₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government has agreed to grant oil marketers further concession to access Foreign Exchange (FOREX) at a rate below the official N305 per dollar to enable them resume importation of petrol, Daily Trust has learnt.


This was part of resolutions reached at the meeting of an ad hoc committee set up by the Presidency to engage key downstream stakeholders on sustainable solutions to fuel supply in the country.


The meeting took place at the office of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, in Abuja yesterday.


Sources at the meeting told Daily Trust that the new rate is being worked out by a special committee on FOREX in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Ministry of Finance.


The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had recently lamented that despite the concession by the government giving access to the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) to obtain FOREX at an official rate of N305 per dollar for PMS import, their members have not been able to do so, leaving NNPC as the sole supplier of PMS to the Nigerian market.


The National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr. Danladi Pasali, said the committee which is charged with the resumption of petrol import by marketers will look into how to make the US dollar available to marketers instead of paying them subsidy.


“That FX will help checkmate the cost of bringing in product,” Pasali said, adding, “With all these measures taken, we can assure the general public that there will be surplus petroleum product.”


He explained that the other sub-committees will look into product distribution and surveillance.
It was also gathered from the meeting that marketers agreed that the price of petrol should not be increased.


Oil marketers agreed to adopt cost-cutting strategies and for them to look inward and improve efficiency so that they can cut cost and resume imports.


The committee has as members, heads of some parastatals under the ministry, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), DAPPMA, IPMAN, and labour officials.

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed that his administration would recover every money looted from the public treasury.

He also promised to bring perpetrators of mayhem across the country to book.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the president spoke at separate meetings with the Qadiriyya Muslim Movement in Africa and the Izalatul-Bid’a-Wa-Iqamatus-Sunnah at the State House in Abuja, yesterday.

Buhari told the delegation that his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaigned on three issues, noting that his government had been consistent in ensuring that it provided adequate security, fight corruption and stimulate the economy for creation of jobs.

“Our priority is to also ensure that everyone in the country has something to eat. We are really concerned about the underprivileged. Graciously, God has been hearing our prayers. In the past two years, we have had bountiful harvest due to favourable conditions. All over the country, we have reports of farmers posting good harvests.

“Justice will be done to all in the war against corruption. As religious leaders, I urge you to reach backwards to your followers to respect the rights of others. Those that stole from the public can no longer sleep well in the country today. When they run abroad, they cannot take their landed assets with them. We will, in all cases, have them return what they looted,” he added.

This is even as he stressed that killing in the name of religion could never be justified.

According to him, anyone or group of persons, who unleash violence on the innocent in the name of a movement, cause or religion lack understanding of the ordinances of God.

“You can’t kill to please God and I know no religion tolerates the taking of another person’s life in the name of a religious movement.

“There is never a justification for killing any member of the society. We have been tackling the Boko Haram menace and we have made significant impact, and we will extend the measures to stop all wanton killings,’’ he said.

The president said the security apparatus would be consistently reviewed to check threats to the peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians.

Leader of Qadiriyya Muslim Movement in Africa, Dr. Keribullah Nasir Kabara said the movement would continue to uphold the president in prayers for good health and longer life to pursue the course of building a stronger nation that caters for all citizens.

Leader of the second group of Ulamas, Shiekh Bala Lau commended theongoing drive for infrastructural development in the country by the administration.

He urged the President Buhari to continue to remember the lower segments of the population who look up to him to champion their cause.

The Police in Benue say they have arrested eight herdsmen over the death of 10 persons and seven livestock guards in Guma and Logo Local Governments of the state on Monday.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Moses Yamu, announced this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Makurdi.

“Eight herdsmen, six in Guma and two in Logo, had been arrested in connection with the attacks,” the police spokesman said.

He added that the command had made additional deployments to the troubled area to forestall further occurrence and restore confidence of the people.

Mr. Yamu stressed the situation in the two local government areas had been brought under control while investigation was ongoing.

He said: “They attacked Tomater village in Sengev Council ward, Akor village in Nzorov council ward and Bakin Kwata village in Umanger council ward of Guma LGA.

“Among those killed were seven (7) members of Benue State Livestock Guards, their vehicle burnt and an uncertain number of persons injured in separate attacks between 31/12/2017 and 02/01/2018.

