From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
The chairman, governing council, Rufus Giwa polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, Mr Banji Alabi has made case for true federalism in the country.
He said true federalism will provide solutions to all the problems confronting Nigeria and lead the country to a better future.
Delivering a public lecture at the weekend, Alabi identified federalism as the only way through which the country can move forward both politically and w economically.
According to him “We need regional government and a weak central government. Only true federalism and resource control can guarantee peace in Nigeria.
“If you read the Aburi conference report – the meeting that took place some 55 years ago. All the complaints of 55 years ago are still with us till today. Nothing has changed,” he stated.
Alabi therefore solicited for adoption of a system that would allow individual regions to attain their full potentials.
He said: “The ingredients to create wealth is known to us in Yoruba land, they are not secret. So, let’s embrace reforms that attract the establishment of industries that can employ five thousand people at a time to every local government in the Yorùbá land.”
Speaking on the rise in criminal activities in the South-West, the legal practitioner noted that the extreme poverty in the country was responsible for series of kidnapping and terrorist attacks in the country.
He said: “The consequences of extreme poverty in Northern Nigeria has turned travelling on our roads in the South West into a big nightmare. Our very freedom, our ways of life are now under attack in frequent deadly armed robbery and kidnapping attack by people escaping from the poverty in the north, they are now known as Fulani herdsmen killing and maiming all over Nigeria
Therefore, Alabi called for concerted efforts in tackling poverty in the country to guarantee peace and security.