Former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe has advised the federal government against the use of force in resolving the various agitations in some parts of the country but rather that the President should initiate a process of addressing those grievances in a peaceful manner.
Okupe stated this via an open letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and made available to newsmen in Abuja.
The former Presidential aide said history has shown that when agitations are genuine, same could be resolved amicably if the right model is adopted.
According to him, the Biafra struggle, restructuring and resource control are offshoots of genuine fears made more so by clinically evident actions and inactions of government that need to be addressed.
While picking holes in the recent broadcast of the President upon his return from medical vacation, the former Presidential spokesperson said if President Buhari must leave an enduring legacy for himself and his administration, he must widen the net of consultations, while urging him to adopt globally acceptable mode of running government business.
On the fight against insurgency in the North East, Okupe called for a deployment of additional 20,000 troops within the next 90 days as well as leasing of fighter jets from friendly nations as a way of boosting the fighting power of the military and ensuring that the war does not last beyond the tenure of the Buhari administration.
“This administration has a maximum of 16-18 months of rain free period for active construction. Government must carefully select 1 or 2 major road projects that can be completed within the next 18 months in each zone.
“In the South West, Lagos-Ibadan expressway is the star project and it can be completed within 18 months. In terms of funding, government may either borrow or revert urgently to the financial model of Public Private Partnerships that existed prior to your administration’s takeover. Similar projects in the 3 zones in the North can also be identified and executed within this same period,” he advised. Vanguard