“Again, Agba-Uko near Azege village and Tse-Aga village of Logo LGA experienced the same fate, where one person was killed, one motorcycle burnt and four persons injured.

“All the injured from both LGAs are currently undergoing treatment in various hospitals in the State.”

According to him, five combined teams of mobile and conventional policemen led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Operations, Emmanuel Adesina, have engaged the armed herdsmen in a gun duel in Guma.

The Benue governor said on Tuesday that 20 people were killed in the attacks.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Benue Anti-Open Grazing Law came into effect on November 1, 2017 to forestall attacks on Benue communities by suspected herders.

The law stipulates five year jail term or an option of N1 million fine for violators.

The attack is the first by suspected herdsmen since the law came into effect.

kettykings:
watch how the Nigerian Military will pretend as if nothing happened, but immediately they youths gain upperhand in their retaliation they same pretenders will side with the herdsmen .

Youths in their hundreds are currently protesting the killings of people of the state by Fulani herdsmen in Benue State.

The youths are now converged at the popular Food Basket Roundabout in Wurukum, Makurdi, the state capital.

The aggrieved youths who wield posters are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to “act now or resign.”

The protest has led to a heavy gridlock in the area, causing traffic obstruction for motorists travelling through the axis to the north and southern regions of the country.

Recall that the State Governor, Samuel Ortom had confirmed that at least 20 people were killed after suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked communities in Guma and Logo local government areas of the state between Monday and Tuesday, last week.

Ortom disclosed this while briefing newsmen on Tuesday in Makurdi after the State security meeting.

Details later…

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

sonofanarchy:
you can't have such IQ with those heavy weavon on your head no offense

sarrki:
Anyone in PDP are enemies of the state

They are destroyers

They destroyed our nation, land and economy

Lifestone:
This thread is about the patronage that Innoson is getting from the present PMB government. Once he performs and the army is happy,trust me more government businesses will flow to his direction and that will lead to more job creation and further boost our GDP.
Why import what we can produce locally, same reason I say kudos on the domestic production of rice and the plan to ban further rice imports.

sarrki:
Very Good question

Ipobs are those miscreants that FG declared terrorist
They are bent on destroying our land the threatened our Kong's from the east eg obo of Onitsha an other voices that condemned their nefarious activities

PDP is a party that have failed God and humanity
They have destroyed Nigeria beyond repair
The failed as a ruling party also failing as opposition party

PDP looted our common wealth with impunity

Is that OK with you now

sarrki:
The poster ahead of me God Bless you

For the people playing tribal cards and PDP and cohorts

Can you see ?

PDP and ipobs are working hand in hand to destroy our nation

Lifestone:
The best way to go. We must encourage our local production and keep the job at home. If Innoson succeeds as I do expect him to do, it will further encourage other entrepreneurs to go into car production.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said that there is no evidence that marketers are hoarding petroleum products and as such, there is no reason to punish them.

He stated this after a meeting between a Federal Government delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and fuel marketers as well the heads of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Immigration Service, and representatives of other paramilitary services.

The meeting was held at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to Kachikwu, the meeting was not a fault-finding one but meant to find a lasting solution to the problem of fuel scarcity and ensure that it does not recur as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The minister told journalists at the end of the meeting, “This is a major concern that Nigerians should not be made to suffer, that Nigerians do not get through the kind of thing they went through this December.

“We want to find a lasting solution and that is what the committee will come out with in the resolutions tomorrow (Wednesday).”

He said there was no evidence to punish any marketer for hoarding Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, assuring all stakeholders that part of the demands of the meeting was to name marketers who erred.

Kachikwu stated, “The thing is even the Nigerians, who have suffered, will want to be sure that we find a lasting solution and find evidential basis upon which to punish people.

“This is a democratic government. I don’t have one (evidence) yet; if you have one, I will like to have it.”

The fuel marketers, however, insisted that they could no longer import and sell Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, at the controlled price of N145 per litre.

They also denied insinuations that they were responsible for the recent scarcity of the product across the country.

The Chairman, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, Dapo Abiodun, disclosed these to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.

Abiodun said neither the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation nor the independent marketers could be blamed for the recent fuel scarcity.

While stating that marketers did not hoard fuel contrary to the belief in many quarters, he explained that since the price of crude oil went up as a result of Hurricane Harvey in the United States in September, the marketers could no longer import and sell at a controlled price of N145 per litre.

