Amid the harsh economic realities in Nigeria occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, Nigerian governors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) traveled to Kigali, the Rwandan capital for a three-day retreat, a trip many Nigerians have described as ill-advised and a jamboree.
Several Nigerians have condemned the trip, saying it is insensitive for the governors to be wasting scarce resources at a time when the country is in such dire economic circumstances that most Nigerians cannot afford one respectable meal a day.
Others also argued that it would have made more impact on our national pride and economy if that programme had taken place in Uyo, Yankari, Ibeju Lekki, or elsewhere within Nigeria. Some however said, the governors should have cut costs by bringing the facilitators here to Nigeria to lecture them
While justifying the trip, Anambra state governor, Charles Soludo said what the governors witnessed first-hand in Kigali cannot be compared to sitting in Nigeria and learning from facilitators.
The governor who spoke while featuring as a guest on Channels Television programme ‘Sunrise Daily’ which was monitored by QUEST TIMES said the governors benefited more by traveling to Rwanda compared to the limited views they would have if the retreat had taken place in Nigeria.
Responding to the criticisms, he said “We have a proverb in my place. It says ‘the one who travels around, ends up being wise than the grey-haired man sitting in one place’. There is never a right moment and every moment is the right moment to learn; to be able to get around and visit the cleanest, smallest short city in Africa”.
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“A country that has been able today in many parts of this country today, the issues of ethnic, inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions. We just came through an electioneering period and with all the religious and ethnic tensions still to heal”.
“In some places in this country, you might say, they are almost at a tipping point and you have a country that has been able to go through all of these. They went through a genocide, that you had one million people killed in 100 days. Visiting that genocide memorial where some of us had occasion to shed tears and to be able to reflect back in our own country”.
“What if we allow ourselves to get to this point? This is what people actually went through. Or going through to see the Kigali Innovation City and people begin to compare that to what they are doing and what they could do better and the networks of some other people that you get. Seeing, they say is believing”.
Speaking further, Soludo said if he had the resources, he would take his Economic team to Kigali to see things for themselves and then come back to replicate it in Anambra.
“You can go to anywhere and get a classroom for people to come and give you lectures but that moment when you step out and you walk the streets and you see how squeaky clean, they are and see the conscientious efforts of the people trying to get things done”.
“That moment when we had a tour, when a 27-year old lady who was with a tall guy in a bus was asked by one of our colleagues, which one is your tribe? And she retorted and said ‘In Rwanda, we don’t talk about tribe. I am a Rwandan. There is no Tutsi, there is no Hutu. We are all Rwandans’. This is not something you get by somebody coming to give you a lecture for 20 hours”.
“I think for a lot of our colleagues, those moments when we visited and see several other things which you are trying to do yourself, or you have done or even done better but seeing what others have done. When you travel, meet others, and compare experiences, big or small, relevant or irrelevant, it goes a long way. For me, it is quite an ennobling moment and a moment to appreciate ourselves as Africans”.