living, development and their placement.
Don’t you support the call on the government to dialogue with IPOB instead of the Operation Python Dance introduced by the Nigerian army?
Operation Python Dance is really strategic to calm down the agitation in the zone. We Nigerians enjoy the civilian government. If it were to be under the military, they would have run away because you cannot dare them. That would have resorted to casualties. The government could not fold its arms and allow IPOB have a field day; it would find a way to destabilise them and their organization. If the Igbos really want to go on their own, it should be in a civilised way. What Nigeria signed is to be together for 100 years and we have surpassed that. So, they should be civilised if they want to go.
We have tried to organise a constitutional conference in 2014. Should this government review it or organise another one to sort out some of these issues?
The constitutional conference is for us to have a better basis for issues in the country. A sovereign national conference is not a law. It is just an avenue for memoranda, it is not binding. All the ones we have been having could be basis for the present government. What we need is economic restructuring. We should dwell more on our economy rather than politics. If this government could work more on economy and agriculture, Nigeria would be better for it.
Watch this exclusive interview with Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra:
[Download herehttps://www.naij.com/]
Post a Comment