Nigeria is at The Verge of Disintegration – Prof Okaba
Professor Benjamin Okaba, President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the umbrella body for Ijaws worldwide, has warned President Bola Tinubu that the country is on the verge of disintegration.
The INC President, who delivered the warning in a keynote address at the 2024 retreat of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) held in Warri, Delta State, said the entire Ijaw Nation and the people of the Niger Delta were relieved that Nigerian professionals were gathering to discuss how the country could overcome some of its daunting challenges.
He said, “It is common knowledge that Nigeria is sliding down the precipice and that if urgent steps are not taken to address the situation, the country, in our very own eyes, might disintegrate into oblivion.”
“This is because the people of the Niger Delta who sustain and bear the full brunt of Nigeria’s economic and political survival desire to live in a more united, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, the majority of Nigerians were fed up with the status quo because “Nigeria, which was previously rightfully described as the giant of Africa, Africa’s largest and fastest growing economy, and projected to become the world’s third most populous country by 2050, is currently going through a very difficult time. Indeed, the Nigeria Project is teetering dangerously close to the brink.
“Despite possessing the most enormous human and natural resources in Africa, Nigeria offers very limited opportunities for majority of the citizens to advance beyond the pitiable state we found ourselves today.
“After independence in 1960, and 63years down the line, we are still struggling to establish the greatness. No thanks to the valiant efforts of political mismanagers, (military and Civilians).
“By 1991, we got a rehabilitation of the political foundations with a dose of democratic experimentation. Unfortunately, the return to the so-called democracy has not introduced any respite from the encroaching sense of doom, the nation was facing hitherto.
“Instead, our own brand of democracy seems to have brought too many confounding intricacies to bear on our optimism and hope of a protracted Nigeria Project.”