As Nigeria marks its 60^th Independence Anniversary, an elder statesman and former Minister of Transport, Rear Admiral Festus Porbeni (Rtd.) has called for unity amongst Nigerians and the restructuring of the country to reflect equity, justice and fairness, especially in the distribution of its wealth.

The Bayelsa State born former Ambassador of Nigeria to Equatorial Guinea, while making this call in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday, also bemoaned the underdevelopment of his home state 24 years after its creation.

The former member of the late General Sani Abacha led Provisional Ruling Council (PRC), who pointed out that true federalism has proven to be effective in developed countries such as America, subscribed to the clamour for state policing as panacea to the state of insecurity bedeviling the country.

He noted that Nigeria, as nation, has made significant progress since gaining independence from Britain, especially, after experiencing a civil war, which according to him, helped accentuate its unity as a nation, but regretted that current agitations for its disintegration were taking a peak.

“We all know that unity is better than division. Every problem has a solution, and basically I believe restructuring and having every federation being independent, would be a good idea. Before the civil war, every region was strong on its own, and competed healthily amongst themselves. So, I believe going back to true federalism can help get our economy together”, he said.

He expressed dissatisfaction on the high level of underdevelopment Bayelsa State was experiencing, stating that “Frankly, Bayelsa would have gotten much more glory than what it is now and this is can be attributed to her leadership and followership.”

“There was a time I brought Julius Berger to work on the main road that leads to Yenagoa, leaving no building behind in order to ensure that it looks like a city road, but this was not properly done as it still looks like a village road.”

In terms of insecurity, he attributed the troubling situation in the state to the high rate of kidnapping and violence of its youths, urging the youths to reflect on the situation and have rethink on the harm being done to the development of the state.  

“The youths have been agitating for kidnapping alot. I have a boat here that cannot be planted on the water, due to the several happenings in the sea, but in Lagos I sail every now and then and go places. This was what prompted my NGO setup to sensitize the youths about the ills of kidnapping, which has killed our economy.”

“Our properties here are not being rented and people have left their buildings and relocated due to this insecurity. We therefore need to do some reflection on ourselves, and Bayelsa would have to make sure we get things back to normal, because the leadership is not alone, fellowship also needs to be put to check to be strong enough”, he added.

The former diplomat, therefore, called for expedited action on the blueprint for the development of Bayelsa State and the need for a body of advisers outside the House of Assembly to be enacted as a way forward.

He said “During the Good luck Jonathan’s regime as a governor, a body was set up outside the normal political setting to give advice on security matters. But today there is nothing like that. We only politicize things and that isn’t doing us good. I believe there are other avenues to improve”.

He drew attention to states like Ebonyi and Ekiti that were created alongside Bayelsa State, which are doing better with their less resources in place compared with the latter.

Admiral Festus Porbeni, who was a Commandant of the Nigerian Naval College, Onura, stated that Nigerian youths were not lazy but rather not enterprising, urging them to be up and doing and not dependent on government to get things done, encouraging them to contribute their quota by acquiring skills and shunning fraudulent practices in order to make Nigeria a better place.

“If one is going into E-Computer for instance, he/she should focus on learning and improving on its positive aspect and not the negative aspect like Yahoo”, he said, adding that “my prayer for the youths is not to be like me, but above me”.

He advised that Nigerians keep their minds open and positive even in negative situations and strive to be the best in every agenda of life.