President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in the 2011 presidential election, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that Nigeria cannot continue to shun the idea of restructuring. He made the call yesterday in Abuja at the 14th anniversary celebration/lecture of the Foursquare Gospel Church Asokoro themed: “The Church and Economic Recession”.
The church was founded in 2002 by Kogi State-born Babajide Olowodola, who is the Senior Pastor of the church.
“We need to restructure the country, but the will to do it is not there. We are concerned that if we touch here someone will cry, if we touch there someone will cry. But we are all seeing the effect of not restructuring the country,” Bakare said.
He said that the late Sir Ahmadu Bello led the Northern region from Kaduna and that the achievements and successes recorded were testimonies of his forthrightness and those that worked with him.
He said: “Today we now have 19 states in the North and 36 across the country. In fact less than four can sustain themselves. Many are non viable due to wastages in governance and political appointments. Yet there are clamour for more states.”
He said that the wastages will continue until Nigerians demand an end to it. On the economic recession facing the country, Pastor Bakare who is the Convener of Save Nigeria Group (SNG) said the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was not to blame, adding, “the result of the recklessness of the past is what the nation is experiencing now.
“The economies of oil rich countries, including Canada, Ecuador, Venezuela, Algeria, Brazil, Iraq, Russia, Libya, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, are all in recession. It is no longer news that Nigeria is officially in a recession.” (Daily Trust)