The Middle Belt Forum (MBF)) says the breakdown of security and various national institutions is an indication that Nigeria is a failed state.
The forum stated that the government had no will to maintain public order, noting, however, that the implementation of the 2014 National Conference recommendations could address many of the crises facing the country.
This was contained in a communiqué issued by the MBF after a one-day conference for Middle Belt ethnic nationalities held in Abuja on Monday.
The statement was co-signed by the MBF National President and National Secretary, Dr Pogu Bitrus and Senator Shem Zagbayi, respectively.
It read, “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.”
The conference condemned the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle Belt region, stating that the infiltration of the region by attackers must be resisted.
The participants said the nation had been in a state of war for over a decade, noting that Nigeria could no longer attract foreign investment flow because of instability.
They called for the re-engineering of the federation, insisting that governors and lawmakers from the Middle Belt region should begin to agitate for the implementation of the national conference recommendations.
The communiqué noted, “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.”
