BY ADEBAYO WAHEED |


Human rights lawyers and activists, including Femi Falana, Femi Aborisade, Prof. Omotoye Olorode and Jaye Gaskiya have faulted the calls for restructuring along ethnic lines.

They spoke at the Political Education Forum organized by the Oyo State chapter of Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) which took place on webinar and at NULGE House, Onireke, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, with the theme: ”Poverty, Restructuring and the National Question in Nigeria”.

Falana, who is the interim National Chairman of ASCAB, said various state governments did not need restructuring to provide good governance for their citizens.

According to Falana, “The constitution, as bad as it is, has already

taken care of the problems. If you look at the Chapter two of the Constitution, it talks about Federal Character principle. And that principle is not about ethnicity. It is about geopolitical zones.

“Ninety-eighth per cent of criminal offences in Nigeria are state offences, including murder, armed robbery, and kidnappings. You don’t need restructuring to manage your states because they are already restructured.“If the parliamentary system of government was the best for us, we would not have the crisis we had in the First Republic that culminated into civil war and long years of military rule”.

On his part, Aborisade who is the state’s Vice-Chairman of ASCAB pointed out that Nigeria only needed restructuring philosophy of good governance.

Aborisade said, ”We need restructuring of philosophy of good governance for it to serve the interest of the people. We need a restructuring that will take back all the privatized public enterprises. We need a restructuring that will prioritize the basic needs of ordinary people above the greed of the rulers.

“Politicians should not earn more than what is needed to meet his incidental needs. They should be earning minimum wage”.

A national officer of ASCAB, Jaye Gaskiya who was a guest speaker at the event, “I am for fundamental social restructuring of governance in Nigeria. I am not for an ethnic restructuring of Nigeria.

“One of the arguments of people who are calling for restructuring is basically to create an ethnic federation and that is a recipe for disasters. We can have a federation that is more responsible to its citizens than the one we have now.

“We can even have regions but it should not be on the basis of ethnicity. It must be based on residency, so that if I live in a region, as a resident of the region, I should be able to enjoy good citizens’ rights”.
https://leadership.ng/falana-aborisade-others-fault-calls-for-restructuring-on-ethnic-lines/?amp=1

Ok

If you wake up to tell yourself that Nigeria will one day move past ethnic sentiments and nepotism, then you need to sleep again. We are way beyond that. Every issue, every goddamn issue in this corntree is treated from Ethnic point of view.

If you ask all the people making a case for Tinubu presidency on the forum why that is, the only answer is YORUBA. it has nothing to do with competence. if also one one popular convicted thief from Abia comes along, my Igbo brothers will say "nke a bu nke anyi" ( This is our own).

The situation of this country should give any reasonable person a course to worry. But we prefer to dance in ethnic madness, with ethnic music played by politicians who know exactly what you want to hear, by using the "us" and"we" tag during elections.

why all dis shalaye sef!

complexBoss12:


The situation of this country should give any reasonable person a course to worry. But we prefer to dance in ethnic madness, with ethnic music played by politicians who know exactly what you want to hear, by using the "us" and"we" tag during elections.

why all dis shalaye sef!

I think the ethnic groups are scared of mixing up; there is no exception. This explains why inter-tribal marriages remain uncommon. For me, I am more concerned about development. Nigerians need time to blend properly.

In truth, I don't see how restructuring the country along regions will work. Nigeria has to continue working with the as-is state system. However, reduce the power of the federal government, have state police, states should control their resources and pay federal tax, scrap the Senate and leave the House of Representatives, etc.

More importantly, the entire south should tell that old man in Aso Rock that we will boycott the 2023 elections if he doesn't take steps to implement these sweeping reforms as captured in the APC manifesto and recommended by the el-Rufia's restructuring committee.

SmartPolician:


I think the ethnic groups are scared of mixing up; there is no exception. This explains why inter-tribal marriages remain uncommon. For me, I am more concerned about development. Nigerians need time to blend properly.

In truth, I don't see how restructuring the country along regions will work. Nigeria has to continue working with the as-is state system. However, reduce the power of the federal government, have state police, states should control their resources and pay federal tax, scrap the Senate and leave the house of representative, etc.