The DAPPMA chairman stated that the meeting was called to consider issues surrounding the recent fuel scarcity with a view to identifying the causes and finding lasting solutions.

He said a committee had been constituted that would meet on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Kachikwu to further go into the details and forestall a recurrence.

Abiodun added, “From our point of view as marketers, we made our submission known to the government and we emphasised the fact that this was not a marketer-related problem.

“There was no hoarding on the part of any marketer. Marketers are your brothers; they are Nigerian citizens; they are businessmen. No marketer makes money from hoarding petroleum products. Our business is to take petrol and sell.

“We explained that the problem that you saw is not wilful on the part of anyone, either the NNPC or the marketers.”

He added, “The situation from our point of view is that from January to December, the price of crude remained relatively stable; but following the hurricane in September to October, crude prices went up and marketers lost the ability to import and sell at N145 per litre.

“Since the price of crude is directly proportional to refined products, we cannot import petrol and sell at N145 anymore.”

He said fuel importation was a partnership between the marketers and the NNPC, with both parties bringing in a certain volume.

Abiodun stated that in the past, marketers were bringing in about 60 per cent, while the NNPC was bringing in between 35 per cent and 40 per cent.

But by October last year, the marketer had stopped importing fuel because there was no more subsidy on petrol, stressing that the situation made the burden of importing 100 per cent to fall on the NNPC.

The President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okoronkwo, said the meeting reached a resolution that would see the fuel supply problem resolved once and for all.

“They (government representatives) have also assured us that the refineries are coming on stream with installed capacities. This is good news,” he said.

Other members of the Kachikwu committee are the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, most parastatals under the ministry, IPMAN, DAPMAN and labour unions, among others.

Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Mrs, Feyisetan Fayose, has said that those who oppose her husband’s decisions are “obstructing the work of God,” warning that the “consequences will be too much for them.”

Mrs. Fayose said God had revealed to her a long time ago that her husband was going for a position of authority higher than the governorship he currently holds.

According to a statement issued by her Special Assistant (Media), Gbenga Ariyibi, Mrs. Fayose said this in Ado Ekiti during the New Year’s thanksgiving service.

She said though God did not reveal to her the time and the position God has scheduled for her husband, the word of God would manifest at all costs.

“I want to plead with everyone, don’t hunt for the downfall of this government, don’t even try it.

“God is looking at you, and God is watching. Don’t hunt for the failure of continuity. Why? Because our God is God of continuity, our leader is carrying the unusual grace; if you don’t want to be disgraced, don’t hunt for the downfall of this government, don’t hunt for the failure of continuity, I have said my own.

“It is not him, it’s God through him. Look beyond him, and let’s continue to work together in unity.

“God told me expressly, years back, that he needed Ayo Fayose in Nigeria.

“What brought about this was that, I was praying that the trouble of this man was too much, that I wanted God to take politics away from him, to separate him from politics, that I have had too much.

“But God said, ‘Leave him to me, he is in the hollow of my palm, l need him in Nigeria, it is not only Ekiti. He is just passing through Ekiti State.”

Mrs. Fayose, who prayed fervently for the peace, progress and continuity agenda of the her husband’s administration, said no amount of “gang up or political manipulation” would alter or shake her husband from the good plan God has in stock for him and the people of the state.

Those at the thanksgiving service included the Deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola; his wife, Janet; the Chief of Staff, Dipo Anisulowo; Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Modupe Alade; Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka, notable traditional rulers, political office holders, market women and top government officials.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed against reprisal attacks in Rivers and Kaduna states, following the recent killings in both states.


About 17 people were reportedly killed by unknown gunmen on Monday in Omoku, a community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni (ONELGA) Local Government Area of the state.


The victims were returning from the church where they went to usher in the New Year.


In Kaduna, a traditional ruler, the Etum Numana, Gambo Makama, and his wife were killed by unknown gunmen in Sanga Local Government Area of the State on the eve of the New Year.


Mr. Buhari, on Tuesday, expressed shock and outrage at the killings in both states.


The president, in a statement issued by his media aide, Garba Shehu, described the killings as “reprehensible and unacceptable” and directed the law enforcement agencies to intensify efforts and bring the perpetrators to justice.


