Lawyer Offers Recipe For Nigeria’s Dev

Men suspected to be diverting petroleum products arrested and paraded with their products by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Ibadan, recently.

A Port Harcort
based lawyer and human rights crusader, Barr. Chijioke Agi, has said that the Nigerian nation-state can only develop fast if attention is paid to true federalism and rule of law.
Barrister Agi, who stated this while chatting with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Monday, noted that a country could only develop if there was order.
He blamed the slow pace of development on the country on lack of respect for the rule of law. He said in true federalism, component states were allowed to develop at their own pace. According to him, “the liberty to develop at their own paces encouraged healthy competition among federating states”.
Barr. Agi who was reacting to Nigeria’s present economic woes, explained that over the years the country had been run like a unitary state, where so much power was concentrated in the hands of the federal government.
He called for devolution of powers so that the state would become largely independent.
“We cannot continue to depend on oil from the southern minorities states, while the rest of the states contribute nothing for the sustenance of the nation. It is the height of in equality”, he pointed out.
Barr. Agi stated that obedience to the rule of law was a necessary ingredient for the survival of our democracy.
He warned the foremost political parties in the country to stop politicesing  the nation’s wellbeing.

Chidi Enyie