The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, has dashed the hopes of those proposing the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report as the panacea to Nigeria’s multi-faceted problems, saying it won’t work the way they expect.
The cleric, who spoke in Umuahia, the Abia State capital while fielding questions during a valedictory lecture he delivered in honour of the out-going Vice-Chancellor of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Prof. Hillary Edeoga, also advised Nigerians to look beyond state creation for a solution to their problems.
According to Kukah, the confab report was not different from the recommendations of similar exercises in the past, arguing that solution to Nigeria’s challenges lies with the right leadership.
He lamented the lack of policy direction and vision by the managers of Nigeria’s economy, saying that if the right policy is put in place, Nigeria would fare better.
“There is nothing in the confab report that will work in the way and manner Nigerians expect. Some of them require legislation and there are some things the governors and local government chairmen will do by themselves”, he said.
Kukah, who was secretary of the National Truth and Reconciliation Committee aka Oputa Panel, explained that the “Confab report is not different from what we did with (Justice) Nikky Tobi during the Political Reform Conference. I know the kind of report we generated. I have read the confab report and I knew how most of them were going to end”.
The Catholic Bishop frowned at the way Nigerians look to the release and implementation of the 2014 confab report as if their survival depended on it, saying he still believes “that one of the reasons why this country remains the way it is, is this type of com¬bustion with so much tension, anxiety and suspicion”.
“It is likely because we decided to embark on this endless journey of thinking that the solution to our problem lies with creation of states, creation of local governments, etc.
“History shows very clearly that anytime we create new states, yesterday’s minority becomes the majority and you produce weapons that they will use to terrorize others. Creation of more local governments will never solve our problems because some of them have never been able to pay salaries for several months.
“In 1984 when Buhari became Head of State, one of the things in his speech was that salaries were not paid, and 30 years later, in his speech he is still saying salaries are not paid”, Kukah lamented.
The cleric, therefore, called on all citizens “to sign on to have our challenges solved”.
We spent so much money and time to organize the national confab for a genuine and worthy purpose and here is Mr kuka telling us to forget abt the report. What kind of country is this.