“I have always maintained that nothing justifies the taking of the life of an innocent person,” the president said. “People in our communities must learn to live peacefully.”


He appealed to the communities affected not to carry out reprisal attacks, but allow the security agencies to carry out comprehensive investigations to properly punish the culprits.
He commiserated with the victims’ families and also wished the injured, recovery.

The All Progressives Congress said on Monday that President Muhammadu Buhari did not unequivocally dismiss restructuring as a way of addressing some of Nigeria’s myriad socio-economic crises.

The ruling party said Mr. Buhari was not accurately quoted in news reports of his take on restructuring during his New Year’s Day address to the nation this morning.

“From this address, we are not able to reach the conclusion that the President has rejected restructuring,” the APC spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES.

During his nationwide broadcast, Mr. Buhari said he strongly believes that Nigeria’s existential issues are not necessarily due to any defects in its structure, saying they could be addressed by merely checking abuse of process and corruption.

“When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure,” the president said. “No human law or edifice is perfect.”

The president said Nigeria should continue to operate its current presidential system, but welcomed ideas on how to make it less permeable to extravagance, waste and corruption.

During his last nationwide address on August 21, 2017, the president conspicuously evaded the questions around restructuring, saying the National Assembly is the appropriate body saddled with the responsibility of addressing such matters.

But the APC argued that Mr. Buhari’s position cannot be taken to mean that he’s unwilling to restructure.

“Rather, we are delighted to hear the President sharing the views of Nigerians that every (system) needs to be periodically reviewed in the context of emerging social and economic circumstances,” Mr. Abdullahi said.

“By saying that the major problem is with processes rather than systems, he appears only to (be) telling us to bear in mind that no matter the choices we make on restructuring, it is how we manage our systems that would ultimately give us the kind of country we want to build.

“Quite significantly, by saying the government welcomes all ideas on how to make the country better, he has opened the door to all conversations including those on restructuring.

“Rather than serve as evidence of rejection therefore, we believe Mr. President’s speech has shown a significant disposition towards the idea of restructuring, which remains a cardinal philosophy of our party,” the spokesperson said.

The APC constituted a committee last year to look into calls for restructuring and prepare modalities for the parties approach to the issue.

The panel is led by Nasir El-Rufai, an APC governor and key ally of the president, and its work is said to be ongoing.

usba:
Mynd44 lalasticala ishilove oma4j

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum as well as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. John Nwodo, have disagreed with President Muhammadu Buhari’s stance on the restructuring of the country, saying that the only way to go is for the federal government to restructure the federation and devolve powers to the states.

The president had in his New Year broadcast Monday said that the problem with Nigeria was not with its structure but its processes.
Buhari argued that the country had tried many systems of governance in the past and had jettisoned them because they failed.

He explained that if things were done properly, the country would perform better.
However, disagreeing with the president’s stance on the thorny issue, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum insisted that restructuring was the only way to go to save Nigeria from imminent collapse.

In a statement signed by Yinka Odumakin for the South-west, Senator Bassey Henshaw for the South-south, Prof. C. Ogbu for the South-east and Mr. Isuwa Dogo for the Middle Belt, the forum insisted that powers must be devolved to the states.

The group said: “We cannot become a productive country under a 1999 Constitution which keeps 68 items on the Exclusive List including mineral resources which abound all over the country but which the states whose governors are constitutionally vested with authority over land cannot touch.
“We need to give authority to the federating units over their resources for self-sustenance and paying all necessary dues to the federation to sustain common services.

“We must devolve more powers and authorities to them to have effective state administrations.
“The federal police has shown it lacks the capacity to deal with crimes in a multi-ethnic society like ours, the imperative of state police has never been more urgent than now.

“Restructuring means nothing else than the above.
“It is a call for the return to a Nigeria that worked under federalism as against the failing state we are becoming under a unitary structure.

“Nigerians must organise, mobilise and work towards building an inclusive and productive country in 2018 using all democratic and peaceful means.
“It is a year to battle for the soul of the country by the forces of federalism and upholders of a suffocating unitary system.

“May victory be on the side of those who seek the progress of Nigeria.”
Continuing, the forum said the president could not resolve Nigeria’s problems by either running away from it or ascribing it to the wrong source.
“Unfortunately that is what we are doing as a country by playing down our crisis of ‘structure’ while on a wild goose chase about ‘process’.

