The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, reminds those opposed to restructuring that Nigeria can not make any meaningful progress under the present political system.
He stated this while speaking in Abuja at the 91st anniversary of Daily Times newspaper and the Times Heroes Awards.
The APC chieftain and former Lagos Governor was represented at the event by Governor Aregbesola of Osun State.
While speaking he said, “Let us streamline governance; federalism in word and deed. Our constitution declares Nigeria a federation of 36 states however we still grapple with the vestiges of our past under the military rule. In any case, we still function like a unitary state despite the constitution. More power and resources need to devolve to the states.
“The Federal Government is taking on too much. We cannot flourish with over-concentration of powers at the centre. Some of the 68 items on the exclusive federal list should be transferred to the residual list as it was in most federal constitutions.
“In the 1963 Constitution, there were extensive powers granted to regions which allowed them to carry out their immense responsibility as they then saw fit.”
Continuing he said, “The fall in oil prices exposed this economic model for the life that it was. Now, we must fashion a new political economy. In due course, the current recession will end. This should come as a relief. In itself however, it is not a cause for celebration, far from it. The end of recession does not mean the beginning of prosperity.”
He went on to list some items which are should be in concurrent list. Matters like police, prisons, stamp duty, taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains, registration of businesses, incorporation of companies, traffic on Federal Government roads passing through states, trade, commerce among others he said were better off in the concurrent list but fortunately or unfortunately were transferred from the concurrent to the exclusive list.
This he condemned in its entirety seeing it at variance with the true spirit of federalism.
The current federal system is fake, he said, while describing it as a ‘monster.’
Tinubu added, “Regarding electrical power we must move beyond limiting states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity to areas not covered by the national grid. Our problem is lack of power yet we preclude states from helping to resolve the chronic problem that stands at the very heart of economic development.
“It is not right to say states can generate power but cannot sell it where they want. Without yielding any contravening benefits, these policies suppresses the generation of needed power.”
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