A renowned property development expert with diverse business interests in Nigeria and the United States of America, Dr Chris Okobah has tasked the federal government to adopt a holistic approach in tackling the issues of corruption, Insecurity, bad leadership and Institutional failure at all levels of governance in Nigeria.
According to him, tackling corruption holistically will enable the country achieve sustainable economic growth, political stability and accelerated development in the foreseeable future.
Dr. Okobah gave the charge while reflecting on the state of the nation during an interactive session with jourbalists.
Dr. Okobah who is a lawyer said Nigeria was in dire straits economically, underscoring the urgent need for government to re- examine its economic polices and programs for the attainment of economic stability and shore up the value of the Naira.
The public affairs commentator criticized the judiciary for its incursion into the country’s political and democracy space particularly in pronouncing winners of electoral contests saying that the power to decide who governs the people rested squarely on the electorate and not the judiciary.
He stated that a situation where three or four persons (judges) will seat and make judicial pronouncements on the outcome of elections was antithetical to the growth of democracy and could erode the confidence of the electorate in the electoral process.
He advocated for electoral reforms to make it constitutionally mandatory for the electoral body to electronically transmit election results to IREV insisting that the appointment of INEC chairman and commissioners should not be left entirely to the executive arm of government.
Rather, he posited that a body should be constituted to screen and interrogate the credentials of nominees for the position of chairman and federal commisioners to avoid appointing individuals with partisan interests and party affiliations.
Alluding to the abysmal performance of INEC in the 2023 general elections, Dr Okobah insisted that only persons who are above board with impeccable character and high pedigree as well sound knowledge of the historical political evolution of Nigeria should be appointed into the electoral body.
On security, he admonished the federal government to rejig the nations security architecture saying that the present security arrangement had failed woefully to achieve the desired objective of securing the lives and property of Nigerians.
According to him, security in developed countries is intelligence driven and enjoined security chiefs to live up to their responsibility of fashioning out enduring and full proof security architecture that could stand the test of time.
