-Gen Danbazau
Nigerians should be more concerned and interested in such issues as poverty reduction; food security; youth unemployment; improved power sector; quality and affordable healthcare services; and improved education system and the development of critical infrastructures rather than directing our energy on religious or ethnic controversies..
This was disclosed by former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd) while delivering a keynote address entitled ‘2023 Politics, National Security and Nigeria’s Stability’ at the 2022 Blueprint Annual Public Lectures and Impact Series/Award held n Abuja.Tursday
Danbazau noted that every election regime comes with its own challenges, which revolved around national security and stability.
Nigeria got its independence in 1960 and has gone through a chequered history, culminating in the Fourth Republic today.
Today Nigeria has had more than 20 years of uninterrupted period of democracy, the longest in its history saying within the period, the country has recorded six general elections, while it is heading for the seventh in 2023.
He observed that it was apparent the country has started 2023 politics with the mundane issues that brought the nation to the level of insecurity and instability it is today.
“We have more than enough challenges or issues confronting us. Although the APC government under Buhari has done remarkably well by completing many of the projects it met in 2015, in addition to new ones it originated, there are however approximately 60,000 abandoned projects in Nigeria, estimated to cost about N12 trillion. And what can we do to mitigate such waste? These are only a few critical areas the 2023 politics should focus attention on, not religion and ethnicity.”
Dambazau further said the nation’s immediate concern at the moment is the widespread insecurity. He said in more than 20 years, Nigeria has been dealing with emerging threats from non-state actors that have led to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East; banditry and kidnapping for ransom in the North West; and threats of secession and ethnic extremism in the southeast and South West.
