Nigeria on the brink of collapse

A new coalition group, Movement for Fundamental Change, has stressed the need to salvage the country from the brink of collapse and corruption.

Major speakers at its inaugural meeting in Lagos on Tuesday agreed that if measures were not taken to reverse the trend, the country would continue to reel under bad leadership and Nigerians would be the worst for it.

The Coordinator, Mr. Adegboyega Adeniji, acknowledged the ardous task ahead and said the group was set to ensure effective fundamental changes in the polity by entrenching virtues of honesty and accountability.

He said, “We know, like the late Dr. Tai Solarin used to say, the journey is going to be rough. We are set for effective fundamental change in Nigeria. When the going gets tough, it is only the tough people that get going.”

The chairman of the occasion, Prof. Remi Sonaya, a former lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, said the time had come for Nigerians to begin to make our leaders to account for misrule.

She stated that there was the need to create the awareness among Nigerians so they could demand for accountability from their leaders.

She said, “Like the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, said during their official visits to Nigeria, we must begin to demand good governance and accountability from our leaders. There has been a lot of talks and no action.

“In the papers this morning, I saw so many congratulatory adverts/messages for the president from some of the governors, and I asked, where is the money for these adverts coming from? Is it from private pockets or from public treasury? There must be a legislation on how common resources should be spent.”

Mr. Martin Onovo, who delivered a keynote address at the event, said the MFC “is proposed to operate like the United Kingdom model shadow government. It will forge national consensus on all major issues and democratically compel the government to comply with the consensus.”

While he stated that Nigeria was the only OPEC member importing refined petroleum products, he added that the nation’s debt and inflation were rising daily.