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| Pastor Tunde Bakare |
The General Overseer of
the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, says Nigeria urgently needs a
revolution.
The Punch report continues:
Bakare
said it was sheer laziness to blame the global economic downturn for Nigeria’s
economic woes, adding that waiting for a rise in crude oil prices before
reviving the economy was pointless.
He
said this during the 27th anniversary thanksgiving of his church on Sunday in
Lagos.
The
cleric, who lamented that Nigeria’s destiny was hanging in the balance, said
that the revolution must include a radical transformation of values that should
transcend politics and change of government.
According
to him, since past leaders of the country could not deliver on the promise of a
new Nigeria when the global and local economic climates were favourable, it
would be wrong to blame the country’s woes on the global economic downturn.
He
said, “While appreciating the positive developments in our democratic
experience, especially the attempts by past and current governments to
eliminate systemic leakages, I shall seek to prove that, by a fair
preponderance of the credible evidence, the state of the nation calls for a
revolution.
“This
is a revolution that transcends politics or policies; a revolution that means
far more than any change of government; a revolution that means a radical
reformation of values as they impact upon the social, economic and political
landscapes of our nation.
“It
is a symptom of chronic national laziness to blame the global economic downturn
for Nigeria’s economic woes, or to wait expectantly for a rise in crude oil
prices in order to sustain our consumptive economic patterns. Our problems are
not the result of global economic cycles; our problems are the results of
counter-productive national paradigms and self-limiting frameworks of state.”
Bakare
listed structural deformation, institutional degradation,
constitutional aberrations and governmental incapacitation as ‘fundamental
errors’ that needed to be addressed for the country to move forward.
In
order to correct the structural deformation, Bakare said the devolution of
powers was essential, adding that power must be devolved to the levels of
governments that are closest to the people and that can best deliver public
goods.
He
also called for a new constitution, noting that the 1999 Constitution lacked
“virtue and laid the foundation for a culture of political fraudulence.”
Speaking
on tensions created by aggrieved groups in the country, Bakare advised Buhari
to create a Presidential Commission for National Reconciliation, Reintegration
and Restructuring in order create a new national identity for Nigerians.
Other
functions of the commission, according to the cleric, should include promoting
forgiveness and reconciliation among contentious interest groups in Nigeria and
facilitating the creation of an acceptable functional governmental structure
for the country.
While
praying for President Muhammadu Buhari to leave a legacy of a new Nigeria,
Bakare urged Nigerians to support the President.
He added, “In a
three-dimensional strategic arrangement, this national rebirth process can go
on seamlessly alongside socio-economic development, championed by the economic
team of this administration, headed by the Vice-President (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo)
as well as a national security and anti-corruption strategy, spearheaded by the
President Muhammadu Buhari.
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