Integrity alone can’t revive Nigeria’s economy, says Pastor Bakare

The General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly and Convener, Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has faulted the claim that the present economic downturn the country is presently going through was as a result of global economic vicissitudes.

Speaking at the Business Hallmark Newspaper organised Public Policy forum with thetheme: “The case for a new Nigeria”, last week, the clergyman stated that through the prevention of regulatory leakages with integrity and skill, the country would be able to sail through any global economic crisis unscathed.

“This is why I insist that Nigeria’s problems are not the result of global economic cycles but the consequences of counterproductive national paradigms and self-limiting frameworks of the state,” he argued.

Pastor Bakare, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to combine skills with his personal integrity in order to take the country from the present economic quagmire, adding that integrity alone cannot steer the country out of economic crunch.

According to him, it is ironic that a country like Nigeria that is so blessed with a lot of capacities has not been able to use her strengths in addressing the broader challenge of nation building.

The SNG convener noted that with the present political structure, which promotes electoral violence and irregularities, there is no evolving transformational process in sight.

“I ask again the questions that were asked in the aforementioned address: Where is Vision 20:20:20 today? Where is the Seven-Point Agenda? Where is the Transformation Agenda? I dare to say if bold decisions are not taken at this time to do the right things, few years from now, we may find ourselves asking: “Where is the Change Agenda?” he stressed.

Pastor Bakare opined, “…if mere policy initiatives without foundational structural changes could not deliver the promised New Nigeria at the time the economic climate was favourable, such a symptom-focused curative approach to our national challenges is predictably insufficient at this time of economic meltdown.”

The pastor, who called for urgent review of the country’s constitution, argued that the document as it is presently drafted contributes to the dysfunctions in the system as it only encourages spending but does not give room for savings.

He advocated a value reconfiguration, saying it is needed to spur a reversal of negative national paradigms presently bedevilling Nigeria and create a new identity.

The Latter Rain Assembly Serving Overseer also recommended a new constitutional order that would see to the emergence of a new national economic order propelled by development of clusters.

A strong political will of a president is needed to bring about national rebirth in the country, he noted.

“The President may exercise this political mandate by creating a novel institution- a Presidential Commission for National Reconciliation, Reintegration and Restructuring comprised of a team of highly respected national influencers of high moral standing and unquestionable integrity with bridge-building antecedent,” Pastor recommended.

He noted that all that is needed to transform Nigeria from her present state are contained in the report of the 2014 National Conference, which he was part of.

The clergyman disclosed that the SNG which spearheaded the protest against 2012 petrol price hike is presently consulting with stakeholders on the guided deregulation of the downstream sector by the Federal Government, which led to petrol hit N145 per litre and it will make its position known on the issue soon.

Meanwhile, Prof. Anya O.Anya, Pro-chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture Umudike, who chaired that lecture, emphasized on the need for the country to go back to the fundamentals and device ways to change the behaviours of the citizenry.

He said the country has to have less drama and more actions in order to make significant progress, adding that Nigeria is presently suffering from self-fulfilling prophecies as her news is full of negativities.

“What the world and Nigerians have forgotten is that the foundation of economics is human behaviour,” he enunciated.

Prof. Anya noted that the country has come to the point that it has to return to its rightful place in the comity of nations.

Prof. George Obiozor, chairman, BusinessHallmark Public Policy Forum asserted that one of the problems with the country is that people of ideas surrender power to mediocre.

“Nigeria is a country whose past is better than its present and its future is in doubt,” the former ambassador to U.S. reasoned.

He noted that it is wrong to say Nigeria’s united in not negotiable and it has to be negotiated if it would be any headway.