Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and senior advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has advised the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to be serious with the business of governance, saying that life has become hellish in the country.
Agbakoba gave the advice yesterday while speaking with journalists on the mission of the newly formed National Intervention Movement (NIM).
“We want government to work for Nigerians. Presently, it is not. President Buhari needs to take his job seriously; he is sleeping on the job. He needs to sack his entire cabinet because they have failed,” he said.
According to Agbakoba, “We live in a failed country. We live in a broken city; we will continue to lament until something positive happens. We need many pressure groups.”
Agbakoba, who also called for a synergy between the civil society and the media in order to wrest power from the ruling political elite, also believed that such collaboration would help to achieve a new system that was inclusive and worked for all and not a few.
He wondered why nobody had been fired over the backdoor reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina, and why some former governors who were accused of being corrupt by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had not been prosecuted but rather allowed to populate the Senate of the National Assembly, making laws for the country.
To him, “What is government’s plan for unemployment? 70% of our young people are unemployed. It is alarming! What is the Federal Government’s plan for power? Should the privitization process be reversed? Why is our bidding and procurement processes failing? Why is government still appropriating billions of naira for turn-around maintenance (TAM) of dead refineries?”
Explaining the reason behind the formation of NIM in a democratic dispensation, the former leader of the Civil Society (CS) movement said: “NIM is a movement to uplift Nigerians. It is not a political party/organisation. It is a network of people committed to make a difference in our country.
“Our objective is to mobilise Nigerians to hold government accountable at all levels. We want to grow by inspiring and supporting people to start small groups across the country.
“We want a functioning democracy where political office holders are accountable to the people, public institutions are strong and there is the rule of law.”
(Please, see full interview in BusinessDay Sunday (BDSUNDAY))
