S/South, S/East should focus on agric, says Ezeife

From Prince Mike, Yenogoa
Former Governor of Anambra State, Okwadike Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has charged the people of the South-South and the South East regions to pursue self-reliance and self-sufficiency in food production and stop relying on other parts of the country for agricultural produces.
Ezeife spoke at the Government House Banquet Hall in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Monday, during a lecture delivered by former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, to mark Governor Henry Seriake Dicksona��s 6th year in office.
The elder statesman noted that all parts of Nigeria have the potential to produce what their people need and urged them to pursue the actualisation with vigour.
Ezeife, who was the chairman of the occasion, argued that the Federal Government has moved a�?Nigerians from the frying pan to fire in the name of changea�?, adding that such has launched the country into a deep mess.
According to him, Nigeria has failed God and man, adding that for the country to move forward, it must immediately restructure.
“The assignment God gave to Nigeria is to manifest her destiny and become one of the world super powers because Goda��s design for Nigeria is unmatched greatness, but man has destroyed it for selfish ambition and greeda�?.
According to him, for restructuring to work and justice to prevail, Nigeria must go back to true federalism where the power concentrated at the center will be decentralised and power devolved to the states.
Ezeife identified the root cause of a�?our problems as corruption and unless Nigerians are ready to re-orientate their mind and change from this dreaded monster called corruption, the country will remain backwarda�?.
The theme of the lecture was: a�?Restructuring -The Way Forward for a New Nigeriaa�?.
In his lecture, Akinrinade said that in the past it was resource control or fiscal federalism and a�?going further, there were buzz terms of hidden agenda, self-succession, sovereign national conference and going much further into the seventies we had romance with diarchy and its discontent. Now ita��s the noise of restructuring rumbling across the countrya�?.
He insisted that no human organisation can survive for long without occasionally restructuring itself. “No phrase or political terminology has been a source of pain and perplexity to Nigerians than the notion of restructuring or devolution of power,” Akinrinade said.
According to him, restructuring does not lead to an automatic Eldorado, adding that a�?ita��s not a panacea for good governance, but a strategic ancillary; restructuring is not a once and for all cure or talisman, but a means to an enda�?.