THE RETURN OF LATE BALEWAS SON . Abduljhalil Tafawa Balewa, son of the late Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, said he is bent on taking a shot at the leadership position which his late father, was forced to vacate 48 years ago in a military coup.Though very young at the time, Abduljhalil,the late Balewa’s son, who was taken awayto grow up in Switzerland since the age of two, thinks Nigeria has really not known peace since that democratic regime was interrupted.Now a doctorate degree holder in nuclear chemistry, Jhalil thinks it’s time to look forward and work at “healing Nigeria.” He is interestingly from both northern and southern parts of the country, having beenborn of a Yoruba mother. To him, this is a unique selling point, as he believes he will be a perfect bridge across the divides.“It is time to move forward but no matter what you do, you cannot run away from your past experiences. What we were trying to do and what we are trying to do now is a result of what the military inflictedon our national psyche. I don’t blame them. Things happen but you cannot treat a particular ailment without being able to diagnose it. You need to know the history or the etymology of the ailment, how you got to where you are before you can get a prescription for treatment.“That coup was like cut of a hot knife through the butter of being of our country. We have never had peace in a true sense. I think the lesson is that good guys don’t finish last,” he said.As a Nigerian from the Northeastern part ofthe nation where the Boko Haram insurgents hold sway, Balewa is optimisticabout his ability and resolve to be able to help Nigeria solve the issues.Other issues that he hopes to tackle include corruption, environmental degradation by international oil companies and infrastructure deficiency in the country.“There is nobody with a full stomach that will want to fight. But you have to look at the reason for the insurgency itself”, he said explaining that for a long time, youthsof the area were used by politically self-centred and self-serving persons andlater dumped without means of livelihood.According to him, employment creation will solve the restiveness in the region. He noted, therefore, that he was ready to bringindustries into the area to create employments for the people as some foreign investors are already consulting with him on how to invest to create jobs in the area.He did not fail to point out likely collusion between some military officers and insurgents, which may have been fueling the fire of the Boko Haram militancy.“We are proud. We should be proud of the military’s successes in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Sudan, Central African Republic and Dafur. This same military now cannot tackle insurgents in their own soil? That’s not true. There’s something wrong somewhere or there may be collusion within.“ I think we need to ask questions”, he said.As a way of moving the country forward, young Balewa says that law enforcement agents should be well remunerated and trained to tackle the challenges of corruption and insurgency. For him also, getting employed should not be by connections in high places.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:29:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015