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| Bishop Mike Okonkwo of TREM |
Bishop Okonkwo also sent out some words of advice to Nnamdi Kanu and the Federal Government of Nigeria. Here are some of the excerpts from the explosive interview...
On Nnamdi Kanu and IPoB separatist group he said, "if I happen to meet this young man (Nnamdi Kanu), I will advise him to link up with the Arewa youth, the Oduduwa group and the youths of the Niger Delta (MEND) because all these people are agitating and they should together take on the political class which appear to have shown that they do not want Nigeria to move forward. They (Nnamdi Kanu and IPoB ) should understand that their future is being mortgaged. It’s not about secession or any ethnic stuff. We should be concerned about how we can make this country better based on unity and I believe that we can achieve more being together as a nation. To break a country involves so many things and many people will suffer in the process. I will rather we start with restructuring and let’s see how it goes and then we see whether we can now stay together or in future we go our separate ways."
Advice for President Buhari
"Why will people not agitate? Take for instance the recent appointments in The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, this is one of the issues that make people agitate. You can’t give 10 slots to the North, three to the South-West, two to the South-South and nothing to the East and you want them to sleep. And you want Nnamdi Kalu not to talk again. At times, I ask myself: who are the people giving advice to government? Why are they giving such advice?"I just heard of a rail project being built from Kano to Daura. What is the economic benefit of that project? We can understand the one from Kaduna to Abuja because people who live in Kaduna can commute to Abuja daily to work. But in this case, show me the economic benefit of spending such billions to develop a rail from Kano to Daura? Daura, a Local Government Area in Katsina State, is the home town of President Buhari.
"We should not use violence to resolve our differences. Agitations like the one we have in the South-East (by IPoB) will come but the solution is not moving armoured tanks there. Like I said, these are not the days you use force or instruments of government to intimidate people because there are those who are willing to die. We should go to the negotiation table to resolve naughty issues.
"The states that generate these (Nigeria's) funds, we don’t have roads that connect them, how much more airport. The Asaba airport in Delta state was built by the state government, not the Federal Government. The states that generate the funds do not have airports, no roads and you want them not to agitate?
What’s really wrong? Is somebody playing games with people’s minds? Such things are not acceptable."
On Nigeria, the The 72-year-old pastor said, "So many things are going on in this country that we know nothing about. In fact, to hear that Chief Eric Umeofia, the tomato mogul, is the fourth largest producer of tomato paste in the world is amazing. I believe if we have more people like him in this country, youth restiveness and many social problems that we have will not be there because our youths will be positively engaged. Many people speak well of Nigeria but not many people believe in the project called Nigeria. I believe that God will raise a new generation that will believe in this country.
"I don’t want us to lose faith in Nigeria. Nigeria is greatly endowed by God and I know we have so many challenges as the enemy is fighting the country from different angles. We must keep praying for Nigeria and I believe that God will bring us out of the challenges we are facing. The plan of the enemy to bring confusion, violence, disintegration, bloodshed and insecurity will not succeed. Our desires about Nigeria will be accomplished."
He therefore advised the government to "be sincere about this issue of made – in – Nigeria goods. At times, some of the policies, as you heard the Chairman of Erisco Foods Limited said, are not pursued with honesty. You can’t be telling Nigerians to develop local content and at the same time favour those who import to the detriment of those who are making efforts to develop Nigeria and giving employment to Nigerians. So the Federal Government should really be sincere and honest to encourage Nigerian entrepreneurs."
On calls for the balkanization of the country, the Bishop said he personally does not subscribe to the calls for disintegration.
"I don’t think disintegration is the solution to the numerous challenges facing the nation. The key is restructuring. Nigeria should restructure. I have said it several times in the past: Anyone opposed to the restructuring is an enemy of Nigeria. He is not honest and is saying so because of what he is personally gaining. The truth is that restructuring is the way to go in the interest of Nigerians."
On the restructuring of the country, the TREM leader said, "the restructure people are canvassing is in line with what we had in the First Republic where the regional leaders used groundnut, cocoa, coal, palm kernel to build Cocoa House, established television stations and universities, and developed their regions. If our leaders are able to develop their states without oil and depend less on the centre for allocations, it will make for healthy competition and healthy development in different areas and the people will be better for it and more employment will be created and security would be guaranteed," the Lagos-based preacher added.
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