“This is akin to a man going to Benin City while driving towards Benin Republic. The faster he runs the farther he is away from his destination.
“The truth of the matter is that our nationhood crisis has peaked and there are no further opportunities to guarantee opportunities for our citizens no matter the good intentions of leaders or even unrealistic promises packaged to offer them false hope.

“In 1983, when the Shehu Shagari administration was overthrown, its budget for a country of 80 million people was $25 billion. Thirty-five years after, the Buhari government has just proposed a $23 billion budget for about 180 million people!
“The above clearly shows that there is no way out of our systemic crisis except we resume productivity which was our hallmark in the years that we practiced federalism as an entity.

“We have exhausted all possibilities of a rentier and sharing economy and all that is left is unemployment, hunger, gnashing of teeth and conflicts among nationalities over shrinking opportunities,” the forum added.
It welcomed Nigerians into the New Year after a “gruelling and harrowing 2017 in which our people went through untold hardship as the crisis of our dysfunctional structure took its worst toll”.

According to the forum, it was a hellish time when “suicide” became the “man of the year” as many citizens found life unworthy of living and jumping into rivers or hanging from ceilings became the order of the day.
It noted that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported a loss of four million jobs in 2017 with millions of those employed working without pay for several months.

The forum also stated that many citizens who fled abroad because there was no hope for them at home were subjected to all manner of degrading and inhuman treatment as the horror tales from Libya where Nigerians were auctioned for $400, turned to sex slaves, and subjected to extreme violence, continue to abound.

“On the home front, life is becoming short, nasty and brutish as death and violence are now common place in the hands of AK 47-wielding herdsmen, armed robbers, kidnappers and enraged spouses.
“It is a time when we should be having national introspection to know where the rain began to beat us, how to dry our clothes, and ensure that we are no longer exposed to rainfall.

“Unfortunately, we are not addressing the cause of our affliction and only trying to rationalise our needless failure, passing the buck and running from the solutions to our problem.
“We are in a period where empty platitudes are being offered our people instead of concrete assurances on reasoned prescriptions,” the forum said.

Nwodo, who also spoke with THISDAY on the phone, said that he was yet to read the president’s speech but with Nigerian’s main source of income from crude oil threatened, government must unleash Nigeria’s potential by devolving powers to the states.

He warned that the world’s demand for oil was receding and that it might even further decline substantially in the next seven years, with implications as the main stay of the nation’s economy.
“Unless we begin to develop alternative sources of revenue our country will cease to exist. The only way to avoid this is to release our potential by devolution of powers.
“Until the government is nearer to the people and the people take their destiny into their hands the country cannot progress.

“We never agreed to be a country where the federal government will be a united policeman for the whole country. We are not running a federation, we are running a unitary government and we cannot escape this,” Nwodo said.
Meanwhile, a former governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, in his reaction to the president’s stance on restructuring, called for the country’s economic restructuring to ensure the delivery of good governance.

Musa made the call in a phone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Monday.
The former Kaduna governor said the problem with Nigeria has always been leadership rather than its structures, explaining that the regional system failed because leaders were pursuing a secessionist agenda.
Although he aligned with the president’s position that the process of governance needs to be improved upon, he faulted the economic system being operated currently.

Musa said the economy was in the hands of the private sector, hence the impoverishment of the masses, and suggested the restructuring of the economy to ensure that the government plays a greater role.
“The economy should be restructured. What we are operating now in which the economy is in private hands cannot help us.

“We should restructure the economy so that government can play a greater role for sustainable development,” he said.
The former governor agreed that saboteurs were behind the current fuel crisis and urged the government to address the situation.

He also called on Buhari to form a government of national unity in the New Year for all-inclusiveness, adding that Nigeria would be better off in 2018 if people subordinated personal interests to the public interest.

In his reaction, the publicity secretary of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Lagos State, Shakirudeen Olofin, commended the president for restating the government’s commitment to the fight against corruption.

He, however, advised that the president should ensure that all pending corruption cases are speedily resolved to serve as a deterrent to others.
Olofin urged Buhari to be decisive in dealing with the fuel crisis, especially persons suspected to be responsible for the situation.

In his New Year address to the nation, President Muhammadu Buhari dismissed calls for a holistic new look at Nigeria’s political structure, saying he does not see it as a priority.

