Prominent political leaders, including representatives of Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo have added their voice to the growing call for restructuring of the country before the 2019 general elections.

They spoke at a colloquium hosted by Island Club in Lagos which had the theme: “Restructuring: Challenges, implications and the Way forward.”

Those who lend their voice to the simmering debate at the event included a former deputy governor of Ebonyi State, Prof. Chigozie Ogbu, who represented President General of Ohanaeze, Dr. John Nwodo; former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade (retd); Afenifere chieftains, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Yinka Odumakin; immediate past governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran

Maku; Niger Delta activist, Ann-Kio Briggs; and notable historian and writer, Prof. Adebanji Akintoye.

Those who spoke in response to the lead paper presented by Prof. Akintoye, affirmed that restructuring remains the only panacea to the nationality problem facing the country. According to him, the best structure is a federation and not the unitary system that it has tacitly operated.

“Restructuring has become inescapable among Nigerians. The struggle for a rational federal structure has been a major concern since we were young men and women,” he said, affirming that Nigeria needs to restructure due to the “harsh effects of the federal structure of Nigeria.

“The economic realities are thus wading into the struggle; it needs to be recognised by Nigerians that the situation is now seriously desperate and that there is not much time left for Nigeria to mend its ways, revive its productivity, calm its disenchanted youths and go on to resume the journey to prosperity,” the notable historian said.

Responding to criticisms that restructuring is a confused and confusing idea, Akintoye argued that “their strategy is clever but not clever enough.

He argues further: “Best structure is federalism whereby each region should be a federal unit which would control and develop its own resources for the good of its people thereby, spreading wealth to its people. This is the only solution to our nationality problem. The structure we operated in 1963 supported productivity. Each region had its constitution and controlled its resources.”

In his contribution, for- mer Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Prof. Ogbu, who represented the Ohanaeze President General, Dr. Nwodo said that “the best form o f g o v e r n m e n t f o r a c o u n t r y like ours is a federation.”

He said restructuring could

be done by amending the 1999 constitution or by creating a new constitution, noting that restructuring does not mean disintegration of Nigeria but making Nigeria a federation. “Restructuring is changing the unitary system of government that the military handed to us to a federal system of government to ensure security.”

Former Ondo Governor, Olusegun Mimiko also lent his voice to the argument, stress- ing that restructuring is not about the North against the South. “Restructuring is decentralising power to make way for distribution and consuming arrangement so that every federating unit can increase its fiscal resources for development.”

He noted that any country that cannot protect or boast of security for its citizens and property is not worth to be called a country. “We need to have state and local police to protect the lives of citizens and property. Let the states control their resources. We must restructure.”

On his part, Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo advocated a restructuring that would allow each region of the country to have a distinct Constitution to reflect the autonomy and differences among the regional units.

His words: “Nigeria is running a unitary system of government; you cannot run Nigeria as a military system of government considering the ethnic groups. We have passed that stage. “Don’t let anybody tell you lies, the word restructuring is not a strange or new word. All we are fighting for to- day dated back to 1954.”

Noting the role of the military in dismantling the autonomy of the various regions, he said: “It was the military that destructured Nigeria. Awolowo fought to have an arrangement that ensured a true federal system, he never went to the Federal Government to ask for subsidy. Each region had its constitution. Western Region had its Agent-General in Britain. Regions built their own universities. Obasanjo federalised the universities,” he said.

“Nigeria is running a unitary system of government; you can- not run Nigeria as a unitary system of government considering the ethnic groups. We have passed that stage. “Let us restructure now, without it, there would be no Nigeria. It must be now, not in 2019,” he added.

Former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku was not left out of the debate. Accord- ing to him, Nigeria is in desperate need of restructuring. “Nigeria offers Africa and Af- ricans a great hope if we can reform the structure and its internal powers. Most us believe that restructuring will make Nigeria a great country. These kinds of debates are needed to ensure that restructuring works”, he said.

A Niger Delta activist, Ann Kio Briggs, described Nigeria as a fast-moving train without brake, saying restructuring is the only thing that would allow for controlled development of the country.

She said: “We are still going on that train handed over to us by the British and we will soon crash. In order not to crash, we need to restructure. All regions must come together and agree on restructuring and every- body must say what restructuring means to them, and we must agree on restructuring before 2019 election.”

“There are 419 local government areas in the North and 365 local governments in the South and they are getting more than the people producing oil in the country. Niger Delta is producing more and getting less.

“We must have a new Constitution, or we can use the 1963 constitution and work on it. We can have a new Constitution that will take care of these in- justices like the issue of Fulani herdsmen and religion. We must have political and economic restructuring. If we cannot restructure, we will call the regions together to call for a referendum,” she said.
Source: https://orientdailynews.com/restructure-nigeria-before-2019-polls-eminent-nigerians-tell-fg/
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