The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and his from Osun State
counterpart, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola have disagreed over the need to sell
national assets to finance the 2016 budget.
While Aregbesola
urged the Federal Government to sell ‘idle’ national assets and spare
the functional ones, Fayose opposed the idea, arguing that selling them
would amount to auctioning Nigeria.
The duo spoke in Ado Ekiti
during an interactive forum which was part of the activities lined up to
mark the 20th anniversary of the creation of Ekiti State.
They,
however, canvassed regional integration and cooperation as well as the
revival of agriculture as some of the steps to revive national economy.
Aregbesola,
who delivered a lecture entitled, “The imperative of unity,” said the
biting economic problem was such that in the whole of the South-West
region, only Lagos State could stand on its own.
He stressed the
need to intensify efforts to revive agriculture, end oil pipeline
vandalism and promote regional integration for meaningful development.
He
said, “We should revive agriculture, especially food production.
Agriculture gives us raw materials for industries and aids in no small
measure in economic development. If we can improve on our productivity
in food production through agriculture, we will eliminate hunger in our
land.
“I want to urge Nigerians to end the ongoing vandalism of
oil pipelines as the militants’ activities have been reducing the
nation’s daily oil productivity level to between 700,000 and one million
per barrel.
“The current vandalism of oil pipeline by the
Niger Delta militants is robbing the nation of oil production of 700,000
to one million per barrel on a daily basis. This amounts to a huge loss
of oil revenue to the country and has further led to the current
recession in the country. An urgent concerted effort is therefore needed
to stop the vandalism so that the country could get out of the
recession.”
Aregbesola added, “It is high time the Yoruba nation
and indeed the South-West united in terms of integrating our development
strategies in education, commerce, economy, agriculture and tourism
among others. There is no reason we should not unite for the best.
“The
truth is that no Yoruba state, with the exception of Lagos State, can
survive alone without collaborating with sister states. Therefore, we
have to come together, pull together our abundant human and material
resources.”
The governor described Ekiti people as men of
integrity and courage and urged them to continue to support their
governor for the development of the country.
“I congratulate all
Ekiti people on the 20th anniversary of the creation of your state, my
state, our state. You fought the Ekiti Parapo War which is an indication
of unity of purpose. There is strength in unity.”
But Fayose, in his remarks, said selling the national assets was like selling Nigeria at a give-away price.
“Selling
our national assets simply amounts to auctioning Nigeria. If we sell
the assets because the country is in recession, what would be left of
Nigeria?
“What would we call our own? Selling of assets is like
moving the country backward. If we sell the assets to finance this
year’s budget what would we sell next year? The Federal Government
should look beyond its party and assemble economists and financial
experts that would assist the President in his drive to bring the nation
out of the present economic quagmire.”
Urging the Federal
Government to uphold the principles of justice and equity, which he said
were germane to building democracy, the governor said, “Justice is very
important and without it, democracy is already endangered. If people
are now beginning to contest against the Independent National Electoral
Commission and security agencies for manipulation of elections, then
democracy is endangered. It is political parties that are supposed to
contest elections and not people contesting against inadequacies of the
electoral umpire.”
http://punchng.com/fayose-aregbesola-disagree-sale-national-assets/
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