Nigeria needs to be restructured for justice, equity, progress - Agunloye

A chieftain of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Dr Olu Agunloye, has said that the nation needed to be retooled, restructured or re-engineered to engender justice, equity and progress.

Agunloye, a former minister in a special message to Nigerians and his party members made available to Vanguard in Akure lamented that “all is not well in our country”.

“The people and governments of Nigeria have been under severe pressures by misrule, effects of Covid-19, and especially the recurring widespread insecurity and violent unrests.

“The repercussions of these have had significant negative effects on the progress and stability of the nation.

“The religions are failing. The politicians are failing. The military is not primarily trained to succeed in this wise and does not have good previous records in governance.

“Nigeria is in the festive season and awaiting the turn of the vicious and cruel Leap Year 2020. However, this does not call for celebrations.

“It is time for Nigerians to have sober reflections, and to take time to think about how to develop the political will to fix Nigeria’s problems and challenges with all sincerity of purpose.

“It is time for us to look forward together and work out an enduring solution together. It is time to revisit the basics and fundamentals of our union and its operations in order to change these for the better.

“Nigeria’s amalgamation must be rejigged and bound by social justice, equity and fairness to survive. The bottom line is that, by whichever nomenclature it is called, Nigeria needs to be retooled, or restructured or re-engineered in a way to engender justice, equity and progress.

“The new Nigeria envisaged would be driven by national competitiveness; it would leverage on massive youth development, economic emancipation for women, and be able to ensure food security, social security and economic development which would translate to improved well-being and life more abundant for the generality of her citizens.

“In addition, I wish to call on all members of our great party, Social Democratic Party, SDP, to come together in harmony and let all hands be on deck.

“l enjoin all SDP members and devoted leaders across the nation to be committed to the remodelling of the Party based on (a) returning to the Party’s ideology rooted on principles of social justice; (b) Promoting massive involvement of youths and digitisation of operations leveraging on modern technologies, and (c) getting properly organised and ready for an imminent massive influx of youths and well-meaning politicians.

“Fellow Nigerians, let’s look forward together. Let’s do it together. Our Party will open its mind and gates to welcome new members, especially the youths, and freely empower them to take leadership roles within the Party,” Agunloye noted.

“We should as well enable them to win elections so that they can take up even greater leadership responsibilities in all tiers of governance.

“We can do it. You and I must strive harder to enthrone social justice in Nigeria and to create a new generation of politicians who will not surrender in the face of challenges but will rise boldly to re-strategise and reschedule priorities to save our future and that of generations

“It is, therefore, time for SDP to abandon mediocre methods, and resolutely settle for a novel approach to reposition itself in order to capture power for the benefit of the people.”