Usman Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the son of late Nigerian Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa has said his father would go crazy if he were to see the current situation of Nigeria.
The younger Tafawa Balewa stated this while commenting on the state of the nation.
He said he travelled to the United States in 1982 and returned many years later to see public infrastructures which were in good shape before he left had deteriorated very badly.
According to him, bad leadership caused infrastructural decay and other challenges bedevilling the nation.
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He berated the present crop of Nigerian leaders for not displaying the patriotic spirit exhibited by the nation’s founding fathers.
Tafawa Balewa said, “The question is about leadership. The leaders of the First Republic, first and foremost, had the interest of the country at heart because, before independence was given, they were able to sit down together under the supervision of the British and agree on a constitution for Nigeria.
“We were just coming together then and that there was trade that was going on between the North and the South; the various tribes of Nigeria.
“But when we came out of the same umbrella, the masses continued with their trade and the politicians came in looking for votes, so they tried to divide the people but it wasn’t as bad as it is now. People were doing tribal politics, but at least they had their national representatives and they always came together when things were coming to a head.
“The problems started after the January 1966 coup because people felt it was a tribal thing and politicians went to the locals and tried to influence them, so Nigeria started declining.
“Tribal politics played itself up again; then the political parties came. It was regional then. There were no states but now there are tribal sentiments.
“Even in the Second Republic, people were at least decent. People tried to come together but, after that, the politics became something else: ‘If I don’t get it, let everybody lose it.’ That was how Nigeria got to this state.”
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Asked how his father would react to the nation’s current state, he said, “I think he would go crazy because the stage we are in cannot be explained, seriously. You could not have imagined it.
“Just listen to what has been going on. Somebody will steal N1bn, for what? What are you going to do with N1bn?
“That’s how deep the rot has gone. In the ministries, they used to have what I think was called ‘end of year.’
“They would just sit down and divide the monies that were left among themselves; everybody would take their share.
“They would keep the money; they wouldn’t do the work. So, how could the country move again?”