Professor Ango Abdullahi, former vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, and currently the convener, Northern Elders Forum NEF has been very vociferous in his calls for a change of tactics in respect of administering the country. In this interview, he discloses the position of northern elders on the future of Nigeria and concludes that the North is ready for restructuring of the federation. He said the current Presidential system of government is useless, must be dismantled and replaced with a Parliamentary system.



What is your idea of true federalism or restructuring? A lot of people do not understand what federalism, true federalism or untrue federalism are. Federalism is a concept of government and if you look around the world, there are many “Federal Governments” and there are differences in context in terms of mechanism of operations. Even in Nigeria, we started with what I believe was true federalism in 1960 because the federalism was based on federating units made of regions. At least, I was old enough to be in the university as of then and I know we had the Eastern Region with its own Constitution, Police and other structures that made it look like an independent country. It was the same with the Western Region and also the Northern Region. It was in 1963 that another region was created – the Midwest Region and together with the Federal and Regional Governments, we had a ‘Federal’ system of government made up of three or four federating units depending on the date you are talking about.

To my mind, the system was working for us until somebody decided that something else should be introduced in 1966/67. So, my idea of Federalism is the one that was bequeathed to us in 1960 by the colonial powers and they did this in consultation with Nigerian leaders at the time after series of constitutional conferences that took place, some in Nigeria and most of them in London.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/12/north-is-ready-for-restructuring-ango-abdullahi/

At least people are willing to shave grounds.

I have never seen a country so badly managed like Nigeria despite its massive natural and human resources.

No country in the world is as distorted and cruelly constructed as Nigeria - Professor G. G. Darah

Nigeria in dire need of restructuring and ideological rebirth - Professor Tunde Adeniran

Current system can lead to Nigeria’s collapse —Dr Kunle Olajide (Elder statesman and Secretary-General, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE)

Though the SW gain most form the unitary government but their elders have been lending their voices to restructuring.

Too late..other regions are ready for dissolution.

Now that you got brains, may I tell you it's late for this Administration to Restructure.

You use 2021 to define the Restructuring and the role of NASS.


You take 2022 to negotiate and debate on acceptable restructuring plans and get it approved by the NASS.

By 2022 political meanings would be read into the the proposed plans and that kills it.




Professor, let's manage PMB till 2023 in the capacity he is.

Interviewer: Would you say the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914 was a mistake?

Ango: May I put it the other way; would you say the arrival of the British in Nigeria or Africa was a mistake or was an accident or was it designed? Which one would you take? When the British came and they conquered different pieces of the present-day Nigeria, the Lagos Colony and others and then eventually conquered the North in 1903, they were not discussing it with my grand fathers who were traditional rulers and they were not discussing with traditional rulers or any leader from any part of the present-day Nigeria because the truth is that they were colonial forces of occupation. We had no way of resisting them and so we succumbed to the power of being colonised. Whether it turned out to be a success or a mistake is for us now to recount. There are some of our elders and I can mention a few without any reservations at all – I remember I sat down with Prof. Ben Nwabueze, older than I am, more statesman than I am, a Constitutional Lawyer and so on, and he said the amalgamation that took place in 1914 was a mistake and I think he was referring to the amalgamation of Northern Nigeria and the territories occupied by the British in Southern Nigeria. So, he was objecting to the amalgamation of the North and South to form Nigeria. That was his objection and even recently, we had some discussions on this with my elder, Ayo Adebanjo who also said that the problem of Nigeria is the Hausa/Fulani Muslim North.

And you remember also the so-called Orkah coup which was hatched not from the North but somewhere else. I don’t want to mention the location. The coup excised the Northern part of Nigeria from Jaji northwards to be expelled from Nigeria and that if they wanted to come back to Nigeria, they should come and negotiate their re-entry into Nigeria. So, you can see that there are people, in terms of age, in terms of official responsibilities held at various points in time who are holding this view that Nigeria’s diversity apparently has no obvious solution and this is why they have reached the conclusion that the merger or the fusion of these diverse communities was a mistake.

But there are others who are a bit more optimistic that there are other countries who are more diverse than we are but have succeeded in moulding countries and why shouldn’t Nigeria be more optimistic and hopeful that at some point in time, maybe not now but in later years, that Nigerians will come to benefit from being together irrespective of what language they speak or what area they come from. It is an emotional subject that is subject to emotional response by people, depending on how they feel about certain issues at various points in time.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/12/north-is-ready-for-restructuring-ango-abdullahi/

Who said it?

An almajiri feeling funky. who are you to determine the fate of others. sensible Nigerians wants disintegration of this shit hole