Human Rights lawyers, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has decried what he described as the dangerously shrinking civil space in Nigeria, as well as rising insecurity and poverty in the land, noting that the country is in perilous times.
Speaking at the 13th Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture held in Lagos on Tuesday to mark the 87th birthday anniversary of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Falana who was chairperson of the occasion, regretted that while the country is drifting off course, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is busy chasing shadows.
Falana wondered why, for example, the Buhari government is still looking for cattle routes in the 21st century where there is already organic beef.
“How can you be looking for grazing routes in the 21st century, where you have organic beef? It is animal husbandry,” he said. “Look at Botswana, a small country of barely two million people, but the cattle population there is 2.5 million. That country has a market and everything for animal husbandry, so it’s not rocket science to produce beef and distribute.”
The rights activist noted that while the country is facing serious security and economic problems, and amid calls for electoral reforms, Buhari is appointing Lauretta Onochie as INEC commissioner.
“For me we are in very perilous times,” he said. “But we are still talking about Onochie, how to make her INEC commissioner.”
Falana said it was time serious minded people joined politics, as according to him, the politics of NGOs can no longer help the country when criminal minded people are running the parliament.
He pointed out that today’s world has moved beyond oil to a knowledge economy, and that Nigeria cannot afford to continue with people who are fixated on oil.
“Nobody has time for oil again. It is a knowledge economy. We have a situation today where countries that has no natural resources are ahead of the rest, while those of us that are rich in resources are poor.
“Our economy is all about people going to Abuja to share poverty. The money we make from oil, what is it? We make about $30 billion per year.