Kukah argued that if military intervention had not taken place, Nigeria would’ve been better than Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, has traced Nigeria’s underdevelopment to military intervention in politics, saying the country could have been better than Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan.
He made this known on Thursday evening while featuring as a guest on Arise Television’s Prime Time.
According to him, these countries wouldn’t have seen Nigeria’s back if not for military interventions and rule.
He also argued that the coups destroyed the country’s bureaucracy, and led to the emergence of “ethnic identity and consciousness”.
ALSO READ: Uzodinma suspends Imo Civil Service Commission boss, Onyeukwu
Speaking during the interview, Kukah said, “As a little kid, I remember all we wanted to do was just to see what the Sardauna looked like. And in my little village, they were going around with these screens showing us all kinds of things, we had all the wonderful things.
“Then we had a bureaucracy that really gave us some of the things that have now come to haunt us like ethnicity, religion, hegemons and so on.
“So we had everything we needed and when people say to us about Nigeria, why are we not like Singapore? Why are we not like Japan?
“The truth of the matter is that we could have been better than Singapore. We could have been better than Malaysia. We could have literally been better than no one would have seen our back had the military not struck.
“Because we already had a bureaucracy. The reason why Singapore is the way it is, is not because Lee Kuan Yew did an extraordinarily good job, but it’s about inherited bureaucracy.
“And the destruction of the bureaucracy, the destruction of society escalated. Then ethnic identity and consciousness began to emerge.”
