Nigeria now a failed state — Middle Belt Forum

The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, has lamented that Nigeria is now a failed state with the breakdown of security and various national institutions in the country.

The forum, which made the lamentation in a communique issued at the end of a one-day conference for Middle Belt ethnic nationalities held in Abuja on Monday, also called for the implementation of the 2014 National Conference recommendations.

Noting that the recommendations are capable of addressing many of the crisis the country is facing, the MBF insisted that government has lost the will to maintain public order.

The communique, jointly signed by the MBF National President and National Secretary, Dr Pogu Bitrus and Senator Shem Zagbayi, respectively reads in part: “Nigeria is a failed state. We may not like it but Nigeria is now a failed state. It is a nation where the institutions have broken down, the state has no credibility to maintain public order, the youths feel that their future has been mortgaged, there is grand corruption.

“At current path dependence, Nigeria will not survive by 2030. American War Colleges have been using Nigeria as an example of failed states predicting now and again the collapse of Nigeria, from 2011 to 2015 and now 2030.”

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While condemning the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle Belt region and insisting that the infiltration of the region by attackers must be resisted, the MBF noted that the Nigeria had been in a state of war for over a decade, making difficult for the country to attract foreign investment flow because of instability.

The conference also called for the re-engineering of the federation, mandating governors and lawmakers from the Middle Belt region to begin to agitations for the implementation of the national conference recommendations.

“All governors and members of the National Assembly from the Middle Belt should begin the agitation for the implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference as a panacea for the survival of Nigeria; restructure and remove the structural imbalances that occasion the terrible injustices against the peoples of the Middle Belt. The amendment to the constitution should work towards providing special rights for minorities in our laws.”

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