BISHOP of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has blamed the insurgency in the North on the pervasive poverty in the country, saying that hardship facing Nigerians such as power outage and other social amenities were among the factors that promoted the sect's insurgency in the country.
He spoke to the Voice of America (VOA) Hausa Service monitored in Kaduna Wednesday.
According to Kukah: "In Sokoto and all over the country, it is the same thing; we heard that on Sunday during a church service in Lagos, when the President was speaking, there was power outage. A shameful thing, it is this shameful situation everywhere. It is supposed to be a shameful thing because for the past 50 years that Nigeria gained its independence, with all the wealth and resources, those in the position of leadership think of themselves alone, abandoning the poor. We are not supposed to be talking about electricity by now".
Speaking in a similar vein, former Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili, said Wednesday that Nigeria urgently needs transformation in virtually every aspect of the national life to avoid a looming disaster.
Akunyili, who spoke at a lecture she delivered at the Bells University, Ota, Ogun State, however, warned that without attitudinal change, any transformation agenda would come to naught and urged Nigerians to have attitudinal change.
Kukah said: "Corruption and dishonesty are so widespread in Nigeria. There is no way people with this kind of attitude will progress. If it were in other countries, Nigeria would have been facing a revolution by now ...these are the kind of things that created Boko Haram. Even if the Boko Haram problem ends tomorrow and Nigerians continue with this kind of attitude, we may find ourselves in another problem again".
To tackle the frightening security situation in the country, the former minister suggested, among other things, that the government should dialogue with all "aggrieved parties", including the Boko Haram sect and even kidnappers.
According to Akunyili, who spoke on "National Transformation: The Challenge of Our Time", corruption is thriving in the Nigerian society because punishment for indicted persons are too soft, adding that this has, therefore, encouraged corruption instead of reducing it.
Her words: "Consequently, the need for transformation in our country cannot be over-emphasised. The signs are all too vivid for anyone to ignore. We do not need to look far to see evidence of the crises facing our dear nation. The signals are ominous. To avoid disaster, our nation needs transformation".
The Guardian