What Buhari Must Do To Leave Good Legacy – Agbakoba

Civil rights activist and erstwhile president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief Olisa Agbakoba, SAN has opened up on what President Muhammadu Buhari must take as a priority if he must leave a legacy in his name.

Speaking to newsmen over the weekend holidays, Agbakoba, a maritime law expert said President Buhari must push for the restructuring of the country into at least eight regions or blocs to allow for development in the various regions or blocs so created.

He cited the present challenges posed by insecurity which he said a federal police is incapable of addressing.

“This is because community policing or state policing is a tactical tool to deal with the problem, but the strategic tool is the bigger question of the national question.

“There are so many unclear issues in Nigeria about how we want to organize ourselves, how we want to live together, this is what some people have called the restructuring question, some call it the national question, but I call it devolution of powers question.

“Whatever it’s called that is the central issue that needs resolution so that even if you use tactical tools like community policing, but the bigger issue remains then I don’t know if we can resolve it.

“What Nigeria needs is space, there are diverse ethnicities and they are living in such close proximity that one ethnic community is in the face of the other with counter-cultures, counter-religious beliefs and that is not healthy. Even in America in spite of all their advanced democracy, they take care of diversities.

“So, I think if I were to advise the president, for instance, the first thing to do is create space…,identify the ethnic regionalities, create eight big blocs, even though we have 6 to make it 8.

“And then I will give them the power to do things at their own local level, it’s called the principle of subsidiarity; let them work at their own local level. Subsidiarity is where people engage themselves at the local level such that you find in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England.

“Part of the challenge they had when they were living closely was to create an act of settlement of 1705, that was when peace began to come and each of the regions recognized themselves.

“They all had their own prime ministers and they call them first ministers, so the prime minister of the UK is the one we see internationally, but on local matters like school, refuse collection, education, agriculture, employment, health issues, it’s local,” he said.

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