Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
A former Governor of Benue State, Senator Gabriel Suswam at the weekend warned that Nigeria might cease to exist by 2030 if critical stakeholders failed to agree on how to rescue it from the brink.
Suswam, currently representing Benue East in the Senate, therefore urged the leaders to pull the country back from the brink by ensuring that the next generation of leaders is properly guided. He expressed this concern at the presentation of a book, “Mentoring in Academia and the Civil Service for Fraud Prevention in Nigeria” in Abuja, noting that many Nigerians now live “deficit” lives as a result of the country’s bad economy.
He said times “are becoming more difficult for Nigerians. While it is not clear when Nigerians will exit the current challenges, it is doubtful whether the country will exist in 10 years if the right thing is not done.
“Times are difficult. We have a lot of security issues. We have a lot of economic issues. These are issues that led pragmatic leaders such as Dankwambo to come in so that we’ll be able to get out of the woods. Where we are now is a very bad situation.
“We don’t know when we are going to get out of it, maybe until a new change changes the change. We have found ourselves in a situation where we need the necessary change from where we are today to another one,” he argued.
Suswam, who was the chief launcher at the event, stressed that all over the world mentoring is taken seriously and called on well-meaning politicians and professionals to spare sometime in guiding the next generation of Nigerian leaders.
“For most people, you know, these days, everything is in deficit. Nigeria’s budget has consistently since 2015 been in a deficit. The same goes for individuals.
“Mentoring is what political leaders should do to the younger ones. Nigeria is drifting and drifting very fast. If we don’t properly mentor the younger ones, of course, in the next 10 years, one wonders whether we will still have a country together. So, mentoring is a subject and a topic that is very important in politics.
“In America, there are conscious efforts at mentoring the younger generation. It is not just in politics, even in the service. Our civil service has diminished a lot in terms of quality. So, those are areas that we need mentoring so that our country can come back on track,” the lawmaker said.
Also at the presentation, Naiyeju who also underscored the need for mentoring, stressed that there’s a lot of fraud going on in the society because societal ethos have been largely ignored.
He lamented that rather than call out fraudsters these days, society now hails those engaged in the vice, advising that hard work and diligence still pay.
“When a senator suddenly becomes rich, are you not the ones giving them traditional titles? So, it’s everywhere. We need to get away from that era, starting from the youths,” he advised.
The book presentation committee was headed by former Governor of Gombe State, Dr. Ibrahim Dankwanbo, while a former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Dr. James Naiyeju and World Bank Consultant, Prof. Ishola Akintoye were members.
A federal commissioner of Nigeria’s Tax Appeal Tribunal, Prof. Kabiru Dandago, edited the book.
Contributors to the book included Dankwambo, Naiyeju, Akintoye, Dandago, Prof. Emmanuel Olofin, Prof. Eddy Omolehinwa, Prof. Abdalla Adamu, Prof. John Ihendinihu, Prof. Famous Izedonmi and Prof. Ali Garba.
Other contributors were: Prof. Francis Iyoha, Prof. Adesina Oladipupo, Mr Muhammad Na’Iya, Alhaji Muhammad Tahir and Mrs Famous Izedonmi, among others.
