Nigeria nearing failed state, says Osun State Governor Aregbesola

OSUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged the nation’s leaders to rise up to the challenges facing the country, saying the indices in the polity raise fears of possible disintegration.

He particularly urged the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibilities by initiating policies aimed at reducing the excruciating effects of poverty and deprivation, which he said, have brought disenchantment by various groups across the country.

Aregbesola spoke at the weekend in Osogbo at a dinner he organised in honour of the newly-elected President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Femi Adesina, and other executive members of the association.

The governor, who said the nation should learn from the recent Somalia’s experience, lamented the protracted unrest in virtually all the regions of the country, stating that unless the Federal Government urgently takes some concrete steps, the nation may collapse.

According to him, anyone with the interest of the country at heart would certainly know that Nigeria at present is closer to failure than success as a nation.

According to Aregbesola, instead of addressing the fundamental causes of challenges confronting the nation, the federal authorities are merely scratching them on the surface.

“I am particularly worried about the fate of this nation today. Nigeria is very close to being a failed state than being successful. A nation can only remain indivisible and hold itself together when people charged with responsibilities refuse to shirk in the dispensation of such responsibilities. Crises manifest in different ways but the real causes of the nation’s abnormalities have not been addressed. It is not enough to tag the insurgency in the South as militancy or youth unrest and the one up North as religious crisis or Islamic fundamentalism, rather the utmost things needed are solutions to all these unrests,” Aregbesola said.

He charged the media, which is the source of information to the people, to practise development journalism that can really make those in political power to change their attitude and restore hope to the people