A businessman and politician, Chief Martin Onovo, has said President Bola Tinubu would write his name in gold if he is able to achieve genuine restructuring of the country.
Onovo, the Head, Policy Positions, Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos .
The one-time presidential candidate of the defunct National Conscience Party(NCP) said that the country needed a restart and the right structure for improved economy and national security.
According to him, the country will work if there is genuine restructuring.
“Do restructuring before getting out of office. That’s is the position of many Nigerians. Let the country restart.
“Our country needs to restart because if a nation is on a reverse gear, the right thing is to stop and restart. Tinubu should restart the country, that’s all. I am sure we will get it right.
“Let us go back to the template of 1960 and 1963 constitution which worked for us and which promoted development ,” Onovo said.
He said that one year after the President assumed office , it could not be said that everything was working perfectly.
Onovo said that all indices around showed that there was the need to pause and do something new,adding restructuring remained key to achieving sustainable development.
He said that the ongoing constitution amendment process would not take the nation out of the woods ,but genuine restructuring.
“Amendment will not work, we should not forget the number of amendments we have had. We need to restart. Things are not working and nothing is being achieved.
“There are too many layers of inhibitors, corruption and dysfunctionalties. So, the only way is to restart the country.
“Trying to manage these multiple layers cannot work. We need a brand new constitution and it is restructuring that will bring it.
“If Tinubu can restructure, he will become a great hero . He will be a great father of the nation.
“This is the only good thing and legacy he can bequeath this nation and future generations,” he added.
Onovo said that without genuine restructuring and restart, the President would not achieve much in national security, economy and other sector.
“The President has to make some right moves that will now yield positive fruits in the future,” he said.
Speaking further, Onovo urged the President to engage Nigerians with technical know-how on how to fix the country and how to set it on path of economic prosperity.
“Abacha was not a genius, but he got some smart people like popular economist, late Prof. Sam Aluko, to help him manage the economy excellently.
“So, Tinubu does not need to be a genius, all he needs to do is to have some good will and have some ideas about the country’s national security, economy, managing inflation.
“He also needs people to help to reduce our debt burden, boost the GDP with increased productivity, which we cannot achieve without power and energy.
“Tinubu must bring in people who are capable and understand what the issues are and know the way out.
“What are the challenges now? One is the problem of bandits chasing people away from farms and causing food insecurity.
“We must get our security tightened up and face them (bandits) because the bandits have become our common enemies, threatening our survival.
“The farmers are in IDP camps, we need to bring them out of IDP camps for sustainable food security.
“The farmers need to go back to their farms and farm if we must solve the problem of hunger and high food prices.
“Everybody is complaining now. What I know is that with improved national security, other things will take shape. We need to get those bandits out of their hiding places.”
On fight against corruption, Onovo said that the President needed to show more courage in the fight against graft and mismanagement of public resources.(NAN)