If only my passion for balanced regional development and sustainable inclusive growth had not paled my clairvoyance,I should in the first place not have been so unfair to myself to have nursed a scintilla of optimism that the ongoing National Conference was going to be a success. At least I should have been fair to myself to have extinguished the forlorn hope at the point I noticed the rationale behind the constitution of its members was warped, and the 70% consensus required in making a decision stand was a premeditated statistical benchmark aimed at nipping any progressive development in the bud. At a time existing states are unable to pay salaries of workers as a result of poor IGR and, recently, shortfalls in allocations from the FG,its crazy some group of gerontocrats and youths would sanction the delineation of more 18 almajiri states to further milk the putatively inexhaustible petroleum from the Niger Delta states and the VAT income rich Lagos. So ,no one could muster the courage to plead and not just convince the teeming oil gluttons that Nigeria is already loosing its oil market ,as a result of competing discoveries of oil in our subregion,and essentially,in the nearest future ,our oil would become difficult to market, as fracking technique becomes more readily applied to exploiting shale oil in Europe and America, and as the world steps up its drive on the trajectory of clean and sustainable energy development. Hence,we would all suffer if political readjustment is not made to ensure that we seek diversification in setting out our regions towards the drive for competitive unleashing of their comparatively advantageous energies,resources and capacities. This expediency of readjustment for futuristic survival should have been the kernel of the resolutions of a proper conference. Now that the conference had proved that it flagranty lends imprimatur to parasitic federalism,and would further disregard the superior logic of economy of scales in regional agglomeration, all Progressives forces should reassess our positions,convene and change tactics,because once again,oddity is emplaced over order. The conference has failed.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 10:16:44 +0000