Former Governor of Ogun State and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Segun Osoba, yesterday, said the north was afraid of devolution of power from the centre due to alleged fears that they would be short-changed in the scheme of things.
He however, assured that there was no need for any section of the country to be afraid of devolution of powers, since the present system of government in the country had failed, indicating ''that an alternative system is required to harness the full potentials of the country and deliver better and quality standard of living to the people.''
Osoba said that devolution of power from the centre was the only way to get the country back on the track of progress and development. The former governor spoke during the N850 million fund-raising dinner for the Building of Editor's Plaza held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja yesterday. The Federal Government donated N50 million towards the project.
This was even as President Goodluck Jonathan described the Nigerian press as one of the freest in the world. According to him, ''such fear does not arise since the present system of government being practised in the country had failed the people of Nigeria.'' He also said that there will be consensus on some key issues at the ongoing national conference contrary to popular belief, that such feat would not be achieved.
Osoba, who was giving highlights of the proceedings at the conference said, ''though, some groups from the North are afraid of regionalism, permutations and body movements among the delegates show that they may no longer need 75 per cent votes to agree on some key issues like devolution of power from the centre and the system of government.''
He assured those opposed to regionalism and devolution of power that the National Conference would ensure ''that the present indices for revenue sharing is sustained, so that nobody would feel short-changed.'' His words, "About 75 per cent of us in that conference know ourselves, and we are sure that there will not be the need for 75 per cent consensus to arrive at certain key decisions. I know virtually everybody in that conference, so do many others.
''We have done our home work. I tell you, there will be partly consensus for some key issues on devolution and some other key issues because most of us believe there must be devolution of power. Most of us have been in government before and what we ask is, why should somebody sit in Abuja and determine how primary education in Yobe, Yenogoa and, in Benin will be run and which teacher should teach the local language? ''For us, that is an impossibility because primary school education has nothing to do with the Federal Government; primary education is cultural.
Arik
Air officials, who had earlier claimed on twitter that the videos were
doctored, issued a statement saying, essentially, they are sorry.
