- The former head of state added that military interference robbed Nigeria off true federalism
Former Nigerian military President, Ibrahim Babangida, IBB, has said Nigeria will not witness another army truncation of democratic rule.
Speaking on Friday in an interview with Channels Television, Babangida asserted that military would not interfere in the Nigerian politics again.
The former head of state added that military interference robbed Nigeria off true federalism.
IBB added that the era of military foray into politics was now a thing of the past because Nigerians now desired a truly democratic nation.
IBB said: “I think that is (failure to achieve true federalism) is one of the effects of the aberration of the military regimes. It countered the democratic process.
“Such things happen. But I believe it will not happen again. This is because Nigerians are more interested in becoming a truly democratic nation in Africa and, such thing, I don’t think it will happen,” Babangida added.
He, however, said that as a military leader, he freed the economy. He said he did it by allowing the private sector to be the hub of economy of the country.
Also, Babangida said the time had come to give more powers to the states.
He said, “I believe in restructuring, devolution of powers to the states to give them more powers. And that means you are going to give them more resources to run their own affairs so that we run a federal government the way federation is run all over the world.”
Furthermore, IBB suggested how the government can end the trend of mass emmigration of Nigerians to other countries.
He said creating an enabling environment that can motivate the citizens to enjoy working for their country the way they enjoy working for other countries would work.