Abubakar Malami, the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation, has said the restructuring of Nigeria will require an amendment to the constitution for it to come to fruition.

He said restructuring cannot be achieved in one fell swoop as being clamoured for by several eminent Nigerians, noting that “change is a gradual process”.

Malami gave his position on the debate of restructuring on Tuesday during an address at a conference organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).

The AGF noted that provocative rhetorics and emotional outburst cannot bring about restructuring, adding that many obstacles will have to be surmounted for it to happen.

He said: “In Nigeria today, there are demands for restructuring, for deconstructing the excessive concentration of powers at the Centre, for a dispersion of power to the lower levels of government along with special provisions for the empowerment of women and other socially disadvantaged groups for the country to move away from the cooperative federalism of several decades to a more competitive form of economic federalism, for a fiscal federalism that presents the challenges of addressing regional inequalities and of balancing the concerns of equity and efficiency in intergovernmental fiscal relations, among many others.

“Federalism is imbedded in our constitution as contained in sections 2,3 and 5. It is not out of place to state that as far as our constitutional democracy is concerned, the idea of restructuring is not a function of advocacy or agitation. It is about constitutional accommodation and or alternative constitutional amendment.

“As things stand, restructuring requires amending the constitution to accommodate referendum or, in the alternative, a constitutional amendment to the 1999 constitution, which in this case must be supported by majority of legislators in 24 states of the federation as enshrined in Section 9 of the constitution.

“Whether that process is going to be an easy sale is a conjecture that should be left for deliberation. But one thing that is certain is the inevitable implication that abolishing states through restructuring process will certainly translate to the eventual multiplier effect of abolishing the state house of assembly and perhaps downsizing the National Assembly and probably the civil service and other related federal institution.

“This indeed is a tall order that cannot be achieved through advocacy, emotional outburst or provocative rhetorics and demonstrations. The beauty of democracy is in the process and legislative process is in our case the only answer.

“It is true that Nigeria’s federal system has been experiencing challenges and there have been agitations and prescriptions to reform and modify it. Reforms and modifications, institutional arrangement, systems and processes are normal in festoons, but are not done in single swoop as being advocated in Nigeria. Mega changes are not healthy for federations.

“Change is a gradual process that must be democratic and subjected to legislative and administrative processes as provided by law. We must use democratic means to reform our federal system. We need to recognise that both federalism and democracy are mechanisms for managing diversity.

“Indeed, while federalism provides the Institutional framework for managing diversity, democracy makes possible the negotiation for diverse identity claims by providing them with representation, voice and political mechanisms by which the competing claims are balanced and reconciled.

“There is no true or false federalism. Indeed, there is no single, pure ideal federal model that is universally applicable everywhere. Each federation reflects the particular conditions and circumstances that produce it.

“We cannot wish away the particular conditions and circumstances that have produced the challenges in our federal system. We must use democratic means to find solutions to these numerous challenges. It is democracy that articulates citizens’ preferences and places limits on arbitrariness.

“As political realities and experiences across the world have shown, all federations, whether established by a coming together or holding together process, experience deep rooted conflicts and ours cannot be an isolated case.”

ColonelDrake:
Only an insane person is against restructuring. And shouting "afonja" upandan won't get those people with flat heads restructuring either. They should all elect reps and senators that will further their cause rather than attempting to use the Afonja that they like to hate as scape goat..Afonjas won't be blackmailed into fighting other people's fight. Let the flat heads get that into their akpu brain and fight their battles alone.
I wonder why they don't have the courage to face their oppressor and slave master up north but will rather face Afonja. Same way Ojojku's compass didn't point north but rather west (Ore).

ColonelDrake:
Only an insane person is against restructuring. And shouting "afonja" upandan won't get those people with flat heads restructuring either. They should all elect reps and senators that will further their cause rather than attempting to use the Afonja that they like to hate as scape goat..Afonjas won't be blackmailed into fighting other people's fight. Let the flat heads get that into their akpu brain and fight their battles alone.
I wonder why they don't have the courage to face their oppressor and slave master up north but will rather face Afonja. Same way Ojojku's compass didn't point north but rather west (Ore).

SuperS1Panther:


Yes o.

They never joined in the struggle for June 12 actualisation, rather they played active role in its annulment and subsequent efforts geared towards preventing it's actualisation.

They should carry their cross alone. No amount of name calling can bring their fraud nation of a nation until a proper and civil procedure is followed

Unfortunately they are too mentally lazy, strategically inept, diplomatically bankrupt and hatefully isolated to achieve it.

ColonelDrake:
Only an insane person is against restructuring. And shouting "afonja" upandan won't get those people with flat heads restructuring either. They should all elect reps and senators that will further their cause rather than attempting to use the Afonja that they like to hate as scape goat..Afonjas won't be blackmailed into fighting other people's fight. Let the flat heads get that into their akpu brain and fight their battles alone.
I wonder why they don't have the courage to face their oppressor and slave master up north but will rather face Afonja. Same way Ojojku's compass didn't point north but rather west (Ore).

DerideGull:


I can safely say that remote thought of the so-called restructuring of cesspit called Nigeria is a foolish endeavor. The so-called Attorney-General has raised the issue of constitution in the matter. Who gives a hoot of any constitution if the disintegration is the case?

ColonelDrake:


Gej woulda given you what you wanted on a platter.
Were your people in an induced coma during which Gej held sway?
Cry me a river jare

DerideGull:


You seem to be very slow. Who is GEJ to give what to who? Every thing in human life comes in stages.

seunmsg:
Apart from the fact that restructuring under the current constitutional arrangement will be very difficult to achieve, we need the advocates of restructuring to clearly define the proposed new structure. Restructuring as presently being advocated is too nebulous and ambiguous.

Once the new structure is properly defined, we can then argue about the merit and demerit of switching over to it and then, a clearly defined constitutional amendment can be proposed.

malton:


God bless you.

I can bet that about 90% of the proponents of restructuring on this forum and beyond do not know past the definition of restructuring.

They just jump on a bandwagon, disturbing everyone with their insanity.

Agumbankembu:


What do you Yorubas even want?

malton:


God bless you.

I can bet that about 90% of the proponents of restructuring on this forum and beyond do not know past the definition of restructuring.

They just jump on a bandwagon, disturbing everyone with their insanity.