More importantly, the entire south should tell that old man in Aso Rock that we will boycott the 2023 elections if he doesn't take steps to implement these sweeping reforms as captured in the APC manifesto and recommended by the el-Rufia's restructuring committee.

Sorry what do you understand by restructuring?

According to Falana, “The constitution, as bad as it is, has already

Falana needs to respectfully shut up!
How can something be that bad and be good at solving anything,

SUPPORTED.

First time am hearing restructuring along ethnic lines.

NIGERIA IS ALREADY RESTRUCTURED INTO 36 CONSTITUTIONAL STATES. ALL WE ARE ASKING FOR IS TO ALLOW THE FULL AUTONOMY OF THE 36 CONSTITUTIONAL STATES TO OPERATE FULLY AS PRECEDENTED BY AKINJIDE SHAGARI AWOLOWO TWO THIRD OF NINETEEN STATES CASE AND WITH REGARDS TO SELF POLICING RESOURCING AND ELECTIONEERING CONTROL.

WE ALSO WANT THE FG RESTRUCTURED TO FEDERAL LIAISON GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE ONLY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS MILITARY AND TREATIES ONLY

AND BE FUNDED BY TITHES OF 10% OF THE REVENUE OF EACH OF THE 36 CONSTITUTIONAL STATES CONTRIBUTION.

Stalwert:


Sorry what do you understand by restructuring?

Restructuring, in this context, means changing the leadership architecture of a country.

Nigerians have different opinions of how we should reengineer our system of government because the present system is a pseudo-federalism, which has proven not be feasible.

So, the comment you quoted is my suggestion of how Nigeria should be refashioned, going forward.

This tinubu boy would always prove to be a tinubu boy when it's gets to critical point

Reasons I never take him serious

What are aniomas and other igbo doing in south south , what's south kaduna doing in north west , what's taraba , south gombe , southern brono doing in north east

Let us have 6 geo political zones , let people chose which zones they want to belong simple ...let the zones be equal and have a vote of one ...to win election u need to win 4 zones ...simple

Each zones can then independently share themselves into Provence and manage their resources or allow Provence manage their resources

What's wrong with this idea.

The past is not a reflection of the present....

SmartPolician:


Restructuring, in this context, means changing the leadership architecture of a country.

Nigerians have different opinions of how we should reengineer our system of government because the present system is a pseudo-federalism, which has proven not be feasible.

So, the comment you quoted is my suggestion of how Nigeria should be refashioned, going forward.

Like I said a typical southerner does not know what his leaders mean by restructuring which means devolving power to the states of the federation and other issues that requires constitutional amendments. Restructuring seems a big word they throw around to keep their subjects under the illusion that their problems are being caused by the north.

Stalwert:


Stop lying for once in your life, tribalism and bigotry that your leaders have given you to hawk while their children eat jollof on jet should make you think. In the Niger Delta they are mining oil, that is not a restructuring problem it is a criminal issue, in Zamfara they are illegally mining gold and even fighting turf wars once more it is not a restructuring issue it is a criminal issues.

When your dishonest elites speak of restructuring the country they talk of constitutional changes that will devolve power to the states, that you don't even know what restructuring is but have been instructed to parrot it around shows the extent Southern elites have succeeded with their brain washing of their innocent subjects. This is a tragedy of gigantic proportions.

I know after this short lecture, you revert back to your hating PMB antics and continue blaming him in line with your programming.

SmartPolician:


I think the ethnic groups are scared of mixing up; there is no exception. This explains why inter-tribal marriages remain uncommon. For me, I am more concerned about development. Nigerians need time to blend properly.

In truth, I don't see how restructuring the country along regions will work. Nigeria has to continue working with the as-is state system. However, reduce the power of the federal government, have state police, states should control their resources and pay federal tax, scrap the Senate and leave the House of Representatives, etc.

More importantly, the entire south should tell that old man in Aso Rock that we will boycott the 2023 elections if he doesn't take steps to implement these sweeping reforms as captured in the APC manifesto and recommended by the el-Rufia's restructuring committee.

State structure cannot work though, cause with restructuring there's no more free oil money(resource control). Thats why I'm an advocate of using the existing geo-political zones as federating units, each with its own constitution, police force, and resource control