Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi, has said social inequality, poverty and unemployment are the problems bedeviling the country.
Fayemi spoke on Thurday in Abuja at a book launch titled: ‘Media, Politics and Power in Nigeria,’ authored by a veteran journalist Chief Emeka Nwosu.
He observed that the socioeconomic gap between the rich and the poor, and the epicurean lifestyle of those in power threatens the existence of Nigeria, as those at the lowest ebb are unleashing mayhem.
The Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), wondered why values such as integrity, equity, honesty, and oneness no longer exist.
Represented by the Convener of the Nigerian Agenda, Ahmed Sajoh, he said: “We have not constructed shared values as members of the elite class. In the process, we have left our people also to grope in the dark with shared values.
“Values such as integrity, values such as equity, justice, fairness and inclusion should be shared by us on a level where everybody appreciate them as core values the society will appreciate.
“But because we have eroded those values, we have developed high level of poverty in our land. We have high level of social inequality.
“These things have resulted in the creation of an insensitive ruling elite. And I say it with the sense of anger. We have an insensitive ruling elite.
“People who could waste, lavish millions of our resources in their frivolous lifestyle at the expense of the ordinary people.
“Fayemi has always said we need to devolve more powers to the constituent units.
“He also understands like I do and all of us should do, restructuring the country alone is not enough.
“In 1966, one of the key components of the restructuring debate then was creation of more states. Have we not created more states?
“Has it solve our problems? It has not solve our problems. Today, if we devolve power, yes, it will benefit more people in the corridors of power, but in the long run, if we do not address poverty and social inequality we are still not going to get it.
“Poverty and social inequality are the key components of things we need to restructure our country.
“We need to restructure our social relationship. The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer. The gaps are getting wider. The insensitivity is getting too much.”
Speaking on the nexus between the media, politics and power, he said: “Generally what we are talking about is the interface between politics, power and the role of the media in ensuring that the politics which is usually the road to power and power itself serve the common good of Nigeria.