“When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure,” the president said.
“No human law or edifice is perfect,” Mr. Buhari insisted in the State House announcement which lasted for nearly 20 minutes.

The president said Nigeria should continue to operate its current presidential system, but welcomed ideas on how to make it less permeable to extravagance, waste and corruption largely.

“There is a strong case for a closer look at the cost of government and for the public services long used to extravagance, waste and corruption to change for the better.
“I assure you that government is ever receptive to ideas which will improve governance and contribute to the country’s peace and stability,” he said in the address, which is his first to the nation since August 21, 2017.

The president urged Nigerians to be patient with the current presidential system and allow it to evolve until it becomes suitable enough to accommodate the country’s peculiarities.
The comments appeared targeted at shutting down back-end insinuations that the president may eventually yield to growing agitations for fundamental changes in Nigeria’s political structure.

Critics argue that Nigeria’s current federal system has become too centralised and its expenses have become bloated overtime.

Powers such as policing and control of natural resource, have resided almost exclusively in the federal government, a situation that has left the states largely subservient to the centre, critics say.

They favour a more decentralised structure in which state and local authorities are allowed to keep most of the resources generated within their respective boundaries, while remitting only a fraction good enough to keep the federal government running to the centre.

It is not immediately clear how the president’s party would take the latest rejection of restructuring by its leader.
The ruling party constituted a committee last year to look into calls for restructuring and prepare modalities for the parties approach to the issue.

The panel is led by Nasir El-Rufai, an APC governor and key ally of the president.

Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s national spokesperson, and Joe Igbokwe, who speaks for the Lagos State chapter, were not immediately available for comments Monday morning.
However, Phillip Obin, an APC member, appeared miffed by the absolute dismissal of restructuring by the president.

“Even a union between a husband and wife could be re-negotiated,” Mr. Obin told PREMIUM TIMES Monday morning.
He said the president should have avoided taking a definitive position that could be seen as undermining the supremacy of the party.

The president’s comments came a few weeks after another APC leader asked those clamouring for restructuring to forget it.

“To hell with restructuring,” said Kashim Shettima, the party’s governor in Borno State.

The APC set-up the committee following condemnation that it had abandoned one of its major campaign promises.
Its leaders had rejected the outcome of a 2014 national conference that produced hundreds of resolutions on how to address the country’s protracted political crisis.
A political analyst, Victor Okhai, said the president missed the fundamentals of restructuring in his speech.

“The president said Nigerians want to go back to the parliamentary system which they had once abandoned. This shows that he doesn’t understand the fundamentals,” Mr. Okhai said.

“He failed to mention that Nigerian did not willingly abandon the regional system in the sixties. It was the military who seized power and dismantled a working system,” he added.
Nigeria ran a regional system with a federal prime minister and federal parliament between 1960 after its independence and 1966 when the first military coup occurred.

The country would be controlled for the ensuing 13 years, during which several states were created and more powers concentrated at the centre.

The system was not reversed when a democratic president was elected in 1979 until 1983 when it was again deposed in a military coup.

The military remained in charge from then until 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy, but the Constitution that was adopted has been criticised as a carry on of military edicts.
Mr. Okhai said advocates of restructuring are keen on giving more control to the states and a reintroduction of regional system if possible.

“This would make the states be in charge of their resources and development and no one would need to wait for a sick president at the centre to come and approve nearly everything for them,” Mr. Okhai said.

He said Mr. Buhari’s statement showed how insincere the APC has become.

“The president has always made it clear that he’s not interested in restructuring. It is the APC using propaganda to deceive the people,” Mr. Okhai said. “Let’s not forget that he had since distanced himself from the party’s campaign promises.”
“This shows that the president has a mind of his own and will go ahead with whatever he decides,” he added.

“But since Nigerians did not willingly abandon the regional system in the first place, it’s now left to the citizens to show the president that he cannot control their destiny in a democratic system. If they want restructuring, they will get it.”

The issue could play a serious role in the 2019 elections, as some of the major hopefuls, including Atiku Abubakar, have already tailored their messages towards a decentralised system.

Mr. Obin said pro-restructuring campaigners should be more vocal and lucid in their agitations if they want to have the ears of the citizens.

“When they say they want restructuring, they need to be clearer about the specifics,” he said.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44