Former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has argued that Nigeria must first settle the question of whether it’s a nation or a mere geographic area before seeking a vision that would drive its development.
This is a he called for devolution of power to the current federating units, as according to him, that would be the Ideal way to restructure the country.
Fayemi who took this position in his lecture titled, ‘If This Giant Must Walk; Manifesto for a New Nigeria,’ at the Prince Emeka Obasi Inaugural Memorial Lecture in Lagos on Thursday, said that the development of every nation necessarily derives from a “national consensus”.
He noted, however, that this consensus can only be forged after some fundamental questions, what we call the national questions, have been settled.
According to him, “Questions that settle the difference between a “country”(geographic area), a “state” (a political territory) and a “nation” (a people united by common descent, history, culture and values).
“Where the very existence of the country, state or nation itself is easily brought to question at the slightest provocation, it should be clear that we have to ask and settle certain questions first, and it is the settlement that would then provide the foundation for our vision of society and the structure and direction of our national development. In short, the very notion of national integration is directly consequential to our understanding of nation-building as work in progress”.
